What are the Easiest and Hardest Fire Emblem Games?

[PostZordem]

As the title says, I'm wondering which Fire Emblem games are relatively easy and which ones are pretty challenging/hard, at least in general. Just so I can know which games I can go into without too much worry, and which games I can prepare for in advance. For the sake of simplifying the list, we'll assume that the player is playing on the Normal difficulty setting with Classic mode being applied if it isn't already enabled by default, since harder or easier difficulties could change which game's more challenging than another. (I'm looking at you, Phoenix Mode)

I've heard that Fire Emblem Sacred Stones, Fates: Birthright, and Path of Radiance are some of the easier games in the series, while Fates: Conquest is among some of the more challenging games in the series (I'd list more for the challenging side, but I haven't fully played through enough FE games to really know much myself).

So, if the player is playing the game on Normal/Classic difficulty (or just Normal difficulty for older FE games), which of the FE titles would be considered almost Phoenix Mode levels of easy, and which games could possibly be Lunatic Jr.?

Let's have one or two games in the easiest category, and the same for the hardest category, just so we aren't listing off every entry in the series. (Remakes will qualify as well)

You can also include one or two FE games that hover around the "Normal as Normal can get" area of difficulty if you can think of any. 

[DaveCozy]

Pretty much every Fire Emblem game from Blazing Blade onwards is doable on their Normal/Classic difficulties. Maybe except Radiant Dawn.

Blazing Blade = simply known as Fire Emblem in the west.

I haven't played Sacred Stones nor Valentia but I've heard both are pretty manageable FEs on Normal/Classic. Also haven't played New Mystery, no idea on that one though.

Path of Radiance Normal is JPs easy difficulty. Even Hard is very manageable.

Shadow Dragon on the default difficulty is pretty light and easy. The NES original game is too fwiw, although that game is also a relic and the outdated feel is not for everyone's enjoyment (I personally liked it but I can understand why modern fans wouldn't)

Awakening Normal is pretty easy too.

Fates I've only done Birthright but it's pretty easy on Normal too.

Same with 3 Houses, Normal is very doable. So is Hard fwiw.

--

Honestly Radiant Dawn is the only one I have played that I can think of which can be fairly difficult, even in Normal. In general that is a tough game as a whole.

Oh and obviously stay away from things like Lunatic+ in Awakening and Shadow Dragon H5 if you want to keep your sanity. Masochists only for those.

Edited May 4, 2022 by DaveCozy

[PostZordem]

39 minutes ago, DaveCozy said:

Path of Radiance Normal is JPs easy difficulty. Even Hard is very manageable.

Dang, if Path of Radiance Normal NA is JP's Easy, then I wonder what Path of Radiance Easy NA would be...

39 minutes ago, DaveCozy said:

Honestly Radiant Dawn is the only one I have played that I can think of which can be fairly difficult, even in Normal. In general that is a tough game as a whole.

Can you think of any examples as to what makes Radiant Dawn harder in Normal mode compared to other FE games? For instance, particular maps, enemies, or events within the game that make it more difficult? (Without spoiling anything, please. I haven't played Radiant Dawn)

Looks like most Fire Emblems since Blazing Blade are pretty easy to complete on Normal/Classic mode. I like to start a new Fire Emblem game off on Normal difficulty so I can get a general feel for the game without having to worry too much about the enemy reinforcements. Then I can replay the game on a harder difficulty to experience more of a challenge with the knowledge of how the chapter will look like in advance and what enemies to expect. 

39 minutes ago, DaveCozy said:

Oh and obviously stay away from things like Lunatic+ in Awakening and Shadow Dragon H5 if you want to keep your sanity. Masochists only for those.

I never really had it in me to even try out Three Houses' Maddening mode, so I'll probably stay away from any difficulties like the ones you mentioned. It's not that I don't enjoy a good challenge (in fact, I'm currently on a Blue Lions/Azure Moon Hard Mode playthrough), I just don't want to get destroyed by the enemy simply because of an insane difficulty spike.

Edited May 4, 2022 by CyberZord

[Sock Puppet]

I agree that Radiant Dawn is the most difficult FE on Normal mode (although the difficulty drops off significantly later in the game). The easiest is unquestionably Sacred Stones. That game is so easy, that even its Hard mode offers barely any challenge. 

The general pattern of FE is that your units are stronger than the enemies one-on-one, but the enemy has greater numbers. A lot of Radiant Dawn's difficulty comes from the fact that the early game does not really follow this pattern; by about the mid-point of Part 1, most enemy units are just as strong, if not stronger, than most of yours. It doesn't help that your lord character has all the durability of tissue paper and will be slaughtered by any enemy who can penetrate your fragile battle line. This doesn't last, though--Part 2 is not terribly difficult, and Part 3 is easy.

Sacred Stones has the same pathetic enemies as FE 7, while also offering unlimited grinding EXP and unlimited stat-boosting items.

[lenticular]

Out of the games I've played, for normal/classic in particular, I'd say that the two easiest are Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses, specifically because of the Turnwheel/Divine Pulse mechanic. Playing mistake-free is one of the bigger challenges of Fire Emblem on lower difficulties, and getting rid of that makes a big difference. If we're not allowing time rewind (and probably let's also ban battle saves while we're at it), then the answer would be "anything that allows for infinite grinding", so Sacred Stones, Awakening, Birthright, Revelation (I think; I've not played it), Shadows of Valentia, Three Houses. If we're also banning grinding, then maybe Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance.

As for hardest, probably Radiant Dawn and Conquest. Though part of that depends on whether we're talking about Japanese normal mode (which was called easy mode internationally)  or international normal mode (which was called hard mode in Japan). If we're talking international normal mode, then definitely Radiant Dawn and it isn't even close. If we're talking Japanese normal mode, then I think I'd put Radiant Dawn and Conquest in the same difficulty tier.

[emazur]

12 hours ago, CyberZord said:

I never really had it in me to even try out Three Houses' Maddening mode, so I'll probably stay away from any difficulties like the ones you mentioned. It's not that I don't enjoy a good challenge (in fact, I'm currently on a Blue Lions/Azure Moon Hard Mode playthrough), I just don't want to get destroyed by the enemy simply because of an insane difficulty spike.

For reference Radiant Dawn normal is sharply more difficult than Blue Lions hard mode (which from memory is mainly hard in some of the Paralogues and the final map) but about equal to Three Houses DLC campaign on hard.

I'm somewhat similar to you in regards to seeking the right difficulty in Fire Emblem. The GBA trilogy (I played way back in the day) I don't recall having any issues on normal, same with Path of Radiance (played first time last year). Three Houses normal (also played last year) was too easy for me and my next game after was Awakening (hard) which was significantly harder than Radiant Dawn normal. I was only able to beat it b/c I played on casual mode and I made a couple lucky choices on characters which paid off. B/c of that I played Birthright on normal but that along with Three Houses normal was the easiest of all. Revelations hard was less challenging than Radiant Dawn normal

I'll also suggest the Shining Force games from the 1990s which don't have permadeath

[Sidereal Wraith]

The easiest game that I played was Sacred Stone. The hardest would be hands down Thracia 776.

[Elina]

Hardest was Thracia 776 and the easiest was fates birthright for me. Oh yeah, sacred stones is really easy too..

Edited May 4, 2022 by Elina

[OuendanCyrus]

For me, Sacred Stones and Birthright are the easiest. Radiant Dawn "Normal Mode" is also pretty simple.

Thracia 776, Conquest, and Radiant Dawn's Hard modes were hard.

[Jotari]

The easiest is definitely NES Shadow Dragon. Sure, there's no battle forecast, but you hardly need one when most of your units are practically invincible.

Most difficult is a bit more challenging as you need to parse the difference between "most genuinely challenging" and "most bullshit". Awakening's Lunatic+ is probably the most bullshit hard mode in any game. Most genuinely good difficulty, with my own personal bias in mind, I'd probably give to Binding Blade.

If we're talking just normal modes without difficulty settings, then I reckon Thracia beats out Radiant Dawn normal mode.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

In order from Easiest to Hardest, based on games I've played to completion on Normal difficulty, Classic mode:

Three Houses

FE7: Lyn's Story

Awakening

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Fates: Birthright

Sacred Stones

Fates: Revelation

Path of Radiance

Shadow Dragon

FE7: Eliwood's Story

Genealogy of the Holy War

FE7: Hector's Story

Fates: Conquest

Radiant Dawn

Any games not listed, I either haven't played, or I have played (but not beaten) on Normal/Classic mode.

[Eltosian Kadath]

20 hours ago, CyberZord said:

 

So, if the player is playing the game on Normal/Classic difficulty (or just Normal difficulty for older FE games), which of the FE titles would be considered almost Phoenix Mode levels of easy, and which games could possibly be Lunatic Jr.?

The mistranslation of Radiant Dawn's difficulty settings in English versions of the game is giving it a real edge with this requirement...

Honestly its been so long since I have played any of these games on normal that I have a hard time giving a real answer. If I were to instead do it with H1/Classic instead (assuming there is more than 1 difficulty...), and using the Japanese version of Radiant Dawn's difficulty settings, I am thinking

Path of Radiance, or possibly Sacred Stones for easiest; and I am thinking Conquest for Hardest

If I judge it amongst all difficulty modes

Path of Radiance with its English Easy Mode is easiest; and Lunatic Reverse New Mystery of the Emblem for hardest.

 

Although going for a less highest/lowest approach

Path of Radiance, Sacred Stones, and Birthright are ones I generally consider easier

Binding Blade, Conquest, New Mystery, and Radiant Dawn are ones I generally consider harder.

I will note that Thracia tends to get lumped into the hard category, but I feel it would be more accurately described as aggressively unfriendly to blind players, if you know how Thracia works coming into it, it isn't that bad.

 

Also context matters a fair bit, while Balzing Sword is generally seen as easier, it has a lot of aspects to it that make ironmanning that game rather hard; one could argue Echoes and Awakening falls into the easy section with infinite grinding, although unlike the other infinite grinding games, I don't find them easy even when you ignore said grinding (or at least just using it sparingly).  Also difficulty can jump all over the place in some of these games, Genealogy for instance has its fair share of easy section, but some rather difficult ones as well, leading to a more mixed difficulty overall.

 

[Fire Emblem Fan]

I'd say that Thracia 776 and Radiant Dawn are definitely the two hardest. Sacred Stones is probably the easiest, and then it's a tight race between Path of Radiance and Birthright.

[Shadow Mir]

20 hours ago, CyberZord said:

Can you think of any examples as to what makes Radiant Dawn harder in Normal mode compared to other FE games? For instance, particular maps, enemies, or events within the game that make it more difficult? (Without spoiling anything, please. I haven't played Radiant Dawn)

For one, the characters you get starting out are mostly fragile ones (in particular, your main character is a mage, and thus as fragile as you'd expect). Second, the first few chapters make it such that you lose if ANYONE dies. Third, part 1 is really hard. Fourth, there are much more high crit enemies than in prior FE games (and enemies actually keep up with the player in terms of stats). That said, its overall difficulty is pretty erratic, to say the least. Anyhoo... I'd agree with Radiant Dawn for hardest (in terms of being legitimately hard, anyway; Thracia and Binding Blade are themselves hard, but their brand of difficulty is more bullshit and poor game design), whereas Sacred Stones and NES Shadow Dragon are easiest.

[Eltosian Kadath]

21 hours ago, CyberZord said:

Dang, if Path of Radiance Normal NA is JP's Easy, then I wonder what Path of Radiance Easy NA would be...

22 hours ago, DaveCozy said:

Path of Radiance Normal is JPs easy difficulty. Even Hard is very manageable.

Someone got their wires crossed on this one. Japan didn't have an easy more for Path of Radiance, the English release cut out Japan's Maniac Mode, and replaced it with a brand new easy mode. This would lead to Radiant Dawn's famous difficulty mistranslation, where they didn't change any of the modes for the English release, but named them Easy, Normal, and Hard anyway, so Japan's Normal difficulty is the English Easy, the Japanese Hard is the English Normal, and Japan's Maniac difficulty is the English Hard mode...

 

[ussgordoncaptain]

Difficulty based on hardest difficulty Easiest to hardest 

Sacred Stones hard mode - Seth is so good that it makes a game with actually threatening enemies and garbage player units easy almost entirely off the back of one unit. 

Path of Radiance hard mode- This game is a joke as long as you remember to train ike and give him wrath+resolve.

Hector Hard mode (Fe7) - HHM has a combination of weak enemies and medium difficulty enemies with magic, Pure water a lot of forced grind sequences and overpowered prepromotes. However Battle before dawn can suck because Jaffar is extremely liable to die. 

Echoes Shadows of Valentia hard - Debatably easier it depends on if you want to count grinding as making a game easier or not. Echoes has a ton of grinding available from both world map spawns and from dungeon encounters, these are mostly all skippable .. For reference the LTC of the game grinds for 5 turns because enemies in 1-7 and the desert are hard enough to force you to grind to beat them. However Turnwheels make the game a whole lot easier,  and they make 1 random mistake not punishing, by endgame you have so many turnwheels available that you can start rigging crits like a madman.  In spite of Echoes having  high enemy quality compared to other games  the game also has the absurdly broken Turnwheel, which means that the typical map is beaten on the first try. 

3 Houses Maddening mode: Divine pulse is such a broken ability that the tough enemies of maddening mode fall apart to its might. once you get to C+ professor level the game's difficulty crumbles  since you can start doing aux battle farming instead of trying to raise your professor level and exploring. Once you get to the hold start for 5 minutes and black screen your way to Wrath+Vantage and get OP skills like Swift strike 3 Houses becomes a lot easier. The hump of 3H maddening is harder than many games but the game falls apart much faster than other games in the series. 

Radiant Dawn Hard Mode: Fairly easy game actually, all you have to do is realize that you can't waifu bias anyone without absurd bases, and that the game is best thought of as a series of trial maps rather than as a complete game. Once you realize these things you start focusing on juggernauting really hard with whatever juggernauts exist right now, and the game falls apart after 1-6-1. 2-1 is sometimes hard but if you rush the steel axe village and clear up a couple of the 2 rangers  it's a pretty simple map. Every map after 1-6-1 is quite easy so it's not a struggle after you get over the hump, but getting over the hump can be tricky

Fates Birthright Lunatic  So enemies in BR can be kind of annoying, but it's nothing that special. Fates skill/stat statcking can eventually get past this but it takes a lot longer than RD hard or 3 houses maddening, it's also much less forgiving than 3 houses due to a lack of divine pulse. Fates in general has low player unit bulk so it gets really hard to keep player units alive unless you use a lot of resources. 

Fates Revelation Lunatic: harder earlygame than Birthright but easier lategame. Surprisingly similar difficulty all things considered, the main thing is that most units do nothing so the few that are good are very good. 

Fe6 Hard mode : This games hump is a lot longer than the others, and it has little mercy.  The main difficulty is learning all the weird jank that FE6 has like staff targeting priority and thrones. Fe6 hit rates are godawful and hitting a given boss is often a massive luckfest because even high hit rate weapons like the killing edge have a net of 60 accuracy on many bosses. But once you accept that any strategy is going to be delayed by bosskills taking a long time you can just farm EXP while waiting and get all the items, then FE6 start getting a lot easier. Fe6's hump doesn't really end until chapter 13 but it like most games in the series gets a lot easier after the halfway mark.

Fates Conquest Lunatic : Not that hard but still quite hard, there's a lot of reading text on each enemies long list of skills, and it's pretty easy to corner yourself and die due to fates having low HP player units. However once you get past chapter 10 the game starts letting you flyskip it all the way to the end so it gets a lot easier in the late/endgame

Shadow Dragon Hard 5: There are exactly 2 maps in the entire run that are hard and they are hard for the exact same reason, the boss one rounds your entire army and you have next to no counterplay. Stupid dumb and I hate it. After this it's mostly the wing spear and those other units show, but the first 2 maps are really hard, harder than all of fe6/fe10 combined.

Awakening Lunatic+: Lunatic+ has a lot of difficulty due to how hard it is to get robin online. Robin also can easily die if counter density is too high so you often have to be careful at every turn. Lunatic+ falls in difficulty after Valm arc, but even so counter density makes Lunatic+ almost always an uphill struggle, even with Robin's incredible nostanking. 

Fe12 h4: : Hard 4 is quite challenging, mostly because a lot of habits picked up from earlier games don't transfer over at all. Another major Challenge is that H4 has a lot of situations where  you have to memorize the enemy unit movement order otherwise there is no sequence of legal moves that allows for the player to achieve victory. Unlike other games in the series which mostly make themselves extremely easy after you get over the initial hump, fe12 piles on the pressure late with enemies that require player units to be nearly capped for good combat. 

 

[PostZordem]

4 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

For one, the characters you get starting out are mostly fragile ones (in particular, your main character is a mage, and thus as fragile as you'd expect). Second, the first few chapters make it such that you lose if ANYONE dies. Third, part 1 is really hard. Fourth, there are much more high crit enemies than in prior FE games (and enemies actually keep up with the player in terms of stats). That said, its overall difficulty is pretty erratic, to say the least.

@Shadow Mir Oh no... Fragile units and competent enemies that know how to play the stat game sound like a terrifying matchup. Doesn't help that the main character is a freebkin' mage of all classes (story-wise, I can appreciate the change of pace from the typical sword-wielder main character, but gameplay-wise, well... mages aren't known for their amazing defense, especially against physical attacks). I guess I can appreciate that the game won't allow the permadeath thing to kick in early on, because I always try and keep everyone on my team alive. Part 1 sounds like a fun time through frustration overall. (My man Ike comes in eventually and can tank for the team, right? Or is he relegated to Part 2 just to mess with me?)

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Someone got their wires crossed on this one. Japan didn't have an easy more for Path of Radiance, the English release cut out Japan's Maniac Mode, and replaced it with a brand new easy mode. This would lead to Radiant Dawn's famous difficulty mistranslation, where they didn't change any of the modes for the English release, but named them Easy, Normal, and Hard anyway, so Japan's Normal difficulty is the English Easy, the Japanese Hard is the English Normal, and Japan's Maniac difficulty is the English Hard mode...

@Eltosian Kadath Thanks for clarifying the Path of Radiance difficulty modes for both versions for me. I wasn't 100% sure on that. Though it is interesting that the different versions contain exclusive difficulties in them along with the standard ones. 

(Regarding Radiant Dawn here) Oh man, so you're telling me that Radiant Dawn's English difficulties are actually harder than they appear? I suppose that would explain why people have been saying that Radiant Dawn Normal is harder than the other FE titles regarding the Normal modes for each game. I can only imagine what it would be like for an English player who's playing through Radiant Dawn Normal after a Path of Radiance Normal run thinking that the sequel would be relatively easy on Normal too, and then BAM! Hard mode secretly turns on and a bunch of pain and suffering ensues. I'm not going to lie, I find it a bit funny that simply because the English version of Path of Radiance decided to have an Easy mode added in instead of just keeping Maniac Mode, the English version of Radiant Dawn ends up being deceivingly harder as a result. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by CyberZord

[Benice]

It certainly varies from person to person what they find difficult, but for me, I have things sort of organized in loose tiers.

Easiest, little strategy needed: Path of Radiance, Three Houses (Normal and Hard)

The basic criteria for the tier is "Very easy regardless of who you use".

All spoilers are for size!

Path of Radiance:

Spoiler

PoR is a game that I would consider to be a great entry point to the series for its strong narrative and easy gameplay, but is a lesser experience if you have many an emblem under your belt; nearly all of your units in Path of Radiance feature really high defenses, while enemies generally feature lower offenses. Some maps do ask you to spread out or feature side objectives, but in my experience with the game, those kind of get erased by the fact that most non-mages or healers can just be sent into enemy range with minimal concern. The x2 effective damage also makes your fliers really strong since most bows don't scare 'em much.

 

Three Houses Normal/Hard modes:

Spoiler

TH Normal and Hard are both modes I found to be astoundingly easy. I played it after playing some more difficult FE, so perhaps that impacted my perception of it, but Three Houses was only a little harder than Path for me; almost everyone is super strong in any role, and you have a lot of mechanics that make most things stilted heavily in your favour; really strong gambits like Impregnable Wall and Stride, dismount being incredibly busted, 3+ range archers, so on and so forth. Furthermore, enemies in this game really often stand still and wait for you to come to them: You very infrequently have to rush, spread out or otherwise play in a way that puts pressure on you. The map design also is incredibly linear; lots of stationary enemies, and all you've gotta do is get from point A to point B;  there are a couple of chapters that don't follow this formula, but the vast majority are comprised of walking towards clumps of stationary enemies. The combination of most enemies waiting for you to come to them, the amount of tools you have to neutralize enemy units, and your own units' strength made TH a very easy game for me.

Easy tier: Sacred Stones, Shadow Dragon Normal/H1, Gaiden*

*I never actually finished Gaiden because of changing laptops, but I did play up to 3's conclusion. I think. It's a bit foggy for me.

The basic stipulation for this tier is: Not too difficult in general and easily breakable, but the difficulty does vary depending on who you use.

Sacred Stones:

Spoiler

I have bias for this one because it was my very first FE, but I don't think it is quite as easy as it is often made out to be. Early chapters ask for a decent amount of multitasking and planning for who you send where, the required use of rescue-dropping, incentives to play quickly, diverse units with different abilities and a variety of different challenges make this well above the lowest tier for me. The difficulty completely falls apart if you use Seth, but you have a lot of choice for what your experience is like with this one; using units like Amelia, Ross, Neimi, etc. will make it reasonably tough, especially early on! Even into the midgame, there are some tough maps, particularly on Ephraim's side; the lategame is really easy, but there are some good enough challenges in the early-to-mid game for me to put it in this tier as opposed to the Easiest one.

Again, however, it doesn't go any higher because, well, everything I just said is neutralized by Seth.

Shadow Dragon:

Spoiler

Not too much to say about this one; some meaningful challenges, but at least on the lower difficulties, not too taxing overall. You've got some good units and good tools to deal with enemies, who will kill you if you're being too reckless. I was considering putting this maybe on the tier above this, actually.

Not easy, but not particularly hard either: FE7 NM, FE11 (H2), FE6 NM

Not really gonna explain these since my thoughts are all more or less the same: Some challenging maps and some easy ones, and you do have to be careful fairly regularly. FE7 NM is probably the easiest of the bunch here, but some maps are really quite tricky for a first-time playthrough, depending on who you've used.

...This post is too long already, so I'll briefly say that, from easiest to hardest of the other FEs I've played, I'd put it at

FE7 HHM->FE6 HM ->FE10 NA Normal

I had a really hard time with Hector Hard, but I also did it as an ironman where I killed nearly everyone by chapter 13. I'm not sure my experience is valid, but I do think it wouldn't be that hard in a normal playthrough; I don't think it'd be easy, though.

 

FE6 HM is at times really difficult, and at times pretty easy-Especially if you use Rutger and Milady. The first three maps are very easy and safe, chapter 4 is difficult, the fifth and sixth can go wrong if you're playing blind, and then 7 and 8 are really, really hard. We then have the gentler Western Isles arc, which concludes with a somewhat tricky map in 12, and then is followed by the pretty easy 13, then 14 which is dangerous because of FoW, but not too hard otherwise, and so on and so forth. One thing that is true for all chapters, however, is that enemies are strong enough to kill your units. Easy maps are easy not because you can get away with a lot of mistakes, but because it's easier not to make a mistake. As stated earlier, a few units make this game pretty easy, but I will discount them because I don't like Rutger and I am very good at FE difficulty analysis.

 

Radiant Dawn's North American NM was probably the hardest time I had with any FE; it was just my second (FE8 was my first), and by golly was this a step up. I was not expecting the difficulty that I got when I chose Normal mode, and that's probably the biggest thing with this game. On a repeat or guided playthrough, it probably wouldn't be quite so hard because you know what to do, but for a first playthrough, where you're expecting a standard FE normal experience? Well, you'll be in for a big learning curve. It was one I enjoyed, though! I think it just earns its spot at the top for being cllaed a normal mode when it is significantly harder than some games' hard modes and pretty much any other normal mode experience.

 

...Zoinks, that was a really long ramble I went off on there. Sorry.

[Shadow Mir]

28 minutes ago, CyberZord said:

@Shadow Mir Oh no... Fragile units and competent enemies that know how to play the stat game sound like a terrifying matchup. Doesn't help that the main character is a freebkin' mage of all classes (story-wise, I can appreciate the change of pace from the typical sword-wielder main character, but gameplay-wise, well... mages aren't known for their amazing defense, especially against physical attacks). I guess I can appreciate that the game won't allow the permadeath thing to kick in early on, because I always try and keep everyone on my team alive. Part 1 sounds like a fun time through frustration overall. (My man Ike comes in eventually and can tank for the team, right? Or is he relegated to Part 2 just to mess with me?)

The thing is, availability in Radiant Dawn is really really wonky. For example, part 1 gives you several blatantly overpowered units for that stage of the game... then takes them away not long afterwards. The ones who this affects the most, aside from most of the part 1 characters, are a certain trio of units who you get to use in part 1... and don't become playable again until near the end of the game. But more importantly, remember how Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones switched perspectives at certain points? This game does that too, but on a much grander scale. As for Ike... yeah, he'll come in and tank for the team... except the team he's tanking for is already able to fend for themselves.

[PostZordem]

25 minutes ago, Benice said:

...Zoinks, that was a really long ramble I went off on there. Sorry.

@Benice It's alright. I like how you went into depth with most of the games regarding their Normal mode difficulties. Though I was not expecting Path of Radiance to be a contender for "almost Phoenix Mode levels of easy" in regards to its difficulty.

20 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

The thing is, availability in Radiant Dawn is really really wonky. For example, part 1 gives you several blatantly overpowered units for that stage of the game... then takes them away not long afterwards. The ones who this affects the most, aside from most of the part 1 characters, are a certain trio of units who you get to use in part 1... and don't become playable again until near the end of the game. But more importantly, remember how Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones switched perspectives at certain points? This game does that too, but on a much grander scale. As for Ike... yeah, he'll come in and tank for the team... except the team he's tanking for is already able to fend for themselves.

@Shadow Mir Hold on a second, the game gives you OP units early on in the game, then just takes them away because they're apparently too good for the harder parts of Part 1? Seems like the team could've used those MVPs during that time. Almost seems unfair... 

I'm only a little familiar with the perspective swaps in Blazing Blade, as I'm on the cusp of going from Lyn's point of view to Eliwood's. (I'm currently on a first playthrough for FE7/Blazing Sword/Fire Emblem/whatever you're supposed to call it). Haven't played Sacred Stones, so I'm not sure how it plays out there. I assume that with the perspectives switching, your main characters and their armies will also change. 

But in regards to my man Ike... Was he late to the party or something? Or does he have his own army that knew to keep that Path of Radiance defense? During the parts of part 1 where you have to make sure your fragile-like-glass characters don't die, there's no good tank units at that point in time? But by the point Ike comes into the fray of Radiant Dawn, his team's just good enough to where there's no need for an Ike tank? (I have so many questions, and I only demand non-spoiler answers)

[Jotari]

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

In order from Easiest to Hardest, based on games I've played to completion on Normal difficulty, Classic mode:

Three Houses

FE7: Lyn's Story

Awakening

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Fates: Birthright

Sacred Stones

Fates: Revelation

Path of Radiance

Shadow Dragon

FE7: Eliwood's Story

Genealogy of the Holy War

FE7: Hector's Story

Fates: Conquest

Radiant Dawn

Any games not listed, I either haven't played, or I have played (but not beaten) on Normal/Classic mode.

My man Shanty Pete hasn't played Thracia :0

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Put me in the Sacred Stones is harder than you remember camp. I watched an extremely experienced fire emblem player do a drunk iron man last year to prove how brainless the game was, and he lost everyone by the end of chapter 6 except Seth, Eirika, and maybe some other randos. God that map is a meat grinder. It was a soft iron man where he hit continue on Eirika's death each time. And even so he did not finish the run despite taking time to grind later. Enemy strength is relatively close to your units compared to most early games of fire emblem, and a lot of units (Ross, Neimi, Colm, Artur, Lute, Vanessa) are basically specced to die if you send them off at the first opportunity to get started on the enemies of their join chapter. You need some level of restraint, and treat each map like Part 1 of Radiant Dawn. Furthermore, the late recruits aren't really that great? And there are zero new recruits in the last four chapters. There's no Gotoh archetype, Myrrh is the closest thing and she has limited uses for her weapon. The final chapters have genuinely tough enemies that can mob and kill units that aren't maxed out on their physical defense or avoid rates. People say Seth can solo the game, but my Seth was obliterated in turn 2 of the final chapter last time I played. He doesn't have the health to tank the final boss' true damage attacks.

I don't think I can do a full tier list of difficulty, because playstyle is such a huge factor. Especially in FE4's case. I'm playing it right now for the first time in over a decade and I think it's a theoretically easy game to reach the end of, but hard to 'get everything'. Hard to give up on those arena runs, hard to optimize the distribution of items, hard to avoid beginners traps in the map design, hard to gauge who's at risk of dying to this mob of 8-10 cavaliers with canto, hard to keep low level units up to speed and make Dew/Lachesis steal gold without them getting killed. At some point you just have to stop reloading saves and resign yourself to an imperfect run. But that's easier in other Fire Emblem games that have faster paced maps. And Echoes and Three Houses were never difficult to the point where I stopped reloading my save (AKA, using the Turnwheel). The vast majority of fire emblem players are completionists or perfectionists to some degree, so I know my experience isn't unique. But yeah, if you can have a heart of coal and roll with the deaths of your poor infantry units, you'll make it to the end same as any game. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Zapp Branniglenn

[Shadow Mir]

4 hours ago, CyberZord said:

@Shadow Mir Hold on a second, the game gives you OP units early on in the game, then just takes them away because they're apparently too good for the harder parts of Part 1? Seems like the team could've used those MVPs during that time. Almost seems unfair... 

I'm only a little familiar with the perspective swaps in Blazing Blade, as I'm on the cusp of going from Lyn's point of view to Eliwood's. (I'm currently on a first playthrough for FE7/Blazing Sword/Fire Emblem/whatever you're supposed to call it). Haven't played Sacred Stones, so I'm not sure how it plays out there. I assume that with the perspectives switching, your main characters and their armies will also change. 

But in regards to my man Ike... Was he late to the party or something? Or does he have his own army that knew to keep that Path of Radiance defense? During the parts of part 1 where you have to make sure your fragile-like-glass characters don't die, there's no good tank units at that point in time? But by the point Ike comes into the fray of Radiant Dawn, his team's just good enough to where there's no need for an Ike tank? (I have so many questions, and I only demand non-spoiler answers)

Yeah, I'd be kinda suspicious, because you will have to use the part 1 characters again, and you are in trouble if they aren't capable of standing on their own feet then. This being said,, you'll have the chance to get someone who grows into a physical tank early in part 1. Also, the second to last part 1 chapter is really really tricky. You're stuck with your main character, plus one. Let's just say you'll be glad your plus one here is blatantly overpowered. You'll need them.

In Sacred Stones, after chapter 5, the game jumps over to Ephraim, the other main character, for one chapter, before going back to Eirika, who it followed up to that point, for the remainder of that arc. Anyway, you guessed correctly.

In so many words, Ike leads his own team. Said team is comprised mostly of the better units in the game.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Shadow Mir

[Sooks]

Of the Fire Emblems I’ve played (every FE except 2, 3, 5, 10, and 12), I’d say Path of Radiance is easily the easiest and Fates: Conquest is the hardest.

Path of Radiance/fe9 is the easiest for a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason is just the sheer quality disparity between the enemy units and your units. Pretty much every Fire Emblem has enemies that are weaker than your units, but Path of Radiance felt like it took it to an extreme degree. I’ve only played it on the hardest difficulty (in the North American release, sorry maniac mode) and I used several “bad” units, but the game was a complete cakewalk because 90% of my units barely took and damage from anything and dished out a ton in return (again more so than in other FEs). The game also completely showers you in money, which I never worried about a single time, is fairly generous with BEXP (bonus exp which you can freely throw around to whoever you like), had OP canto, etc. I never really struggled with that one. I never played normal mode specifically, but if it was this easy on the highest difficulty, I can’t imagine that would change my opinion at all.

On the complete opposite side of the coin, Fates: Conquest is a very challenging Fire Emblem. The game is very tightly designed in regards to enemy placement and skills, even on normal mode in the late game. The units you’re given are, for the most part, not super broken or even that good. Money and chapter objectives are pretty tight as well. The end result is an FE where you have to think carefully about pretty much everything you do and play pretty well. This can even go a little too far in the late game which might go a little too hard with the powerful enemies and skills…

I must say, I’m surprised to see everyone saying Sacred Stones is mindlessly easy. The game does give you quite a few broken units, yeah, but it can be quite challenging without them, at least on the difficult setting. But if we keep in mind the restriction to just normal mode, I’m unsure, since I never played it on normal mode.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

My man Shanty Pete hasn't played Thracia :0

I've played like 80% of it, but I've reached a place of "what's the point?" Sara died, so I can't save Eyvel. The game can just spawn ambush ballistae whenever it wants to kill my guys. And the map I stopped just before has a bunch of status staves that I have no solid answer for.

5 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Put me in the Sacred Stones is harder than you remember camp.

It's interesting how firm a reputation Sacred Stones has for "one of, if not the easiest, in the series". I think one thing that "hardens" SS for this list, is that Normal isn't the lowest difficulty (as it is for, say, Awakening and Fates). Either way, I don't know if this reputation has been re-assessed in light of Echoes and Three Houses, despite how easy those games are on the lowest difficulty.