Favorite Support Bonuses

[BubbleOdyssey]

Hey we all know the support system in Fire Emblem, but what support bonuses are your favorite. Ie what game do you think does support bonuses the best. I really love the Fe6 support system. The elemental bonuses mix things up and compared to a lot of other games I can see the difference. It feels like support bonuses are such a small thing in other games, but in Fe6 I can see my unit's crit, attack, and hit skyrocket. What are your favorites? 

[Eltosian Kadath]

I think it depends on what we are looking at. I love that the element system of FE6's supports and the bonuses they give are not just game mechanics, they are a thing in universe (Yoder and Dayan have a whole theological discussion about it in their A support, its fascinating), although you were probably meaning this in a more mechanical sense.

As with a lot of things, Fates mechanically is the most interesting with how it handles support bonuses. There are two different version of them to encourage each of the competing stances, the bonus to derived values (Hit, Avoid, Crit, and Crit Dodge) that pushes you more towards attack stance (by keeping units adjacent but not paired) and the increased stat bonuses in Guards Stance, and that these bonuses are dependent on the characters, as well as partially inheritable (as opposed to Awakening's system)

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I'm gonna say Three Houses. I know they're controversial in their simplicity, but I like that, and here's why. In most games, with supports, I say "I don't really know what boost they give, but I'll take it!" I broadly get the vibe that my crit is going up, or enemy hit rates are going down, but not in a way that I can directly trace to a specific support. In 3H, though, each support gives small boosts, but they're blatant ones. It's apparent which boosts are active at a given time, based on the Linked Attack window. Sidebar - I like the "linked attack" and "gambit boost" much more than the "existing within 3 spaces", as it makes you really think about which weapon to equip, even if you're not attacking. Anyway, the few attack-boosting supports are reminiscent of the "bond" supports from previous games. They tell you about the existing connection between the characters who get them, and how it can become stronger over time.

[Jotari]

I'm gonna  be that contrarian and say the weird answer nobody thought of. Gaiden. I like Gaiden's support system the best, not Shadows of Valentia, OG Gaiden. "Gaiden had a support system?" I hear you shout with great shock and horror, well, no but also yes? If you put Alm and Celica beside each other then they have a guaranteed crit rate. Since Alm and Celica are only playable on the final map (and start on opposites sides of that map), there's not much use to this. But 100% crit rate is broken and awesome and I love it. Genealogy later had something similar with his lover and siblings boost, but that's not gauranteed so not as freely abusable.

Edited March 7 by Jotari

[Samz707]

I like the 3H system with how understandable it is (as well as no limits) but I have a soft spot for SOV, mainly because Alm and Faye actually has a negative support effect as Faye loses dodge when close to Alm.

It helps sell how obsessed she is. 

[ARMADS!!!]

 I'd say FE7 and 8, I don't put 6 here cause as far as I remember it doesn't do anything better than it does in 7 and 8 (I can be forgetting something though...), and it's worse because instead of being able to raise 1 level of support per pair per chapter (like in 7 and 8), you can only obtain 120 support points per chapter for the whole party , with the amount of turns it takes to grind supports that's pretty annoying. Also, if that counts, another reason for me to prefer FE7/8's support system is that FE6 doesn't have paired endings with the exception of Roy's harem while the other two have. I also like how some characters in FE7 can have special conversations (by pressing talk during a specific chapter) if they have an A or B support together, wish they did this more.

 Not to say the support system in the GBA games is not a bit flawed, most pairs take a ridiculous amount of turns to get to A, and the "only 5 support levels per character" rule can be rather annoying sometimes.

 

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'm gonna  be that contrarian and say the weird answer nobody thought of. Gaiden. I like Gaiden's support system the best, not Shadows of Valentia, OG Gaiden. "Gaiden had a support system?" I hear you shout with great shock and horror, well, no but also yes? If you put Alm and Celica beside each other then they have a guaranteed crit rate. Since Alm and Celica are only playable on the final map (and start on opposites sides of that map), there's not much use to this. But 100% crit rate is broken and awesome and I love it. Genealogy later had something similar with his lover and siblings boost, but that's not gauranteed so not as freely abusable.

I wonder why they didn't they keep this in SoV, it wouldn't be particularly broken if they did, since we have characters that get 100% crit rate via triangle attack (and for a lot more chapters) in other games anyway.

 

 

1 hour ago, Samz707 said:

 mainly because Alm and Faye actually has a negative support effect as Faye loses dodge when close to Alm.

It helps sell how obsessed she is. 

 Yeah! That was such a cool detail! 

Edited March 7 by ARMADS!!!

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, ARMADS!!! said:

I wonder why they didn't they keep this in SoV, it wouldn't be particularly broken if they did, since we have characters that get 100% crit rate via triangle attack (and for a lot more chapters) in other games anyway.

I'd guess it's because Alm and Celica can actually be deployed together in regular maps in the post game. Though Alm's critical can get so high her might as well be guaranteed.

[AnonymousSpeed]

21 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'm gonna  be that contrarian and say the weird answer nobody thought of. Gaiden. I like Gaiden's support system the best, not Shadows of Valentia, OG Gaiden. "Gaiden had a support system?" I hear you shout with great shock and horror, well, no but also yes? If you put Alm and Celica beside each other then they have a guaranteed crit rate. Since Alm and Celica are only playable on the final map (and start on opposites sides of that map), there's not much use to this. But 100% crit rate is broken and awesome and I love it.

Literal power couple through the last chapter. Fascinating story-telling.

***

The GBA games have gotten a lot of praise, and I think it's clear to see why. Support bonuses being tied to affinities not only gives you variety, but also a ton of flavor. It's fun to pick an affinity for a unit in a ROM hack or roleplaying campaign, and it's fun to see what a unit's affinity is and think about how it reflects their personality.

However, the GBA support bonuses have two big flaws- they're too powerful, too complicated, and you only know what the bonuses are when you have the wiki open. I like the idea of having different characters giving different support bonuses- Engage and Conquest try this as well, but they also lack transparency.

My favorite therefore goes to FE10, not because of the ability to freely match them but because I don't remember if FE9 had all this. The game actually tell you what the support bonuses are for different characters, and the simplified bonuses are less overwhelming and easier to keep track of. The obvious exception to this is the Earth affinity, which is stinky and broken. Otherwise cool, though.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

53 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

My favorite therefore goes to FE10, not because of the ability to freely match them but because I don't remember if FE9 had all this. The game actually tell you what the support bonuses are for different characters, and the simplified bonuses are less overwhelming and easier to keep track of. The obvious exception to this is the Earth affinity, which is stinky and broken. Otherwise cool, though.

I was also thinking of RD on this matter. Because, while it handles supports a world away from 3H, they do share something in common - transparency in their effects. Arguably, RD is even more transparent, since you don't see 3H's "special supports" until you start building them. But likewise, I could say that RD doesn't outright distinguish between +5 and +10 Crit Bond supports. Of course, it is a pretty marginal difference.

Anyway, I think Earth affinity would feel decently balanced in a 1 RN or "Fates RN" title. But the 2 RN system means that, say, going from 70 Hit down to 25 Hit is actually 82.3 dropping to 12.8. A difference of almost 60 points, rather than the displayed 45.

15 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

I wonder why they didn't they keep this in SoV, it wouldn't be particularly broken if they did, since we have characters that get 100% crit rate via triangle attack (and for a lot more chapters) in other games anyway.

Not sure if you knew this, but it still exists... sort of. Alm grants Celica +10 Crit and +20 Dodge, while Celica grants Alm +20 Crit and +10 Dodge. Also it activates within 3 tiles, rather than requiring immediate adjacency.

14 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'd guess it's because Alm and Celica can actually be deployed together in regular maps in the post game. Though Alm's critical can get so high her might as well be guaranteed.

I'm gonna disagree a bit. Not that I doubt Alm can get 100 Crit, with the right weapon and combat art. But rather, the particular case of Royal Sword Double Lion. In my experience, Alm tended to have about 50 Crit with the art, when Celica was fielded. If Celica granted him a guaranteed crit, it would be a game-changer, turning every "could-kill with the right RNG" into a "will-kill". Thabes would become much more consistent and reliable.

22 hours ago, Jotari said:

Since Alm and Celica are only playable on the final map (and start on opposites sides of that map), there's not much use to this. But 100% crit rate is broken and awesome and I love it. Genealogy later had something similar with his lover and siblings boost, but that's not gauranteed so not as freely abusable.

OG Lover crit, apparently.

Dunno whether this is "hot take" territory or not, but IMO... guaranteed lover and sibling crits wouldn't be overpowered in Genealogy*. Maps are big, positioning is hard. In Gen I, you don't want to overextend Ethlyn due to her frailty, and as for Deirdre, she has no hopes of keeping up with Sigurd. You can start to abuse it more once other pairings happen, but that isn't until chapter 3 at the earliest. In Gen II, a guaranteed crit sounds great on the Sword Twins... but these two also have Astra, and can inherit 50-kill weapons. Killing power isn't what they struggle with. Conversely, it could actually be a meaningful improvement to "Sword Twins at Home" Radney and Dalvin. Throw 'em a bone, would ya Kaga?

*Admittedly, in my "idealized" version, it would be limited to the first strike when that unit initiates combat. So, if Quan is adjacent to Ethlyn, his first attack would be a guaranteed Crit (unless he misses, or the enemy Pavises, or the enemy has Nihil). If the enemy survives or avoids, and Quan Adepts, his next attack would not be a Crit (since he cannot Crit naturally). Unless he's using a Horseslayer, or a 50* Steel Lance. Finally, if Quan is under attack, even while adjacent to Ethlyn, he wouldn't Crit in return.

[Jotari]

35 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'm gonna disagree a bit. Not that I doubt Alm can get 100 Crit, with the right weapon and combat art. But rather, the particular case of Royal Sword Double Lion. In my experience, Alm tended to have about 50 Crit with the art, when Celica was fielded. If Celica granted him a guaranteed crit, it would be a game-changer, turning every "could-kill with the right RNG" into a "will-kill". Thabes would become much more consistent and reliable.

Ah, two things here.

1. I didn't say Alm could get 100% crit...I mean he probably can, but I said he can get so high, it might as well be guaranteed. I'm pretty sure Alm can easily get to 70% crit with Hunters Volley, which with its own brave effect means the chances of him not critting on either attack is something like less than 10%. And more often that not, because of his sky high strength, he won't even need that crit to kill something half the time.

2.Overclasses already do turn Thabes into a "will-kill" on everything. Needing to position Alm in a single space is at least a more interesting a challenge than paying real money for cool stuff there's no real use for. It would have been a nice reference to Gaiden if Conqueror and Riegain gave a "If adjacent to Rigain/Conqeuer crit chance = 100%".  As is, Conqueror gets bow range +1 (which actually probably is better than guaranteed crit given he can one round almost anything anyway) while Rigain gets nothing? Not even move? *checks* Oh wait, she gets Aura. Which, uh, is that better than either Fire or Ragnarok? Anyway, point is, even if it'd be freaking broken, they already gave us freaking broken anyway with Overclasses and it'd be nice to combine the two for the reference.

38 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Not sure if you knew this, but it still exists... sort of. Alm grants Celica +10 Crit and +20 Dodge, while Celica grants Alm +20 Crit and +10 Dodge. Also it activates within 3 tiles, rather than requiring immediate adjacency.

I actually did know that, but I didn't know the exact numbers. I thought Celica was granting +30 crit.

35 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Dunno whether this is "hot take" territory or not, but IMO... guaranteed lover and sibling crits wouldn't be overpowered in Genealogy*. Maps are big, positioning is hard. In Gen I, you don't want to overextend Ethlyn due to her frailty, and as for Deirdre, she has no hopes of keeping up with Sigurd. You can start to abuse it more once other pairings happen, but that isn't until chapter 3 at the earliest. In Gen II, a guaranteed crit sounds great on the Sword Twins... but these two also have Astra, and can inherit 50-kill weapons. Killing power isn't what they struggle with. Conversely, it could actually be a meaningful improvement to "Sword Twins at Home" Radney and Dalvin. Throw 'em a bone, would ya Kaga?

*Admittedly, in my "idealized" version, it would be limited to the first strike when that unit initiates combat. So, if Quan is adjacent to Ethlyn, his first attack would be a guaranteed Crit (unless he misses, or the enemy Pavises, or the enemy has Nihil). If the enemy survives or avoids, and Quan Adepts, his next attack would not be a Crit (since he cannot Crit naturally). Unless he's using a Horseslayer, or a 50* Steel Lance. Finally, if Quan is under attack, even while adjacent to Ethlyn, he wouldn't Crit in return.

The only place I can see guaranteed crits making a significant difference would be in setting up Chapter 10 Julius kills. Which considering it's an optional goal with no tangible reward (unless you're a noob who somehow didn't pass down the Leg Ring...Like I was on my first playthrough), it wouldn't make any actual difference.

[ARMADS!!!]

16 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'd guess it's because Alm and Celica can actually be deployed together in regular maps in the post game. Though Alm's critical can get so high her might as well be guaranteed.

Would still be cool if they had kept it though, the fact that they have to be beside each other to get the guaranteed crit makes it reasonable enough to not be a particularly broken even though it's an obviously powerful mechanic. It'd be a bit like the triangle attack. 

 

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Literal power couple through the last chapter. Fascinating story-telling.

***

The GBA games have gotten a lot of praise, and I think it's clear to see why. Support bonuses being tied to affinities not only gives you variety, but also a ton of flavor. It's fun to pick an affinity for a unit in a ROM hack or roleplaying campaign, and it's fun to see what a unit's affinity is and think about how it reflects their personality.

However, the GBA support bonuses have two big flaws- they're too powerful, too complicated, and you only know what the bonuses are when you have the wiki open. I like the idea of having different characters giving different support bonuses- Engage and Conquest try this as well, but they also lack transparency.

I don't mind them being too poweful in GBA, partly because I usually don't grind for it (and when I do, it tends to be mostly for the conversations and to get paired endings, I use a LOT of characters at once per playthrought so it's annoying to have to send and keep support pairs together all the time, which results in it not becoming to broken for me most of the time), but also cause it makes up for it taking such a ridiculous amount of turns do (and being annoying to do unless you're griding for them, I mean, how many supports you're getting per playthrought if you don't go out of your way to grind?) and the fact that you have a limit of 5 per character, + FE6 and 7 don't even tell you who can support who (and if it wasn't for Eliwood+Hector and Roy+Lilina, you'd need guides- or someone to tell you- to even know supports are a possibility, lol). Also, I find it cool that you have the option of using supports for stuff such as giving Assassin Joshua get very reliable crit rate or other crazily broken stuff, but only if you want to go out of your way for it.

 I guess that in terms of being broken or not, FE6 had the system be more balanced and less unfair than in the other GBA titles, the former because of the support points limit the whole party could get per chapter instead of 1 level per pair per chapter, and the latter because since the game only had paired endings for Roy, you would't feel like you had to keep griding for supports if you wanted paired endings so the mechanic acted more like any extra thing that gave you some nice boosts and some lore about your units. I still like it more how it worked in 7 and 8, but still, I guess 6 had it be less broken.

 

2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Not sure if you knew this, but it still exists... sort of. Alm grants Celica +10 Crit and +20 Dodge, while Celica grants Alm +20 Crit and +10 Dodge. Also it activates within 3 tiles, rather than requiring immediate adjacency.

 No I didn't know, but still think it'd have been cooler to get the guaranteed crit with immediate adjacency. Just cause I like gimmicky stuff like that though, not for thinking it's particularly more optimal.

 

 Adding another thing I found nice: PoR's bond supports that made some specific characters act as an iron rune to another specific character when besides them (also there's data in the game showing that Greil would protect Titania from crits), and were separated from the normal bond supports (since the pairs are not the same that have normal bond supports). I find this pretty cool and wish they did this sort of thing more times.

[Cdijk16]

I like the FE5(and FE3 since it uses the same system) support system the most in terms of game mechanics. I like the fact that you don't have to go out of your way to grind supports like in the GBA games. Every support giving 10/20 Hit, Avoid, Crit and Crit Avoid also makes support bonuses much easier to keep track of.  I also like how it synergizes with FCM to enable 100% crit setups. (for example with Karin and Fergus during Manster arc).

I also like FE9/10 supports because you don't have to go out of your way to grind them, you just get them passively by deploying units on the same map.

Edited March 8 by Cdijk16

[Alastor15243]

Hard decision between the affinity system of 6-10 and the Fates system with reclass rewards. I love them both.

[BrightBow]

Definitely the complete overkill support bonus that Barzelphen gets from Benette. Really showing off the Power Of Love there.

Honorable mention goes to Salyna getting a strong boost from the Holydrake Bertoullia herself. Because that does not exist because of Salyna but because Salyna's mount Fernando has a crush on Bertoullia. And that whole thing is just really adorable. Admittedly it's hard for something involving Berti to not be adorable, but still. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Someone already said FE2? Goddamnit

Fine my runner up is Alm and Faye in the remake. SOV's already interesting because its support bonuses give unique boosts to different stats on a case by case basis for both participants. But they take it a step farther in designing a support that nerfs and buffs one of the two characters. Faye's Avoid drops because she's too distracted by Alm and maybe prone to showboating when he's around which is why her crit rate skyrockets. That's brilliant. And if she's a cleric it can be beneficial overall, since that extra hit rate puts her further in 2RN's good graces to nail those vital Nosferatu blasts after she inevitably takes damage. This support bonus isn't a major bullet point on why Faye is good, but it is a key element of her unit identity that sets her apart from Silque while also sprinkling in a bit of story to the game mechanics.

[Jotari]

21 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Someone already said FE2? Goddamnit

Fine my runner up is Alm and Faye in the remake. SOV's already interesting because its support bonuses give unique boosts to different stats on a case by case basis for both participants. But they take it a step farther in designing a support that nerfs and buffs one of the two characters. Faye's Avoid drops because she's too distracted by Alm and maybe prone to showboating when he's around which is why her crit rate skyrockets. That's brilliant. And if she's a cleric it can be beneficial overall, since that extra hit rate puts her further in 2RN's good graces to nail those vital Nosferatu blasts after she inevitably takes damage. This support bonus isn't a major bullet point on why Faye is good, but it is a key element of her unit identity that sets her apart from Silque while also sprinkling in a bit of story to the game mechanics.

Is Nosferatu not locked to a 50% hit chance in Shadows of Valentia like it is in Gaiden?

[BrightBow]

I suppose if we count debuffs, there was Märchen giving his allies -50 hit and avoid in a 3 tile radius, because no one can stand being near him.
Taken to the next level later in the game, where this skill is also on some opportunistic NPC "allies" who insist that you need help in finishing off the broken, battered and bleeding remains of Ernst's forces. And the effect stacks too.

Barzelphen is similar, with his terrible cologne being distracting to people, resulting in a 15% accuracy penalty.
Though funnily enough, when he strikes a conversation to Nelke, she is so desperate to get away from the smell that she both gets a permanent movement boost as well as immunity to all status effects.
 

27 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Is Nosferatu not locked to a 50% hit chance in Shadows of Valentia like it is in Gaiden?

Supports do actually affect spell accuracy.
On a sidenote, Nosferatu is also 60% in Echoes.

Edited March 9 by BrightBow

[Jotari]

29 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

I suppose if we count debuffs, there was Märchen giving his allies -50 hit and avoid in a 3 tile radius, because no one can stand being near him.
Taken to the next level later in the game, where this skill is also on some opportunistic NPC "allies" who insist that you need help in finishing off the broken, battered and bleeding remains of Ernst's forces. And the effect stacks too.

Barzelphen is similar, with his terrible cologne being distracting to people, resulting in a 15% accuracy penalty.
Though funnily enough, when he strikes a conversation to Nelke, she is so desperate to get away from the smell that she both gets a permanent movement boost as well as immunity to all status effects.
 

Supports do actually affect spell accuracy.
On a sidenote, Nosferatu is also 60% in Echoes.

Spell accuracy in general, maybe, but I was under the impression that Nosferatu in particular has set, unchanging accuracy, and it was this property that originally let it defeat Duma in Gaiden.

[ping]

I think I'm in the RD camp, because that game explicitly shows what bonuses a support gives. If PoR had done the same thing, that would've been my answer instead - I think I prefer the total of five support ranks per character from FE6-9, and PoR's per-map system is easily the least annoying way to grind (or rather not having to grind) supports.

[Acacia Sgt]

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

Spell accuracy in general, maybe, but I was under the impression that Nosferatu in particular has set, unchanging accuracy, and it was this property that originally let it defeat Duma in Gaiden.

If I recall, it was the way its HP leeching effect worked, since Duma's barrier didn't null accuracy, but rather damage.

---

Hmm, favorite support bonuses... I guess when the system is dynamic in what the characters receive. Like in the GBA games being dependent on Affinity, or just being outright different for just about each pair like in SoV. Stuff like that.

[lenticular]

For me, it's got to be Three Houses. I'm not really a fan of the "keep these two units glued to each other" play-style that a lot of support systems lead to, since I prefer the tactical flexibility of being able to "reassign" units on the fly as battlefield situations change and different units are needed in different areas. So the Three Houses style of "everyone supports with everyone" (at least in-house) works well for me. I also find that it communicates the fantasy of improving unit cohesion better than more restrictive support systems which feel more like "I want to show off in front of my crush" than anything else.

Brief thoughts about the specific mechanics of support bonuses from other games that I've played:

• GBA games: Honestly, I have no idea how the bonuses work in these games, because actually acquiring the supports in the first place is just way too much of a hassle for me to have ever bothered wtih.
• Tellius: I want to like the affinities, but I feel that they're more interesting in theory than practice. It mostly feels that earth affinity is busted, anything that gives attack boosts is kinda nice, and everything else is too situational to really care about.
• Shadow Dragon: I think this game technically has supports?
• Awakening: Stat backpacks are powerful, of course, but there's no interesting tactical depth here.
• Fates: The first time I played Birthright, I nearly missed that child units existed because I didn't find anything about the support system fun or interesting enough to engage with. They're better once you actually know the classes and class skills so can meaningfully plan around reclassing, but that isn't really a thing on an (unspoiled) first time through.
• Shadows of Valentia: Fun touches like Faye and Alm aside (and it truly is a fun touch), there's not much here.
• Engage: Honestly, I couldn't remember how support bonuses in Engage work and had to go and look them up. It seems like it should be a good system, except that they're so obfuscated by the game that it feels like it would be a pain to actually really make the most of them.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:08 AM, Acacia Sgt said:

If I recall, it was the way its HP leeching effect worked, since Duma's barrier didn't null accuracy, but rather damage.

I'm pretty sure all Gaiden spells have fixed accuracy, so that would have to be the case.

[Nauriam]

On 3/8/2024 at 3:36 PM, BrightBow said:

Definitely the complete overkill support bonus that Barzelphen gets from Benette. Really showing off the Power Of Love there.

Honorable mention goes to Salyna getting a strong boost from the Holydrake Bertoullia herself. Because that does not exist because of Salyna but because Salyna's mount Fernando has a crush on Bertoullia. And that whole thing is just really adorable. Admittedly it's hard for something involving Berti to not be adorable, but still. 

Honestly, VS and VS II might be my favorite implementation of supports from a gameplay standpoint of all the games. Those two you mentioned are particularly fun, and I think they had a lot more fun in VS II with its supports and talk conversations. However, I've always appreciated how Cyltan and Hoelun's support comes about. They're blocked off and fighting on their own against enemies that are not trivial for them to defeat. Every few turns they get another talk conversation where the direness of the situation Cyltan got them into makes them both realize how much they appreciate each other. And as they're learning to work together and not bicker for the sake of their lives, their support slowly gets stronger and stronger making them more capable to fight the bandits attacking them.

For anyone reading who's not familiar with the game's system, they're called "bonds" and are baked in to certain characters, and sometimes characters can increase their bonds or create new bonds based off of conversations you can do on certain chapters (so no support grinding or support levels in the traditional sense). Most of the time though, two characters who already know each other come with a bond, and it stays the same for the whole game. The bonds can also be unidirectional, where one unit give another unit a bonus but not the other way around. The bond bonus applies if you're within 3 tiles of the unit you have a bond with, and the effects of the bond are clearly displayed. I much prefer that system over most FE's systems, and I think it's an awesome way to tie character affiliations to gameplay when you don't have support conversations between characters like FE has.