It seems to utilize enemy materials for crafting reagents
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 gem crafting returns, as shown in a new tweet from the game’s official Japanese Twitter account.
Enabled by party member Riku, you’ll use items gathered from enemies to create the gems, which can be equipped by characters. Increased attack and recovery power are cited as bonuses so far. For Xenoblade followers, the announcement of a gem system doesn’t really come as a shock — unless it’s a shock in the sense that you’re paralyzed by the fear of having to go through this system again.
Gems (not just in this series, but in general JRPG-dom) are polarizing, to say the least, as some involve a laborious amount of grinding, or some form of randomness. Based on what we’ve seen so far though this Xenoblade Chronicles 3 gem mechanic seems a lot more straightforward. The example shown in the below tweet showcases players crafting a plus attack power gem, using six different ingredients, as well as a coin currency (that serves as an alternative method of crafting gems).
It’s unknown where coins are acquired in-game, but it could be a sidequest currency of sorts. The three classic roles (defender [blue]/attacker [red]/healer [green]) also seem present, with a fourth category (denoted by a star and an orange gem color) that is possibly a catch-all. It’s out…really soon (like a month and a few weeks!) so we’ll know soon enough.