Least favorite GBA game

[Mars of Aritia]

6 no contest

- ambush reinforcments

- majority of the cast is useless

- stupidly gigantic maps begging to be warp skipped (and unlike fe4, it doesn't do anything interesting with them)

- terrible music

- most of the characters are bland and the plot just rehashes parts from 1 and 3.

- removed all the cool features from 5 (fatigue, dismounting, non seize objectives, etc)

- Roy is the worst lord in the series

- extremely annoying low hit rates

- bizarre promotion item availability (by chapter 12, you have THREE whips despite only having two who can use it at that point, but only 1 knight crest and guiding ring despite having plenty who need it)

- presentation wise, it looks like an unfinished beta compared to the later GBA games

all of this just creates an exercise in tedium and frustration.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Mars of Aritia

[Nidoking]

I'll say FE7, albeit it's not like I dislike the game both from nostalgia (first FE ever, old man speaking) and decent gameplay (gotta play HHM as much as I can, I guess). FE8 is too easy but lets me do a lot of fun shit, plus it's the best game for hackroms, while FE6 is always a challenge I embrace. So I get more reasons to go to those two than FE7.

[edgelordweeb]

Sacred Stones, easily. It's solid but it's comically easy and honestly the least interesting of the three, at least gameplaywise. The story is better than FE7 but that's it. It's a great game anyways but I don't think it's as good as the other two. FE7 is in general one of the most enjoyable games to play in the franchise imo, I always love going back and replaying that game. Binding Blade is my second favorite game in the franchise after Genealogy, so that obviously beats it out as well. I prefer the map design of those games and the units as well. I can't really think of much that Sacred Stones does better than those two. The improved accuracy system helps it out over FE6 but that doesn't bother me that much anyways and it's also in FE7.

[Falkyrie]

I finished FE7 and went "Wow, this game was so cool! Time to play FE6" and man, that game was full of "THAT'S BS!!!" moments. Downloaded FEBuilder, made some changes and I can safely say I'm having a blast so far. 

[Lunar Bunnies]

Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but even though I think it's objectively better than 7, SS for me. It's so easy and doesn't have a lot to make it stand out, even if it's pretty inoffensive and fun. Though I'm also nostalgic bc 7 was my first, so guilty as charged. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Lunar Bunnies

[Capt. Fargus]

Blazing Blade was my first and I enjoyed it immensely. Aint played Sacred Stones yet but so far I like Blazing Blade better than Binding Blade. When you’re a kid you got this kinda time but at my age aint tryin to spend months stuck at one point anymore. 

[Baudshaw]

Easily Binding Blade. There are some nitpicky issues (Sacae maps being bad, world tour isn't interesting, story is terrible) but I'd say the one thing that really drags FE6 is the insane requirements needed to get the true ending. I'm so thankful they've all but abandoned gameplay-altering endings in future Fire Emblem releases (at least for the ones I've played),but there's absolutely no chance a first timer would ever actually see the story resolved.

[Riff]

Sacred Stones, I personally find most of the chapter maps a bit boring...

[𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥]

FE6, the game just never stood out to me. I always prefered FE7 and FE8 because the characters and the maps were fun to play on.

 

If I had to choose a favorite, it'd probably be Sacred Stones just because it's a short game to play, relax to, and run through a randomizer real quick. Just a pleasant experience.

[67chrome]

Binding Blade.

Balancing hit% between swords and axes is pretty cool, and it allows Avo builds to actually work with the ~-10% WPN hit accross the board relative to the other 2 (and most FE games in general). Base Myrmadon/Swordmaster is actually a pretty ok class, and Avo tank Clarine is satisfying to use.

Giving the player units stats on-par with all of the jobber enemies is also an interesting move relative to the latter entries, makes the RPG chess feel a little more like RPG chess.

And having massive maps with ~quadruple the forces the player has access to makes for an epic campaign.

 

All 3 things shouldn't be sandwiched together though, makes the game really tedious to play though. 

 

Game also suffers from a case of PCs being the correct or incorrect choice harder than any other FE game I've played. Feels bad to get burned by a character that looks cool, only to realize their only mechanical purpose is being ironman run backup unit #37. Certainly not winning my favorite FE game when it's hard to get attached to anyone.

.....................

Otherwise: first FE game was FE7 and it caused me to fall in love with the franchise, and my favorite one is FE8, so...yeah.

Edited February 4, 2023 by 67chrome

[Bob50328]

FE6. Almost completely because of Roy. I have never had such an annoying time attempting to keep a lord alive. Also, having the supply convoy be a unit was a confusing choice, and one that would be gone if Roy could access it.