Which FE game is the least likely to be someone's favorite?

[Ruy]

While checking the forums and the different topics, and looking at the profile of the people on the forum, I noticed there is a lot of variety on our favorite Fire Emblem game. So, that got me thinking, which mainline FE game has the lowest chance to be selected as favorite by someone?

So, just to be clear. I do not mean which Fire Emblem is considered the worst, but rather, which one do you think is so unremarkable that very few people would name it as their favorite. And I don't just mean for people in the Serenes Forest forums, but the FE community in general.

For example, an easy answer might be FE1, since it's so archaic compared to what came after. But, maybe there are a lot of 40-year-old Japanase people who might choose this game, simply for the nostalgic factor.

[ARMADS!!!]

Lol, BSFE: Archanea Saga. I think this one counts as mainline, right?

 Well, if it doesn't then it's hard to answer, I'd guess Gaiden is not considered as being too good and most people would normally prefer SoV over it now, also Gaiden/SoV story has less fans than Archanea so I'd nominate Gaiden over FE1 or 3, but still, it's a bit hard to answer. It's absolutely one of the pre GBA games though.

[Etrurian emperor]

I think Shadow Dragon is a likely candidate. Its been reevaluated since its pretty icy reception but its still so basic that I suspect even people who like the game would probably put games with more obvious charm over it.

Another strong contender is Fates because its got the most things that can put people off. Thinks like pseudo incest and shotacon are not at all respected in the community and the story being such low hanging fruit doesn't help matters. 

[ARMADS!!!]

2 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think Shadow Dragon is a likely candidate. Its been reevaluated since its pretty icy reception but its still so basic that I suspect even people who like the game would probably put games with more obvious charm over it.

Another strong contender is Fates because its got the most things that can put people off. Thinks like pseudo incest and shotacon are not at all respected in the community and the story being such low hanging fruit doesn't help matters. 

Don't people consider the gameplay of Fates to be pretty good though?(I never played it myself but I've seen a lot of people saying that Conquest's maps are top tier and among the best in the series). I think Fates is a strongest contender for the FE that gets more hate, not for the most unremarkable one.

[Samz707]

21 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Don't people consider the gameplay of Fates to be pretty good though?(I never played it myself but I've seen a lot of people saying that Conquest's maps are top tier and among the best in the series). I think Fates is a strongest contender for the FE that gets more hate, not for the most unremarkable one.

I personally despise the gameplay and maps, I've only played Conquest.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Hey for the record I'm a late 20s, Not-Japanese person and I think FE1 is the best version of that game. I played the Famicom version, in its native Japanese, and can tell you it's the strongest, most consistently functioning map design of Kaga-era FE. I think it's visuals and sound compared to other Famicom games rates higher than comparing FE3 to other SNES games and FE11 to other DS games. And yes I've played Book 1 and replayed FE11 since to confirm it's my favorite. It didn't just build a series, it built a goddamn genre.

But I'm sure whatever the ultimate answer is will have "I never played it/I dropped it after an hour" as its most commonly cited reason. Where Archanea ranks depends on what the polled question would have been. If it's asking what's your least favorite FE, none of the Archanea games should be in the top spot, since there would be vote splitting between the three versions. If the question is what's your favorite, then I could see all three having the least amount of votes because, again, vote splitting. You'd have to give me five votes before I throw FE1 a bone. And in that ecosystem I'd be voting alongside folks that have played just a couple FEs that realize "Oh yeah, I forgot I did play FE11. Well I have two votes left over so it gets one"

Edited February 28 by Zapp Branniglenn

[samthedigital]

2 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Don't people consider the gameplay of Fates to be pretty good though?(I never played it myself but I've seen a lot of people saying that Conquest's maps are top tier and among the best in the series). I think Fates is a strongest contender for the FE that gets more hate, not for the most unremarkable one.

You'll get some mixed opinions, but there are a certain subset of people that absolutely love fates gameplay (myself included), so my guess is that it would be easily disqualified for this reason, at least judging by the typical fire emblem discussion spots.

I'm going to guess that the answer to the topic is Gaiden.

Edited February 28 by samthedigital

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think Shadow Dragon is a likely candidate. Its been reevaluated since its pretty icy reception but its still so basic that I suspect even people who like the game would probably put games with more obvious charm over it.

Another strong contender is Fates because its got the most things that can put people off. Thinks like pseudo incest and shotacon are not at all respected in the community and the story being such low hanging fruit doesn't help matters. 

Shadow Dragon DS or NES? Because I think the 40 something year olds probably would put subsequent games over Shadow Dragon NES, even Gaiden is probably more liked, but Shadow Dragon DS definitely has its fans and I wouldn't hesitate to say it's among my favourites alongside Binding Blade and Engage.

No way is the answer Fates. That game is still mega popular. Aside from FE1 I feel like one of the Tellius games might be the contender. Both are certainly very will liked, but I think they have enough flaws and competition , and are relatively difficult to access, that they would end up in most people's 80% percentile range rather than 90%.

...course whomever said BS is absolutely right. It's so unpopular we sort of don't even count it as mainline.

Edited February 28 by Jotari

[Fire Emblem Fan]

The original Gaiden.

[Alastor15243]

9 minutes ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

The original Gaiden.

This is the correct answer I believe. It's Japan-only so it has that going against it, and I don't think there are that many people who like Gaiden and don't like SoV more. It definitely had the most "complete" remake with the fewest controversial gimmicks or changes.

[ARMADS!!!]

 

...course whomever said BS is absolutely right. It's so unpopular we sort of don't even count it as mainline.

Yeah, there's not even any way to play the game with complete content, even illegally as far as I know (or worse, I think there's no legal way to play the game at all, and the complete version you can't play in any way) cause the sound and voice acting (and the cutscenes in general, I believe) were supposed to be streamed to you as you played it during a broadcast. Unless there's some video on YouTube that shows the cutscenes with the original voice acting and the OST, part of the game is completely lost media, so yeah, we might as well not even count it, whether it's supposed to be mainline or not.

[lenticular]

Definitely BS if it counts, no doubt. If it doesn't count, then I'm going to guess at Thracia 776, just because it's the one that fewest people have played. People will latch onto games as their favourites for all sorts of reasons, some of which make very little sense, so any game will have some adherents. The only sure thing is that you need to have played a game for it to be your favourite, so Thracia is fighting a losing battle just by having a lower player pool to try to draw from. What's more, most people who have played Thracia are going to be big Fire Emblem fans who have played a lot of other games in the series, which means it's competing with more other titles.

[Cdijk16]

Counting only mainline games, it's most likely to be one of the pre-GBA games i.e. FE1-FE5. Very few people have played them relative to the other games in the series because of their poor accessibility. A lot of older players likely have nostalgia for FE1 and would rank it as their favorite for that reason, so I don't think that's the one. FE4 and FE5 are also very popular among the old school player base and have more up to date graphics and interesting mechanics than FE1-3, so I don't think they're the least popular.   Out of FE1-FE5, I would say its most likely to be Gaiden. Gaiden introduced a lot of interesting mechanics like split promotions and overworld encounters, but it's Japan only and also has a remake which most people would prefer over the original.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

Radiant Dawn, damn near killed the franchise... even Mars 3rd return to form wasn´t strong enough to carry that kind of burden, so they needed to invoke the power of friendship!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I'm gonna say New Mystery of the Emblem. It only released in Japan, and doesn't have the "nostalgia" or "history" of the Kaga-era games. And FE6 has Roy, who is indeed our boy. Its gameplay and aesthetic are inherited from Shadow Dragon, which already wasn't the most popular. And its story is just FE3's story, but needlessly bloated with fluff.

 

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'm gonna say New Mystery of the Emblem. It only released in Japan, and doesn't have the "nostalgia" or "history" of the Kaga-era games. And FE6 has Roy, who is indeed our boy. Its gameplay and aesthetic are inherited from Shadow Dragon, which already wasn't the most popular. And its story is just FE3's story, but needlessly bloated with fluff.

 

A bunch of people like Lunatic reverse though...Okay, like thirty people like Lunatic reverse, but those thirty people really like it a lot.

[Ruy]

18 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Lol, BSFE: Archanea Saga. I think this one counts as mainline, right?

Haha, I did not even thought about that one. If we include it, then yes, I absolutely agree.

 

18 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Another strong contender is Fates because its got the most things that can put people off. Thinks like pseudo incest and shotacon are not at all respected in the community and the story being such low hanging fruit doesn't help matters

While I personally think Fates is quite unremarkable, I have heard a lot of people really love it(particularly Conquest), so I don't think it would be last place.

[Ruy]

8 hours ago, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

Radiant Dawn, damn near killed the franchise... even Mars 3rd return to form wasn´t strong enough to carry that kind of burden, so they needed to invoke the power of friendship!

I mean, I know it's overall sales were quite poor, there's no way around it.

 

But it has so many things that make it unique (4-army battles, 3rd tier promotions, assignable skills, fighting against the characters you were controlling the previous chapter, the herons) that I think it would make it the favorite game of quite a few people (myself included).

[ARMADS!!!]

9 hours ago, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

Radiant Dawn, damn near killed the franchise... even Mars 3rd return to form wasn´t strong enough to carry that kind of burden, so they needed to invoke the power of friendship!

But that was at the time, I still see a bunch of people whose first FE was RD, and now people asking how to emulate it or where to buy it, see the crazy fanbase Micaiah has, I never saw anyone hype a Gaiden character like that (or... At all), also the fact that the game continues PoR's story will be reason enough for a bunch of people to want to play it. Also, RD has Ike, and we like Ike, which is undeniable proof for why it can't be the less popular FE.

I'd say it absolutely has to be a pre GBA FE, if only cause less people are likely to have played them.

15 hours ago, lenticular said:

People will latch onto games as their favourites for all sorts of reasons, some of which make very little sense, so any game will have some adherents. The only sure thing is that you need to have played a game for it to be your favourite, so Thracia is fighting a losing battle just by having a lower player pool to try to draw from. What's more, most people who have played Thracia are going to be big Fire Emblem fans who have played a lot of other games in the series, which means it's competing with more other titles.

 Oh yeah, good argument too, I think I never saw anyone saying that Thracia was their first FE.

[Original Alear]

6 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

But that was at the time, I still see a bunch of people whose first FE was RD, and now people asking how to emulate it or where to buy it, see the crazy fanbase Micaiah has, I never saw anyone hype a Gaiden character like that (or... At all), also the fact that the game continues PoR's story will be reason enough for a bunch of people to want to play it. Also, RD has Ike, and we like Ike, which is undeniable proof for why it can't be the less popular FE.

I'd say it absolutely has to be a pre GBA FE, if only cause less people are likely to have played them.

 Oh yeah, good argument too, I think I never saw anyone saying that Thracia was their first FE.

Thor Odinson's fave game is Thracia 776 according to her profile.

I think I might have had it set to mine before Three Houses, though maybe it was Radiant Dawn...?

Edited February 29 by Original Alear

[ARMADS!!!]

1 hour ago, Original Alear said:

Thor Odinson's fave game is Thracia 776 according to her profile.

I think I might have had it set to mine before Three Houses, though maybe it was Radiant Dawn...?

 Oh ok, upon reflection I think I saw some profiles list Thracia as their favorite around here, now Gaiden I'm not sure, later I might look around and see if I find any (can't do this right now though cause I'm on my phone and the favorite FE part of the profile doesn't show here, maybe if I click on the profile, but I don't have the patience to check several profiles one by one like that). I still think that Lenticular made a good argument as for why Thracia is a good contender for less popular, but I still think it must be Gaiden. Absolutely not RD though.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Tend to agree with Gaiden (not counting BS for this). I don't think it's Thracia, even speaking as someone who hasn't played it. The game has an identity, and I've definitely seen big fans of it as a result. Its sales are bad, but I don't think it's enough worse than Gaiden to close that gap in passion. Of course, this is with the caveat that I don't discuss the game in Japanese circles - if Thracia is the least favourited game of 1-6 in Japan, then it's possible.

It's definitely not RD. Plenty of people like that game a lot. It was my favourite FE of the era and I always found lots of like-minded people on that front - not to say there weren't people who preferred 7 or 8 or 9, but 10 was certainly a contender. Also, the remarkably strong showing of Tellius characters in CYL to this day (i.e. generally stronger than Elibe or Magvel overall) show that the game is more popular than its sales indicate.

Among games released outside Japan, I think it's gotta be Shadow Dragon. Maybe SoV, but that one's different enough that I think it carves out a decent little fanbase. Shadow Dragon isn't particularly beloved by the English fandom and has to compete with the other Archanaea games in Japan (and I have a sneaking suspicion it's the least popular of the four there). Can't really see it being any of the others.

[Alastor15243]

6 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Among games released outside Japan, I think it's gotta be Shadow Dragon. Maybe SoV, but that one's different enough that I think it carves out a decent little fanbase. Shadow Dragon isn't particularly beloved by the English fandom and has to compete with the other Archanaea games in Japan (and I have a sneaking suspicion it's the least popular of the four there). Can't really see it being any of the others.

I hate how believable this is. Especially since I absolutely hated the game for the worst reasons imaginable in my youth.

[Jotari]

For what it's worth, I'd definitely count Shadow Dragon among my favourites. And I don't think I'm as alone as it might seem.

[Original Alear]

It seemed to me like lots of ppl liked SD and New Mystery of the Emblem about half a decade back. Of the pre-Awakening games I don't think they had as much staying power in terms of discussion as Tellius did, because Tellius seemed to have more people interested in the plot...?