Rank the FE games based on difficulty

[The Moon Mage]

^ Topic/Title says it all 

For me it would go like this.

Rules:

1.each game is assumed that your not playing blindly

2. each game is assumed on their hardest setting

Hardest:

Awakening lunatic plus- luck based is all this mode is.

Hard:

FE12 lunatic reverse

FE11 Hard 5

Three houses maddening 

Conquest lunatic

Radiant Dawn hard

Average:

Binding Blade hard 

Mystery of the emblem

Thracia 776

Revelation's lunatic 

Easy:

Birthright lunatic

Genealogy of the holy war

Gaiden

FE1

Echoes hard mode

Blazing sword HHM

Easiest: 

Sacred stones Hard mode not really 

 

???:

I wasn't sure where to put FE9 Aka path of radiance on this list so I left it out 

 

 

 

[GodSejeong97]

Hardest: Awakening Lunatic+, obviously.

Hard: Conquest Lunatic, Shadow Dragon H5, New Mystery Reverse Lunatic, Berwick Saga

Normal: Elibean Hard Modes, Thracia 776, Genealogy of the Holy War, Radiant Dawn Hard Mode, Echoes Hard Mode, Vestaria Saga, Tear Ring Saga

Easy: Birthright Lunatic, Sacred Stones Hard

Easiest: Three Houses Maddening, I mean come on, frequent 0 enemy hit rates...

Edited February 1, 2021 by GodSejeong97

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Are we taking the save systems out of the equation? Because Echoes on Hard is probably a bit harder than Gaiden in terms of enemy strength, but that turnwheel allows for many failures while still allowing you to complete the map. And it's that safety net that modifies how seriously the player plays each map, so comparing the amount of failures between games doesn't seem like such a great metric. Comparing ironman runs sounds great at first, but it's easy to see the more recent a fire emblem game is, the less it was designed with ironman in mind. Grinding is another wrinkle between games that is hard to quantify. 

Anyway, I think the easiest games on the list are really just the fire emblem games that lack hard modes, with the lone exception of thracia which is somewhere in the middle. I found FE1 to be on par with FE7 normal. I haven't played FE4 in a decade but I can't imagine that not being the easiest. Gen 1 enemies are generally pushovers. Gen 2 I think kicks it up a notch, but an informed player probably made great child units who will throttle any sense of challenge.

Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones have a reputation for easiness, but I find it's largely unearned by almost twenty years of player with no access or interest in the kaga era. My recent playthrough of FE9 hard had several resets, even though I was using the best units, a lot of forged weapons, and bonus exp. My hit rates never reached 100 except for maybe a wind tome at the start of the game. Enemies never fall behind you in levels, despite them outnumbering your crew about 5:1 for the entire game. There's a wyvern boss near the end of the game, most of my guys could not hit him without taking a ORKO in retaliation. And although the game doesn't have ambush spawns, those reinforcement placements are devious, always coming in at a time to force the player into fighting on two fronts. As for sacred stones, recently I watched Chaz stream an ironman of the game, and he lost ten units by like chapter 6, and his second run didn't fare much better until he quit. Even when you allow yourself grinding like he did, that game will punk you.

[Jotari]

The first game in the series is the easiest by a country mile. The only other contender would be its remake in the form of Mystery of the Emblem Book 1. Ive literally dont a Marth solo of it where I just throw him against all the enemies in the game and even in the finale they can arely scratch him. Three Houses, Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance don:t come anywhere near close to Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. And I wouldn:t even put Maddening Three Houses in the lower percentile. Sure it:s possible to min max and break the game in half, especially if you:re abusing New Game+ and the Ashen Wolves Distant Counter Cup Thing (what is it, Chalice of Rebirth or something?), but the enemies still provide some challenge with how fast they are. No matter how much you min max you will not be throwing a single playable unit io the frey and watch them wreck everything. At least not as easily as you can in games like Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light or Seth in Sacred Stones. Not without thinking at all. And I:d even argue Awakening can be further and far more easily min maxed than Three Houses. Awakening Lunatic+ has a few rough maps at the start that require very careful cheesing, but once you get Roin rolling and access to DLC and logbook units the game ceases to be much of a challenge (though I wouldn:t argue its among the easiest games due to stuff like Luna+ and Counter requiring vigiliance on the players behalf).

Path of Radiance with its repuration of being easy is a little unfair due to most of us not being allowed to play the games actual hard mode. So we can:t really pass judgement on that until they localize its maddening mode.

In terms of Hard Modes, Radiant Dawn:s Hard Mode is pretty hard as far as I recall. And while I understand why some people would put Blazing Blade down near the bottome due to its overall difficulty, Hector Hard Mode does have some individual maps that are annoyingly difficult. Thracia also has a reputation of being difficult but once you master it:s cheese it isn:t super challenging. Hmm, maybe Shadow Dragon Hard 5, though I can:t say I:ve played that. New Mystery Lunatic Reverse also seems quite challenging.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Jotari