Gold (XC2)

Gold, often called G in-game, is the primary currency of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country. It can be used to buy items in s and to stay at inns. The player's current gold can be seen near the bottom of the main menu.
==Overview==
Gold can be acquired in several ways:
* Upon being defeated, most enemies will drop gold. Enemies also drop gold upon being ed; the amount dropped in this case is typically similar to, albeit less than, the amount dropped by defeating them normally.
* Items may be sold at s for a certain amount of gold that depends upon the item. This applies to boosters, s, Core Crystals, Pouch Items, unrefined and refined Aux Cores, , Core Chips, cylinders, and treasures. The sale price depends upon the area's development level (see below).
* Specific sets of treasures may be sold at item trading shops for (typically large) amounts of gold.
* Treasure troves, both those permanent in the overworld and those which appear when salvaging, may drop gold when opened. If the salvaging is particularly unsuccessful, the gold may appear directly in the overworld instead, without any treasure troves.
* Completing s and Merc Missions typically yields a certain amount of gold. As with other rewards obtained, Merc Missions with a light-blue label may be completed multiple times to repeatedly receive gold, whereas those with a purple label will only yield gold on the first completion of the mission.
===Gold in the overworld===
When gold appears in the overworld due to killing/ing an enemy or opening a treasure trove, it takes the appearance of a set of coins or piles of coins which may be collected automatically by having the player-controlled character walk over them, similarly to how other loot may be collected. The appearance of these coins is related to how much gold they provide:
* Bronze coins yield 1-9G when collected.
* Silver coins yield 10-99G.
* Gold coins yield 100-999G.
* Piles of gold coins yield 1000-9999G.
* Piles of gold coins with light brown bags yield over 10,000G.
If an enemy is defeated (causing it to drop gold) and the defeat of the enemy triggers a cutscene, the gold (and all other items on the field) will be collected automatically before the cutscene begins.
===Development level===
In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, performing transactions on the Titans Argentum, Gormott, Uraya, Mor Ardain, Leftheria, Indol, and Tantal will raise the development level of said Titan. This applies to both buying and selling, and the total progress towards the next development level depends upon the gross amount of gold that has been acquired/given in transactions. Raising a Titan's development level means that items can be bought for a lower price, among other benefits.
==Story==
In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the player starts with no gold at all, but then immediately picks up 33 gold from killing the . 200G is received upon speaking to Melolo for the first time, and 100,000G upon speaking to . Subsequently as part of the Main Story Quest Big Job Preparations, the player must purchase an Abyss Vest for 5000G, send 90,000G to Corinne via speaking to Max, and spend a minimum of 120G at Fishy Fishy, to continue the story early in . Thereafter, the player must also spend 100G to rest at . In total, the player receives a net of 5013 gold from this part of the story, assuming spending the minimum at Fishy Fishy.
In , Rumors of a Battleship must be purchased from Torigoth's Turuni for 3000G to complete the Main Story Quest The Race to Find Nia. In , 400G (less depending on development level) must be used for a long stay at Coedwig Inn to change Gormott's Cloud Sea tide to high during Umon's Ship. In , 3000G must be spent purchasing tickets from Murmur to get to Mor Ardain.
At several other points in the story, it is possible to spend gold to complete story objectives (e.g. to acquire parts to build Poppi in ). However, there are always alternate methods of completing these objectives. Moreover, the player must stay at several inns to progress the story at certain points, but past the first two instances, all such required stays have the fee waived.
==Strategy==
===Earning gold===
====Salvaging====
The most effective way to earn gold in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is through salvaging. A small amount of gold is provided directly upon salvaging, but the main payoff comes via the treasures acquired. Treasures may be sold directly at any shop, but it is much better to trade sets of them at item trading shops. The following procedure results in the most effective salvaging:
# Equip as many s with the Salvaging Mastery as possible.
# Purchase a large number of cylinders as high-quality as possible. Premium Cylinders are the best but can be difficult to come across; Golden Cylinders are also sufficient but not quite as efficient. In all cases, at least 10 cylinders of the kind should be bought. Purchase in the region where development level is highest for the best value. (If capital is needed for this, see Selling accessories below.)
# Choose a specific Salvage Point for which the available treasures complete a valuable set to trade at the area's item trading shops, the player can easily defeat any enemies spawned via salvaging, and the salvaging button challenges can be consistently performed.
# Use all cylinders on hand at the same salvage point. Collect all the contents of all treasure troves acquired.
# Go to the area's item trading shops and trade in sets of treasures for gold. Trade as many sets as possible, starting from the most valuable and proceeding in decreasing order of value. If sets are traded for boosters as well as money, the boosters will need to be sold once the player reaches the cap on the number that can be held in the inventory.
# Repeat as necessary.
Choosing an appropriate salvage point is nontrivial. In the early game, the salvage point near Abble's Fountain in Torigoth has easy-to-kill enemies, easy button challenges, and the treasures acquired can be traded at Masnach Exchange nearby in Torigoth for a healthy profit. Midgame and lategame, the salvage point at Port Anangham in Mor Ardain is very efficient when the treasures are sold at Martietta Trading in Alba Cavanich, and the enemies spawned via salvaging consistently drop Core Crystals as an added bonus.
Postgame, the salvage points near Jubilee Gate and at in the Cliffs of Morytha yields Stratospheric Hoops, 5 of which may be traded as the Salvager Spirit set at Mermerry Trading at the Cliffs' for 120,200G. This is the most efficient way of grinding gold in the game, but it cannot be done until very late in the story: the Souvenirs from Morytha must be completed before the trader opens up shop, Salvager Spirit is not a trading option until midway through , Premium Cylinders are required to consistently obtain Stratospheric Hoops, and the relevant Salvage Points may spawn Squoods which can be particularly troublesome for unprepared parties. Note that 20 levels of Salvaging Mastery is sufficient to both guarantee three treasure troves and, with a Premium Cylinder, prevent enemies from spawning entirely.
====Selling accessories====
A way to farm gold which is less effective but which requires a much lower time commitment than salvaging (and which is also possible in Torna ~ The Golden Country) is selling at any shop. A very limited number of accessories can be equipped at once, but they drop from many enemies; therefore, the player will very often have many more accessories than they have use for. Selling unwanted ones can quickly provide the player with a reasonably high amount of gold.
Selling unwanted accessories every once in a while is advisable even if the player does not lack for gold, as it is easily possible to reach the cap of 999 accessories through normal play, and any accessories which are dropped past this point will be wasted. Periodically selling off unwanted accessories reduces or eliminates the risk of this happening.
===Spending gold===
====In Xenoblade Chronicles 2====
There are many things to spend gold on, with some more effective than others. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, arguably the best use for large amounts of gold is in purchasing effective Pouch Items, the best of which may require substantial gold to buy in bulk but which improve one's combat abilities massively. Core Chips, likewise, are worth keeping up-to-date on all active s, and the best may be expensive if they cannot be found in treasure troves or as loot from battle. In contrast, good accessories are comparatively easy to acquire through regular play, and one need not worry about spending large amounts on them in shops.
The Rare Blade Sheba requires a very high gold commitment (1,500,000G at least) both to acquire her Core Crystal and to fill her piggy bank to progress her . She can be very strong in combat, but without dedicated grinding, the gold required to awaken and level her will likely not be accumulated until lategame. Speaking with Kassa after purchasing her Core Crystal and putting her into the active party will result in half the cost of the Core Crystal (250,000G) being returned, which makes the cost sting significantly less. This is lessened even further by the fact that completing the Merc Mission Sheba's Tea Party 5, which becomes available after completing her Blade Quest Fool's Gold, will make a treasure trove appear at the Little Garden of Tradition that contains a million gold.
A few quests will require high sums of gold to be spent, such as Nopon Doubloons Ahoy (a million G) or Time is Money (300,500G if Umon Bounces Back wasn't completed).
Minor spending on the order of 100G, e.g. the cost of inns, is trivial and may be done without caution. The price of an inn may be avoided by skip travelling to Corinne's House but this is largely unnecessary.
====In Torna ~ The Golden Country====
Torna ~ The Golden Country features fewer options for spending gold. Pouch items are no longer for sale, as they are instead crafted by the party, leaving accessories and core chips as the mainstay items sold in shops. Core Chips are still worth keeping up-to-date on every team's Blades. Accessories are better off being acquired through regular play once again.
Only one specific quest will require a very optional payment of 200,000G (negated by selecting the third option during dialogue). However, fully completing the comes with the indirect cost of 1,350,000G, as the Nopon Halfsage requires his shop to be bought out to join.
The cost of resting at an inn remains trivially low, but as resting at a campsite is free and many can be accessed via skip travel without loading a new map, it can be avoided with minimal effort. Resting at does not provide any additional benefit aside from being required to receive a specific quest.
==Trivia==
* In Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, the player is given the option to start the game with 100,000 more if a save file for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 exists on the same Nintendo Switch. This is likely a reference to Rex's windfall of 100,000G at the start of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
* Coins' appearance in the overworld depict the World Tree. The same design can be found in the in Indol.
* During the chapter 1 shop tutorial sequence, it is possible to overspend at Fishy Fishy and not have enough money to pay for the inn. If this happens, the player must either sell back some of their purchases, or seek out the few enemies on the docks to loot gold from.
* During on versions 1.3.1 and later, if the player does not have enough funds to buy the Abyss Vest or send money to Fonsett Village, Momoni will give them enough gold to progress.
==Gallery==
Main menu (XC2).jpg|The main menu displays the player's total gold — 56,376,710G in this instance.
Bronze coin (XC2).jpg|A bronze coin in the overworld.
Bronze coin (XC2) (cropped).png|A bronze coin (cropped)
Silver coin (XC2).png|A silver coin in the overworld.
Pile of gold (XC2).jpg|A pile of gold in the overworld.
Pile of gold (XC2) (cropped).png|A pile of gold (cropped)
Bags of coins (XC2).png|A pile of gold with brown bags in the overworld.
Salvage Result (no trove).jpg|Coins are depicted in the icon for a salvage result.
Salvage Result (white and gold trove).jpg|More successful salvage features more coins in the salvage result depiction.
Bronze coin XC2 render.png|Bronze coin model
Silver coin XC2 render.png|Silver coin model
Gold coin XC2 render.png|Gold coin model
Coin pile XC2 render.png|Coin pile model
Bag pile XC2 render.png|Bag pile model
Category:Gameplay mechanics (XC2)Category:Gameplay mechanics (TTGC)