What do you enjoy most about Fire Emblem?

[Rapier]

The gameplay, which is simple enough to grasp but hard enough to master (and by master I mean "make sure your units aren't dying by stupid mistakes and you finish chapters in low turn counts"); the characters, which are interesting on their own and makes me care about playing this game more effectively; the soundtrack, which is oftenly good; and the fact that it is very rewarding to see one of your units develop from a light weight scrub into a powerhouse that wrecks enemies in one turn.

[Shadowess]

what drew me in was SSB because i was curious about the roster and ended up being sucked into Fire Emblem hel

I really like the gameplay, it's probably my favorite thing. And at the risk of being attacked, I do like building supports, I think they're rather fun.

however, i've only played Awakening, and I hear/know the older games are a bit different? Although, the other games do look interesting ouo kinda curious to try out Sacred Stones

[eclipse]

Growth rates.

It means that I won't end up with the same stats twice in a row, and that means insane replay value~!

[Nintales]

The fact I can play with any group of character I want and still enjoy it while facing some kind of difficulty.

I mean, I finished FE10 with Meg, Fiona, and Astrid in my tower team on hard mode. I could go for a "gurl-only" hm run of FE10 and it would prolly be doable too.

I made several playthroughs of Awakening's HM with my special rules, and all of them were really hard, but really funny to plan. (Girl-only, Dudes-only, Prepromotes-only, No-mounts + E-weapons only, no-promotions-but-reclassing and all of them were doable, )

Edited September 7, 2015 by Nintales

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

Growth rates.

It means that I won't end up with the same stats twice in a row, and that means insane replay value~!

oh this is a good anwser, i love seeing who i'll be using this time based on who gits gud

what drew me in was SSB because i was curious about the roster and ended up being sucked into Fire Emblem hel

I really like the gameplay, it's probably my favorite thing. And at the risk of being attacked, I do like building supports, I think they're rather fun.

however, i've only played Awakening, and I hear/know the older games are a bit different? Although, the other games do look interesting ouo kinda curious to try out Sacred Stones

do try out sacred stones, granted on hard mode, but i think you'll like it, its a good game to ease yourself into others in the series.

[Florete]

Waifus, player avatars, sexy outfits, having children with my loved one.

What? I'm kidding, of course.

One thing in particular that I like about Fire Emblem that I don't think I've seen in any other similar game is that all your units are their own individual character, there are no generics (except Shadow Dragon, but even that's different about it). Even in the games with little to no dialogue, these characters were still unique in their bases and growths. This is the only reason perma-death ever eve mattered, because why would anyone care about some randomly-generated dude's death?

Of course, the gameplay also appealed to me, and in a way other strategy games didn't. It's fairly easy to learn and never really feels overwhelming, but still takes a while to master.

[Azz]

The wide cast of characters.I know I said in the 'What you dislike about FE' topic that I felt there are too many characters, all the characters in the games are still unique and all have really cool personalities and designs.Pretty much that is it, though I do like other things such as classes and such.

[eclipse]

do try out sacred stones, granted on hard mode, but i think you'll like it, its a good game to ease yourself into others in the series.

Sacred Stones Normal should be about right. The maps themselves can be a bit tricky (CHAPTER 6 I AM LOOKING AT YOU), but you're given all the tools necessary to get around the worst of it, if you stop and pick up everything. It's still plenty doable without all the extras!

When in doubt, throw Seth at the problem, and it should resolve itself.

---

. . .which brings me to difficulty. Ever since the advent of FE6, there has been some option for difficulty settings. It's great, because it means I can screw around on one playthrough, and then ramp it up on another!

[NinjaMonkey]

Radiant Dawn's gameplay.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Growth rates.

It means that I won't end up with the same stats twice in a row, and that means insane replay value~!

You stole my answer! But really, yeah this. Because of this, one run in the games is never like the other. The same thing never happens twice despite playing the same game. Each run is unique. This is why i love the series. This, hands down. Theres so many characters and ways to reach the end of the game, that im gonna try all sorts of different things to get the end result.

There seems like no real wrong way to play FE. Like to speed run/LTC? You can do it. Like to take your time and raise those weak baby units into towering monsters of murder with shiny green numbers? You can do it. Hey, look, its a cleric with relatively bad growths! Lets use her this run! Omg i wanna solo the game with Haar!

GIRL'S ONLY RUN!

Oh i wanna use only characters with facial hair.

AXES OR ELSE!

All Magic, All The Time.

Shit like that. You can do it and its so much fun.

I also like the high fantasy element that often deals with political intrigue. I have a soft spot for flying horsies so i do love pegasus knights the best. The varied casts also have a lot to do with it.

[Quintessence]

Yeah, eclipse nailed it. In the end, we love Fire Emblem due to its replay value.

[Gomez_Addams]

Well, there's the gameplay, first off. I'm not hugely into strategy games, but I like how Fire Emblem does things (and Advance Wars, while we're on the subject). There's also the characters. The primary reason my favorite FE game is Sacred Stones is because of the characters.

[Dotty]

Every unit being an individual and permadeath.

I also feel obliged to mention the fanbase, (well, the SF portion) since it caught some flak in the dislike thread.

I really like seeing all the debates on the various forums. Stuff like the Casual Mode debate has people bring up really good points on both sides, and even when things get a little heated it stays mostly reasonable.

I haven't seen much like it in other fanbases, so it's nice for me.

[XRay]

Hm... There is a lot that I like about Fire Emblem. So many things come to mind.

I really like the new mechanics and gimicks that come with each new game. It makes each game feel fresh. On the other hand, it does make me feel a little sad when they remove or nerf things. I do not think I ever disliked something introduced. For example, I still really, really, really miss the magic triangles.

My favorite mechanics are the weapon and magic triangles, the variety of weapons and magics for almost any situation, huge variety of skills, forging weapons, branching promotions, reclassing, supports, affinity, pair ups, eugenics, variety of terrain, fog of war, world map roaming, base building, and the option to break the game or make it as insanely difficult as one wishes.

I also like the fan service and marriage, both for itself and that it brings more people into the game. It allows us to have ojective debates (like optimizing units) as well as subjective discussions on who is their ideal spouse. There is just so much to talk about.

While the overall storylines were okay across the games, there are some chapters and sections that were really well written and touching. I also enjoy the variety of characters. The music is also pretty good, and I love the new song in Fates.

I also like Cipher, the new card game. The artwork on the cards look absolutely stunning!

Edited September 10, 2015 by XRay

[Water Mage]

I love raising units, having weak ones become strong, but don't get me wrong! I love pre-promotes, LOVE THEM, and I use them freely.

However, oddly, despite liking raising units, I'm not fond of raising Ests. Mostly because I like raising something from the beginning of the game, and seeing someone weak in the beginning become strong is just so cool.

[Astrid]

Without a doubt it's the immensity of the 'verse. Some people say that it's subpar when it comes to plot etc. I disagree in this regard, I find the various settings to be well fleshed out and interesting places alongside the vibrant cast of characters that exist those 'verses. There's a ton of other stuff I enjoy about the series as well but that's what comes to the top of my head.

[Tragonight]

I GET TO USE MY BRAIN AND FORMULATE STRATEGIES

... Ahem. I like Fire Emblem's gameplay, the lore, the characters, and all of the enemy data that the player can analyze before making their move (bar the amount of HP on certain bosses in the GBA series). Recruitments fit with the characters' personalities and classes (Thieves are always running around stealing treasure, characters reluctant to attack you won't, etc.), Fog of War is a nice touch, and the anime-esque cutscenes are always beautiful and sometimes emotional.

[SSbardock84]

Almost everything about the games I love. Usually I like the characters and the storylines best. But also good part is the tactics and I love playing on the Normal/Hard mode best because its not too easy or too hard (except in Fire Emblem Awakening, Hard mode is really easy for me). The marriage in Awakening was an awesome add to the games as well, I know it was in the other ones but it didn't feel the same as it did in Awakening and I'm glad they're continuing it in Fates.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

It's gameplay first and foremost, for me. If I start to play FE... I only stop hours later, with the exception of Awakening (that is for shorter sessions).

The story and characters can get me though. Even the stories I did not find good (such as Blazing Swords') managed to capture me in a way, and my favorite of all (Path of Radiance + Radiant Dawn) really drew me into its world, lore and characters. Deghinsea's battle is probably one of my favorite moments in the series and, for me, it's as memorable as some scenes I saw in my most favorite wordy plot heavy JRPGs from the 90s.

I want to put an emphasis on the characters though. The fact that most are not very developed (at least on the older games), make me think of what their life and personality could be like, and that is very fun for me. Also in games like 6/7/8/9, they are developed nicely and are all well-rounded without being too complex. I enjoy their simplicity, they are lovely.

[omglmaowtf]

The raising your party of PCs into an army of warriors(not the class)

It's how these games should be made, prefer that to Advance Wars' churning masses of nameless units

[RidellCrimea]

I like FE mostly for its gameplay. Besides that, the medieval (-ish) setting, the awesome and heroic OSTs, the mostly colorful cast of each game, the great and realistic anime artstyle, are other things that I really like about this series. Babying units and watching them grow as the game progresses is always fun too. I like the stories fine and enjoyed most of them, but I'm still hoping IS would put more investments into the writing in the future installments. Oh, and the support system as well. One of the only things I hated about RD was the lack of proper support convos!

[Tamanoir]

You stole my answer! But really, yeah this. Because of this, one run in the games is never like the other. The same thing never happens twice despite playing the same game. Each run is unique. This is why i love the series. This, hands down. Theres so many characters and ways to reach the end of the game, that im gonna try all sorts of different things to get the end result.

There seems like no real wrong way to play FE. Like to speed run/LTC? You can do it. Like to take your time and raise those weak baby units into towering monsters of murder with shiny green numbers? You can do it. Hey, look, its a cleric with relatively bad growths! Lets use her this run! Omg i wanna solo the game with Haar!

GIRL'S ONLY RUN!

Oh i wanna use only characters with facial hair.

AXES OR ELSE!

All Magic, All The Time.

Shit like that. You can do it and its so much fun.

This. I couldn't say it better

FE7 is probably the game I played the most, and every run was different, even when I used sensibly similar unit (the stats variation with Lowen are quite something.).

This gameplay is a thing of wonder.

And the different dificulties add to this.

It also makes for great story, and that's why watching FE LPs can still be fun, even if we know the game perfectly.

I also want to add the characters' developpement (mainly the supports.).

Completing the support log is a great motivation to use different characters every run (Renault is an extreme example where his Supports are the main reward to use him.)

Feeling that every units is worth something is a great thing.

Seriously, that really impressed me when I was younger, and it's stll something I appreciate to this day.

I also like to train units from zeroes to heroes.

I like Ests, notably magic ones (Nino is one of my favourite character.)

[YoshiYogurt]

The biggest appeal of the series to me is being given a bunch of characters and then choosing which 12-20ish you want to use and seeing them progress in strength throughout the game. It's a different game for everyone, no 2 people will have the exact same set of characters used.

[sylveonzoroark]

I personally enjoy the supports. And also seeing my units grow.