Tales of Symphonia is my favorite game.
My favorite characters are Kratos (I agree with you H'ey, he is cute.

), Lloyd, Sheena and Raine.
The battle systems were great, as well as the storyline.
Since we are talking about ToS, I got 2 questions. I will put them in spoiler tags, not to ruin anything:
Spoiler (Highlight to read):
At the end of the game, Kratos leaves everyone and goes to Derris-Kharlan. If I remember, Lloyd asked why, and Kratos said he is a half-elf Cruxis member. Ok, half-elf? I thought he was human, since his son is human as well. Maybe I am wrong. >.>
Spoiler (Highlight to read):
Second question, Why Tabatha became one with Martel? It seems like she was a body replacement for Martel. I don't get that. >.>