[What are the Easiest and Hardest Fire Emblem Games?]

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. 

[Any game that you were looking forward to start playing but lost interest in purchasing/borrowing?]

Arms: I remember seeing Arms in stores a few times back in 2017, but I never was interested enough to play it. Fast forward a few years later and I found out that Min-Min (from Arms) was going to be one of the DLC characters for Smash Ultimate. This got me interested into possibly buying Arms, but paying full price for an almost 5 year old Switch fighting game just doesn't seem worth it when I can get longer, more enjoyable games for the same price. Plus, it reminded me too much of Punch-Out but with a gimmick, so it kind of turned me off from getting the game. 

1-2-Switch: Like Arms, I remember seeing this game stocked in stores back in 2017, and I actually had a bit of an interest in this game since it was one of the only Switch games available for the system around the time the Switch launched. Though after reading reviews and figuring out that I'd basically be paying full price for a short, glorified tech demo. I decided against buying it, and still don't own it to this day. 

Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee: When I initially saw the game, I thought that it would be pretty fun to have a Pikachu or Eevee tag along with you for the whole game, like what Pokémon Yellow did. Though I ended up focusing on other games on the Switch like Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Once Pokémon Sword came out, I played through it and had a rather fun time with it, and enjoyed some of the new things that it introduced. After playing through Sword, I decided to try out the demo for Let's Go Pikachu. I found the visuals to be less than pleasant, and it just felt like I'd be romping through Sword again but without as many of the features that it had. Surprisingly, Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee is the only Pokémon game on Switch that I never ended up buying (unless you count the variations like Shield and Shining Pearl). I bought and still own Pokémon Sword, Brilliant Diamond, Legends: Arceus (My current favorite Pokémon Switch game primarily because it reminds me of Breath of the Wild) and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. I enjoyed playing through all of the Pokémon games that I own on my Switch, but the Let's Go games are two titles in the Pokémon Series that I don't ever plan to buy. 

[Idea - Paper Mario: Star Patrol]

I love the idea you have for a new Paper Mario game. A return to form with the series is something that both I and many other Paper Mario fans would love to see. The gameplay gimmicks that have been implemented since Super Paper Mario have kind of ruined what made the first two so great (though I personally didn't mind SPM's real-time battle system with platforming akin to the mainline 2D Mario games). Doesn't help that the stories for the games after Super Paper Mario have been degrading in quality since they lack unique characters and a good plot (excluding Origami King somewhat because instead of making Bowser the main villan for the third time in a row, they give the role to King Olly, one of the better villans that the series has had, but not better than the likes of Count Bleck and his cronies, and the X-Nauts + the Shadow Queen. The plot was also pretty solid for a Paper Mario game that was released after Sticker Star and Color Splash. There are technically partners in TOK, but they aren't unique ones, they don't stick around for long, and they don't really offer much help in battles, though I will never forget Bobby the Bob-Bomb (*sniffle*))

Now in regards to the plot that you have created for this potential 7th Paper Mario game, I like most of what you've got, with the shooting stars to collect similar to how Mario collected the Crystal Stars in TTYD and the Star Spirits in PM64. I presume that these stars will work similarly to the first two games by giving Mario the ability to use a special move with the stars that can be used to either attack the enemy, heal Mario, or give him and his partner a buff for a little bit. Assuming enough of the Star meter is filled up for Mario to use said special move. Making Mario's main ally (the Star Patrol robot leader in this case) a playable ally that can evolve and get stronger as the game progresses is an awesome idea that could easily work out great, though I wonder if that may prevent the creation of new allies for Mario. (A tattle character like Goombario and Goombella would be out of the picture, since the Star Patrol robot can already do that with her scan ability). 

18 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

Mario and the Star Patrol leader join forces to find his friends and her lost parts and comrades before the evil Empress can rebuild her space station with help from Bowser.

 

This is the only thing from your plot part of the idea that I'm not too keen on. I assume that you plan to have Bowser as sort of a co-villan, helping the evil Empress take the shooting stars before Mario and Co. do. Kind of like how Bowser and Antasma worked in Mario and Luigi: Dream Team. I always liked the fact that Bowser was more of an anti-hero in most of the Mario RPGs outside of Paper Mario 64, Sticker Star, Color Splash, Dream Team, and Paper Jam. It differentiated his role from the mainline Mario games as the main villan, and he had more of a personality in the Mario RPGs to boot. I feel like Bowser should maintain his anti-hero status here, and instead of helping the evil Empress, begrudgingly choose to aid Mario in his battle against the Empress and take his castle (that was probably destroyed by the falling space station) back. 

Your twists to the game are all welcome improvements that would definitely be perfect for a new Paper Mario game. Though I have to wonder: How would the partner's personal story arc thing work? Would it work like a side quest that's optional but helps provide more backstory with the character and is the only way to improve them stat-wise? Or would it be included in the main story somehow?

Other than that, I have to ask: How does Luigi fit in all of this? Will he be at the Mario house lamenting the fact that Mario's on yet another adventure and he wasn't invited? Will he be going off on his own adventure with his own unique partners like in TTYD? (If it's this one, then there should totally be DLC for Luigi's adventure, I'd buy and play that in a heartbeat) Or will he be joining Mario in his quest like he did in SPM? If it's that last one, that I have an idea: Make Mario and Luigi switchable like the partners are in the first two Paper Mario games. It would add some strategy to battles (for instance, Mario and Luigi have different stats, with Mario having more HP + stronger attacks, and Luigi more FP + better defense) and give Luigi a chance to shine in the spotlight in the Paper Mario games, which would be great considering that he doesn't get much screen time in this series. 

Realistically speaking, I doubt that Nintendo's going to want to return to the older gameplay of the first two Paper Mario games, since they're more concerned with innovating with each new Paper Mario game by giving it a new gimmick every entry, and they made Mario and Luigi the series to prioritize RPG gameplay with, though that series is currently dead at the moment, so who knows? (I'm still hoping that Nintendo eventually releases another Mario and Luigi game in the future. Hopefully during the Switch's lifetime) I believe there's no problem with both Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi sharing the spot in the RPG genre, especially considering that Superstar Saga and Partners in Time were out by the time PM64 and TTYD released, and people liked both games in each series very well regardless of their similar gameplay styles (except for maybe Partners in Time). Though one can only hope that Paper Mario goes back to the original style of the first two games that made the series so great in the first place. 

[An Embarrassing Paper Mario-related Story]

Hey there, everybody. Today I'm going to tell you all about a rather foolish event that had transpired between both the Paper Mario series and myself.

Around 2012-2013, Paper Mario Sticker Star was coming out, and having played a good bit of Paper Mario 64 on the Wii's virtual console as well as Super Paper Mario, younger me wanted to play the newest game in the series (at the time). I had seen the trailer for Sticker Star, which looked pretty solid given that I hadn't played many RPGs outside of Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario at the time. I had also looked up an image in relation to Paper Mario, which was an image showing the town of Petalburg, along with Mario with one of his recruitable allies behind him. Now of course, Petalburg is a town in TTYD, not SS, but little ol' me believed that Sticker Star WAS The Thousand Year Door for some bizarre reason. I hadn't played TTYD at the time, so I actually believed that image was from Sticker Star. Once I got Sticker Star, I ended up being very disappointed because there were no partners, the battle system heavily relied on stickers that could only be used once for the most part, no level ups, and the fact that you need to hold onto a very specific sticker at certain points in the game in order to progress. Needless to say, I didn't like the game and never got around to completing it. So, yeah, because I had seen an image of TTYD on the internet, younger me got more hyped up for SS than I should've been, and it only led to more disappointment. Since then, I've played through The Origami King (skipped Color Splash) and finally got around to playing the actual Thousand Year Door, which I've just started with pretty recently. It's a very fun game, and unlike Sticker Star, it didn't disappoint me. I'd rank it just behind Super Paper Mario, which is my favorite game in the series. 

Now, that's my tale of a silly event that occurred involving Sticker Star and past me. It may not be the most embarrassing thing ever, but looking back on it, I have no idea what in the world younger me was thinking. 

So, now I ask this question: Have any of you reading this ever mistaken one game for another and expected something completely different from what you got? Or am I the only one who's ever made such a childish mistake? (If it's just me, than I'm totally going to have a discussion with my past self over this. Probably over some tea)

 

[I really like Horror games]

As someone who's played through every mainline Resident Evil game plus the Revelations titles, I can definitely say that a few of the games in the series totally give off some horror vibes. I never played the original versions of Resident Evil 1-3, but I have played the remakes of each. Resident Evil 1 Remake has some horror elements to it, but not so much for RE2 or RE3 Remake, since they play more like Resident Evil 4 with the third person perspective. Resident Evil 4, 5, 6, and Revelations 1 + 2 are more action than horror (especially 5 and 6). Resident Evil 7 is a lot stronger on the horror elements, and the first person perspective especially helps with that. Resident Evil 8: Village tones down the horror aspect quite a bit from 7, apparently because 7 was too spooky for some players, so RE8 takes some inspiration from RE4 and has some similar locations in it, such as the castle and village. There was only one really scary part of 8 that got to me, and that was (Spoilers):

Spoiler

After you defeat Lady Dimitrescu in the Castle, you then have to take down the creepy doll girl in her own Mansion. This is the only part of the game that really had much of a horror element to it, as the game messes with Ethan's head in regards to his dead wife, Mia while you're in the basement of the Mansion (at least, I think it was a basement). The section ends after you get a working fuse for the elevator and evade a very terrifying creature that can instantly kill you. The best part is that you can't use your weapons during this part so all you can do is run away and try not to die before going back up the elevator. After that terrifying part ends, you end up killing the doll girl and the game continues onto the next part of the map. The game loses its horror aspect after the Mansion segment, which sort of sucks, because that was the spookiest Resident Evil has ever been for me, period. Doesn't help that late in the game you get to be Chris Redfield himself as you raid the Village guns-blazing (reminds me of the old RE5+6 days).

Outside of RE1, RE7 and a little bit of RE8, the series itself has never really felt like much of a horror game.

Outlast 1 and 2 are excellent games in the horror genre, as you have no weapons to fight against the psychos trying to kill you, and all you really can do is run away and avoid them.

I haven't played much of the Amnesia games myself either, so I'm with you there regarding that. As for Dead Space, I was figuring that I'd wait until the remake comes out to try it, since I never got to play the original 2008 release back in the day. 

The only horror game that I've started playing recently is Observer: System Redux, which I believe is a psychological horror game, which starts off a little slow, but the investigative part of the game has me interested in solving the game's mysteries.

If you want another horror game to delve into, I strongly recommend Layers of Fear 1 and 2. While I haven't played LoF2 myself, I can say that the first game is a fantastic horror video game to play, and it WILL mess with your head. The game involves a painter trying to create the perfect art piece, with each individual chapter split up into finding different art materials and slowly adding more and more to the painting as the game goes on. Eventually, depending on how you played through the game, you can get one of three endings: a ? ending, a bad ending, and a neutral ending. I don't want to spoil you on anything in regards to the ending I marked with a "?" symbol, because it's a bit of a surprise. All I can say is that since you're a big fan of horror games, you should definitely give Layers of Fear a shot. 

[Any games that you really wanted to like but just couldn't?]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: After playing through Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, I decided to buy and play its sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as well. I actually enjoyed the prologue, but by the point that you get to the first village area in Chapter 1, I was already bored with the game, and couldn't get myself to play past it. Plus, Rex, Pyra and Co. don't feel as interesting as the likes of Shulk, Reyn, Fiora and Dunban. It sucks because Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is coming out and that game looks pretty interesting, but I'm not sure if Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is worth playing through 50+ hours of content just to see if there's any important references or links between XC2 and XC3. I dislike the combat system of XC2 as well, more so than XC1's combat system. At the moment, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is in my gaming limbo of games I'm procrastinating on playing, and I doubt that I'll change my opinion on the game anytime soon. 

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest- Once I had completed Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (a game I thought was simply okay, both as a video game and a Fire Emblem title), I figured that I'd give Conquest a shot for a different perspective on the whole Hoshido vs Nohr thing. I found the story to make very little sense and was pretty bad overall for the Conquest route (not that Birthright was much better), and the gameplay just felt like Birthright: Hard mode with some different objectives but more annoying to get through. I couldn't bring myself to finish Conquest, and I stopped playing somewhere around Chapter 9 or 10. I haven't even bothered with Revelations. Charging $40 physical for Birthright and Conquest individually doesn't help either (or about $25 digital if you're buying Conquest within Birthright, and vise versa). I feel that Three Houses did the whole kingdom vs kingdom thing way better (but with three major territories instead), and it gave you way more time to care about the characters fighting in the war, unlike Fates, which briefly describes Corrin's relationship to both the Hoshido and Nohr people, then forces you to pick a side by Chapter 6 unless you only bought Birthright/Conquest, then you don't really get much of a choice in the matter. Overall, I find Three Houses to be a far better game in the Fire Emblem series and video games in general. I'd play it over Fates any day.

Tales of Arise: I played a little bit of the demo for this game and thought it would be interesting to try out since I'm a big fan of RPGs, so I decided to buy it. Not even an hour into the game did I decide that I've got plenty of other, more enjoyable RPGs on my list to beat (Dragon Quest 11, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Paper Mario TOK, Fire Emblem Three Houses- My Blue Lions playthrough) and Arise wasn't worth the 50+ hours of my time that I could spend in a different game. 

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: I was a huge fan of Breath of the Wild when it originally came out all the way back in 2017, so I was excited to experience what Hyrule was like 100 years ago up until Calamity Ganon basically murdered the only hope Hyrule had of stopping him for a whole century, save for Zelda and Link. Unfortunately the game ended up being some non-canon alternate timeline crap which has Link, Zelda, the four Champions and Co.(along with the 4 Champions' successors who managed to time travel at a very convenient time) actually do the opposite in what I was hoping to see. Just like the other games in this list (excluding XC2), I sold Age of Calamity and don't plan to come back to it again. I was never too keen on the Hyrule Warriors games because I don't care much for the Dynasty Warriors gameplay.

Elden Ring: I never really played much of the first Dark Souls game, and I never got around to its sequels. I did manage to play through Code Vein, which sort of played like the Dark Souls games but with an AI partner that may or may not be useless at points. I finished the game to completion, and I had a good time with it overall (we do not talk about those two bosses in Code Vein that are just Ornstein and Smough wannabes). When I heard about Elden Ring's announcement, I must admit that I ended up being curious enough to buy the game and try it out for myself. The game isn't bad by any means, and I believe that the hype for it was well founded, but I could not get myself to play through what is essentially a more open world Dark Souls. Plus, I was never a big fan of the trial and error gameplay that the Dark Souls series has. 

EDIT: A few more titles came to mind, so I added them in here. 

[Is Silver Snow worth playing?]

On 4/28/2022 at 11:41 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

The reason for it happening is never hinted at or explained beforehand, it just kinda... happens. On SS only, even though the same stuff happens to Rhea on VW.

As for the battle itself, while it does use the same map from chapter 12, it plays in a completely different way. Rather than being at either end of the map, you're clumped together in the middle. You can try to go directly for the Immaculate One, but if there are any White Beasts around (a unique enemy type that you only face here), then she'll be able to heal herself. So, you have to deal with the White Beasts, and "berserked" enemies of various classes, to comfortably handle the final boss.

Of course, you're under no obligation to play this route. Still, a lot of what you're saying sounds like external impressions. Actually playing Silver Snow may be worthwhile, if for nothing else than testing whether your impressions are accurate or not. For my part, I ended SS more disappointed than when I started. As a big fan of Seteth, I was hoping that this route would give him more to do. Which was technically accurate, but not to the degree I was hoping for.

Yeah, I remember something similar happening to Rhea in Verdant Wind, though she never ended up transforming for some reason. (Probably so we don't have to face the Immaculate One on three separate occasions) To be fair, the final boss fight in Verdant Wind kind of doesn't make much sense story-wise in regards to Claude, since (Spoilers):

Spoiler

Claude doesn't really have much of a beef with Nemesis besides the fact that Nemesis wanted to conquer Fodlan and wreak havoc in general. The fight feels more between Byleth and Nemesis since they both wield the Sword of the Creator and are fighting for different causes. Claude just feels kind of there to assist Byleth in taking down Nemesis. It would've been so cool if Rhea could've lived long enough to fight Nemesis once again. Then again, just the idea of a playable (or ally unit) Rhea sounds awesome. I always wondered why TWSITD aren't able to revive Nemesis in any other route besides Verdant Wind. Probably so that he wouldn't be a reoccurring boss? I'm not too sure. Honestly, if there was any final bosses in the game that I would swap around, it would probably be Nemesis from Verdant Wind and the Immaculate One from Silver Snow, assuming Rhea would feel well enough to fight Nemesis. I feel that might've bettered Silver Snow's route, but it also could hurt Verdant Wind, so maybe it's better that they left it the way it is? I'm probably just looking too far into it. 

You're completely correct about my impressions on Silver Snow. I've formed a bit of a bias against it after reading many opinions on the route itself, which are usually negative (though I understand why this is so). I can't speak too much for or against Silver Snow because I haven't played through that route yet, but I certainly plan to in the future so that I can form a proper opinion on it.

Well, Seteth's one of my favorite members of the Church of Seiros next to Rhea herself and Flayn (at least story-wise. I loved her and Seteth's paralogue). Perhaps his additional screen time in Silver Snow will be a nice inclusion for the route. I certainly wouldn't mind it. The biggest thing that bothers me with Silver Snow is that you're down one main lord and a magic user (for good story reasons, sure, but it still sucks to lose such valuable members of the team). Granted, I'm pretty sure you get the entire Church of Seiros in order to make up for that, but I always loved having a powerful main lord at my side, and you can recruit all of the CoS members in any route that isn't Crimson Flower anyways. I shall just have to adapt. It may even prove to be quite a good challenge. 

[Is Silver Snow worth playing?]

After reading the replies, I figured that I'd add some input that I didn't cover in my original post, and update you guys with my decision on Silver Snow for a 4th playthrough.

Firstly, it's been almost 2 years since I finished the Verdant Wind route, so I don't think playing through Silver Snow will feel too repetitive since a decent amount of time has passed (Honestly, the only repetitive part of my playthroughs with Three Houses was Part I: White Clouds since the cutscenes play out almost exactly the same save for some minor differences depending on which house you chose). 

Secondly, for those who mentioned the Cindered Shadows DLC, I did indeed pay for it and played through it as it wasn't too particularly long. It was a pretty fun mini-route (except for that one chapter where all those statue things kept destroying my units) and I liked the additional stuff that was added, though I can't say it's better than any route in the main game due to its shortened length and (SPOILER BELOW), though I liked it for what it was. 

Spoiler

The fact that its retconned when you play through the main game again and all of the Ashen Wolves act like you just met them for the first time upon greeting them again. I suppose it was done in order to prevent some sort of paradox. Either that, or the events of Cindered Shadows happened sometime during Part I of the main game. (It was nice to finally see Byleth's mother, even if she ended up turning into a giant beast that was a bit of a pain to fight)

As for a few additional things I forgot to mention regarding Silver Snow:

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

It has a unique final map with a unique theme, to boot.

@Shanty Pete's 1st Mate I'm not trying to be negative when I say this, but Silver Snow's final map doesn't seem all that unique to me after giving it a brief glance (except for the music, which sounds awesome), especially compared to the other routes, because: (SPOILERS AGAIN BELOW)

Spoiler

Firstly, Rhea's the final boss for not only this route, but also Crimson Flower. Granted, the maps and locations for which you fight her are indeed different for both routes, but I'm pretty sure the map for which you fight Rhea in Silver Snow is the same one in which you fight/aid Edelgard in the final battle of Part I. Though I suppose the way the fight plays out is different, so there's that. Though compared to Verdant Wind (my favorite final battle in the game, which essentially reenacts the battle against Nemesis on the same battlefield all those years ago along with a truly God-Shattering OST that plays during the battle), and Azure Moon (which has you, Dimitri, the Blue Lions, and anyone else you recruited fight against a demonic Edelgard, which is the only time in which she's a final boss), Silver Snow doesn't really feel all that special, though that's just my take on it. 

I suppose it doesn't help considering the fact that I haven't played through the Silver Snow route yet, and have already completed Verdant Wind & Crimson Flower (and will be finishing Azure Moon sometime in the future). I feel that SnowFire puts it best when describing the final boss for Silver Snow in their last sentence here:

18 hours ago, SnowFire said:

If you're interested in playing 3H for a 4th time, you might as well do SS?  But it's hardly required, so peacing out after 3 playthroughs is fine too.  There really is not that much more added to SS that wasn't already in Verdant Wind, aside from a new mostly nonsensical plot excuse for a final mission.

Spoiler

Allow me to expand on SnowFire's point here. The reason for which you fight Rhea in Silver Snow makes less sense to me compared to fighting her in Crimson Flower. It's clear why Rhea fights you in Crimson Flower: because you joined up with Edelgard in the holy tomb instead of siding with her (which is totally justified, considering what Rhea was planning to do with Byleth). In Silver Snow, she transforms because of some disease-related thing which is only mentioned in Silver Snow if I remember right, and unless you S-ranked her, she'll end up dying despite your best efforts to try and keep her alive (though I'm pretty sure she ends up dying in most if not all routes anyways). 

Now, I know I probably sound very anti-Silver Snow despite not playing it for myself, but that's exactly why I've decided to make it my fourth Three Houses playthrough. I figured I should see the entire, full picture regardless of what I'll think of Silver Snow, that way I can properly judge every route in the game, because it wouldn't be fair otherwise. I'll probably play it on a harder difficulty like Maddening since I've played the other routes on easier difficulties. Azure Moon is the only route I did Hard mode/Classic for, so I feel an increase in difficulty will help spruce up the challenge of the game.

1 hour ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Like many other people, Silver Snow's my least favourite route, but yeah it's kind of a "might as well" if you want to do a fourth run of the game. The last battle is pretty cool. I think it'd be a bit of a downer to end your 3H experience with this, I think, since it's a pretty sad ending if you liked any of the game's major players (everyone loses!). Agreed that Cindered Shadows is better if you haven't done that yet (though it costs money, of course).

@Dark Holy Elf Don't worry too much about it, Silver Snow may be the last route that I'll be playing through for the first time, but if there's any route that I'm ending my Three Houses experience with, it'll be Azure Moon. I plan to play through it again for a second Blue Lions playthrough with Female Byleth so I can S-rank Dimitri next time. Plus, I believe Azure Moon has the fewest possible casualties and most possible recruits, and I can live with killing off one main lord if it means that I can save the other two.

Spoiler

By the way, when you say sad ending, are you referring to the deaths of Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, and Rhea (unless you S-ranked her)? That's kind of depressing since Dimitri's my favorite lord of the bunch with arguably the best character arc in the game, and Claude's a good second place despite not really having as big of a role in the story as the other two (I don't hate Edelgard, in fact I think she makes for a great antagonist when you're fighting against the Adrestean Empire, and after seeing her supports, I can understand some of her reasons for starting the war in the first place. She just kind of feels like a female version of Part I Dimitri's generic prince persona but with less of the childhood trauma. That's just my opinion on them, though. If you think differently, then more power to you, because differing opinions only makes discussions like these more interesting to read). Wasn't it mentioned that Dimitri and Claude were killed off screen in Silver Snow? I thought Dimitri might've survived since he has a specific conversation with Byleth during SS, and Byleth doesn't know what he looks like post-time skip until that moment. Though that may just be Byleth's guilt over not being able to save any of the main lords in SS. I also figured that Claude would be tougher to kill, due to his great planning skills and the fact that you can't kill him in any route except for Crimson Flower, and it's an optional choice at that. Man, this is exactly why I'm making the Blue Lions/Azure Moon route my headcanon "canon" route. Not as much death and tragedy compared to the other routes. 

Anyways, this reply has gone on long enough and I feel that I've covered everything that I didn't in my original post at the top. At least playing Silver Snow will add a little extra bit of lore, new cutscenes, and give me some extra gallery content to look at once I'm done with it. Though I'll probably end up playing Azure Moon at least one more time in order to clear my guilty conscience over completely abandoning Dimitri and Claude.

[Is Silver Snow worth playing?]

My first route for Fire Emblem: Three Houses was Golden Deer/Verdant Wind (Part I & Part II Respectively). I thought it was a pretty fun route to start off with as I figured that Claude was the most rational of the three lords and the Golden Deer house had the best selection of students (imo). After clearing the GD route (and beating the best final boss in the game), I decided to go with a completely different experience and join Edelgard and the Black Eagles, then go Crimson Flower for Part II. Crimson Flower was a bit of a disappointing route, though, as it was much shorter than the other routes in the game. 

Spoiler

Being able to fight Rhea not once, but twice was pretty cool, though, and I enjoyed fighting against her, the Church of Seiros, Faerghus, and the Leicester Alliance for a change. It still doesn't completely make up for the fact that Crimson Flower is short-lived, especially compared to the other routes. 

My third and current playthrough is with Dimitri and the Blue Lions/Azure Moon (currently about midway into Part II). Definitely my favorite route and lord of the game for me. Though I have taken a bit of a hiatus from Three Houses due to fatigue and wanting to play other games, so I have yet to finish Azure Moon.

So what I'm wondering is this: after I eventually come back to Three Houses and finish off Azure Moon, should I go with a Black Eagles/Silver Snow playthrough? Or is it okay if I decide to skip it? I've heard that Silver Snow is the "canon" route, but I've also heard that Silver Snow is essentially just: "Verdant Wind minus Claude" due to how similar both routes are. I know that Azure Moon also contained a few similar maps and missions to Verdant Wind, but it wasn't too many in particular and I believe that the focus on Dimitri and whatnot differentiated the route enough from Verdant Wind. I've also heard that beating the Silver Snow route unlocks a song and/or something else in particular for the gallery on the main menu, though I can't remember how true that statement is. Lastly, there's two other things that bother me with Silver Snow: 1. Going back through Part I with the Black Eagles and having nothing change except for the last 2 chapters before the time skip. 2. Having Seteth as a "main lord" despite being able to recruit him anyways in Azure Moon and Verdant Wind. 

So with all of that in mind, I'm wondering if it's worth playing through Silver Snow for a fourth playthrough, or if I should reserve that playthrough for a second run through Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, or Verdant Wind.

[It is I, Caloy]

Welcome to the vast forest of serene, my good man. If you don't mind, I was wondering if I could ask you three (houses) Fire Emblem related questions:

1. Between Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses, which of them was your first Fire Emblem game?

2. Why is Fire Emblem: Three Houses your favorite FE game?

3. Do you plan to play older games in the Fire Emblem series (like Shadow Dragon, Blazing Sword, and Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn)?

You don't have to answer my questions if you don't want to, I just figured I'd ask out of curiosity. I'll respect your opinion whatever it may be. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy your time here in the forest!

[Greetings Everyone! (A New Recruit Joins The Fray)]

Hey everybody! The name's CyberZord, and my venture into the Fire Emblem series is a bit of an odd one. My first encounter with Fire Emblem was technically with Marth and Ike in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (didn't get to play Melee until a while later), though I never got into any of the games from the series itself until way later. I officially became a fan of the series with Fire Emblem: Three Houses (my first FE game) on the Nintendo Switch in 2020. I played through the entire game 2 times, and I'm currently working on a third playthrough on Blue Lions/Azure Moon (My favorite route with my favorite lord of the game). In case you're wondering, my first route was Golden Deer/Verdant Wind with Claude followed up by the Black Eagles/Crimson Flower route for my second run. 

After playing through Three Houses and its DLC, I decided that I wanted to play other Fire Emblem games in the series. My second FE game was Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright for the 3DS, which was back when I still owned one of those systems. I thought the game was simply okay. There was nothing too notable or memorable for me outside of the whole Hoshido vs Nohr thing, probably because I played Three Houses first (plus, I felt that the Land vs Land dynamic was done better in Three Houses). I also bought Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, though I ended up quitting it because I found it to be less enjoyable than Birthright was. I didn't even bother with Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation. 

Once a bit of time had passed after playing two of the Fates games, I decided to get back into playing some new Fire Emblem games. I bought both Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword (on the Wii U's Virtual Console) and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (cost an arm and a leg, but I feel it was worth the price to be able to play through my boy Ike's game). I have only played through a handful of chapters from both games, but they are both very enjoyable and way better than the Fates games (in my opinion). I may not find them to be better than Three Houses due to my bias and love for my first Fire Emblem game, but they both seem to be solid entries in the series. If I happen to enjoy Path of Radiance enough, I may also purchase its sequel, Radiant Dawn. Not sure about Sacred Stones on the Wii U virtual console (because I don't own a Gameboy Advance). 

I'm pretty excited for the new Fire Emblem game: Fire Emblem Warriors- Three Hopes. I'm not too big on Dynasty Warrior style games, but I plan to give this one a try because it looks very interesting and it involves the Three Houses cast. Fire Emblem is my third favorite Nintendo series behind Mario (at #2) and The Legend of Zelda (at #1). Anyways, this post is getting rather long and I feel that I've given enough information about my Fire Emblem journey so far. Hoped you enjoyed reading it, and I hope you'll all welcome me into your amazing community.