What Fire Emblem should I get?
- Thread starter Shiny
- Start date
Duffy
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
Fire Emblem awakening is always the first game I recommend for players new to the series, it's the first Fire Emblem game for 3ds. It's also the first "modern" fire emblem game. I say "modern" in quotes, because awakening really revolutionized the series (nintendo has stated after the game's launch if it did not sell 250,000 copies or more they would cancel the series. It sold a lot more then 250,000 copies). So to get into more modern fire emblem definitely start with Awakening. You get to make your own avatar at the beginning (Your avatar is Robin from smash bros in the canon storyline). Plus you can select the difficulty (probably start with easy, the game starts to get really hard even on easy during the later chapters (15+). And you can select what mode you want to play as whatever you find most fun (classic mode has permadeath for your characters, casual mode is for more casual players who don't want to worry about losing their favorite characters during battles.)
tl;dr, Start with awakening. If you like it, Fates is probably where you should go next, it's very similar to Awakening, but with a worse story (In my opinion). After Fates, don't sleep on Echoes (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for 3ds is a remake of an NES game), it mixes old fire emblem elements and new, so play it last, but it's very good in my opinion.
Start with Fire Emblem Awakening : )
tl;dr, Start with awakening. If you like it, Fates is probably where you should go next, it's very similar to Awakening, but with a worse story (In my opinion). After Fates, don't sleep on Echoes (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for 3ds is a remake of an NES game), it mixes old fire emblem elements and new, so play it last, but it's very good in my opinion.
Start with Fire Emblem Awakening : )
eonia
into the next dream
Towns Folk
honestly easy (or normal, because that what it says in the spanish version) is so easy that is boring, hard mode is also easy , but not too much
then you have lunatic mode that turns the game in a puzzle that can be unbeatable if you get bad level ups (fates did better with lunatic mode)
not really, it didnt revolutionized the series, it just made it " semi mainstream"
i also recommend awakening for your first FE game, it has some flaws (a entire story arc that feels like its filler and some very unbalanced element, and...lunatic mode ) but its a solid fire emblem game
you could try fates, the story is a mess(why had to get child units or the awakening trio there when they dont make any sense exept for one dlc series in a alternative universe and a prequel that tries to make you care about the most stupid death scene in the series) but in my opinion it haves better gameplay than fates, especially conquest but that one is very hard
or you could play fire emblem shadow of valentia, it haves the best story of the 3ds games , but the gameplay, lets say its not for everyone, i liked it but a lot of people didnt
if you wanna play the classic fire emblem games you could try path of radiance for gamecube it is the easiest of the classic games, maybe too easy if you play in normal or easy mode, there is a sequel in the wii that is harder, and you can transfer your save from path of radiance to get more bonuses ( but dont train sothe on path of radiance or he will be weak in raidant dawn, i know it sounds weird but trust me, he is nearly useless in path of radiance anyway but in radiant dawn he is one of the protagonist )
Duffy
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
I think you may be a better fire emblem player then me, because I strugged with awakening on easy... (played classic tho, no casual).
I’d still make the arguement that awakening revolutionized the series. It added the ability for units to get married if they support each other enough, then fleshed the mechanic with the ability to have their offspring join your party. Furthermore awakening was the first game in the series to do unit pairing in battle (I think?) as other games just let you have units stand next to each other for bonuses instead of in the same tile.
Awakening wad the first mainstream fire emblem game in North America and Europe/PAL regions though, I agree with you there
eonia
into the next dream
Towns Folk
in reality the first game that added marriage and the child units was genealogy of the holy war , the major diference was that in genealogy of the time war, in the middle of the game we have a timeskip of 20 years and most of the "generation 1" units arent playable anymore
awakening did the child units well, they made sense in the story, but in fates...the developers put the child units for the sake of doing so, even when it doesnt make any sente and feels very stupid, i hope the child unit dont appear in the switch game
also, in awakening, the pair up feature was very luck based,wich made lunatic mode even more horrible, at least fates made it better
Zukrad
Just spam F-Air in the neutral and hope it works.
Towns Folk
Duffy
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
I completely agree with you on the fates stuff.
Genealogy did have the child units but that game never made it to America, so at least in terms of the series over there Awakening was the first (Also by that metric it was the first game over here to do a customization avatar character, because that was previously only in Japanese exclusive Fire Emblem games). Also the child units mechanic was dropped for a while before Awakening.
Duffy
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
Why do you think Awakening is a bad game to start with? I think the maps (Especially the early ones) do a great job teaching the basic mechanics, even if the later ones get a little clunky. Echoes maps are often clunky too, because sometimes of how close to the source material it stays (Those maps with enemy that leaves you at exactly 1 hp... come one). Echoes probably does have the better story, but I didn't hate most of Awakening's (without spoiling anything).
That’s sounds way too easy
Zukrad
Just spam F-Air in the neutral and hope it works.
Towns Folk
imo Echoes and Awakening have bad design, but for different reasons.
In Awakening, the enemy placement looks more random than anything, making every unit a growth unit, which makes it so units that aren't used for a map or two need much more effort to even catch up to the rest.
The enemy density is ridiculous, and most maps rely on putting a decently bulky unit on the middle and skip turn until its over. A lot of maps are outright terrible, like Nah's chapter. Awakening also featured one of the worst mechanics in the series: Same Turn Reinforcements. Other games in the series have STR, but in Awakening is easily the worst case. There are waaay to many reinforcements zones, and there is always at least one every turn that spawns an enemy. Lets not forget that sometimes talking to an NPC, recruiting a character or reaching a certain tile triggers EVERY reinforcement tile at the same time (See: Severa's map)
Awakening does everything in its power to frustrate you. Hard mode is way too easy, yet there are too many enemies and the maps take ages unless you grind to make them to go faster. On the other hand, Lunatic mode is outright terrible and considered by many as one of the worst difficulty modes in the series. Pretty much every thing bad I have said about Awakening is multiplied by 20 in Lunatic.
Jeez, they REALLY wanted you to buy the Grindind DLC
Duffy
Nintendo 3DS Legend
Towns Folk
Yea I agree.
But this thread is for what game to start the series with, and although I'm sure @Shiny is a competent gamer, I'm also sure @Shiny isn't starting on lunatic mode. A lot of the problems you list are true, and I never said awakening is the best game in the series, but I still believe it's the best place to start the series. The improvements in other games may be striking, but it'll be in a good way after beating awakening. All the problems you listed... I struggle to call "nitpicks" because they are valid points against awakening as a game, but against it as a starting point for the series.
