Support System

[Christianguy7]

So, I kinda want the new support system from Fates, and Awakening to be in Echos, maybe with some tweaks hear and there, though. (pls don't kick me) I'm really used to this system, because I have sadly only played Awakening, and Fates, and I don't really know a lot about the classice support system. (Seriously Radiant Dawn is like $80 on Amazon, I am an average college student. I can't afford that.) So could somebody might give me a quick run down on the classic support system? (Side thought: What will be the price of the amiboos?)

[Punished Dayni]

The original support system was just units giving passive boosts to hit and such to one another, and there's no indication who gets support bonuses from who in game. No conversations between units unlocked.

FE4's supports was just between lovers or some siblings, but it allowed the chance for critical hits and a guaranteed hit. There's some dialogue in certain circumstances, but it's irrelevant otherwise.

For the GBA titles, supports give boosts to things like avoid, defence and crit, and they can only get 5 support ranks total (like one A and B rank, 2 B and a C rank or 2 C and an A rank). FE12 had something similar, but how they grew and how it boosts unit's combat differed.

I can't tell you about PoR RD's supports. 

[bethany81707]

Fire Emblem Tellius's supports function somewhat similarly to the GBAs, but with new affinities and Crit chance (and possible Dodge) have been removed from the potential bonuses. Bonuses add as they do in GBA- it's how they're formed that's different.

In Path of Radiance, units can support with similar rules to the GBA games (five supports total, across a limited support pool), but the definition of 'fought together enough' was changed from 'End Turn with them next to each other' to 'number of mutual sallies'. No matter how many times you End Turn when Mist and Jill are sat next to each other, they will always get their A Support at the same time. This allows the support script to reference events in the game's story. For example, in Chapter 20, you kill a wyvern lord named Shihiram, who is the father of Jill. Some supports which reference this event (like, I believe, Lethe A) are timed such that, even if you deploy Lethe and Jill in every single map possible, you cannot achieve them before the event has taken place. This system obviously allows the game developers to choose more topics for conversation than the GBA games can.

In Radiant Dawn, supports return to being manipulable a la the GBA games, but with the same affinities in Path of Radiance. However, instead of just ending turn next to one another, other actions like dancing, healing, shoving and rescuing can increase support points. In Radiant Dawn, any one unit can support with ONE other unit in the cast. This unit can change, but if you delete an established support, you cannot reestablish it. To use an example, you can support Nolan/Edward for a while, and then change Nolan's partner to Zihark. This locks you out of switching back to Nolan/Edward. Probably because IS knew that writing supports for every pairing in Radiant Dawn's massive cast was an exercise in futility (I don't know if Fates comes close...), each unit has two lines for each rank, and each line sounds as if it could be addressed to anyone. One of Nolan's C-Rank lines (the one he delivers if he's talked to) is 'Hey there. You know, endurance is key in battle. Never overexert yourself.' This fits his character, but is rather bland. While some characters and conversations (like Oliver and possibly Micaiah/Sothe A, Ike/Soren A, and a few royals) have custom lines, this is about as much character development as you're going to get. It is also, as stated earlier, not mix-and-matchable. You cannot have Nolan/Zihark A and Nolan/Edward B- it's one or the other.

I'd honestly not be opposed to Path of Radiance's system returning, but with between-chapter grinding, I think the innate advantage gets lost. Take Sacred Stones- it tries to do this- Eirika/Tana B mentions Innes, and your first chance to get it in Eirika's route without grinding in skirmishes or the Tower is Chapter 10, where Innes is recruited (and the mention references Tana/Innes's recruit conversation). However, if you do use skirmishes and the Tower, the effort just falls through. If the conversations are locked to story progress, then postgame grinding to pair off units you don't use might not work (it's what makes getting FE8's support log unlocked ingame bearable to me, and why I'll never do the same for FE7).

FE10's system for gathering Support points is my favourite, and I always lament that it's not in the GBA games. I'm not sure how support points work in Awakening/Fates, but this system could be a goal for non-Pair-Up games. The Support conversations themselves and the mutual exclusivity, on the other hand, can remain in Radiant Dawn.