What Fire Emblem game do you recommend the most to a newcomer?

[Reality]

 

By availability- easiest to obtain to hardest to obtain.

Wii U Vitual Console English - Blazing Blade (FE7) and Sacred Stones (FE8)

3DS games (cartridge or digital download available) Awakening (FE13) Fates: Conquest (FE14C) Fates: Birthright (FE14B) Shadows of Valentia (FE15)

Shadow Dragon for the original Nintendo DS (tends to be very cheap in used game stores)

Japan exclusive handheld games Blazing Sword (FE6) and New Mystery (FE12)

Famicom/Super Famicom Games (FE1 -FE2 - FE3- FE4 - FE5) Blade of Light, Gaiden, Mystery of Emblem, Genealogy of Holy War, and Thracia 776 

Gamecube-Wii - Very expensive to obtain due to low print run- tend to be scalped for inflated prices on amazon etc. Path of Radiance (FE9) and Raidant Dawn (FE10)

)

By difficulty

Fates Conquest

Radiant Dawn

New Mystery

Shadow Dragon (second playthrough on harder difficulty only)

Blazing Sword (FE6)

All the other game's are designed as entry level RPGs despite the permadeath

Personally, I think that the first Nine games all have game play flaws that could lead to a newcomer being turned off from getting into the wider series

FE1 - Bad User Interface, laughablly bad enemy stats, player charathers grow extremely fast in both bulk and offensive power, including main lord (thus making game over's extremely unlikely)

FE2 - An incredibly gimmicky game, but even when it is working as intended, you have to accept that this game is  designed more than any other as an old school RPG- Grinding for experience is actually expected of you. 

FE3 - Heavy Slowdown issues. Enemy Stats aren't much better than FE1, (it's definately easier than Sacred Stones / FE7's despite those not being hard to begin with) Game gives you tools to superpower charathers.

FE4 - This game is more designed as a multi party RPG than a strategy game. Most FE games might have 4-5 broken player controled charathers, but this game pushes it into the double digit teritory. A Very slow-paced game to go through.

FE5 - Game features extremely low quality enemy stats - it has some interestling thought out ideas with map design and will use sub-bosses/balissta/siege weapons/ and lack of res growth- to create a challenge, but because of the actual enemy quality, you can easily ration experience to multiple characters and "beef" through the game with brute force. And this is on the Main maps without taking time to farm out or anything- This game just has cannon fodder everywhere.

FE6- Features high enemy stats as the main source of difficulty. Strips down map design/mechanics. Unfortunaetly, the high enemy stats only do their job for the first half or so of the game- The last half can remain difficult if you ignore the game's advice and use your hand-raised charathers, but the game heavily tries to railroad you into using pre-promoted charathers, who you get increasilingly large numbers of made available.

FE7- Features terrible enemy stats  especially in speed (although not as terrible as FE1,3,5) Has a very blunt "railroaded" tutorial section which takes all the momentum away from the start of the game and in my opinion, does not treat players with the respect of being able to understand things themselves.

FE8 - Features an insane amount of money, takes off limits to when you can acess shops to spend it, Extremely strong player charathers, including the first 3 you get. Also it features less content than other games, only having 25 chapters in the main game.

FE9- Features extremely buffed player charathers. Enemy forces are restricted from using promoted units for longer than other games in the series. Has very long, unskippable attack animations.

My complaint about low difficulty is not shared by everybody, but  I think it is justifed, as many people claim that "permadeath" is a selling point of the series that encourages people to adopt a strategic mindset when playing Fire Emblem. However- of these games, (FE1,FE3.FE4,FE8,FE9) are all designed (mapwise, not mechanics wise) so that it is very possible to go through their entire campaign without encountering the permadeath mechanic. FE7 is an outlier in that you will probbably go through however many hours normal mode takes without encountering it, but will have fair chance of doing so on Hard mode. FE2, FE5 and FE6 are the only games in this set where besides being possible, it is a likely event for a casual playthrough to encounter at least a few times. However, all three of these games fall off over time (with some 1 off map exceptions in FE5's case) as you get into their late/mid game, because they are designed to be challeningg around a diffeence in player-enemy stats  but don't provide many ways to make challenge in the event of both players and enemies having high stats.

It is very possible to play these games, instead of as a unique "strategy RPG" as a traditional RPG.  The way levels ups and stat progression is balanced is not very graceful.

The games from 10 on provide a more balanced experience.

FE10 - Challenging map design. Game takes a four Act strucutre and not all parts are equally balanced. Generally it will give you a hard section such as (Part 1 or aspects of Part 3)- and then give you an easy section to relieve stress/feel empowered (Part 2 and most of Part 4) However unlike FE6, you have more flexibility in how you approach the difficult sections of the game, because you can transfer skills to change the offensive output of your team and thankfuly FE10 avoids having excessive super-defensive (enemy phase) units that plauge most of the series except part 4

FE 11 - FE 11 has many difficulty modes. In ways it is like FE7 - Normal Mode can be completable by anyone, regardless of their skill. (It takes so much map design from FE1 that it is inevitably made into a cakewalk) However the game provides replay value in its hard modes, which provide increasingly levels of challenge, eventually going far beyond what FE6 and FE10 offer. Additionally, the player options are more mechanically interesting than in FE6 - it is not simply a matter of having a unit with the right stats in the right place, as you can now change unit classes, use siege weapons yourself, forge weapons, etc.  Well rounded for both players looking for an easy game And players looking for challenge, or simply, for a game that has the potential for many hours of content.

FE12 - Doesn't rely on the higher modes to the degree that FE12 does- it does not quite make the (first) Normal difficulty mode completely free, although it is generally easy due to giving you a group of units with guranteed (relatively) free experience via the prologue chapters. The higher difficulty modes are again the star of this game, but while FE11 relies on enemy quality more than map design, FE12 limits itself a lot less in this regard.

FE13 -  Fire Emblem Awakening is infamous for it's accesiblitly. While the middle games (FE7-9) are easy, this game pushes the difficulty back to Famicom/Super Famicom levels- you can "accidentally" solo large swathes of this game's map by simple virtue of your highest movement unit getting all the enemyies (with no risk to themself). However the game feature a Lunatic and a Lunatic+ difficulty, which I have complicated reservations about nonethless make this game conceptually a more in depth challenge than the first 9 games.

FE14 Birthright -  A controversial game. It is slightly more balanced than FE13 and the Famicom/SFAC games, but finds itself not remaining equal to the GBA games at ALL times- rather it fluctuates slightly below and slightly above them in its map design quality.  It also has a hard difficulty mode for second playthroughs, which isn't as good as FE10,FE11,FE12, arguably FE13 (it requires less effort overall, especialy regarding planning, but requires more effort in areas such as positioning). Like FE13, the lunatic difficulty of Birthright makes  more in depth than the first 9 games, especially as it isn't an infelxible difficulty that is best approached in a single way, as something like FE6 is- you can use pair up mechanics, reclassing, reverse weapons, non healing staves, etc. Some of this is kind of "bells and whistles" but for the most part it is a big help to allowing players to be creative.

FE 14 Conquest -  more on that later

FE15 - This game  is the bad apple of all the modern Fire Emblems due to being a remake of FE2. It is a much smoother game than FE2, due to modern enhancements, especially in gamespeed and presentation. However, it is not Properly a strategy game. I can say that treated as an RPG it is  solid good quality game for the 3DS.

My main concern with bringing up game play rather than story or presentation- is that for a newcomer, it is important that the series does not come off as shallow- 

For this reason- I think that the best game to start with is Conquest, followed by Awakening and Birthright. followed by Radiant Dawn.

Conquest is treated as if it was a brick wall by many members of the community (especially in this thread), but it very much teaches you how to cope with it enough in order to beat it, especially if you play on normal mode first.  And unlike Radiant Dawn/Shadow Dragon/New Mystery- the game intelligently makes its (game systems) work hand in hand with its (map and scenario design)- while the former are not the best in the series- it is notable that in most other games with good maps (FE11 especially), they do not become worthwhile as much because of mechanics more complicated than simple stats and limiting the player's ability.  It is the kind of game where you can fall so in love with the game pushing back,  that after playing 15-17 chapters of Normal Mode, you might have the motivation to start the Hard or Lunatic Mode already- A far cry from a game that is "too hard" where such love is earned from players much more rarely and with greater time investment.

Awakening is a very enjoyable experience for new people (at least it was for my niece) and moreso than most RPGs, it isn't designed to be a one-and-done game. Which iss a big selling point. Beyond this, I enjoy the game for being able to take a humanist worldview that a concern for realism, or more often drama, cannot be associated with other games (maybe for small arcs, but not the entire scope of the game). I enjoy it's Lunaitc mode, although I freely admit that I do not think it represents the SRPG specific design very well.

Birthright is similiar. Gameplaywise it's normal mode has a bit more of an edge to it, but it still isn't enough to prevent anyone from playing at the speed they waqnt rather than the speed the game wants them too. It's High difficulty mode is an interesting reversal of other games as it does not actually become too much harder in midgame. but the later game (where FE6/FE10 and FE11 to extent) practically give the player a break, actually functions as the apex of the game's challenge. It represents the unique potential of the sub-genre better than Awakening. 

Radiant Dawn is solid, but I hesitate to recommend it due to the rampant price-gouging.In addition, it is not as consistent as I would like, throughout (some breaks are welcome, but RD overdues it and just makes me want to return to the good maps even more) Finally, many people I meet obsess over doing things in order, and would probbably want to play the game's prequel Path of Radiance, first- which is problematic because the mechanically uninteresting design of Path of Radiance has a chance of killing interest in starting another game.

Shadow Dragon / New Mystery, despite the testiomony of some people, I do not feel logically encourage people playing on Normal mode to try out the other stuff the game has to offer as well as Birthright/Awakening/Conquest, despite that once you do so it does rise to greater heights.

[Shadow Mir]

9 minutes ago, Reality said:

 

By availability- easiest to obtain to hardest to obtain.

 

  Hide contents

 

Wii U Vitual Console English - Blazing Blade (FE7) and Sacred Stones (FE8)

3DS games (cartridge or digital download available) Awakening (FE13) Fates: Conquest (FE14C) Fates: Birthright (FE14B) Shadows of Valentia (FE15)

Shadow Dragon for the original Nintendo DS (tends to be very cheap in used game stores)

Japan exclusive handheld games Blazing Sword (FE6) and New Mystery (FE12)

Famicom/Super Famicom Games (FE1 -FE2 - FE3- FE4 - FE5) Blade of Light, Gaiden, Mystery of Emblem, Genealogy of Holy War, and Thracia 776 

Gamecube-Wii - Very expensive to obtain due to low print run- tend to be scalped for inflated prices on amazon etc. Path of Radiance (FE9) and Raidant Dawn (FE10)

)

By difficulty

 

  Hide contents

 

Fates Conquest

Radiant Dawn

New Mystery

Shadow Dragon (second playthrough on harder difficulty only)

Blazing Sword (FE6)

All the other game's are designed as entry level RPGs despite the permadeath

 

Personally, I think that the first Nine games all have game play flaws that could lead to a newcomer being turned off from getting into the wider series

 

  Hide contents

 

FE1 - Bad User Interface, laughablly bad enemy stats, player charathers grow extremely fast in both bulk and offensive power, including main lord (thus making game over's extremely unlikely)

FE2 - An incredibly gimmicky game, but even when it is working as intended, you have to accept that this game is  designed more than any other as an old school RPG- Grinding for experience is actually expected of you. 

FE3 - Heavy Slowdown issues. Enemy Stats aren't much better than FE1, (it's definately easier than Sacred Stones / FE7's despite those not being hard to begin with) Game gives you tools to superpower charathers.

FE4 - This game is more designed as a multi party RPG than a strategy game. Most FE games might have 4-5 broken player controled charathers, but this game pushes it into the double digit teritory. A Very slow-paced game to go through.

FE5 - Game features extremely low quality enemy stats - it has some interestling thought out ideas with map design and will use sub-bosses/balissta/siege weapons/ and lack of res growth- to create a challenge, but because of the actual enemy quality, you can easily ration experience to multiple characters and "beef" through the game with brute force. And this is on the Main maps without taking time to farm out or anything- This game just has cannon fodder everywhere.

FE6- Features high enemy stats as the main source of difficulty. Strips down map design/mechanics. Unfortunaetly, the high enemy stats only do their job for the first half or so of the game- The last half can remain difficult if you ignore the game's advice and use your hand-raised charathers, but the game heavily tries to railroad you into using pre-promoted charathers, who you get increasilingly large numbers of made available.

FE7- Features terrible enemy stats  especially in speed (although not as terrible as FE1,3,5) Has a very blunt "railroaded" tutorial section which takes all the momentum away from the start of the game and in my opinion, does not treat players with the respect of being able to understand things themselves.

FE8 - Features an insane amount of money, takes off limits to when you can acess shops to spend it, Extremely strong player charathers, including the first 3 you get. Also it features less content than other games, only having 25 chapters in the main game.

FE9- Features extremely buffed player charathers. Enemy forces are restricted from using promoted units for longer than other games in the series. Has very long, unskippable attack animations.

 

My complaint about low difficulty is not shared by everybody, but  I think it is justifed, as many people claim that "permadeath" is a selling point of the series that encourages people to adopt a strategic mindset when playing Fire Emblem. However- of these games, (FE1,FE3.FE4,FE8,FE9) are all designed (mapwise, not mechanics wise) so that it is very possible to go through their entire campaign without encountering the permadeath mechanic. FE7 is an outlier in that you will probbably go through however many hours normal mode takes without encountering it, but will have fair chance of doing so on Hard mode. FE2, FE5 and FE6 are the only games in this set where besides being possible, it is a likely event for a casual playthrough to encounter at least a few times. However, all three of these games fall off over time (with some 1 off map exceptions in FE5's case) as you get into their late/mid game, because they are designed to be challeningg around a diffeence in player-enemy stats  but don't provide many ways to make challenge in the event of both players and enemies having high stats.

It is very possible to play these games, instead of as a unique "strategy RPG" as a traditional RPG.  The way levels ups and stat progression is balanced is not very graceful.

The games from 10 on provide a more balanced experience.

 

  Hide contents

 

FE10 - Challenging map design. Game takes a four Act strucutre and not all parts are equally balanced. Generally it will give you a hard section such as (Part 1 or aspects of Part 3)- and then give you an easy section to relieve stress/feel empowered (Part 2 and most of Part 4) However unlike FE6, you have more flexibility in how you approach the difficult sections of the game, because you can transfer skills to change the offensive output of your team and thankfuly FE10 avoids having excessive super-defensive (enemy phase) units that plauge most of the series except part 4

FE 11 - FE 11 has many difficulty modes. In ways it is like FE7 - Normal Mode can be completable by anyone, regardless of their skill. (It takes so much map design from FE1 that it is inevitably made into a cakewalk) However the game provides replay value in its hard modes, which provide increasingly levels of challenge, eventually going far beyond what FE6 and FE10 offer. Additionally, the player options are more mechanically interesting than in FE6 - it is not simply a matter of having a unit with the right stats in the right place, as you can now change unit classes, use siege weapons yourself, forge weapons, etc.  Well rounded for both players looking for an easy game And players looking for challenge, or simply, for a game that has the potential for many hours of content.

FE12 - Doesn't rely on the higher modes to the degree that FE12 does- it does not quite make the (first) Normal difficulty mode completely free, although it is generally easy due to giving you a group of units with guranteed (relatively) free experience via the prologue chapters. The higher difficulty modes are again the star of this game, but while FE11 relies on enemy quality more than map design, FE12 limits itself a lot less in this regard.

FE13 -  Fire Emblem Awakening is infamous for it's accesiblitly. While the middle games (FE7-9) are easy, this game pushes the difficulty back to Famicom/Super Famicom levels- you can "accidentally" solo large swathes of this game's map by simple virtue of your highest movement unit getting all the enemyies (with no risk to themself). However the game feature a Lunatic and a Lunatic+ difficulty, which I have complicated reservations about nonethless make this game conceptually a more in depth challenge than the first 9 games.

FE14 Birthright -  A controversial game. It is slightly more balanced than FE13 and the Famicom/SFAC games, but finds itself not remaining equal to the GBA games at ALL times- rather it fluctuates slightly below and slightly above them in its map design quality.  It also has a hard difficulty mode for second playthroughs, which isn't as good as FE10,FE11,FE12, arguably FE13 (it requires less effort overall, especialy regarding planning, but requires more effort in areas such as positioning). Like FE13, the lunatic difficulty of Birthright makes  more in depth than the first 9 games, especially as it isn't an infelxible difficulty that is best approached in a single way, as something like FE6 is- you can use pair up mechanics, reclassing, reverse weapons, non healing staves, etc. Some of this is kind of "bells and whistles" but for the most part it is a big help to allowing players to be creative.

FE 14 Conquest -  more on that later

FE15 - This game  is the bad apple of all the modern Fire Emblems due to being a remake of FE2. It is a much smoother game than FE2, due to modern enhancements, especially in gamespeed and presentation. However, it is not Properly a strategy game. I can say that treated as an RPG it is  solid good quality game for the 3DS.

 

My main concern with bringing up game play rather than story or presentation- is that for a newcomer, it is important that the series does not come off as shallow- 

For this reason- I think that the best game to start with is Conquest, followed by Awakening and Birthright. followed by Radiant Dawn.

Conquest is treated as if it was a brick wall by many members of the community (especially in this thread), but it very much teaches you how to cope with it enough in order to beat it, especially if you play on normal mode first.  And unlike Radiant Dawn/Shadow Dragon/New Mystery- the game intelligently makes its (game systems) work hand in hand with its (map and scenario design)- while the former are not the best in the series- it is notable that in most other games with good maps (FE11 especially), they do not become worthwhile as much because of mechanics more complicated than simple stats and limiting the player's ability.  It is the kind of game where you can fall so in love with the game pushing back,  that after playing 15-17 chapters of Normal Mode, you might have the motivation to start the Hard or Lunatic Mode already- A far cry from a game that is "too hard" where such love is earned from players much more rarely and with greater time investment.

Awakening is a very enjoyable experience for new people (at least it was for my niece) and moreso than most RPGs, it isn't designed to be a one-and-done game. Which iss a big selling point. Beyond this, I enjoy the game for being able to take a humanist worldview that a concern for realism, or more often drama, cannot be associated with other games (maybe for small arcs, but not the entire scope of the game). I enjoy it's Lunaitc mode, although I freely admit that I do not think it represents the SRPG specific design very well.

Birthright is similiar. Gameplaywise it's normal mode has a bit more of an edge to it, but it still isn't enough to prevent anyone from playing at the speed they waqnt rather than the speed the game wants them too. It's High difficulty mode is an interesting reversal of other games as it does not actually become too much harder in midgame. but the later game (where FE6/FE10 and FE11 to extent) practically give the player a break, actually functions as the apex of the game's challenge. It represents the unique potential of the sub-genre better than Awakening. 

Radiant Dawn is solid, but I hesitate to recommend it due to the rampant price-gouging.In addition, it is not as consistent as I would like, throughout (some breaks are welcome, but RD overdues it and just makes me want to return to the good maps even more) Finally, many people I meet obsess over doing things in order, and would probbably want to play the game's prequel Path of Radiance, first- which is problematic because the mechanically uninteresting design of Path of Radiance has a chance of killing interest in starting another game.

Shadow Dragon / New Mystery, despite the testiomony of some people, I do not feel logically encourage people playing on Normal mode to try out the other stuff the game has to offer as well as Birthright/Awakening/Conquest, despite that once you do so it does rise to greater heights.

 

 

 

 

Dude. Seriously? You're recommending Conquest to start out??? Even though said game is rather punishing, with a defend chapter that'd probably hand a noob's rear to them over and over again, to say nothing of the endgame, among others??? Sorry, but I don't see Conquest as beginner friendly. At all.

[Reality]

 

2 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Dude. Seriously? You're recommending Conquest to start out??? Even though said game is rather punishing, with a defend chapter that'd probably hand a noob's rear to them over and over again, to say nothing of the endgame, among others??? Sorry, but I don't see Conquest as beginner friendly. At all.

I see "beginner" as different from "newcomer"

My thoughts are that if for someone interested in videogames, their first Fire Emblem game should be one that justifies their interest with its depth.

Maybe I wouldn't recommend it to a child or something, but even then I feel like, a lot of people played harder games when they were young (succesfully) than when they were older. At least I did. For me, Conquest has the whole "uphill struggle" thing- it becomes attractive to play through  because every time it gets hard it inspires you to play better and finally reach a real sense of accomplishment that is different from the sense of simple completion you get with a game that you pass through on a first or near-first play through.. 

[Shadow Mir]

Just now, Reality said:

 

I see "beginner" as different from "newcomer"

My thoughts are that if for someone interested in videogames, their first Fire Emblem game should be one that justifies their interest with its depth.

Maybe I wouldn't recommend it to a child or something, but even then I feel like, a lot of people played harder games when they were young (succesfully) than when they were older. At least I did. For me, Conquest has the whole "uphill struggle" thing- it becomes attractive to play through  because every time it gets hard it inspires you to play better and finally reach a real sense of accomplishment that is different from the sense of simple completion you get with a game that you pass through on a first or near-first play through.. 

Still, I think Conquest has a high chance of discouraging newcomers from trying other FE games if they get frustrated with it, which is likely inevitable, and Radiant Dawn is no better in that aspect with part 1 being ball-bustingly difficult.

[RedRob]

There's also the fact that Conquest story sucks. I don't think anyone should have that as their first experience to Fire Emblem. Both gameplay and storywise, Conquest is not for someone new to the franchise.

I would either recommend Blazing Blade or Sacred Stones, since they're pretty easy and conventional, and storywise, better than the 3DS games in my opinion.

Shadow Dragon might be good too, since a good part of the series is basically rehashing characters from it. Though storywise,(in regards to characterization) and graphicswise, any of the GBA games beat it.

 

 

[Shadow Mir]

1 minute ago, RedRob said:

I would either recommend Blazing Blade or Sacred Stones, since they're pretty easy and conventional, and storywise, better than the 3DS games in my opinion.

I would agree, except story wise in the case of Sacred Stones.

[Icelerate]

I'd say FE7. After all, it was the first FE game released in the west. Lyn mode explains how to play the game and the game is a solid FE experience that can get you into the series. I got into FE due to FE7 myself. FE8 is a good choice as well. 

[RedRob]

2 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

I would agree, except story wise in the case of Sacred Stones.

While I see where you're coming from, SS being one of the weaker stories in FE, I hesitate to call it worse than Fates, which is like an incest fantasy centered around a Gary Stu/Mary Sue. It doesn't screw up it's themes like SoV with Alm being royalty and trying to make the player sympathize with an arrogant douche like Berkut. SS writing might be on the weaker side, but I don't really recall any moments that makes me think "The f*ck were the writers thinking?" Though in retrospect, I put it on similar footing with Awakening.

 

[Shadow Mir]

9 minutes ago, RedRob said:

While I see where you're coming from, SS being one of the weaker stories in FE, I hesitate to call it worse than Fates, which is like an incest fantasy centered around a Gary Stu/Mary Sue. It doesn't screw up it's themes like SoV with Alm being royalty and trying to make the player sympathize with an arrogant douche like Berkut. SS writing might be on the weaker side, but I don't really recall any moments that makes me think "The f*ck were the writers thinking?" Though in retrospect, I put it on similar footing with Awakening.

 

Personally, I think such moments are everywhere in Sacred Stones, especially in Eirika's route.

[Dracologist]

I would recommend Sacred Stones. It's simple, not too difficult, and has some solid characters, if I remember correctly. It's been a few years since I last played it, but I remember enjoying it very much. Also, with Ephraim and Erika's separate routes, it's basically two games in one.

[Alastor15243]

I vote for Blazing Sword because it’s a good game, it’s cheaper than the 3DS ones, and if you don’t play it first, that ever-so-helpful tutorial will wind up coming across as a bit annoying. You only need to do it once though before you can play lyn mode on hard and never have to do the tutorial again, and as I said, if it’s your first game you won’t mind it at all. Also, the pair up system is something I suspect would be a bit much to take in all at once along with the rest of the mechanics.

 

Also, whatever you decide to play first,  DO NOT PLAY ON CASUAL.

I know permadeath is intimidating and all, but the game’s difficulty is balanced around it, and playing on casual will make the game way less engaging and satisfying. You won’t get a good first impression of the game if you play on casual.

Edited October 24, 2017 by Alastor15243

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, whatever you decide to play first,  DO NOT PLAY ON CASUAL.

I know permadeath is intimidating and all, but the game’s difficulty is balanced around it, and playing on casual will make the game way less engaging and satisfying. You won’t get a good first impression of the game if you play on casual.

As someone who started with Casual Mode, i disagree with this. I started with Casual Mode and look at me now, i've played every game in the series except FE1, F9, and FE10. Casual Mode is not bad for beginners. If anything, it's actually pretty helpful for beginners to get used to the series. Then, once the player gets a hang of the mechanics, they can try again with Classic Mode.

it's like learning to ride a bike. You start with the training wheels, and then you take them off once you get good.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

As someone who started with Casual Mode, i disagree with this. I started with Casual Mode and look at me now, i've played every game in the series except FE1, F9, and FE10. Casual Mode is not bad for beginners. If anything, it's actually pretty helpful for beginners to get used to the series. Then, once the player gets a hang of the mechanics, they can try again with Classic Mode.

it's like learning to ride a bike. You start with the training wheels, and then you take them off once you get good.

And how often did you actually lose on Casual mode? The restarting threshold difference between classic and casual is astronomical. Losing casual mode requires a total party wipe, something so rare I can't remember a single scenario in the entire history of me playing Fire Emblem, which is since I was twelve, where that would ever have happened.

I just don't understand the appeal of casual mode. There are easy modes for people who have trouble. Casual mode is practically an entirely different game from classic mode.

[Armagon]

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And how often did you actually lose on Casual mode? The restarting threshold difference between classic and casual is astronomical. Losing casual mode requires a total party wipe, something so rare I can't remember a single scenario in the entire history of me playing Fire Emblem, which is since I was twelve, where that would ever have happened.

I just don't understand the appeal of casual mode. There are easy modes for people who have trouble. Casual mode is practically an entirely different game from classic mode.

Awakening was my first FE game and despite me playing on Casual Modes, there were chapters that gave me legitimate trouble and i felt the need to grind. This was on Normal btw. Main reason being was that someone of my units were behind because they "died" in Casual Mode, which meant that they didn't get EXP, which meant i suffered in the long run. Casual Mode still has stakes, just not to the extent that Casual Mode.

[Alastor15243]

16 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Awakening was my first FE game and despite me playing on Casual Modes, there were chapters that gave me legitimate trouble and i felt the need to grind. This was on Normal btw. Main reason being was that someone of my units were behind because they "died" in Casual Mode, which meant that they didn't get EXP, which meant i suffered in the long run. Casual Mode still has stakes, just not to the extent that Casual Mode.

But you were playing Awakening, the game that most rewards funneling experience into a handful of units. If a few of your units were underleveled from continuously dying, that means a few of your units were overleveled, which would make it even harder to get a game over. And for perspective, funneling all of your experience into 2 or 3 units can trivialize every difficulty level except Lunatic+. I'm having difficulty visualizing the scenario you're describing. Are you saying you got late-game total party wipes because you didn't spread your experience thin enough? Because that doesn't make any sense.

Edited October 25, 2017 by Alastor15243

[Armagon]

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

But you were playing Awakening, the game that most rewards funneling experience into a handful of units. If a few of your units were underleveled from continuously dying, that means a few of your units were overleveled, which would make it even harder to get a game over. And for perspective, funneling all of your experience into 2 or 3 units can trivialize every difficulty level except Lunatic+. I'm having difficulty visualizing the scenario you're describing. Are you saying you got late-game total party wipes because you didn't spread your experience thin enough? Because that doesn't make any sense.

I never had total party wipes but a lot of my units were still pretty weak. Even Chrom himself was pretty weak. My only real good units where Frederick, Robin, and Lon'qu. Now granted, the former two are the only units you ever really need in Awakening, but back then, i didn't know that. I remember particularly at Ch.19, i would lose like half my army within the first three turns. So i backed out, grinded, recruited some child units in the process, and then came back and handled it pretty well.

Admittedly, Awakening isn't the best game to handle Casual Mode; New Mystery, Fates, and SoV handle it better. My main point is that Casual Mode still has it's stakes and is still useful for beginners, me being proof of that.

[Alastor15243]

9 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I never had total party wipes

But that's my point. You were playing a game you basically could not lose. You were playing a game at a difficulty leagues below your skill level because you were intimidated by a difficulty setting that sounded harder than it really was. That's not engaging, that's a movie with repetitive fight scenes.

My point to the OP is this: permadeath isn't nearly as scary or difficult as it sounds. Don't let a scary-sounding feature persuade you to cheat yourself out of an engaging first experience with the series. It's not worth it.

Edited October 25, 2017 by Alastor15243

[Armagon]

13 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

But that's my point. You were playing a game you basically could not lose. You were playing a game at a difficulty leagues below your skill level because you were intimidated by a difficulty setting that sounded harder than it really was. That's not engaging, that's a movie with repetitive fight scenes.

I wasn't intimidated by Classic Mode. I tried it at first but got absolutely destroyed by Ch.6. So i restarted my save and went with Casual, since i clearly needed training. (You'll probably say something like "why didn't you say that from the start" but that's because i don't really consider my very first Awakening save file to be legitimate, since i had to restart due to how bad i was doing)

But what's wrong with a game you can't really lose? There's plenty of good games out there that you can't lose. But that's a topic for another day.

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

 

But what's wrong with a game you can't really lose? There's plenty of good games out there that you can't lose. But that's a topic for another day.

A strategy game you can’t lose is like a puzzle with no wrong solutions. This isn’t an environmental narrative game or a game that prioritizes score over objectives. This is a genre whose entire appeal is using your brain to come up with clever solutions to what the game can throw at you.

Edited October 25, 2017 by Alastor15243

[Quintessence]

This is why I don't recommend 3DS titles for beginners on the series, because they have so many variables and information that will be difficult for a player to handle. GBA versions are more beginner friendly because it reduces itself to a battle calculator, numbers and simpler stuff. This is why Blazing Sword does so well.

Awakening and Fates offer right from the start a lot of information in the form of skills, dual attacks, pair ups, tonics, a family of seals and on top of that Dragon Veins. These require the player to be aware of multiple factors at the same time and will typically slow down the play rhythm and make it less smooth.

[Alastor15243]

15 minutes ago, Quintessence said:

This is why I don't recommend 3DS titles for beginners on the series, because they have so many variables and information that will be difficult for a player to handle. GBA versions are more beginner friendly because it reduces itself to a battle calculator, numbers and simpler stuff. This is why Blazing Sword does so well.

Awakening and Fates offer right from the start a lot of information in the form of skills, dual attacks, pair ups, tonics, a family of seals and on top of that Dragon Veins. These require the player to be aware of multiple factors at the same time and will typically slow down the play rhythm and make it less smooth.

Agreed. The advance games introduce the basic core elements without having overly archaic interfaces, they’re an ideal place to start, but specifically 7 is the best.

[Log Man™]

23 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

First, I just want to say that's a lovely profile picture and username.

And forgive me for referring to you as a "newbie".  I'm not trying to be condescending at all when I use word; after all, it wasn't terribly long ago that I was pretty much in your shoes.

It's fine that you call me a newbie; since I really don't care what people call me. Also, thank you for the compliment on my profile pic. or username, whether ironic or not. This username and picture came about from a game of pretend you're xyzzy.

 

[Book Bro]

I would recommend Sacred Stones (GBA, Wii U VC) or Fates: Birthright (3DS).

SS is pretty easy but still enjoyable and has a solid story and cast. For a newcomer, it will still present some challenge without getting frustrating and it's a good introduction to FE.

Birthright is pretty much the official "starter" Fates game. It has the easiest gameplay of the three routes, but for me it was still an enjoyable playthrough. The characters are good, and the story is pretty basic FE, which is why I'd say it's a good starting point. The gameplay in Fates is pretty unique, so just keep that in mind when going back to older games afterward.

Both are easy to get a hold of, too.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Honestly I'd recommend to play Awakening or Birthright first because they are simple and limited in their gameplay in terms of mechanics. Games like Thracia 776 or Radiant Dawn are way more complex with deeper game mechanics than the two I mentioned above. If you play Awakening after Radiant Dawn like I did, you might become disappointed because this game has way less to offer regarding mechanics and map design than Radiant Dawn has.

[Harvey]

Those who are recommending Blazing Blade or Sacred Stones are not getting the issues particularly on how to get those games.

If you get a used copy, be prepared to end up with the GBA battery that has a chance of not working. It happened to me after beating the main game once and after a while, the data's gone.

Then there's the problem that newcomers aren't into retro gaming. FE7 and FE8 are considered retro games because they are released on a system that is now pretty much outdated. Getting used Game Boys isn't a big deal but to suggest those games at this point of time without any other means to get them is dumb unless you want the most authentic experience possible.

But wait..they are on the Wii U! Well good luck telling one to get one with the games because the Wii U is pretty much gone at this point.

So what to suggest at this point? Well for a newcomer, I'd say first get into Fire Emblem Heroes. Its free and it teaches the basic idea of Fire Emblem in a nutshell and since its on a phone, newcomers won't have to deal with gigantic maps that most of the games have even in the case of Awakening and Birthright.

Once you get the idea of it and just don't like Heroes, then sorry but trying out FE after Heroes is practically not working out for you because the main games are like Heroes only adding mechanics that make them more favorable than Heroes.

However, if you don't like Heroes but you find the core idea interesting, then you can try out Awakening as it is where you get the idea of what FE really is all about. You will learn about hit rates which Heroes doesn't teach you or even show you. You will also get how each stat is vital and how it helps the unit in the long run.

Not only that but Awakening compared to Birthright can be gotten like pretty cheap at this point unless I'm not mistaken. 

I'm not recommending Birthright because the game is way to easy to make a newcomer have doubts about the series in itself and just not get into FE in general. Atleast Awakening has weapon durability which adds a slight challenge to a newcomer.