Hopes/preferences for support conversations?

[Kedata]

Support conversations are one of my favorite things in Fire Emblem games due to the extra insight into the characters and/or setting it usually provides unless it's Radiant Dawn us with. With Three Houses in development it begs a question of if this Fire Emblem will have support conversations as well, and there's a few details involved in support conversations that they could choose to use. What kind of stuff do you hope to see if support conversations return?

Personally, I'd be pretty interested in seeing support conversations again, and am not too interested in having S ranks nor 2nd gen units in a FE game again my god were the 2nd gen units in FE14 completely unnecessary, and while SoV's voice acting for support conversations was amazing, it'd be cooler to me to have greater depth known in each of the characters by having more support conversations in the game. I'm not sure if it's really that feasible to have both full voice acting and high quantity of support conversations in a FE game.

Also I think it's less awkward if support conversations happen outside of chapters, since sometimes they might talk long enough that you'd start to wonder why their enemies are giving them enough time to talk that long.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Kedata

[Mau]

Supports are definitely one of my favourite things in Fire Emblem and them not returning would seriously make me consider not getting this game.

I would like S-ranks to return too cause I just love shipping my units together, though I would like it to be not in the form of marriage. It's just always so akward when they go 'I love you, please marry me!' out of nowhere on the fourth convo. I'd rather want it to end like 'I like you, let's hang out together more' or that they ask each other out on a date or whatever. Let S-rank be the start of a relationship, not marriage immediately, to make it less awkward and more natural. This would also give more possibilities to make the S-rank convos more unique, cause now it's 90% of the time just 'I got you a ring, let's get married'.

I would also like 2nd gen units to return, though only if done well. Fates' way was way too immersion breaking which made me not get the kids at all during my first playthrough. I'm not sure how to do it right though, Awakening did it well imo but you can't pull another 'we come from the future' thing I guess. Maybe they could make seperate chapters that go on in the future that feature the kids? I would dig that personally.

Furthermore, I'd like the convos to be during off-time simply cause who the hell has time to talk while they're fighting for their lives, that never made sense haha. They don't have to be fully voiced, I don't care much about that, quality is way more important. And definitely don't want a limited amount of supports, I want everyone to be able to talk with (almost) everyone and I want to be able to see as much convos as possible.

[Lau]

I love support conversations.

I would like S supports to return, just without the kids. Fates shoehorned them in, and we all saw how that went down. However, I want S supports to be limited for characters. Don't let everyone marry everyone, just have a handful of good quality S supports for certain characters (and make them be legal please, lets not have a repeat of the Sakura and Elise controversy).

I'd like same sex marriages to be expanded upon, it's 2018 now IS, come on.

I have my doubts whether the game is going to be fully voiced anyway, but I'd like the supports to be voiced. It's not a necessity, but it would be nice.

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

1. Uh YES only reason I really play the series if not it would be a generic JRPG series to me (not saying the gameplay is bad but in a stick out identity sense a reason why Awakening brought me back despite playing all games prior).

2. *See above* (without 2nd gens) but limiting the non-avatar supports so it would help in writing them in better quality over slapping something ridiculous in. For example Chrom's amount of regular and pair options was perfect more like that please. Keep the lovey dovey in tact for my avatar though! Also I have a feeling 2nd gens won't make it this time around but we'll see. 

3. 110% off time/base conversations. Judging from what the fact sheet/site info states that looks to be the case thank goodness!

4. Sure but I have a feeling it won't (except confession scenes) to cut time and that's ok. Story and other modes having it like Fates I can see.

5. If you meant limited like the GBA games and PoR then a definite big NO that was awful....thankfully that very likely won't happen again.

Either way supports WILL happen but I'm mostly expecting usual marriage since its obviously massively popular and makes ALOT of money. The kid part is the only thing that's 50/50 to me hopefully these get address when new info surfaces.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Regal Edelgard Axe Master

[RexBolt]

One thing that's important to me is the "player-only" supports. While i would like all character to have multiple romance options (maybe 4 max) i know they are part if thepower fantasy of being the avatar. So if they are here, make them like awakening please? How are we to learn their personalities like the others if they don't have friends?  

I feel like Tiki is the best exemple to date of such a character. She could only romance the avatar, but also had 4 or 5 friend supports to be explored on.

[nhaer042]

For me a lot of the investment in what's going on usually comes from the supports rather than the plot. Seeing them return is almost a requirement for me. 

[MetalAmethyst]

Support conversations are some of my favorite things in the series! Though, it would be nice to have a marriage system without 2nd gen units. That, and have interesting characters involved in said conversations.

I just hope that Three Houses provides us interesting characters for the players to get invested in.

[Ertrick36]

I definitely want them in, I'm not particularly given to any preferences besides them being of good quality and not imposing arbitrary limits like the GBA and Tellius games do.

Most everything else would highly depend on how that stuff is handled.  If they're gonna do hyperbolic time realm BS for 2nd gen like in Fates for the children I'll probably pop an artery, but if they have kids appear in natural progression like in Genealogy then I'm all for it.

For voice acting, I kind of would rather have a good quantity of supports but if they can do that and have quality voice work then I don't care too terribly much.  Personally, I feel like some FE's are oversaturated with filler supports; it doesn't feel like any supports involving characters like Setsuna are worth anything and they just waste my time.  But at the same time I wouldn't want valuable support opportunities to be missed simply because they wanted to up the production value; I thought that Lucina x Oboro was a horribly missed opportunity in Fire Emblem Warriors, being explored only in dual attack quotes.

Don't care too much where they take place.  But if it's on a battlefield, it shouldn't drag on for long.  That would make battlefield supports trickier to handle, and I think they should only pursue that if they can write quick and concise supports really well.

[Landmaster]

1. Yes

2. Yes, with or without kids. Doesn't really matter either way as long as some units can get married but I like kids so I'd be fine if they're there~

3. I like them better as Base Conversations. I didn't mind SOV style but I feel some of the conversations are better had off the Battlefield than on it (plus, I don't like wasting a turn to chase someone down when I could be killing something).

4. Yeah, duh~

5. Not a fan. I would rather every unit have the ability to marry MOST every other unit. I don't mind Avatarsexuals but let's not have another case of M!Corrin where he is FORCED to marry an Avatarsexual if you want to get all of the children. I don't mind limited cases like Sumia or Chrom who can only marry certain units but I don't want it to where each unit can only have like 3 potential wives/husbandos.

If you meant like the A+-Supports, I like those and it's a good way for 1st Gen units to have access to more Classes. I also think having those limited between two characters is good and prevents it from being too broken if you could A+ with half of the cast.

[HappyHawlucha.]

I liked what Fates did with A+ supports, if I were to bring them back I'd still make them a parallel to S supports but make it so whoever the unit has the S/A+ support with gets a paired ending with them similar to how it was earlier on. Marriages wouldn't result in playable kids and not every character is able to romance every unit of the opposite gender, if the relationship does not make sense, it shouldn't happen. A+ supports between genders would also work since pairings such as Amelia and Duessel in Sacred Stones is such a lovely support but it's entirely platonic, something Fire Emblem shows little of.

Edited October 5, 2018 by HappyHawlucha.

[Arcphoenix]

I hope that the plot for each support wraps up in the A support. One thing I really liked about Fates' supports in comparison to Awakenings is just this. Most Awakening supports don't resolve a support's plot unless S support is reached

[Kazuya]

Just get rid of marriage, be done with it. It's awful, it's been ruined from the original intent, and at this point it's only going to create more entitled people thinking the game is bad because they can't have an old man date a child...looking at you, awful reviews. 

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

Having VA in supports (exception being avatar confessions)would be a bit iffy depending on the total roster amount and different combinations of support convos(which I feel SoV did it due to them being incredibly short, just to put SOMETHING notably different in an already faithful remake and not having many at all). So yeah as much as I would like it not necessarily needed there. Anywhere else would totally work though.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Regal Edelgard Axe Master

[Metal Flash]

Like others on this topic, I love supports for the extra insight into the characters it gives. Though I will admit that I feel that the new games were kind of all over the place with the quality of their supports.

I wouldn`t mind seeing S-supports return, just without kids being forced into the game.

Personally, I would like them to take place outside of battles. Just a prefrence of mine.

While it would be nice, I`d rather they focus on the quality of the supports them selves.

I would prefer if they limited the amout of supports any one character could have. That way, we would avoid the Awakening/Fates problem of everyone having to support everyone. Also, if Byleth is an avatar, I hope they don`t include characters who only support with them.

[HappyHawlucha.]

13 hours ago, Arcphoenix said:

I hope that the plot for each support wraps up in the A support. One thing I really liked about Fates' supports in comparison to Awakenings is just this. Most Awakening supports don't resolve a support's plot unless S support is reached

I think that most S supports in Awakening and Fates kind of made a very loose connection to the original 3 convos, sort of like the first 3 were "I like candy, you like candy, let's make candy!" then the S is like "We both like candy, let's have babies!". If S supports were to come back they should only be for relationships which actually make sense in the context of the first 3 supports.

9 hours ago, Regal Edelgard Axe Master said:

Having VA in supports (exception being avatar confessions)would be a bit iffy depending on the total roster amount and different combinations of support convos(which I feel SoV did it due to them being incredibly short, just to put SOMETHING notably different in an already faithful remake and not having many at all). So yeah as much as I would like it not necessarily needed there. Anywhere else would totally work though.

I'd prefer it if we got full story voice acting and a decent amount of supports without full voice acting than a handful of fully voiced supports. I mean I doubt we'd get a decent amount of fully voiced supports but Xenoblade 2 had a lot of full voice acting and if Three Houses has a similar budget I'd hope it could have the same.

Edited October 6, 2018 by HappyHawlucha.

[vanguard333]

I hope we see supports that are meaningful. No more, "almost everyone can support almost everyone else". 

I'm fine with S-Supports, but I don't want 2nd generation units to return. I also think it would probably make more sense that the characters agree to start dating or something like that, rather than 3 conversations then proposal.

[Hawkwing]

I'd prefer not to have S-supports return, if only so platonic endings can come back. It's also because the supposed "shipping" aspect of the series (which is frankly barebones as heck and I never understood how people could use it as a legitimate insult against the series) never appealed to or interested me in the first place. I'd only like children to come back if it's a timeskip (as time travel, while clever, is a one-use trick, and alternative universes/dimensions would be too similar) and if they iron out the flaws of this mechanic.

I don't mind in-battle conversations returning, but having supports occur off the battlefield would probably be for the best. They could be longer without anyone raising an eyebrow, and have the characters be in physical events like shopping or hunting, which just plain can't happen in the middle of a battle.

I don't really see how voice acting is supposed to reduce the quality of the supports. I believe the limited supports in Echoes were more for gameplay balancing than budget limits (the original Gaiden was balanced around both you and your enemy always having the chance to miss. A few support bonuses can turn that 80% chance to hit into a 100%, with added crit to boot. Imagine what would happen if almost everyone could have more more than one or two support partners...)., but even then, the presence of voice acting means inherently less supports, but that also means that those few supports can be of high quality if they play their cards right. Even if voice acting is limited to story sequences, I'd rather have the supports be limited in quantity so the quality can be much higher as a result.

I don't mind having limits on the amount of supports a single character can have, but admittedly I have not played many of the older games (not for a lack of trying, though. I couldn't predict that my emulator would crap out on me, after all), so I don't know how they worked in practice. With that said, I also don't mind if they have unlimited supports like in Awakening and Fates, as long as they don't go overboard with them.

 

Two things I'd like to have about the supports in Three Houses:

1. HAVE THE ABILITY TO SEE HOW MANY SUPPORT POINTS A PERSON HAS WITH ANOTHER CHARACTER!!! Seriously, it's annoying as heck that if I want to have an idea of how far along two characters are in gaining their next support, I have to have another website open to tell how many points they gain per turn and predict how long they have to be near one another. Even in games that didn't use this support method, it would be nice to now how long it will be until the next support will be unlocked. On that same note, also make it able to see a characters growth rates, please. There is no reason to hide that information from the player.
2. Don't pull the trick that Awakening pulled with it's characters. I.E. They seem like two- or one-dimensional tropes at first, but slowly gain more depth and turn into three-dimensional characters the more you learn about them. It's execution was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it meant that unlocking supports of even average quality was rewarding as it added more layers to a character, and it's pretty satisfying seeing someone you thought was merely a gimmick turn out to have more depth to them. On the other hand, it meant that people who didn't use certain units would be stuck with the tropey first impression. It's pretty telling that people still think Kellam's gimmick is that people forget he's there, when it truth people know he exists; they just find him hard to spot, and usually that joke is only played once before diving into the meat of the support.

[Kedata]

Oh man that was more responses than I expected!

Still, as wonderful as supports are for giving characters-- especially non-main characters-- a bit of spotlight and depth, I'm still a bit interested on how well they could characterize their characters in the main story as well.

I wonder if they'd be able to pull off good characterization without supports? Although, actually, I suppose in SoV Fernand and Berkut weren't too bad of characters and it's not like they got supports since they were largely enemy only units.

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

Uh...I had no idea what I was reading after vanguard's post....but anyway the results are what I expected although 5. Should definitely be high with no though and 4. Almost mixed I'm definitely on (no) if the good quality and quantity is shortened but overall good.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Regal Edelgard Axe Master

[vanguard333]

3 hours ago, Regal Edelgard Axe Master said:

Uh...I had no idea what I was reading after vanguard's post....but anyway the results are what I expected although 5. Should definitely be high with no though and 4. Almost mixed I'm definitely on (no) if the good quality and quantity is shortened but overall good.

What does that mean? That my post was the last one where you had some idea what you were reading, or the first where you had no idea? Just wondering.

Edited October 7, 2018 by vanguard333

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

It'd be cool if they revamped how its handled than just the usual C-B-A-S rank. I would like to see it more extended than just 4 convos (3 for non-romantic or regular ones) but I doubt they'll go to Persona levels of extended character interactions to my sadness. I was thinking 1-2 extra supports for married couples to delve into their married life and 1-2 for further look into a friendship. I felt they had something going with the concept of "A+" we should have "+" Supports!

Edited October 7, 2018 by Regal Edelgard Axe Master

[YingofDarkness]

1) I had to google what affinities where because I'm an Awakening baby. That having been said, no. From what I read it seems to be too complicated, and like something you would need a guide to fully understand which is a nuisance when applied to gameplay mechanics. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me. This isn't the first time I've heard of them, but I don't think I ever understood what they were.

2) Yes! I am a shipper at heart, and love pairing up my units although I'd be fine if the S-support ended with them just dating like Leo and Sakura's. The rush to marriage has always felt a bit odd to me. It made sense in Awakening since they have to mention the rings for second gen, but even so some of them ended up being weird. On the note of second gen, no just no. Unless they do it as a time skip I do not want children coming back. If you must tie a pair a kids to the first gen units then just give them their own game. Awakening's addition was fine because time travel was a central theme of the game, but Fate's execution made me not want to pick the majority of them up at all.

3) I feel like only certain support conversations fit the mood of a battlefield. It just makes more sense for people to have conversations and arguments with each other off the battlefield when everyone isn't trying to stay alive and defeat the other army.

4) Now that we have had full voice acting for support conversations I feel like anything else would be a step back. Full voice acting brings the characters to life so much more then just simple text would do. I would gladly sacrifice the number of support conversations we get in favor of that to an extent.

5) And only to an extent because having multiple different support partners helps flesh out a character just as much as full voice acting if those support conversations are done right. I think we should have an equal amount of romantic and non-romantic supports and not just limit the romantic ones to only the member of the opposite sex. It is just more realistic and not every single one of them has to end in friendship. Most of the soldiers go their own way after the war anyways so it would work just fine. I think 3 romantic supports and 5 to 7 non-romantic ones would be fine. But that might be too much or too little for some people. I'm not sure what a good ration would be.

[Sofsky]

1-Yes and no, I mean affinity is a bit complicated so maybe making a more easy to understand system.

2-No, unless it is only x character marrying y and there is no other possible s support then no, canon ships>>>>>>all

3-In a base or camp, SoV stiled is rly strange and awkward like you are in the middle of the battlefield and then u start talking and the enemy just stands like wtf

4-Full voice acting, it can be less quantity but voice acting is really good especially to understand more how x character reacts, even if it means less in depth conversations it seems much more worth it + if fe starts being always full va then probs it starts getting larger supports again

5-Pls dont

[BakanGin]

On 10/5/2018 at 4:59 AM, Mau said:

Supports are definitely one of my favourite things in Fire Emblem and them not returning would seriously make me consider not getting this game.

I would like S-ranks to return too cause I just love shipping my units together, though I would like it to be not in the form of marriage. It's just always so akward when they go 'I love you, please marry me!' out of nowhere on the fourth convo. I'd rather want it to end like 'I like you, let's hang out together more' or that they ask each other out on a date or whatever. Let S-rank be the start of a relationship, not marriage immediately, to make it less awkward and more natural. This would also give more possibilities to make the S-rank convos more unique, cause now it's 90% of the time just 'I got you a ring, let's get married'.

I would also like 2nd gen units to return, though only if done well. Fates' way was way too immersion breaking which made me not get the kids at all during my first playthrough. I'm not sure how to do it right though, Awakening did it well imo but you can't pull another 'we come from the future' thing I guess. Maybe they could make seperate chapters that go on in the future that feature the kids? I would dig that personally.

Furthermore, I'd like the convos to be during off-time simply cause who the hell has time to talk while they're fighting for their lives, that never made sense haha. They don't have to be fully voiced, I don't care much about that, quality is way more important. And definitely don't want a limited amount of supports, I want everyone to be able to talk with (almost) everyone and I want to be able to see as much convos as possible.

I love this and would want this. 

[Tolvir]

The big one for me is out of the battlefield. Putting it on the battlefield severely limits what the supports can cover and contain. Just take a look at the way SoV was, most supports of them just talking, and then Fates where it had the characters doing various things of their day to day lives. Training, cooking, etc. let’s you learn a bit more about the characters themselves. 

Limited supports, but not SoV limited. The fact that some characters only got 1 or even 0 if you didn’t choose the right characters was entirely ridiculous. Looking at Genny and Silque as the most screwed over there. So there needs to be a balance. A decent mix of ones that make sense and then some supports between characters that might not normally interact would be nice too. Sticking a character into a hole by having them support only people that they know or are like isn’t a good thing. 

I would like S Supports to return myself. I think they are fine, most JRPGs have similar mechanics to some extent, so it’s not a bad idea to keep around. Despite what a few reviewers or outsiders of the series might say about the entire shipping scene. They can also extend the A+ Support idea from Fates to give a few platonic endings as well, whether it be between friends or siblings, something not always having to do with getting married and being in a romantic relationship.