Thanks for sharing these - I appreciate you taking the time to read all of the supports (gosh it took me writing at least a chain every day or so for 6 months to do all of them lol), and seeing this type of analysis and appreciation makes the effort feel worthwhile. I’m not surprised there’s some inconsistency, but some of it may have been fixed in the newer version.
I’m pretty much aligned w/ you on your feelings. Some of the supports and pairings I had really clear ideas for, and others honestly I was at a loss for what to do or say.
I put this list together after I finished VQ dev, but it’s basically my tier list of “how much I enjoyed writing these characters / how easy were they to write” and I def see some alignment w/ you. Note this is both main story, boss dialogue, supports, etc. - all of it.
Ruslan and Sri in particular were characters I struggled to write, but I’m glad that you found the pay off worthwhile. I think for Sri the subject matter can be heavy, plus trying to write a mostly realistic take on an alcoholic is hard and can be emotionally taxing.
Ruslan I felt like as I was writing him, I never really knew what I was doing. I felt like he benefited a lot from who his partners were more so than him on his own merits, but you’re not the first to hold him in high regard, so maybe it was a happy accident on my part lol.
Onisim/Esfir A I get, although it’s one of my favorite chains, it was the first one I wrote and also probably the most detached from how the characters act in their other supports. I’m rusty since it’s been a long time since I’ve written or read them, but IIRC Esfir and Onisim are usually in more guiding roles in their supports, so I wanted to use their support to give more insight into their character when they aren’t acting in those roles. Both have down things they aren’t proud of, and to me, it was a bit about finding acceptance in that and building a closeness to share those details. I can see how this can come across as odd in context of everything else, but it made sense to me when writing it.
I agree w/ you that Rakkaus probably has the best bunch of supports in the game and I’m super happy with how they came out. He was fun to write. IIRC the Sea Lion stuff is referring to the past, but he may be BS’ing Menahan. Considering timing of when this would happen, he wouldn’t have known that the group defeated the Sea Lion in 2-1x and they’re both older, so I’m inclined to think I was referring to the past. However, knowing Rakkaus, he was probably embellishing the truth here, too. I honestly don’t remember.
I’m glad you liked the Anisa/Hollace stuff. I really wanted to play up that Hollace’s memory and her non-memory of the event are so different, and that Anisa feels like a true outsider. I agree w/ you and also dislike when media makes long lost stuff feel like it’s no big deal.
As for sad romance stuff, especially Storch’s, I feel like too often FE games don’t give the female characters in the pairings any agency. They just fall for the dude w/o regards to their own goals or ambitions, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. All the pairings that worked I wanted to work because they’d be able to support each others’ goals and such w/o contradicting their own personal arcs.
Storch is someone who is desperately trying to return to a past state where he felt happy, and it makes sense that he’d pursue companionship with people from that part of his life (+Esfir, who makes him feel safe). However, all 3 of them have their own plans and ambitions and want to move forward - Esfir from her past, Naia from the heartbreak of losing Augustyn (as she does w/ Bosco), and Larisa who has bigger ambitions than sitting at home w/ Storch in Rask. Not to mention that he also essentially ghosted her for close to a decade.
Yeah Duck is unquestionably my favorite character to write. I found getting into his voice to be easy and almost always rewarding, and it’s been fun writing an older version of him in the new project.
I know I didn’t respond to everything, but thanks again for sharing all of this. Glad it was worthwhile.