How the enemy ecology works in Xenoblade Chronicles 3

While you’ve been traveling the world in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you’ve probably fought a number of enemies who attacked you on sight. You will also have encountered a number of creatures that are harmless unless provoked. Some of these creatures can do more than populate the environment or serve as a warning. They can also offer unique interactions that allow you to get new items or fight rare enemies.

You must watch out for enemy ecology in action as it can be easily overlooked or misinterpreted. But once you see it, it’s worth waiting and seeing what happens, and then using the situation to your own advantage. It’s not always a guarantee and you can’t enforce it. If you’re not careful, you can even interrupt the enemy ecology in action and end up waiting for it to happen again.

You’ll know a hostile ecology is coming when you come across an enemy that has a red speech bubble with an exclamation mark on it.

If you see this exclamation point, don’t attack the enemy or provoke them in any way. Stand back and see what they do. Not all enemies interact with the environment in the same way. Some, like the Knuckle Hox in the Fornis region, dig up collectibles for you to use/sell. Others will cause rare enemies to appear, allowing you to fight enemies you would otherwise have missed.

You can’t always predict what’s going to happen when you see the red exclamation mark and you want to keep your distance unless something is bothering you. It helps to hide in areas where enemies won’t find you, or to be near other harmless enemies so as not to miss anything.

Wait for the red exclamation mark to disappear as it is possible to interrupt the enemy’s actions and nullify their interaction. Once it’s gone, you can use the interaction and benefit with either new collectibles or a rare enemy. If you are impatient you will have to wait for the next instance and it may not happen for a while. The occurrences are somewhat random; You know a creature is interacting with the environment, but you can’t control when they do so.

Now that you know what enemy ecology is, take a look at enemy monsters and pay attention. When you see a red exclamation point, watch like you’re watching a wild animal and see what happens. The reward is almost always worth it.