Gifting

Gifting is a mechanic in Xenoblade Chronicles that allows the player to convert collectables into affinity between party members. By selecting a collectable in the inventory, the player may use it as a "present" from one party member to another, which consumes the collectable and adds (or subtracts) a small amount of affinity between the two.

Every party member has their own preference of collectables; the affinity gained (or lost) is based on the likes and dislikes of the receiver. While each individual collectable has its own unique values for each character, there are general patterns based on favourite colours, tastes, and categories. For example, while Shulk likes all parts, his favourite colour is blue, so he tends to like the blue parts even more than the others.

Statistically, gifting a random item to a random character results in an average of +3.35 affinity. However, it is far more efficient to take notice of preferences and gift only the most effective items.

Gifting is not present in Future Connected due to the lack of affinity. As a result, collectables that only appear on Bionis' Shoulder have no preferences assigned.

The Definitive Edition adds several quality-of-life features to the gifting system:
 * After gifting an item, the game records how much it was liked.
 * Gifting can be done from the party affinity chart.
 * The party affinity chart lists some very basic (and somewhat misleading) tips on who likes what: