Current Events > Never played a Fire Emblem game. Where to start?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is there a long running backstory, or could I just start on the 3ds games, with Awkaening?
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FE7
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If you want to play Fire Emblem, don't play the 3DS games.
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Most of the Fire Emblems are self-contained stories, but some are connected.

For example, Radiant Dawn is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance. Awakening is a distant (1000 years later or so) to Shadow Dragon and Shadows of Valentia. Meanwhile, Conquest and Birthright are two side of one story, kind of.

Anyway, if you can access it, Fire Emblem on GBA (Blazing Sword is it's unlisted subtitle) is a good place to start. That or Sacred Stones. They're both on the Wii U eshop.

If you don't have access to that, Awakening is an acceptable starting point. It introduces a lot of features that aren't necessarily in most other Fire Emblem games though; like changing your units' classes as much as you want and learning numerous skills. And, of course, the waifus.
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Actually, scratch that, if you can only access the 3ds games, start with Shadows of Valentia or Shadow Dragon. Shadow Dragon is on DS, but 3DS plays those games.
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BLAKUboy posted...

If you want to play Fire Emblem, don't play the 3DS games.

Why?

Also, I have a Wii and Wii U, so those eshops are available to me
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MarqueeSeries posted...

BLAKUboy posted...

If you want to play Fire Emblem, don't play the 3DS games.

Why?

Also, I have a Wii and Wii U, so those eshops are available to me

Both Awakening and Fates are pretty messy and kind of bloated mechanically, and they leave much to be desired from a story stand-point. Neither is bad(IMO), but there are a lot of things to keep track of.
FE7, comparatively, is very tight mechanically and the simplicity makes it both easier to grasp, but also more challenging. It also has the strongest story in the entire series.

MarqueeSeries posted...

Why?

They're not real FE games.
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I made a similar topic a few months ago and the GBA one (just called "Fire Emblem" in the US) won by far.

Awakening is good for newcomers due to the easier difficulty, but it does have a lot of features that aren't present in the older games. Sacred Stones is the easiest of the classic FE games but still gets tough at times, so I usually consider that a great starting point as well. Blazing Blade (the one just called "Fire Emblem" outside of Japan because it was the first one released internationally) is generally considered one of the best in the series story-wise and gameplay-wise, and it has a moderate difficulty.
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BLAKUboy posted...

MarqueeSeries posted...

Why?

They're not real FE games.

They seem to be the ones that saved the franchise

I guess I'll start with FE7 either way, though. Then I'll make my way through the rest
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MarqueeSeries posted...

They seem to be the ones that saved the franchise

If by "save" you mean "kill". FE ended at NMotE.
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There probably wouldn't be any Fire Emblem today if not for awakening
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BLAKUboy posted...

FE ended at NMotE.

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Not sure if this is real or just meant to start a debate, but FE7 is a really good entry point. It has a solid tutorial that helps new players really learn the ropes and doesn't have a lot of side systems that tend to be love-or-hate (IE pair up, laguz units, etc.).
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the one with Ike
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Either FE7 (the first FE game released here) or Fire Emblem: Echoes.

They feel the most accessible and refined. Sacred Stones is not bad too I guess in hindsight.

GC ones are good, but they're not really accessible imo. The 3DS ones, Awakening is accessible, Fates a bit less so, but both are not very good lol. Echoes in contrast is extremely refined and made with a lot of love, and it shows. It's also closer to the standard FE
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BLAKUboy posted...

MarqueeSeries posted...

Why?

They're not real FE games.

Echoes is a real FE game. Awakening and Fates are actually pretty standard FE, but it focuses on the wrong things. Their map design is also significantly overrated
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dotsdfe posted...

Not sure if this is real or just meant to start a debate, but FE7 is a really good entry point. It has a solid tutorial that helps new players really learn the ropes and doesn't have a lot of side systems that tend to be love-or-hate (IE pair up, laguz units, etc.).

It's real. I just downloaded FE: Heroes, and it got me interested in starting the series proper. The disdain for 3DS FE is new to me though; I've seen them highly praised elsewhere
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MarqueeSeries posted...

dotsdfe posted...

Not sure if this is real or just meant to start a debate, but FE7 is a really good entry point. It has a solid tutorial that helps new players really learn the ropes and doesn't have a lot of side systems that tend to be love-or-hate (IE pair up, laguz units, etc.).

It's real. I just downloaded FE: Heroes, and it got me interested in starting the series proper. The disdain for 3DS FE is new to me though; I've seen them highly praised elsewhere

A lot of people do love Awakening and Fates, but a lot of the older Fire Emblem fans don't like them. They get accused of being too easy, having shallow characters and interactions, weak stories, mediocre map design, etc. And too much focus on waifus.
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Play Awakening. Ignore the eggsuckers that tell you it's bad. I guess Echoes is a good entry point as well if it's your first one.
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All I'm gonna say is that if you do play Sacred Stones, play on the hardest difficulty. Even with all 3 Trainees (no Tower/Skirmishes) it's not hard. "Difficult" mode should've been Normal mode tbh. Also, Seth is the best unit in the game, don't write him off for being a prepromote (which are usually not as good in the long run, this game being one of the exceptions). Same goes for Innes and Saleh on Eirika's route, and Duessel on Ephraim's route.
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7, 11, or 13

fire emblem has always been waifushit with open field maps so don't listen to the kids that started with Tellius
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Kircheis posted...

All I'm gonna say is that if you do play Sacred Stones, play on the hardest difficulty. Even with all 3 Trainees (no Tower/Skirmishes) it's not hard. "Difficult" mode should've been Normal mode tbh. Also, Seth is the best unit in the game, don't write him off for being a prepromote (which are usually not as good in the long run, this game being one of the exceptions). Same goes for Innes and Saleh on Eirika's route, and Duessel on Ephraim's route.

Yeah, Seth is similar to Ike. They can both pretty much solo the game they appear in.

Maybe don't let Seth hog the exp that'd be better spent on other early on, but if he does get exp, it won't hinder you too much because he's so great.
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MarqueeSeries posted...

dotsdfe posted...

Not sure if this is real or just meant to start a debate, but FE7 is a really good entry point. It has a solid tutorial that helps new players really learn the ropes and doesn't have a lot of side systems that tend to be love-or-hate (IE pair up, laguz units, etc.).

It's real. I just downloaded FE: Heroes, and it got me interested in starting the series proper. The disdain for 3DS FE is new to me though; I've seen them highly praised elsewhere

The Fire Emblem fanbase is split into a couple factions. It's mostly fans of the older games that were never released outside Japan, the group that played the GBA to Wii games and swear by those, and the newer fans that enjoy the 3DS games. I feel most people like aspects of all, but when you go into FE discussions online, you'll very often have people who like one of these and hate all the others with a passion.
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I'll probably end up liking them all tbh. Do they all play in that advance wars style?
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Yeah, they can feel familiar especially the GBA ones. Both made by Intelligent Systems, so it makes sense.
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That's good to hear. I always loved Advance Wars, so it's good to know there's plenty more where that came from (literally)
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Esrac posted...

Kircheis posted...

All I'm gonna say is that if you do play Sacred Stones, play on the hardest difficulty. Even with all 3 Trainees (no Tower/Skirmishes) it's not hard. "Difficult" mode should've been Normal mode tbh. Also, Seth is the best unit in the game, don't write him off for being a prepromote (which are usually not as good in the long run, this game being one of the exceptions). Same goes for Innes and Saleh on Eirika's route, and Duessel on Ephraim's route.

Yeah, Seth is similar to Ike. They can both pretty much solo the game they appear in.

Maybe don't let Seth hog the exp that'd be better spent on other early on, but if he does get exp, it won't hinder you too much because he's so great.

Ultimate compromise: Let Seth kill bosses and some priority targets while everyone else gets all the mooks that are so beneath Seth that he'd need, like, a Slim Sword or something just to feed anything to the scrubs. Everyone wins! \^*^/
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