Affinity Chart (XC1)

The Affinity Chart is a gameplay mechanic in Xenoblade Chronicles. The Affinity Chart's purpose is mostly to track and increase . In , it is split into two, the Affinity Chart: Settlements which tracks affinity, the first one accessed while going into the Affinity Chart menu, and the Affinity Chart: Party which tracks the affinity between party members and is accessed via a button at the center of the Settlements chart.
==Affinity Chart: Settlements==
The settlements, also commonly called area, Affinity Chart's main purpose is to track named NPCs the party encounter, showing information about them, as well as their affinity between each other.
NPCs can be registered on the Affinity Chart by either directly talking with them or trading with them. Once done, they will appear as an icon with their face on the chart in the area they were met in, shown by the color of their icon's rim. An NPC icon's position on the Affinity Chart is predetermined. However, an NPC may change their icon's position, or the color of its rim, to another predetermined location due to multiple factors such as quests, story progress, or immigration.
An NPC icon may become greyed out, meaning they can no longer be accessed on the field and trade with them. It is still possible to consult their profile on the Affinity Chart and their Affinity links will remain in place.
===Layout===
The settlements' Affinity Chart is split into six parts:
*At the center is the party, which can be used to access the party's Affinity Chart. The icons for the five settlements, as well as their Area Affinity which is displayed as one to five stars, are displayed like a five branch star, each icon roughly pointing to its corresponding area on the chart.
*On the upper left corner of the chart is where the area's NPCs can be found, color-coded with a red rim.
*On the upper middle side, as well as slightly to the upper right of the party icon, is where the Colony 6 area's NPCs can be found, color-coded with a yellow rim.
*On the lower left corner, as well as slightly to the bottom middle of the party icon, is where the Central Bionis' NPCs can be found, mostly those from Frontier Village, color-coded with a green rim.
*On the lower right corner is where the Upper Bionis' NPCs can be found, mostly those from Alcamoth, color-coded with a blue rim.
*On the upper far right corner is where the Hidden Village NPCs can be found, color-coded with a purple rim.
===NPC profiles===
Hovering over an NPC icon and selecting it will bring up that NPC's profile. An NPC profile shows this particular character's location, personality, time active, gender, race, age and the usual spot they can be found at. The usual spot is one of the nearest and may be more or less accurate depending on the NPC.
It is possible to go to switch to another tab besides the profile one, the trade tab, which shows the items the NPC can currently trade.
It is also possible to track a specific NPC by pressing the right "R" trigger while hovering over their icon. A small blue magnifying glass will appear on the tracked NPC's icon in the Affinity Chart while a white magnifying glass will be displayed on their location while viewing the either the map or mini-map, showing their location on the field if they are up and about.
A list of a specific area's NPC profiles can be displayed by selecting the area's icon, showing the same information as before.
===Affinity links===
Once an NPC is registered on the Affinity Chart, they may form Affinity links with other nearby NPCs. These links will, as the name implies, display as a line between two NPC with a smiley at the center roughly corresponding to how friendly they are between each other. If either icons of an NPC with an Affinity link is hovered over, a small sentence will display below the smiley, describing their relationship.
Affinity links can be formed if both NPCs involved in the link are registered in the Affinity Chart and one or more conditions are fulfilled:
*An Affinity link may form simply by talking with one of the NPCs involved in the link. The dialogue that creates or updates this link may depend on the of day and may happen on their second dialogue. As an example: Leopold's "Dedicated Fan" link with Arnaut will only be created by talking to him between 18:00 and 21:00 or past 3:00 and on his second dialogue. In some cases, the dialogue to create or update an Affinity link will be forced upon talking to them, this time happening independently of the time they are talked to, with said dialogue never being brought up once more after talking to the NPC again. Affinity links created by talk with NPCs will award 50 Area Affinity.
**In addition to these requirements, an Affinity link created or updated this way may also require for a specific quest to be completed beforehand or for the Area Affinity to reach a certain threshold. As an example, Marcia's "Fondness" link with Liliana combines both of these prerequisites, requiring Biscuits for a Grandson to be completed and for the Colony 9's Area Affinity to reach at least 7000 in addition to talking to her between 12:00 and 15:00.
*An Affinity link may form during quests or as a result of said quests. Affinity links created this way will award, and in rare cases take away, a variable amount of Area Affinity.
An entire Affinity link can be missed depending on routes taken during quests. As an example, taking route A during Jackson's Awakening will create the "Teacher/Pupil" link between Jackson and Kenny Rohan, while taking the B route will create the same link between the former and Giorgio.
Updates to Affinity links can also be missable or mutually exclusive. As an example, the Affinity link between Leopold and Arnaut cited beforehand will be updated by talking to him after completing An Impoverished Critic. If the quest's A route is taken, the link will update to "Supreme Fan" while it will update to "Fan" if route B is taken instead.
Creating an Affinity link can be one of the prerequisites for a quest to appear.
==Affinity Chart: Party==
By selecting the party's icon at the center of the settlements Affinity Chart, the party's personal Affinity Chart will be brought up. Much like the area chart, the party's chart will track information on the party members as well as the Affinity between them. It is also possible to increase, or decrease, the Affinity between two members by making one give presents to another.
Each party member has a link with every other members of the party and hovering over a specific member will display the strength of their different links and a profile. Profiles will show the character's race, gender, height, age, likes and dislikes. The latter two of which are hints to what should and shouldn't be gifted to them.
By pressing the "Y" button, it is possible to first select the party member that will gift a present and the recipient. Once both are selected, a window will appear with every collectables the party has on hand which can be given as gifts. Once a collectable is given as a gift, their effect will be tracked and they will remain in the list even if none of them are in the inventory.
==In other languages==
==Gallery==
===Tutorials===
XC1 Tutorial Affinity Chart - 1.png|Tutorial
XC1 Tutorial Affinity Chart (Cont'd) - 1.png|Tutorial
XC1 Tutorial Affinity Chart (Cont'd) - 2.png|Tutorial
===Screenshots===
Affinity Chart (XC1) Full party chart DE.jpg|The party Affinity Chart once every party members are gathered
Affinity Chart (XC1) Starting chart (NG+).jpg|A completely blank settlements Affinity Chart
Affinity Chart (XC1) Endgame chart DE 1.jpg|An endgame settlements Affinity Chart
Affinity Chart (XC1) Endgame chart DE 2.jpg|An endgame settlements Affinity Chart
Affinity Chart Presents.jpg|Gifting a present
Category:Gameplay mechanics (XC1)*