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Welcome to this meta work dedicated to the affection system in Tales of Symphonia!
Sorry, this what-now?
This is a non-fiction fandom work, also known as meta in fannish circles. Fanlore defines meta as, among other things, "the analysis of a show, its characters, or Fandom itself." In this particular meta, we're going to be looking at all of the affection choices and events from Tales of Symphonia, with an eye toward how different characters react to Lloyd's decisions and behaviour.
What is the affection system?
Throughout the events of Tales of Symphonia, the player is given the opportunity to select certain dialogue choices and behaviours for Lloyd to follow. These choices impact how the other characters feel about him, and this in turn will influence some of the final events of the game itself. Characters won't always agree with each other, and some will have stronger reactions than others as well. For example, a decision that gains +60 affection points from Colette might also net +120 points for Genis. Alternatively, something that gains +60 for Raine might result in -60 from Sheena. The amount of affection gained/lost will vary from situation to situation, and from character to character.
And that's what this meta is going to be all about!
So it's a guide to the affection system!
Well, sort of? But not intentionally.
Once completed, this project should chronicle the results of every decision and event that influences Lloyd's affection levels with the rest of the playable cast. If you really wanted to use this as an inefficient guide, you could do so! But that isn't the intended purpose of my writing this.
What we're actually doing here is exploring all these decisions from a character perspective. We're going to look at how each character reacts to Lloyd's choices, and consider what might be motivating them to feel that way. This isn't about how many points Regal just gained or lost, it's about why he reacted the way he did. We're here to learn a little more about these characters we know and love, and try to understand just what it is that makes them tick.
And to find out what they find sexy about Lloyd Irving?
Yes, and to find out what they find sexy about Lloyd Irving.
(please note: not all soulmate routes are coded romantic, not all romantically-coded routes have to be interpreted that way, please don't get mad at me)
This is very much a work-in-progress. I'll be adding each decision in chronological order, as that is simply the most logical way of going through this. Unfortunately, this does mean the more interesting decisions are going to take a bit of time to reach—the initial choices influence very few characters and are pretty straightforward, especially compared to the latter parts of the game where the entire playable cast has a stake in the complicated events taking place. I'll be adding screenshots throughout, but that won't be my first priority. When screenshots are added to previously posted decision write-ups, I'll mention it in the update notes!
Once all the decisions and events have been completed, I plan to also write a quick summary of what we can glean for each character and a general How Lloyd Should Behave overview to give a broad sense of what each party member seemingly most admires about our brave hero. We can make some pretty basic guesses already—Colette likes it when Lloyd is positive and idealistic, Raine likes it when Lloyd is cautious and logical—but this is a chance to have a bit of fun and delve a little deeper!
If I think of anything else that warrants inclusion, such as perhaps looking a little deeper at the cooking system, I'll make sure to highlight it here for future exploration! For now, check the update log below to see what was added/changed when, or else head into the chapters to go and see what there is to see!
Affection value details are being taken from GameFAQs - all credit goes to Phaelin7 for their hard work compiling all this information to figure out what was going on behind-the-scenes of Symphonia.
UPDATE LOG:
April 8th: The meta began on this day! Decision One and Decision Two were posted, along with the Introduction.
April 9th: Decision Three was posted.
April 14th: Decision Four & Five was posted.
May 7th: Event One was posted.