Dark Magician

I mostly prefer Poison-type because poison is such a sick element. It being the type of my two favourite Pokemon, Dragalge and Venomoth, also helps. I think Bug might be my actual favourite though, because it has the best ratio of good-to-bad designs overall. I love insects.

Excellent news. I'm a big fan of the franchise. As a matter of fact, one of my own projects (eternally in the planning stages ;_;) takes plot and character design inspiration from Berserk too. Only a little though; nothing compared to yours. Here's some recommendations off the top of my head: - A focus on challenge is good. I particularly like the sound of "death of units may be high". Maybe having sacrifice as a theme, similar to Shadow Dragon? FE11 has strong and often overwhelming reinforcements, so a good strategy for a mid-tier player is to sacrifice some of your mooks (FE11 has a lot, lol) so you can reach the boss and seize the point unchallenged. I suppose sacrifice is an actual theme in Berserk too, so it fits well. - For the plot... maybe make it like a more small-scale in terms of conflict? Guts goes after you-know-who, the God Hand and the entire Apostle race, but your protagonist should do something far less important to the fate of the world - maybe chasing after a particularly powerful demon that did something bad to him (e.g. killing someone close to him). - An elf-like thing as a dancer and/or healer? That's basically what Puck does, lol. I'd definitely play your game if you made it, dude. I have faith in you.

From a strictly gameplay perspective, Roy is definitely my favourite lord in the entire series. That's because Binding Blade has two things in its favour that make it great: a focus on the Seize objective, and a turn-based ranking system. I know that the FE6 ranking system isn't the best (it's too easy, most of the other ranks are shit, I also think some aspects of it are glitched iirc?), but it still works very well. Your strategy becomes about getting Roy - an often underleveled unit with low movement and poor combat potential - to the goal as fast as possible. Seize should be the standard for all Fire Emblem maps, and Roy is living proof. So good. As a character... Roy again, I guess? I've definitely argued that Lyn is fairly underrated in the past, but I think Roy still might clinch it. He's like diet Marth - learning the responsibility and bravery of leadership and all that. I like him a lot.

Absolutely. As much as I don't play games for the plot, the original Mystery is a masterpiece. It has incredible worldbuilding, well-written protagonists, some of the best villains ever made... There's just so much to love. In my opinion, nothing else in the series can compare. More than anything, the Archanea games master minimalistic storytelling - which should be the standard for all games, not just Fire Emblem. Very little text feels wasted. I'll use an example of characters people criticise for being "bland" - Radd and Caesar. The narration and the little sequence where they join your army tells you multiple things with very little dialogue: - Port Warrens pay dearly in tax under Doluna rule... - ...And yet they still feel their autonomy and safety is pressured, so they need to hire mercenaries to protect their little merchant town... - ...so they are very receptive to the Archanea cause to defeat Doluna, lending your their finest fighters. And that's it! I'm very glad to have them on my team, and I don't want to know any more! I don't need FE12 to waste valuable time telling me Caesar's sob story about his sister, and how Radd wants to give her his Iron Sword. They were fine as is.

11 > 12 > 3 > 5 > 6 > 14C > 7 > 4 > 1 > 10 > 8 > 13 > 9 > 2 > 13R > 13B Some notes: - I do think New Mystery is, objectively speaking, a better game than Shadow Dragon. However, it added (or re-added) too many undesirable features (support conversations, an Avatar system etc.) to truly call it my favourite. - Thracia is the best game in the series no question, but my Archanea bias is too strong. - Binding Blade used to be my favourite before I played the Marth games. There is so much to love about that game, from the map design to my favourite lord to a well composed soundtrack (if only it wasn't on the GBA soundfont -_-) - UI problems in FE1 are overstated. Archanean map design already make it better than half the series. - Dunno how much my love for FE7 is rooted in nostalgia, so I leave it out my top 6 (if your favourite game is in the top 6, you have my respect. - Gaiden is objectively the worst game in the series (it's only saving grace really being a well-written story), but at least it doesn't feel like an insult to player intelligence like Revelation and Birthright do. The team made Conquest, so making the other two poorly designed must have been a conscious decision, one that I don't agree with.