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Which Title would be the best one to play after the 3DS games (for someone who is comfortable with a lunatic CQ/classic difficulty as the standard)?


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I'll start this off with a message to the mods: If this isn't in the right place, apologies! I couldn't really locate a perfect spot, so I figured since this involved most games the "General" section was a safe bet! ^-^

I have all the games that would probably be a recommendation, so that is already a start. I seem to be having difficulty really starting and committing to a single game though. At first I wanted to play the games chronologically, but since I've been in Archenea (sp?) overload as of late I wanted to play with some new characters. Not that I'm opposed to playing New Mystery if that is the best choice.

I'm pretty open to any title, and as the topic name says: not even Thracia, Xavier, and some guy named Cyrus who I'm supposed to fear make me err from it. Games that are challenging make me want to stay and see it through a lot more, and coupled with Fire Emblems' permadeath feature that makes me care about the characters a lot more on top of that.

That being said, if Sacred Stones - which I know from a second hand experience is the most "watered down" in terms of the older games' difficulty - would be a better choice, that's also fine. I'm not perfect, I may wipe or lose a chapter last minute on an easy setting, but I'm always fine with finding a better strategy. Standalone titles being axed first is also a fine notion. 

I'd prefer to save the Tellius games for a bit later, as my "Wii" needs to be gotten up to a more passable speed before I can enjoyably play those two.

Basically, I can't choose! They all seem like fun, interesting titles to me. Like seriously, I'm so glad I picked up Birthright and Awakening, which led to Echoes, then Warriors, and now all of these wonderful gems. It's nice to have that "in love" type of enthusiasm for a whole series again. ^-^

So yeah, any suggestions or opinions on why "X game is the best" are welcome. I want to hear 'em all.

Danke!

 

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As much as you'd prefer saving Tellius for later, they're still the most "modern" Fire Emblems.

If you can't play Tellius, you're kind of at an impasse.

You COULD play the Jugdral games, since they're probably closer to having the features that you'd be familiar with from the 3DS games. But they're kind of difficult to play. Genealogy is paced much differently than any other FE, being much more of a game you play for long periods at a time rather than in small chunks, and things move pretty slowly. Thracia is much, much closer to resembling the later games, and is basically a prototype Tellius in a lot of ways, but it's brutal to newcomers, and it has a lot of mechanics that are unique to it that can be tough to get used to on top of the game slapping you in the face constantly. But if you're comfortable with CQ Lunatic/Classic, you might have a decent tolerance to the poison at that stage, since FE5 probably is the closest to what you get out of CQ Lunatic/Classic in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, FE5 ties into FE4's plot, so it's difficult to just start with FE5.

Or you COULD play the GBA games(Probably starting with Blazing Blade), which are paced a lot more like later FEs, but simplified things from FE4/5 like crazy, to the point where it might be difficult to get used to.

I'd recommend the Archanea games only if you're hardcore fan who wants to experience ALL of Fire Emblem, honestly. The original FE1 is a boring, slow, barebones slog, and its remakes aren't much better. FE3 is like playing any FE5-onward FE, but with a TON of features missing. FE12 is a pretty decent modern FE, but since it's a direct sequel to FE1/11 and doesn't include a remake of it like the original FE3... yeah, it's probably something you'll want to get to at the END of your FE journey, rather than something you jump into after playing the most modern stuff.

Sacred Stones, as much as I hate it, might be a decent place to start. It's going to have the weakness of the GBA games, which is the really simplified mechanics, but it's easy, and it's short. It's probably a good place to start to just get a "feel" for what FE was like before Awakening. Like putting your toe in a hot bath to make sure it's not too hot.

Edited by Slumber
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40 minutes ago, Slumber said:

My replies are bolded.

As much as you'd prefer saving Tellius for later, they're still the most "modern" Fire Emblems.

If you can't play Tellius, you're kind of at an impasse.

The real issue with the Tellius games is that I have no perfect way to play them, both due to cost and a meh computer that give them an FPS rate of "decent, but deserves better". I might be overly concerned with this, but it felt wrong to have everything else never drop below 59 FPS and have Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn never rise above 23 during a high quality cutscene. It fares significantly better outside of those, however, usually averaging 30-60 FPS on a map and perfect on a menu. I also don't have the absurd amount of money to buy either a better PC or a system that could play both, plus the games. Needless to say, still working on it and have seen good progress, so here's hoping!

You COULD play the Jugdral games, since they're probably closer to having the features that you'd be familiar with from the 3DS games. But they're kind of difficult to play. Genealogy is paced much differently than any other FE, being much more of a game you play for long periods at a time rather than in small chunks, and things move pretty slowly. Thracia is much, much closer to resembling the later games, and is basically a prototype Tellius in a lot of ways, but it's brutal to newcomers, and it has a lot of mechanics that are unique to it that can be tough to get used to on top of the game slapping you in the face constantly. But if you're comfortable with CQ Lunatic/Classic, you might have a decent tolerance to the poison at that stage, since FE5 probably is the closest to what you get out of CQ Lunatic/Classic in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, FE5 ties into FE4's plot, so it's difficult to just start with FE5.

Since Mother 1, a game known for being dated and long, is one of my personal favorite games to this day, that sort of thing doesn't bother me as much as something wrong on my end (see above).

Or you COULD play the GBA games(Probably starting with Blazing Blade), which are paced a lot more like later FEs, but simplified things from FE4/5 like crazy, to the point where it might be difficult to get used to.

GBA is one of my favorite gaming eras in general, graphics and title wise, so again, this would be a really logical start. Possibly more than others, since I've always known about Roy, Hector, Lyn, and Eliwood since the time FE7 came to the US thanks to a friend who I'd draw with. She did a good Hector IIRC. So definitely a little nostalgia bias there.

I'd recommend the Archanea games only if you're hardcore fan who wants to experience ALL of Fire Emblem, honestly. The original FE1 is a boring, slow, barebones slog, and its remakes aren't much better. FE3 is like playing any FE5-onward FE, but with a TON of features missing. FE12 is a pretty decent modern FE, but since it's a direct sequel to FE1/11 and doesn't include a remake of it like the original FE3... yeah, it's probably something you'll want to get to at the END of your FE journey, rather than something you jump into after playing the most modern stuff.

I should have been more clear, sorry! I don't intend to go back and play 1 or 3. I was strictly talking about their respective remakes: 11 and 12. I actually own a copy of Shadow Dragon that I've fiddled with and seems to be official and in working order. My FE12 "copy" is in good shape, as well. 

Sacred Stones, as much as I hate it, might be a decent place to start. It's going to have the weakness of the GBA games, which is the really simplified mechanics, but it's easy, and it's short. It's probably a good place to start to just get a "feel" for what FE was like before Awakening. Like putting your toe in a hot bath to make sure it's not too hot.

Aye, that's my most "explored" one. I'll admit, aside from the pretty, rich colors of the GBA era, I can see why people would hate it. Especially coming from two of the best games by general opinion, I can see why there was a sort of "crash" after the "high".

But aside from my responses, what FE game left the biggest impact on you, yourself? In a positive way, I should add. That might help narrow it down more. ^-^

 

Edited by Tabby
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1 hour ago, Tabby said:

I'll start this off with a message to the mods: If this isn't in the right place, apologies! I couldn't really locate a perfect spot, so I figured since this involved most games the "General" section was a safe bet! ^-^

I have all the games that would probably be a recommendation, so that is already a start. I seem to be having difficulty really starting and committing to a single game though. At first I wanted to play the games chronologically, but since I've been in Archenea (sp?) overload as of late I wanted to play with some new characters. Not that I'm opposed to playing New Mystery if that is the best choice.

I'm pretty open to any title, and as the topic name says: not even Thracia, Xavier, and some guy named Cyrus who I'm supposed to fear make me err from it. Games that are challenging make me want to stay and see it through a lot more, and coupled with Fire Emblems' permadeath feature that makes me care about the characters a lot more on top of that.

That being said, if Sacred Stones - which I know from a second hand experience is the most "watered down" in terms of the older games' difficulty - would be a better choice, that's also fine. I'm not perfect, I may wipe or lose a chapter last minute on an easy setting, but I'm always fine with finding a better strategy. Standalone titles being axed first is also a fine notion. 

I'd prefer to save the Tellius games for a bit later, as my "Wii" needs to be gotten up to a more passable speed before I can enjoyably play those two.

Basically, I can't choose! They all seem like fun, interesting titles to me. Like seriously, I'm so glad I picked up Birthright and Awakening, which led to Echoes, then Warriors, and now all of these wonderful gems. It's nice to have that "in love" type of enthusiasm for a whole series again. ^-^

So yeah, any suggestions or opinions on why "X game is the best" are welcome. I want to hear 'em all.

Danke!

 

You are pretty much equipped to play any of the games, leastwise it seems to me, just jump into them basically.  If we're talking about me and the Tellius games aren't available, I would play the Judgral games, Fe4 then Fe5.  But basically I would group them, either play Fe4 then Fe5 or play Fe7 then Fe6 then FE8 or play FE11 then FE12, all the games have their different merits.  Personally I like to group things in terms of eras, ie SNES, GBA, GC/Wii, then back to handheld, but if you don't want to play FE 3, don't, but I find it enjoyable, but it's pretty old.  Judgral games have a different story and different gameplay, but begin to incorporate the weapon triangle and skills, I find them fun, but they aren't for everyone.  The GBA games are basic, but fun and varying in difficulty and story and then the Archanea DS games are basic, especially FE11, I've personally never played FE12,  but they have have new features like reclassing and skipping the AI's turn.

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3 minutes ago, Zasplach said:

You are pretty much equipped to play any of the games, leastwise it seems to me, just jump into them basically.  If we're talking about me and the Tellius games aren't available, I would play the Judgral games, Fe4 then Fe5.  But basically I would group them, either play Fe4 then Fe5 or play Fe7 then Fe6 then FE8 or play FE11 then FE12, all the games have their different merits.  Personally I like to group things in terms of eras, ie SNES, GBA, GC/Wii, then back to handheld, but if you don't want to play FE 3, don't, but I find it enjoyable, but it's pretty old.  Judgral games have a different story and different gameplay, but begin to incorporate the weapon triangle and skills, I find them fun, but they aren't for everyone.  The GBA games are basic, but fun and varying in difficulty and story and then the Archanea DS games are basic, especially FE11, I've personally never played FE12,  but they have have new features like reclassing and skipping the AI's turn.

Yep, pretty much how I view it too. I do have FE3 (and FE 1 and 2 because why not?), but from what I've been shown, that SNES version of FE1 actually left a couple of chapters and characters out. I'm not entirely sure if that's true or not, since no firsthand experience and whatnot. Since FE12 actually doesn't have a FE11 remake on it, is it safe to assume that playing both would mean I get all the content, or did it get those weird choices for cut content like Echoes got in small amounts?

The GBA games, as you said, are vastly simplified from their predecessors. They were pretty easy to get a grip on. I still take a look at some things from the Judgral duo and feel like the dumbest human alive, particularly when it comes to the second gens' inheritance in FE4. I did see a bit of gameplay of Thracia though, and thankfully it didn't seem too foreign from what I've been doing once I really started playing on higher difficulties on the 3DS titles. I'm my own worst critic though, it's on me if I kick myself for not knowing something and not doing it perfectly. Too used to being "the one who sucks at XYZ" I guess haha. 

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10 hours ago, Tabby said:

The real issue with the Tellius games is that I have no perfect way to play them, both due to cost and a meh computer that give them an FPS rate of "decent, but deserves better". I might be overly concerned with this, but it felt wrong to have everything else never drop below 59 FPS and have Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn never rise above 23 during a high quality cutscene. It fares significantly better outside of those, however, usually averaging 30-60 FPS on a map and perfect on a menu. I also don't have the absurd amount of money to buy either a better PC or a system that could play both, plus the games. Needless to say, still working on it and have seen good progress, so here's hoping!

Good luck with that. The Tellius games are pretty damn good.

10 hours ago, Tabby said:

Since Mother 1, a game known for being dated and long, is one of my personal favorite games to this day, that sort of thing doesn't bother me as much as something wrong on my end (see above).

I suppose if you're used to some archaic pacing, then maybe Genealogy is a fine place to start. It is a bit of an oddball in the franchise, as nothing else in the series really feels like Genealogy does. By the time you'd get to FE5, you'd start to get a better feel for what the rest of the series, especially the Tellius games, are like.

10 hours ago, Tabby said:

GBA is one of my favorite gaming eras in general, graphics and title wise, so again, this would be a really logical start. Possibly more than others, since I've always known about Roy, Hector, Lyn, and Eliwood since the time FE7 came to the US thanks to a friend who I'd draw with. She did a good Hector IIRC. So definitely a little nostalgia bias there.

If you decide to play with the Elibe games(FE7 and 6), then start with FE7. FE6 is a lot stronger, at least for the early game narrative, if you played FE7 first. Don't be fooled by the release order, it feels like FE7 should be played first.

10 hours ago, Tabby said:

I should have been more clear, sorry! I don't intend to go back and play 1 or 3. I was strictly talking about their respective remakes: 11 and 12. I actually own a copy of Shadow Dragon that I've fiddled with and seems to be official and in working order. My FE12 "copy" is in good shape, as well. 

I'd still steer clear of the Archanea games for a while. Some people really like FE11, but I'd say it's probably the most... "divisive" game in the series. It doesn't do a lot to modernize FE1, and the few things it does do, like adding the weapon triangle, really mess with the balance of that game. It's a tough sell on people who aren't thoroughly entrenched in the franchise. And again, FE12 is much better, but it is a direct sequel to FE11, so...

10 hours ago, Tabby said:

Aye, that's my most "explored" one. I'll admit, aside from the pretty, rich colors of the GBA era, I can see why people would hate it. Especially coming from two of the best games by general opinion, I can see why there was a sort of "crash" after the "high".

Sacred Stones just has... a lot of problems. It's got some of the worst gameplay balance in the whole series, it's got probably the weakest narrative outside of the twins/Lyon stuff, which, don't be convinced otherwise, doesn't actually show up for a decent chunk of the game, it's the worst FE at handling multiple protagonists, and quite a bit more. But it's still an FE at its core, and it is a total standalone. There's nothing you really need to know to pick up and play it compared to the rest of the series.

10 hours ago, Tabby said:

But aside from my responses, what FE game left the biggest impact on you, yourself? In a positive way, I should add. That might help narrow it down more. ^-^

FE7. I played it as a wee-lad(Well, I was like, 11-12 when it came out), and I've loved the series ever since. I also have a lot of fond memories of playing Genealogy of the Holy War on my hacked PSP during a hot summer back in like, 2007.

I also have pretty distinct memories of watching Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and playing Path of Radiance for some reason. I don't know what that means, but it makes me feel nostalgic, so it's probably good.

Edited by Slumber
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11 hours ago, Slumber said:

FE7. I played it as a wee-lad(Well, I was like, 11-12 when it came out), and I've loved the series ever since.

Well, as luck would have it I just went on amazon and bought the cartridges for Sacred Stones and FE7. So it looks like we have a winner. Seems that FE7 is the most consistently not-hated on here, too. Hopefully everything is in working order and the real thing when they get here, but since I bought them via prime I won't face too much resistance if there is an issue. ^-^

I'm still in utter disbelief that all my GBA games, and systems, and even my charger all work so well after all of this time. Maybe that's why I'm so biased to that time of gaming. :P

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If you were comfortable with Conquest Lunatic - then the I'd just go with Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, with Thracia and Binding Blade being runners up.

 

I tend to consider the first 9 games in the series poorly designed, and it's kind of hard to recommend them to someone who enjoys game play. They do make up for it with story and characterization if that can sustain you. (not FE1-2 of course) Despite the fans teasing each other about Sacred Stones being the easiest one of them FE1,FE3,  FE4, and FE9 are actually easier than SS and additionally of the "hard" classic games you only have FE5, FE6 Hard mode,  and FE7 Hard mode, all of which fai to live up to modern "Hard games"  in noticeable ways.

FE5 - Considered difficult because of traps. Lack of resistance stat. No free money. Fatigue mechanic.

FE5 is a very interesting game. Personally I played it before FE4 (although only by a week). Gameplaywise, it's not as hard as it's reputation claims it is. Actually some things go unsaid about it - it's willing to throw promoted non-boss enemies at you really early for instance. The famous traps include bizarre enemy reinforcement positions, enemy status staves, enemies stationed in fog, warp tiles (just once), clumps of promoted enemies behind doors,  and finally overlapping ballista (with high Attack and a crit rate). FE5 can be really hard at times, but it's bite doesn't last that long. This is because while it DOES intelligently attempt some hard stuff, other parts of it's design are very stupid. The main thing being that the bulk o the generic non-promoted non-boss enemies in the game have absolute garbage for their stats. This enables you to train units almost freely (it's hard to run out of experience no matter how many units you show favoritism toward) even units that look bad in a vacuum (such as Leaf) can become quite usable due how many levels you can get in a single chapter. Even chapter 2, 3, and 3x literally copy/paste reinforcements of enemies with stats that shouldn't threaten even your weakest teamate (while still giving the same experience as the strong enemies). The fact that the game has too much experience in it actually undermines it's famous fatique mechanic - It's very easy to have a well trained EVEN team and ODD team, allowing you to simply reset your units without having the mechanic come into play at all. This is the only game I ever played where I had MORE fully trained units for endgame than the deployment limit allowed to give you an idea of the sheer volume of practically-free experience this game tosses at you. Finally, some tools were seemingly meant to be enemy only and were accidently given to the player as well. Mostly status staves - It's pretty easy to figure out that at long as you use 1/3 of your sleep staff charges on an ENEMY sleep staff mage, you can endlessly replensih your supply of them for the entire game!. Unlike Fates, Thracia is not prepared for player access to ranged crippling (hence the much higher number of staves you can build up in this game).Lastly, the capture and steal mechanics in this game heavily favor the player - for one, if you have a unit at low health, having an enemy capture them despite being in Kill range is kind more forgiving than what he would do without the mechanic. Additionally, you can manipulate AI with it - no fancy tricks - a completely unarmed player unit will always cause the enemies to capture it (ignoring anything else in range) This allows any miniboss in the game to have it's stats crippled  without spending any resources at all (especailly since it won't attack on enemy phase anymore due to trying to leave the map).  I think it's easier than FE6 HM and FE10 in many ways, but it's a lot more engaging to play through than the former. It is still considerably harder than the other 7 of the first 9 games. 

FE6 - Considered difficult because of inflating enemy stats on Hard Mode, and player units being of very uneven quality. 

It's let down by - The game is too afraid to make the generic enemies promoted - up till chapter 20, you will usually fight enemies in formations of either ALL unpromoted enemies or 4ish unprompted enemies led by 1 promoted enemy. Needless to say, this means that the middle of the game enemies are actually limited by their stat caps, and ONLY some of them are actually cabable of retaining their early game menace. Additionally, once you get through the initial crunch to Chapter 9, the game starts showering you with pre-promotes. You don't have to use them, but the game is clearly designed to encourage it and once you do the rest of the game (except for gimmicky gaiden maps) is noticably less intense.  Finally, although the game is hard at times, it is never intelligent. Every chapter is siege. No advanced manevuers or fighting on two fronts is ever required, and really ramming your charather's stats into the enemy charather's stats (with some body blocking I guess) is all you ever get to do. Once over the hump the game just wastes your time.

FE7 - Considered difficult on Hector Hard mode ONLY. Mostly specific chapters.

This game has multiple objectives, but enemy stats (especially speed) are much lower than in FE6. In fact, while FE8 is infamous for its mantra of "any unit with 14 speed ccan double 90% of the game) FE7 is basically the same, except the number is raised2 points to 16. To it's credit, it does have a couple of very interesting maps (the multiple seize point map comes to mind) and it does like to annoy you by making NPCs and some units pre-recruitment separated and vulnerable to enemies. However,  should NOT be played on cartridge or virtual console - The game railroads you into a tutorial and then you have to complete the entire normal mode to access hard mode at all. This is bad because normal mode can be beaten in your sleep  if it's not your first game (even if it was) it's essentially no better than sacred stones. It runs into FE6's problem of falling apart completely if you do what the developmers tell you to do (use pre-promotes), although even if you intentionally use bad units/favorites, it isn't really remarkable except for the NPC/gimmick maps, as mentioned.

My positive recommendation only goes to FE10 FE11, FE12, and actually Birthright. 

My feelings about gameplay design in Fire Emblem are that the Kaga era games (1-5) intentionally simplified mechanics - which is not a bad thing by itself, but at the time, the development team did not know how to use that to their advantage and ended up also simpliying map design (except for FE5). This is fairly damning considering that far more interesting combat engines (Pool of Radiance and Rebelstar came out before FE1, and later Frost Mission came out for SFAC the same year as FE3  and in advance of the 2 Judgral games) .  The Gameboy Advance games  and Path of Radiance for some reason stuck with the conservative design of the Famicom/SFAC games which led to their problems - even if you play romhacks that fix the stat curve and generous level up system - actual game design is pretty lacking. Meanwhile in the West "grids" were not even required anymore due to better AP systems. I think that Radiant Dawn was the first consistency intelligently designed FE game, although not quite the first hard FE game, as mentioned above. Radiant Dawn succeeds in a similar fashion  to conquest - it complicates the game with mechanics such as Skills. However FE11 and FE12 are notable for being solid without complications (on their higher difficulty modes, they are barbaric on NM, especially FE11).  I think that the two arachnea games are the first and ONLY times in the series (other than individual one-off maps) that the potential of a simplified SRPG system was actually used well, which is why the games are able to focus on enemy placement, available player resources and intentionally getting the player to move the mass of their units.

Birthright is well known for being contrasted to Conquest, but BR Lunatic is actually harder than FE7 Hector Hard mode, mostly due to maintained the low HP Bases and growths for player units seen elsewhere in Fates. 

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1 hour ago, Reality said:

If you were comfortable with Conquest Lunatic - then the I'd just go with Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, with Thracia and Binding Blade being runners up.

 

I tend to consider the first 9 games in the series poorly designed, and it's kind of hard to recommend them to someone who enjoys game play. They do make up for it with story and characterization if that can sustain you. (not FE1-2 of course) Despite the fans teasing each other about Sacred Stones being the easiest one of them FE1,FE3,  FE4, and FE9 are actually easier than SS and additionally of the "hard" classic games you only have FE5, FE6 Hard mode,  and FE7 Hard mode, all of which fai to live up to modern "Hard games"  in noticeable ways.

FE5 - Considered difficult because of traps. Lack of resistance stat. No free money. Fatigue mechanic.

FE5 is a very interesting game. Personally I played it before FE4 (although only by a week). Gameplaywise, it's not as hard as it's reputation claims it is. Actually some things go unsaid about it - it's willing to throw promoted non-boss enemies at you really early for instance. The famous traps include bizarre enemy reinforcement positions, enemy status staves, enemies stationed in fog, warp tiles (just once), clumps of promoted enemies behind doors,  and finally overlapping ballista (with high Attack and a crit rate). FE5 can be really hard at times, but it's bite doesn't last that long. This is because while it DOES intelligently attempt some hard stuff, other parts of it's design are very stupid. The main thing being that the bulk o the generic non-promoted non-boss enemies in the game have absolute garbage for their stats. This enables you to train units almost freely (it's hard to run out of experience no matter how many units you show favoritism toward) even units that look bad in a vacuum (such as Leaf) can become quite usable due how many levels you can get in a single chapter. Even chapter 2, 3, and 3x literally copy/paste reinforcements of enemies with stats that shouldn't threaten even your weakest teamate (while still giving the same experience as the strong enemies). The fact that the game has too much experience in it actually undermines it's famous fatique mechanic - It's very easy to have a well trained EVEN team and ODD team, allowing you to simply reset your units without having the mechanic come into play at all. This is the only game I ever played where I had MORE fully trained units for endgame than the deployment limit allowed to give you an idea of the sheer volume of practically-free experience this game tosses at you. Finally, some tools were seemingly meant to be enemy only and were accidently given to the player as well. Mostly status staves - It's pretty easy to figure out that at long as you use 1/3 of your sleep staff charges on an ENEMY sleep staff mage, you can endlessly replensih your supply of them for the entire game!. Unlike Fates, Thracia is not prepared for player access to ranged crippling (hence the much higher number of staves you can build up in this game).Lastly, the capture and steal mechanics in this game heavily favor the player - for one, if you have a unit at low health, having an enemy capture them despite being in Kill range is kind more forgiving than what he would do without the mechanic. Additionally, you can manipulate AI with it - no fancy tricks - a completely unarmed player unit will always cause the enemies to capture it (ignoring anything else in range) This allows any miniboss in the game to have it's stats crippled  without spending any resources at all (especailly since it won't attack on enemy phase anymore due to trying to leave the map).  I think it's easier than FE6 HM and FE10 in many ways, but it's a lot more engaging to play through than the former. It is still considerably harder than the other 7 of the first 9 games. 

FE6 - Considered difficult because of inflating enemy stats on Hard Mode, and player units being of very uneven quality. 

It's let down by - The game is too afraid to make the generic enemies promoted - up till chapter 20, you will usually fight enemies in formations of either ALL unpromoted enemies or 4ish unprompted enemies led by 1 promoted enemy. Needless to say, this means that the middle of the game enemies are actually limited by their stat caps, and ONLY some of them are actually cabable of retaining their early game menace. Additionally, once you get through the initial crunch to Chapter 9, the game starts showering you with pre-promotes. You don't have to use them, but the game is clearly designed to encourage it and once you do the rest of the game (except for gimmicky gaiden maps) is noticably less intense.  Finally, although the game is hard at times, it is never intelligent. Every chapter is siege. No advanced manevuers or fighting on two fronts is ever required, and really ramming your charather's stats into the enemy charather's stats (with some body blocking I guess) is all you ever get to do. Once over the hump the game just wastes your time.

FE7 - Considered difficult on Hector Hard mode ONLY. Mostly specific chapters.

This game has multiple objectives, but enemy stats (especially speed) are much lower than in FE6. In fact, while FE8 is infamous for its mantra of "any unit with 14 speed ccan double 90% of the game) FE7 is basically the same, except the number is raised2 points to 16. To it's credit, it does have a couple of very interesting maps (the multiple seize point map comes to mind) and it does like to annoy you by making NPCs and some units pre-recruitment separated and vulnerable to enemies. However,  should NOT be played on cartridge or virtual console - The game railroads you into a tutorial and then you have to complete the entire normal mode to access hard mode at all. This is bad because normal mode can be beaten in your sleep  if it's not your first game (even if it was) it's essentially no better than sacred stones. It runs into FE6's problem of falling apart completely if you do what the developmers tell you to do (use pre-promotes), although even if you intentionally use bad units/favorites, it isn't really remarkable except for the NPC/gimmick maps, as mentioned.

My positive recommendation only goes to FE10 FE11, FE12, and actually Birthright. 

My feelings about gameplay design in Fire Emblem are that the Kaga era games (1-5) intentionally simplified mechanics - which is not a bad thing by itself, but at the time, the development team did not know how to use that to their advantage and ended up also simpliying map design (except for FE5). This is fairly damning considering that far more interesting combat engines (Pool of Radiance and Rebelstar came out before FE1, and later Frost Mission came out for SFAC the same year as FE3  and in advance of the 2 Judgral games) .  The Gameboy Advance games  and Path of Radiance for some reason stuck with the conservative design of the Famicom/SFAC games which led to their problems - even if you play romhacks that fix the stat curve and generous level up system - actual game design is pretty lacking. Meanwhile in the West "grids" were not even required anymore due to better AP systems. I think that Radiant Dawn was the first consistency intelligently designed FE game, although not quite the first hard FE game, as mentioned above. Radiant Dawn succeeds in a similar fashion  to conquest - it complicates the game with mechanics such as Skills. However FE11 and FE12 are notable for being solid without complications (on their higher difficulty modes, they are barbaric on NM, especially FE11).  I think that the two arachnea games are the first and ONLY times in the series (other than individual one-off maps) that the potential of a simplified SRPG system was actually used well, which is why the games are able to focus on enemy placement, available player resources and intentionally getting the player to move the mass of their units.

Birthright is well known for being contrasted to Conquest, but BR Lunatic is actually harder than FE7 Hector Hard mode, mostly due to maintained the low HP Bases and growths for player units seen elsewhere in Fates. 

I actually bought the Birthright cartridge, so it has been beaten. :) Same with Revelation as well. Echoes, Awakening, and Warriors fall into that category with Fates. 

Like I said above, I already own a legit working copy of FE11, and I liked what I saw of it when I tested it. I just wanted to try a more "non-Archenea" type game for the first dip into the older titles. I also just bought a copy of Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones used on amazon, so assuming they both work and are legit, I would probably want to prioritize those. No worries, since I'd like to give every title a fair chance. I'm pretty sure I already am kinda falling in love with Judgral and Tellius. My boy Ike seems to be running much faster on my "Wii" as well, haha.

Thanks for some good info though!

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if you're comfortable with conquest lunatic and you really like a challenge i'd recommend thracia 776. pretty difficult game especially if playing blind and it isn't just artificial difficulty by making every generic enemy unit overpowered like awakening lunatic. it requires a pretty decent amount of strategy. binding blade is pretty good too and can be difficult, just don't touch the arena if you want the game to be difficult. as for the tellius games radiant dawn might be a good option to play. from what i've heard i guess the hardest difficulty is really really hard so that would work for a challenge probably. path of radiance isn't really anything special imo, but a lot of people seem to like it. if you just want to play one of the best games or just something new i'd recommend genealogy of the holy war. very different experience from other fe games with very very large maps where you just go and conquer all the castles on the map. it has probably the best story of any fe game as well. it's not for everyone and it definitely has its flaws but i really like it. the game also has a whole second generation which is pretty cool too. just make sure you pair up all the female characters in the first generation so you get the child units instead of the sub units unless you really want to challenge yourself and make the game complete aids by not paring any female characters up and just using sub units only. hector hard mode of fe7 would probably be good as well. to play it you'll need to download a 100% save though. if you hate yourself you can play awakening lunatic+ . 

 

Edited by edgelordweeaboo
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