Nohr Hard mode has to be my favorite Fire Emblem in terms of difficulty

[Magikarpador]

Keep in mind, I'm only halfway through and I haven't touched anything else in Fates, but it just works so well. I expected it to be like Awakening where Hard mode is basically as difficult as the default in other Fire Emblems, but it surprised me in being honestly difficult. Not so difficult that it requires prior knowledge and a perfect army, but enough that it really does require you to pay attention to get everyone through in one piece. Dual Strike and Dual Guard not being randomized along with many enemy skills simply being guaranteed, while brutal, takes a lot of the frustration out of it and gives you a lot of room to play around it. Like, Chapter 10 really pushed me to my extents as a player and only after several tries was I able to finally come up with something that just barely got me the win.