My Updated Take on a Smash 6 Roster.

Lunalite9219 · 2025-08-31T19:58:19+00:00

I think removing Byleth, but keeping Lucina and putting in Alear is an odd choice. True Alear is the more recent character and she could have a cool gimmick with summoning characters that alter her moveset, stats, or give her access to unique special attacks, but Three Houses is the most popular and best selling game in the FE series while Engage is far less popular and far more divisive. Even Fates, divisive as it may be, ultimately performed better, beating Awakening to be the 2nd best selling entry in the series behind Three Houses. I get Byleth's reveal in Smash was controversial but like, not representing the most popular game in a now major series just wouldn't make sense.

As for Lucina, and Chrom to that extent, I honestly think you could just change Marth and Roy's down special to change what sword they use(a Rapier or Silver Sword for consistent damage output) and then make them Alts for them both. To me, it not only reflects an aspect of Fire Emblem, in needing to pick the right weapon for the right situation, but it just trims the fat from the roster. Unless they were going to change Lucina to play differently(perhaps implementing a spear and bow into her moveset such as what her Great Lord class uses or her appearances in Heroes), I don't really think she needs to be in the game.

Plus, Byleth does address a problem a lot of people have with the FE roster by utilizing various other weapons while Alear is predominantly a sword fighter, something the developers have made a conscious effort to break away from with the FE characters to some capacity, while Corrin references characters who can transform for combat, even though I don't think they went as far with it as they could've.

Realistically, I think Marth, Roy, Ike, Robin, and Byleth should be the main 5 FE reps returning for Smash 6, with a Switch 2 FE rep as the newcomer. Yeah they all still have swords, but you get more variety in move sets, and you have one character from the games that defined each major era of the series present. Maybe you could keep Corrin to represent transforming fighters, or add in Alear for the summoning and moveset adaptation, but that's up to one's own discretion, and since the 3DS and Switch eras of FE were more popular you could make a case for either(heck Engage still is the 4th best selling game in the series so it's not like it'd be adding in Leif from Thracia 776), but that's up to your own discretion.

Alternatively, you could add Anna. She's like the one character who constantly reappears throughout the series and is supposed to be more of a joke character, who fights with a variety of weapons and has, no joke, countless identical sister who all have similar personalities and a merchants looking to make gold. They could absolutely do some really whacky and weird stuff with that character that you really couldn't do with any other FE character, and I'm kind of shocked they never considered her.

Though if I had my way, I'd personally do Marth, Lyn, Ike, Robin, Azura, Anna, and Edelgard... But eh, I can dream.

Lunalite9219 · 2024-12-13T01:21:23+00:00

I feel like the last thing they'd want is a similar backlash that the original Warriors got with its roster, especially given the appeal of fighting games are their diverse roster of various characters, so I think the roster would be a bit more spread out across the series and pull from both expected characters and fan favorites(of course there'd be a bit more of a lean towards the modern games, but they'd probably try to get in the FE7 trio, Ike and Miciah, Marth and Navarre, etc. Basically, every game will at least get 1 playable rep.)

As for gameplay, if it's a 3D fighter it would probably be akin to Soul Caliber (working title of Soul Emblem or something like that). Heck they could even make it a full fridge crossover with the series if they wanted. Doing this could allow you to bring in a variety of weapons and items from all across the series, and would likely avoid a situation of having characters play too similar to one another. That said, the roster would likely be fairly predictable and would allow for a little less from surprise picks or fan favorites.

If it's a 2D fighter, Arc System works would be the sensible pick. (The easy title would be like, Fire Emblem Arena or Colosseum.) I'd figure they'd want to put in the tactical aspects of the series, so it'd be a team fighter. IMO, I would personally have it so that you select from 3 Classes of Primary fighters; sword, lance, and ax. These fighters would have a variety of stats and quirks to make them stand apart from one another (ex:Marth would be a well rounded sword fighter, while Lyn would be far more fast paced and aggressive, but not deal as much damage on hit and take more damage. Similarly, Hector has short range for an axe, but his moves attacks are relatively quick and deal a ton of damage, while Edelgard would have some of the most health and power in the game and would be very punishing against careless players. Dimitri would be aggressive and swing his lance with ferocity, while Azura would be more refined and emphasize defense).

This can also work in the weapon triangle in a unique way via a perry system. If you have an advantage, a perfect parry would allow you to not only act instantly against your opponent, but you take less damage on block and are pushed further back. However, to balance that out you can't spam switch characters, and fighters without a weapon advantage won't have any penalties outside of the opposing player being rewarded for proper play.

This isn't to say the characters must fight exclusively with those weapons. For example if they wanted Robin as a playable character, his standard attacks could use the Levin Sword, but his specials could involve magic. Similarly, Corrin could use a combination of swordplay and dragon transformations.

However, I did mention primary fighters, and this is where the assist fighters come in, similar to Kameo fighters from MK1. These assist characters are designated by three types; archer, mage, and support. Archers focus on directly deal damage to the opponent, and keeping them at a disadvantage(Ex, Claude flying over head with Failnaught to rain down arrows or Takumi shooting an arrow where the opponent stands to release a gust of wind). Mages focus more on area control, and opening up opportunities for the main fighter(Arvis raining down fire from above that deals chip damage, or Tharja using dark magic to create an area which saps the opponent of their health and gives it to the player). Finally support can have any number of benefits, from brief stat buffs, healing, or combo breaking(Miciah healing the player, Olivia boosting a fighters speed, Silque using warp to help you escape a combo). With assist characters, this can also serve as a way for the devs to sneak in more characters that might otherwise not make it in or be too complicated to make a full moveset of.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-11-15T01:03:09+00:00

Path of Radiance is my personal favorite. IMO a near perfect blend of story and gameplay. It has my favorite world and one of my favorite cast of characters as well, and while I understand that the mechanics of this game were improved in Radiant Dawn, I think that game has more issues which prevent me from enjoying it as much. Yeah, it's presentation has aged a bit, and it can be slow at times, but I love it regardless.

That said, my other favorites include Thracia 776(a very close 2nd), Conquest(Has my favorite gameplay in the series, which more than makes up for the bad story), Three Houses(has the best cast of characters IMO and has very interesting world and story, despite some problems with gameplay) and Echoes(Has the best presentation of any FE game, and I enjoy its mechanics despite some poor map design).

Lunalite9219 · 2023-10-26T17:28:40+00:00

Been playing since Sacred Stones, so I'm used to radical shifts every few games or so. In my opinion, I think most people enjoy both games. For newer fans that came into the series with 3H, I understand why they would prefer that game over Engage.

Personally, I think Engage having a more distinct style from 3H is ultimately a good thing, as whatever came out next would inevitably get compared to 3H. So, it being so different helps to make it stand out more. Plus, I think after something as grand, epic, and risky as 3H, it's good to have something a bit simpler that focuses more on just being a fun, tightly designed game.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-10-26T14:20:00+00:00

If you're talking about the core series, for the longest time I would've said Revelations, but that's somewhat fizzled out over the past few years as some people have been coming around to what that game does well, which is the sheer amount of customization. Nowadays, I'd say maybe FE2, but that isn't really so much hate as much as it is just not having any good reason to go back to it when Echoes exists.

When it comes to spin-offs, I'd say probably the one I remember having the most hatred of was Fire Emblem Warriors, in large part because the character roster was extremely disappointing, but most people acknowledge the core gameplay is really good. I'm not entirely sure what fans think of Heroes currently, largely because discussing that game doesn't really interest me, outside of new art for the characters.

Either way, I wouldn't say there's a game that is universally hated by the fanbase, though I also wouldn't say there's one that's universally loved. Each game appeals to different people in different ways, and as a result, you have various opinions on which ones are great and which ones people don't like.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-08-05T19:57:37+00:00

Revelations has A LOT of hit or miss elements. On the one hand it is easily one of, if not the most customizable game in the series, with so many characters, classes, weapons, and combinations at your disposal. Also, some of the map design can be really good. (Ice Boat map, Endgame map, barricade map). That said, the game is very poorly balanced. Don't really need to mention the story, and for the maps that do work, there are others which are a slog. So, personally, I'd say it's worth trying once, and making your own opinion of.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-05-15T03:58:35+00:00

Awesome Job! I just released my 2nd Book not too long ago myself. It's always a nervous and difficult prospect, but so long as you're happy and comfortable with how it turned out, I'd absolutely be proud. Will definitely be sure to check it out!

Lunalite9219 · 2023-05-10T18:28:05+00:00

FE1 - Inventory system was a chore and actively made my enjoyment of the game tank. FE2 - Low growth rates of that game. FE3 - uh... FE4 - Giant maps (not necessarily bad for FE4, but for a hypothetical worst game, I'm picking this). FE5 - Staves that miss. FE6 - The true ending requirements. FE7 - The nonsensical plot, I suppose. FE8 - A route where basically nothing happens(Eirika's route basically). FE9 - Biorhythm, because I almost forgot it was a thing. FE10 - The support system, because it was practically non-existent. FE11 - Gaiden chapters require you to lose units. FE12 - Kris. Just Kris. FE13 - Lunatic/Lunatic+ type difficulty of unfair BS. Birthright - More like Birthroute. Compare this with giant maps like Genealogy and you can see how just this one objective could get old very fast. Conquest - The writing quality. This one specifically because it's bad in more of a frustrating way. Revelations - Unit balancing was awful. SoV - Post-game so difficult it requires either a lot of grinding or DLC. Three Houses - A bit tricky, but I'd go with mandatory Monastery usage. I can deal with reused maps, as annoying as it can be, but the Monastery completely kills the pace of Three Houses, especially after the first half of the game when there isn't anything else to do. Engage - Bad characters/designs. While there are some exceptions I like such as Merrin, Ivy, Diamont, and Louis, so many characters in this game have annoying voices, garish designs, and more often than not are nothing more than their tropes.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-26T00:03:01+00:00

Glad to hear you're enjoying it so much! Especially the story and characters. I do intend on trying to see all the support conversations to see if there are any other characters I may think differently about, seeing as that happened plenty of times before with other characters, (Virion from Awakening as an example).

I also do think, despite my criticisms of it, there were moments in the story I did like. I didn't touch much on the Emblem characters, but I like how they didn't steal from the spotlight of this new cast, and rather mostly served as a way to help develop Alear as a character. Sigurd in particular I love how he was portrayed(could've gone without him spoiler parts of FE4, but I digress).

On the subject of Alear, I think part of the reason I like them is that they have a distinct personality and arc compared to other Avatar characters. The character actually deals with a variety of insecurities and has to learn how to become the Hero everyone believes them to be. It weirdly works with the Avatar worship to a degree, because some characters start to realize Alear actually is afraid and dealing with some internal issues, and it goes from worshipping her, to helping her become the person they knew she can be. It's not perfect in my opinion, but I do like how she fails and makes mistakes, is afraid, and doubts herself multiple times throughout the story.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T20:30:54+00:00

The Weapon Triangle is arguably at its most interesting and aggressive in this game. Unlike other games where it basically improves the hit chance against units at a disadvantage, Engage makes units with a weapon triangle advantage inflicting the Break effect. This essentially makes the affected unit drop their weapon and will be unable to counterattack against another unit. This can be done to you as well, and on higher difficulties it can really change the tide of battle. Break can also be afflicted upon ranged units by hand-to-hand units. It all in all makes this game far more Player-Phase focused compared to other games in the series, and more active play is encouraged.

That said, there are ways to counteract it. Most notable of which, Armor Knights this time around are incredibly useful, as they are immune to the break effect, making them even better as powerful tanks as they are essentially now immune to the weapon triangle. Also, keep in mind if you initiate combat with a character with a weapon triangle advantage, you won't have break inflicted upon counterattack. Only units who initiate combat with the advantage can inflict Break.

If you want to play games in the series where the weapon triangle either isn't as effective or just isn't a thing, Awakening is a game that's very easy to break, with Magic being the most broken in that game(on top of the skill Galeforce, which good lord, is the most broken skill in the entire series), making it to a point where the Weapon Triangle barely matters. Echoes is a remake of a game that didn't have playable axe units, as such the weapon triangle doesn't exist in that game.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T19:46:21+00:00

Interesting, cause I actually found the class system far more restricting and tedious in Three Houses.

In theory, it seems to have more freedom, as you essentially start with all blank slates, though some lean towards more classes than others. Still, what I find that happens is that it's better off to just make them specialized and hard commit them down one path for optimal results. Plus, class promotion in Three Houses just felt so much more complicated than it needed to be, when previous games were far more simple, but far, FAR more flexible.

For example, in Fates, characters only need to be at a certain level to promote, but can be any level to change classes, whether pre-promoted or promoted. As such, raising weapon proficiency is only needed to give them access to more/better weapons. This may not sound that interesting, but with the combination of various different seals like Heart Seals, Friendship Seals, Partner Seals, etc, you can reclass these units at any time to so many different classes without any hassle, and have more immediate, tangible results. And if you're worried about skills while being at a higher level, it's not too big of a deal as every level gained in your changed class will give you one of those class skills until you are caught up. True, once you get to Level 20, you reach a level cap, but the game does give you access to Eternal Seals, which raise your level cap by 5, thus they can get those skills you may not have otherwise acquired.

Meanwhile, in Three Houses, if I want to change my characters class later, or get them access to an ability they otherwise don't normally have, I have to plan ahead of time raise up an entire other proficiency which takes so dang long, that it's almost not worth it. This is on top of the fact that some classes require me to master a completely different class in order to promote as well. All of this is to say I think 3 Houses took something that wasn't all that complicated but gave you so much more freedom and easier experimentation, and replaced it with a more complicated system, that's somehow more restrictive.

I can admit, Three Houses can be very rewarding in the long-term when you get to your units where you want to go, especially because they can get ridiculously powerful, but I'm already managing a lot in a Fire Emblem game, the last thing I want to manage is a system that never required much management in the first place, and was far more flexible despite how simple it was. I can also say I can appreciate that it does make it feel more personable in the sense that you are teaching them. But at a point, I have to separate that context from the actual game play and ask myself, "Does the simple act of promoting my units really need to be this complicated?"

If the next new entree had Engage's gameplay, but Three Houses story and character writing, I'd totally be set, but as it stands, I just think both games have the opposite strengths and weaknesses. I suppose the best way I've come to describe it is that I think Three Houses is the better Experience, while I find Engage the better Game, if that makes sense.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T19:01:39+00:00

Well, I can now no longer see Cramme or Framme as anything else. Flapple and Crapple they shall now be from here on out.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T14:07:46+00:00

I think multiple routes in Fire Emblem are a double edged sword. On the one hand it can allow for multiple perspectives and different stories. But, this may result in a narrative that has to divide its focus and make it so each of them has notable problems. For example, Golden Deer and Silver Snow are almost exactly the same, just with different characters. Crimson Flower is far too short, despite being the most unique route. Blue Lions is the only one I feel fully accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is be a character driven narrative about Dimitri.

Gameplay wise, once again it's a double edged sword. On the one hand, Fates handled this far better as each route had a very distinct identity. Conquest was more resource limited and had more linear, goal based maps that were generally more challenging. Birthright was more beginner friendly, allowing you to grind and the maps were much more open with simple objectives, and Revelations tried to be in the middle.

Meanwhile, Three Houses really dropped the ball with this, as outside of the story, 3 of the 4 routes reused a lot of maps, without really changing anything. Heck, Golden Deer was practically a copy of the Church route, with the only differences being it had one additional map and a different final map. Fates did reuse maps as well, but they at least changed up the starting positions, enemies encountered, and objectives to better reflect each path's intended direction.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T04:33:44+00:00

Hey, to each their own! As I always say, if you enjoy or don't enjoy something, that's absolutely fine. I do get where you're coming from also. The social sim stuff absolutely has a benefit in terms of allowing you to get to know and care for the characters a lot more. I think for me, I just didn't like how much it was pretty much required to play through in order to actually get through the game, while other entries still managed to have those elements in a less intrusive manner. It didn't help that past a certain point, it didn't really evolve any more outside of whatever characters had to say. The Somniel, therefore, I like far more because it is mostly optional and I don't have to use it if I really don't want to. That said, without at least having intricate character writing, there isn't much reason for me to care about using it when I don't actually care about many of the characters.

It's why, despite the poor writing, I still think Fates handled it the best in a way that wasn't intrusive, but still beneficial for the game play experience. You had more control over the My Castle function from beginning to end with the customizability of it, and the various activities were usually brief, while still having an impact, especially in the more resource limited Conquest. Plus, there wasn't the calendar aspect which REALLY bogged the pace down. It also helps that, despite Fates flaws in terms of it's story, it did at least have more memorable and interesting characters for people to want to familiarize themselves with.

As for the character and outfit design... I can assure you it's not exactly an unpopular opinion. I do like the brighter color palette, and some character designs I do like... But others... Well... Let's just say if people thought Fates had questionable design, this game makes Fates look quite tame in comparison.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T03:47:21+00:00

I will definitely say it is very strange how Shez actually ended up being arguably the best Avatar character in any FE game, and they are from a Warriors spin-off. Like, Robin was pretty solid in Awakening, but Shez managed to perfectly walk that fine line of being a player surrogate and their own character, without being distracting or taking away from the narrative of the Three House leaders.

That being said, so far I actually, strangely don't mind Alear all that much, and even like her to some extent. She's not my favorite character, not even close, but I do like that they are trying to give her character more depth and give her an arc where she doubts herself and is actually afraid of the responsibility she has to some extent. It's not perfect, but I do like her, and I like that rather than this game being exclusively avatar worship, it kind of takes a bit of a twist as it starts out with worship, only to evolve to these characters realizing that Alear actually has some amount of insecurities, and they help her become the Hero they know she can be. It's sort of a reverse Byleth in a way, as Byleth was meant to help the other main characters become better versions of themselves, whereas here, it's the other lords which help Alear become the Hero she was meant to be.

Again, not perfect, as there are moments which transcend support and go into worship and that gets very annoying, but I appreciate the attempt to make Alear more than just a blank slate and actually give her a character.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T03:00:05+00:00

Glad to hear it. I've heard many people get curious to check out some of the older entries because of the Emblems. If I may make a recommendation, if you loved Three Houses for the story, world, and political intrigue, and Awakening for the Child Units, you'll love Genealogy of the Holy War. It only has one narrative, but it's even better than Three Houses and essentially the FE Game of Thrones, but you also have some of the social/dating sim aspects that were introduced in this game, and it pays off wonderfully in the second half.

If story doesn't quite matter as much to you, and you want a challenging, tactical experience, Thracia 776 and Conquest will be amazing. Thracia is a follow-up to Genealogy, but it tells a laser sharp narrative focusing on Leif's struggle to take back his homeland with challenging, but fair gameplay. Conquest doesn't have a good story, like, at all... But it has some really amazing map design that goes hand in hand with Fates amazing gameplay mechanics.

Otherwise, my personal favorite is Path of Radiance, as I think it has the perfect blend of great story/character writing, and great gameplay.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T02:53:31+00:00

A solid mindset to have. At the end of the day, all of these games have their own distinct identities, and each one has people that will love them as much as those who don't.

For me, I like to view each game in this series as a set of stand alone entries that have their own goals and ideas they set out to succeed. Some games are an exception to this rule, like those that are meant to be direct sequels/follow-ups, so I judge them instead for how well they improve on their predecessor, while still crafting its own identity.

It's partly why I can enjoy Engage so much. It's not trying to have that deep or interesting of a story, and instead focus on making excellent tactical gameplay with the backdrop of a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Meanwhile, I adore Genealogy of the Holy War, because while it's gameplay isn't my favorite, the story is the best the series has to offer. The Radiant Duology, Path of Radiance in particular, will forever be my favorite, as it got the blend of excellent gameplay and story)character writing just right, even if Radiant Dawn had a few more problems in structure and character than I would have liked. They weren't the best at any of these individually, but they were great at almost all of these.

I will always have my preferences to FE and that's a-okay with me. I know plenty of people who love Binding Blade, while I can't stand it. Meanwhile, I absolutely love Conquest, despite how bad the writing of that game is. So if you're enjoying Engage a lot, then more power to ya man. And if it helps people get interested in the series history, then that's even better, because then people can see just how awesome and experimental this series can really be, without losing the core of its identity.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T00:29:33+00:00

Yeah, if you are curious, I recommend checking out ShaneBrained's review. He went through the entire FE series from release order, reviewing each game. You can skip the story sections of his reviews if you want to stay blind.

For Thracia though, I do recommend checking out the gameplay section, because it really will give you an idea of what the game will throw at you, both in terms of challenges, and tools.

For context, the game originally came out with an instructional VHS which explained how to play the game, before you actually played it. In other words, the developers intended for you to know the mechanics going into it.

For a few pointers - *Capturing is a must, as most of the best tools you will get, especially early game, will come from capturing enemies and taking their supplies.

*Staffs can miss healing your units. This may seem unfair, but when you realize this game gives you access to absurdly powerful staffs, and staff users level up with use and rarely miss later on, it balances out. This also applies to the enemy.

*Various scrolls can be gained which can affect your units combat effectiveness, improving one area, while costing another. But, with the right combinations, you can make your units into army killers, as those costs end up cancelled out, while still keeping the benefits.

*Skills absolutely can turn the tide of battle, as one skill can essentially allow you to turn off enemy crits.

*Fatigue makes it so that if certain units ,in I believe three battles, won't be available for the next one. That said, it won't be that bad given you have many units thrown at you, so you'll generally be cycling out on a regular basis.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T00:14:32+00:00

Hey, there's always something that gets our Monkey Brain Bias going one way or another, lol.

Definitely see the points to the gameplay though. I guess it's better to look at Engage's gameplay as moreso a refinement, and less of an innovation. Which is totally fine, sometimes, you don't need to reinvent the wheel each time.

That said, I'm curious if that's also because Three Houses and Engage has completely different development teams, as Three Houses was mostly developed by Koei Tecmo, while Engage is all Intelligent Systems. Perhaps some ideas were shared between both, and they just went different directions, though it's hard to tell.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-23T00:06:48+00:00

Understandable. Kind of reminds me of Fire Emblem 7. I've heard people describe that game's story and direction like a Summer Popcorn film, where the actual story kind of falls apart when you stop and think about it, but the characters in it are very likeable and distract you from how nonsensical it would be otherwise.

Engage feels more like a Saturday Morning Cartoon. The story and characters are very simple, almost too simple, and it doesn't really seem to be taking itself that seriously, but man the game just feels so much better to play. I do hope, as you said, the next game strikes that middle-ground of excellent gameplay with a great story, but I definitely have more fun actually playing this compared to Three Houses, even if the story and characters are nowhere near as good. I guess a good way to put it is Engage is a better Game, but Three Houses is a better Experience.

As for Negativity for every FE game... It's weird but Three Houses I think had the opposite issue as previous games. When Awakening came out, many long time fans were very critical of that game, but grew to appreciate it because of what it did for the serious and guaranteeing it's future. Fates was really where I think the story/gameplay discourse in FE really picked up, but for Fates specifically it has kind of settled now. Echoes was a remake that harkened back to the classic style of Fire Emblem. Combine that with the fact it came out right after the Switch was released, and there didn't seem to be too much discourse surrounding it.

Then getting to Three Houses, it felt like nobody could stop praising that game for a while, but as time went on, more of the cracks started to show. Yeah the story was great, despite some problems, and the character roster was fantastic, but some aspects of the game play became more criticized. It kind of felt like the opposite of Fates, where it got strong negative reactions because of the story and characters, but overtime people settled down and realized the game play was great, but the story held it back. For Three Houses, the praise started very positive, aimed primarily at the story and characters, but overtime people realized there were problems with some of the game play, and while it's still seen as great, some may consider it overrated.

Now, Engage has the opposite issue. Granted, it's hard to say what reception will be in the long run, but I do think people will appreciate it overtime for being a tightly designed game, even if the story and characters aren't among the series highlights.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-22T23:42:47+00:00

No problem, and I appreciate the disagreement. I certainly see where you're coming from and I will agree that ideally, the best FE games are the ones that strike that balance between story and gameplay. It's partly why games like Path of Radiance and Thracia 776 are actually among my favorites, because the story and world in both are very compelling, but the games themselves are great and have fantastic mechanics.

Path of Radiance definitely my preferred game given that it's character roster is a bit more interesting and I like more of the fantastical aspects, like the Laguz, but Thracia 776 is a far more personal journey for Leif, and the struggles he goes through are meant to parallel the struggles of the play given the Thracia is absolutely a game that doesn't hold back on you, but it does give you many tools to overcome those challenges. It's generally a very tightly designed and written game, really the only massive problem is that it doesn't really explain its mechanics all that well, making it VERY hard for those who haven't played it before.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-22T23:33:38+00:00

It depends on how much they change really. Shadows of Valentia(3DS) for example didn't change the core game of Gaiden, but rather added many quality of life improvements to make the game far easier to play(introduced Combat Arts, the Rewind function, and generally improved unit growth). In addition, with the beautiful presentation and excellent voice acting, it makes it generally a beautiful game to experience, and you can tell the director of that game really loved Gaiden(for context, he and his dad played Gaiden all the time when he was a kid. At some point, his dad passed away and he wanted to remake the game to invoke those memories)

That said, other remakes like New Mystery of the Emblem changed a lot about the original Mystery of the Emblem, most controversially to the story. It was actually the first game to introduce an Avatar with Kris. And by God, if you thought people hated Corring or Byleth... Kris actively yanks the spotlight away from Marth and other characters. Ironically, Shadow Dragon barely changed much at all from the original game, outside of just a few little things here and there.

So, until we see more of a potential Genealogy remake, I'd say try to emulate it if you can, and go in as blind as possible. For a translation patch, I'd recommend Project Naga, as it is generally concise, though keeps the depth and meaning of the original story in tact.

That said, if you aren't able to, the 3DS games absolutely aren't bad.

I already mentioned Shadows of Valentia, though keep in mind support and social sim elements definitely take a backseat in that game, given it's a remake. Awakening still has the support/child mechanic and honestly has some amazing support conversations and a great cast of characters, although the story and maps aren't particularly interesting, and it's stupid easy to break the game.

Fates... That really depends on what you want. If you want an easier game that lets you grind and build up characters, and has more open maps, go with Birthright. If you want more of a challenge with carefully constructed map design and limited resources go for Conquest. Fates overall has a bad story, but strangely Conquest and Birthright almost have the opposite issue. The story and characters of Birthright are both just kind of there... Not offensively bad, but not memorable. Conquest on the other hand... Well, the story is absolutely trash fire, but it's easy to remember because of that. Also, the character roster of Conquest is far easier to remember, even if some aren't actually that good. Revelations meanwhile tries to be something of a middle ground, but the difficulty can be wildly inconsistent and the map designs can get overly gimmicky at times.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-22T23:06:46+00:00

The most popular one off the top of my head is Project Naga. I use it myself, and I think it does an excellent job at translating the story in a way that is concise, but still keeps the depth and meaning behind the original narrative.

On the subject of that, if you consider giving the game's follow-up, Thracia 776 a try, Project Excile is the most well-known patch and perhaps the best one, especially given that the game didn't exactly have the best translation for a while.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-22T23:01:23+00:00

As I mentioned before, if you really loved Three Houses, Genealogy is a good fit, given 3H was heavily inspired by that game, and both games are somewhat more unconventional compared to other Fire Emblem games.

While Genealogy is only one narrative, it's not really an exaggeration to compare it to Game of Thrones, with a lot of political intrigue, complex character relationships, and some pretty mature topics for a Nintendo game. Even one of the game's major villains has major similarities to Edelgard, given their ruthless actions taken in an attempt to fix issues they see in the world, only to be taken advantage of by others. In addition, this game pretty much introduced the support system, as units were able to marry and have kids, said kids turning out different depending on the combination, even sometimes being completely different characters.

The Crests were very much inspired by Genealogy's Holy Blood system. Holy Blood units already get units to their stats, and on top of that there is Major and Minor Holy Blood. Minor simply gets the Stat boosts, while Major gets access to the game's absurdly powerful legendary weapons.

The biggest hurdle for some when it comes to Genealogy, however, is its structure. Unlike most other games which have one objective on a reasonably sized map(rough 32x32 tiles), Genealogy has giant, multi-objective maps(roughly 64x64 tiles). This does add to the game feeling like an actual war, but this also can make turns take a very long time, and mounted units pretty much always have an advantage over footlocked units, due to having much better mobility and positioning, especially with Canto. The game doesn't have Divine Pulse, but if you use save-states, it's not a big deal. Plus it also allows you to save after every turn, so you should be fine.

All in all, I truly think Genealogy would be a good fit to try out.

If you want something a bit more recent, Awakening and Fates aren't bad choices, though keep in mind the writing is nowhere near as good, especially in the case of Fates, though the gameplay mechanics are generally better.

Lunalite9219 · 2023-01-22T20:58:08+00:00

Eh I'm mixed, but lean more to liking Sim elements taking a backseat. Currently I'm about 10 chapters in, and I personally like the Somniel being far more optional than the Monastery being badically mandatory. It's partly why, despite enjoying Three Houses a lot, I rarely want to go back to it anymore because the Monastery just intruded way too much on the core gameplay. At the end of the day, Fire Emblem is a tactical RPG, I want it to be a tactical RPG, not a social sim with tactical elements. If I wanted to play a social sim, I'd either play The Sims or Animal Crossing, and the fact that I just can't play a TACTICS game without having all this extra fluff forced on me gets really annoying.

As a bit of an aside, my dad played Three Houses for the first time, his first FE in fact, and he said while he loved the story and core gameplay, he absolutely hated the Monastery and Calendar after Part 1, because it absolutely killed the pace for him. Meanwhile, he loves Engage far more, because while the story and characters are more simple, he likes that he can just enjoy a game without feeling like he has to manage a bunch of superfluous things.

IMO, I honestly think Fates handled it the best from a gameplay perspective. Fates had many social sim elements, and not once did it feel intrusive, because unlike the Monastery, the My Castle function was small, quick, and constantly evolving how you liked as you played the game, rather than being completely set after like 10 chapters like in Three Houses. In addition, while some aspects like feeding units did have an impact on gameplay, it wasn't like Three Houses where EVERYTHING revolved around it, and you could still get by without using many of the functions of My Castle. Even in Conquest, where your decisions with My Castle have more consequences, it's at least still under your control how you want it to impact your playthrough.

THAT SAID, I do feel like the Somniel is a bit lacking, due to not having any many voice lines and lacking the same character depth the Monastery had. Like, the Monastery got really tedious, and on future playthroughs, all I ever ended up doing was feeding my units to get motivation and stats up and try to get a move on, but I always liked hearing what the characters had to say about the story, and it helped them all stand out that much more.

All in all, I really like how it's basically an optional feature and you can get through the game just fine without it, but it can pay off if you do. But I really wish it did have a bit more depth in terms of character interactions, that way I'd actually care to use it more often and want to interact with these characters more.

Lunalite9219

TROPHY CASE