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Rate the Supports: PoR Edition


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Welcome to Rate the Supports: Relationships of Radiance Edition!

I've decided to do a new tier list of sorts. Rather than quantify pure gameplay goodness, we'll be rating support conversations character by character to figure out exactly how good the overall quality of supports is in Path of Radiance.

Every ~two days, I'll put 3 new characters up for ranking on a 1-10 scale. After that, I'll average the numbers given and list the averaged value in this post. I will consider ratings given to a given character if they are made after their two days are up, and at the end will recalculate all relevant ratings. Tell me if you'd prefer I add 3 new characters every day, but keep the 2 day window on voting for a given trio- to speed up the pace a little.

So, how are we supposed to rank everyone? I'm not going to tell you the proper logic, but here are some guidelines:

Your rating should be primarily based on a character's support conversations. You can however include into your rating any exposition the character gets in their introduction, base conversations (all but C8&9 are listed on SF), boss convos, or in the plot as whole. Please try to restrict points given based on a character's appearance in RD to no more than 1, as unlike FE6-FE7, RD was not out before PoR- we had no idea at the time of PoR's release about anything that would come later.

As for support conversations themselves, again, I will provide no hard logic on how to rate them. You should consider all of a character's support conversations. But I'll leave it to you whether to weigh them strictly equally, or decide that one very good/bad support outweighs everything else. You don't need to rate the character's role in their supports alone, you can say "this is a good support, but in spite of character x (x being the rated character)" or "world-building saves this support".

One thing I do not want to see, is stuff like "69/10 for Mia b/c she hawt!", keep those fantasies out of your ratings!

Results so far:

Spoiler

Ike: 6.125 (4 votes)

Titania: 5.75 (4 votes)

Oscar: 5.5 (4 votes)

 

With all this initial criteria outlined let us start this effort to quantify support quality with the GMs, and to be precise: Ike, Titania, and Oscar.

My Opinions on the first trio (note: you do not need to mimic me in the depth of written analysis! One or two sentences is fine!):

Spoiler

Ike

Ike is like a potato, he is pretty bland and flavorless. A simple guy who enjoys training, and is generally understanding of others. He does have emotions, but barring the famed Apostle outburst, he keeps them relatively low key. Nearly all of Ike's supports cast him as the passive figure, the potato upon which you heap salt, butter, cheese, sour cream, chives, ketchup, vinegar; and which you mash, bake, fry, and saladify. Ike's Ranulf support, in the C and B at least, try to make him more an active figure in his conversations, and the Titania does too. And his passive interactions are more than just "I understand/my sympathies" but I don't think they amount to that much more. Still, the supports range from eh (Oscar, Titania) to good (Reyson, Ranulf) and Soren-Ike, which is mostly a dump of Soren's backstory, but it is a very good backstory dump.

Do I like Ike? Does Ike like a 6? (Originally I was thinking a 7.5)

Titania:

The bit of backstory Titania gets in her Ike support is okay, nothing crazy, but it doesn't have to be- not everyone needs overly elaborate backstories. The Boyd support shows our Jagen doing her job of keeping the trainees in line, and at the end possibly suggests she has been a mother to more than just Ike and Mist. The Mist support is simple normal girl talk that adds a little to Mist and her mother Elena, but is otherwise ordinary, for better or worse. The Rhys support is Titania's best, and I enjoy treating the two as a couple due to it (a less extreme NailahxRafiel). Titania gets a little backstory, Rhys gets a good chunk, and the two interact nicely with each other. However! I want to maim the person who ruined the end of this support chain by making Titania all "Ike, Ike, Ike!" in the A support! They should have focused on the two actually engaged in conversation!

The Queen of the Fairies/Babylonian goddess-monster gets a 4.5 from me.

Oscar:

In a move shared with Ike and Marcia  in PoR, Oscar does not get supports with his siblings (a bond support is still present though). Base conversations yes in Oscar's case, but actual support conversations, no. Said base conversations show Oscar-the-mild balancing the energetic-but-brainless Boyd and to a lesser extent Rolf. In the C19 Triangle Attack granting conversation, Oscar's brilliance is seen by him discovering the Triangle Attack, and then his own surprising ego is played for laughs. Unfortunately, the rather good C8 base conversation where Oscar proves himself adept at reading character auras through Ike is not on this website.

And onto the actual supports. The Ike is mediocre, a Lowen-like food C support is followed by a bland training support, and then the A is just "are you okay Ike?" with another reference to food tacked on. Like Ike, Oscar is rather dull, not so much a potato as I would say a pinch of some herb like parsley, indicating he has a bit more flavor. Putting the two in one support is bound to be blah, and hence the need for food to come up. The Janaff support is only okay, with Oscar's inoffensiveness playing the essential role. The Tanith support has a slow introduction, an unexpected "Oscar is a genius" moment, and ends with food. I'd label it as good. The Kieran support is our Red & Green support, and it works well. Kieran is over-the-top, and Oscar is in strong contrast simple and plain in his responses; the A support adds to our understanding of Oscar. Green Greil Mercenary and Red Crimean Knight Unite!

Oscar might be surprised to see me so obsessed with him, but I'm going to give him a 7.

 

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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Ike supports: 3/10. Seriously, outside of Soren's supports, his are honestly astoundingly bad. And even then, Soren's isn't that great when you consider that Ike literally just acts like a talking post for the characters almost half of the time. Really, you could have the characters essentially having an inner monologue and it wouldn't make much of a difference outside of Ranulf's. It doesn't help that Ike isn't particularly interesting outside of the supports, and it pretty much shows in the supports. Ike doesn't really do anything but react and have knee jerk reactions, and since people are talking in a calm way, it ends up being pretty boring. People often talk about the lords being boring, but here I feel that Ike is especially boring in supports. 

Titania supports: 5/10 we get some background from Titania but fortunately for her, she gets enough screen time to have her basic background fleshed out enough where we can see her acting as a guardian to the lot of people in her supports actively encouraging them to perform better. As OP stated, her supports with Rhys are good outside of support A which kinda comes out of left field and isn't terrible good either. 

Oscar supports: 6/10 a simple guy with simple supports. There's not much to say outside of learning that he's a knight a heart but takes care of his brothers out of duty, and that he enjoys being a mercenary even more than that. Solid character even with a small range of supports. 

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IMPORTANT: I like to use all of the numbers of the rating scale.  For me, 5 is average, meaning that 5 is the minimum level of quality I want out of a support conversation.  Anything below that is what I would consider to be subpar.

Ike: I don't get the issues people have with his supports.  He undoubtedly takes a back seat, which is...perfectly fine.  He has the entire game to flesh out his character, while some of the characters he speaks to don't get that luxury.  I'd rather their stories be in the forefront.  Titania delves into her past and expands on her relationship with Ike and his father, Oscar and Ike is about them focusing on improving themselves (admittedly, I don't find this one all too interesting either), Soren expands on his relationship with Ike (which is already done fairly well in the main story itself) and his own backstory, Lethe is about how beorc/laguz fight and how she starts to respect and ultimately befriend Ike by the end of it, Reyson just feels like two friends conversing over having a particular theme (love Reyson's line about how punching Oliver felt good), Ranulf is similar to the previous one except he has a different reparte w/Ike than Reyson did, and Elincia is about relating w/Ike about how they've both had these huge responsibilities thrust upon them and how it's okay to draw energy from other people during tough times (also it ships them, heh heh heh).  I agree that they can be dry at times, but the important thing to me is that 1) they feel believable and 2) they give me the impression that both of the characters' relationships with each other is improving.  That's what I look for most of all in support conversations.  Being entertained is always nice, but it's not my primary interest in reading them.  Ike's supports don't expand his character but I feel like most of them do a good job at detailing his relationship with his support partner and, more often than not, giving insight into their motivations and/or backstory as well.  Some of them do that better than others, though, and despite what I said before, it is just a little disappointing that Ike himself doesn't develop throughout any of these conversations.

7/10

Titania: Already talked about her Ike support, Boyd seems to be based on her humorous interactions with him which don't really serve a purpose but the A support is funny to me so I'll forgive it, Rhys delves into BOTH of their backstories and Rhys' thoughts about working as a mercenary (one of the better convoes where it feels like you understand more about BOTH of the participants by the end of it; don't get the issues with them mentioning Ike considering talking about his boss was a natural extension from talking about his job lol), and Mist is more about how Mist is a workaholic and Titania trying to make sure she doesn't work herself to death (also I really like it because I've had these conversations with real people before, so it felt relateable to me at least).  She doesn't get much but they all expand on a different part of her character, which I think is commendable.

6/10

Oscar: Already talked about his Ike support, Kieran is mostly about Kieran (humorously) trying to understand Oscar's motivations before they become total bros by the end of it (honestly one of my favorite Christmas dynamics throughout the series; not sure if I prefer this one or Kent/Sain, though), Janaff doesn't really develop either of them but I did genuinely find it funny at least, Tanith develops Oscar the most as it shows how Oscar's experiences as a mercenary have shaped him into the man he is and Tanith learning from those experiences despite by all rights being far more accomplished than he is (especially on 0% growths!).  Two of his supports (Ike, Janaff) are lacking that development, but I like the other two enough that I'm willing to give him a pass on his lamer supports.

5/10

Edited by Refa
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Ike: 8.5. "I'm perfectly happy being boring." Ike not saying much most of the time makes anything profound all the more impactful, and you get the impression that he's always listening to whoever's talking. He still manages to get some primo dialogue out of whoever he supports with (sans Oscar), not unlike with his story dialogues. Helps that most of his supports make direct mention to the main story. This is how you write a main character's supports.

Titania: 7.5. I really like the idea of Titania's supports with Ike and Mist reflecting on her pseudo-stepmom position, and Boyd's is great as usual. Rhys starts okay and goes nowhere. Poor Rhys.

Oscar: 4. Ike's is boring and Janaff's just makes Janaff look like an asshole and Oscar like a chump. Tanith's is sweet, I'm a sucker for matching polite and dilligent gentlemen and ladies. Kieran's is fine, if only because Kieran. Beefin' with the most inoffensive weiner around and whatnot.

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Results for Round 1 have been calculated.

Next up are Boyd, Rhys, and Shinon.

My opinions:

Spoiler

Boyd:

The middle of the three brothers brings his personality, bold, but sharing in Oscar’s honesty, to his support conversations. Boyd’s Titania support casts him as the rookie knight to Titania’s senior knight- a classic support done with a little twist- it’s decent. The Mist support is okay for the first two parts, but it ends terribly. The Ulki support is possibly worse or possibly better than Oscar-Janaff, but is easily the worst of Boyd’s. The Brom support is Boyd’s best, with him getting a little deep, and his interactions with Brom are believable and in line with his bold personality (it’s also a little ironic when you read the Titania one).

I recall a C8 or 9 base conversation wherein he tells Ike how much he appreciated Greil for taking him and his brothers in. The backstory was touching.

Never is Boyd the problem in his supports, he is always at least good, it’s his partners or the situations which undermine him. I’ll give him an 7.

Rhys

Our mild-mannered priest is mild and fragile, but not devoid of his active side, it is just curtailed by his fragile body. His Titania support gives good backstory, and works very well until the A. The Mia and Kieran supports are hijacked by the predominance of the crazy mono-trait partner, though Rhys does get a clever word in Kieran’s when trying to stop Kieran from almost killing himself all the time. Rolf is a case of a good priest tending to a child’s concerns, but it can come off as a little too kiddy. The Ulki starts awkward and terrible like the two other Hawk Laguz supports discussed so far, but it ends okay and shows some of Rhys’s more adventurous side.

I give Rhys a 5.

Shinon:

A racist and an Ike hater, Shinon is surprisingly one of my favorite characters in PoR from his supports. Not one of his three supports is at all bad. In his Gatrie is he inexcusably exploitive of his friend? Yes. But Shinon at the same time just wants to protect his pal from his gullible nature, and even at the end offers to spend his own money for a meal with his bud. Is Shinon perhaps a little too rough on Rolf? Yes. But at the same time Shinon deeply cares about his pupil. And then we get the Janaff. Shinon and Janaff start by hating each other, but to be fair, this is probably more typical of Beorc-Laguz relations than how say Oscar-Janaff and Boyd-Ulki interact. The warm up is appropriately gradual in the B. The A is perhaps a little too rosy, but I like it and it even reveals as a side note that Shinon knows his Ike hatred is a little bit irrational (but it isn't entirely so). 

Shinon’s sudden departure from the GMs might be a blight on him, if he had waited a little longer (until they got to Castle Gallia) before leaving, things would have made more sense.

I can’t find anything truly objectionable in Shinon. Sure he’s provocative, but it feels he’s very fleshed out even without a giant backstory or dramatic development. This feels strange, and I know people might disagree with me on this, but I'm feeling a 9.5 of all things for Shinon.

 

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Aw, I missed the first round? Lame! :/

Second round thoughts, all spoiled for length. (Boyd, Rhys, and Shinon in that order if you were curious.)
 

Spoiler

Boyd supports:

Boyd is a joke in a lot of ways, and it shows in his conversations. He's a little dull-witted, slow on the uptake, and tends to fall into "foot-in-mouth" syndrome the majority of the time. He makes an excellent foil for most of his support conversations...but then he turns and is unexpectedly really intelligent or deep about something sometimes. It's an interesting switch.

Boyd's conversation with Titania is downright hilarious. The guy tries so hard to impress her, but doesn't realize that he's one of the most transparent people on the planet. I honestly can't see this as anything but a parody/subversion of the classic "sudden romantic confession" so common in paired supports and endings (and especially when it's of two people with a gap in age like Boyd and Titania), and with Boyd here it really highlights how sudden and out of place those can be. The "you're like a really nice mom" line and Boyd asking how old Titania is...yeah, it really says it all.

Boyd's conversation with Mist shows that there's far more to the meathead than there appears to be. He doesn't take war to be some game for him to show off at (well, for the most part...), and he actually gets unexpectedly heated with Mist when she tries to say that natural talent wins out over practice. Boyd's really into training and improving himself; he's not just a musclehead for no reason, but in that he doesn't want to fall behind. Boyd, of all people, is there to be Mist's shoulder to cry on. Makes their paired ending in Radiant Dawn make a lot more sense, if they make that sort of thing a regular habit with them...

Boyd comes off as kind of a dick in Brom's conversation, to be quite honest, and I at first disliked this support a lot...until Boyd started getting unexpectedly sort of philosophical, about a mercenary's role to deal death, and how mercenaries are generally distrusted by a lot of the populace. It gets to him, and he hints that he would have preferred to be able to settle quietly on a farm in the countryside, but his being jumped into a mercenary group at a young age kind of blocked all chance of that. Ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.

Boyd's conversation with Ulki...it's okay, I guess. It starts off a little slow, since Ulki's not the most talkative person in the world, and even motor mouth Boyd can't do much with that. There's a sort of moral/resolution in the end that's basically "yo, don't let racist thoughts get in the way of making friends" but...Ulki's hesitant to talk to anyone regardless if they're beorc or laguz, so this doesn't work as well as, say, Lethe and Jill does. So Ulki did a full stalker-ish background check on Boyd before even thinking about talking him? We get an out-of-place mention of Ike, and Ulki thinking he's "unworthy" of being Boyd's friend simply because he was tense - for good reasons, considering usual beorc-laguz relations? Yeah, not really a fan of this. Bleh.

Final Score: Gotta give Boyd a 6.5. Comedy is always good, but the most important part of supports in my opinion is giving characters depth, and two of Boyd's supports show him as far more thoughtful than he appears to be, and him being there for Mist is definitely sweet. The Brom one starts off a little shaky, and all of it is soured with the one with Ulki. It just...seems a little out of place, strangely written, and dull.

 

Spoiler

Rhys supports:

Rhys is an adorable, adorable man, and anyone disliking him would have to be a certain kind of evil (mostly jk, but seriously, how could anyone hate him?! He's adorable!)

Rhys' support with Titania is excellent and interesting backstory. The two don't get too many story scenes together, to the point that you'd almost forget that they're close friends who have worked together for years. It really makes you feel sorry for the poor guy; he has two elderly parents to support, and is an only child, but his weak constitution means that he had trouble finding work before the mercenaries came to him out of pure chance...and we learn that Shinon was worried about an injured Titania. Plot twist! Anyway, this highlights Rhys' determination and hardworking nature; even though he's physically incapable of working a lot of the time, he still tries his hardest, and that's admirable. The two get sweetly nostalgic about the old days with Greil and the old mercenaries. Not to mention, it is nice seeing two of the veterans talking over the change in leadership after Greil's death.

Rhys' support with Rolf is his most important, in my opinion. We see just how far Rhys is willing to go for the sake of others, even if it means harming himself. He's so scared that he's a burden on his friends that he hides his illnesses, and wishes so desperately that he could match his colleagues' vitality. Too precious. Thankfully Rolf's got a good head on his shoulders and tells Rhys to knock it off with that line of thinking. Rhys learns to value himself and his contributions more too - not everyone can be a warrior, after all, and healers are just as helpful. Just like his support with Titania, it highlights Rhys' self-confidence and self-appreciation problems and addresses them.

Rhys' supports with Mia show just how self-sacrificing that the man really is. He's keenly aware that his body is incapable of handling her strict training regiment, but in order to make her happy anyway. Plus, his adorable dorkiness to the point that he doesn't even know the right way to hold a blade the right way for sure is just endearing.

While I think his support with Rolf is the most important for his character, his support with Kieran is by far my favorite, just for how it scares poor Rhys half to death. Putting those two in a room (figuratively, of course) was one of the best decisions the writers made, just for how completely opposite these two are. This support is just plain hilarious, with Kieran finding increasingly outlandish ways to nearly kill himself (axe blade in head...) and Rhys nearly having a nervous breakdown over it all. He tackles the insurmountable task of trying to talk some sense into Kieran, which of course is bound to fail. It's a status quo joke, but one that's done well.

His support with Ulki really dials up the sweetness, and Rhys telling Ulki that he's always dreamed of being able to do more than his fraility would allow him, and that his ultimate dream would be to soar through the sky. Ulki and his taciturn nature are a little put-off by all of this, but Rhys doesn't seem to mind at all. His enthusiasm for flying is almost childlike in its genuine earnestness and excitement, which makes it all the more endearing. We do learn that Rhys was never really able to play with other children due to his illnesses during his and Titania's supports, so I imagine a lot of that attitude lingered... By the end he even says he'll lose weight so Ulki can comfortably carry him on his back. Not like it would ever happen, considering Ulki's nature, but it's still an adorable thing to picture.

Final Score: I'm a little biased on this one, since Rhys is my precious cinnamon roll. I'm gonna give him a solid 8. He's already a very endearing and sweet man, and his supports not only give backstory to him, but the Greil Mercenaries as a whole, and his supports definitely exacerbate that. And his youthful dreams of soaring when he's bedridden are very sweet.
 

 

Spoiler

Shinon supports:

Shinon is an asshole. Plain and simple. But the best thing about the Shinon supports is that, while Shinon is a dick, he's a dick with layers.

His Janaff support in particular shows that while Shinon is racist as hell, at the very least, he expects those more experienced than him, and by the end, he's stopping himself from using the slur and chasing Janaff in order to find out more. It's especially funny and/or interesting to think that Janaff is among the youngest-looking and more childish laguz in attitude, and Shinon looking up to him on virtue of his actual age alone is pretty amusing. Personally, I don't think it's too rosy; they're not exactly best friends by the end, but I can imagine Shinon hanging on Janaff's every word when he's telling him about his experiences, only pretending to be unaffected, stoic, and snarky about it. Lol.

Gatrie and Shinon's support is just plain funny. Granted, Gatrie is more the star of the support than Shinon is, but where would the comedy be without Shinon acting as the deadpan straight man and Gatrie's foil? My favorite thing about this is just how inexplicable their friendship is. These two are just about opposite in terms of personality, and yet, they're chumming it up like no tomorrow, no matter how much Shinon insults and snarks at Gatrie. I can only see Shinon's offering to pay for his and Gatrie's night out (and we know how stingy/obsessed with money the guy is, since he doesn't like being a mercenary on virtue of its low pay) as a low-key sweet way to cheer Gatrie up over the latest con artist taking him for a ride.

Shinon's support with Rolf deepens him quite a bit. He seems semi-annoyed and chagrined at Rolf's childish fondness for him, but he tolerates it, unexpected for a guy as brusque and independent as Shinon. Not to mention, at first glance he comes off as cold and uncaring as far as bloodshed and murder on the battlefield goes, but he reveals that it affects him just as deeply as it would anyone else. His unexpected soft spot for Rolf and kids as a whole (his lines about his dislike of adults stemming from their ego is...a little funny, coming from someone like him) is really sweet. He's got a strange mixture of "tough love" and "softness" in that relationship.

Final Score: Solid 9. Does its job well: Gives depth to what comes off originally as a one-note and completely unlikable asshole. Still a huge asshole, but an asshole with good traits too.

 

Edited by Extrasolar
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Oh yeah, forgot to mention that when I edited the OP earlier I upped my personal Titania rating from a 4 to a 4.5, my bad.

@Extrasolar You can still give your ratings on the first round of characters- I'll just recalculate everything later. I like having more opinions and voices involved.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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Boyd: 10. Consistently enjoyable and probably my favorite support character. I completely disagree with the Ulki support criticism, it does a good job taking Ulki in a different direction from his other supports. His A with Mist is my favorite short support ever.

Rhys: 7. The Titania one is meh. Mia's is okay if just for the ending. Anyone who ever tried playing as a healer in an RPG can empathize with him in Kieran's. The Rolf and Ulki ones are all kinds of sweet. I think it's pretty refreshing to have a young adult male as the frail medic who actually needs help all the time, so I'm down with how things pan out here.

Shinon: 8. Shinon's always a breath of fresh air from everyone else's idealism and camaraderie. Even the only two people who seem to like him aren't safe from his attitude, and he manages to pull off the hidden heart of gold thing without it feeling like we're just going through the motions. Only thing stopping him from a perfect score is how there should've been more supports, like something with Titania where they build that begrudging respect despite not getting along well. Also negative points for Janaff being Janaff. Fuck that guy.

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I'm not going to list any averaged ratings unless more people rate, but I'll casually bring up a few more characters every couple days just for the sake of it. Take your time, life can be busy, and supports do take some time to read and digest. Read and rate whoever you want whenever you want.

The next three are Gatrie, Soren, and Mia.

My Opinions:

Spoiler

Gatrie:

The playboy of PoR is Gatrie, and all of his supports revolve around this. His Ilyana is just bad, neither funny nor interesting, nor anything. His Astrid is a better fit and a somewhat funny, but still not very good at all. Marcia, I’d have thought she’d punch him for his philandering, but to my amazement she never does. Marcia’s perkiness and Gatrie’s similarly upbeat attitude go well together, and the support, if lacking in depth or development, is good for a simple lighthearted support. Gatrie’s Shinon support shows us how gullible Gatrie can be through his hopeless romances, and is his best support, with a fair deal of humor.

Gatrie never gets development, he remains one note, though he does have a good deal of pre-C8 dialogue for some decent characterization. A 3 for our loveless knight.

Soren:

A personal favorite of mine in all of FE and video games in general, Soren has only two supports. His Ike support is a masterpiece, weaving Soren’s character, backstory and world building splendidly together into one chain. The cold calculating realist aura that Soren normally bears in the plot is shattered, and the innocent, insecure, socially awkward and lonely individual who never truly had a childhood is revealed. Ike worship yes, but here I would say it is fine- Soren’s life was saved by Ike and Ike is Soren’s only friend. (Though he isn't 100% socially awkward, as his C23 Aimee base conversation shows.)

The less spoken of Stefan support is not as good, perhaps it would have been better if the C and B were collapsed into one, the A became the B. And the A became Stefan and Soren actually socializing instead of Stefan just telling Soren to come to the hidden Branded village and Soren dejecting his Branded status and clinging to Ike.

Personal bias I admit will be present in this score, but for Soren, my dear Soren, I must offer a 9. The one point off is for the failures of the Stefan support, which hurts when you only have two supports.

Mia:

Hey you in the white clothes! Are you my archrival? I wanna spar with you!

That is Mia in a nutshell, an energetic girl with a love of training her sword skills, and arch-rivalry. There is nothing else to her. Her Ilyana support is bad, though actually humorous at the end. Her Rhys support is better, but not by that much. Her Largo support is her best and actually gives a touch of backstory for her, but it still isn’t all that great.

Her base conversation with Ike from C8 or 9 is not available on SF, but it helps her slightly if I remember it well enough.

Mamma Mia, here I go again! My my, what a one-note character! 2!

 

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Gatrie

I generally dislike wannabe casanovas, but Gatrie manages to make things worse by also being delusional and talking to himself in a very creepy fashion. The only reason he seems to even survive normal day-to-day activities is because other people bail him out, which makes me question how Shinon of all people manages to put up with him. 

2/10

Soren

Only two supports and I figure we're not allowed to discuss base conversations or main story dialogue, but I adore Soren. He's by far one of my favorite Fire Emblem characters and I feel like the series could use more like him. His support with Ike is good because of his tragic backstory, but it's still very heavy on the exposition, and his support with Stefan doesn't exactly lead anywhere that couldn't have been said in B or even C. I get that it shows Sorens' reluctance to speak about his status as a branded, I really do, but it still doesn't make it a very engaging support. Soren shines more in the main story than in his supports, but his support with Ike does show a very intriguing part of him.

8/10

Mia

Jesus Christ, I get a headache just from re-reading this stuff. 

2/10

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Woot, a little late on this, but here we go!

Okay, retroactive round 1 ratings. Spoilered for length once again. (Ike, Titania, and Oscar in that order if you were curious.)

 

Spoiler

Ike supports:

Ike is a simple, blunt guy with simple and blunt opinions. Some call him boring, but I disagree; he's a grounding force in a lot of his conversations, as well as a "normal" point of view. Like many people have pointed out, the guy gets an entire game's worth (well, one game and one stolen spotlight in the next game's worth...) of focus to develop and change. His supports give lots of depth to secondary characters, which is really cool.

I love the Soren support because Ike and Soren's relationship is one of the high points in the Tellius series in the first place. Some people say this support does more for Soren than it does for Ike, and to an extent I agree, but not only does it highlight Soren's loyalty and love for Ike, but also Ike's kindness and idealism. Even in C, we get the whole "big softie" thing. A lot of people overlook that Ike is a very kind person, since it's hidden underneath his usual blunt manner. I feel like this support really brings that out. Really, Marth is the premiere "loves everybody regardless of who or what they are" hero in the series, but Ike is most definitely a close second.

Ike's support with Titania is excellent for Titania; we learn a lot of her backstory, and a possible (and heavily implied) unrequited love of Greil. Damn, if only that had been fleshed out and developed more... We also learn more about Greil himself - he was a fierce and badass warrior, but a sweet family man as well. All in all, it's a nice little trip down memory lane for Titania that gives up some cool backstory.

You know, a lot of Ike's supports involve him sparring with people or wanting to spar with people... And people say Mia is obsessive But the Oscar support is fine, I guess. It is nice how we get a little nod to what's going on in the story when they discuss strategy against the bird laguz tribes, but is it me, or is another "Ike is amazing and awesome" moment with Oscar praising Ike's natural talent as Greil's son over his own hard work and training? Ugh...that's a pet peeve of mine. But it is really sweet of Ike to promise to compliment Oscar's cooking from now on. Oscar doesn't ask for much attention or praise or anything, but something that makes him feel good like that is very nice.

Ike and Lethe's support is cool, just for how it mellows Lethe and her hostility out. Learning more about laguz-beorc relations and laguz fighting styles in general is an added, neat wolrdbuilding bonus. By the end, they develop a healthy respect for one another, if not the beginning of some...strange friendship-type thing. Lethe grudgingly admitting she'd be excited about Ike visiting Gallia after the war is pretty nice.

In the Reyson support, we learn a lot about herons and how they function. I like Reyson as a character in general, and giving him backstory and more screen time is always a plus in my book. The guy's a total badass, even if the single time he threw a bunch he fractured all the bones in his wrist. Reyson's snappy attitude and such is infinitely amusing, and I've always found him to be one of the Tellius series' most compelling characters due to his righteous anger over the Serenes Massacre.

Ike's support with Ranulf is pretty amusing, and my second favorite of his aside from the Soren one. We get fun little details and comparisons between the laguz and the beorc. Seeing someone as serious and up front as Ike interact with the cheeky, relaxed Ranulf is pretty fun...but it also shows that Ranulf is a lot more perceptive and cautious than he lets on. Not to mention, this is another one where we see Ike's extreme trust and friendliness. Ranulf's final words, calling Ike dumb and saying he shouldn't trust people so much...kind of WTF as an ending to it all, but, I mean, he's got a point.

The Elincia conversation. Yeah, I can definitely see how this created a bunch of Ike/Elincia shippers, even if I don't ship them personally, and if a lot of it was the invention of the localization. Getting more of Elincia's feelings about all the craziness that went down in her life is good.

Final Score: Gonna give Ike's supports a solid 7. Ike himself isn't fleshed out all that much by them, but as I said, they fleshed out secondary characters beautifully, or gave us some neat worldbuilding stuff. The Soren support in general is one of the most well-written and deepest supports in the game (as well as one of the longest, you can tell they had a lot they wanted to write about!). I find his Ranulf one very amusing as well, and his Elincia one is great for development and I dig the hopeful tone.

 

Spoiler

Oscar supports:

Oscar is a very down-to-earth, normal and kind guy. I like him a lot, even if he doesn't tend to stand out among more colorful personalities.

Ike support thoughts haven't changed. Standard, good to see some plot mention, and Ike making Oscar feel good by complimenting his cooking is good. I like Oscar being happy, because the guy's so self-sacrificing. He doesn't ask for much, but does a lot. Good guy is good.

The Kieran supports is most definitely my favorite, but a lot of that is due to Kieran rather than Oscar. Oscar is still important in that he plays the foil and straight man, and him humoring Kieran in all of his strangeness is very nice to see. Oscar really does have endless patience... And having Kieran pour his heart out to Oscar and beg him to join the knights was a nice little turn. We learn that Oscar is surprisingly idealistic, staying with the mercenaries not only because they're family, but because he wants to protect the suffering common man. That's pretty cool. Even though Oscar can make no promises, he does say they can be best buds and ride into battle together for Crimea, no matter what. Very nice, haha.

Janaff support is very fun. To think that, of all people, Janaff would have a protective and, er, uncle-y side is pretty funny to think about. Really, it makes it clear just how cute stammering and kinda scared Oscar really is. Him mentally kicking himself after insulting Janaff is endearing, and him just playing along when Janaff thinks he's a baby is the cutest thing too. Oscar kind of goes out of his way to make other people happy...This really spotlights how earnest Oscar can be, with how determined he is to make a good impression on Janaff, even when he doesn't really know how to approach laguz.

The support with Tanith is good. We get just how intelligent and calm Oscar is, with him politely admiring Tanith and Begnion Pegasus Knights, as well as him saying it's better to retreat and live rather than be a slave to your honor...which is a lesson many FE characters need to learn. Looking at you, Eldigan! Cough. Anyway.

Final Score: Oscar's supports are perfectly fine for a down-to-earth guy like him. He isn't one that starts conflict, but reacts to it, and reacts to other, more extreme characters. He's a character type that may not shine or get the most attention, but is needed to give perspective on other characters. Oscar's supports earn a regular 7. In case you didn't realize, 7 is about standard for decently fine supports. 6 and below are shaky to bad. 8 and above are great and above average.

 

Spoiler

Titania supports:

Titania serves an important character role. She's a veteran. Calm, calculated, and thoughtful. The mentor of the younger members of the group, all of that...though on her own, I don't find her terribly engaging on her own. But I know why. She's already found her station in life. She knows who she is, and focuses her attention on guiding the younger generation.

This analysis is gonna be a little shorter, since the majority of conversations have been covered already.

The Ike support feelings are the same as in his analysis. Good backstory, and I wish we'd gotten more of her crush on Greil. Interesting stuff.

Rhys support feelings are the same. More good backstory, and it's got Rhys, so it's a plus. Their relationship is really sweet, with her protective and kind attitude over him.

Boyd support feelings are the same. Very fun, seems to be a parody of the love confession of FE conventions.

The Mist support is fine. It's nice to see Titania taking something of a motherly role with Mist, since, yeah, she saw both of these kids grow up from infants. We see just how hardworking and sweet Mist is, even in the face of war and tragedy. It's a nice little bonding thing between these two.

Final Score: Titania's supports are fine and dandy. A lot of it is backstory, and that's part of what I love so much about supports, other than providing character depth. Her Boyd support is fun, and I like seeing her taking a motherly role in the Mist supports. She's really a great role model for this kids. Titania's supports get a 7. They're okay, if not necessarily the most remarkable or interesting things in the world. Backstory is always fun to read.


Round 3! Spoilered for length. (Gatrie, Soren, and Mia in that order in case you were wondering.)
 

Spoiler

Gatrie supports:

I really, really like Gatrie, and he's one of my favorite characters in the Tellius series as far as comedy goes... Though reading his supports, yeah, he does kind of come off as a creeper with the whole "she will be mine..." stuff. I can just picture him rubbing his hands together and grinning wildly...and I do not like that image. Main story Gatrie comes off as far more wholesome than that, holy shit. Chill.

My opinion regarding the Shinon conversation is the same as in his support analysis - see that one for more details. But in general, I really do like their inexplicable friendship; to an extent, it may come off as Shinon "taking care" of irresponsible Gatrie or Gatrie being completely oblivious to everything around him, but Gatrie does show that he's aware of his gullibility, and more or less accepts its consequences. I find that refreshing and interesting. He's upbeat almost to a fault, haha. He's accepted his lot in life, and his optimism is fun and pretty amazing.

Ilyana really has nothing to offer in terms of character and development, so unsurprisingly, Gatrie's support with her isn't much of anything special. One redeeming thing about it though is Gatrie himself, and his force of personality. The guy's irrepressible enthusiasm and optimism is pretty amazing, and most of the support is Gatrie talking at Ilyana and responding to her non-responses. Not exactly riveting stuff. One highlight though, is the "finest purveyor" line. For such a kinda dim-witted guy, he's got quite the vocabulary.

Marcia and Gatrie's conversation comes off as pretty sweet. I do love her being totally turned off to his idiocy at first, but she comes to his aid to cheer him up after he feels like a failure after being trounced by Ike. Also, "Ike beats everybody!"  Truer words haven't been spoken, Marcia...but the totally out-of-nowhere Ike glorification is a little tiresome. Gatrie's got a curious mix of arrogance and idiocy, and as amusing as I find it, it's not a good look on him. He's a real dolt. Lol.

The Astrid support does make Gatrie pretty endearing. He recognizes that he's awful at teaching or explaining things, but tries anyway. And I may be biased, but I enjoy the "someone vastly less intelligent tries to teach someone who's much smarter than them" joke, and I think this conversation does it pretty well. Part of my like for this conversation is Astrid herself, though. She's naive, but not stupid, and very sweet.

Final Score: As much as I like Gatrie,... These supports are definitely nothing special. The Shinon one is the stand-out funny conversation, and shows the strength of their bond. The Marcia conversation is okay, but loses points for the Ike glorification. I like the Astrid conversation...but the Ilyana conversation is pretty bad (not Gatrie's fault, since Ilyana doesn't have a character to bounce off of). They definitely don't flesh out Gatrie much past his "somewhat arrogant, boastful, skirt-chasing and strong guy" roots. These supports get a 4.5, and most of that is the funny of the Shinon conversation. I feel like I'm being a bit generous here. I prefer main-story Gatrie by far.
 

 

Spoiler

Soren supports:

Soren is a great character, one of the best in the Tellius series, and one of the best in the Fire Emblem series as a whole in my opinion.

My opinion of this conversation hasn't changed from the Ike analysis, and I particularly love this conversation because it really gives depth to what comes off originally as a one-note asshole and edgelord. Soren's loyalty to Ike, even through his bitterness and hate of the world, is really touching, and well as Ike being emotionally supportive of the poor guy. He shines both in this support, and in the main story, and those conversations in Radiant Dawn too.

The Stefan conversation is interesting from a plot standpoint. I just wish Stefan didn't come off as such a creeper in his initial approach, and Soren wasn't so closed off, haha. Stefan kind of lords this secret thing over poor Soren, with the whole "they'll notice eventually..." Kind of chilling. Can only imagine how terrified Soren is during the whole exchange. It really drudges up sympathy for the poor boy, haha. We get little aspects of Branded - like their slow aging. Cool worldbuilding. Of course, this conversation makes me sad, too, because I believe the Branded as a whole were neglected and undeveloped by the story. Why couldn't we see anything of Stefan's desert Branded community? On a side note, without a guide, good luck recruiting Stefan to see his conversation at all.

Final Score: Some might criticize or deduct points for how few conversations Soren has, but I actually like this aspect of him. Quantity over quality any day, every day.. Not to mention, someone as standoffish and closed as Soren definitely wouldn't be, so if anything, I'll add points for realism. Soren's Ike support alone does a wonderful job adding depth to his character. Soren's supports earn him a solid 9. Ike/Soren support world order.

 

Spoiler

Mia supports:

Yeahh... Mia's not the most interesting, fleshed out, and engaging character in the world, that's for sure, and yet she remains extremely popular with lots of Tellius fans and FE fans in general. Much like Ilyana's popularity, I will never understand it. Is it her cheerful attitude? I mean, there are other characters that do that better, in my opinion... But whatever. Moving on.

Rhys conversation thoughts haven't changed. Mia comes off as a bit of a dolt here as she tends to do in her obsession of looking for opponents, but she does ease up on poor Rhys when he's clearly struggling, and that's definitely nice of her. Their friendship at the end is pretty sweet.

The Largo conversation...I dunno, something about it rubs me the wrong way. I get Mia being quick to take offense at thinking Largo was insulting her based on her being a woman due to her backstory and being told essentially to stay in the kitchen, but jeez, there's taking it too far and then there's Mia's obsession. At the very least, it's good that we get an explanation for why she's all about training and challenging opponents, and it's not a bad one. But...sexism is kind of out of place in FE. Women are warriors, and it's widely accepted. Nobody else tells any of the other women to stay in the kitchen or anything, so it comes off as awkward. Sure, it works in a medieval context, but FE isn't anywhere near realistic with its gender politics. Blah. Not a fan.

Ilyana conversation is an Ilyana conversation. Ilyana herself is the detriment of pretty much all of her conversations. Nothing to offer, boring, pointless, etc. All of that. Why does Ilyana have to exist, can't I retroactively go back and delete all of her data from the game so we can be spared this nonsense The only redeeming thing I can find in it is the sheer exaggeration of it all...and even that wears thin.

Final Score: Yeah. Not impressed. Gonna have to give these a 3. Not very interesting, not very varied... The Rhys one is objectively the best one, and even that isn't mind-blowingly good.

 

Edited by Extrasolar
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I'll put up another three: Ilyana (the absolute worst will be past with her out of the way), Marcia, and Mist.

My Opinions:

I'll take a page from you Extrasolar and put them each in their own box.

Ilyana:

Spoiler

Ilyana:

Eeek! The tapeworm mage, the instinctive food thief, the all consuming beast, the Black Rider of Famine, the Kirby Branded! So frail, so innocent looking. But beware! She will devour all!

Her supports are awful, though a few actually manage to be funny. Frailty and utter apathy to anything that isn’t filling her black hole of a stomach is all Ilyana has. She isn’t a person, she’s a walking gimmick that can cast magic (why does she anyhow?). 

Why didn’t they bother to make something more out of the fact she travels with Muston, Aimee, and the brothers? They’re all nice characters who’d be more fleshed out if Ilyana brought them up in her convos. Heck, I kind of forgot she even belongs with them- do they ever talk of her?

1. No surprise.

Marcia:

Spoiler

Marcia:

Our perky food-swearing pegasus knight lacks a support with her brother. But, her two base convos with Ike pre-Makalov, her recruitment dialogue with him, and the C24 base convo she and Makalov have develops the relationship enough. Marcia never gets that much development in her supports, so she’s like Mia. However, I feel all four of Marcia’s supports are better done. And Kieran’s even shows her levelheaded side. There is also the C28 base convo with Tanith and Elincia for teaching the last minute second triangle attack.

The first pink-haired pegasus knight since Est, her supports aren’t the best, but she’s okay. 5.

Mist:

Spoiler

Mist:

Our sweet, a little peppy, little sister to Ike. Her support selection is very nice overall. The Titania support is very ordinary girl/mother-daughter talk, but it does show Mist to be a hard worker. The Boyd is good… until Mist starts bawling in the A support for no good reason. The Rolf is actually pretty nice, two kids discussing war in all its seriousness with each other. The Mordecai gets a little Ikejacked in the A, but is otherwise decent and cute. Her Jill starts only okay, but has an excellent A.

Ike and Mist as a side note also bond together as siblings pretty nicely over the course of the game. She is the only one Ike permits to be with him during his very personal duel with the BK and she actually gets her own Black Knight convo. Ashnard too. This counterbalances the absence of an actual support with Ike.

For once, Mist is actually better than her brother, 7.5.

 

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Ilyana

Someone, somewhere, sat down and thought this was passable. I don't mind a joke support or two, but this is ridiculous.

2/10

Marcia

I just read her supports but I can't really remember any of them. They're rather bland, which is strange because I know I like Marcia. Maybe she sticks out more in the main story.

5/10

Mist

Much better than I remembered. I can't say I find her support with Boyd particularly fun, and the Titania and Mordecai ones are basic but they get the job done. Her support with Rolf and Jill are great though.

8/10

As an aside, I don't feel like I can give a 1/10 to many supports in Path of Radiance after having played Fates. I mean those should be saved for stuff like Peri and Camilla tier supports.

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Round 3 time! (Worthless character, Marcia, and Mist in that order, in case you were wondering.)
 

Spoiler

Ilyana supports:

Why does Ilyana need to exist? I mean, was somebody was really slapping their knee and cracking up over "I'm hungry all the time and literally everything I talk about involves that"? It's not even like the gimmick is amusing or entertaining! At least Kieran is actually funny, and has character depth and a purpose to exist past his gimmick!

You know, for a character who offers absolutely nothing in terms of a conversation or development, Ilyana has a shockingly large amount of support partners. How many times can you grind "feeds the always hungry mage" into the ground with a different person being substituted in? I just...the mind boggles.

We get it. She's hungry all the time. Holy shit, writers.

Final Score: It's not funny. It's not interesting. It gives no development. It has no reason to exist, other than to take up code and space that could have been used for something better. It's redundant. 0 out of 10.

 

Spoiler

Marcia supports:

I like Marcia quite a bit, actually. Funny, because when I first played PoR, I thought she was pretty annoying. But she grew on me after the next few playthroughs, as well as the playthrough of Radiant Dawn. I find her sweet energy and peppiness to be endearing and fun rather than annoying. Her dialogue, with its euphemisms and expressions, is pretty fun to read.

Gatrie conversation thoughts haven't changed.

I really like Marcia's support with Rolf. She's almost like a big sister figure to him, in a lot of ways, and we do see just how serious the cute kid is about doing his job...and it gets pretty dark, with him bringing up that a lot of his innocence vanished when he started having to kill people. We learn just the ends that the boy goes through for his training, getting blistery hands from drawing and shooting his bow so much. Really deep, introspective and interesting stuff. On a side note, seems like a Vulneary is a medicine that you rub into a wound, since Rolf complains that it stings when Marcia gives him one. The more you know. It's really sweet how much Marcia encourages little Rolf, saying that he can do his part just like anyone else. Rolf being a little sensitive about being treated like a kid... Yeah, I can relate, little buddy.

Marcia and Kieran is pretty funny. The support had me at "I think this guy's helmet is on too tight." By the end, Kieran's logic actually starts making some sort of strange sense. He calls his horse and a bunch of his tools his brothers in arms, and it is sweet that a guy as into glory and such as Kieran takes time to be kind to him. Plus, Kieran uttering the words "that's common sense" are hilarious in an extremely ironic way.

Her conversation with Tanith is also very amusing at first, with Marcia trying to slip out of Tanith's strict grasp and punishments. Tanith's overly serious demeanor contrasts great with Marcia's more cheerful, friendly one, and the whole "scribbling on a piece of paper" thing had me chuckling for sure. But...Tanith wanting Marcia to lead the Holy Guard comes out of nowhere. Like...why? What makes Marcia qualified for the position over anyone else? Why didn't you tell her about this until now? Why did you wait until she was complaining about your harsh punishments to reveal this? I just...what. I'm...the sudden switch was a little too far into the realm of WTF for me. Broke the suspension of disbelief.

Final Score: Marcia is one of my favorite characters in the game to read. She's upbeat and sweet, and she gets some pretty good conversations. Her Rolf conversation is by far my favorite, just for the development and bonding those two get. Kieran conversation is fun, too, for the unexpectedly depths that it gives Kieran, and depth is always a plus in supports for me! Especially when it's unexpectedly deep characters. The Tanith conversation, while it started fine, lost me by the end just due to the sheer randomness of the sudden revelation. I can't really stomach it. Marcia's conversations earn a 6.5.

 

Spoiler

Mist supports:

Titania support thoughts are the same. It's nice to see how much Mist does for the company, even when she's grieving herself. Her bonding with Titania is good to see, as well as TItania taking on a more motherly/mentor role with Mist.

Boyd support conversation thought are the same. I do like the fact that Mist gets called out for thinking that natural talent trumps working hard, and it is definitely sweet seeing Boyd (even though he sucks at emotional stuff, as he admits) be there as a shoulder for Mist to cry on. The girl's gone through a lot. She definitely needs it, and it's good that she has someone to go to.

The Rolf support is great. So many of Fire Emblem's soldiers are children and teenagers, and a lot of the time, the fact that these very young, impressionable people are cutting down human being after human being is glossed over or ignored. It's good to finally get some acknowledgement of just what something like that does to people -- especially non-mature people, who are still trying to find their way in the world. Rolf really is endearing; he tries to put on such a brave and hardened face, but he's scared and hurting inside all the same. He just wants to keep the people close to him safe, and it's good that he finally breaks down and admits his true feelings. Mist and Rolf are adorable.

The support with Mordecai is fine. It's another one of those "beorc and laguz are really awkward around each other" supports. Mordecai and Mist's shyness is endearing, but there's not much to it other than "let's get along and be friends even if we're different species" conversations. Tellius was kind of in love with their racism allegory, and liked referencing it when the point is by far clear enough.

Jill support. Crying party is a crying party. No, but in all seriousness, Mist reaching out to Jill, the odd woman out Daein soldier, and also heavily anti-laguz at first, is really kind of her. Their heart-to-heart over their deceased fathers is good, as well as learning the depths of Jill's despair at what she was taught being wrong. Mist helping to cheer her up. It's all good.

Final Score: Mist's supports are pretty good. She's adorable and all, and I think she got a lot of good conversation partners and topics. Mist gets a solid 8!

 

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This time it's Rolf (the last of the Greil Mercenaries, finally!), Lethe and Mordecai.

And because he has only one support, let us throw Volke into things as well.

My Opinions:

Rolf:

Spoiler

Rolf is our happy little boy who loves his mercenary family and his brothers. The Mist, Rhys, Marcia, and Shinon supports all revolve in some way around Rolf trying to hastily grow up from a child into a mature warrior. Rather than be repetitive, these supports are distinctive from each other. The Rhys is Rolf’s worst, it gets a little too kiddy with Rolf’s scared bowels, but at the same time it is rather serious and good overall. The Marcia is lighthearted and kinda cute. Shinon’s gives us some good development of the relationship between this pupil and his master, with a stern lesson from Shinon. Mist places Rolf with another kid, and it is probably Rolf’s best from what he himself brings to the exchange (Boyd can jump off a cliff- MistxRolf forever). The Tauroneo does not feature Rolf maturing at all, but rather shows how the innocence of childhood can contribute to making the lives of adults better. I get good Home Alone vibes from it. (Curious from an RD perspective is how Rolf inverts the status of his parents at the start- the one he hates he pretends is dead, the one he loves is left ambiguous.)

Rolf is probably divisive- it depends on whether you find him too childish or not. I can handle the childishness, so I’ll give him a 7.5.

Lethe: 

Spoiler

Lethe:

A prideful female Cat Laguz who is harsh towards Beorc, but warms up to them in every support. Lethe’s Ike support is all training, but okay and interesting at the end (why did you pass up the opportunity in RD Ike?). In the Jill support, she forms a nice friendship with Jill, but the actual development here is focused on Miss Fizzart- until Lethe offers to shake hands, and that makes the support undeniably gold. Lethe gives a good bit of world-building in the Jill B. The Muarim support seems to have some wording/execution problems, though the good intention is there. The Ranulf offers a look into Lethe’s personal life.

Lethe would call me a human if I gave her anything less than a ten, but I will, a 6.5.

Mordecai:

Spoiler

Our gentle giant of a Tiger Laguz. Kindness and his simplicity are the defining marker of Mordecai’s supports. Mist and him make cute friends, his interactions with Stefan show how Laguz can overcome their dislike of the Parentless, and the Ranulf shows how far his gentility really goes. His Ilyana is by virtue of her atrocious (a tad funny I shall admit), and his Ulki is just primitive.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with Mordecai’s personality, but his support pool has two duds, another where his contributions are limited. I think I’ll give him a 4.

Volke:

Spoiler

With only one support, there isn’t much to rate. (He was supposed to get Mist and Sothe supports. But, they were cut.) Volke is antisocial and works for money, for what reason exactly, we have no idea. Volke is clearly dependable and talented despite his shadiness. His reputation seems to be of some fame if Bastian has turned to Volke before and would be so eager to recruit him again. Also, in retrospect obvious RD foreshadowing throughout the support!

I’m happy IS didn’t try to shove supports onto an antisocial character, they’d in all likelihood be awkward and fail. Yet, it doesn’t make Volke easy to rate. What to give? For now, I’ll say a 2.5.

 

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Rolf

Three out of five supports are really good, and while Tauroneo does most of the talking in theirs, it still reflects well upon Rolf. I sometimes think they play the child angle a little too hard; the contrast between him telling Mist he's a man because he has killed someone and not knowing how badly he has messed up making a bow for Shinon is a bit too weird, but that's a minor complaint.

7/10

Lethe

Very average. Honestly, I want to like her Jill support, but it's very exposition-heavy and Lethe comes across as very unwilling to understand - besides, she says humans don't want to pass down history, but she ignores that, according to Nasir, the Laguz once ruled over the humans. 

5/10

Mordecai

Very straightforward, but he gets the job done. You pretty much know what kind of character he is immediately upon seeing him and he doesn't really offer many surprises, but he's still got some sweet moments. 

6/10

Volke

Not much to say about just one support, but hey, it's pretty fun. 

5/10

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Round 4 ratings! (Rolf, Lethe, Mordecai, and Volke in that order.)

Spoiler

Rolf supports:

I really like Rolf. He's among my favorite characters in the game, simply because he's an exploration of a theme so ubiquitous (but oddly glanced over) in FE: The fact that a ton of the members of your army are children and teenagers. Rolf in particular is the youngest character in the army, as well as being the most adorable. On one hand, it is pretty admirable that, wanting to help out his family and very close friends, asked for instruction in the bow in order to pull his weight. But then, of course...there's the fact that the kid is 12.

Just realized how many of these I've already covered, haha. So this analysis will be pretty short.

Marcia support thoughts are unchanged. It's very cute to see them bonding, Marcia taking on a big sister role is sweet,

Mist support thoughts are unchanged. I really like their friendship, the exploration of the trauma caused by war, especially on very young people, and them resolving to be open and honest with their feelings, without letting the war harden their hearts.

Shinon support thoughts are unchanged. Rolf has this very delicate balance between childish and even bratty on one hand, and shockingly cold and mature on the other. I guess when one has to grow up as quickly as he did, it makes sense.

Out of all the possible support partners, Tauroneo was one I most definitely did not suspect. It's kind of strange and interesting at the same time, having one of the youngest members of the army interacting with one of the oldest. The star of this support is undoubtedly Tauroneo, but Rolf lending a sympathetic ear is what allows him to give us his backstory in the first place. We get not only the breadth of Tauroneo's experiences and regrets regarding his broken family, but a cool look into Daein's culture, and especially the effects it has on its noble population. Worldbuilding is always cool. Also, it's my personal headcanon that Josh is Rolf, Oscar and Boyd's father, as Tauroneo mentioned he vanished soon after being wounded. And their dad was bedridden, and died when Rolf was an infant. Makes sense, right? Rolf telling Tauroneo that it's not too late, no matter what he says, to go and revisit his wife is sweet. The boy really oozes hope, haha.

Final Rating: Rolf has a great set of supports, and the kid himself is very endearing. He's a ray of bright light in a lot of his supports, cheering up people who are down on themselves and depressed like Rhys and Tauroneo. Exploring the whole child soldiers thing that FE uses all the time without really addressing the implications. He's very sweet, and it's nice to see him bonding with people. Rolf's supports earn a 9.

 

Spoiler

Lethe supports:

Ike support thoughts are unchanged.

I like that the Jill support goes into more depth regarding the racism issue. There are lots of other supports that explore the racial tensions and uncomfortable feelings regarding beorc and laguz interaction, but it's only Jill's support that explores how deep-seated an issue like racism is, that it's first and foremost taught, and more or less accepted as common and obvious "knowledge" in. Jill being mousy and apologetic when she was previously pretty overbearing and arrogant is a good change, imo. Out of all the characters, Jill's development really shines.

The Muarim support is good too. Muarim and Lethe, despite both being beast tribe, come from such wildly different origins that the collision and different opinions within are very interesting to read. I'd go so far as to say that Muarim is the star of the support rather than Lethe. Muarim simply doesn't respond part of the time, and I sort of like that angle. I imagine he's struggling with thoughts that no one else around him can relate to, after his past and being around beorc.

Her Ranulf support is fine. We get the contrast between someone who's laidback, relaxed and amiable, and someone who's strict, uptight and a little bit unfriendly. We also get some background about Gallia and its military, and of course the first mentions of Lyre and Ky(z)a. We get the first indication of Lethe and Lyre's strained relationship, which would get sadly little focus in RD. Watching foils interact is always a lot of fun, and Lethe admitting at the end that she's gotten past a lot of her prejudices regarding beorc is good.

Final Score: Lethe's supports actually hit on a lot of interesting things. Her Jill support in particular I'm fond of for going beyond the surface "racism bad" that a lot of Tellius gives only surface level analysis to. I really like the Muarim support for exploring the differences in experience between them, and the Ranulf support is fun for the contrast and backstory. Lethe supports earn a 8.
 

 

Spoiler

Mordecai supports:

Mordecai is a very simple guy, with simple thoughts and conversations. I can't hold it against him, since he's not speaking a language he has fluent command of

Seems kinda unfair that poor Mordecai was condemned into having an Ilyana conversation. Does nothing for anyone, isn't funny or interesting. They might have bee going for a "huge guy and tiny girl" contrast, but since Ilyana isn't endearing in any way, it fails to work. Bleh. Moving on.

Mist support thoughts are unchanged. It's another "laguz and beorc learn to get along" support. Not bad, but not the most amazing thing either.

Mordecai's support with Stefan is excellent for worldbuilding. We get all of the details of the Branded, the fact that the blood can skip generations, that the laguz detest them to the point of completely ignoring their existence, and a little bit on Stefan's backstory. The strong friendship that Mordecai and Stefan develop by A is good, as well as Mordecai declaring that he doesn't care about "the goddess' will" when it comes to being friends with Stefan.

Mordecai's support with Ulki strikes me as a bit too similar to Rhys' for my tastes, and I can only see that the idea was recycled for Mordecai. It hits all of the same points without the extra factor of how endearing that Rhys is (them wanting to know what it's like to fly, being enthusiastic about it, Ulki telling them that they're too heavy and them promising to lose weight), but I guess it's harmless enough. I mean, Mordecai's nice and all, but...eh.

Mordecai's support with Ranulf hits the same "Mordecai is gentle and kind" parameters as most of his other supports, and we get some sudden Ike discussion, which is a bit annoying. It's serviceable, and I guess it is good that Mordecai realizes that he can't let kindness get in the way of defending his friends and fighting for what they believe in.

Final Score: Mordecai's supports are...fairly meh. He's got an Ilyana support, which sucks, and his Ulki support seems too much like idea recycling for me to give it too much of a pass. His support with Stefan is the only real stand out support here, in my opinion, and that's more because of the worldbuilding and Stefan than Mordecai. As a whole, definitely not the best... Mordecai supports earn a 5.

 

Spoiler

Volke support:

For such a dark and mysterious guy, Volke has a surprisingly lighthearted manner. But then again, when one's entire job is dealing death, I suppose one has to find some bright side in life.

Volke's classic "10,000 gold" joke never gets old, especially when he's going out of his way to do something good (taking out Izuka, for one), without wanting to admit it.

You say he was planned for supports with Mist and Sothe, but they got cut? Damn. That sucks... I would love to see interaction between them, especially Sothe, since the kind of lighthearted teasing and yanking around Volke could do to that really dour kid would be a joy to behold.

But yeah, agreed on the fact that it's good that Volke is limited to a single support, and it being with Bastian is definitely unexpected. Like Soren only having two supports, it's good that antisocial characters aren't forced into having a conversation for the sake of a conversation.

Final Score: Volke himself is an amusing guy to read, and for an assassin, he definitely subverts the whole "doom and gloom" dour personality types that assassins in media tend to have. Bastian is also extremely amusing to read, and as a pair, they're pretty fun. But as a support itself, it's okay. It offers a bit of insight into Volke's personality, provides some fun lines, and such. Volke's support earns a standard 7. It's not remarkable, but it's definitely not bad either, and I'm a firm believer in quality over quantity.

 

Edited by Extrasolar
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Rolf

Spoiler

Rhys and Rolf don't establish anything we don't know from game script. The Shinon relationship between these two was a welcome surprise when it's alluded to before re-recruiting him. It's vital to see that Shinon wasn't sitting around at the Greil Mercenaries being grumpy and rude all the time. Rolf really is being kind of a brat though in this one. He's less of a brat with Marcia, but that conversation doesn't have anything profound to say. Mist is the best. A complete 180 from the tone deaf child soldiers of previous fire emblem games. Rolf's breakdown feels real and earned. Taureneo isn't so much talking to Rolf as he's talking through him, but it's a great support for that character. I rate Rolf a 6.5/10 since his supports have a lot to say, just not enough to say about Rolf himself. And the Rhys support is totally throwaway

Lethe

Spoiler

Anybody else feel like they're reading something familiar now with LethexIke? Let me help you out: replace Ike with Corrin. Strong woman from other nation fails to respect Avatar, woman trains with Avatar as a strictly productive relationship, woman develops crush on Avatar after recognizing their strengths. It's an uncanny fit! But I shouldn't tease. The Maurim support I feel needed a bit more in order to convey the idea that Laguz are different enough that they have separate political and emotional identities. It just seems mixed up where Lethe and Maurim were switched during the B conversation. Neither of these should be lecturing the other on respecting Beorc. RanulfxLethe is excellent, it's everything I want from a support with two Laguz. It also hints at Lethe having a past before the events of the game. Troops under her command, family, and a chance to have it all back that she refuses selflessly. It's the only support where we learn something about her, and its the best by far. LethexJill definitely feels like base conversations as two cultures clash. But supports that actually have a gameplay effect on a character is a mechanic I adore and want to see more of in future games, so I like this support just for that. I rate Lethe a 7/10. Solidly above average. The catgirl fantasy promised in her Ike conversation doesn't bring it down much for me, and Maurim misses the mark considerably. But Ranulf and Jill carry this from a 3 to a 7.

Mordecai

Spoiler

Illyana is mundane and shows us nothing unique about either character. The squirrels bit is a fun punchline, that's it. In Mist I don't really buy that Mordecai could be afraid of her. I would change this support to show that Mordecai, in his wisdom and observance of her nerves, lied to put her at ease so that he may earn her friendship. Perhaps believing it would be as strong as his with Ike. Stefan is odd if you recruited him using Lethe, but that dissonance is forgiveable. It exists only for background info on branded and how Laguz treat them, but mordecai himself is a generic foil to reveal such information about Stefan. Ulki is really good, showing an optimistic curiosity from both characters about the other. The best one on Mordecai's list in my opinion. Ranulf is good too, just not as good as RanulfxLethe. It makes sense for Mordecai to grow self conscious about living with and fighting Beorc.  Mordecai gets a 4.5/10 for too much missed opportunity. He lacks an identity with beorc. He's gentle and observant with Illyana and Mist, yet he's a confused oaf with Stefan. His laguz supports are superior in portraying his thoughts and feelings, but unlike Lethe doesn't reveal anything about his life in Gallia before joining Ike.

Volke

Spoiler

Hmm, 3/10. Why? Ten thousand, that's my price.

 

Edited by Gustavos
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It's time for Crimean POWs to break out of jail and get into the limelight: Kieran, Brom, and Nephenee!

My Opinions:

Kieran:

Spoiler

Let’s not hide it, Kieran is a one-note character in all three of his supports. A splendidly comically over-the-top character, but inarguably one-note. Okay, the Oscar rivalry note is kinda another, but it doesn’t really make him that much better. I mean he should have died long ago judging from the number of times he gets his axe stuck in his head- it’s so unreal.

I’m so very torn on Kieran. Judging from Owain/Odin and Arthur, people seem to really like the cliche which Kieran belongs to (I know it’s a coping mechanism for Owain). I think Kieran is funny too. But because he is so very one note, I have to cap him at a 5.5.

Brom:

Spoiler

A simple, humble and happy family man farmer with a lot of heart. Brom does decently in all his supports, but never really any better than that. In his Zihark, he plays the annoying/embarrassing dad. His Nephenee is a mega rural exchange. His Boyd is his best. And his one base conversation is good.

I like his gentleness, better than Mordecai, though maybe not as good as Rhys as far the gentles go.

The average man gets an average 5.

Nephenee:

Spoiler

A shy country girl afraid of people laughing at her. Around Brom she’s sociable enough that it’s fair to say she isn’t absurdly shy. Her Devdan is awful. Her Calill ends quite nicely, if weak at the start.

One could call Nephenee all too shy and timid and thus one note, but I think there is just enough in her to classify her as more than that. You can’t expect an introvert to be bursting with personality. I’ll give her a 4.5.

 

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Kieran

His support and relationship with Oscar do make me smile, but the other two are really nothing to write home about. I would call him a less funny Owain, but that's not really right, either. He just comes across as, well, a walking gimmick, since he has few supports or even moments that show his more serious side. 

5.5/10.

Brom

I'm way too soft on these big softies. I dislike the latter parts of Brom's Zihark supports, but that's about it. You know what you get with Brom, similar to Mordecair, and I think he does a good job of that. He's not meant to be the most complex or interesting character, and that's okay.

6/10

Nephenee

The character whose popularity I simply don't understand. Nephenee is essentially a hot Donnel, but with worse and more monotonous supports. She's boring in all of her supports and what the bloody hell even is her exchange with Devdan? It's not like I hate her or anything, but the fact that she (and Mia are) is so popular in spite of being surrounded by such better written characters confuses me.

3/10

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5 hours ago, Thane said:

Nephenee

The character whose popularity I simply don't understand. Nephenee is essentially a hot Donnel, but with worse and more monotonous supports. She's boring in all of her supports and what the bloody hell even is her exchange with Devdan? It's not like I hate her or anything, but the fact that she (and Mia are) is so popular in spite of being surrounded by such better written characters confuses me.

3/10

people like nephenee and mia's designs and think they're cute

that's really the only reason

and it's definitely why I like them

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Get ready, because it's time for round 5! (Kieran, Brom, and Nephenee in that order.)
 

Spoiler

Kieran supports:

This will be the shortest analysis ever, I guess, because all of my Kieran support thoughts have already been covered. I guess I'll give general thoughts.

Kieran's loud, boastful and scatterbrained nature is pretty amusing, and seeing him bouncing off of other, much more serious people is endlessly amusing. And that's why I think he works. He's an anomaly in a serious universe.

I like him quite a bit, as I find him hilarious. He's like a walking, talking Monty Python-esque parody of a knight in a more down-to-earth and grounded fantasy world, and I love every moment of it.

Oscar and Kieran support is the most important support and one of my favorites. I love watching foils interact, and Kieran's always amusing to read simply because they got extremely creative with his dialogue. To this day I can't think of the word "knave" without chuckling. The guy is an absolute riot, and Oscar humoring him for a while is fun. At the end, they remain best bros, riding into battle for Crimea together.

Kieran and Rhys thoughts are the same. It's hilarious, even if poor Rhys certainly doesn't think so. I'm surprised Kieran didn't give the poor guy a heart attack. I mean, he's not in the best physical condition to start off with.

Kieran and Marcia thoughts are the same. It's funny seeing Kieran speaking in a normal tone for once, and we see that Kieran does have some depth beyond his gimmick in that he cares deeply for his fellow knights and horse, and even o and yeah, "that's common sense" coming out of his mouth will never not be hilarious.

Final Score: Comedy is good, and I do like Kieran...but I have to be fair here. Comedy is well and good, but Kieran's supports really don't do a whole lot for fleshing out his character. We do see that he does have a serious side at the end of his conversations with Oscar and Marcia, and his great bond with Oscar is sweet... But there's really not much to the guy that we can see, in all honesty. Still, they aren't badly-written at all or anything. I'll give these a 6.5

 

Spoiler

Brom supports:

Brom is just endearing in general. He pretty much codifies the "Gentle Giant" archetype, and he's gentle and kind with most everyone he interacts with.

The Nephenee support is great. I like the friendship between these two, and I imagine that it's a huge measure of comfort to be in the army with a friend from the village. I like that we get talk of how jank it is to be a peasant drafted into a militia, with the shortage of supplies and weapons to go around. How the hell do you share a bow with someone else, anyway? Haha. We get some details about Nephenee's family, and just general countryside life. He's got a real fatherly air when he's interacting with Nephenee, which considering their age difference makes a lot of sense. Him trying to get her to smile and have a little more confidence in herself is good too. It's all very sweet.

Boyd support thoughts are unchanged. Boyd does come off as a little dickish at first, but the support sort of redeems itself and gets better at the end, with Boyd discussing a peaceful life rather than the life of a mercenary.

Zihark support is alright. Zihark in general is good people, and he's a lot more resourceful and intelligent than I realized, rereading this conversation. Seems kinda weird that they emphasize most mercenaries being kinda scummy, whereas the Greil Mercs and Zihark are all pretty much good, honest people, even if a few of them are asshats. Zihark's cool. That's...sort of all I took from this, other than Brom being super friendly. The fact that he'd want to welcome a guy he hasn't known for all that long into his own family speaks volumes.

Final Score: Meh. Brom supports are okay. Brom himself isn't necessarily the most interesting person, but he's kindhearted and sweet. Nephenee support is my favorite of the bunch, and that's not amazing.Zihark support is fine. Boyd support loses a few points for the beginning. Brom supports get a 6.5.

 

Spoiler

Nephenee supports:

I like Nephenee a lot. She's not one of my favorites by any means, but something about her just appeals to me. She plays an important role, being from a simple farming village, drafted into the war, so we can get that point of view in the conflict.

Brom support thoughts are unchanged.

Devdan. I honestly don't know how to feel about this guy. I know how he was portrayed in the Japanese version (basically a gay stereotype), and in this version to avoid that they made him...really strange, and perhaps a little "slow" in the head? Not sure how to feel... Anyway, I think it starts off fine, with Devdan wanting Nephenee to smile a lot more, and be happy. Nothing wrong with that. But then...he brings up this story about a country girl that died in a bandit raid? And it's apparently because she tried to be heroic and fight off the bandits instead of hiding, and Devdan says it's because she "took herself too seriously"? Like, how does that relate to your point at all, Devdan? Honestly, I don't blame Nephenee for being freaked the hell out, because my reaction would be the same. Eugh... What did I just read...

Her support with Calill is much better.. Calill herself has that somewhat self-absorbed vanity going on, but that doesn't stop her from being well-intentioned. Her trying to get Nephenee out of her shell is sweet, even though Calill has a tendency to be overbearing. They end up developing a sort of bond toward the end, which is nice. We also learn that Calill, though she exudes her elegance and whatnot, isn't from the high origins that she claims to be. Good backstory, but ultimately not much to it.

Final Score: Hmm... Nephenee is one of those people who got kinda shafted on supports. Brom one is good, Devdan one is just kind of WTF, and the Calill one is fine, but definitely not remarkable. Nephenee's not a very sociable person because of her shyness, so it makes sense that she has so few supports. But... I just wish she got a little better in content. Nephenee supports earn a 4, because what the fuck, Devdan?

 

8 hours ago, Thane said:

The character whose popularity I simply don't understand. Nephenee is essentially a hot Donnel, but with worse and more monotonous supports. She's boring in all of her supports and what the bloody hell even is her exchange with Devdan? It's not like I hate her or anything, but the fact that she (and Mia are) is so popular in spite of being surrounded by such better written characters confuses me.

Part of it is her cuteness, but I like Nephenee because she's a genuinely sweet and upbeat, but very shy girl. When she's with Brom, she's surprisingly talkative and open, but shuts down around others because of her self-confidence issues regarding her accent, until she gets a little more comfortable like with Calill and is back to her upbeat self. I think that's pretty adorable. Plus, she's one of the best units in both games, so that definitely contributes to her popularity.

Edited by Extrasolar
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The next group is the "People from Daein Who Ike Meets on a Boat": Zihark, Sothe, and Jill.

My Opinions:

Zihark:

Spoiler

Our Telliusian Navarre is a swell guy. Not overly stoic or filled with angst. He’s a pretty likable normal guy, who just so happens to have once had a female Laguz lover whom he cannot forget. His Ilyana support is bad by virtue of her, but Zihark does his best despite it. His Brom is a bit funny and also good. The Muarim actually gives us details of his romance, instead of the game just being overly secretive with it. Plus, the support is fairly balanced between its two participants; it’s a very good one.

Why no Lethe or Mordecai support though? They’re the ones who can actually recruit him! Then again, that might be redundant with the Muarim.

I'd like to give the guy a 7, but it's only going to be a 6.5. I feel another support of quality would be necessary to rate Zihark higher.

Sothe:

Spoiler

A loner petite rogue who is on a constant search for somebody never seen or named in PoR (they obviously can’t be that important). Sothe’s Astrid support is good I’d say. Sothe develops a little and seems to bond well with Astrid (shame we never got a continuation of this in RD). His Tormod support is a case of being too slow (and Sothe is to blame)- the C and the B should have been consolidated, the A becoming down the new B, and something else to fill in the A. Still, I find the support very cute.

Sothe also gets a C21 base conversation which gives us his backstory and an alternative perspective on Ashnard- so some world-building too.

Though his day had yet to really come, Sothe gets a 6 from me.

Jill:

Spoiler

Ah yes, Jill Fizzart. The most one-note character of all “It’s all Daddy lied to me, Laguz aren’t bad!” 0/10.

Not! Even if we don’t see that much more to Jill in her supports other than that, she still gets a wonderfully executed and complete character arc. She gets her introduction, three base conversations, a boss convo with her dad, and her Mist and Lethe supports, all of which trace her development from “bleed the half-breeds!” to ultimately defying her father. The unusual move of making it possible for Jill to betray (though the game gives the player a strong warning about that thankfully) shows how difficult the decision to fight her father is for her.

And even after Shiharam dies, Jill gets yet another base conversation, plus her Lethe A, an alternate Mist A if you didn’t get it pre-Shiharam, and the entirety of Haar for denouement after her arc’s climax at Defending Talrega. (She even gets an Ashnard boss convo.) 

Sure you can’t get all of that in one playthrough, but that is irrelevant here. And even if it was, you can still get about half of her supports and all the Base Conversations. And with Jill, the two are rather interwoven, the C19 base convo makes more sense if you’ve triggered her Mist support.

As for support quality by itself, the Mist is a little on the slow side and the Lethe gives world-building in the B, but it literally overwhelms Jill. In the As, both supports do have touching endings however that compensate for any prior issues. The Haar is maybe a bit lacking, not horrific, but it isn’t dramatic. Haar I’d say is to blame- the sleepy, calm guy isn’t big on drama, and Jill isn’t one to explode on him given she respects him. There is a splendidly somber tone with discussion of Shiharam though, and that I guess compensates. 

On supports alone, I think I’d give Jill a 7.5. But again, with her I’m going to add the non-support contextual stuff.

10/10. If I have to use every number on the 1-10 scale, Jill I think deserves the 10 the most (Shinon alone so far competes with her for it).

 

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What round is this? 6? Alright, let's go! (Zihark, Sothe and Jill in that order.)
 

Spoiler

Zihark supports:

I really do like Zihark. In a lot of ways, I feel like he's an Ensemble Darkhorse of the game. Kinda underappreciated and overshadowed by the likes of Mia, for instance, but a good and interesting character in his own right

Surprisingly, Zihark has very few support partners, and a third of these I've already covered.

Unfortunately Zihark is cursed with having an Ilyana support. I've said enough on this subject. Ilyana supports suck. A lot. Because Ilyana as a character sucks. Zihark is still a good, kind and reasonable guy, and Ilyana has no reason to exist. Moving on.

Brom support thoughts have stayed the same. We learn that Zihark is resourceful as well as friendly, about Brom's family, and some backstory about Zihark's tragic romance. I still wonder why a guy presumably born and raised in Daein was so friendly with laguz. He was one of the few who questioned what he was taught, I suppose. I'd love to get more exploring his life in Daein before meeting his estranged girlfriend.

Muarim support gives us a bit of background on both people in the conversation, and I really do feel sorry for Muarim. He's such a quiet, harmless guy who's suffered so much, and I wonder if he'll ever manage to get past the painful memories. Zihark and Muarim bonding over their shared pain is really good. Muarim's supports end on such a somber note a lot of the time, and I actually kind of like it. Pretty refreshing in that aspect, in that sometimes you just have to be a little down and reflective.

Final Score: Zihark really is good people...but he's got an Ilyana support. What did he do to deserve that? His Brom support is fine and dandy for expanding on his more resourceful and friendly, but nothing really spectacular. Zihark supports earn a 6. They could have done so much more with you, my blue-haired friend...

 

 

Spoiler

Sothe supports:

I have to say, the fact that the tiny, weak thief who doesn't even have a promotion in this game became one of the main characters and a Jagen in the subsequent game is really funny to me. I know that they always intended the Tellius series to be a duology and wrote a lot of it with that intention...but did they really plan for this otherwise unimportant character and weak character to be a lead in the next one? That's pretty funny. I'm not crazy about the kid himself, but he's...relatively harmless, I guess.

I really do like his support with Tormod. It's good to see that Muarim recognizes that Tormod should interact with some beorc, as well as his laguz friends in the desert. The two are foils of each other, in that Tormod's excitable childishness contrasts with Sothe's quiet, intense seriousness. They would make a hilarious pair of friends to follow (of course, Sothe would deny them being friends...rather acquaintances or allies). The fact that it changes if Muarim is dead, and the two bond over having someone very important to them is good. Sothe being all like "thieves are stealthy so we can't fight together" is pretty funny, because yeah, someone as loud as Tormod would be the a huge drawback to Sothe sneaking around on the battlefield, haha. At the very least, I did enjoy their reunion in Radiant Dawn, with Tormod lamenting the fact that Sothe grew taller than him (and then Tormod and company disappeared...to the detriment of their usability and my sadness...)

His support with Astrid is great too, just because we get the contrast and interest between these two people from hugely different stations in life, as well as completely different outlooks on things. Astrid is a great character that Radiant Dawn sadly muddled (damn it, Makalov...), and learning her backstory is a great thing. She's naive, but not stupid, and tries her best. She's sweet, kind and earnest in all that she does. I love the exploration of self-determination, and someone as sweet-tempered as Astrid breaking firmly away from the control of her parents, determined not to be another pawn in their nobility game, is inspiring. She seized her own chance at happines...until Radiant Dawn. Goddamn it.

Final Score: Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of Sothe himself as a character, but I can't deny that his supports are very interesting. It could be my bias, in that I adore both Astrid and Tormod, and getting to see more of them is always a plus in my opinion. As I've much more about quality over quantity, Sothe supports earn an 8.
 

 

Spoiler

Jill supports:

This will be another short one, since 2/3rds of these have already been covered. Jill is good as a character, and as a supporting character gets a lot of good development. I think I've said all I have to say on that front earlier.

Her new support with Haar...well, I think it's a little brief. The two have such a long history together, to the point that Jill sees Haar as a big brother figure, and vice versa, and they only bond over their shared grief over Shiharam very briefly. I guess it's a servicable support, but they could have gone much further with it in my opinion.

Final Score: Jill supports talk about a lot of interesting things, like Jill struggling with getting past indoctrinated racism is good, as well as learning more of the history behind laguz-beorc relations. I like her and Mist bonding over their shared grief from their father's deaths, and it's something I can very much relate to right now. Her Haar support is a bit disappointingly short, though. Jill supports earn a 7.

 

 

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