FE games, order I should play timeline-wise?

[Speedy]

Hi

I know there are probably tons of topics in regard of which game you should play this and this way. And i tried to check those, but it can be quite overwhelming and confusing so I thought that I might ask for bit of a specific order for me personally.

To give you bit of a background to my FE experience, first one i played was Three Houses, mainly because Switch is basicaly my first nintendo console i bought and its the only FE game there (if im not gonna count Warriors spin off and remake of first game which is no longer available in the store) but recently I meddled with few emulators and was able to finish Fates Conquest (still dunno why i thought it would be great idea for that to be my next game after 3H, it was quite a leap to be honest) and then FE7. Now i cannot decide, do I wanna play FE6 now? How about Awakening? You know Path of Radiance looks interesting. Why dont i jsut play it from the first game to the last one? Oh yeah cause some of them are just better remakes.

In the end i thought that for me personally what would be most interesting is to play it in chronological order in regard of timeline, but then im still bit confused which games are connected and which are not and then what is remake of what? So could i ask for bit of a guidance in this regard? Im really tempted to play Echoes which i understand is remake of FE2, but if i wanna stick to my rule of sticking to the timeline should i play Shadow Dragon first? At least I hope thats the remake of FE1. And from there how should i continue.

Thanks for the tips in advance.

[Jotari]

There isn't really a Fire Emblem timeline per se. With the exception of Mystery of the Emblem and Radiant Dawn, the stories aren't all that connected to each other even when they share a continuity. But if you do want to strictly stick to a timeline then you should play

Genealogy of the Holy War -> Thracia 776 -> Shadow Dragon -> Shadows of Valentia -> New Mystery of the Emblem -> Awakening

Since you've already played Blazing Blade, Binding Blade would also naturally be a next step, as the one you've played is a prequel to the other.

Aside from that, play Sacred Stones whenever and play Path of Radiance before Radiant Dawn.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Jotari

[Speedy]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

There isn't really a Fire Emblem timeline per se. With the exception of Mystery of the Emblem and Radiant Dawn, the stories aren't all that connected to each other even when they share a continuity. But if you do want to strictly stick to a timeline then you should play

Genealogy of the Holy War -> Thracia 776 -> Shadow Dragon -> Shadows of Valentia -> New Mystery of the Emblem -> Awakening

Since you've already played Blazing Blade, Binding Blade would also naturally be a next step, as the one you've played is a prequel to the other.

Aside from that, play Sacred Stones whenever and play Path of Radiance before Radiant Dawn.

Oh yeah i totally forgot that FE4 and FE5 is earlier than shadow dragon, im actually quite interested in FE4 for i have heard it has some really nice overall story, but i also heard that it's quite hard?

[Jotari]

Just now, Speedy said:

Oh yeah i totally forgot that FE4 and FE5 is earlier than shadow dragon, im actually quite interested in FE4 for i have heard it has some really nice overall story, but i also heard that it's quite hard?

FE4 might be hard for beginners, but it's considered really easy for experienced players who know the game well. And even for beginners it's rather a friendly game in the sense that you can freely save at the start of each turn (though I'd say it's better to not save literally every turn in case you throw yourself into a mess that you can't get out of in a single turn).

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

10 hours ago, Speedy said:

Now i cannot decide, do I wanna play FE6 now? How about Awakening? You know Path of Radiance looks interesting. Why dont i jsut play it from the first game to the last one? Oh yeah cause some of them are just better remakes.

In the end i thought that for me personally what would be most interesting is to play it in chronological order in regard of timeline, but then im still bit confused which games are connected and which are not and then what is remake of what? So could i ask for bit of a guidance in this regard? Im really tempted to play Echoes which i understand is remake of FE2, but if i wanna stick to my rule of sticking to the timeline should i play Shadow Dragon first? At least I hope thats the remake of FE1. And from there how should i continue.

Thanks for the tips in advance.

as quick resume taken from Serene's website and regarding only the mainline franchise:

• [NES] Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light « original FE1.
• [NES] Gaiden « original FE2, partially connected to FE1 due to shared characters( Pegasus sisters ) and other reasons.
• [SNES] Mystery of the Emblem « first remake of FE1, it also has a secondary story that works as sequel to the first game.
• [SNES] Genealogy of the Holy War 
• [SNES] Thracia 776 « connected to FE4 in terms of story, but shows a different "route" since it tells the story from Leif's perspective rather than Sigurd/Seliph. not a direct sequel, just a retelling of the previous 2nd generation( children ) story under a different point of view.
• [Satella View?] Akaneia Saga « basicly, a collection of "gaiden" chapters related to FE1 that were not present in the original game( a prequel of sorts ).
• [GBA] Binding Blade 
• [GBA] Blazing Sword « the prequel to FE6.
• [GBA] The Sacred Stones 
• {GameCube] Path of Radiance 
• [Wii] Radiant Dawn « sequel to Path of Radiance.
• [DS] Shadow Dragon « second remake of FE1.
• [DS] New Mystery of the Emblem « obvious remake of Mistery of the Emblem for NDS, to be more specific it retells the story of the 2nd book, while Shadow Dragon for NDS covers the 1st book( original game ).
• [3DS] Awakening « connected to Shadow Dragon, Gaiden and PoR for different reasons and recurring themes.
• [3DS] Fire Emblem Fates « connected to Awakening for many reasons, although it's not really a direct sequel. has some nods to previous games as well.
• [3DS] Fire Emblem Echoes « remake of Gaiden.
• [Switch] Three Houses

 

in any case, there's no fixed timeline for each game. they're pretty much like Final Fantasy: most of them have their own worlds and different lore depending on the game, while others may be connected for different reasons even if they don't follow the same story.

my advice is to start with the SNES titles since they're pretty much the basics, then move to the GBA ones, followed by GameCube, Wii, DS, 3DS and finally Switch.

in terms of gameplay, Genealogy and Echoes have their own unique mechanics, while all other titles share pretty much the same basic gameplay formulas with different twists regarding other features.

Edited July 23, 2021 by 𝙵ᴇɴʀᴇɪʀ

[indigoasis]

As other users have already mentioned, you can pretty much play any game in the series in any order you want, and continuity between games in the same universe isn't as important, but if you'd like a timeline to follow games in order:

• Genealogy of the Holy War is the earliest game in the "main" timeline, and followed by Thracia 776 (technically, Thracia takes place sometime in between Chapters 6 and 8 of Holy War, I believe, but it follows Seliph's cousin Leif).
• Many, many, many years later, Shadow Dragon (and the Blade of Light) is next in the "main" timeline, followed by Gaiden/Echoes (which takes place about a year or so after the events of Shadow Dragon), and then (New) Mystery of the Emblem, which takes place roughly 2 to 3 years after Shadow Dragon.
• Then like 3000 years later comes Awakening, which is the end of the "main" timeline as far as we know.

Those games are all within one timeline, and every game mentioned hereafter isn't part of the "main" timeline.

• As for Elibe, it includes The Blazing Sword and The Binding Blade (in that order). Aside from a few characters and the continent itself, the two games aren't as connected as you might think. Since you already played Blazing, Binding would be the next in that universe's timeline.
• With Tellius, it has Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. It's recommended to play Path of Radiance first, not just to better understand the lore of Tellius, but you can also transfer over save data bonuses to Radiant Dawn to better connect the two in terms of gameplay (but whether or not it's really worth it for some characters is debatable).
• All of the other games in the series, as far as we know (with one exception), are more or less standalone entries in regard to the universes they take place in. You can pretty much play these whenever. These games are:
  • The Sacred Stones
  • Three Houses
  • Fates - These games are the exceptions. Not only are there 3 different versions, but it also partially connects to Awakening. You don't need to play Awakening at all to understand what's going on in Fates, though, so it's kind of tricky to determine whether Fates is really connected to the "main" timeline, if at all.

I think everyone else has already done a great job of explaining things, but I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring.

[Topaz Light]

If you want in-universe timelines, for the Archanea-Valentia-Jugdral continuity, it's...

1. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War generation 1
2. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War generation 2 + Thracia 776 (they take place in overlapping time frames)
3. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (and the Blade of Light) / Mystery of the Emblem Book 1 (it's the same story for all three)
4. Fire Emblem Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
5. Fire Emblem: (New) Mystery of the Emblem (specifically Book 2 in the original SNES Mystery of the Emblem)
6. Fire Emblem Awakening

For other continuities...

• Path of Radiance before Radiant Dawn in the Tellius continuity
• Blazing Blade (FE7) before Binding Blade (FE6) in the Elibe continuity

And then Sacred Stones, Fates, and Three Houses are all standalone and aren't part of any other games' continuities. I suppose you could consider Fates to be like a "#7" in the A/V/J continuity since it has a miniscule connection to Awakening that affects a handful of party members and one DLC episode in ways that have basically no bearing on the central plot, but the situation there is weird and may not count.

[Sidereal Wraith]

My advice would be to start with the GBA games, specifically Blazing Blade (the one with Eliwood, Hector and Lyn).

[DomesticHausCat]

If you want to get really specific with the Jugdral games, you can play FE4's first 6 chapters. Then stop that and then play FE5 and then return to FE4. Because FE5 takes place between chapter 6 and 7 of FE4. 

 

I've done it once. It's a little weird though but chronologically it lines up.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, DomesticHausCat said:

If you want to get really specific with the Jugdral games, you can play FE4's first 6 chapters. Then stop that and then play FE5 and then return to FE4. Because FE5 takes place between chapter 6 and 7 of FE4. 

 

I've done it once. It's a little weird though but chronologically it lines up.

Thracia actually starts before Chapter 6. Seliph isn't mentioned until Chapter 19 of Thracia which is after a six month time skip. The wikis say Leif starts his rebellion in 776 and that Celice starts his in 777, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. As Chapter 18 of Thracia takes place at the start of May, and then we have the six month time skip leading us up to November or December. And then the game ends talking about the year 777, which is a bit strange if the year is just about to finish. I think All of Thracia, as the name suggests, takes place within the year 776, beginning in January and ending in December. With Leif gaining Leinster castle around the same time Seliph begins his rebellion. Then again Chapter 5 of Genealogy is stated to begin in early spring of 760, and then chapter  6 says it's been 17 years since Balhalla, which is presumably where the wiki gets the Seliph starting in 777 number from. Which makes sense with basic arithmetic, but still, that means Thracia 776 encompasses the entire year of 777 and only a few months of 776, which is down right weird (unless you want to really stretch out some of those early chapters leading up to Tara).

Uh, yeah, anyway no matter how you slice the timeline, it seems like Thracia 776 begins before Chapter 6 of Genealogy. And if definitely continues past Chapter 7 and up to the end of Chapter 8. Playing Thracia after Chapter 6 would narratively make sense as skipping over to Leif though, playing up to Chapter 19 of Thracia, and then Chapter 7 of Genealogy and then the two concurrently would work for narrative purposes. Either that or just play the entirety of Thracia between the generation jump to neatly segregate the gameplay.

[Speedy]

Thanks everyone for recommendation I went with the timeline route so I'm about to finish FE4, where after completing chapter 6 i jumped to Thracia 776 (oh boy, that was one hell of a challenge to complete, so much micromanagement) and then I jumped back to FE4 and now im in last chapter so Shadow Dragon here I come 🙂 . Im also really looking forward to play echoes.

Edited September 7, 2021 by Speedy