'tis hard to say. On one hand I do love the overall gameplay in Awakening, but there's a bunch of niggling doubts that bother me about it. I never finished FE5 and FE12, so it'd feel unfair judging already, but there's also the fact that Awakening feels a bit... soulless for me. Sure, it's got the Fire Emblem spirit in it, with all the recurring character archetypes, the titular Fire Emblem, blue-haired Lord and so on, but the fact that Awakening took many previously popular gameplay elements from previous Fire Emblems makes it feel like a stitched together creature. Sure, it's fun and all that, but I dunno, this entry in the series just feels like it lacks an identity of its own. Though it may partially be my fault for already having played all previous Fire Emblem games, it also just doesn't feel very creative (perhaps a bit justified, considering that Awakening HAD to sell if the stories are to be believed). Hopefully the next game in the series takes a few more creative liberties.
Suppose I'll have to do some more soulsearching. :P