Tales of Symphonia - Chapter 1: The Chosen

After you've made your selections from the Grade Shop, or started a brand new game if you're a beginner, Tales of Symphonia opens with a panorama of the world of Sylvarant while a voiceover tells of the legend of a giant tree of mana and the war that stripped it of its life. The Goddess, grieving its loss, went into a deep slumber. The legend states that if the Goddess is not awakened, the world will be destroyed. Slowly, the camera pans down upon the small hamlet of Iselia, where our story begins...

The game's hero, Lloyd Irving, is awakened by the Professor's eraser bouncing off of his thick skull. The class learns of the ancient war hero, Mithos, the Goddess, and the Desians they opposed. Today is also a special day: the one where Colette, the Chosen of Mana, and Lloyd's classmate, will receive an oracle from the Goddess, Martel, and begin her journey of world regeneration. Suddenly, a light shines through the schoolhouse's window and Professor Raine will leave to confirm that it is, in fact, the oracle here for the Chosen One. You'll then switch to be in control of Lloyd. You begin the game with the Sandwich recipe already in your possession that restores a small amount of HP, but can recover more depending on if you have extra ingredients specific to that recipe and the character that is cooking.

 

Have Lloyd attempt to follow Raine out of the classroom to be stopped by Genis, Lloyd's bestfriend, and be presented with your first character affection choice of the game. Choosing: "It's research." will increase Genis affection for Lloyd, while "Okay, fine." will result in no change. If you picked the former, a wounded pastor will stumble into the classroom and you'll be given another choice as to whether to go with Colette to the Martel Temple or not. Choosing: "I'm going too." will increase your affection with Colette and Genis, while "I'll wait for you." lowers Genis' affection, but will raise Raine's with Lloyd. Either way, Genis and Colette will join your party to sneak over and see what is going on at the Temple and the party will meet Colette's father outside the classroom. He will tell the group that the Desians have attacked Martel Temple and if you chose "It's research" you will see the scene with the wounded pastor later.

 

Just to note, Colette starts with a massive affection advantage over every other character, so if you are shooting for any other character, except Kratos, to be Lloyd's "soulmate", you'll need to do some work to lower her's. Keep in mind that Colette being Lloyd's "soulmate" results in one of three unique items given to you that cannot be found elsewhere in the game. Also, be mindful that your chances to raise and lower character affection are finite, and the ability to alter them outside of scenes are dubious at best; although possible, you don't want to have to resort to them later on.

Now in control of the party, open the menu and remove Genis' Beret headgear and move it over to Lloyd. Lloyd will benefit from the increase in defense, for now. Also, the Cloak that Genis comes initially equipped with is one of only two of this armor in the game, so don't sell it by accident.

 

Before leaving the classroom, look for the Z button-activated skit, "It'll Be Fine" to appear at the bottom of the screen. This will be the first of many character skits, some of which are rare, but not really necessarily for completion unless you would like to see them all. I'll do my best to cover each one that is possible to see, however. Be wary when moving to a new screen as the skit button likes to surface just as you're about to leave, and if it does, the skit will disappear, but usually pop back up again soon, but don't count on this as these skit activations can be quite fickle.

 

Still hanging around in the schoolhouse, have Lloyd inspect the obvious, Colette-created imprint in the wall for her to receive the title, Klutz. For more about titles, see the prequel chapter. Equipping Colette with the Klutz title will give a 10% chance for her HP, Str, and/or Acc to increase upon leveling up.

Outside the classroom, in the village of Iselia proper now, move Lloyd southeast and down the middle road, then enter the shop on the left. Lloyd, Colette, and Genis' starting weapons, Wooden Blade, Chakram, and Nova, are for sale here and are the only places in the game to get them should you sell them by accident. If you're a new player, you should have 500 Gald to spend. Purchase, at a minimum, 1 Magic Lens, for now, a Boots accessory for Lloyd, then the remainder on Apple and Orange Gels. If you carried your Gald over from the Grade Shop, go ahead and buy five pairs of Boots for your current, and upcoming party members, and anything else you like. If you want to see a small scene, you can try to visit Genis and Raine's house to the west of the item shop, also.

 

Okay, before we continue further and start fighting battles, I want to go over some specifics titles that you need to work towards from the very beginning of the game to obtain. If you read the prequel chapter, you'll already be familiar with them, but I wanted to list them here at the beginning as well. These restriction-based titles are:

• Eternal Apprentice (Lloyd): Lloyd can only equip the Wooden Sword weapon up until the Kilia boss battle in Palmacosta.
• Gung Ho (Lloyd): Lloyd, plus the three other active party members, levels must average no more than 36 when reaching the Rodyle boss battle at the Remote Island Human Ranch dungeon fairly late into the game. There is some wiggle room here, but I wouldn't push it.
  
• Brave Soul (Lloyd): Cannot have escaped from a battle up until the Yuan and Botta duo boss fight at the Tethe'alla Base.
• Friendship First (Colette): No party member can fall to 0 HP during battle up until the Iubaris boss fight at the Tower of Mana.
  
• I Hate Gels! (Genis): You need to have used zero Gel items up until the Pronyma boss battle in the Fooji Mountains.

Said character is a requirement to to be in your active party to be rewarded with the title after the battle. I will add a reminder as we get closer to them.

When you're done shopping, make your way back north and to the right of the schoolhouse to exit Iselia. Some monsters will attempt to enter the village, however, and the party will be thrown into two consecutive, easy battles. Don't waste any of your Magic Lens here, just to note, as these two enemies are not unique.

Afterward, exit the village to be presented with the world map for the first time. Immediately, the skit "What's the Temple Like?" will be available to view. The Martel Temple is a short distance to the northwest if you hug the nearby cliffs. Fight a few battles, if you want, but don't overdo it; especially if you are using an EXP booster from the Grade Shop. We actually want to be a bit of a low level for the first boss.

 

When you arrive at Martel Temple, if you didn't see the scene with the wounded pastor in Iselia, it will occur here after some banter between the three friends. Same as back in the village, selecting to go with Colette will increase her and Genis' affection values, while choosing to wait will lower Genis', but raise Raine's. Either way, the sounds of swords clashing can be heard from the Temple and the trio will need to climb the stairs to confront the "Desians".

Said "Desians" are, apparently, after Colette, and you'll engage in a simple battle with two Foot Soldier enemies. If you bought more than 1 Magic Lens, go ahead and use it on one of them, but if not, there will be better opportunities.

 

When defeated, you'll face-off with your first boss of the game, Vidarr. You bought the single Magic Lens for this occasion; so start the battle off immediately with either Colette or Genis using it on Vidarr. Once that's taken care of, it's important that you don't defeat the boss quickly; have Lloyd defend from Vidarr's attacks and keep him from Colette or Genis while they chip away at his HP. This is so...

 

Kratos will interrupt and join the battle. This will not happen if you defeated Vidarr quickly. If Kratos doesn't appear during the battle, then he will not join your party for the next dungeon. Kratos' participation in the dungeon isn't necessary at all, but it gives you an early opportunity to gain some levels with him and switch around titles, if need be, along with increasing his tech usage. As for the remainder of the boss battle, with Kratos casting First Aid with attacks in-between, Vidarr will fall easily.

The "Desians" will retreat upon Kratos' involvement. Colette's grandmother, Phaidra, will thank the party for saving her and protecting the Chosen, but is worried about her undertaking the trial of the Temple alone. Kratos, who just so happens to be in the right place at the right time, will accept proper payment for guarding the Chosen during her ordeal. Lloyd, however, already having had words with him, will demand to go too and you'll be prompted with another affection choice. Choosing "What did you say?!" will lower Kratos' affection towards Lloyd, while "...Gotcha." will raise it. Note: Kratos' affection level towards Lloyd has absolutely no bearing on the game at all and he cannot be Lloyd's "soulmate". Whatever choice you make, Lloyd, as well as Genis, are accompanying them into the Temple. Inside, Kratos will give Lloyd the Training Manual item, warning about the presence of monsters inside while doubting his skill.

 

Now that we have a full party, I'm going to take a timeout to discuss several different aspects of the game and titles that the characters currently have access to, and can learn right now. Also, go ahead and trade helmets between Lloyd and Kratos: giving the Leather Helm to Lloyd, with Kratos taking the Beret and equipping a pair of Boots.

Tales of Symphonia is chock-full of gameplay mechanics and options: from character EX Skills, to specific battle strategy settings, Tech learning (Technical or Strike) and Unison Attacks. I could literally go on forever on advice about these, but in the interest of being too long-winded, I am going to talk about these recommendations in the character setups chapter at the conclusion of the guide. I will, however, pinpoint specific things here and there that I believe to be crucial to gameplay as they present themselves. For example: it's a very good idea to set Genis' battle strategy to Aim High or Block Magic, while only using L-Range Magic. Issues like this I will discuss in-depth in the character setups chapter among many other things.

Let's talk about titles for a moment, now. With each new character that joins our party, I will devote time to which ones are currently available for them to learn. These can, generally, be learned at any time, but it's best to go ahead and get them out of the way if you are a new player or yet to learn them. Along with the title, I will provide their percentages of statistical gain if equipped. For more on stats and titles, see the beginning chapter.

Lloyd

 

Swordsman: Character's default title with no statistical gain.
Grand Swordsman: Lloyd gains this title at level 20. (HP, Str: 40%, Def: 30%)

Master Swordsman: Lloyd gains this title at level 40. (HP, Str: 50%, Def, Acc: 40%)

Holy Sword: Lloyd gains this title at level 100. (Def, Eva: 100%)

 

Berserker: Go into the system - customize section of the menu and change the game's difficulty to either Hard or Mania (NG+-only for the latter). Have Lloyd win 256 battles to obtain this title. If you don't already have it, you want to get this title as soon as possible for its stat bonuses. (HP, Str: 100%, Eva: 60%). Note: Higher difficulty does not increase received EXP or Gald; only the levels and statistics of enemies.

Tetra Slash: This one is simple. In control of Lloyd, get into a battle and have him perform his basic, three-hit normal attack, then follow it up immediately with a tech like Demon Fang. (HP, Str: 20%)

Boorish General: With Lloyd as your controlled character, go into his Tech screen. At the bottom are icons for the Gamecube's yellow, C-stick. These are for setting shortcut commands for other characters to carry out when the stick is shifted either up or down. Set these to minor techs like First Aid and Ray Thrust, then during battle, have Lloyd remain motionless and use the C-sticks to direct the characters to use these techs. Do this 10 times in one battle and Lloyd will earn the title. (Int: 30%, TP: 10%)

Lloyd, as well as the others, have a few others they can learn right now, but I am going to save them for a more opportune time a little later on.

 

Colette

 

Fledgling Chosen: Character's default title with no statistical gain.

Chosen: Colette gains this title at level 20. (Int: 30%, TP, Acc: 20%)

Tiny Angel: Colette gains this title at level 40. (Str, Int: 40%, Acc: 30%)

Angelic Maiden: Colette gains this title at level 100. (HP, Def: 100%)

Don't Run: Make Colette your controlled character during battle and don't move her at all; let your party members finish the battle for you. If Colette didn't budge, you'll be rewarded the title. (TP, Eva: 10%)

Self-control: Enter battle in control of Colette and complete the battle without her using any techs at all. (Def, Int: 10%)

Single-minded: Controlling Colette, use the same tech ten times during one battle. (Acc: 20%, TP: 10%)

Genis

 

Magic User: Character's default title with no statistical gain.

Sorcerer: Genis gains this title at level 20. (HP: 20%, TP, Acc: 10%)

Warlock: Genis gains this title at level 40. (HP: 30%, TP, Accu: 20%, Int: 10%)

 

Dependent: Basically, the same as Colette's Don't Run title, except Genis cannot take any damage. (Str, Def: 10%)

Note: Genis, for whatever reason, does not have a level 100 title like the rest of the characters in the game.

Kratos

 

Mercenary: Character's default title with no statistical gain.

Magic Swordsman: Kratos gains this title at level 20. (HP: 20%, TP, Int: 10%)

Battle God: Kratos gains this title at level 40. (HP: 30%, Str: 20%, Int: 10%)

War God: Kratos gains this title at level 100. (HP, Int: 100%, Accu: 50%)

Tetra Slash: The exact same as Lloyd's listed above. (HP, Str: 20%)

With most currently-available titles out of the way, let's get back to the game itself. Head back outside to the world map and, from either the large or small enemy icons, look for the Rabbit enemy. They can drop the customization material, Beast Hide. Although you'll have more chances for this later, try to snag at least one to create some armor in the near-future. Beast Hides also sell for an easy 1000 Gald.

 

Note: At this time, I'm not going to cover the monsters we can encounter and add to the Monster List. We will return to this area and add them once Raine joins our party; which isn't too far from now. Although not needed to add entries to the Monster List, Raine is the only character that can uncover a monster's "location" section of their entry. Any boss encountered before Raine joins the party, or is not available, will automatically have their location added when any character uses a Magic Lens.

While battling, if you need to restore your HP/TP, return to Iselia and enter the first, large house on the right-side of town. This is Colette's home and Frank will completely recover you, if asked. Now, we're ready for the first dungeon of the game.

 

From the entrance of the Temple, where Kratos gave Lloyd the Training Manual, proceed north for a small scene that reveals the party needs to find the series-staple, Sorcerer's Ring, to proceed further. Take the right-side path this time and fight your way past the enemies and down the stairs.

Descending the stairs, you'll find yourself apart of the first puzzle of the game when the party defeats a Golem and Colette accidentally drops its blocked remains down below to create a makeshift bridge. The premise is simple: each time you defeat a Golem, it leaves a pushable block behind. Once you've dropped the block below, through the center opening, and pushed it into a gap either: north, east, or west, the Golem will respawn and you can repeat the process.

 

Start by pushing your first block alongside the one Colette dropped down to complete a pathway to the chest on the western-side containing a Life Bottle item.

Next, you'll need to drop two blocks below and push them eastward to another treasure chest that you can snag a Panacea Bottle from. Once you've plundered the two chests, push two more blocks to the north to reach the Sorcerer's Ring altar. Note: Once you put the two northern blocks into place, the Golem will stop respawning, however, if you leave the screen and go back it will have returned.

 

Now in possession of the Sorcerer's Ring, your leading character can shoot a small fireball out to solve puzzles and also to stun enemies; allowing you to run past them and avoid battle.

Still in the altar area, ascend the stairs on the left-hand side of the room and above you'll immediately be prompted with the "Test For the Chosen" skit.

 

Continue south to find three more treasures containing an Apple Gel, Life Bottle, and 250 Gald.

To complete the dungeon, we need to return to the sealed area north of the entrance, but first, there are a few important notes to consider. Firstly, Colette and Kratos will be leaving your party for a short while, so make sure they have suitable titles equipped for auto-level gains. Second, to completely fill the Monster List, before going forward, Colette needs to reach at least level 10, or have carried over your Techs from the Grade Shop. This is so she can learn Item Thief. The next battle involving Colette will be a boss that must be stolen from to complete their entry. If she goes into the battle without the tech, you will be unable to do so. If you selected one of the increased EXP modifiers from the Grade Shop, level 10 will be fairly simple for her, but if not, you'll have some work cut out for you. Fight within the Martel Temple for best results.

 

Blast the seal with the Sorcerer's Ring's fire and step onto the warp tile. A scene will take place where the angel, Remiel, will appear before the party and bestow the Cruxis Crystal upon Colette; officially anointing her as the Chosen of Regeneration. He'll also call the Tower of Salvation unto the world, of which Colette must make a journey to waken the sleeping Goddess, Martel. After steering her first towards the Seal of Fire, Reimel will then depart, leaving the group to themselves.

You'll then be back in control of Lloyd. An unseen point of relationship building is here: whichever character you talk with first will receive a boost in affection towards Lloyd. Once you've spoken to all three characters, Colette and Kratos will leave your party to return to the village.

 

Leaving Lloyd and Genis by themselves, look for the skits "Lloyd's Thoughts on Angels", "Do I Have To?" and "The Oracle" before departing for the entrance.

Unfortunately, the duo happens to run into Professor Raine on the way out and she puts a beating on both Lloyd and Genis for leaving the classroom! Sending the two back to Iselia, she'll stay behind to maniacally dissect the Temple herself. Back out to the world map, look for the skit "The Journey" before returning to the village.