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What Fire Emblem game do you recommend the most to a newcomer?


Log Man™
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I just want to know what Fire Emblem game someone would recommend to a newcomer like me. I also have a friend who is interested in getting into Fire Emblem, but doesn't know where to start. They're interested the most in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, but that's one of the harder fire emblem games.

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Blazing Blade or Sacred Stones.

Also, this thread is in the wrong forum.

Edited by Levant Mir Celestia
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Awakening because it is beginner friendly and you only have to buy one game to get the full story, unlike Fates which is three games that you have to buy to get the full story.  Conquest is Not for beginners, so play another FE game before you play that one.   

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13 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Blazing Blade or Sacred Stones.

Also, this thread is in the wrong forum.

Sorry, I'm new here and I don't know what all these forums mean, and I thought this thread would fit in the forum. What forum should I have put this on?

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11 minutes ago, Log Man™ said:

Sorry, I'm new here and I don't know what all these forums mean, and I thought this thread would fit in the forum. What forum should I have put this on?

This should've been in the General Fire Emblem forum.

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31 minutes ago, Log Man™ said:

I just want to know what Fire Emblem game someone would recommend to a newcomer like me. I also have a friend who is interested in getting into Fire Emblem, but doesn't know where to start. They're interested the most in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, but that's one of the harder fire emblem games.

FE7 (Fire Emblem Blazing Sword/Blade). It definitely offers, imo, the best welcoming experience to players new to the series. It has tutorials in the form of Lyn Mode and explains most mechanics in a simple way.

I go against Birthright and Awakening because, while they are beginner/casual friendly, they have some tweaked mechanics that make them differ from basic FE.

After you clear FE7 go to whatever FE you want except maybe FE4 and FE5 which play a bit differently, but still are really good games.

Also, don't be afraid of Conquest, as long as Normal Mode and Casual Mode exist you have nothing to fear, tbh.

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I'm on the majority here that would recommend Awakening for first time players.

However, if I were to give other options, I'd say Rekka no Ken and Sacred Stones are good games for beginners, too. Rekka no Ken keeps things simple for the most part and explains its mechanics decently, and has one of the most appealing rosters in the franchise in my opinion. Sacred Stones is also very, very easy depending on your choices, and the reclassing system only makes it more of a cake walk. 

I'd also classify Path of Radiance as a decent introduction, but that just may be my bias since it was my first game in the series.

tl;dr Awakening is the best one for starters, but FE7 and 8 are also decent entries to start with IMO.

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My pick is FE7. It has a detailed tutorial, and its difficulty level is high enough without being Thracia or Conquest. The mechanics in GBA are pretty basic; there's not a whole lot to fret over.

Awakening is easy, which is good for beginners, but honestly in the grand scheme of things, it's fairly unorthodox, which could deter people from diving into the older games that have vastly different mechanics.

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First, I just want to say that's a lovely profile picture and username.

And forgive me for referring to you as a "newbie".  I'm not trying to be condescending at all when I use word; after all, it wasn't terribly long ago that I was pretty much in your shoes.

Anyway...

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Awakening or Birthright

Gonna agree with this.

Heavily leaning towards the former, since it hits all the marks well enough.  The latter is not a bad game for a newbie either (and it's especially great for one more interested in that Japanese flare), though I think Fates in general should be played only after you've beaten one of the more traditional FE games, and Awakening is more in that line while still being pretty accessible for newbies.  In fact, it was the game I started with.

You could also go with the GBA titles, but they lack a "Casual" option, which disables permanent death - a feature that makes it so that any ally that loses all their HP is dead for the rest of the game.  If you have a reasonable amount of confidence with strategy games, you can go for it, but otherwise just go for Awakening.  You have plenty of difficulty options there, and honestly Awakening isn't that much easier than Binding Blade (just called "Fire Emblem" in the west) or Sacred Stones when you crank up the difficulty to the highest setting.

Regardless, pretty much everyone here would agree that Conquest is a terrible starting point for a newbie.  It's really difficult and shouldn't be undertaken unless you've played at least one other Fire Emblem game or are quite skilled with strategy games.  I'd imagine that even on Casual it could be difficult for a newbie.

1 hour ago, Log Man™ said:

Sorry, I'm new here and I don't know what all these forums mean, and I thought this thread would fit in the forum. What forum should I have put this on?

A moderator will probably move it to the correct location, and you probably won't get warning points simply for putting it in the wrong place this one time.  The mods here never seem to be unreasonable about stuff like this.

In the future, if you're just talking about the series in general it's a safe bet to just put any threads you make in "General Fire Emblem".  If you don't know what drafts are, you can rest assured that none of the threads you create belong in "Fire Emblem Drafts".  If you're talking about specific Fire Emblem games, they each have their own sections (e.g. Awakening is under "Fire Emblem: Awakening", Fates: Conquest or Fates: Birthright are both under "Fire Emblem: Fates", etc.).  You probably won't need to worry about the other boards until you get more acquainted with the forum's community.

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I'd say Birthright. Awakening is good, but I found that it takes far too much time to grind in order to cap your units out. Fates has much has a better reclass system, and the fact you can buy skills off other people makes it so easy too make OP units. 

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2 minutes ago, Lucario666 said:

Any of the older games. Fates and Awakening are garbage. 

That is subjective.

The games I can suggest are Shadow Dragon, Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Awakening, or Birthright.

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As much as I'm not a fan, Awakening. It's a very safe choice. It's not too hard, the mechanics are straight forward, and it keeps a lot of FE design choices simple, like a lack of objectives and simple map design. Fates: Birthright is a decent alternative. It's very much like Awakening, but it's a bit more complex if you want that.

Just know that a lot of ways Birthright and Awakening handle things is not like how a lot of other FEs handle things.

Alternatively, Path of Radiance is a good place to start, if you manage to find a way to play it(Physical copies are rare and expensive, and Nintendo doesn't have it up on any of their eShop services. So emulating it might be your only option). Path of Radiance is a lot more like classic FEs, but it's one of the easiest games in the franchise, and it's very high quality for what it is.

Edited by Slumber
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Just now, Michelaar said:

That is subjective.

The games I can suggest are Shadow Dragon, Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Awakening, or Birthright.

Except that it's objectively inferior to the older games. It lacked a number of features the older games had and the characters were really 2 dimensional compared to the older characters. 

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11 minutes ago, Lucario666 said:

Except that it's objectively inferior to the older games. It lacked a number of features the older games had and the characters were really 2 dimensional compared to the older characters. 

More or less features doesn't make for a better or worse game. It's all about how those features/mechanics are handled, which is where subjectivity comes in.

And the characters being simpler(Or shallower if that's how you see it) is also a subjective thing for people. The simple-ness of the Awakening characters is why they caught on so much. So again, it all goes back to taste.

I ultimately agree with you, albeit I'm not quite as harsh to call Fates or Awakening "garbage", but I also acknowledge that Awakening and Fates have their own things going on that people really like.

Edited by Slumber
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9 minutes ago, Lucario666 said:

Except that it's objectively inferior to the older games. It lacked a number of features the older games had and the characters were really 2 dimensional compared to the older characters. 

 

5 minutes ago, Slumber said:

More or less features doesn't make for a better or worse games. It's all about how those features/mechanics are handled, which is where subjectivity comes in.

And the characters being simpler(Or shallower if that's how you see it) is also a subjective thing for people. The simple-ness of the Awakening characters is why they caught on so much. So again, it all goes back to taste.

I ultimately agree with you, albeit I'm not quite as harsh to call Fates or Awakening "garbage", but I also acknowledge that Awakening and Fates have their own things going on that people really like.

Let me remind you that this is not a ''Discuss why Awakening/fates are good/bad thread.''

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If you're a fan of standard turn-based JRPG-type games, Fire Emblems The Sacred Stones (FE8), Awakening (FE13), and especially Gaiden (FE2) and its remake Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (FE15) have the most in common with that genre, and any of them would be good places to start, since you'd have more familiar, common elements to help you keep your bearings as you get accustomed to all that makes Fire Emblem Fire Emblem.

If you're less concerned with starting out with something similar to something you're already familiar with, or if similarity to turn-based JRPGs just doesn't really do much for you for any reason, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (FE7) is also a good starting point! It was designed with it being the first Fire Emblem title released in the West in mind, so it's very beginner-friendly!

Really, almost any installment can work as a gateway entry, but there are a few that can't; those being Mystery of the Emblem (FE3 Book 2) or its remake New Mystery of the Emblem (FE12), Thracia 776 (FE5), Radiant Dawn (FE10), and Fates: Revelation (one route of FE14); the reason being that these are all sequels or otherwise intended to be played after other games, and as such, their stories contain spoilers for those games. Also, Thracia 776 is absolutely brutal, and you should probably hold off on attempting to play it until you've got a significant amount of experience with Fire Emblem under your belt.

Here's where you can get each game I recommended!

  • Gaiden: Famicom (physical; Japan-only) or Nintendo Wii, Wii U, or 3DS (digital; Japan-only)
  • The Blazing Blade: GameBoy Advance (physical) or Wii U (digital)
  • The Sacred Stones: GameBoy Advance (physical) or Wii U (digital)
  • Awakening: Nintendo 3DS (physical or digital)
  • Echoes - Shadows of Valentia: Nintendo 3DS (physical or digital)

Please note that GameBoy Advance cartridges can also be run on Nintendo DS systems up to, but not including, the Nintendo DSi, as well as the GameBoy Player peripheral for the Nintendo GameCube!

...And actually, Gaiden is probably not such a good place to start, but its remake should be just fine!

Also, keep in mind that, in any games released prior to Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem ~Heroes of Light and Shadow~ (FE12), permadeath cannot be turned off. Starting from that game, Fire Emblem games have offered an option when starting a new file to turn permadeath off for that playthrough, in which case fallen units will simply return, fully-healed, at the end of the map in which they were defeated. Selecting Casual/Newcomer mode turns permadeath off, while Classic leaves it on.

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Thracia 776

I'd say FE7: Rekka no Ken, or FE8: The Sacred Stones. Both, I believe, are beginner friendly, with the former having a tutorial and the latter being very easy (although that may depend on how you play).

You could also try Awakening as others suggested, however I haven't played it myself.

 

 

 

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In terms of which ones would be good to start on, this is how I view it:

Blazing Sword (just called "Fire Emblem" if you get the physical GBA cartridge):  Has a very thorough tutorial that explains most game mechanics (I believe weapon weight is the only thing not explained) and isn't too terribly difficult unless you play Hector Hard Mode (which you can't even do on your first time through so there you go).  Not too hard to get your hands on either unless you don't have a Wii U, since it has jumped up in price since FE Heroes came out.

Sacred Stones:  Arguably the easiest Fire Emblem game, allows you to grind for levels, and is one of the shortest FE games to boot.  Also not too hard to get your hands on.

Shadow Dragon:  Fits thematically as a remake of the first game, has some of the most basic mechanics of any FE game, and has very flexible difficulty with 6 difficulty levels.

Awakening:  All of the benefits Sacred Stones has plus the inclusion of Casual Mode which takes out the frustration of having your run ruined by bad RNG.  Very easy to get your hands on even the physical copy.

Fates Birthright:  Same story as Awakening.

Echoes Shadows of Valentia:  Is fairly different from other FEs but has the same benefits as Sacred Stones as well as the inclusion of Casual Mode and Mila's Turnwheel which allows you to rewind a few turns.

I leave out Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn since they are difficult to obtain legitimately.

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I'd say FE7 (Blazing Sword). It's one of the easier titles and being a GBA game most of it's mechanics could be referred to as "core" mechanics, e.g. supports, rescue. I'd say 1 to 5 are too unique/weird for a newcomer, especially 2, 4 and 5. FE6 is like 7 but more difficult. I myself don't enjoy FE8 at all, but it might be a good starter. It's a bit like FE7 but even easier and with more grinding. Awakening is similar, being easy and with grinding. But even more so than with FE8, it might be harder to dive into the older games after that.

I haven't played FE9 to FE12 so I can't judge them.

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Don't start with the 3DS ones because they are way different than past entries. If you insist though then go with Birthright.
Awakening's map design is questionable at best and it relies much more on stacking those pair-up bonuses than Fates.

Birthright in the other hand has definetly better map design, the Fates mechanics are more enjoyable from a strategic viewpoint (which is kinda the point of an SRPG) and it can be a bridge to play Conquest later on (which has the same foundation and great gameplay). Its story doesn't really as much on the other 2 titles so you can 'enjoy' it as a stand-alone entry.

Otherwise, just like many others said, go for Blazing Sword for its tutorial or Sacred Stones with its ability to grind levels for easier progression.

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