It's really fucking long. Each route is lengthy on it's own, and there are 4 of them. I've played over 100 hours and am only halfway through the story of my second route playthrough
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Rank the Fire Emblem games you've played!
- Thread starter Chairman Yang
- Start date
1. Sacred Stones. A bit of a cheat since it's the first one I fully played, so it remains the definitive Fire Emblem experience to me. Favorite cast and solid story. Snappy yet flexible gameplay. On the easy side, but not so much that it becomes unengaging. Has probably the overall best lords in the series.
2. Conquest. From one of the easiest to one of the hardest. Map design is superb all across the board, and tons of mechanics from the weapon triangle to durability are revamped instead of blindly sticking to tradition. Solid characters all around, and that includes Corrin. Dumb story, but I posit it's not as dumb as many portray it as, and it is interesting.
3. Birthright. All the mechanical improvements Fates had across the board, but in a more digestible package. Maps aren't as good, but still pretty good overall for what the game was aiming for. Story is boringly inoffensive, and characters are good, but a noticeable step down from their Nohrian counterparts.
3a. Three Houses. I refuse to rate this until I complete all routes, but having completed Edelgard's route I'd put it around here if I had to. Gameplay is still solid, though a step back from Fates in most aspects. Good characters all around. Story hasn't impressed me, but I've still got much to see here. The Monastery is a big mixed bag.
4. Blazing Blade. Sacred Stones, but a bit rougher and snappier. The GBA games play well and have simple, but effective stories. Lots of little annoyances add up to make it not as well-put together as Sacred Stones, but still a blast to replay. Good characters, but the lords are a bit underwhelming.
5. Awakening. More freeform in its enjoyment, as it's more interesting to tinker with different builds and kids than it is to solidly execute a careful strategy. Plot and characters can be a bit messy at times, but nothing harmful.
6. Revelations. Mostly on the back of Fates's overall good mechanics and characters. Story is stupid, boring, and drags down the other routes. Maps are interesting, but are more focused on gimmicks over a good challenge. Lack of balance is obvious everywhere.
7. Binding Blade. Solid and good maps, but the lack of polish compared to its successors is very obvious. Messy, and bad hit rates force more early-game luck than there should be. Characters aren't anything special, especially Roy. The story functions, and that's about it.
8. Shadows of Valentia: Mostly carried by its voice acting. Very charming cast with little meat to them. Story has some potential, but completely falls apart thematically. I don't think the maps are as bad as others say, but they're lower tier overall. Too many random and dungeon battles that drag down the pacing.
9. Shadow Dragon. The core Fire Emblem gameplay is solid enough that I won't call it a bad game. But it's ugly to look at and not balanced for the existence of the weapon triangle or effective weapons. Story actually put me to sleep. Characters are almost non-existent. Technically my first Fire Emblem, and it put me off from the series till I gave Sacred Stones a shot.
Not a bad game yet, even with the fluctuating quality. IS sure knows how to refine and evolve their formula.
2. Conquest. From one of the easiest to one of the hardest. Map design is superb all across the board, and tons of mechanics from the weapon triangle to durability are revamped instead of blindly sticking to tradition. Solid characters all around, and that includes Corrin. Dumb story, but I posit it's not as dumb as many portray it as, and it is interesting.
3. Birthright. All the mechanical improvements Fates had across the board, but in a more digestible package. Maps aren't as good, but still pretty good overall for what the game was aiming for. Story is boringly inoffensive, and characters are good, but a noticeable step down from their Nohrian counterparts.
3a. Three Houses. I refuse to rate this until I complete all routes, but having completed Edelgard's route I'd put it around here if I had to. Gameplay is still solid, though a step back from Fates in most aspects. Good characters all around. Story hasn't impressed me, but I've still got much to see here. The Monastery is a big mixed bag.
4. Blazing Blade. Sacred Stones, but a bit rougher and snappier. The GBA games play well and have simple, but effective stories. Lots of little annoyances add up to make it not as well-put together as Sacred Stones, but still a blast to replay. Good characters, but the lords are a bit underwhelming.
5. Awakening. More freeform in its enjoyment, as it's more interesting to tinker with different builds and kids than it is to solidly execute a careful strategy. Plot and characters can be a bit messy at times, but nothing harmful.
6. Revelations. Mostly on the back of Fates's overall good mechanics and characters. Story is stupid, boring, and drags down the other routes. Maps are interesting, but are more focused on gimmicks over a good challenge. Lack of balance is obvious everywhere.
7. Binding Blade. Solid and good maps, but the lack of polish compared to its successors is very obvious. Messy, and bad hit rates force more early-game luck than there should be. Characters aren't anything special, especially Roy. The story functions, and that's about it.
8. Shadows of Valentia: Mostly carried by its voice acting. Very charming cast with little meat to them. Story has some potential, but completely falls apart thematically. I don't think the maps are as bad as others say, but they're lower tier overall. Too many random and dungeon battles that drag down the pacing.
9. Shadow Dragon. The core Fire Emblem gameplay is solid enough that I won't call it a bad game. But it's ugly to look at and not balanced for the existence of the weapon triangle or effective weapons. Story actually put me to sleep. Characters are almost non-existent. Technically my first Fire Emblem, and it put me off from the series till I gave Sacred Stones a shot.
Not a bad game yet, even with the fluctuating quality. IS sure knows how to refine and evolve their formula.
- FE7- One of the few games I consider to be perfect. Tight gameplay, excellent map and objective design, fantastic supporting cast.
- Radiant Dawn- I kind of enjoy the broken, OP characters? Plus the map design is gimmicky in a good way (2-P, Elincia's Gambit, 3-13 among others). Ike's still the best but the real stars are Haar and the laguz royals.
- Path of Radiance- Actually only played this the once years ago, since I borrowed it and used copies are still stupid expensive. Cool game and a tighter one than RD is, but doesn't have the same ambition.
- Sacred Stones- Twins are great, Seth is fun to use, enjoyed the emphasis on magic because of the monsters. Map design isn't anything special but it is one of the few FEs with a postgame, so +1 for that.
- Echoes- Best production values in the series and I love the changes made to archery and combat arts, as well as the addition of the dungeon crawling. Map design is too faithful to the original, with a ton of open fields and swamps. Fuck swamps.
- Awakening- Brought me and many others back to the series and is really a celebration of it with the various Spotpass content. Nostalgia aside, it's fine. Pair-up breaks the game but it's not like Awakening on Hard was even that difficult to begin with. Don't know if I will ever replay it but I'm glad it exists.
Haven't finished my first TH run so its ranking is TBD. However, I'm starting to feel some burnout with it so that will probably knock it down a notch or two. During my first 30 hours I would have had it in the top 3 most likely, but now I think it will go below Sacred Stones.
I have to disagree with you here. If the cast of Fates was remotely interesting, I could have probably soldiered on, but I really did not care for any of them.
1. Radiant Dawn - I absolutly adore the characters of this game and it was my first own Fire Emblem game after discovering the series through a friend on his GBA. To this day it has the most interesting world of all the Fire Emblem games with all the different Shapeshifter Races. I have finished it at least three times.
2. Echos/Three Houses - These games set a new standard for the series with its production value. I also like the inclusions of the rewind time mechanic and how they handled the downtime between the battles and how they use it to flesh out the characters. Though they might have went a bit to far with it on Three Houses.
3. Fire Emblem(FE7)/Sacred Stones - The games that started it all for me. Lyn is still one of my all tme favourits, give her her rightful place in smash Sakurai!
4. Awakening - I am greatful that it saved the series and it was a great game
5. Path of Radiance - Only got to play it years after I played Radiant Dawn and while I was happy to spend more time with Ike and friends it really didn't age well...
6. Shadow Dragon - probably the ugliest Fire Emblem not counting the NES ones but it was solid on the gameplay front
7. Fates (Conquest and Birthright) - the less said about it the better
2. Echos/Three Houses - These games set a new standard for the series with its production value. I also like the inclusions of the rewind time mechanic and how they handled the downtime between the battles and how they use it to flesh out the characters. Though they might have went a bit to far with it on Three Houses.
3. Fire Emblem(FE7)/Sacred Stones - The games that started it all for me. Lyn is still one of my all tme favourits, give her her rightful place in smash Sakurai!
4. Awakening - I am greatful that it saved the series and it was a great game
5. Path of Radiance - Only got to play it years after I played Radiant Dawn and while I was happy to spend more time with Ike and friends it really didn't age well...
6. Shadow Dragon - probably the ugliest Fire Emblem not counting the NES ones but it was solid on the gameplay front
7. Fates (Conquest and Birthright) - the less said about it the better
1. Radiant Dawn - Enormous, wonderful cast, multiple playable perspectives, and an epic, personal, political story. Simple classes but varied objectives. Beginnings of a relationship system in combination with a large cast made this very replayable for me, in addition to the unlocked content on NG pluses. Very snappy and responsive too! And natively playable with a GameCube controller in order to not waste batteries using the Wiimote in those long hours.
Hearing the Wii console read the disc as I scrolled through the list of characters to sortie for the final maps of the game was hilarious yet amazing too. And those base conversations, whilst not as voluminous as later games, they were such a joy, so charmingly detailed(and so full of potential).
2. Path of Radiance - Prequel to Radiant Dawn that established a lot of the political players in the story of the two games. Such a grand, lovable story. Wonderful game that's quite a lot like Radiant Dawn in most departments, but with a singular story focus instead of the cumulative style that RD goes for. The save data can be transferred over to the sequel if you plug in the GameCube memory card into the Wii, which is a really cool touch. Both this and RD have really great maps.
3. Awakening - An easily likable and entertaining cast and story, that unfortunately as the game went on I cared less and less for. Despite that, the game was very fun and the shake up in art and music style was awesome!
4. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Very enjoyable cast and story, with a beautiful aesthetic and soundtrack. The dungeon crawling as well as the two concurrent perspectives was a nice structure for the game. Where the game drops in quality is, as everyone knows, those maps. Despite spending 40 hours with the game, I had forgotten I even played the game when it came to recalling the best games I played that particular year as those maps were so...bland.
Those are the 4 that I've finished. Didn't like the Fates games and Shadow Dragon. I have not played enough of the GBA games though I did like what I played of them.
Have only just started Three Houses buuuut with it being heavier on the RPG aspects, I could see it ranking pretty high, maybe even above Path of Radiance, but probably higher than Awakening. There is something to be said about brevity which is think will be the biggest difference between this entry and the rest of the series.
If we're counting #FE, I would put that at #3, above Awakening but below Path of Radiance. Some quality of life updates (let me skip animations please) and a switch port would be swell, Nintendo/Atlus! 👍
I am really looking forward to more English releases of previously Japan only games though, like Echoes. I hear such good things!
Hearing the Wii console read the disc as I scrolled through the list of characters to sortie for the final maps of the game was hilarious yet amazing too. And those base conversations, whilst not as voluminous as later games, they were such a joy, so charmingly detailed(and so full of potential).
2. Path of Radiance - Prequel to Radiant Dawn that established a lot of the political players in the story of the two games. Such a grand, lovable story. Wonderful game that's quite a lot like Radiant Dawn in most departments, but with a singular story focus instead of the cumulative style that RD goes for. The save data can be transferred over to the sequel if you plug in the GameCube memory card into the Wii, which is a really cool touch. Both this and RD have really great maps.
3. Awakening - An easily likable and entertaining cast and story, that unfortunately as the game went on I cared less and less for. Despite that, the game was very fun and the shake up in art and music style was awesome!
4. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Very enjoyable cast and story, with a beautiful aesthetic and soundtrack. The dungeon crawling as well as the two concurrent perspectives was a nice structure for the game. Where the game drops in quality is, as everyone knows, those maps. Despite spending 40 hours with the game, I had forgotten I even played the game when it came to recalling the best games I played that particular year as those maps were so...bland.
Those are the 4 that I've finished. Didn't like the Fates games and Shadow Dragon. I have not played enough of the GBA games though I did like what I played of them.
Have only just started Three Houses buuuut with it being heavier on the RPG aspects, I could see it ranking pretty high, maybe even above Path of Radiance, but probably higher than Awakening. There is something to be said about brevity which is think will be the biggest difference between this entry and the rest of the series.
If we're counting #FE, I would put that at #3, above Awakening but below Path of Radiance. Some quality of life updates (let me skip animations please) and a switch port would be swell, Nintendo/Atlus! 👍
I am really looking forward to more English releases of previously Japan only games though, like Echoes. I hear such good things!
I'll rank 3H and Thracia once I finish them.
- Genealogy of the Holy War. Really love the feel the big maps give to the sense and scale of conflict with a nice story. By far my favorite.
- Awakening. Awakening was a nice blend of so many of the series' mechanics that made for a fun ride.
- Radiant Dawn. This is the FE game where map design stuck with me the most. I can still feel the experience of some maps like Elincia's Gambit years later.
- Sacred Stones. It was my first fe game, and I wish I remembered more of it. Solid entry.
- Binding Blade. Similar to RD, but I feel it leaned a bit more towards frustrating. I never want to do Arcadia again 🤐
- New Mystery of the Emblem. Very solid entry and no real complaints other than maybe too many plot coupons.
- Echoes great presentation and improvement on Gaiden in every way, albeit it didn't need to use gsiden's maps.
- Fates. It's a hot mess of a game. I like it, despite its glaring flaws.
- Shadow Dragon. It's competent enough. That's about it.
- Path of Radiance. Way too vanilla. There isn't enough pressure to keep engaged and while worldbuilding is strong and cast is solid, that's all the game has going for it. It's a game where I feel I'd have a better time reading the script than playing the damn thing.
- Blazing blade. I find it utterly boring. By the time you get through lyn's mode which is a tutorial that is absolutely a product of its time, what follows is just too vanilla to feel rewarding.
I haven't finished Three Houses yet, atm it more or less PoR- and Seisen-tier. Also I haven't ranked Fates and Thracia (I still have to play them) and Awakening (I didn't really liked it but I played it only once, it would be on par with Echoes).
1. Shin Monshou No Nazo is the epitome of classic FE gameplay. Ugly graphics but eh, it's more Shadow Dragon's fault.
2. Path of Radiance has everything I love of the series: a deep lore, good characters and intriguing story. This time the story felt more "grounded": you aren't controlling a legendary hero, a demigod, or someone with noble blood, but just an average young boy whose father is killed by a mysterious knight. Perhaps the game was a little too easy, and the engine wasn't good at all (slow and ugly). I liked the BEXP, it felt like some maps had "subquests" inside them.
3. Seisen no Keifu is a very ambitious game. I loved its gameplay quirks and for a time it was my favourite. It has most of the things I like about PoR, but now I think that by today standard the cast isn't fleshed out enough. A remake should add some gaiden chapters focusing on parents' fate post-Belhalla and some support conversations. (The idea of including Thracia 776 is on paper is good, but the two games are too different mechanically to realistically work without destroying the design of one game)
3 (tier). Rekka no Ken. It was the first FE I played and I fell in loved with the series. As FE6 already covered the big, epic war ranging all around the continent, FE7 allowed itself to be more a more personal story and I loved that.
4. Radiant Dawn. Good game in theory, but I didn't like how you constantly switch party and the more "epic" tone the story has, compared to PoR. A noble failure.
5. Original Monshou No Nazo. It's still a good game, but it didn't age well, lacking lots of QoL features.
6. Sacred Stones. Not among the best, not among the worst. It had nothing I hated, nor nothing I loved. It was kind there.
7. Echoes. Loved the art direction, hated the gameplay with boring maps, teleporting witches and random battles.
8. Fuuin no Tsurugi. It felt very derivative of Marth's games and unbalanced. It was the first game without Kaga's involvement so it's clearly important from an historical perspective, but eh, it feels more like a beta of FE7.
9. Shadow Dragon. Boring, unambitious remake with ugly art direction. The game itself isn't so bad, but at the time it was very disappoiting and I thought replay
10. FE1-2. I tried them but they are too old for me, sorry.
1. Shin Monshou No Nazo is the epitome of classic FE gameplay. Ugly graphics but eh, it's more Shadow Dragon's fault.
2. Path of Radiance has everything I love of the series: a deep lore, good characters and intriguing story. This time the story felt more "grounded": you aren't controlling a legendary hero, a demigod, or someone with noble blood, but just an average young boy whose father is killed by a mysterious knight. Perhaps the game was a little too easy, and the engine wasn't good at all (slow and ugly). I liked the BEXP, it felt like some maps had "subquests" inside them.
3. Seisen no Keifu is a very ambitious game. I loved its gameplay quirks and for a time it was my favourite. It has most of the things I like about PoR, but now I think that by today standard the cast isn't fleshed out enough. A remake should add some gaiden chapters focusing on parents' fate post-Belhalla and some support conversations. (The idea of including Thracia 776 is on paper is good, but the two games are too different mechanically to realistically work without destroying the design of one game)
3 (tier). Rekka no Ken. It was the first FE I played and I fell in loved with the series. As FE6 already covered the big, epic war ranging all around the continent, FE7 allowed itself to be more a more personal story and I loved that.
4. Radiant Dawn. Good game in theory, but I didn't like how you constantly switch party and the more "epic" tone the story has, compared to PoR. A noble failure.
5. Original Monshou No Nazo. It's still a good game, but it didn't age well, lacking lots of QoL features.
6. Sacred Stones. Not among the best, not among the worst. It had nothing I hated, nor nothing I loved. It was kind there.
7. Echoes. Loved the art direction, hated the gameplay with boring maps, teleporting witches and random battles.
8. Fuuin no Tsurugi. It felt very derivative of Marth's games and unbalanced. It was the first game without Kaga's involvement so it's clearly important from an historical perspective, but eh, it feels more like a beta of FE7.
9. Shadow Dragon. Boring, unambitious remake with ugly art direction. The game itself isn't so bad, but at the time it was very disappoiting and I thought replay
10. FE1-2. I tried them but they are too old for me, sorry.
1. New Mystery of the Emblem - Very player-phase focused, great maps with solid mechanics, as well as a good overall war story. This is probably the best FE, but I wouldn't recommend playing this first or even second if you're looking to get into the series. You'll only really appreciate this one once you've played many other games in the series.
2. Thracia 776 - Great variety of maps with great gameplay. The story is very personal and has some of the strongest moments in the series. Again, not recommended as one of your first FE's, but this one is unmissable for any serious fan.
3. Three Houses - Only finished one route so far, but this one knocks it out of the park in terms of characters, supports and world-building. Quite a few interesting maps in the prologues and later game. The battalion and gambit system is a positive addition to the gameplay and I'd like to see it return. Could take 2nd place once I've finished all routes.
4. Fates: Conquest - Brilliant maps, great mechanics. Falls short with its dreadful story, characters and game balance, but the sheer strength of the gameplay here puts it high on the list.
5. Binding Blade - A simple war story that can at times feel bland, but makes up for it with great maps and a solid cast of units to use.
6. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Weaker on the gameplay side, but makes up for it with the great polish on the character/supports/world building front. I like the changes to the forging system too.
7. Path of Radiance - Another game in the series with a good story, characters and world-building but average gameplay. Probably the best game to start the series with.
8. Sacred Stones - Similar to PoR, a good game that doesn't really shine in any area. Maps are too easy and aren't very interesting, but are serviceable. The characters aren't bad, but they're not too memorable either.
9. Shadow Dragon - Pretty strong in gameplay, but it's just too bland in every other aspect. Really not good for someone who likes FE for its characters and supports. The main merit in this one is to play it on its hardest difficulty and have fun abusing the tools the game gives you (Wing Spear and Warp).
10. Radiant Dawn - I find this somewhat of a slog to get through. Part 1 sucks as your units suck and the maps aren't that great. I wasn't really invested into the story at any point throughout the game. Part 4 gives me bad memories of boring rout maps.
11. Blazing Blade - Nonsensical story; boring characters; too enemy-phase focused because many enemy units have 1-2 range weapons and those have 1 range usually have a Mage or something thrown in to spice things up. There's a handful of good maps here and there but by and large the game is filled to the brim with uninteresting maps where you throw someone bulky with a Hand Axe into the middle of an enemy group and watch them clean house.
12. Genealogy of the Holy War - Completely knocks it out of the park with its story, world and characters, but the gameplay is trash as you spend ages just moving units across a sprawling map with nothing going on inbetween. FE4 is a game that is more fun to plan than it is to play.
13. Awakening - Popular with newcomers, but the more you play FE, especially the older ones, the more you realise that this one is good on polish and little else. Rout or Kill Boss is the objective every chapter and it gets boring. Maps are just big open fields with little going on. The story is split into three chunks, none of which are particularly engaging. Characters are one-note with little else going on. Lunatic+ is a bad way to handle difficulty. Finally, huge enemy stat inflation because of pair-up means that eventually, only Robin and Morgan are worth using.
14. Fates: Birthright - Awakening but worse in almost every way. Bad maps, characters, world-building, gameplay, supports. I don't have anything positive, truth be told.
15. Fates: Revelation - Birthright but with maps that also have bad gimmicks that just slow down the game. Along with Birthright, this isn't worth purchasing - just watch someone else's playthrough and read the story summary online.
2. Thracia 776 - Great variety of maps with great gameplay. The story is very personal and has some of the strongest moments in the series. Again, not recommended as one of your first FE's, but this one is unmissable for any serious fan.
3. Three Houses - Only finished one route so far, but this one knocks it out of the park in terms of characters, supports and world-building. Quite a few interesting maps in the prologues and later game. The battalion and gambit system is a positive addition to the gameplay and I'd like to see it return. Could take 2nd place once I've finished all routes.
4. Fates: Conquest - Brilliant maps, great mechanics. Falls short with its dreadful story, characters and game balance, but the sheer strength of the gameplay here puts it high on the list.
5. Binding Blade - A simple war story that can at times feel bland, but makes up for it with great maps and a solid cast of units to use.
6. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Weaker on the gameplay side, but makes up for it with the great polish on the character/supports/world building front. I like the changes to the forging system too.
7. Path of Radiance - Another game in the series with a good story, characters and world-building but average gameplay. Probably the best game to start the series with.
8. Sacred Stones - Similar to PoR, a good game that doesn't really shine in any area. Maps are too easy and aren't very interesting, but are serviceable. The characters aren't bad, but they're not too memorable either.
9. Shadow Dragon - Pretty strong in gameplay, but it's just too bland in every other aspect. Really not good for someone who likes FE for its characters and supports. The main merit in this one is to play it on its hardest difficulty and have fun abusing the tools the game gives you (Wing Spear and Warp).
10. Radiant Dawn - I find this somewhat of a slog to get through. Part 1 sucks as your units suck and the maps aren't that great. I wasn't really invested into the story at any point throughout the game. Part 4 gives me bad memories of boring rout maps.
11. Blazing Blade - Nonsensical story; boring characters; too enemy-phase focused because many enemy units have 1-2 range weapons and those have 1 range usually have a Mage or something thrown in to spice things up. There's a handful of good maps here and there but by and large the game is filled to the brim with uninteresting maps where you throw someone bulky with a Hand Axe into the middle of an enemy group and watch them clean house.
12. Genealogy of the Holy War - Completely knocks it out of the park with its story, world and characters, but the gameplay is trash as you spend ages just moving units across a sprawling map with nothing going on inbetween. FE4 is a game that is more fun to plan than it is to play.
13. Awakening - Popular with newcomers, but the more you play FE, especially the older ones, the more you realise that this one is good on polish and little else. Rout or Kill Boss is the objective every chapter and it gets boring. Maps are just big open fields with little going on. The story is split into three chunks, none of which are particularly engaging. Characters are one-note with little else going on. Lunatic+ is a bad way to handle difficulty. Finally, huge enemy stat inflation because of pair-up means that eventually, only Robin and Morgan are worth using.
14. Fates: Birthright - Awakening but worse in almost every way. Bad maps, characters, world-building, gameplay, supports. I don't have anything positive, truth be told.
15. Fates: Revelation - Birthright but with maps that also have bad gimmicks that just slow down the game. Along with Birthright, this isn't worth purchasing - just watch someone else's playthrough and read the story summary online.
I've played every single US release. Best 2 worst IMO:
1. Sacred Stones
2. Fire Emblem
3. Path of Radiance
4. 3 Houses
5. Radiant Dawn
6. Awakening
7. Fates
8. Shadows of Valentia
9. Shadow Dragon
I'm not going to count the mobile game.
Beat all except 3 houses (currently playing on chapter 7), birthright, revelations, and the 2 bottom games which I barely played. Shadow dragon is hot garbage which should have stayed in Japan like its sequel did.
1. Sacred Stones
2. Fire Emblem
3. Path of Radiance
4. 3 Houses
5. Radiant Dawn
6. Awakening
7. Fates
8. Shadows of Valentia
9. Shadow Dragon
I'm not going to count the mobile game.
Beat all except 3 houses (currently playing on chapter 7), birthright, revelations, and the 2 bottom games which I barely played. Shadow dragon is hot garbage which should have stayed in Japan like its sequel did.
Gonna hold off on Three Houses until some of the newness wears off.
1.) Path of Radiance - What a tidy game. Great characters, good story with a fair amount of intrigue (kinda bolstered a bit by intentional loose ends), solid map design, good art, great music. Streamlined in the best possible way. The best example of classic chapter-to-chapter FE progression IMO. Best supports, best worldbuilding, felt like the first game in the series for me where the extended cast was made important through Base conversations and story interactions, etc.
2.) Genealogy of the Holy War - I like this for a lot of the same reasons that I enjoy Path of Radiance, but the large map sizes and multiple objectives per chapter fell out of favor with me pretty quickly. I felt like a much better experience could have been crafted if there were bespoke dividing points between some of the keep captures, instead of the map just going on for another 5 waves of red units. Mostly a nitpick though, but still holds it off from being number 1. The two generations and the mechanics related to that bring about a ton of replay value.
3-4.) Binding Blade / Blazing Sword - Its hard for me to really distinguish between these two, I feel like a lot of their strengths and weaknesses are common between them. Simple-but-interesting stories, lots of neat characters but many rarely speak after recruiting them, which is a bummer because a lot of them have a lot of personalities and unique Supports if you manage to unlock them. Roy's story is a bit more difficult than Eliwoods, but the way the story branches makes it more interesting on replays (where in my mind, once you get access to Hector's mode on Blazing Sword, there's no real reason to ever go back.) Still arguably the best looking games in the series too.
5.) Radiant Dawn - I'm still really fond of this game, being a follow-up to PoR, but there's a lot I dislike about it. The loss of bespoke Supports was huge, a lot of shifting perspectives without a lot of payoff, the introduction of the third class tier felt pointless the way the scaling worked. Tons of characters but so many had such limited availability that despite the raw size of the cast, I'd find myself using the same handful of units because the alternative is to baby underpowered Dawn Brigade units or shoehorning in late Act 3 characters. Still an excellent world and story and a lot of neat payoff plot-wise, just way less fun to actually play.
6.) Sacred Stones - Felt like FE for middle schoolers. A very awkwardly divided world where you go from country to country in sequence to fight an obviously evil court of bad dudes without anything interesting happening. Would have been a great romhack, but otherwise unremarkable in pretty much every facet.
1.) Path of Radiance - What a tidy game. Great characters, good story with a fair amount of intrigue (kinda bolstered a bit by intentional loose ends), solid map design, good art, great music. Streamlined in the best possible way. The best example of classic chapter-to-chapter FE progression IMO. Best supports, best worldbuilding, felt like the first game in the series for me where the extended cast was made important through Base conversations and story interactions, etc.
2.) Genealogy of the Holy War - I like this for a lot of the same reasons that I enjoy Path of Radiance, but the large map sizes and multiple objectives per chapter fell out of favor with me pretty quickly. I felt like a much better experience could have been crafted if there were bespoke dividing points between some of the keep captures, instead of the map just going on for another 5 waves of red units. Mostly a nitpick though, but still holds it off from being number 1. The two generations and the mechanics related to that bring about a ton of replay value.
3-4.) Binding Blade / Blazing Sword - Its hard for me to really distinguish between these two, I feel like a lot of their strengths and weaknesses are common between them. Simple-but-interesting stories, lots of neat characters but many rarely speak after recruiting them, which is a bummer because a lot of them have a lot of personalities and unique Supports if you manage to unlock them. Roy's story is a bit more difficult than Eliwoods, but the way the story branches makes it more interesting on replays (where in my mind, once you get access to Hector's mode on Blazing Sword, there's no real reason to ever go back.) Still arguably the best looking games in the series too.
5.) Radiant Dawn - I'm still really fond of this game, being a follow-up to PoR, but there's a lot I dislike about it. The loss of bespoke Supports was huge, a lot of shifting perspectives without a lot of payoff, the introduction of the third class tier felt pointless the way the scaling worked. Tons of characters but so many had such limited availability that despite the raw size of the cast, I'd find myself using the same handful of units because the alternative is to baby underpowered Dawn Brigade units or shoehorning in late Act 3 characters. Still an excellent world and story and a lot of neat payoff plot-wise, just way less fun to actually play.
6.) Sacred Stones - Felt like FE for middle schoolers. A very awkwardly divided world where you go from country to country in sequence to fight an obviously evil court of bad dudes without anything interesting happening. Would have been a great romhack, but otherwise unremarkable in pretty much every facet.
Last edited:
FE VII
Awakening
Echoes
Sacred Stones
Radiant Dawn
Path of Radiance
Fates
Shadow Dragon
Tough to rank, I like all of them about the same except 7, which I'm a big fan of. And even there, I guess most of my feeling for it comes from nostalgia. Just being the first one I had access to, learning how the series worked was a lot of fun. Helps that the GBA spritework was gorgeous.
Echoes in particular sticks out a bit for really breathing in some fresh air - I guess sometimes going backwards is the way forward. Felt like it was way nicer of a product than I expected from a late-3DS remake.
Fates felt like it was just too much for me. In terms of difficulty, sure, but it was also demotivating knowing I still had 2 more campaigns to play; overwhelming. I never did finish Conquest, and I started there. I don't have many problems with it though, I liked what was there.
Awakening
Echoes
Sacred Stones
Radiant Dawn
Path of Radiance
Fates
Shadow Dragon
Tough to rank, I like all of them about the same except 7, which I'm a big fan of. And even there, I guess most of my feeling for it comes from nostalgia. Just being the first one I had access to, learning how the series worked was a lot of fun. Helps that the GBA spritework was gorgeous.
Echoes in particular sticks out a bit for really breathing in some fresh air - I guess sometimes going backwards is the way forward. Felt like it was way nicer of a product than I expected from a late-3DS remake.
Fates felt like it was just too much for me. In terms of difficulty, sure, but it was also demotivating knowing I still had 2 more campaigns to play; overwhelming. I never did finish Conquest, and I started there. I don't have many problems with it though, I liked what was there.
FE16 Three Houses - Might be the honeymoon phase and I've yet to play different routes, but so far I think it's great enough to stick at the top. I love the customizability of your units to allow for different playstyles every time, same with allowing so many different recruits. All routes in a single game purchase is pretty wonderful and the support conversations / paralogues can be really touching.
FE4 Genealogy of the Holy War - Love those SNES world map sprites and BGMs. Different enemy armies having their own phase themes was a nice touch. Plenty of memorable moments and I like the idea of this giant battlefield map you traverse, altho it's not always practical for the mages.
FE9 Path of Radiance - It's been a long time, but I remember a big variation in mission objectives / map hazards and a hard mode that was difficult but super fun to overcome.
FE15 Echoes - Drags on a little near the end since every map is basically a route objective, but I really enjoyed the voice acting and the presentation of it all. Music's great. Mila's turnwheel was a great mechanic too - finally I didn't have to fear that 1% enemy crit rate while playing classic mode.
FE13 Awakening - Renting other people's Robins and making an army of super Robins is pretty fun.
FE6,7,8 GBA games - I played all these in a row pre-Awakening, so I can't remember what makes what stand out. They were all fun and the GBA sprites were great tho.
FE14 Fates - That one defensive map in Conquest was really cool. Aside from that I don't remember many specifics. I do remember that the world map visual was really lousy - just a big grey blur that was never made clear what anything was or where you were supposed to be. You play the campaign and suddenly you're in a different country of ninjas that aren't on Hoshido's side that was never explained prior to the mission. So weird. I had a lot of fun min-maxing stats of my units post-game tho, making the perfect child soldiers. Some story cutscenes were really stupid, but the characters and their supports were still a lot of fun.
FE10 Path of Radiance - I never actually finished this, think I stopped at the final 4th part. Partly because I was just burnt out on FE at that point after finishing 9, but also because parts kept switching characters on me. I was super into building my perfect army from start to finish, so that rubbed me the wrong way. I want to give it another shot some day tho, but that means replaying FE9 before that and that... takes a while.
FE2 Gaiden - Played it right before FE15 was released just so I could see the differences for myself, lol (they removed the cool ground crumbling map in the final dungeon!!). People give the game shit, but I had a lot of fun going through it. I actually liked how simple some of the first maps were, like simple strategic puzzles you had to learn (block off bridge with armor, hide your mages in forest from the cavalry, etc)
FE11 Shadow Dragon - It's the first one I played through to the end, tho I left it at just this game for quite a while. Artstyle just isn't great. I really appreciate that they still kept it relatively close to the original when it comes to the actual maps, with weird savepoint tiles and all. I don't think it's that bad a game, but the others were more enjoyable so to the bottom it goes.
FE4 Genealogy of the Holy War - Love those SNES world map sprites and BGMs. Different enemy armies having their own phase themes was a nice touch. Plenty of memorable moments and I like the idea of this giant battlefield map you traverse, altho it's not always practical for the mages.
FE9 Path of Radiance - It's been a long time, but I remember a big variation in mission objectives / map hazards and a hard mode that was difficult but super fun to overcome.
FE15 Echoes - Drags on a little near the end since every map is basically a route objective, but I really enjoyed the voice acting and the presentation of it all. Music's great. Mila's turnwheel was a great mechanic too - finally I didn't have to fear that 1% enemy crit rate while playing classic mode.
FE13 Awakening - Renting other people's Robins and making an army of super Robins is pretty fun.
FE6,7,8 GBA games - I played all these in a row pre-Awakening, so I can't remember what makes what stand out. They were all fun and the GBA sprites were great tho.
FE14 Fates - That one defensive map in Conquest was really cool. Aside from that I don't remember many specifics. I do remember that the world map visual was really lousy - just a big grey blur that was never made clear what anything was or where you were supposed to be. You play the campaign and suddenly you're in a different country of ninjas that aren't on Hoshido's side that was never explained prior to the mission. So weird. I had a lot of fun min-maxing stats of my units post-game tho, making the perfect child soldiers. Some story cutscenes were really stupid, but the characters and their supports were still a lot of fun.
FE10 Path of Radiance - I never actually finished this, think I stopped at the final 4th part. Partly because I was just burnt out on FE at that point after finishing 9, but also because parts kept switching characters on me. I was super into building my perfect army from start to finish, so that rubbed me the wrong way. I want to give it another shot some day tho, but that means replaying FE9 before that and that... takes a while.
FE2 Gaiden - Played it right before FE15 was released just so I could see the differences for myself, lol (they removed the cool ground crumbling map in the final dungeon!!). People give the game shit, but I had a lot of fun going through it. I actually liked how simple some of the first maps were, like simple strategic puzzles you had to learn (block off bridge with armor, hide your mages in forest from the cavalry, etc)
FE11 Shadow Dragon - It's the first one I played through to the end, tho I left it at just this game for quite a while. Artstyle just isn't great. I really appreciate that they still kept it relatively close to the original when it comes to the actual maps, with weird savepoint tiles and all. I don't think it's that bad a game, but the others were more enjoyable so to the bottom it goes.
I m just chapter 10 of BE route in 3H so i won't rank it yet but it's seriously in top 3 right now
1) Radiant Dawn
2) Awakening
3) Binding blade
4) Fates conquest
5) Shadow of Valentia
5) Path of radiance
6) Fates Revelation
7) Fates Birthright
8) FE 1 (remake DS)
didn't played sacred stones
1) Radiant Dawn
2) Awakening
3) Binding blade
4) Fates conquest
5) Shadow of Valentia
5) Path of radiance
6) Fates Revelation
7) Fates Birthright
8) FE 1 (remake DS)
didn't played sacred stones
I think I need to hold off on actually making a list until some of the glow from Three Houses passes, but I do need to say that no other Fire Emblem game made me feel the way it does after having beaten the Crimson Flower route.
I think, excluding 3H, my list would look something like this:
1. Fire Emblem/FE7/Blazing Blade: There's something about the simplicity of this game, the focus of it, married to the good characters and design and sweeping arcs, that I really enjoy. Lyndis, Hector, and Eliwood average out to really great leads, and L and H in particular are still fabulous characters all these years later. The extra dialogue they get when supporting on the Hector route? Mwa. Fantastic.
I'm not good at making lists. The rest of it is kind of a morass. Hmm, I'll give this another try later.
I think, excluding 3H, my list would look something like this:
1. Fire Emblem/FE7/Blazing Blade: There's something about the simplicity of this game, the focus of it, married to the good characters and design and sweeping arcs, that I really enjoy. Lyndis, Hector, and Eliwood average out to really great leads, and L and H in particular are still fabulous characters all these years later. The extra dialogue they get when supporting on the Hector route? Mwa. Fantastic.
I'm not good at making lists. The rest of it is kind of a morass. Hmm, I'll give this another try later.
When I ranked these, I realized that my brain thinks more in terms of liking some eras more than others. I'll leave Three Houses off the list because I am still going through it, but would probably end up in the top group.
1. Radiant Dawn
2. Path of Radiance
Playing Three Houses reminded me how much I missed the Canto mechanic with mounted units. One of my annoyances with Fire Emblem sometimes is that they're a little too enemy-phase focused in slowly approaching enemy groups and baiting them and stuff. I really liked how Canto gives you a little more player phase utility in approaching situations in a sneaky and/or stupid way. I prefer Radiant Dawn to Path of Radiance because of its ambition. It makes a lot of, uh, questionable decisions sometimes due to its ambition with availability of characters and the sheer number of pre-promotes it throws at you... But it makes it a game that can be played in a lot of different ways, try a lot of stupid stunts. Also has some amazing maps in it.
3. Awakening
4. Fates
Fates should be a lot lower due to its abysmal story, but this is a series where I tend to value gameplay more. I really liked the new classes they introduced in Fates and how they re-balanced the Pair-Up mechanic in Awakening. There were some good maps here too, especially Conquest. Awakening's core gameplay and map design is worse than Fates (Revelations aside), but its story is infinitely better and its parent/child dynamic is better implemented in the story. So, while I still like the gameplay concepts of Fates slightly more, Awakening does everything else waaaaay better, so that I prefer Awakening more. But it's closer that I would like to admit.
5. The Blazing Blade
6. The Sacred Stones
Solid games, I should probably replay both of these, it has been awhile. I liked The Blazing Blade's three "modes" (even if they were similar), some really tricky paralogues and alternate goals in achieving them. Sacred Stones felt like more of the same (but with optional grinding), the cast wasn't as memorable for me as the previous game. I do really like the split into Eirika and Ephraim routes, though.
7. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
8. Shadow Dragon
I really loved the presentation of Echoes, but the map design and feel of combat really made it a slog to play through. It had a lot of really interesting ideas, like the weapon skill health points and stuff. I can see the appeal of this game and respect those who really enjoy this style, but it's not for me. Shadow Dragon was fun to play through as an experience, but was a little too raw for me.
1. Radiant Dawn
2. Path of Radiance
Playing Three Houses reminded me how much I missed the Canto mechanic with mounted units. One of my annoyances with Fire Emblem sometimes is that they're a little too enemy-phase focused in slowly approaching enemy groups and baiting them and stuff. I really liked how Canto gives you a little more player phase utility in approaching situations in a sneaky and/or stupid way. I prefer Radiant Dawn to Path of Radiance because of its ambition. It makes a lot of, uh, questionable decisions sometimes due to its ambition with availability of characters and the sheer number of pre-promotes it throws at you... But it makes it a game that can be played in a lot of different ways, try a lot of stupid stunts. Also has some amazing maps in it.
3. Awakening
4. Fates
Fates should be a lot lower due to its abysmal story, but this is a series where I tend to value gameplay more. I really liked the new classes they introduced in Fates and how they re-balanced the Pair-Up mechanic in Awakening. There were some good maps here too, especially Conquest. Awakening's core gameplay and map design is worse than Fates (Revelations aside), but its story is infinitely better and its parent/child dynamic is better implemented in the story. So, while I still like the gameplay concepts of Fates slightly more, Awakening does everything else waaaaay better, so that I prefer Awakening more. But it's closer that I would like to admit.
5. The Blazing Blade
6. The Sacred Stones
Solid games, I should probably replay both of these, it has been awhile. I liked The Blazing Blade's three "modes" (even if they were similar), some really tricky paralogues and alternate goals in achieving them. Sacred Stones felt like more of the same (but with optional grinding), the cast wasn't as memorable for me as the previous game. I do really like the split into Eirika and Ephraim routes, though.
7. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
8. Shadow Dragon
I really loved the presentation of Echoes, but the map design and feel of combat really made it a slog to play through. It had a lot of really interesting ideas, like the weapon skill health points and stuff. I can see the appeal of this game and respect those who really enjoy this style, but it's not for me. Shadow Dragon was fun to play through as an experience, but was a little too raw for me.
New Mystery of the Emblem - feels like the most refined game in the series, I might like it better than Thracia
Thracia 776 - kind of a mess, but I love its weird mechanics (especially the imbalanced staves and capturing)
Fates - Conquest blends Awakening's interesting character building with really good maps. Don't really care about the other two routes.
Radiant Dawn - the cycling parties have their low points and there might be too many OP characters, but conversely I appreciate that you're forced to use weaker characters a lot too. Plus the level design is generally very good and the height system is a great addition.
Path of Radiance - the difficulty starts to drop off a cliff around the time Ike promotes but until that point I feel this is one of the high points in the series for interesting levels. Just wish this game weren't one of the easiest in the series; I wonder if Maniac mode is actually fun or if it is as tedious as people make it sound. The Tellius games definitely have the coolest worldbuilding in the series (Path of Radiance moreso) for what that's worth.
Binding Blade - not a fan of the weird weapon accuracy but I do like that most of your characters usually have some kind of notable weakness, as well as how drawn-out some of the stages get. Easily the best GBA game.
Sacred Stones - I really enjoyed my playthrough but if I hadn't handicapped myself by completely avoiding all optional battles I feel it would have fallen apart.
Blazing Blade - good, compact levels, but the difficulty is so low it really lets the concepts some of the stages try to play with down. Whenever I unlock Hector's hard mode I might really get into this.
Mystery of the Emblem - solid, but on the easy side compared to what came later; FE12 really brings 3's stage concepts to life.
Genealogy of the Holy War - I like a lot of the gimmicks this game introduces, it's conceptually interesting, but the levels are often repetitive and not even as interesting as FE3's.
Shadow Dragon - I only played this once on normal (one of my first FEs) and wasn't very impressed. I should play one of the harder modes someday; I know the game has a lot of broken shit but maybe it's at least somewhat more interesting when it isn't comically easy.
Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light - neat first try, obviously almost all the later games are better but I enjoyed playing this one
Gaiden - lol
Haven't yet played through Awakening, Echoes, or Three Houses. Really interested in the last one, because it has a lot of neat concepts not seen in Fire Emblem before and I'm curious to see how it feels.
Thracia 776 - kind of a mess, but I love its weird mechanics (especially the imbalanced staves and capturing)
Fates - Conquest blends Awakening's interesting character building with really good maps. Don't really care about the other two routes.
Radiant Dawn - the cycling parties have their low points and there might be too many OP characters, but conversely I appreciate that you're forced to use weaker characters a lot too. Plus the level design is generally very good and the height system is a great addition.
Path of Radiance - the difficulty starts to drop off a cliff around the time Ike promotes but until that point I feel this is one of the high points in the series for interesting levels. Just wish this game weren't one of the easiest in the series; I wonder if Maniac mode is actually fun or if it is as tedious as people make it sound. The Tellius games definitely have the coolest worldbuilding in the series (Path of Radiance moreso) for what that's worth.
Binding Blade - not a fan of the weird weapon accuracy but I do like that most of your characters usually have some kind of notable weakness, as well as how drawn-out some of the stages get. Easily the best GBA game.
Sacred Stones - I really enjoyed my playthrough but if I hadn't handicapped myself by completely avoiding all optional battles I feel it would have fallen apart.
Blazing Blade - good, compact levels, but the difficulty is so low it really lets the concepts some of the stages try to play with down. Whenever I unlock Hector's hard mode I might really get into this.
Mystery of the Emblem - solid, but on the easy side compared to what came later; FE12 really brings 3's stage concepts to life.
Genealogy of the Holy War - I like a lot of the gimmicks this game introduces, it's conceptually interesting, but the levels are often repetitive and not even as interesting as FE3's.
Shadow Dragon - I only played this once on normal (one of my first FEs) and wasn't very impressed. I should play one of the harder modes someday; I know the game has a lot of broken shit but maybe it's at least somewhat more interesting when it isn't comically easy.
Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light - neat first try, obviously almost all the later games are better but I enjoyed playing this one
Gaiden - lol
Haven't yet played through Awakening, Echoes, or Three Houses. Really interested in the last one, because it has a lot of neat concepts not seen in Fire Emblem before and I'm curious to see how it feels.
None! I'm on the fence on 3 houses, as I don't know if I'll like it or not, but I've been very tempted to just go ahead and buy it.
For reference, I loved advanced wars, I enjoyed it's simple gameplay and not serious tone. This game seems to take itself very seriously so that's why I'm hesitant.
For reference, I loved advanced wars, I enjoyed it's simple gameplay and not serious tone. This game seems to take itself very seriously so that's why I'm hesitant.
it's more "game of thrones" yes but in a good way (not GoT from season 5 to 8).
BUT you should know why FE is better than AW to me: you care about ANY units. You are not making them in factory
Shadows of Valentia > Three Houses > Awakening > Sacred Stones > Shadow Dragon > Fates.
Fire Emblem Echoes - Best moment to moment writing and character writing and best music by a landslide.
Fire Emblem Three Houses - Best gameplay and presentation on top of having solid character interactions that all build on each other.
Fire Emblem Awakening - My first FE game and what got me into the series, so hard to be unbiased but it's still a sentimental favorite that I still feel holds up and the children were a good element of the game.
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon - Tried to play the remake but just couldn't get into it.
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones - I really love Eirika and enjoy the story even if it's not the best.
All the way at the bottom is Fates. Aside from Conquest's map design and some of the cool ideas with combat classes like Kenshi and such the story was bottom tier and the kids were forced into it to capitalize on Awakening's take.
I really hope for a remake of Geneology because I've been holding off on playing it due to not enjoying having to play through an emulator. I already know the twist and would LOVE to see the ultimate version of the child system realized.
On the subject of Three Houses it has some really bad bloat and some dumb tacked on systems but does more for its world than most FEs do, even if I hope the next entry gives us more than one map to run around (I'm still pre-timeskip).
EDIT: Forgot to put in Fire Emblem Warriors! The story was crap and the player characters inserted were bad but the gameplay was fun and while there were a bunch of clones I still played the hell out of it. Hope we get another.
Fire Emblem Echoes - Best moment to moment writing and character writing and best music by a landslide.
Fire Emblem Three Houses - Best gameplay and presentation on top of having solid character interactions that all build on each other.
Fire Emblem Awakening - My first FE game and what got me into the series, so hard to be unbiased but it's still a sentimental favorite that I still feel holds up and the children were a good element of the game.
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon - Tried to play the remake but just couldn't get into it.
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones - I really love Eirika and enjoy the story even if it's not the best.
All the way at the bottom is Fates. Aside from Conquest's map design and some of the cool ideas with combat classes like Kenshi and such the story was bottom tier and the kids were forced into it to capitalize on Awakening's take.
I really hope for a remake of Geneology because I've been holding off on playing it due to not enjoying having to play through an emulator. I already know the twist and would LOVE to see the ultimate version of the child system realized.
On the subject of Three Houses it has some really bad bloat and some dumb tacked on systems but does more for its world than most FEs do, even if I hope the next entry gives us more than one map to run around (I'm still pre-timeskip).
EDIT: Forgot to put in Fire Emblem Warriors! The story was crap and the player characters inserted were bad but the gameplay was fun and while there were a bunch of clones I still played the hell out of it. Hope we get another.
For the ones I've finished:
Currently playing through Three Houses, haven't finished it yet though. Apparently I'm taking my sweet time, because I'm 54 hours into my first playthrough (Black Eagles) and only just reached Chapter 11 (so I'm not quite out of the school phase yet). However, at the rate it's going so far, I'm pretty sure it's minimum going to be in my top 3, if it somehow doesn't end up being my outright favorite in the series.
- Path of Radiance
- Awakening
- Radiant Dawn
- Blazing Blade
- Sacred Stones
- Shadow Dragon
Currently playing through Three Houses, haven't finished it yet though. Apparently I'm taking my sweet time, because I'm 54 hours into my first playthrough (Black Eagles) and only just reached Chapter 11 (so I'm not quite out of the school phase yet). However, at the rate it's going so far, I'm pretty sure it's minimum going to be in my top 3, if it somehow doesn't end up being my outright favorite in the series.
1. Path of Radiance - best story/cast and excellent gameplay, albeit slightly less challenging than other games. The GOAT, Ike is the GOAT, Soren x Ike is the GOAT
2. Three Houses - not even finished but it's so immersive and detailed with a great cast and story, it'd have to fail hard in the end to be lower
3. Blazing Sword - a fun good time story and thoughtful gameplay that makes good use of its short time (albeit a bit prolongued tutorial)
4. New Mystery of the Fire Emblem - extremely good challenge and fair but simple story, possibly the most refined gameplay with a perfect difficulty curve throughout
5. Fates Conquest - possibly the best gameplay also, I don't think the story is that horrible but doesn't excel much elsewhere
6. Sacred Stones - Nice story and cast, has its moments with the gameplay but somewhat easy
7. Awakening - My first FE game and a solid fun entry that was challenging but pair up mechanics a bit stupid
8. Echoes - Ok gameplay, excellent cast/voice acting/art style, good story but stuff toward the end gets stupid, particularly with Celica
9. Shadow Dragon - uneven gameplay, boring story and cast mostly but not a bad game
10. Fates Revelations - a mediocre game with a laughably bad story
2. Three Houses - not even finished but it's so immersive and detailed with a great cast and story, it'd have to fail hard in the end to be lower
3. Blazing Sword - a fun good time story and thoughtful gameplay that makes good use of its short time (albeit a bit prolongued tutorial)
4. New Mystery of the Fire Emblem - extremely good challenge and fair but simple story, possibly the most refined gameplay with a perfect difficulty curve throughout
5. Fates Conquest - possibly the best gameplay also, I don't think the story is that horrible but doesn't excel much elsewhere
6. Sacred Stones - Nice story and cast, has its moments with the gameplay but somewhat easy
7. Awakening - My first FE game and a solid fun entry that was challenging but pair up mechanics a bit stupid
8. Echoes - Ok gameplay, excellent cast/voice acting/art style, good story but stuff toward the end gets stupid, particularly with Celica
9. Shadow Dragon - uneven gameplay, boring story and cast mostly but not a bad game
10. Fates Revelations - a mediocre game with a laughably bad story
1. Fire Emblem 7. Great protagonist, great villains, and great worldbuilding.
2. Awakening. Cool premise, great characters and decent worldbuilding.
3. Sacred Stone. Worldbuilding, character and story is weaker than FE7 but still decent.
4. Fates (Hoshido). Great gameplay but trash everything.
2. Awakening. Cool premise, great characters and decent worldbuilding.
3. Sacred Stone. Worldbuilding, character and story is weaker than FE7 but still decent.
4. Fates (Hoshido). Great gameplay but trash everything.
- Awakening (very late in my FE saga, but it really rejuvenated and solidified my true love for the series. It's broken, sure, but in the best way.)
- Shadow Dragon (I know I'm contrary to most fans, but I loved this remake.)
- Fire Emblem (or Blazing Blade as I believe it's also known as. Love it.)
- Sacred Stones (also love it)
- Radiant Dawn (hard for me, and the presentation wasn't great, but it has a lot to love.)
- FE Echoes (missed the weapon triangle, and the dungeon thing was kinda weird to me, but also has a lot to enjoy.)
- Fates (great gameplay in a constant tug-of-war with really hard-to-stomach story and dialogue. Yeesh!)
1. Fire Emblem Thracia 776
2. Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
3. Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy Wars
4. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
5. Fire Emblem Blazing Sword (or simply Fire Emblem in the west)
6. Fire Emblem New Mystery of the Emblem
7. Fire Emblem Sacred Stones
8. Fire Emblem Awakening
9. Fire Emblem Mystery of the Emblem
10. Fire Emblem Binding Blade
11. Fire Emblem Fates Conquest
12. Fire Emblem Echoes of Valentia
13. Fire Emblem Fates Birthright/Revelation
14. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
15. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
16. Fire Emblem Gaiden
I haven't played Three Houses yet. I'm not set of the DS or 3DS games simply because I haven't played them as long as the older games. The positioning of Awakening, Fates, and Echos might still change.
2. Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
3. Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy Wars
4. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
5. Fire Emblem Blazing Sword (or simply Fire Emblem in the west)
6. Fire Emblem New Mystery of the Emblem
7. Fire Emblem Sacred Stones
8. Fire Emblem Awakening
9. Fire Emblem Mystery of the Emblem
10. Fire Emblem Binding Blade
11. Fire Emblem Fates Conquest
12. Fire Emblem Echoes of Valentia
13. Fire Emblem Fates Birthright/Revelation
14. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
15. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
16. Fire Emblem Gaiden
I haven't played Three Houses yet. I'm not set of the DS or 3DS games simply because I haven't played them as long as the older games. The positioning of Awakening, Fates, and Echos might still change.
1. Three Houses - Brilliant story, fantastic characters, great worldbuilding, awesome music - perfect evolution and perfect realisation of the franchise.
2. Fates (Revelations) - Gets a lot of hate, but I really enjoyed the weird maps it brought and the ability to recruit everybody (sorry Crimson, I don't care about you). As someone who enjoyed the shipping sim feel Fates had and enjoyed it's characters, Revelations ended up being my favourite.
3. Awakening - Great cast of characters, well-realised story. Music was fantastic too.
4. Echoes - I loved the exploration aspects. Really enjoyed the story too. It was great, but never quite reached the three above it on my list.
5. Fates (Birthright) - My first Fire Emblem game. I loved all the characters, the story, the music and everything else. Looking back on it years later, I still hold it very highly.
6. Genaeology of the Holy War - I love the story of this one (second only to 3H) but the maps being so huge is epic, but also feels unnecessary at times and makes it drag along more than it ought to. Still fantastic and I want a remake though.
7. Fates (Conquest) - Gameplay was great, but the story didn't make much sense.
8. Path of Radiance - I enjoyed it, but it feels super slow and the story, whilst good, never really engrossed me.
9. Sacred Stones - Interesting story, but I never really connected with any of the characters and so that brings it down a lot for me.
10. Shadow Dragon (DS) - Pretty barebones, didn't really connect with the characters. Finished the game but never felt any desire to go back to it. By far my least favourite (Sacred Stones is a 7.5/10, SD is a 5.)
2. Fates (Revelations) - Gets a lot of hate, but I really enjoyed the weird maps it brought and the ability to recruit everybody (sorry Crimson, I don't care about you). As someone who enjoyed the shipping sim feel Fates had and enjoyed it's characters, Revelations ended up being my favourite.
3. Awakening - Great cast of characters, well-realised story. Music was fantastic too.
4. Echoes - I loved the exploration aspects. Really enjoyed the story too. It was great, but never quite reached the three above it on my list.
5. Fates (Birthright) - My first Fire Emblem game. I loved all the characters, the story, the music and everything else. Looking back on it years later, I still hold it very highly.
6. Genaeology of the Holy War - I love the story of this one (second only to 3H) but the maps being so huge is epic, but also feels unnecessary at times and makes it drag along more than it ought to. Still fantastic and I want a remake though.
7. Fates (Conquest) - Gameplay was great, but the story didn't make much sense.
8. Path of Radiance - I enjoyed it, but it feels super slow and the story, whilst good, never really engrossed me.
9. Sacred Stones - Interesting story, but I never really connected with any of the characters and so that brings it down a lot for me.
10. Shadow Dragon (DS) - Pretty barebones, didn't really connect with the characters. Finished the game but never felt any desire to go back to it. By far my least favourite (Sacred Stones is a 7.5/10, SD is a 5.)
1.Path of Radiance
2. Radiant Dawn
3. Fire Emblem DS
4. Awakening
5.Echoes
6. Sacred Stones DS
7. Shadow Dragon GBA
8. An actual burning pile of trash
9. Fates, and I played all three paths because I got the special edition. It just kept getting worse.
2. Radiant Dawn
3. Fire Emblem DS
4. Awakening
5.Echoes
6. Sacred Stones DS
7. Shadow Dragon GBA
8. An actual burning pile of trash
9. Fates, and I played all three paths because I got the special edition. It just kept getting worse.
1. Awakening
2. Fates: Conquest
big gap
3. Fates: Birthright
big gap
4. Echoes: Shadows on Valentia
Currently playing Three Houses. Can't say definitively, but it might replace Awakening, or at the very least it'll be close, which I consider to be one of my favorite games of all time, so that's pretty high praise from me.
2. Fates: Conquest
big gap
3. Fates: Birthright
big gap
4. Echoes: Shadows on Valentia
Currently playing Three Houses. Can't say definitively, but it might replace Awakening, or at the very least it'll be close, which I consider to be one of my favorite games of all time, so that's pretty high praise from me.
1) Fire Emblem: Three Houses
2) Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
3) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
4) Fire Emblem Awakening
5) Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
6) Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations
7) Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
I really should get around to playing more of the classic titles some day, since I've mostly played the newer ones. These are my favorites, anyway.
2) Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
3) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
4) Fire Emblem Awakening
5) Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
6) Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations
7) Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
I really should get around to playing more of the classic titles some day, since I've mostly played the newer ones. These are my favorites, anyway.
1. Fire Emblem 7/Rekka no Ken
2. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
3. Fire Emblem Three Houses
4. Fire Emblem Echoes Shadows of Valentia
5. Thracia 776
6. Fire Emblem Awakening
7. Fire Emblem The Binding Blade
8. Sacred Stones
9. Fates Conquest
10. Radiant Dawn
11. Geneology of the Holy War
12. New Mystery of the Emblem (DS)
13. Fates Birthright
14. Fates Revelation
15. Shadow Dragon (DS)
I cut out the 3 games that have been remade in favor of their remakes.
2. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
3. Fire Emblem Three Houses
4. Fire Emblem Echoes Shadows of Valentia
5. Thracia 776
6. Fire Emblem Awakening
7. Fire Emblem The Binding Blade
8. Sacred Stones
9. Fates Conquest
10. Radiant Dawn
11. Geneology of the Holy War
12. New Mystery of the Emblem (DS)
13. Fates Birthright
14. Fates Revelation
15. Shadow Dragon (DS)
I cut out the 3 games that have been remade in favor of their remakes.
1. Three Houses - It does so much for the franchise gameplay wise that it's easy to overlook any story shortcomings it may have, especially with the strong VA and characters.
2. Echoes: SoV - Spectacular VA, pretty bad maps. fun overall
3. FE7 - Lyn/Hector are the best characters the series has ever had. Game is hard though, never actually finished it because of bullshit Bolting crits and my Eliwood have a grand total of 7 STR by level 18
4. Sacred Stones - I just don't really care about the characters here, so the story even less so
2. Echoes: SoV - Spectacular VA, pretty bad maps. fun overall
3. FE7 - Lyn/Hector are the best characters the series has ever had. Game is hard though, never actually finished it because of bullshit Bolting crits and my Eliwood have a grand total of 7 STR by level 18
4. Sacred Stones - I just don't really care about the characters here, so the story even less so
1. Three Houses - A fantastic game overall, a great evolution for the series.
2. Awakening - I was really engrossed by it. I even bought all the DLCs for it, hahah.
3. Fire Emblem 7 - A great game overall, with a great cast of characters. I really like Lyn. I don't like Hector though, bah.
4. Fire Emblem 8 - Eirika is really awesome, though I'm indifferent about Ephraim. Basically a re-skinned 7, so in the end I really like it too.
5. Fire Emblem 6 - A good experience overall, I enjoyed my time with it.
6. Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn - It's an okay game, but the neutered support conversation system really killed a lot of enjoyment I had with it.
7. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon DS - the only Fire Emblem I've played that I really don't like, due to the robot-like visuals of the characters. I just can't get over it, and the "kill a certain amount of your unit to unlock stuff" is such a tacky system that defeats the entire concept of careful play in a strategy game.
2. Awakening - I was really engrossed by it. I even bought all the DLCs for it, hahah.
3. Fire Emblem 7 - A great game overall, with a great cast of characters. I really like Lyn. I don't like Hector though, bah.
4. Fire Emblem 8 - Eirika is really awesome, though I'm indifferent about Ephraim. Basically a re-skinned 7, so in the end I really like it too.
5. Fire Emblem 6 - A good experience overall, I enjoyed my time with it.
6. Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn - It's an okay game, but the neutered support conversation system really killed a lot of enjoyment I had with it.
7. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon DS - the only Fire Emblem I've played that I really don't like, due to the robot-like visuals of the characters. I just can't get over it, and the "kill a certain amount of your unit to unlock stuff" is such a tacky system that defeats the entire concept of careful play in a strategy game.
1. Fire Emblem 7
2. Fire Emblem PoR
3. Fire Emblem Echoes
4. Fire Emblem SS
5. Fire Emblem 6
6. Fire Emblem Awakening
7. Fire Emblem Conquest
8. Fire Emblem RD
9. Fire Emblem Birthright
10. Fire Emblem Revelations
11. Fire Emblem SD
Haven't finished Three Houses yet. Taking my time.
2. Fire Emblem PoR
3. Fire Emblem Echoes
4. Fire Emblem SS
5. Fire Emblem 6
6. Fire Emblem Awakening
7. Fire Emblem Conquest
8. Fire Emblem RD
9. Fire Emblem Birthright
10. Fire Emblem Revelations
11. Fire Emblem SD
Haven't finished Three Houses yet. Taking my time.
- Awakening
- Path of Radiance
- Sacred Stones
- Renka no Ken / Fire Emblem
- Shadows of Valentia
- Blinding Blade? Is that Roy's I cant remember the name tbh
- Fates
- New Mystery of the Emblem
- Shadow Dragon
I'm in the middle of Three Houses, so I won't rank it yet, but I'm thinking it'll end up 3rd! Now for some explanations!
Awakening was my first fire emblem game and I adore it. You can tell they really put their hearts into it and it's a great starting off point. I really love a lot of characters and I'm a sucker for timeline shenanigans.
Ike is the best protagonist and I found a lot of the plot really interesting in PoR—it's got a ton of charm to it.
The localized GBA are pretty close for me, but I think SS wins out because I like the cast a bit more. I find Eirika and Ephraim more interesting than EHL + I absolutely adore L'arachel. It was also the first 'older FE' game I played so it has a special place in my heart. Both games are fun and have great maps.
Shadows of Valentia was a really cool look at a different type of system, and I thought it was fun for then, but wouldn't want it long term. I found myself not super in love with a decent amount of the cast, but the music, the characters I did like, the combat, etc? All great. I will say the difficulty for the post game wasn't fun and that hurt how much I like it.
Roy's game is fun, but there are some just brutal maps IIRC. I also find the characters to be a bit stiffer but I wonder how much is due to that being a fan translation as opposed to like a treehouse localization adding in silliness.
Now for the bottom 3–I think these three games are just...not good games. Fates would be dead last if not for how terribly ugly the other two are. Marth's games are boring plot and character wise and god shadow dragon just was awful to play. Fates is the one I hate the most though—the incest, the reliance on gimmicks to add difficulty (or for birthright the lack of ANYTHING making it literally put me to sleep), the characters more tropey than ever, the awful and just poorly thought out story, and the stupid baby oven? Like what? Just no part was wel thought out. I also HATED how they replaced weapon durability (especially because I think it adds an extra element to think about but w/e).
Of the ones I've played:
1. Blazing Blade
2. Awakening
3. Sacred Stones
4. Radiant Dawn
5. Fates
6. Shadow Dragon
I'm still playing through Three Houses, but as of right now I would probably rank it between Awakening and Sacred Stones. Still need to get around to playing SoV.
1. Blazing Blade
2. Awakening
3. Sacred Stones
4. Radiant Dawn
5. Fates
6. Shadow Dragon
I'm still playing through Three Houses, but as of right now I would probably rank it between Awakening and Sacred Stones. Still need to get around to playing SoV.
I'm a veteran sRPG player, but never touched Fire Emblem until Awakening. So,
Story: Three Houses (actually pretty good, and character interactions are great) >>> Awakening (barely remember Chrom, and no one else) >>>>>>> Fates (the bad kind of memorable)
Mechanics: Fates (solely on no weapon durability) > Awakening (I liked dual strike and block support) > Three Houses (lots of points deducted for the class upgrade system)
Maps: Awakening = Fates > Three Houses (too many open areas, and almost all levels fielded the same ~10 characters)
Overall: Three Houses > Awakening > Fates (still 8/10)
Story: Three Houses (actually pretty good, and character interactions are great) >>> Awakening (barely remember Chrom, and no one else) >>>>>>> Fates (the bad kind of memorable)
Mechanics: Fates (solely on no weapon durability) > Awakening (I liked dual strike and block support) > Three Houses (lots of points deducted for the class upgrade system)
Maps: Awakening = Fates > Three Houses (too many open areas, and almost all levels fielded the same ~10 characters)
Overall: Three Houses > Awakening > Fates (still 8/10)
1. Blazing Blade-It was the game which really got me into the series (though not my first), and I think it's pretty well rounded with plenty of good maps, a sufficiently challenging higher difficulty (HHM), good characters, and a story which isn't amazing or anything but interesting enough with some pretty stand-out moments.
2. Radiant Dawn-I really like the switching armies and the ambitious scope of the story, even if it eventually stumbles in the latter half of the game. Map design and difficulty are excellent in RD (save for that stretch of routfests in the first half of part 4 jesus christ), I especially love the height advantage system and wish it'd return. Lack of supports sucks and really hurts the new characters without much story presence, but base conversations help a lot and most of the characters were developed in PoR anyway, so it's not a deal breaker to me at all.
3. Binding Blade-Story and characters are mostly pretty dull but the game has pretty good, challenging map design. Same turn reinforcements suck though.
4. Path of Radiance-Map design is pretty mixed and the difficulty is too low, but the characters/writing/story/worldbuilding are the best in the series.
Not sure which I'd rank first out of the next two but here are my thoughts:
Awakening-The story is pretty weak, the characters are very one note, the map design is really lacking, and lunatic mode is very unbalanced...but I appreciate that it gives a pretty damn brutal challenge. Same turn reinforcements still suck.
Sacred Stones-The game is too easy even on its hardest difficulty, and because of the split path it ends up feeling very short. Plus the path split kind of messes with the story, i.e. on Eirika's route you go to get help to deal with the enemy army but by the time you reunite with Ephraim the war is already won. Side characters are about the same in quality as FE7 but the main cast is notably weaker imo. Also I just really dislike the focus on monsters in this game.
Currently playing through Conquest so I won't include it but the map design, difficulty, and mechanical improvements are all pretty great, so despite the laughably bad story and characters I'd still probably put it as my 2nd or 3rd favorite.
2. Radiant Dawn-I really like the switching armies and the ambitious scope of the story, even if it eventually stumbles in the latter half of the game. Map design and difficulty are excellent in RD (save for that stretch of routfests in the first half of part 4 jesus christ), I especially love the height advantage system and wish it'd return. Lack of supports sucks and really hurts the new characters without much story presence, but base conversations help a lot and most of the characters were developed in PoR anyway, so it's not a deal breaker to me at all.
3. Binding Blade-Story and characters are mostly pretty dull but the game has pretty good, challenging map design. Same turn reinforcements suck though.
4. Path of Radiance-Map design is pretty mixed and the difficulty is too low, but the characters/writing/story/worldbuilding are the best in the series.
Not sure which I'd rank first out of the next two but here are my thoughts:
Awakening-The story is pretty weak, the characters are very one note, the map design is really lacking, and lunatic mode is very unbalanced...but I appreciate that it gives a pretty damn brutal challenge. Same turn reinforcements still suck.
Sacred Stones-The game is too easy even on its hardest difficulty, and because of the split path it ends up feeling very short. Plus the path split kind of messes with the story, i.e. on Eirika's route you go to get help to deal with the enemy army but by the time you reunite with Ephraim the war is already won. Side characters are about the same in quality as FE7 but the main cast is notably weaker imo. Also I just really dislike the focus on monsters in this game.
Currently playing through Conquest so I won't include it but the map design, difficulty, and mechanical improvements are all pretty great, so despite the laughably bad story and characters I'd still probably put it as my 2nd or 3rd favorite.