How many Fire Emblem games do you actually like?

[Jotari]

Because, honestly, I like all of them. Yeah, I even like the old clunky NES games. Granted I have a lot to complain about all of them, but that's precisely because I like them so much. It seems weird to say it given I'm a member of this site, but I really like Fire Emblem just in general and no game in the series has actually been a disappointment to play. The closest was Warriors, but even that I can't call a disappointment as it was exactly what I expected to be and I'm evidently a big enough slut for IS since I'm probably going to get Three Hopes on release so it's not like I hated Warriors (just didn't respect it a massive amountbut this thread was meant to be about me not hating on Fire Emblem so I'm striking this out, but also cheating by leaving it here, don't @ me).

So, who else is in the same boat? People do compare and contrast games a lot with much vitriol (well sometimes, the levels seem to rise and fall), but I hope I'm in the majority and all of you significantly like even the games you consider weaker. Or am I in the minority for liking everything the series has produced and you consider Kaga Emblem/Middle Years/Modern Emblem/Gatcha/TMS etc to be affronts to the brand that don't deserve to exist?

[FailWood]

Keeping it to the games I've played:

Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Fates Conquest, and Shadows of Valentia, are all the ones I enjoyed playing.

Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones, Shadow Dragon, Fates Birthright, and Heroes are Ok, and Fates Revelation is the only game I didn't enjoy.

Three Houses is in an odd spot where I don't know how much I like it overall.  I don't enjoy playing Part 1 at this point because of the map design mixed with everyone's low movement at the start, and having to do all the monastery stuff to unlock all of it's resources (especially on repeat playthroughs), so it's become a barrier to replay.  I do enjoy seeing how much my units have progressed in Part 2, but it's also the point where the monastery activities start feeling pointless, so I skip them.

I'm in the middle of playing Binding Blade for the first time, so I can't fairly say anything about it yet.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I like all of them (or at least, all the ones I've played). The core concepts of the series are just very good.

• Among my favourite games of all time: Radiant Dawn, Fates (Conquest), Three Houses
• Also extremely good, played many times: Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Fates (Birthright)
• Good games where the flaws do stick with me, but generally I have positive feelings, and again played many times: Binding Blade, Awakening
• Mixed feelings: Genealogy, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery, Shadows of Valentia

Even the lowest tier I would still describe as games I like overall. FE4 in particular I have a lot of respect for what it was trying to do, even if it wasn't always very fun and I don't have much respect for Kaga's writing. Still has good core gameplay and it's just so bold. The remakes are... decent mechanically and I like that they tried some things that stuck around into the main series, I just don't find them as engaging as the other games (and dislike their stories a lot).

I also like all the spinoffs (Heroes, Warriors, TMS) well enough for what they are, though none threaten to be favourites in the series.

[Alastor15243]

Having spent a little over two years binging the entire series and suffering some serious burnout, the ones I still have any desire to ever go back to are, in release order:

Thracia

Binding Blade

Blazing Blade

Sacred Stones

Big maybe for the Tellius games (mostly for the story)

Shadow Dragon

New Mystery

Awakening

Birthright

Conquest

 

In order, the reasons why I have no desire to ever play the others again:

Dark Dragon: Mostly its dinosaurian interface and design philosophy making it an unbearable mix of tedium and busywork.

Gaiden: I initially thought really highly of this game for all the ways it managed to improve upon Dark Dragon with what little it had to work with, but after replaying the rest of the series it's become obvious it has basically nothing to offer me now.

Mystery of the Emblem: Still bad map design and for the most part having superior remakes.

Genealogy: The story is great and I'm really looking forward to a remake, but the gameplay, particularly map and enemy encounter design, are basically unplayable for me. The game's pacing is like something out of a nightmare.

Echoes: Didn't improve enough of the original's problems. The maps are still terrible, for one thing.

Three Houses: The most tedious and joyless method to experience Fire Emblem that I can possibly think of. It's a mediocre Fire Emblem game packed with unimaginable amounts of filler.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Alastor15243

[ciphertul]

I have played all the official US releases (except the original port) and I can say that I like they all more the most part.

Sacred Stones and the Radiant pair the ones I have played the most and still go back to play.

Heroes and Shadow Dragon are the only one I don't really like. I can only forgive so much under the guise of "faithful remake". 

[Shadow Mir]

I've played all the English released ones, plus Binding Blade. Out of those, I like, or at least tolerate, all of them but (shocker) Binding Blade and Shadow Dragon. If I was to extend this to the entire series, the Jugdral saga would join SD and Binding Blade on the "games I actively don't care for" list (also shocker).

Edited May 22, 2022 by Shadow Mir

[Interdimensional Observer]

I wouldn't say there is a single game I actively dislike. Some games I would be less likely to replay than others, but then, I haven't replayed my favorites at all in a very long time either. Replays of games are rather rare for me.

What there is with me, is this weird disassociation I have with Fates, SoV, 3H, and to a lesser extent Awakening. I don't despise them or anything, it's more a strange "neutrality" I have with all of their characters and story. I played them all to completion, the gameplay was fine, it's that I know nothing of anyone or anything that happened firsthand, having ignored every last bit of everything. I want to get over this, but I don't think I can for any of the above games at this point, it'd have to be the next entry where I try.

Then we get to the several FE spinoffs.:

• I'm a TMS#FE fan, the game is a 8/10 perhaps, it does have its flaws (needs more FE for one), but I will defend it. Shame it'll probably never get a sequel (and don't suggest modern Persona as a "superior" substitute -I'm not interested).
• FEW... I think I needed it to be more a celebration of the franchise than it actually was, SD-Awakening-Fates almost exclusively was too limited, and as a result I skipped it. The original Hyrule Warriors was so much better a celebration of its entire franchise, even if the FEW gameplay is supposedly better. I will give FEW some points for the broken armor models though, individually tailored undergarments were 😋. 
• Since Three Hopes is Three Houses only, I'm going to skip it as well just as I had Age of Calamity, even though I consider myself a Musou fan.
• Fire Emblem Heroes- I wanted to like it at first, despite the gatcha aspect. As it turned out, even disregarding the gatcha, the game has zero compatibility with me.😆 I don't dislike it, but, there is simply no chemistry in the relationship. Maybe a few damaged artworks are worth remembering, and the spritework overall sure is nice, yet that is almost everything about it that I can say that I have heartfelt appreciation for. The other positive thing being that over time it has become an uneven but solid celebration of the franchise overall, surpassing FEW1 and TMS in this aspect.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Interdimensional Observer

[vanguard333]

I've played Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, Awakening, all three versions of Fates, Echoes, and the Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind routes of Three Houses.

• Path of Radiance is my favourite video game; not just favourite Fire Emblem game, but favourite video game, so that's definitely on the list.
• Radiant Dawn I also like; it's more flawed than PoR, but it's still really good.
• I like Shadow Dragon as a nice little 1:1 remake of the original game. It at least knew what kind of remake it wanted to be and it has plenty of retro charm.
• Awakening I appreciate as a "Fire Emblem Greatest Hits" but I honestly find it rather placid on its own.
• I really dislike all three versions of Fates. So much wasted potential in its story, and its gameplay is gimmicky and disjointed. Speaking of disjointed...
• If I were to sum up Echoes in one word, it would be "disjointed"; it's like half the team wanted the game to be a full overhaul, the other have wanted it to be a 1:1 remake, and they just could not agree, so we ended up with this very disjointed game as a result. I really wanted to like it, but I didn't. At least this game taught me to stop pre-ordering.
• I really like Crimson Flower despite its shortcomings. I also like Verdant Wind, though I found it to be quite a bit blander. Overall, I like Three Houses, though it is definitely far from perfect. It kind-of feels like a product of overambition; kind-of like Fates, though not to nearly as great a degree.

[Original Alear]

Of the ones I've played, the only one I didn't like was shadow dragon. I think it's because I tried playing it on the wii u and I didn't like the interface of menus and maps, not even with the ability to easily switch them.

I was pretty disappointed in Awakening's story but I think the maps in the early part of the game (i.e. the ones I remember fairly well) are really good.

[AnonymousSpeed]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

So, who else is in the same boat? People do compare and contrast games a lot with much vitriol (well sometimes, the levels seem to rise and fall), but I hope I'm in the majority and all of you significantly like even the games you consider weaker.

Why do you hope that?

3 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Among

us

[null]

I like all of the mainline games that I've played, the only ones of which I've yet to play being Gaiden and Conquest (neither of which I care to play either, with Echoes essentially replacing the need to play Gaiden anyway).

Favorites would be: Radiant Dawn, Three Houses, Path of Radiance, and Genealogy of the Holy War. All of these I love despite whatever supposed issues they have. Radiant Dawn is peak FE in every aspect for me. An essentially perfect game.

Games I strongly appreciate/enjoy would be: Mystery of the Emblem, Awakening, Shadow Dragon. I don't love any of these as much as I do the favorites, but they're still very solid games I have no hesitation when considering replays.

Entries I'm more mixed on, but still have a good time with: Echoes, Birthright, Sacred Stones, and New Mystery. I have to be in the right mood to replay these, though I still think of them favorably. Though New Mystery in particular I have somewhat of a distaste for because of the changes the remake made. Still fun though.

Ones I generally don't feel the desire to revisit: Binding Blade, Blazing Blade, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, and Revelation. I've either played enough of these that I can't get any more out of them than I already have, or had a decently neutral experience with them that I don't care to replay them.

Thracia is in a weird spot where there are aspects of the game that I enjoy, but there's also enough that I don't enjoy where I can't really bring myself to want to finish it.

Overall, none I dislike, more a spectrum of love to disinterest.

------

As far as the spinoffs are concerned, I'd say:

Warriors: I enjoyed FEW, but I don't care for the roster's favoritism for specific games instead of being a celebration of the series's characters as a whole. One of my more liked Musou games, however.

Heroes: I've played so little of FEH but the most I can say is that I don't care to get invested, though the character art and alts are often nicely designed.

TMS#FE: Never played it. Don't care to.

[Shadow Mir]

47 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

• If I were to sum up Echoes in one word, it would be "disjointed"; it's like half the team wanted the game to be a full overhaul, the other have wanted it to be a 1:1 remake, and they just could not agree, so we ended up with this very disjointed game as a result. I really wanted to like it, but I didn't. At least this game taught me to stop pre-ordering.

What precisely do you mean by "disjointed"? Anyways, I'd give them credit for at least trying to modernize it, unlike with SD, where it was half-assed at best and most of what they did for the sake of being faithful did more harm than good. Also, most of the new features in SD were poorly implemented [*coughweapontrianglecough*] .

Edited May 22, 2022 by Shadow Mir

[Jotari]

41 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Why do you hope that?

us

Because colour me crazy, but I actually want people to like Fire Emblem. I know,  nuts, right?

[vanguard333]

12 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

What precisely do you mean by "disjointed"? Anyways, I'd give them credit for at least trying to modernize it, unlike with SD, where it was half-assed at best and most of what they did for the sake of being faithful did more harm than good. Also, most of the new features in SD were poorly implemented [*coughweapontrianglecough*] .

It's been a while since I played it, so it's a bit hard to describe, but I felt that a lot of the things that were changed and a lot of the things that they kept the same seemed at odds with each other, if that makes sense.

Take Jedah for example: in one moment, he will be a dark reflection of pre-development Celica: absolutely convinced that Valentia cannot survive without Duma and will do anything to keep Duma alive, which fits the new supposed themes of the story as well as how Duma and Mila have been reworked as divine dragons that are degenerating. Then, all within the same set of dialogue, he will suddenly shift into a moustache-twirling villain who is evil for the sake of it; these two things do not go together.

For another, much bigger example, Alm. The new story is very blunt with its new theming that Alm and Celica are supposed to parallel each other similarly to Duma and Mila; the difference being that they actually learn to reconcile their ideologies. Except, that reconciliation is extremely one-sided as a result of Alm being kept bland, generic and treated like he's perfect, and the result is that Alm is now a mary sue while Celica comes across as a fool.

And it's not just the characters; the story is also extremely disjointed in similar ways, as is the gameplay. It comes across as the dev team not being able to agree on what kind of remake they wanted the game to be.

Shadow Dragon, for all its faults, at least knew it wanted to be a 1:1, warts-and-all remake. The barebones plot and straightforward gameplay is still enjoyable, and I honestly felt that the new additions like the prologue chapters and reclassing were pretty good.

[AnonymousSpeed]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Because colour me crazy, but I actually want people to like Fire Emblem. I know,  nuts, right?

I'm sorry, I just don't really get it. Could you please explain?

[Jotari]

2 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I'm sorry, I just don't really get it. Could you please explain?

Me like Fire Emblem. Me think me have good taste. Me want other people to like what me like to reaffirm me has good taste and also to bring similar levels of enjoyment me feel when playing Fire Emblem to people who haven't experienced it.

[AnonymousSpeed]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Me like Fire Emblem. Me think me have good taste. Me want other people to like what me like to reaffirm me has good taste and also to bring similar levels of enjoyment me feel when playing Fire Emblem to people who haven't experienced it.

That kind of makes sense, thanks.

[lenticular]

Haven't played at all: Anything that was only released in Japan; the Switch rerelease of the Famicom original of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light; Fates: Revelation; Warriors.

Have played and liked: Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon (DS), Awakening, Shadows of Valentia, Three Houses, TMS#FE. The intensity of the liking varies from "amongst my favourite games ever" to "yeah, that was decent enough", but my overall feelings on all of them is positive.

Dislike, but respect at least some of what it was trying to do, even if it's not for me: Fates: Birthright and Conquest.

Dislike without reservations: Heroes.

[Shadow Mir]

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

So, who else is in the same boat? People do compare and contrast games a lot with much vitriol (well sometimes, the levels seem to rise and fall), but I hope I'm in the majority and all of you significantly like even the games you consider weaker. Or am I in the minority for liking everything the series has produced and you consider Kaga Emblem/Middle Years/Modern Emblem/Gatcha/TMS etc to be affronts to the brand that don't deserve to exist?

I'm gonna be honest, the amount of people I know here that actually like all the games is one I can count on one hand.

3 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

It's been a while since I played it, so it's a bit hard to describe, but I felt that a lot of the things that were changed and a lot of the things that they kept the same seemed at odds with each other, if that makes sense.

Take Jedah for example: in one moment, he will be a dark reflection of pre-development Celica: absolutely convinced that Valentia cannot survive without Duma and will do anything to keep Duma alive, which fits the new supposed themes of the story as well as how Duma and Mila have been reworked as divine dragons that are degenerating. Then, all within the same set of dialogue, he will suddenly shift into a moustache-twirling villain who is evil for the sake of it; these two things do not go together.

For another, much bigger example, Alm. The new story is very blunt with its new theming that Alm and Celica are supposed to parallel each other similarly to Duma and Mila; the difference being that they actually learn to reconcile their ideologies. Except, that reconciliation is extremely one-sided as a result of Alm being kept bland, generic and treated like he's perfect, and the result is that Alm is now a mary sue while Celica comes across as a fool.

And it's not just the characters; the story is also extremely disjointed in similar ways, as is the gameplay. It comes across as the dev team not being able to agree on what kind of remake they wanted the game to be.

Shadow Dragon, for all its faults, at least knew it wanted to be a 1:1, warts-and-all remake. The barebones plot and straightforward gameplay is still enjoyable, and I honestly felt that the new additions like the prologue chapters and reclassing were pretty good.

Ehhh, it felt a lot like SD came off to me as that, now that I think about it. It's like, one part of the dev team was "let's add some new stuff!", whereas the other was "sure, but let's make it such that this new stuff is either counterintuitive or gated behind bad design choices!" "Brilliant!" That sums up all the new characters, in a nutshell, thanks to almost all of them either being normal-exclusive (Norne, Frey) or requiring you to regularly sacrifice units to even get (everyone else except Nagi). And again, a lot of the changes the game made hurt more than they helped, like the weapon triangle, or the fact that ballisticians have insane range (to be fair, that helped made the ones you get insanely useful to have, unlike was the case in the original, where they sucked really badly... but it also made chapter 13 extremely awful to play, especially on higher difficulties). Reclassing was okay, but other games did it better. It didn't help that SD kickstarted a trend of games with the highest difficulty level being very poorly designed (that mercifully, Fates bucked). Also, whatever "retro charm" SD was supposed to have... just didn't exist. If I really wanted that, I'd rather look to Mario, Mega Man, or Zelda. Long story short, I have SD to blame for me being VERY wary of any future FE remakes.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Shadow Mir

[PostZordem]

I haven't fully beaten most of the Fire Emblem games I own, as I've just started various playthroughs that I'm working on seeing through to the end. That being said, I can say that I have formed an opinion based on what I've seen so far in those games. 

Fire Emblems I like: Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Easily my favorite, as evidenced by the Favorite FE part of my profile. I've done full Golden Deer/Verdant Wind and Black Eagles/Crimson Flower runs, and I'm currently on a Blue Lions/Azure Moon run as well. In my opinion, the best Fire Emblem in terms of story, characters, setting, and gameplay. 

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright. I'm probably one of the few who actually prefers Birthright over Conquest. Something about Hoshido's characters, story, and chapters that I prefer over Nohr's.

Fire Emblem: Awakening. To put it simply, I can see how this game managed to save the series, and also why its so popular among FE fans. 

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. I got this game through the limited release Switch port that was available back in March around a year ago. It definitely shows its age, but it's still a solid game from what I've played so far. I don't have the DS remake, so I'm not sure if I should just stick with what I've got on the Switch, or get the DS version through the Wii U virtual console. 

Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade. The first 10 chapters in Lyn mode are a little slow due to the tutorials presented, but the game really gets going once Eliwood mode begins from chapter 11 onwards. Got this one on my Wii U virtual console, and I must admit that my Ace Attorney save-scumming tactics have resurfaced with the Virtual Console's create + restore points. 

Fire Emblems I don't really like: Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest. Story's probably the worst part of the Conquest route, but to be fair, Fate's story isn't really the strongest aspect of the games. I may just be too used to a good ol' route the enemy map, but I didn't really like the different objectives presented in each chapter. Though I do plan to give the Fates games a second playthrough, so maybe I'll like it more next time.

Fire Emblem Heroes. I don't care much for gacha games or mobile gaming in general with some exceptions, and I don't feel like investing my time into this game when I could play a console game instead.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. The game feels more like a wannabe Persona with Fire Emblem characters I don't really recognize (besides Chrom) included than a proper crossover between the two series. This may sound petty, but I didn't like the Japanese only audio with English subtitles, and I think it sucked that there wasn't an English voice option (I'm a rare breed that prefers English Dubs of most Japanese Anime and Video games over the original Japanese Dub, with very few exceptions such as the Yakuza series pre-Like a Dragon, and Attack on Titan). Couldn't get far into the game because of these two reasons.

Fire Emblems I haven't played for various reasons: Any Fire Emblem released before Blazing Blade, mainly because they were only ever released in Japan (excluding the first two, because I got FE1 through the Switch port, and I got the 3DS Echoes remake of Gaiden coming in soon). The Tellius games, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (Because they're far too expensive to be worth buying. Hopefully they get remade on a newer Nintendo system someday). Fire Emblem Warriors (I'm not big on the Dynasty Warriors style gameplay, but I'm on the fence with this game. May consider purchasing it if Three Hopes turns out great or if someone here can offer a solid recommendation. I've played both Hyrule Warriors games if that changes anything), and Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (Got Birthright and Conquest, but I've got mixed feelings when it comes to the third route that's only available through DLC). 

[Florete]

I like most of them quite a lot. I don't like Thracia at all and I found Three Houses wholly mediocre, but every other FE I've played (which is most of them) I at least enjoyed to some degree on my first run. I tend to consider Binding Blade and Shadow Dragon pretty weak compared to most of the series but I played them twice and largely enjoyed my time with them so hey.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I've been disappointed in Fire Emblem releases, but I don't dislike any of them. The only one I think leans into that territory is Shadow Dragon for the DS. I've also played a healthy amount of other SRPGs that really put the Fire Emblem series in perspective. Fire Emblem is just so flexible in what units you can use and how you can always get through without grinding. You never ever see that combination of two things in this genre. And I've never seen another SRPG that's even putting forth a comparable effort with its map design.

[Azz]

I pretty much enjoy something about every FE game. I think the only FE I actively dislike and never desire to touch in any way ever again is Revelation but even then, that has parts I do like. Other than that, maybe FE12 cause of Kris, whom I make disliking apart of my personality. Otherwise, I enjoy pretty much every FE.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

I'm gonna be honest, the amount of people I know here that actually like all the games is one I can count on one hand.

Most responses are saying they do generally like them all though. The worst we're getting is mixed feelings. The only real difference is that most people haven't played literally every game in the series.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Jotari

[Alexmender]

I like the games I've played in general (everything sans the first 3 and Thracia). The ones I love are Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, New Mystery and Blazing Sword. 

The ones that give me mixed feelings are Three houses (mostly due to the monastery bloating and heavy map recycling that burned me out because I had to play the damned thing 4 times) and Fates (very fun map design and tons of replayability, but trash story).