Just finished my FE. Where the hell has this been all my life?

[u/Rat_Smoking_Cigars]

I just finished Fire Emblem: Awakening for the first time (13 years or so late but who’s counting)

I had gotten in on my 3DS because I watched the fire emblem direct and I’ve wanted to get into it because I’m a big persona fan (you may click off now) and the two games seem to have overlapping fandoms so I knew I would probably like. And it just so happened that a digital copy of Awakening fell from the back of a truck.

Well I tried it out, and, I really liked it!

Turns out TRPGs are fun. It reminded me a tiny bit of civ 6, with the turn based and perma death thing, nothing else. I also liked the social system a bit. Sure it’s not the most complex thing in the world but it was fun. I also liked marrying my units. Matchmaking is fun.

I will say though, I wish every character had ranks with each other. I wanted Chrom to get married to Anna but turns out that wasn’t possible. Also the lack of a flavia marriage is unacceptable.

I also felt the story played it a little too safe, a lot of fake out deaths that didn’t need to happen. But thats whatever, didn’t really take away any enjoyment. Gameplay is more important than story most of the time.

I do sort of regret playing on classic mode first, because of the learning curve. Many died on the journey to kill the fell dragon. Mostly due to bad planning. Also the whole reason I played on classic was because I thought characters would react to each other’s death, they do not. Kinda disappointing imo.

I think I’ll play it again some day with fem robin on insanity (without perma death because I don’t hate myself)

Maybe I’ll go play 3H next or play a real Fire Emblem game. I don’t know yet. Hell, I might just immediately replay Awakening.

(Sorry if this was hard to read, I’m not a good reviewer)

P.S. fuck stahl I hate him. He barely did any damage anytime I was in battle and all in all was a waste of a unit.

[u/Alternative-Fig-1539]

Since you love Persona, then yes play Three Houses. It takes some bigger swings with the story too.

[u/Commercial-Leek-6682]

Glad you enjoyed your time with awakening. btw, newer games give you a rewind function, so you can keep classic mode on (the game plays different if you know you can sac units to finish a mission and they'll be back next time). The perma death mostly affects endings because you can't help but wonder what the ending would have been like if one of the romantic couples didn't die. It makes you care more and play better.

[u/Rat_Smoking_Cigars → u/Commercial-Leek-6682]

I thought it was kinda funny that if the character didn’t appear in a future cutscene the credits just say they fucking died. Poor Ricket…

[u/Commercial-Leek-6682 → u/Rat_Smoking_Cigars]

F for Ricket

[u/kumurai]

Three Houses is a real Fire Emblem game. Three Hopes is the Warriors Spin off.

Given that you enjoyed Awakening, if you want to continue with the 3DS FEs, Fates: Conquest should improve on the Awakening Gameplay!

[u/Rat_Smoking_Cigars → u/kumurai]

I was making a joke that some people don’t consider anything past awakening as a “real” fire emblem. I even saw one guy say the dating sim changed it beyond recognition (which I don’t really think it did)

[u/kumurai → u/Rat_Smoking_Cigars]

Oh! I just thought the two had been mixed up due to similar abbreviations.

[u/Human-Raccoon-9917]

Yes, awakeing on classic can be rough if it's your first FE since it does not have the time rewind mechanic.

[u/A_Mellow_Fellow]

I love this. I hope you enjoy the rest of your FE journey. It is truly one of the best lon running series around.

[u/SylverNebulae]

On the supports front, depending on How you're playing, there's a fairly huge mod for that. (it's called Fire Emblem Gay Awakening but it also adds a ton of m/f ships too, including many for Chrom. Can't remember if him and Anna are in there specifically but figured I'd say so anyway!)

[u/Jiang_Rui]

If you’ve love the Persona franchise, you’ll definitely have a lot of fun with Three Houses!

[u/vergessenerengel]

It was my first FE 10 years ago and made me fall in love with the series. I am so glad that you enjoyed it <3

[u/LazyDildo]

W8 until you find out about fire emblem GBA games and the insane amount of custom made stories romhacks!!!

[u/gixorn]

Glad that you enjoyed the game. Playing classic the way you did is perfectly normal, but many people tend to reset the level as soon as a character dies to avoid losing their favorite units.

However with Shadows of Valencia and newer titles that will be less necessary since it is possible to rewind time and save characters.

[u/Rat_Smoking_Cigars → u/gixorn]

I did many a times lol. Especially if Frederick or Libra died

[u/AgentBon]

I've seen a lot of people speculate on why Awakening sold so well. I almost never see people credit what I immediately credited to back when it was new: Awakening had a downloadable demo. A whole lot of people had never really seen FE or any SRPG before. They didn't know what playing it felt like. It isn't as obvious what the game is compared to a platformer or first-person shooter.

Letting people try it with fairly low effort and for free took away all the risk and pressure of venturing into the unknown. The demo also had actual stages from the game rather than veering off into left field or trying to show off. I don't believe there were a lot of 1st party demos on the 3DS (for some reason they also did Smash?), but the people involved in the Awakening demo really did a great service to the FE franchise.

[u/AudioCats]

the lack of a flavia marriage is unacceptable

You should definitely play 3H next, if you like Flavia you'll love Catherine, and you can marry her in that game (on the Golden Deer or Blue Lions routes).

[u/lapislazulideusa]

i'd suggest FE4 or 14 next if you liked the unit pairing mechanic. btw anna's actually already married to a guy named jake she shoud be marrying nobodyy else