Best non-linear FE game?

[Harvey]

Frankly, I'm with most people who would want the linear approach because that linearity is what Fire Emblem is suppose to be which is limited resources where you have to think carefully on who to level up as there is hardly any grinding to do and when you do find grinding spots, its more of a gamble for the most part.

That said, for the non-linear games that allowed grinding and leveling up characters at ease, which one that you've played is the best one?

To me, If Three Houses weren't there, I'd say Awakening simply because of the added incentive to get characters married to unlock newer characters and get the supports added. Birthright is also similar...but in that game, having additional characters seemed pointless and was more like keeping a feature for the sake of it. Besides, you can't do that in Conquest and Revelation feels like it can take forever to get all the supports done...

But like I said, I think Three Houses did this the best possible way. Although you can't get all supports done in one playthrough, you have the incentive of playing the game again with the addition of new game+ which makes your next playthrough easier as well as being able to get units recruited faster.

And I just like the simulation of this more being able to dine with two units, a fun tea party and the free roaming monastery that allows you to like talk to various characters around while still being done in a limited manner that is expected in a Fire Emblem game. Honestly, if Nintendo/IS were to make an FE game that is more like this than having a main game, I'd be stoked day one!

 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Agreed that Three Houses does this best. There's just so much to do in the game. Repeated Aux battles can get tedious, but they aren't really necessary. 

I kind of like how Sacred Stones did it, though - I found it better than Awakening in that regard. You can't level people infinitely, or acquire ludicrous stats. The Tower and Ruins provide interesting, fun challenges, without requiring DLC. And the "bonus characters" are just there for gameplay fun - they don't try to create an "actually, Selena/Glen/Valter survived, it makes total sense!" justification.

[Fire Brand]

Echoes, since the grinding is very much out of your way and unneeded. Not the endless slog of 3H. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I like how in Sacred Stones when a monster is in your way on the map you can just leave. Those battles aren't curated very well for the player - particularly encountering a fog of war map with flier monsters can wreck your early game crew from what I remember. But if you see that challenge, you can just go for it. You can really play at your own pace with such freedom of movement. Echoes was great too, but you were still being hurried along by infinitely spawning enemies on the map. And when you get ambushed by the wrong enemies and unit placements, you'll just find yourself in an unwinnable scenario where somebody dies before you get a turn since there's no battle preps. I don't remember Fates/Awakening's systems too well to really comment on them. All of the maps in those games felt like grinding. And Three Houses' calendar system just makes the player feel like they have limited opportunities to do anything, they better not miss what the game provides for them. I really wish that game went completely linear once you hit time skip. But the Empire waits patiently for your assault at the end of each month.

[Alastor15243]

Hard to say. I have issues with all of them. Sacred Stones is really easy, half of Echoes has bad map design and the story's difficult to skip without consequence, Awakening's absurdly broken and pretty much plays itself on any difficulty below Lunatic+ once you know what you're doing, and Three Houses's is personally deeply unpleasant to play for any significant length of time.

[eclipse]

Sacred Stones, just because the grinding is utterly optional.

[Benice]

Sacred Stones, because you don't ever have to actually fight in a skirmish. It added texture to the gane, but without obstructing the player.

[Slumber]

Three Houses>>Echoes>>>Fates>Awakening>Sacred Stones

Yeah, it's nice that you can ignore the open parts of Sacred Stones. Unfortunately you still have to play the rest of Sacred Stones.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Slumber

[Fabulously Olivier]

Three Houses > Awakening > Sacred Stones > Fates > Echoes

 

Three Houses does a reasonable job of making its auxiliary battles optional. You can choose to make the game more challenging by ignoring them, and the Monastery is a good way to keep weapon ranks high at the cost of exp. Or you can make things more challenging/speed through the game by prioritizing Seminars. I have my complaints - namely that the Monastery is too big, 3 auxiliary battles per day is too much, and seminars need tweaking, but it was a good effort.

 

Awakening does a great job of letting you determine exactly how much side content you want to do. 

 

Sacred Stones has a lot of what makes a good FE. It has a great cast, a great class system, and a great story. And its approach to side content is flexible and optional. Plus, the two endgame towers are probably the best postgame dungeons. Most will consider it too easy, but I'll take that over too difficult anyday. 

 

Fates is... I just plain don't like Fates.

 

Also not at all a fan of how Echoes handles its open fights. I mean, it literally throws them at you on the world map. For a game that is already bland and monotonous to play, it was a test of patience to finish the game.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Etheus

[Interdimensional Observer]

What FEs aren't linear? They all are. I can't choose to participate in the siege of an enemy fort instead of assisting the withdrawal on the northeast front. All you're talking about is stuff I can do before I continue down the razor thin path of linear campaigning. By that definition, practically every RPG is nonlinear, when most of them don't deserve that classification.

 

Considering grind can make any FE too easy, I don't spend too much time doing it. That I don't care about unlocking supports either or the Monastery in recent games, means even SoV and 3H feel linear to me. And FE is fine that way, even if I would like tryin a game where it's more than picking a path at 1 or 2 pivotal points.

Plenty of smaller route splits is intermixed with a few big important moments would be something FE should try. Of course, the small moments should in some instances affect the big ones, or small moments each other. If you helped the siege in the above example, maybe you then fight a battle the withdrawal ends up going different than if you were there and it affects the next battle. Either way, your choice here wouldn't change the bigger picture of how things stand. Copying the SRW format of "string of opening chapters, route split, reunification for a few chapters in the middle, route split, reunification, route split, end game reunified" would be fine. But I'd go and change the end to an SMT 11th hour monumental route split.