Is Awakening your top/favorite FE game?

[ZemZem]

Some of those designs suck (chapter 10. Avoiding being spotted is soooo not worth it.)

It's always worth it if you want to break the game with Marcia.

[Randa]

There are definitely better. It's only around 6th on my list at this point. The more I play it, the less I like it. I've devoted hundreds of hours to 7,8, and 13. In comparison I don't think it has this amazing replayability. The characters and plot are shallow. The music and graphics are both solid, but that isn't what I focus on. 9,7,10,5,4 and maybe even 6 are more fun to play. It's a great game. It's a great introductory game(lol easy mode) but it just doesn't match the rest of the series in my mind.

[Revan97]

Yep, it just feels a lot more polished than any of the other games in the series that I've played. It's no one thing that makes me like awakening more than the others but I can give some vague reasoning.

1.First Lucina is my favorite lord in any fire emblem just really like her character on the whole. Also on a sidenote I feel like nostalgia has made many people see the cast of older games as more interesting than they are.

2.A ton of options as to what you can do at any given point especially after chapter 13 when you unlock all the paralouges for the children. (Side battles, dlc, etc...)

3.Higher difficulty that actually feels difficult for once.

[shadykid]

It's always worth it if you want to break the game with Marcia.

so in other words it's always worth it

[amadeuscho]

I've played the most out of Awakening by far, but it's still has yet to beat it out Radiant Dawn's scope and design. The chapters are too short, but that leads to its replayability, so it's a double edged sword. I don't understand how anyone's opinions could be affected by a fanbase. FE has always with its modern incarnations had a strong anime influence, from the concept art to the nature of character relationships, so I definitely don't have a problem with that.

Some days I lean to it as my favorite, while others I stick with Radiant Dawn. But it's definitely between those two. I would imagine I would like the japan only games like FE4 so if I ever was able to import them that would probably change my opinion.

However, I do think it's the best Fire Emblem. It's definitely the most enjoyable and the customizability allows for it to be open to anyone. The difficulty setting give you a lot of options. The lack of fog of war stages makes most of the battles better because you die of your own fault rather than randomness. The lack of reavers also improved the game. It's the perfect distillation of everything FE is and should be. If I were to hand anyone an FE game to try, it would be Awakening. Which is just about the best praise you can give a game.

You and I would get along swell.

Fe8 is vastly underrated and superior to Awakening as a game overall, imo. If you want the definitive, streamlined Fe experience, I'd vote for Fe8.

A question to all you guys basing time spent on the game as a factor. Does replayability via customization a huge factor for you? Let's say the next Fe game was 8 hours long, and it was the best damn 8 hours of any Fe game ever, but it doesn't have replayability via customization (characters, skills, postgame, etc). Would you prefer something you've played much longer to something like that?

I would prefer length over replayability in that case. I don't think I would like an 8 hour FE.

[Shahrivar]

No - I prefer Sword of Seals/Binding Blade's and Rekka no Ken's stories, I don't really like to have children (and Gen 1 being useless in Endgame), I dislike having Galeforce, Armsthrift (because I feel obliged to get them everywhere where it's possible).

I like the game overall but their are too many things annoying me to make it my favorite.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

"and Gen 1 being useless in Endgame"

....seriously?

[Jackos]

It's the one I've enjoyed the most so far, although I also really like Blazing Sword, New Mystery and Radiant Dawn so those other 3 are candidates as well. For now it's my top one even though it has clear flaws (map design, objectives, Valm arc existing and making the Grima arc completely rushed, Lunatic+ being the stupidest thing ever).

A bunch of my newcomer friends would disagree with you.

Fresh blood into the series is hard to get if you have Hard Mode difficulty for normal mode right off the bat.

This. I actually remember having trouble with Normal Mode Sacred Stones at some point back when I got into the series, the first entry is always tough for new people if they have little to no experience with this kind of games before.

How is Gen 1 useless in Endgame? Postgame I could understand (because Apotheosis alternate route) but on everything else they are pretty usable, if anything the children are a hassle at first because all of them are pseudo-Est archetypes minus Morgan and maybe Lucina if you feed her an entire ship on chapter 14.

[Shahrivar]

"and Gen 1 being useless in Endgame"

....seriously?

Most of them actually are. If not, tell me why - more classes, higher caps by default - why should I use Cherche instead of Gerome? (of course they're not useless, but totally inferior)

Edited July 31, 2013 by Assurhaddon

[Leinex]

Out of the four FEs I've played, Awakening is the one I like least. I found the soundtrack forgettable and half of the character designs laughably impractical. The characters themselves are all right, but I dislike the marriage and generations mechanics; they make the game feel too focused on shipping. Robin's ending and the Spotpass characters killed my willing suspension of disbelief (especially Emmeryn). Then I think the game itself is broken, with how Second Seals let you go from 2nd tier to 1st together with infinite grinding...

All in all, I found Awakening good (certainly worth buying), but I was more charmed by PoR, SS, and SD. PoR was my first FE experience, and it, along with SS, had particularly strong stories and characterization in my opinion. As for SD, I love the soundtrack and the simplicity grew on me.

[General Horace]

Most of them actually are. If not, tell me why - more classes, higher caps by default - why should I use Cherche instead of Gerome? (of course they're not useless, but totally inferior)

why do you need capped units for endgame? units with 30-35's in most stats are more than enough.

edit: on topic, no, Awakening isn't even in my top 5, but yes, I enjoy it and find it fun.

Edited July 31, 2013 by General Horace

[shadykid]

Most of them actually are. If not, tell me why - more classes, higher caps by default - why should I use Cherche instead of Gerome? (of course they're not useless, but totally inferior)

lol caps and class selection mattering outside of postgame

[CT075]

i don't think i've ever actually used a non-lucina non-morgan 2nd generation unit in endgame ever

and i don't even really use morgan

Edited July 31, 2013 by CT075

[NinjaMonkey]

I find Awakening kind of "meh" to be honest (although I'd say that it's still infinitely better than Shadow Dragon).

[Timely Rain]

No, I think it's a great game, but it's a bit overated. Some friends told me it's the "ultimate fire emblem game", but it's not perfect. Mi favourite Fire Emblem game is, as my profile says, Radiant Dawn. It hasn't got best graphics ever, but it's a really good game. Long, nice story, some powerfull units, Volke and Ike! Also, I think the map's design is better, and the landscapes, and that things. Also I like the soundtrack better in Radiant Dawn than in Awakening. I have very fun with FE13, though.

[Batter the Beast]

Why this isn't my favorite:

• Pair up is a nice concept but its so imbalanced in this
• Favors super grinding a few units over a sizable army due to wtf growths all around and exp gains having a minimum of 8 per kill
• Rout and Defeat Commander only
• On that note, the Shepards always win, there are no escape/arrive or defend chapters like in FE5 and Tellius where victory is not an option
• Boring maps: We need more chokepoints and more long range shit like staves and ballistae
• On that note, no status staves make me very sad :<

Why Thracia is my favorite

• Leaf actually fails quite often and does stupid shit aka hes not perfect like SO many other lords
• So many kinds of objectives and different kinds of maps
• Status staves really mix things up in the later chapters
• Stats aren't all that important and the game's difficulty isn't purely dependent on enemy stats
• I like games that have broken shit like Thracia's skills and Warp staves

[Anacybele]

Awakening isn't my favorite, but it's VERY close behind Radiant Dawn. I still like RD more for the better story, longer length, and slightly better characters. I also like some of its gameplay mechanics more (climbing ledges and using ranged attacks from them is awesome). But I love many things about Awakening too, like pair-up, the customization, DLC, and other stuff that wasn't in RD as well.

But my perfect FE game would combine these two, so yeah. :3

[Knight]

A bunch of my newcomer friends would disagree with you.

Fresh blood into the series is hard to get if you have Hard Mode difficulty for normal mode right off the bat.

n00bs can go die

[Rainbow Skittles]

hell no. I still like the game, it has good gameplay (aside from pairup and lolveteran), but shallow characters and meh story. Comepare the game to FE9, which has less variables but is overall a more enjoyable game because of more balanced gameplay, fleshed out characters, and kewl story.

but then again, to every man his own opinion. if you love the game, thats cool too.

[Loki Laufeyson]

only beaten by the MSTRPIECE that is Xenoblade.

SMILEY HAPPY!

Poll question, no, its not my favorite FE, but it is very close. Awakening did come very close to dethroning FE7 as my fave but theres reasons why it didnt.

Reasons why i still like FE7 better:

Better plot: The plot in FE7 is not exactly super mega awesome. The best plot in an FE game (that ive played, so FE4 doesnt register) ive seen so far is FE9's. But FE7's has some really great moments. I particularly loved the Bern arc.

Multiple Lords: Awakening has two Lords but only one is forced. (Chrom) Lucina has better plot importance than her daddy (imo), but i liked having a trio of Lords and being able to follow separate storylines for each.

Hector Mode: This is the best thing about FE7 imo. Well aside from another aspect which ill get to in a minute. Hector mode feels like the Official mode due to more chapters and story significance. It is only possible to recruit every character (save one) with Hector mode. (the one character im talking about is either Wallace or Geitz. You only get one or the other, never both.) Plus Hector mode is just funner in my opinion.

Gaiden Chapters: Most of these are only available in Hector mode. One of them is so tricky to get, but kinda worth it for story reasons. Ive only gotten chapter 19xx once, but it was sweet ass shit when i did!

Length: I think aside from RD, FE7 is the longest FE game. I like that.

What Did Awakening Do Oh-So-Right To Nearly Knock FE7 Down A Peg:

Character Pairings/Supports: I love futzing around with this mechanic. Its a lot of fun and really adds to the replayablity of the game.

Base: Like the Tellius games, this one had the return of the Base of Operations which is great. I love that mechanic so much.

Second Gen Characters: This goes with the pairing system, but i enjoy getting these guys.

Colorful Characters: While some of them are rather one-note, a lot of characters are pretty interesting and fun to watch interact.

A Good Reclassing System/Infinite Levels: This is great because the post-game is a lot like FE8s. Trying new things with characters and skills.

Voice Acting: This is kinda huge actually. Outside of cutscenes, we finally get some voice acting. And its pretty high quality. It doesnt beat out the Mighty King of Voice Acting of Xenoblade (for me at least), but it does well.

Replayability/DLC: Yeah. Post-game is fun as fuck. I like how the Paralogues act like the gaiden chapters of FE7, but it is cool that you can do them whenever. DLC is pretty good overall. I bought all of them save the Challenge pack. Not bad. Its fun to go back and try new combos and stuff after finishing the game.

One of my "catchphrases" is: "What? You play Awakening for the plot?"

Edited July 31, 2013 by Florina Stark

[Peckingbird]

Fe13's good: there are a few let downs though.

Lack of:

• Diversity in level objective,
• Continuitity in the plot,
• Light magic,
• Early-Mid game longbows,
• Rescue!?! (Pairing up's OP).

All of these things put it bellow FE7 in my books. That's not including how broken the game is, with easy Nos-tanking and the like. It's in my top 3 though! (Right after FE9).

Edit: Also no Lucius. =[ Without him there making things more epic, than both sugar and honey in my tea, the game feels like an injection of flat vimto.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Peckingbird

[Anacybele]

Hah, Florina, we have a similar view yet again. Awakening almost dethroned RD for me too. XD

[Airship Canon]

Length: I think aside from RD, FE7 is the longest FE game. I like that.

Actually not when it comes to the amount of missions, Awakening has the most... BY FAR. (Also 7 > RD)

RD: 42

FE7: 45

Awakening: 50 (+ 25 (DLC))

Awakening's engine runs significantly faster which makes it feel shorter, but it's actually the longest if you do everything. It's got a shorter main campaign (It's PoR length, actually) but the amount of "gaiden" chapters (Paralogues) brings it up much farther.

[shadykid]

Actually not when it comes to the amount of missions, Awakening has the most... BY FAR. (Also 7 > RD)

RD: 42

FE7: 45

Awakening: 50 (+ 25 (DLC))

Awakening's engine runs significantly faster which makes it feel shorter, but it's actually the longest if you do everything. It's got a shorter main campaign (It's PoR length, actually) but the amount of "gaiden" chapters (Paralogues) brings it up much farther.

well you see, given that the 3DS is the most recent Nintendo console with a Fire Emblem, it should run faster....

[Loki Laufeyson]

Actually not when it comes to the amount of missions, Awakening has the most... BY FAR. (Also 7 > RD)

RD: 42

FE7: 45

Awakening: 50 (+ 25 (DLC))

Awakening's engine runs significantly faster which makes it feel shorter, but it's actually the longest if you do everything. It's got a shorter main campaign (It's PoR length, actually) but the amount of "gaiden" chapters (Paralogues) brings it up much farther.

Main game, brah, main game. Paralogues and DLC are actually optional. Due to Awakening's style being a tad less linear, it makes for optional stuff to be easier to access. Post-game IS where its at in Awakening, due to all the content. I do tend to deliberately stretch out the main campaign for this reason and do all the paralogues/DLC/Spotpass stuff before the final chapter. But this is an optional choice. FE7's happen within the main game itself. So it feels longer.