found out how the convictions work by having it completely invalidate a scales of conviction scene and the choices I'd made in it and information I'd gleaned from other characters beforehand to use to convince people over to my side.
very cool to have to feel like I need to spoil myself and use a guide to figure out what I need these stupid invisible values to be ahead of time in order to play the paths of the story I that actually want to. no gripes with the battle gameplay though.