Favorite FE starting chapter

[Fates-Blade]

What is your favorite FE starting chapter?

 

Tutorial and plot building related chapters don't count so starting chapters would be:

Chapter 7 for Fates,

Chapter 1 for Shadow Dragon,

Prologue not Premonition for Awakening,

FE7's starting chapter and Eliwood and Hector's starting chapters,

Three Houses prologue,

Chapter 1 of New Mystery of the Emblem (AKA Heroes of Light and Shadow),

Chapter 1 of Path of Radiance,

Radiant Dawn's Prologue.

Basically any chapter that doesn't limit the freedom of the players except FE7.

The Tear Ring Saga and Berwick Saga games count as well.

 

I'm not sure what my favorite is but FEFates's CH7 Vow Upheld is pretty nice.

Furthermore, I like Shadow Dragon and FE4's too.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Fates-Blade

[Benice]

Berwick Saga, at least for me. It's one of the only first maps that feels like an actual map, but it also teaches the player well* and doesn't kill them right out of the gate. It's not super hard, but you have to think.

In terms of mainline FE, not many have very interesting first real maps.Really, I'd argue that Fates' first real map is ch.5, and that one's pretty good IMO. I liked the prologue of TH on lower difficulties, (It was fine on Maddening, just a bit of a crawl.) but wasn't so much of a fan of ch.1. I think that my favorite first map in the mainline series overall would be FE6's chapter 1. RD's Prologue was also decent, but it starts to shine (Radiate?) more after that.

*Albeit via the tutorials, but it doesn't force you to read 'em and they're good tutorials if you do read them.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Benice

[null]

I think Radiant Dawn's prologue is pretty good. Small scale, but effective in getting the player up to speed with the very basics. You learn how to properly use physical and magical attackers, and things go along at a good pace.

[Jotari]

Radiant Dawn was my first Fire Emblem chapter to play period. And you don't forget your first.

[indigoasis]

I'd probably go with Thracia 776's starting chapter since it more or less throws you right into the thick of it while giving you 2 pre-promotes, Finn with the Brave Lance, Leif with the Light Brand, and one of the characters (Osian) can get their own personal weapon from the house to the right of the starting positions. That's also not to mention that you get a ranged unit, and have full control over the weapon triangle (which is more or less irrelevant since it only affects accuracy, giving either +5 or -5 accuracy, but it's still worth mentioning). I also really like it because it doesn't bombard you with tutorials (or any tutorials for that matter, which is nice for more experienced players).

I'd probably go with Echoes after that with both of it's starting maps. The prologue map with the kids is pretty much just a power trip with Mycen, and the actual first map where the gang leaves Ram Village is just iconic.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I'm gonna say Awakening's Prologue. It's really cool how they weave the mechanics and presentation into the dialogue. The party size feels "just right" for a first map, with each characterfitting a different role. And in terms of aesthetics, Southtown is honestly a super charming place.

[vanguard333]

Chapter 1 of Path of Radiance. The information being presented to the player is well-contextualized by Ike being a beginner. Ike, Oscar, Boyd and Titania are a good starting team; two infantry and two cavalry while also covering the entire weapon triangle. There's one house that's guaranteed to be burned down by a bandit no matter what you do; quickly and effectively illustrating to the player what will happen if you don't stop the bandits from reaching the other houses. And it really does capture a feeling of, "First day on the job" that ties really well into the story.

Speaking of tying into the rest of the story, if you were to consider an FE game purely in terms of its story, at least a few first chapter conflicts are rather... disposable. Shadow Dragon's chapter 1, for example, isn't really necessary: the big plot beat is Marth setting off at the end, and fighting pirates that have landed on Talys doesn't really factor into that. Even in Radiant Dawn, fighting the bandits isn't really important to any of the plot, character or worldbuilding that the first chapter is establishing, and every other chapter in part 1 is about fighting the Begnion Occupation. With chapter 1 of Path of Radiance, you can't really skip it: not only is it Ike's first day as a mercenary, but chapter 2 has the bandits retaliate by abducting Mist and Rolf, and the conflict in chapter 2 is necessary as it leads to important beats, and while all this is happening, we're getting a clear sense of what it's like for this mercenary company in peace time, so when war breaks out and after they find Princess Elincia, there's far more natural tension when they're deciding what to do and how involved in the situation they actually want to get.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Hmm...

• War of Shadows- Not bad actually for the 1-1 of FE.
• Gaiden- Eh, Gaiden's many smaller battles and questionable map design overall get in the war.
• War of the Heroes- Those hills and stationary enemies kill in Old Mystery. New Mystery fixes the faults, but it isn't enough. Still, I like this one narratively, even if the premise is undermined by all of Lorenz's troops being dead.
• Genealogy- Pretty snappy for a first fight, which makes sense, given FE4's fewer maps, I'd hate to play this with Sigurd's quartet alone. Epic story start.
• Thracia- Plenty of units, with a bit of diversity in them. Narrative neat too.
• Binding- Bandits that are a little tough, eh. You're likely to miss the optional tutorial battle.
• Blazing- Lyn's first bad, Hector first too limited, Eliwood's first is a better FE6 Chapter 1, average.
• Sacred- Lyn's first bad. The subsequent fight isn't remarkable.
• PoR- Lyn's first bad. The subsequent fight is Eliwood's first average.
• RD- Micaiah fragile, and you've got an archer too. Not the worst, but far from the best.
• Shadow Dragon Prologue- Yay added story content, the battles are functional.
• New Mystery Prologue- Lyn's first bad for the first battle, the rest are surprisingly difficult.
• Awakening- The vision doesn't deserve to count, subsequent battle is okay.
• Fates- I like the immediately after-Branch of Fate battle is distinct for each route, with use of strong characters you don't get until later, but none of these are particularly notable. The battles after the post-Branch are horrible (Rev), average (BR), and too rough on Lunatic (CQ).
• 3H- The one and only time you get all three house leaders, meh.
• TRS- 3 (turns of waiting for the drawbridge to come down, and then a few enemies. Not very interesting.

So, Jugdral comes out on top. Shadow Dragon and Eliwood's first (if it deserves to count) occupy a second tier of quality.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

• Blazing- Lyn's first bad, Hector first too limited, Eliwood's first is a better FE6 Chapter 1, average.
• Sacred- Lyn's first bad. The subsequent fight isn't remarkable.
• PoR- Lyn's first bad. The subsequent fight is Eliwood's first average.

Uhhh... did Lyn and friends go through the Outrealm Gate?

[Weeping Dalek (MK)]

Personally I would count Prologue 8 over Chapter 1 for New Mystery

 

My favourite first map in the series would have to be FE5 Chapter 1, though I do quite enjoy FE6 Chapter 1, FE10 1-Prologue, Conquest Chapter 7 and Berwick Chapter 1-Main

22 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'm gonna say Awakening's Prologue. It's really cool how they weave the mechanics and presentation into the dialogue. The party size feels "just right" for a first map, with each characterfitting a different role. And in terms of aesthetics, Southtown is honestly a super charming place.

Honestly Awakening Prologue is fine on Normal and Hard but it sucks on Lunatic (haven't even unlocked Lunatic+ so uh yeah)

[MiaMain]

Does Ike’s opening in Radiant Dawn count?

[EverybodyDies_44]

I have a soft spot for Awakening's due to the sheer amount of times I played it when playing the demo.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 2/28/2021 at 1:11 AM, MiaMain said:

Does Ike’s opening in Radiant Dawn count?

I would say the next chapter is a better one for "reintroducing" the Greil Mercenaries. 3-P puts Ike and co. in the unusual position of providing backup for another army. That it can be won by doing nothing, or lost despite doing everything, is a perennial result of dealing with green units. It's a neat concept, though, and the boss has funny dialogue.