Affection list

[RazorclawX]

He ends up there no matter what.

[Rui]

It seems that, the last time I played, I didn't notice Abolisher sensing something strange at the cauldron, and I never got to fight Six. It was quite an interesting and challenging fight! But he still ends up submerged. In what way does Six's affection change his path, then?

I also managed to beat Dalles without cheating (Yay!!!), though I suspect the difficulty wasn't the hardest. Hikaru also seemed significantly easier than last time I fought him. Maybe that's because I was using a different class; Demon Hunter Shizuka's skills prove much more useful, considering Hikaru stuns a lot and the class you initially get to play with is about attacking.
Anyway, topic-related again, I didn't understand what Shizuka meant when she said she sacrificed her future for Hikaru, so that he wouldn't have to see and do the things she did. What exactly does she mean?

EDIT: I also got interested when Scaldar said he was a kind of demigod and he couldn't return to Coron'Nerub in that state, and Shizuka replied that she knew what it was like to be excluded because of that. What event is she referring to?

[RazorclawX]

Anyway, topic-related again, I didn't understand what Shizuka meant when she said she sacrificed her future for Hikaru, so that he wouldn't have to see and do the things she did. What exactly does she mean?

EDIT: I also got interested when Scaldar said he was a kind of demigod and he couldn't return to Coron'Nerub in that state, and Shizuka replied that she knew what it was like to be excluded because of that. What event is she referring to?

Both of those refer to having been possessed by Deathclaw. She accepts this fate because she realized if she didn't do it someone else would have to (doesn't really help that she was picked out in particular). She gains a huge amount of power as a consequence, but the price for such a power comes with the inability to live out a normal life, marred by an expanded awareness of the bigger events that often go unseen to the affairs of men. Shizuka's motivation is to keep people like her brother (in particular) away from that, which is why she gets angry when Hikaru keeps getting himself involved, but what she doesn't realize is Hikaru is cut from the same cloth as she is.

[Rui]

Hey. May I ask a couple of questions?

I'm curious as to how affection affects the characters. I caught nothing in the characters' speech that changed depending on affection, at least on Book II. What does it really do?

[RazorclawX]

It mainly changes the ending.

[Xeth-Ban]

How many different ending sequences are there? I got the same in both my playthroughs...But then, I had over a 100 affection points with all three main protagonists except Kurumi, who had slightly less. I am guessing that instantly results in a Good End? (Are there any Bad Ends?)

[RazorclawX]

There's not really a bad ending, just less good.

[Rui]

There are things in the affection gain that still puzzle me. For example, why do Kurumi or Hikaru get affection from Nekurow finding a cure for Emperor Radik?

[Xeth-Ban]

Nekurow might have done it pure purely selfish reasons, but it could also be viewed as a good deed. Judging from the rest of the affection list, it seems that Hikaru and Kurumi are generally quite pleased whenever a good deed is done, so the same probably applies here.