Your Thoughts on Support Characters

You'll find here all archived threads from the Phansite forum.

Hibiki

I'm talking support only characters, Fuuka, Rise, Futaba. How do you feel about them? Personally, not a fan. I was really kinda happy when P5 introduced Morgana who acted as a Support while still a party member, and I think it's hilarious how when he "dies" he just runs behind a pillar in the background to continue supporting.
Discuss maybe?

Mao

It is kind if annoying

pure-anon

i think they're great!! it's nice getting tons of free buffs and charge/focus all the time!!

Migrant

Morgana's lengthy "death" was obnoxious, especially since he's by far the weakest party member (until Ann joins, at which point he's by far the second weakest for the rest of the game).

The full animation for it should have been an RNG chance to get, and other times he just has the voice clip.

Anyway for the topic at hand, I like support characters. They bring a lot of useful abilities that you wouldn't keep on an active party member.

Hibiki

I hope a potential Persona 6 continues the trend with 5 and cuts them out altogether personally. The free buffs are kind of nice but I never found them useful because I feel like the AI is purposefully trying to use them when it doesn't matter, for example that time Futaba gave me a defense boost when the enemy basically had 2 HP left.

Seeing characters like Morgana and Makoto be able to act as supports of a kind while still fighting gives me hope.

imtherealklib

Gasp! The topic!

IamThou

Futaba is the only Persona support character I like.

REALLY WISHED THEY'D GIVEN HER A SNIPER RIFLE.

lnari

Ooc: I think that support characters are great in battle, but don't we all deep down want to fight with Rise and Futaba?

Mao

You should be able to control them too

Hibiki

It really sucks for me cuz I like their CHARACTERS, yes Fuuka is good shut up, but when they're relegated to support only I feel like it's a bit of a waste, because in lengthy dungeon sessions I tend to tune out the support voices, to the point where in one of the endgame dungeons I legit forgot Futaba was even a member of the Phantom Thieves because I tuned her voice out in battle and then she showed up in a cutscene and i was like
oh yeah futaba is here
uhm
oops

Hibiki

also can I just say it's a damn shame with the costume DLC because you can put Futaba in a costume but it has no relevance because it only shows up in cutscenes, in battle if it cuts to her she is still always wearing her thief getup

imtherealklib

I honestly don't know how to feel, I really like them, and think they make a decent role for extra passives for the whole party. Like a blanket, a waifu based blanket.

imtherealklib

Wait does it? I thought she wears whatever when inside Necronononomicon

Hibiki

No, if it cuts to her casting a buff inside the Necronomicon, she will always be wearing her thief outfit.

I have the SMT If... costumes on everyone but in battle she is always wearing her not-Tron costume.

MakotoYuki14

Fuuka's ok, Rise is the best support, and Futaba makes me cringe and want to kill myself

imtherealklib

huh. dumb. Like, super dumb. It should be as simple as using a different model, so I don't see why they wouldn't add that, cause I don't think it's pre rendered

Hibiki

It is apparently, at least it seems so.

Also I appreciate the uh, input on your opinions on their characters Makoto, though you are objectively wrong about Futaba
but I was asking about the concept of a support only character, not
them

MakotoYuki14

Thanks?

goroami

I personally like Rise the best, her cheering really gives me the will to go on, and reviving the MC was wonderful, when I 1v1ed Izanami-No-Okami. I'm only on rank 1 with Futaba rn so I cn't say anything for sure but Rise's pretty good.

imtherealklib

I doubt support is going anywhere though, it's basically a staple. Granted, I wish they walked with you in dungeons...cause Futaba is usually in range of the fight no?

Skull

Support characters are great, but I wish it wasn't as random as it is.
I'd prefer a meter system which is built up during battles that can be saved up to activate the support buffs.

Hibiki

Considering she flies over the battles sometimes in Mementos I think its safe to say she's closer than the backup members maybe but you never see her in battles unless an effect triggers

also i just realized when you swap a party member in they usually jump down from above what if your backup members are just sitting on Necronomicon waiting for their turn

Hibiki

@Skull
A meter, so you mean like the thing Persona Q

Hibiki

idk why my message got cut off but if you mean like the thing Persona Q does then yeah i agree thats a nice feature that they should bring to mainline

MakotoYuki14

Goroami Rise's my favorite support character and I always romance her

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 My first playthrough, I didn't romance anybody because of Yosuke, I seriously thought you could date him but I couldn't, 2nd playthrough, I romanced Naoto and Marie, 3rd one right now, I'll probably do Chie and Rise.

pure-anon

yosuke was originally a romance option!! it got removed really, really late in development!!

goroami

@pure-anon Yeah, sadly. I heard his unused voice lines and stuff, it was a real bummer that they took it out, it could've really developed his character a lot more and stuff. Yosuke will forever remain #1 girl in my heart.

Hibiki

O I see how it is, y'all are trying to bully me off of my own topic, tch

hazama

No silly Hibiki, I only want to bully Makoto, because he's a bully too.

Yu-Narukami

@MakotoYuki14
I don't disagree.

goroami

How's Makoto a bully???

MakotoYuki14

Your a good man Yu I respect you and Hazama go fuck yourself

MakotoYuki14

Goroami Hazama and others harassed and accused me on my own thread!

goroami

@Hibiki Well then, sorry for getting side tracked on your thread, even we can talk about other stuff too, kek :P...

hazama

He makes people feel old and that's against the law >:^((((((

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 Do you have a link to it?

MakotoYuki14

Your full of bullshit asshole

MakotoYuki14

I'll see what I can find

MakotoYuki14

Here it is
https://phansite.net/forum/topic.php?topic=4296

hazama

>harassed
>we were obviously joking and still are

Wew

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 thanks

pure-anon

@hazama we're not old!! we're just!! just!! not old!!

MakotoYuki14

Also goroami they made fun of us being together that's what got me pissed

hazama

Yeah he has no right to make us feel that way, the meanie

MakotoYuki14

When you left they attacked

MakotoYuki14

I swear to god Hazama and pure-anon just shut up

hazama

The funny part is that you're taking this as an attack on you rather than the joke it is

Legit everyone here can take a joke, except for you I guess

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 Don't worry about it, it's okay. :)

pure-anon

@MakotoYuki14 i never even said anything to you!! you sure are really hostile for no reason!!

MakotoYuki14

I don't think insulting me and my girlfriend being together a joke

MakotoYuki14

Whatever I just having a very bad day today

MakotoYuki14

I'm ^

hazama

Again, it's a joke.
If I TRULY wanted to insult you, I would have by now.
Anyway, you asked me to leave and so I shall. Since you know, I actually have STUFF to do tomorrow.

Toodles, Makoto.
(Also you too, pure-anon [finger guns])

pure-anon

oh no!! i've been shot!!

Hibiki

Heyheyheyheyhey
This is my thread so I feel the need to step in and get y'all to step down
at least... try
Y'all need to chill
Makoto, I think ya take things WAY to seriously
these guys are very clearly joking around and teasing you and you're taking it dead serious and throwing insults.
If ya wanna continue fighting or arguing or w/e do me a favor and make a new topic where you can complain your heart out, i kinda wanted to have a serious discussion on the nature of support only characters as a concept, and i'd kinda prefer it not get hijacked by drama ok cool?

also be careful about telling pure-anon to shut up people might actually slaughter you for that

Hibiki

tfw i commented a lil too late

MakotoYuki14

Fine I'm sorry I just have a lot of things on my mind right now

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 It might be best if you get some sleep, it'll make you feel way better. :)

MakotoYuki14

Yea I guess I'll just maybe post something on other threads then sleep

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 Alright, you need to get rest for school tomorrow.

MakotoYuki14

The same goes for you

goroami

Also, @pure-anon and @hazama I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up.

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 I will, but I won't be going to school tomorrow :)!!

MakotoYuki14

Why?

Hibiki

Go to bed nerd

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 Going to Hawaii

MakotoYuki14

Don't cross the line Hibiki

goroami

@Hibiki I should be saying that, nerd.

MakotoYuki14

Lucky I love Hawaiii

Hibiki

You're both nerds, both of you go to bed

MakotoYuki14

Wait what I'm a nerd?

goroami

@MakotoYuki14 I wasn't talking to you

MakotoYuki14

Thank god

Delta-M

Shouldn't the youth listen to their elders? Sleep is good for the young, so go get some.

As for the topic... since I'm hardly conscious I'll say that I don't mind support characters in games, but the PQ method was really nice. Not relying on rng and tying it into my strategy added another dynamic.

MakotoYuki14

I went on vacation to Honolulu with my family and it was beautiful

Hibiki

I'm an adult and a graduate I make my own rules now.

Yeah, the Persona Q system is naturally based on something from Etrian but... now that Skull brings it up I agree, I think it should be implemented in a mainline game, the buffs are nice but the RNG is too unreliable to make it any useful to me. It's a nice surprise sometimes, but I would maybe appreciate less things being so random.

goroami

@Hibiki Just give me 3 more years...

MakotoYuki14

I would play persona Q if I had a 3ds

MakotoYuki14

I would need 5 or 7 years

Hibiki

To summarize what we're talking about in Persona Q, there is a meter that can be charged up to 5 times iirc by performing various actions in combat, and at any time you can use the charges to activate a skill from the Navigator, Fuuka or Rise
It's great and a lot more reliable

MakotoYuki14

Persona Q is too op

Hibiki

Also tbh it's a pretty bad game I wouldn't really recommend it, if you ever get a 3DS just get Etrian 4 or something its basically a way better version of the same thing

pure-anon

i think the bar system is a better system overall, but the random system does allow for things like full charge/focus and full heat riser to exist in a semi-balanced state!!

MakotoYuki14

I would get it it because Makoto is in it

Hibiki

I mean something like Heat Riser could be balanced by having it cost like 4-5 charges
or balance the meter by making it harder to charge cuz it charges way too fast in PQ imo

Hibiki

or alternatively raise the number of charges the bar allows to 10 and make Full Heat Riser like a 9 or something

Delta-M

I was typing something and then my eyes practically started screaming at me. So I'm gonna head to bed myself before I strain my eyes further. Sorry I couldn't discuss the topic @Hibiki

pure-anon

i think something as valuable as a full heat riser or a full charge/focus isn't something you can realistically give to players to use manually tbh!! they're by and large the best option to use in terms of power, so the state of balance for them is pretty much "use these and nothing else ever" or "they cost too much to be practical"!!

MakotoYuki14

Hey Hibiki who's the real nerd now

Hibiki

@MakotoYuki14

Still you nerd

@pure-anon

I'll agree for the most part on a full Heat Riser, but theres a lotta ways to balance it, from limiting it to just a single target heat riser, making it cost less though, or increasing the cost to the point where it basically only serves as a last resort though
I don't agree that Focus/Charge are really OP enough to balance to harshly
i mean alternatively rather than a charge we could consider a support you can call in who has an actual SP limit, so it still costs to use, although maybe give them a weak SP regen passive so they dont become potentially useless

pure-anon

while i like the idea of having a full utility character you can call in, i think that kind of creates balance problems elsewhere!! utility is super strong in smt games, so they try to spread it around the main cast so there are reasons to use everybody!! if you could call a masukukaja at will, there'd be even less reason to use yusuke at all!!

Hibiki

I get your point, I just feel like given where the Confidants went in P5 more utility control would benefit the game, like the Special Shot you can get from Shinya but it has a rather steep cost when you first get it.

If we go with PQ as a base though
PQ iirc doesn't actually have any buffs, mostly cures, escape, ailment recovery, and the ability to extend stat buffs currently on your party
so we could potentially expand on that by having a Navi you can call in, but they dont have any skills that could be easily abused, but could be handy

pure-anon

i think if they let us call in the navigator, we'd probably lose the really big stuff, but it'd also give us the freedom to fill in holes in our team if we prefer to use the characters we like!!

oh!! they could also probably make the games a bit harder since there would be guaranteed utility on every team!!

Hibiki

for real though while i like the idea of an on-call support, i would still prefer a character with heal and support skills who is still actually an active member of the party, or even better, have a balanced party where skills are evenly spread so there is no designated "support" caster to ramp up the difficulty and really force the player to think when choosing party members

Theusmellthis

I don't know what you're talking about Futaba is amazing with Cognition change and final guard. She is one of the most useful members of the phantom thieves.

Hibiki

See I don't even after three playthroughs and maxing her Confidant in one of them I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about cuz he rRNG sucks

pure-anon

futaba was always showing up for me!!

maybe it's just because of my burning feelings!!

pure-anon

wait!! i just realized!! i can finally post in this thread again!!

Hibiki

GG pureanon