Your thoughts on affinities + my affinity headcanon

[Dragoncat]

PSA: Horoscopes irl, while they can be dumb, inaccurate, or whatever else, are still interesting and fun to work with and make lore about. Please, if you vote "no" on the poll, be civil about it. I will give you the same respect I expect from you. Let me have my fun and you can disagree all you want, I'm not forcing you to like it. 

So the affinities were part of the series starting from the GBA era, but stopping at the DS. Should they return? Did you like them?

My answer to both those questions is yes. I like to picture them as being the FE world's equivalent to zodiac signs, complete with common personality traits and good and bad romantic matches.

It's based mostly on the Tellius affinities, only with water being replaced with ice and heaven being replaced with cosmic. But not too much of a difference there. I wasn't aiming to match the elements with the time of year, just divided the year into 8 equal (or close) parts and put them in a logical order. Sure, I could've put fire in the summer months, but like I said, I wasn't aiming for weather/climate/season accuracy.

Discuss and tell me what yours is. Mine is thunder.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Dragoncat
PSA

[Azz]

I got Fire.

While some of the traits don't match me exactly, the matches do certainly apply as I do get along with those types of the people and not so much with the other kinds of people.

Also yeah, affinities should definitely return. It adds that tiny bit extra to characters that may not be relevant but it also made you choose who to support with who becuase of teh varying affects of each affinity.

[Magical Glace]

Light.

Bothersome that it's +Earth, considering my opinion of a character who has that affinity in canon.

And yeah, I'd like to see affinities return.  Different bonuses depending on the pair was interesting.

[Extrasolar]

I'm Light, and that's cool, because I've always liked light magic.

27 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

So the affinities were part of the series starting from the GBA era, but stopping at the DS. Should they return? Did you like them?

My answer to both those questions is yes. I like to picture them as being the FE world's equivalent to zodiac signs, complete with common personality traits and good and bad romantic matches.

I like the idea of affinities, to the point that I'm not concerned whether or not they even affect gameplay all that much, if at all. If they're relegated to flavor, I'm fine with that. Though I do think that exploring them being seemingly magical in nature with the boosts they give would be interesting. "You're a dark? I'm a fire! Let's fight together, we'd be unstoppable!"

I like your idea of affinities being equivalent to horoscopes as well. We need some cheesy dating advice self-help books in FE advising someone on "the perfect match." "Oh, your affinity is light? Look for thunder on the horizon..."

[Enaluxeme]

No, affinities don't matter unless you are min/maxing, and if you are, a different symbol on the character sheet seems like a stupid thing to base your choice on.

[Dragoncat]

@Extrasolar YAAASSS. If anybody wants to include cheesy dating advice books in their fanfic I'm all for it, and I want to see it. I could do it myself but I don't see how atm.

I'd like to see a Sain/Gatrie/Inigo type initiating supports with "what's your sign?" and proceeding to make lame puns about his. "Mine is wind, and trust me, I can blow you away." 

[Extrasolar]

1 minute ago, Dragoncat said:

@Extrasolar YAAASSS. If anybody wants to include cheesy dating advice books in their fanfic I'm all for it, and I want to see it. I could do it myself but I don't see how atm.

I'd like to see a Sain/Gatrie/Inigo type initiating supports with "what's your sign?" and proceeding to make lame puns about his. "Mine is wind, and trust me, I can blow you away." 

Oh my god, I never knew how much I needed this in my life until now. I can just see all three of them falling back on those groan-worthy lines. Gatrie would 100% be a Light affinity:

Gatrie: "How would you like me to treat you to a lovely dinner this evening, beautiful? Trust me. I can light up your world."

[Azz]

9 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

@Extrasolar YAAASSS. If anybody wants to include cheesy dating advice books in their fanfic I'm all for it, and I want to see it. I could do it myself but I don't see how atm.

I'd like to see a Sain/Gatrie/Inigo type initiating supports with "what's your sign?" and proceeding to make lame puns about his. "Mine is wind, and trust me, I can blow you away." 

Why do I want this now o_o

[The Malign Knight]

So, I got Light, tough I'm not really cheerful or trusting. However, I actually tend to have an easier time to stay with people who shares the traits of the Earth. Not so much with those who have Thunder affinity tough.

Anyway, I'm honestly indifferent towards "affinity" as a Whole, so I really don't care about it tbh

[Corrobin]

I have Cosmic. I am definitely indecisive.

[Dragoncat]

35 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

Oh my god, I never knew how much I needed this in my life until now. I can just see all three of them falling back on those groan-worthy lines. Gatrie would 100% be a Light affinity:

Gatrie: "How would you like me to treat you to a lovely dinner this evening, beautiful? Trust me. I can light up your world."

Lol yeah he does have light. I think Sain might have wind? Been awhile since I played FE7...

31 minutes ago, The Malign Knight said:

So, I got Light, tough I'm not really cheerful or trusting. However, I actually tend to have an easier time to stay with people who shares the traits of the Earth. Not so much with those who have Thunder affinity tough.

Anyway, I'm honestly indifferent towards "affinity" as a Whole, so I really don't care about it tbh

Well the personality traits are like our zodiac ones: estimates and not always set in stone. One person might fit it spot on and another might not. Really what I did was try to make the traits reflect the element, notice how I included two most likely good and two most likely bad traits in each one as well. I also considered some of the characters that have whatever affinity, like ice = water as I said, and those traits are had by Mist.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Dragoncat

[Extrasolar]

12 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

Lol yeah he does have light. I think Sain might have wind? Been awhile since I played FE7...

Well the personality traits are like our zodiac ones: estimates and not always set in stone. One person might fit it spot on and another might not. Really what I did was try to make the traits reflect the element, notice how I included two most likely good and two most likely bad traits in each one as well. I also considered some of the characters that have whatever affinity, like ice = water as I said, and those traits are had by Mist.

Seems like a lot of these are accurate to several characters of Tellius, personality wise and match wise. Shinon is Thunder and Gatrie is Light, and they're best friends forever. Not to mention, Ike is Earth, and he and Shinon are like oil and water.

Though Soren is a bit of an anomaly. He gets along best with Ike - Earth - and pushes Stefan - Cosmic - away immediately. But then again, that may just be Soren. And Micaiah - Cosmic - adores Sothe - Wind - when according to the chart they should hate each other. But as you said, there will always be exceptions to the rule.

EDIT: Speaking of which, Sothe doesn't fit Wind at all. He's more like the opposite. He's like an honorary Dark or something.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Knight Falchion]

Got Wind, and the only one of those traits that fits me is curious. Naive is arguable but I'd like to think I'm past that now.

I think the Affinity system was unnecessary and contributed very little to the game, kind of like the trinity of magic. I rarely factored its existence into my decision making process and do not think it should return. 

[Anacybele]

I never minded the affinity system.  I thought it was interesting.

I'm also thunder in your chart, Dcat. :P

[Etria]

I'm Dark.

I voted no, though I don't have any strong feelings about this. It's extremely superfluous; I never noticed it was gone. I'm also in the camp that thinks horoscopes are stupid and they're inaccurate 99% of the time. So while I wouldn't be happy if they integrate some sort of horoscope lore in the next game, I wouldn't mind if it was just a small matter.

[NekoKnight]

I think these horoscope/zodiac things are pretty silly. A lot of people are going to be born in the same month/year and they aren't going to be all alike. As for gameplay, no, I don't think they add anything other than hidden values for min maxing. I'd rather characters' support bonuses be specific to them.

[Dragoncat]

3 hours ago, Extrasolar said:

Seems like a lot of these are accurate to several characters of Tellius, personality wise and match wise. Shinon is Thunder and Gatrie is Light, and they're best friends forever. Not to mention, Ike is Earth, and he and Shinon are like oil and water.

Though Soren is a bit of an anomaly. He gets along best with Ike - Earth - and pushes Stefan - Cosmic - away immediately. But then again, that may just be Soren. And Micaiah - Cosmic - adores Sothe - Wind - when according to the chart they should hate each other. But as you said, there will always be exceptions to the rule.

EDIT: Speaking of which, Sothe doesn't fit Wind at all. He's more like the opposite. He's like an honorary Dark or something.

Holy crap. I didn't consider Shinon and his attitudes toward Ike and Gatrie when I made it. That's cool!

Soren is just Grumpy Cat in human form lol. Can totally see "I had fun once, it was awful" with him. Micaiah isn't cosmic, she's dark. Sothe fit wind better in PoR, when he was younger, I think.

To everyone saying horoscopes are stupid: I'm not a fan of them either but I like coming up with things like this.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Dragoncat

[Extrasolar]

4 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

Holy crap. I didn't consider Shinon and his attitudes toward Ike and Gatrie when I made it. That's cool!

Soren is just Grumpy Cat in human form lol. Can totally see "I had fun once, it was awful" with him. Micaiah isn't cosmic, she's dark. Sothe fit wind better in PoR, when he was younger, I think.

To everyone saying horoscopes are stupid: I'm not a fan of them either but I like coming up with things like this.

Oh, my bad about Micaiah, I must have been looking at Stefan and confused it for her. He's Cosmic. Hmm, even as a child I don't think Sothe was really extroverted or naive, considering that he was scorning Astrid for her lack of knowledge about the ways of the world in their supports; Curious and flexible? Uh, I guess so.,,

I definitely think horoscopes are stupid, but I like that they're fun in a cheesy sort of way, with everyone knowing that they're pretty much false. It's just fun to imagine some hack fortune teller making a fortune off of telling people their "future" through their affinity: "Beware! To all those with ties to Earth, something unexpected will happen to you in the near future! ...That'll be 20 gold pieces."

[Dragoncat]

Well, I never got Sothe's support with Astrid, but at least he fit two traits. But yeah. Exception to every rule and all that.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Dragoncat

[RedEyedDrake]

An affinity system based on birthdays and stereotypes? Is this for real?

[Luchi]

I personally tie the Tellius affinities to the real zodiac signs.

So Earth would be Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, Fire would be Aries, Leo and Saggitarius, Air would be Gemini, Libra and Aquarius and Water would be Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio. I always felt that Light/Fire/Thunder ( if we're looking at Tellius-like affinities ) were similar ( aka related to heat ), so Edward being a Sag and Mia being an Aries would make perfect sense. Or Earth and Dark would fall under the same signs, since I think Soren is a Capricorn. If you really study the characters and traits of the FE9/10 units, you'll find that their personalities closely match their affinity most of the time.

[Corrobin]

1 hour ago, RedEyedDrake said:

An affinity system based on birthdays and stereotypes? Is this for real?

It's just a fun little diversion, stop acting like this topic killed your mom or something.

[Darros]

"serene, innocent"

lmfao

you did say they were kind of just a crapshoot though. so its whatever. its the same as the zodiac if you ask me

 

i am for affinities returning though. i liked the small stuff that FE has kind of pulled out over the years.

[Anacybele]

7 minutes ago, Corrobin said:

It's just a fun little diversion, stop acting like this topic killed your mom or something.

This. Let Dcat have her fun. :/ I also don't appreciate anyone picking on my friend like that.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Anacybele

[Dragrath]

Not a fan of horoscopes that said noting wrong with it as long as it is flavor and isn't absolute I do feel it was a superfluous feature though seeing as I haven't missed it in the least.

(FYI I got dark where at best one trait could be associated. Hence further proof that horoscope type stuff is crap IRL) As long as characters exist refuting the value of affinities and the like (as well as say face palming when someone brings up the subject) I'm fine.

Also if affinities were to be returned map affinities should return