Help me pick my first Fire Emblem

[brighter]

Being more of a PC person, Fire Emblem has totally eluded me. I've played various other strategy & tactics games that are native to my "home platform," but never FE (or Advance Wars, and only ever the slightest bit of Disgaea). I'd like to fix that this year.

but WOW, there are too many of these games! from the outside it's hard to get a grip on what's a sequel to what, what's the start of a "new generation," and what's a freaks-only followup, and this golden age of fan translations means I can't even rule out the NES+SNES games. So I'd like to call on The Forums for advice.

Bare minimum, I would like something I can comfortably emulate on my 15 year old processor and/or a PlayStation Vita (my handheld of choice). I know this rules out the 3DS and Switch games, but I'm fine with that as I'm not interested in the social link type stuff (I can just look up pictures of Dimitri in my own time, anyways). GameCube will work just fine, though. I'm aware some of these games have an Xcom-ish setup where you churn through characters via permadeath, something I'm totally cool with. But are there games where this isn't true? Will I "be fine" if I just jump into Thracia 776 or whatever? I can deal with a learning curve as long as I'm given space to figure out the basics. But also, are the GBA games better? Are these stupid questions to ask about a Nintendo game?

Any input appreciated!!

 

[kingofdragons]

start with the GBA games, its where everyone in the west first really got introduced to the series. it will give you a great first look, and then you can branch out.

 

[Yuniheim]

I know this rules out the 3DS and Switch games

Damn, and I was just going to recommend both Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) and Fire Emblem Fates (3DS).
I still recommend playing them first if you can, if you have a phone capable of running 3DS or Switch emulators. They are good starts to the franchise imo. Fates has lots of mods too on gamebanana.

Both games have a casual mode where characters don't die and the classic mode where defeat=death.

Are these stupid questions to ask about a Nintendo game?

Not at all.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

You will never be fine jumping into Thracia 776 without knowing how actual SRPGs played like.
Not even people who claimed they are hardcore FE players were having any fun playing it for the first time.
And it was tied to Genealogy of the Holy War in setting and plot, so even if you think you're prepared for the challenge you should play Genealogy first for maximum experience anyway (with Genealogy being more on the difficult side compared to most games as well)

Start with easy games like Blazing Blade, Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem or Awakening and slowly get up from there if you enjoyed them. Thracia is really only recommended when you finally got familiar with how FE works, because it would absolutely turn that expectation against you.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Depends on what you are looking for.

If you are looking for peak Xcom min maxing every move and sweating out the RNG variance, then yeah Genealogy, Thracia, Shadow Dragon/New Mystery DS Remakes, and Awakening/Fates on Maddening difficulty are pretty hardcore.

If you are looking for a casual breeze of a game where not much thought is needed, then the GBA games like Fire Emblem:Blazing Blade, and Sacred Stones are probably more your jam. Even on the highest difficulty, these games are pretty easy. The only exception is the Japan only FE6: Binding Blade which can be pretty difficult at times. Three Houses is also on the easier side, except on the highest difficulty. Still rather easy because they added the divine pulse feature that allows the player to rewind moves.

Gamecube/Wii Fire Emblem is also on the easier side, although the Japanese Fire Emblem:Path of Radiance has an absolutely insane difficulty mode. One of the challenges is to beat that mode ironman style. I haven't accomplished it yet. The North American Radiant Dawn included the Japanese difficulties, so its considerably more difficult than PoR.

 

[Yousef]

@Cheela the catgirl might help

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Actually 3DS games can easily be emulated on at most 5 year old phones and 10 year old laptops/PCs, so starting with 3DS game like Awakening might be better for newbies. Not that Fates and Shadows of Valentia are good choices, but they're still choices nonetheless.

The first game and its remakes (Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem) are still the best way to introduce FE if you want actual plot coherence and not just gameplay.

 

[DanVzare]

Damn, and I was just going to recommend both Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) and Fire Emblem Fates (3DS).
I still recommend playing them first if you can, if you have a phone capable of running 3DS or Switch emulators. They are good starts to the franchise imo. Fates has lots of mods too on gamebanana.

Both games have a casual mode where characters don't die and the classic mode where defeat=death.

Not at all.

Fire Emblem Fates Conquest was my first Fire Emblem game, and I can attest to it being a brilliant introduction to the series. Although from what I can gather, the fanbase seems to be very divisive on Fire Emblem Fates. One look at the mods available, and you can see the problems everyone has with it.
Although those problems are the reasons why I loved the game. :D

 

[RustySK]

I'd definitely recommend the GBA games as well.
They're gorgeous to look at, play super well and focus on the TRPG gameplay as opposed to the fluff of the later games that can be either hit or miss.

If you're worried about difficulty, start with Sacred Stones, as that one gives you all the tools you could ever want to minimize the challenge and can frankly feel a bit anemic if you end up going back to it after playing a couple other entries.
My personal favourite of that trilogy is Blazing Blade (aka just Fire Emblem in the West) though, I think that one is the most balanced and the most polished of the three.

Now, if you're feeling in the mood for 3D though, I cannot recommend Path of Radiance enough.
That game is my favourite of the entire series and another one of the more balanced, approachable entries. It's also the one with the best storytelling, far as I'm concerned.

 

[Bonkers225]

Don't start with the earliest titles especially when you're coming in from the more modern games. Start with the Gamecube, than 3DS, and the Switch.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Don't start with the earliest titles especially when you're coming in from the more modern games. Start with the Gamecube, than 3DS, and the Switch.

I wouldn't touch the NES games because they play super slow and the inventory management is awful. But the SNES games are perfectly playable and some of the best games in the series IMO. Genealogy and Thracia are peak FE. They were directed by the OG FE designer Shozou Kaga and the series changed when he departed. The games have a different design philosophy and are worth trying out.

 

[wilddogsdivorce]

if you're going to pick the series up and you can't play the 3ds games, gonna have to say you ought to just go through the gba titles in release order. definitely in release order. imo, shadow dragon isn't worth the time. the gba titles are honestly amazing. if you don't end up enjoying them, the series may not be for you. can't comment on the gamecube titles, haven't gotten around to them yet.

if you get a chance to play a 3ds title, i think everyone should play echoes shadows of valentia. awakening saved the series, and i think it's worth your time. but echoes is peak fire emblem, and a decent challenge which i think most of the series is quite easy.

the switch games... three houses is a fan favorite, but i personally don't think you'll be missing out on too much. here's hoping we get a thracia remake and then they go back to the drawing board.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Intelligent Systems would never go back to Thracia again after the absolutely bombed sales. And Kaga would never let them anyway, even he knew that doing those would never make money looking at how abysmal Vestaria Saga sales are.

Heck, you can argue that even the SaGa series nowadays are merely watered down ideas from what Kawazu would do in the past, the series didn't become what it used to be anymore despite retaining the names.

 

[Tortuga]

Fire Emblem 7 for gba is your best bet
Beginner friendly and can easily emulate on vita

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Intelligent Systems would never go back to Thracia again after the absolutely bombed sales. And Kaga would never let them anyway, even he knew that doing those would never make money looking at how abysmal Vestaria Saga sales are.

Wow wow wow... just wrong on every level possible.

First of all, Genealogy of the Holy War was the best selling game in the series until Awakening came out. Awakening, by the way, steals one of the main features of Genealogy: The child units. The idea that Kaga can't sell games is silly.

Second, Thracia bombed because someone had the genius idea to publish an SNES game in 1999. Expecting it to sell as well as PS1 games when almost everyone had PS1/Saturn and the Dreamcast was about to come out was silly.

To further my point, Kaga's next game, Tear Ring Saga (released on the PS1), went on to outsell FE6: Binding Blade. That further supports the idea that Thracia being released on a dead platform was the reason it didn't sell. Actually, selling 100k copies of an SNES game in 1999 is kind of impressive if you ask me.

Third, Vestaria Saga is an indie level project made in a SRPG maker program with no marketing. Expecting to sell to the level of a Nintendo release is ridiculous.

 

[RustySK]

The SNES games are perfectly playable and some of the best games in the series IMO. Genealogy and Thracia are peak FE. They were directed by the OG FE designer Shozou Kaga and the series changed when he departed. The games have a different design philosophy and are worth trying out.

Absolutely agree, Thracia is super fun once you understand what's going on and how to handle it and Genealogy has this sense of scale to it that no other game in the series ever matched - also a surprisingly good story!

That said, I don't think either would make for great points of entry for a new player. Genealogy is super slow and requires real patience while also playing quite differently from the rest of the series and Thracia... I mean, I love that game, but it's pretty brutal.
(Thinking about these games has me hankering to start a new playthrough though)

 

[LaserMoose]

FE7 (The Blazing Blade) on GBA is a great game to start with, as it was the first to be officially released outside of Japan. The GBA titles in general are good at teaching how to play without relying on game-exclusive mechanics, so they work well as a stepping stone to play both the older and newer games in the series.

Not to mention, the sprite work in FE6-FE8 are top notch.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Wow wow wow... just wrong on every level possible.

View attachment 60473

First of all, Genealogy of the Holy War was the best selling game in the series until Awakening came out. Awakening, by the way, steals one of the main features of Genealogy: The child units.

Second Thracia bombed because someone had the genius idea to publish an SNES game in 1999. Expecting it to sell as well as PS1 games when almost everyone had PS1/Saturn and the Dreamcast was about to come out was silly.

Third, Vestaria Saga is an indie level project made in a SRPG maker program with no marketing. Expecting to sell to the level of a Nintendo release is ridiculous.

All you saying is basically agreeing with me on every possible level tho.

Especially with how Tear Ring Saga on PSX and Berwick Saga on PS2 didn't sell as much as Kaga would've hoped so he reduced Vestaria Saga to as you said, an indie level project. Which, mind you, was built with crowdfunding. And yet it still sold real bad nonetheless.

Yes, Genealogy is one of the most successful. It's also one of the most polarizing until Thracia came along and stumbled FE from its high horse for quite a while (which they later would repeat again with Radiant Dawn).

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

All you saying is basically agreeing with me on every possible level tho.

Especially with how Tear Ring Saga on PSX and Berwick Saga on PS2 didn't sell as much as Kaga would've hoped so he reduced Vestaria Saga to as you said, an indie level project. Which, mind you, was built with crowdfunding. And yet it still sold real bad nonetheless.

Yes, Genealogy is one of the most successful. It's also one of the most polarizing until Thracia came along and stumbled FE from its high horse for quite a while (which they later would repeat again with Radiant Dawn).

I edited my previous post, but actually Tear Ring Saga sold as well as Binding Blade. It seems like they both hit the upper limit of what the franchise could be at that point in time. Tear Ring Saga was released on the PS1 and sold almost 4 times what Thracia did, so it proves my point that the failure of Thracia had more to do with it getting released on a dead platform.

Vestaria Saga actually has a bunch of cool ideas, but the SRPG engine he used for the game is awful. Who knows if the game would've sold better if it had a professional game engine and decent animations? Probably not because it is still an indie release with no marketing, but one could argue the case.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Everything before the 3ds

 

[Yithan]

If you want to try the GBA Fire Emblem games, I recommend Sacred Stones. It was my introduction to the series and instantly became one of my favorite games. I think this one and FE7 are your best options. My only critique would be the support system you have to waste a lot of turns to get them, but you get used to it

 

[MemeAlert]

 

[CheelaCheela's icon]

FIRE EMBLEM THE SACRED STONES IS GREAT FOR BEGINNERS AND A NICE INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES AS A WHOLE BECAUSE IS REALLY FAIR IN DIFFICULTY WHILE HAVING ELEMENTS THAT ARE MORE ACCOSTUMED FOR PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH OTHER RPGS BUT NOT SRPGS

Sorry for the caps but i love fire emblem, is mu favorite game series :3

 

[Yousef]

FIRE EMBLEM THE SACRED STONES IS GREAT FOR BEGINNERS AND A NICE INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES AS A WHOLE BECAUSE IS REALLY FAIR IN DIFFICULTY WHILE HAVING ELEMENTS THAT ARE MORE ACCOSTUMED FOR PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH OTHER RPGS BUT NOT SRPGS

Sorry for the caps but i love fire emblem, is mu favorite game series :3

Aww shucks I thought your favorite was Superman 64 :c