Which game would you recommend next?

[Maddie]

I'm new to the Fire Emblem franchise and have loved every game I've played so far but I'm not sure where to start next.

The games I have played:

Fire Emblem 4 - Genealogy of the Holy War

Fire Emblem 9 - Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem 10 - Radiant Dawn

Fire Emblem 11 - Shadow Dragon

Fire Emblem 13 - Awakening

Fire Emblem 15 - Shadows of Valentia

[Jedi]

Try the GBA trilogy and 3 Houses next. In my opinion, then later you can get to stuff like Thracia.

[Fire Brand]

Try New Mystery! It's a nice mix of classic and new gameplay.

[Garlyle]

I'd suggest Blazing Blade for training ground(so you familiarize the gba games), then Binding Blade for the fun parts.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Garlyle

[Eltosian Kadath]

Looking at your list I would think

Fire Emblem 12 - New Mystery of the Emblem, as you have played Shadow Dragon (and Shadows of Valentia) already, and its story follows after both, and is basically an improvement on the Shadow Dragon mechanics.

for similar reasons

Fire Emblem 5 - Thracia 776, as the midquel to Genealogy of the Holy War, would also make sense as a next game to play.

If you want to try something different,

Fire Emblem 7 - The Blazing Blade would be a good place to start the GBA games off with.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Eltosian Kadath

[Yexin]

i'd say FE7 Blazing Sword -> FE6 Binding Blade -> FE8 Sacred Stones, then whatever you want

[Maddie]

@Fire Brand Is Marth still the protagonist? I absolutely loved Marth as a character in Shadiw Dragon but I've heard there is an avatar character in the game.

[Maddie]

@Eltosian Kadath Does the story of FE5 compare to the one in Genealogy? Also is the gameplay different?

[Garlyle]

1 hour ago, CelicaLucina said:

@Eltosian Kadath Does the story of FE5 compare to the one in Genealogy? Also is the gameplay different?

The gameplay is very much different. It introduced a lot of mechanics that were part of later fire emblem games, while having some of their own. I'd write more about this, but there's so many things new compared to FE4.

But don't go with Thracia unless you are looking for a challenge. This game is known to be the most difficult one in the series.

1 hour ago, CelicaLucina said:

@Fire Brand Is Marth still the protagonist? I absolutely loved Marth as a character in Shadiw Dragon but I've heard there is an avatar character in the game.

You create your main character, but it's safe to say that Marth is still the hero in that game.

[Maddie]

7 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

You create your main character, but it's safe to say that Marth is still the hero in that game.

I was just trying to be sure as I tried to get into it a while back and the prologue was kind of boring and Marth wasn't really the focus. 

 

8 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

But don't go with Thracia unless you are looking for a challenge. This game is known to be the most difficult one in the series.

I do actually like a challenge but I'm unsure if it's brutal and unfair or just as long as you plan carefully you will be able to find a way around the obstacles in game.

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, CelicaLucina said:

Does the story of FE5 compare to the one in Genealogy?

FE5's story is more personal, and smaller in scope; it is the story of Leif's rebellion on the Thracian peninsula. Leif's story is that of an underdog bringing unlikely forces together to topple a tyrant, but his story is fraught with both monumental successes and catastrophic failures. The "main" villain of Leifs story end up a lot less interesting than the main antagonists of Genealogy, but they did an excellent job with the minor villains, with a fair bit of variety from the honorable, the sympathetically desperate, to the conflicted, to the malicious, and even the connivingly cruel. I also think Thracia is the Fire Emblem game that best uses its gameplay to reinforce the story (although there are a few chapters that can be cheesed to undermine that).

1 hour ago, CelicaLucina said:

Also is the gameplay different?

Yes, very different. FE5 is more similar to latter Fire Emblem games, but is well known for a lot of its unique features. It has smaller maps, doesn't have the FE4 style castles, removed the need for the pursuit skill to double (but kept a lot of the other skills), added in the more familiar weapon rank systems, the ability to rescue units, has deployment slots for units instead of allowing everyone to fight, added different kinds of objectives other than seize, etc. It has a bit of a reputation for being very difficult, although it would be better describes as being  difficult on blind players, so do be warned that this will be hard if you want to play it blind. There is a secret easier mode you can unlock using button presses that doubles all xp gains called Elite mode. There are also a lot of gameplay features rather unique to FE5, I describe a lot of them in the spoiler tab below.

Spoiler

Capture is one of the most famous ones, where if your unit has higher con than the enemy (note being mounted makes you act like you have capped con for determining this) they can make an attack as if their stats were halved, and if that finishes an enemy (or then enemy had no weapons), you act like you have that enemy rescued (if you let them go they disappear), and can take all of their stuff, and there may be other benefits to keeping named characters captured at the end of a map. Do note that enemies can also capture your units, in which case all of that allies equipment (other than unique weapons and scrolls) gets taken by that enemy. This is especially problematic for healers that do not have weapons, but you can also use this to manipulate enemies using characters that have empty inventories.

The Fatigue mechanics are also very well known, whenever units take actions they gain fatigue points depending on what they do, if a unit has more fatigue points than max Hp they cannot be deployed, but if they are ever not deployed those points reset, and stamina drinks let them be deployed and reset fatigue at the same time. 

Thracia is the only game where healing staff can miss, also of note status effects like those caused by staff last until the end of the map (or you use a staff to fix them), plus movement staff like warp, rescue, and rewarp are fairly available, which makes staff users incredibly powerful despite that.

It is also the only game where units have a movement, and constitution growth rate.

There is a strange mechanic involving critical hits, I am not sure the name that is currently in vogue, but I remember it as PCC or Pursuit Critical Coefficient, which makes some characters far more likely to get critical when making an attack that isn't the first in combat (so when doubling or counter attacking).

The movement stars are another odd mechanic unique to Thracia, characters that have movements stars have a 5% per star chance of acting again.

The way it handles leadership stars is very interesting as every unit that has leadership stars adds their effect to every unit on the map, making taking out enemy leaders more important, and allies that have leadership more useful.

It also has one of the cruelest versions of fog of war, where you not only cannot see the enemies, but also cannot see the map (although do note that you can warp/rewarp into the fog).

While not unique to Thracia, this is the first game you will have played that significantly uses the dismount mechanic. Mounted units can dismount, causing them to lose some stats, and making them only capable of wielding sword. Now dismounting removes a units weaknesses (for example if a flyer dismounts they lose that arrow weakness), additionally mounted units must dismount indoors.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Eltosian Kadath

[Ertrick36]

I mean... there are a lot of good points to go from, but given that you recently completed Genealogy, I feel it'd be natural to move onto Thracia 776.

Aside from that, the other games I'd recommend are Blazing Sword and perhaps Mystery of the Emblem or New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow.

3 minutes ago, CelicaLucina said:

I do actually like a challenge but I'm unsure if it's brutal and unfair or just as long as you plan carefully you will be able to find a way around the obstacles in game.

It's, ah... doable.  But you should probably ask for advice before you delve into it.

With the recent new translation (Project Exile), some of the more archaic BS is explained so you aren't caught off-guard by unfair nonsense (e.g. no longer do you have an excuse for losing your entire team in Chapter 4 because Leif no longer lies about how the escape mechanic works, which was a problem with the previous translation), but there are still some unwritten rules about the game that it seems to just expect you to know (e.g. you need to stock up on keys and torches for certain chapters).

There is some real, genuinely good challenge in Thracia, but there's also some crap the game doesn't tell you about.

[Garlyle]

42 minutes ago, CelicaLucina said:

I do actually like a challenge but I'm unsure if it's brutal and unfair or just as long as you plan carefully you will be able to find a way around the obstacles in game.

Well, for the record I also like a challenge, and that's why I tried Binding Blade, and later tried to finish Thracia. I did finish both of them, but for Thracia...

I needed guides to see what the BS fog of war was hiding from me, creating formations before battle, help me finding supports, and just to see what items I should look for/hold on to get through the most unfair obstacles. Staves changed this game a lot, like status staves can reach the entire map and their effect lasts until the end of the chapter. Still, I just love some of the characters from Thracia.

Also, I hope you like the ballistas of Judgral. (I don't)

[Maddie]

@Ertrick36 I think to be safe I'll probably use a walkthrough for Tharcia. Is Leif a good protagonist?

[Maddie]

@GarlyleGO, I hate the ballistas in any of the Fire Emblem games as there is usually like 10-20 and it can be a pain to carefully take them all out. Though at least in Genealogy you can just seize the castle.

[Garlyle]

24 minutes ago, CelicaLucina said:

there is usually like 10-20 and it can be a pain to carefully take them all out

That sounds like Thracia all right.

The bad news is it has ballistas, convenient ballistas, poison ballistas, ambush ballistas, ballistas as reinforcements, and even 15 range ballistas too. The goods news is they don't appear in every chapter.

[Gregster101]

Given the games you've played, I recommend the GBA trilogy (starting with Blazing Sword), New Mystery, and Three Houses

[Ertrick36]

25 minutes ago, CelicaLucina said:

@Ertrick36 I think to be safe I'll probably use a walkthrough for Tharcia. Is Leif a good protagonist?

Leif's pretty good, yeah, especially after witnessing the story of Genealogy.  He actually starts off as a fairly different character at the start of Thracia - a man with nothing but bitter resentment and animosity towards the people of Thracia, and who only thinks of protecting the people whom he grew up with and befriended in Fiana and Tahra instead of his obligations as a noble of the Thracian Peninsula towards the region as a whole.

In terms of combat ability?  He's not as powerful in Thracia 776 as he was in Genealogy, but he has some notable advantages over much of the rest of the cast in the game - one is that he isn't subject to fatigue, so he's always usable, and another being the leadership star he gains after Chapter 2 (and another one he gets later on).  With that said, it's a good idea to have him hang on to some Crusader Scrolls for some time and give him the stat boosters from the first few chapters so that he can wriggle his way out of the rut he sorta starts in, given that he's gonna be present in every single chapter.

41 minutes ago, CelicaLucina said:

@GarlyleGO, I hate the ballistas in any of the Fire Emblem games as there is usually like 10-20 and it can be a pain to carefully take them all out. Though at least in Genealogy you can just seize the castle.

Ballistae aren't the worst kinds of enemies to face in Thracia - that easily goes to the siege magic users, especially those with status staves.  If you don't have a Restore Staff on-hand when a unit is hit by a status staff, then expect them to remain like that until you beat the chapter.  Oh, and there's the final chapter, which has the boss casting petrify on your units; if you don't have the Kia Staff, they're basically screwed.

And I think no one would think it shameful for you to use a walkthrough for Thracia.

[Maddie]

@Ertrick36 I might leave Tharcia for later as it seems it will be difficult even with a walkthrough. Plus my Leif in Genealogy was not leveled properly and quite weak.

[Alastor15243]

Since nobody's done it yet, I recommend Fates. Story isn't fantastic, but Fates has amazing gameplay, with Conquest being my favorite game in the series even after giving it a D- for story. The gameplay is just that fantastic in Conquest.

 

JUST DON'T BUY REVELATION. Birthright and Conquest are well worth the 60 bucks it takes to get both, but Revelation is just baaaaaaad.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Maddie]

@Alastor15243 Are the character enjoyable in Fates? As long as the gameplay and characters are good I usually really enjoy a game even if it has a bad story.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, CelicaLucina said:

@Alastor15243 Are the character enjoyable in Fates? As long as the gameplay and characters are good I usually really enjoy a game even if it has a bad story.

They're a bit tropey and a few are annoying, but the supports are pretty great in terms of humor and fun. Comparable to Awakening I'd say. I enjoyed most of the characters at least, not sure what your tastes are.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Shadow Mir]

I would recommend Blazing Blade due to the tutorial (which might end up being irritating if you wait to play it).

[Maddie]

@Alastor15243 My favourite overall cast is Awakening's.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, CelicaLucina said:

@Alastor15243 My favourite overall cast is Awakening's.

The cast isn't as great overall, but some of Awakening's characters come back in Fates, so I'd definitely recommend the game.