Equipment Upgrading & Enhancements

Maximizing your party's potential in Tales of Xillia goes beyond simply equipping the best gear you find. The game offers robust systems for upgrading and enhancing your equipment, allowing you to tailor your characters' stats and even imbue weapons and armor with special properties. Mastering these mechanics is crucial for tackling tougher bosses and the post-game content.

The Shop Upgrade System

Unlike traditional RPGs where you might find a dedicated blacksmith, equipment upgrades in Tales of Xillia are tied directly to the various shops you encounter throughout Rieze Maxia. Every shop, whether it's a Weapon Shop, Armor Shop, or Item Shop, has an upgrade level that dictates the quality and variety of goods they offer, including the ability to enhance your existing equipment.

How Shop Levels Work

Shop Points (SP): Each time you purchase an item from a shop, you earn Shop Points for that specific shop category (e.g., buying a sword earns Weapon Shop SP).
Leveling Up: Accumulating enough SP will increase the shop's level. Higher shop levels unlock new items for purchase, including more potent weapons and armor, as well as new enhancement options.
Global vs. Local: While SP is earned per shop category, the overall shop level for a category is generally global. This means leveling up the Weapon Shop in Fennmont will benefit all Weapon Shops across Rieze Maxia, offering the same new items and services.

Prioritizing Shop Upgrades

Early in the game, focus on leveling up your Weapon Shops and Armor Shops. This will quickly give you access to stronger base equipment and the initial enhancement options. Don't neglect Item Shops, as higher levels unlock better healing items and crafting materials crucial for later enhancements.

Enhancing Your Gear: The Basics

Once a shop category reaches a certain level, you'll gain access to the "Enhance" option when interacting with a shopkeeper. This allows you to spend Gald and specific materials to improve your equipped items.

Steps to Enhance Equipment:

Visit any Shop: Approach a shopkeeper (Weapon, Armor, or Accessory).
Select "Enhance": Choose this option from the shop menu.
Choose Equipment Type: Select whether you want to enhance a Weapon, Armor, or Accessory.
Select Item to Enhance: Pick the specific piece of equipment from your inventory. Note that only currently equipped items or items in your inventory that can be enhanced will appear.
Review Enhancements: The game will show you the available enhancements, their cost (Gald and materials), and the stat boosts or special effects they provide.
Confirm Enhancement: If you have the necessary Gald and materials, confirm your choice to apply the enhancement.

Key Enhancement Types:

Stat Boosts: The most common enhancements increase an item's core stats (e.g., Attack for weapons, Defense for armor, Agility for accessories). These are usually straightforward and require common materials.
Elemental Properties: Certain weapons can be enhanced to deal elemental damage (e.g., Fire, Water, Wind, Earth). This is incredibly useful against enemies with elemental weaknesses.
- Example: Enhancing a Steel Sword with a Fire Stone might add Fire elemental damage.
- Material Locations: Fire Stones are often dropped by fire-based enemies in areas like the Volcano of Flames. Water Stones can be found from aquatic enemies in Rusalle Highroad or Sapstrath Deepwood.
Status Ailment Resistance/Infliction: Armor and accessories can be enhanced to provide resistance to status effects like Poison, Paralysis, or Silence. Weapons can sometimes gain a chance to inflict these ailments.
- Example: Enhancing a Leather Guard with a Poison Ward material might grant Poison resistance.
- Material Locations: Poison Wards are commonly dropped by venomous creatures in the Sapstrath Highroad or Featherfall Way.
Special Effects: Later in the game, you'll unlock enhancements that grant unique passive abilities, such as increased critical hit rate, reduced casting time, or bonus Gald/EXP from battles. These often require rarer materials.
- Example: Enhancing an accessory with a Spirit Symbol might reduce TP consumption.
- Material Locations: Spirit Symbols are typically rare drops from powerful bosses or found in late-game dungeon chests like those in the Xagut Floodmeadow or Labari Hollow.

Material Farming Strategies

Materials are the lifeblood of the enhancement system. You'll acquire them through various means:

Enemy Drops: The most common source. Pay attention to enemy weaknesses and use linked artes to maximize drop rates. Certain enemies consistently drop specific materials.
Treasure Chests: Always explore thoroughly! Chests often contain valuable and sometimes rare enhancement materials.
Gathering Points: Sparkle points on the field will yield various materials. These respawn over time, so revisit areas.
Shop Purchases: As your Item Shops level up, they will begin to sell some common and even a few rare enhancement materials. This is a reliable way to get materials you might be struggling to farm.
Side Quests/Requests: Completing certain side quests, especially those from the Job Board, can reward you with rare materials.

Recommended Early-Game Materials to Farm:

Common Ore: Found from various rock-type enemies and gathering points in Nia Khera and Sapstrath Highroad. Used for basic stat boosts.
Beast Hide: Dropped by wolf-like enemies in Sapstrath Highroad and Featherfall Way. Essential for early armor enhancements.
Small Feather: From bird enemies in Sapstrath Highroad. Used for agility boosts.
Mystic Orb: Dropped by magical enemies and found in gathering points in Hamil and Sapstrath Deepwood. Crucial for enhancing magical stats.

Advanced Enhancement Tips

Don't Hoard: While some materials are rare, don't be afraid to use common ones early on. The stat boosts, even small ones, can make a significant difference.
Character Specialization: Tailor enhancements to each character's role.
- Milla/Jude: Focus on Attack and elemental enhancements for their weapons.
- Rowen/Elize: Prioritize Intelligence and Spirit enhancements for their weapons and accessories to boost arte power and healing.
- Alvin/Leia: Balance Attack/Defense and consider enhancements that boost critical rate or accuracy.
Accessory Power: Accessories often have the most impactful special effect enhancements. Don't overlook them. A well-enhanced accessory can completely change a character's utility.
Re-Enhance: You can continually enhance a piece of equipment as long as you have the materials and Gald. There's no cap on how many times an item can be enhanced, only on the specific types of enhancements available. If you get a new, stronger base weapon, you might want to transfer some of your accumulated materials to enhance it quickly.
Check Shop Levels Regularly: Always check the shop menu to see if any categories have leveled up, as this might unlock new and more powerful enhancement options.

By diligently upgrading your shops and strategically enhancing your equipment, you'll ensure your party is always ready for the challenges that await them in the world of Rieze Maxia!