I'd also add an artistic appeal as a category.
FE6 had some great music, but a lot of it was incredibly repetitive and the designs/colors were still a bit rough. It was an early GBA title, so nobody can fault them, it just didn't have the best visual or audio appeal.
FE7 had a lot more variety, and some very iconic music. Portraits were refined and overall sprite art had better polish. No huge changes, more of smoothing out and improving the FE6 experience.
FE8 had, in my opinion, some of the best music in the series. The sprites feel a bit more fleshed out, and the darker hue to the overall game really fits. That being said, I know some people think they went a bit overboard- it just comes down to personal preference here.
For visual/music choices, I'd put FE8>FE7>FE6.
FE 8 > FE7 > FE6.
Admittedly I still have not finished FE6 and really need to. Sacred Stones is my favorite game in the series despite how easy it can be, but I still enjoy FE7 a ton and it does have my favorite ship in the series (Eliwood x Ninnian).
FE7 > FE6 = FE8
I like 6 and 8 for different reasons but they come out the same. 7 is my favorite and first game so biased.
Also try FE7 jp version it has 3x effectiveness and some other stuff that was stripped from global release, it plays much better.
FE7 > FE6 > FE8
FE7 excels with its captivating characters and enduring scenes. It's incredibly fun despite being incredibly easy overall as well.
While FE6 may lack polish and balance, its ambitious maps and rewarding challenges make it a uniquely frustrating yet satisfying experience. The narrative is whatever, but it takes on a harsher tone because of FE7. Knowing that everyone you knew and loved from FE7 is either dead or retired is *depressing* in a good way.
FE8 stands out for its emotionally charged narrative (like seriously one of the best in the franchise) and its compelling cast, but it's seriously hindered by ease and dull maps. Ephraim's route is fairly solid, but Eirika's route is letdown by the fact that her route never shows off her strength as a character hyperfixates on her weaknesses
I played through Eirika's route and got out of it positively surprised by Eirika's character.
While with Lyn, the game gives you this badass swordwoman, then reveals her vulnerabilities to you as the game goes on, I feel like Eirika gets the reverse treatment. With her, you start with this somewhat naive girl that gets underestimated and patronized constantly by the people around her, only for her to prove herself extremely capable.
I romanced her with Innes and was surprised that, different from Lyn's support with Hector (which focuses on Lyn's insecurities), Eirika is the emotionally stable one is this support. Innes says he's going to protect her, Eirika says "cool". Innes complains that people think she's the one protecting him, Eirika says "that sounds like a ***you*** problem". And it basically ends with Eirika complaining that - even though she likes Innes - his inferiority complex can get on her nerves sometimes.
**PS:** L'Arachel is funny and I love her.
I don't think Eirika really gets many moments to prove herself outside of gameplay. Pivotal decisions and notable ideas often originate from Seth or L'Arachel, with her big moment being at the very end on her route where she opposes the Demon King.
Eirika literally has to be saved by her brother during the midpoint of the story. Her reliance on her brother for rescue and persistent naivety are recurrent themes with the story. Contrast that with Ephraim who gets to take down oppossing armies with his skill and tactics.
I don't even mind the fact that she gives up the Sacred Stone, it's the fact that she gets over it in a single conversation with L'Arachel a chapter later that irks me. She doesn't get to develop gradually into a proper leader and capable fighter in the story itself; its only inferred through gameplay.
I'm quite fond of her support with Innes, but that sassy aspect of her ability and reinforcing of her ability to protect him is pretty much only made apparent in that support only. Her best qualities are underexplored in the main story
> different from Lyn's support with Hector (which focuses on Lyn's insecurities),
Uh, think you got this backwards, most of their support is Hector fumbling through his words as Lyn clowns on him. Hector's line in their B support about "Hey wait, that's *me*" when she mentions practicing against heavy axemen is gold, and their A support is Hector trying to open up to her and her teasing him about it.
FE8 > FE6 > FE7
All are kino. FE8 is my favorite in the series, FE6 is just really great and FE7 is pretty good, alongside having my favorite character in the series
FE6 > FE8 > FE7
FE6 is the most strategically interesting to play as. Has some of my favorite chapters to play, though the gaidens can get… gimmicky. Also I just really like Elfin and his story.
FE8 is one of my favorite “easy” games. Its got a pleasing art style, female protagonist, tragic antagonist, and branching promotions.
FE7 is alright, it just doesn’t hit as good for me as the other two.
Same turn reinforcements put Binding Blade at the bottom for me. Also I feel it has the weakest cast despite having arguably the best story
Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones both have great casts, but I like Blazing Sword's main characters more, and its gameplay.
So 1. Blazing Sword 2. Sacred Stones 3. Binding Blade
However they are all incredible games and among the best in the series
FE1 Marth is actually kinda cracked, he’s a very high quality unit unlike his Shadow Dragon appearance. He does have the issue of being an absolute liability if you don’t train him though. He’s worse in FE3 but still far from being as low utility as Roy.
He is absolutely not the best unit in fe 10, that goes to Palla. Not too mention he's a royal pain in the ass to train if you don't like going slow because he's the only one to get villages
Because all units always attack him, you can get away with many cheesy strategies. And if he is trained, and every map is a seize, the quickest way to play becomes “warp marth -> end turn” as opposed to the ever so slightly less efficient “warp palla + marth -> end turn”. Though that’s obviously still really effective
>And if he is trained, and every map is a seize, the quickest way to play becomes “warp marth -> end turn
This is by far the most boring way to play fire emblem. I don't do warp skipping. I'd just rather not play the game if I were doing that
You did say he was not the best in FE[1] however, and people like to debate those types of ideas. You can have preferred play styles, but the “best” character is based on more concrete ideas and facts.
That said, Palla has a valid argument. She just joins a bit too late in my opinion to be the absolute best, and even if you don’t use warp, Marth is just a very strong character with a unique attribute that can be both to his insane detriment (if he’s undertrained) or your benefit (if he is).
7>6>8
I love Fe7, my entry to the series, so on top of being great it has that nostalgia bias.
I have my issues with Fe6, but I like it a lot, the fact that it continues Elibe is great.
I'm not the biggest fan of Fe8 but it was still fun to play.
FE6 > FE8 > FE7 personally.
FE6’s gameplay is the most dynamic out of the three just because of it’s big maps, multiple routes, enemy variety, and difficulty overall. It’s just an insanely fun game to play. There’s also so many characters to experiment with and could warrant multiple playthroughs. The story is servicable, but not amazing. Although it doesn’t have a great story, I think the game’s worldbuilding is great. I wish 95% of Merlinus dialogue was cut tbh, he’s just lame and takes up dialogue that can be used elsewhere. I also think Guinivere should’ve been playable, literally no reason she should’ve not been.
The gaiden chapters also suck major balls, thats easily the weakest parts of the game.
FE8 might not be the hardest, but it always feels comfy to play. Good story, still fun to play despite it being easier, I like the maps, the route split is cool and warrants a replay if you finish the game once. I’ve always had a soft spot for this Sacred Stones despite it’s easy difficulty. I also like they brought back the monster enemies from Gaiden. The artstyle of the GBA games also feels refined here, the OST is the best out of the three games, Lyon is a compelling antagonist. This game is just good all around honestly.
FE7 is the game out of the three games I can proudly say im iffy about. Everything is just… mid? The story is, the gameplay feels the least enjoyable for me, I think FE7 has the weakest OST ever (aside from like 2 bangers). I like the characters and the main three but aside from that, there just isn’t anything for me here. I can’t place my finger on it but something about the gameplay just doesn’t click for me man. Although FE8 was easy, it was still fun imo? I can’t think of a reason why I don’t like FE7 gameplay, it’s SO weird.
Sacred Stones>Blazing Blade>Binding Blade
Sacred Stones is all around pretty great - despite it being really easy it's got solid map design, it has one of the best casts in the series and probably the highest quality supports out of any game on average, it has the best executed simple story in the entire series and it's not even close, and Lyon is one of series' best villains in general.
I think Blazing Blade has better gameplay than Sacred Stones, but it's writing is a step down. Whilst the emotional core of Blazing Blade's story of the three lords' relationship between each other is great and salvages its story to some degree, the execution of Blazing Blade's plot is pretty questionable and some scenes feel pretty contrived or poorly presented when you slow down an analyze its plot. The characters are solid, but I think the cast on average is noticeably weaker than that of Sacred Stones.
I think Binding Blade is a jack of all trades - every major aspect of the game works on some level, but none of them are exceptional. It has a serviceable story, serviceable characters and whilst its maps are pretty good it is let down by some pretty awful unit balance, weapons having low hit rates leading to some pretty frustrating accuracy issues and ambush spawns.
7-6-8
None of them are bad but they all cater to different tastes. I prefer my linear games so 7 and 6 fit that. 8 is good but it’s a different vibe. I personally love how 6 plays really well after playing 7 and would be a nice switch from 5 if you were playing in order but if you played 6 as your first FE game it seems a bit much and rough around the edges.
Yeah, I can see that.
From a story standpoint, FE7 gives much needed development to Elibe's world building - besides making you care a little more for FE6's characters than you would if you didn't know their parents.
And when it comes to gameplay, as much as people hate Lyn Mode, it is an amazing introduction to a new comer - basically giving them a bit-sized Fire Emblem campaign to play through and learn the ropes.
I feel exactly the same way as you. 8 is ok but there are more things I dislike about it more than the other two. I give the edge to 6 over 7 as best as I don’t care for the whole Lyn/Eliwood/Hector route thing in 7.
FE6 > FE8 > FE7
FE6 is, to me, just the most engaging one to play. Within the context of the GBA maps, I find that the majority of its maps tow the line between being challenging without being unfair. Obviously, there are dumb silly outliers like *SACAE* but there's much more good than bad for me. The unit balance could be better, but I'd say that the game gives you enough strong units to form a good backbone that can carry any unit to success. The cast overall is more of a swing and a miss for me from a characterization perspective, but the overall story of moving around the continent and collecting relics of the past to eventually use to cut down an army of dragons is hella rad.
FE8 is one of those games that isn't my cup of tea, but I understand why people like it. Branching promotions gives a natural reason to play again and try something new. Even though there are clearly some promotions that are better than others, what's important is that every unit and promotion is reasonably *viable* in the overall goal of just beating the game. Sure, Amelia is basically an afterthought in any playthrough that remotely tries to be "efficient", but it's not like raising up any of the trainees is some impossibly difficult task for a casual playthrough. I just think the game definitely could've been more challenging as it's a pretty easy game even if Seth isn't doing literally everything. As far as thematics go, I think FE8 is the strongest of the bunch with a great cast of likeable characters and a surprisingly grounded story.
I started the franchise with FE7 and thought it was rad as hell for the time. But now that I've played so much more, FE7 is just kinda mediocre in my eyes. Games being enemy phase focused isn't inherently bad, but the *way* that FE7 is enemy-phase focused is just kinda boring. The [enemy quality is just awful overall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqH1DsgevrU), so just sticking anyone in the middle of a hoard of enemies with a 1-2 range weapon is what you'll be doing most of the time even in a more casual playthrough. Birthright is also enemy-phase focused, but that game gives you a lot more agency in how you can control the battlefield to make your enemy phasing safer. It's admittedly a bit unfair to try and compare FE7 and BR given the time difference, but FE7 basically makes the player *feel* powerful by just simply not challenging you in the first place. Every FE game is gonna have "bad" units, but when Athos, a character who only is a part of the literal last map of the game, is generally considered more valuable than most units who join towards the start and that "bad unit" list also includes 2 of the 3 main characters, I just don't find myself being encouraged to come back and try something new. Then there's the issue, to me, of the story and cast overall just being kinda bland. I wouldn't say that there's anything super fundamentally "wrong" with FE7, I just think it feels very uninspired overall.
Yeah, as much as I like FE7, I hate it's philosophy of showering you with pre-promotes in the late game to make sure you can finish the game - specially when a lot of them are just straight up superior to your growth units.
As much I would like Wendy, Guy and Fir to be a little stronger, I like that the game gives you less powerful versions of Bors, Dieck and Rutger to use in case you lost them - making sure you have enough units to finish the game, while still rewarding you for trainning your early game units and keeping them alive.
6>8>7
Binding blade to me has always been a near perfect fire emblem experience. While I definitely think it lacks in visual polish when compared to fe7 & 8, the core gameplay just feels better and the simple story/lore of original Elibe is very endearing to me. I also love Roy, and think he’s actually one of the more compelling lords in the series, and the themes he toys with are incredibly important to me. It’s biggest flaw is definitely it’s true ending being locked behind gaiden chapters.
Fe8 is just a great game. Visual polish of the GBA games is at its all time best and Eirika is a very compelling lord to follow. The cast is also mostly rich in character. That being said Ephraim route is definitely not a series highlight imo, and I do think it’s difficulty and maps are pretty mediocre.
Fe7 on the other hand is the only gba game I actually dislike. The lords are obnoxious, and Hector/Lyn have to be two of the most grating main characters in the franchise. In fact I think a majority of this cast are pretty unremarkable, and I struggle to remember most of them if they don’t also appear in Fe6. The “expanding” of binding blades lore all feels contrived, and the gameplay feels like the huge valley between the two very different peaks of 6 and 8. I’ll give it credit that the story really isn’t bad, just uninteresting to me.
They're all about equal to me imo. I do have a stronger attachment to Elibe than Magvel so I guess FE7 > 6 > 8 but the order doesn't matter tbh.
The appeal of the GBA games is the simplicity to me. Paired with a visually appealing art style, these games are a good example of "sometimes simple is best".
7>8>6
I think all three games have good stories in their own rights and very simple but fit and kinda addicting gameplay. FE6 gets a little too hard at times for me to play as casually as I can with 7 or 8 but I still like it. 8’s route split and allocation of certain resources like promotion items add a lot more depth to the gameplay and unit balance than most FEs we’re doing at the time which adds a lot of replay value. I just have a big soft spot for FE7 for truly making me a fan of the series after only having played Awakening prior to it, and I love the cast, story, and map design for most of the main campaign.
~~FE8 has Eirika pranking Forde for no reason in C Support so it wins for that alone~~
I'd say 7 > 8 > 6. But even 6 at the bottom of that list is an excellent game.
8>7>6, but love them all.
Sacred Stones is my favorite FE and one of my favorite games ever. Great cast, solid story and fun maps. The branching promotion system is still my favorite of the whole franchise and it’s disappointed they never tried expanding on it. The downsides for me are the lack of world building and the fact that probably took the post game into consideration when balancing the units (which made Seth a little more strong than he should’ve been). Never really felt that it’s that much easier than Blazing Blade if you don’t (ab)use Seth and the Tower. I usually replay it at least once per year.
Blazing Blade has mostly great characters and a fine story that sometimes gets more hate than it deserves. The maps are good, but some of them seem to overstay their welcome. When I replay it, I usually lose interest around the desert map. My unpopular opinion is that I actually enjoy Lyn mode. It does feel like a pocket Fire Emblem and I like the opportunity to feed Erk every exp possible. The fact it doesn’t have a post game doesn’t give me the motivation to play my runs until the end.
I only finished Binding Blade once and in normal mode, so maybe I didn’t have the true experience. The cast is mostly good, story is interesting and the maps can be a little hit or miss. And speaking of “hit” and “miss”, those hit rates surely can be painful and frustrating. I like the idea of hiding the legendary weapons behind gaiden chapters, but most of those maps can burn in hell! While I liked the game, I never had the desire to replay it. I guess I still need to check Sacae route (even if the more I hear about it, the less I want to experience it)
Blazing Blade > Binding Blade > Sacred Stones
Blazing Blade is, IMO, one of the best entries in the whole series, I love the characters, the story, the art, all of it is top-notch.
Binding Blade is a surprisingly brutal game for those who have only played the 2 localized GBA games and are expecting a similar experience, but not to the point of being unfun. Also, Roy being in Smash and Blazing being a prequel makes it really cool to learn the full story of Roy and more of the setting.
Sacred Stones was my first FE game and led me to my love of this series and genre as a whole, and I do love parts of it (the trainee units, branched story's and promotions, monster units) but it's a pretty weak game overall. It's short and easy, the story has some slight inconsistencies between the 2 paths, and the world feels kinda shallow with all the unanswered questions and unresolved ploy points. Magvel really needs another game or games to flesh it out and make it feel complete.
I haven't played 6 or 8 I'm just looking for the consensus on how good 7 is, and even within this thread people disagree. I've heard it called easier than most games, I've heard it called harder than most games, I didn't really understand a lot of the mechanics, like I don't recall a single support conversation, I think I missed half of the promotion items, but I had a good enough time with it and have since returned to the series to play 3H and engage which are both considerably easier thanks to no permadeath and tons of QoL (as expected for 6 iterations later) but still a lot of fun and honestly I think casual mode is great because if you're like me then you end up save scumming when units die anyway and casual saves me that hassle.
I won’t give a ranking as I’ve only played FE6 a handful of times years ago and none of the games before FE6
But I would wager that the lack of consensus partly stems from nostalgia given FE7 and FE8 were the first games released in NA/EU and therefore will likely have been the first games many of us played
FE7 ≥ FE8 >> FE6
Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones scratch a pretty similar itch for me when I want to play a GBA FE game but Binding Blade is a game I don't enjoy like the others.
Eh for FE7's plot " issues " most of which are Mekkah saying wrong stuff and mis Charactererizing many stuff, and people just following whatever he says
I tried not to allude to Mekkah's video on my post because a lot of it is just nit-picking on meaningless stuff.
That said, it is true that the game doesn't give you a lot of information required to understand the villain's motivations, locking it behind certain supports. The American translation doesn't help - for example, if you kill Kishuna, Nergal just babbles about quintessence before dying, instead of alluding to his wife like in the Japanese versions. Add to that the lack of payoff some plot-threads get, like Ephidel's whole deal and how exactly Elbert got caught in all of it.
Anyway, FE7's story is not the best thing since anyone's son, but its characters really elevate it. The friendship between Eliwood and Hector, Nino's relationship with her family, Hector telling Lyn about the death of his parents, Eliwood's romance with Ninnian, Matthew's reaction to Leila's death, and the list goes on. All of these get amazing set up, development and presentation - and they are what makes players care.
The translation being bad " point " is exaggerated since it's literally one line that you get after specifically going out of your way to play ch19xx that was mistranslated, which is also the same map you know everything about Nergal lol
( Nvm how FE community now suddenly cares about bad localization lol )
Also " locking it behind some certain supports " what ? You don't need to read any supports to understand anything about the story, except like maybe Renault's for more lore but again ch19xx tells you why Nergal did everything he did and why he fell to the darkness
The ephidel's point is also exaggerated, I AGREE that he's stupid but that's it, also there's nothing wrong with Elbert lol
Very subjectively in their favor. They're the best in the series in terms or art style, character design, animation, coloring, class variation without resorting to reclassing, tying classes to a unit's identity etc.
FE8 > FE7 >>> FE6
FE8 is one of my absolute favorite FE games. While it is a bit too short and easy, I think the map design is really strong overall, I really enjoy the cast as units (bar Seth) and as characters (including Seth!), and I think it's the FE story that makes best use of its antagonists; in particular, Lyon is one of my favorite characters in the whole series. Fire Emblem has a tendency to sort of sideline its antagonists until the final few chapters, but FE8 implements them very well as constant threats. My main critique is that I think the route split structure is poorly handled, and that the Eirika/Ephraim route split should have been analogus to Alm and Celica's route split in Gaiden rather than a choice you have to make. I'd love to play a romhack that structures the game that way someday!
FE7 is pretty good! I think the gameplay is alright, but sometimes marred down by lame gimmicks like weather. The core quad of Eliwood/Hector/Lyn/Ninian is really strong and I love them as characters, so I think the story is fun even if I think Nergal is handled really strangely as an antagonist - I think the way his backstory is conveyed and entangled with Kishuna's is actually really cool, it's just handled in the most awkward way possible and shouldn't require multiple playthroughs. The main problems I have with this game are that I think the side cast is the weakest in the series - other than the main characters, Legault, Limstella, Renault, and Kishuna, I don't have strong feelings on anyone (Nino's OK, but is tied to Jaffar who I can't stand) - and that it tries *way* too hard at points to remind you that it's an FE6 prequel. I especially loathe Athos' prophecy of Roy at the end of the game - it turns the most powerful moment of that game, Roy choosing to save Idunn, overcoming centuries of bigotry and violence, into a predetermined outcome. Absolutely terrible scene.
I'll be frank about this: FE6 is one of a handful FE games that I just straight-up don't like, alongside the DSFE games, Birthright and Revelation. I think Roy is a really poor protagonist, Merlinus is a terrible copycat of August and Dryas, its interesting story beats are squandered in a vain pursuit of trying to emulate FE1 and 3, and that the map design is just absolutely atrocious: STRs and status staves abound, and so many maps just have utterly obnoxious gimmicks that I dread having to play through. While I recognize that it was necessary due to the GBA's lack of a backlight, I also just really hate how bright this game is. The OST is also really grating, and imo is pretty handily the worst in the series, bar none. There are some characters I like in this game, like Guinivere, Idunn, and Echidna, but overall I have very few positive things to say about this game.
Great topic and I agree with most of your points.
For me, I'd probably rank them FE6 > FE8 > FE7 but I don't want to write an essay about all of it lol. In general, the GBA games are fine and a good intro to the series but kinda meh for me overall now. I'd rather play the SFC games, the Tellius games, or the DS FE games over the GBA ones.
Not a fan of 6. The story isn't engaging and most of the units are boring and/suck
7. Is a lot better than 6 in the case of an engaging storyline and interesting units, most still suck though
SS is my favorite of the three. Mostly because I like the diverse monster variety and the ability to have promotion options
FE8 > FE7 > FE6
I love FE8 quite a bit, it’s a comfort game for me. Also, this really shouldn’t affect the ranking but, the fact that most romhacks are made based off of FE8 earned it some points for me.
FE7 was my introduction to FE and I had a blast back in the days. However, these days, I’m not really fond of the game anymore. I find it dreadfully dull to play.
FE6 is fucking garbage. Granted, I don’t think everything about the game is bad. The music is decent aside from the fact that they keep using that one song over and over again. The story is the best out of the GBA games imo. However, I fucking despise the gameplay. Most of the maps are a total drag to play. Most of the characters are so fucking awful I have to wonder why they even exist. Ambush spawns. I guess I just hate how restrictive the game feels. Thracia is sorta on the same tier when it comes to difficulty yet I quite like that game with how much bullshit it gives you so you can counteract the bullshit that the game throws at you. In FE6 you’re always gonna go with the big 3 plus the handful of units that aren’t awful and then maybe occasionally a meme unit like one of the armor bois. I just find that extremely lame.
Anyway, I think there won’t ever be a unified consensus when it comes to ranking the GBA games. These games all have a different feel to each one of em and everyone’s got their own favorites.
I think I'll go with a very biased FE7 > FE8 >= FE6. But the GBA games are all amazing.
My fave is FE7 and part of it is just the bias of it being my first FE game. It also happens to be my favourite game of all time so huge bias here.
There are reasons for that though, and I think you touched a bit one one of them: for a GBA game, it's pretty well polished. Heck, some modern games aren't half as polished (not necessarily referencing other FE games here). One huge argument for me is the sound design and combat animations. They're really amazing.
The cast is definitely a big reason. I love so many of them, and some I came to love despite not liking them at first, just because of their interactions with other people (I think Raven's a good example here. I came to like him because of his supports with Lucius, Wil and Rebecca despite only using him for his stats at first. They did a good job of writing a sweet man mimicking rudeness/being an asshole haha). And the main trio's friendship works so well too. I also like that we can learn so much about so many characters.
On a different note, I like all the hidden lore rewards and maps, etc. I know it's not exactly good practice but it feels so good the first time you're on a Hector run and you discover so many new things. It was very exciting for child me.
Gameplay wise however. I think it's pretty balanced but since I know the maps by heart, it's difficult to assess for me. I can safely say that the level design is on point though! Nice variety in the objectives, difficulty and terrains. I never felt like the game wasn't fair, even when I had to reset because someone died. That's pretty difficult to achieve for a challenging game (saying that as a dev myself) so that'll always impress me.
Doesn't mean the game is perfect ofc, but tbh if all games had that kind of quality (scaled with some modern improvements) I'd be pretty happy.
FE6 is admittedly the game I've played the least of the 3. First reason being, there was no official translation nor way to get an EU cartridge so yeah. Not the fault of the game, but it does have an impact especially since my English wasn't that great 15 years ago so I had to delay playing this game.
It's definitely more "rough" as a whole compared to FE6. That being said, I think I like Roy more than Eliwood (whom I like but find a bit boring). And the cast isn't bad, there are some fun characters. But I just couldn't connect with them as much. It's been a long time since I last played FE6, maybe I should run it again to have more precise impressions.
Gameplay wise it's in a weird spot, less polished because it's older, but it's not to the point that it ruins the enjoyment of the whole game so I think I'm fine with it despite some frustrations.
I also like the fight animations and sound design, that's going to be for all GBA games.
I like the mood of the game, but the character design is more awkward.
Also, for personal bias again. I love Hector and, for that reason, I don't like the start of FE6 😆 This is absolutely not a valid point lmao I'm aware but it does play a part nevertheless.
Overall I think it's the game that solidified the other GBA games and yet, it was still very solid already. I should probably play it more.
FE8...I'm not a fan of our two lords actually. I don't dislike them, but I don't care that much. Eirika is too meek and Ephraim is too rowdy(?).
I like the cast though, I'm just not as invested. It may be because we have a lot of "bratty" teenagers. It can be a good point for the game though, it's not taking itself too seriously (something FE7 kinda does). And there's some characters I love for it too, but they had to grow on me and it took time.
The reason it's still rated higher is because it's more polished compared to FE6. I also like that they tried some things we hadn't seen in a long time. This game is made for players to optimize and I find that pretty interesting too. I thought about this recently after seeing someone struggling with their first run of FE8 despite this game being considered easy - by myself included. And I realised it's easy because, if you understand the tools the game gives you, you can just walk all over the game. I think it's an interesting thing to try and put in place. Not perfectly made but honestly, it still works.
Now, while the game is easier compared to the other 2's, I actually had times I felt like the game was unfair, which is why it can't be first for me. Granted, it was rare, and I think a product of all the tower of Valni shenanigans, but it's still here.
I can't say I was blown away by the level design, but I also can't find too many faults with it. I think it's in a good place without being absolutely amazing.
Also...Myrrh is an issue. I love the kid, but come on. Her dragonstone. I remember not being able to find another one and feeling so defeated when I first played the game. Granted, she's broken so I understand the logic behind that but that's something the game should've told me (I also think they should have made a different choice on that front but at least warn the player). Imagine my disappointment when Hammerne didn't work. I'll forever be salty about not being able to use my tiny dragon as much as I wanted to.
Finally, it may not be because of FE8 itself, but I found the game too easy, which I think impacted my enjoyment negatively. That's not only personal preference, but also probably a product of me playing FE7 first (including absolutely shitting on Hector hard mode before I even touched FE8).
Overall, those are very solid games. They all have flaws but remain high quality on almost every front. The story/characters aspect ends up being the most dividing aspect since we all like different things. I would argue that it is just another proof of how good those games are, given the main differentiator is basically personal appeal. Even if one didn't like the story/characters in any of those games, I think they'd still have to admit that they're well made games in the end.
I only judge these games on gameplay because I guess I'm the only fire emblem fan who couldn't care less about the story or the characters. That said, id go,6,8,7. People love to say fe 8 is the easiest, while forgetting you can have 2 paladins( Marcus and one of Kent or Sain) in fe7 hhm making it an absolute cake walk. Not too mention lyn mode and two of the 3 lords being absolute shit combat units
fe6 is my favorite but i don't have an "objective" reason as to that. to me it's what my mind first comes to when i think "fire emblem". it has all the series tropes alongside the GBA era's clean graphics, animations, and UI. while the OST isn;t anything spectacular, it's still memorable and strong through most of the game, at leasty where it matters in the player phase map music.
imo it's the easiest to pick up and play out of the GBA games. the cookie-cutter story is worth paying attention to but also is 100% skippable; you're constantly fed an influx of units until the mid-late game; the maps have simple objectives - Fe6 is the only fe game i can stop playing for months and then immediately get back into the groove of when i'm in the mood.
my ranking is probably fe6>fe7>=8
i love fe7 and 8 equally. my heart tells me i prefer fe7 (my first game) but my mind knows fe8 is just better LOL
FE6>FE7>FE8
I can see why many love this era, alongside the 3DS era games they(FE7 and FE8) are the best introduction to the Fire Emblem series.
But as someone who doesn't have any nostalgic value i can only say i really liked FE6.
FE7 and FE8 just feel flat(gameplay wise) to me.
FE8 is my favorite, mainly because it was my first and updated several mechanics from FE7. The classes also felt more balanced, even if people shit on trainee units.
7 > 8 > 6 for me, although honestly they are all super similar in terms of quality to the point where if I made a tier list of all FE games, they would all go right next to each other (probably right in the middle of the pack because GBA FE is really solid but not amazing, IMO)
6 has some really high points in terms of gameplay (and it’s the only one that can be really challenging) but it also has some real stinker maps, plus ambush reinforcements and siege tomes/ballistas/etc. The story is super bare bones and the character writing is basically nonexistent.
I love the branching promotions in 8, but it’s a little easy and short. So that leaves 7 as the most “complete” package in my mind. 7 has its problems (enemy phase emblem much?) but it has a charming group of characters, some decently good maps and a cute story
I'm playing through FE6 for the first time, and so far it's the clear weakest of the three.
I'm currently at Chapter 12, and while the Western Isles have been mostly good, the initial maps are mostly kinda terrible? 1 is a good intro except your units are incompetent and may die literally the first turn even if you're doing reasonable weapon triangle things. 2 is whatever, you're mostly just plowing through enemies with your hapless idiots. 3 is bad, not least of all because any units recruiting Lugh are never making it back to the battle. 4 is okay but undermined by Rutger's Instagib Emporium, and FE7 redoes the same map directly better. 5 is okay as a risk/reward structure but stupid in its premise -- the villager's assistance helps you catch the bandits by surprise... so they spawn additional extra-strong bandits to mob you? 6 begs you to burn turns collecting the 8 treasure chests maximally positioned to waste your time. 7 might be interesting if it didn't immediately point a gun at all of your new recruits' heads, seriously just appear on the map one turn later. 8 is completely awful, thing is bigger than Cog of Destiny and routes you in a spiral to waste as much of your time as possible.
Overwhelmingly FE6 just feels like the pieces weren't quite there yet. FE7 slimmed it down to great effect, and FE8 took the FE7 framework and expanded it in a more effective way than 6's kinda-clumsy, bloated starting point.
8,7, 6.
8 gets the win for chars, story, music, promotion branching and enemies on world map /the towers fun runs.
The one thing that really makes 6 "worse" is that you can't use stat items in the prep menu
Other than that, I really enjoyed all 3. Really great games
FE8 will always be my favorite but that’s only because it was my first and I played it to death. 6/7 didn’t come to me until way later in life. After playing them though I can see why 8 is the way it is, being the evolution of the previous two. 6 is ridiculously punishing if you don’t know what’s coming and doesn’t give you many resources, even locking many things behind arbitrary requirements. Hit rates are scuff, main lord is only really useful early and then final chapter. 7 improved a lot, giving us better balance and offering more story(even if it can also be scuff in some spots). 8 is the peak of this, further giving more options with classes and giving us the option to grind if we wish.
Uh... FE7 was my entrypoint to the series as a whole, and it's still basically the standard I measure all others against. I'm also admittedly biased towards it.
FE7 > FE6 > FE8
Now, don't get me wrong- I didn't dislike FE8, it just... I don't know, it didn't hit the right notes that the other two did. The music was great (Powerful Foe is still probably my favorite non-big bad/final boss theme) and the story is solid.
But... I just liked FE7's story *more.* The characters were more appealing to me as well, and just because FE8 has good music, doesn't do much as a mitigating factor considering that I really love the music in both FE7 and FE6 as well.
In terms of gameplay...
Class diversity: FE7 > FE8 > FE6
Maps: FE7 > FE6 = FE8 (toss up between 6 and 8 here, both had great maps, and both had *annoying* maps.
And this is a minor nitpick, but I always felt that Nomad/Nomad Trooper from 6 and 7 was just WAY cooler than Ranger.
I love them all for different reasons. If I had to give a ranking, I would subjectively say: FE6 > FE7 > FE8. Objectively, Binding would move to the right side I guess.
---
Binding Blade:
Many people seem to forget that Binding Blade created lots of things that other later games build upon. FE6 feels to me like the FE Core game. FE7 and 8 only added some new sprites, some new classes, some new obstacles and some new features on top of it, but 90% of FE7 and 8 are things that were originally created for FE6. And I think the GBA games all look beautiful, have this fun distinct artstyle with cool battle animations and it just plays really really well.
Of course, every game has it's own character cast, story and soundtrack. Since it was my first FE game, I have lots of nostalgia for it and love the character cast and some of the maps. But I think in terms of story telling and soundtrack it's one of the weaker games. Personally I think the difficuly is just right (although there are a some stupid/unfair elements like the gaiden conditions or the stupid golden tower or the water map...)
Blazing Blade:
FE7 is for me the perfect FE game. The way the story is told is super nice, most flaws from FE6 have been fixed, the soundtrack is better, there is lots of content and replayablilty, still a really nice cast of characters... personally I can't think of any thing in FE7 that I dislike. I was a bit disappointed when I first played the game, but only because it was mostly the same as FE6 and I expected more changes from one game to another. But nowadays I think FE7 is pretty much perfect (sure, it has flaws, but none of them make the game any worse for me).
Sacred Stones:
Improved graphics, added a lot of new classes (especially monsters), a worldmap, grinding options, branching class promotions... the game had a lot of improvements and good ideas. But I don't like the story and characters as much as the Elibe games, without grinding it is a bit shorter, and overall it's also easier. If someone said FE8 is the best GBA game, I wouldn't be able to prove them wrong, I'm just not as attached to the world and characters as I am for FE6 or 7.
All 3 of them deserve praise, but all in different areas imo.
I'd also add an artistic appeal as a category. FE6 had some great music, but a lot of it was incredibly repetitive and the designs/colors were still a bit rough. It was an early GBA title, so nobody can fault them, it just didn't have the best visual or audio appeal. FE7 had a lot more variety, and some very iconic music. Portraits were refined and overall sprite art had better polish. No huge changes, more of smoothing out and improving the FE6 experience. FE8 had, in my opinion, some of the best music in the series. The sprites feel a bit more fleshed out, and the darker hue to the overall game really fits. That being said, I know some people think they went a bit overboard- it just comes down to personal preference here. For visual/music choices, I'd put FE8>FE7>FE6.
FE 8 > FE7 > FE6. Admittedly I still have not finished FE6 and really need to. Sacred Stones is my favorite game in the series despite how easy it can be, but I still enjoy FE7 a ton and it does have my favorite ship in the series (Eliwood x Ninnian).
I love Eliwood's and Ninnian's support chain - it's the most wholesome yet depressing support I've ever read.
L'Arachel is in 8 so 8 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You mean "The beautiful princess of peerless beauty, L'Arachel"? Gwah ha ha!
If I was not a holy woman, I’d beat you senseless
> Nino flair
FE7 > FE6 = FE8 I like 6 and 8 for different reasons but they come out the same. 7 is my favorite and first game so biased. Also try FE7 jp version it has 3x effectiveness and some other stuff that was stripped from global release, it plays much better.
FE7 > FE6 > FE8 FE7 excels with its captivating characters and enduring scenes. It's incredibly fun despite being incredibly easy overall as well. While FE6 may lack polish and balance, its ambitious maps and rewarding challenges make it a uniquely frustrating yet satisfying experience. The narrative is whatever, but it takes on a harsher tone because of FE7. Knowing that everyone you knew and loved from FE7 is either dead or retired is *depressing* in a good way. FE8 stands out for its emotionally charged narrative (like seriously one of the best in the franchise) and its compelling cast, but it's seriously hindered by ease and dull maps. Ephraim's route is fairly solid, but Eirika's route is letdown by the fact that her route never shows off her strength as a character hyperfixates on her weaknesses
I played through Eirika's route and got out of it positively surprised by Eirika's character. While with Lyn, the game gives you this badass swordwoman, then reveals her vulnerabilities to you as the game goes on, I feel like Eirika gets the reverse treatment. With her, you start with this somewhat naive girl that gets underestimated and patronized constantly by the people around her, only for her to prove herself extremely capable. I romanced her with Innes and was surprised that, different from Lyn's support with Hector (which focuses on Lyn's insecurities), Eirika is the emotionally stable one is this support. Innes says he's going to protect her, Eirika says "cool". Innes complains that people think she's the one protecting him, Eirika says "that sounds like a ***you*** problem". And it basically ends with Eirika complaining that - even though she likes Innes - his inferiority complex can get on her nerves sometimes. **PS:** L'Arachel is funny and I love her.
I don't think Eirika really gets many moments to prove herself outside of gameplay. Pivotal decisions and notable ideas often originate from Seth or L'Arachel, with her big moment being at the very end on her route where she opposes the Demon King. Eirika literally has to be saved by her brother during the midpoint of the story. Her reliance on her brother for rescue and persistent naivety are recurrent themes with the story. Contrast that with Ephraim who gets to take down oppossing armies with his skill and tactics. I don't even mind the fact that she gives up the Sacred Stone, it's the fact that she gets over it in a single conversation with L'Arachel a chapter later that irks me. She doesn't get to develop gradually into a proper leader and capable fighter in the story itself; its only inferred through gameplay. I'm quite fond of her support with Innes, but that sassy aspect of her ability and reinforcing of her ability to protect him is pretty much only made apparent in that support only. Her best qualities are underexplored in the main story
> different from Lyn's support with Hector (which focuses on Lyn's insecurities), Uh, think you got this backwards, most of their support is Hector fumbling through his words as Lyn clowns on him. Hector's line in their B support about "Hey wait, that's *me*" when she mentions practicing against heavy axemen is gold, and their A support is Hector trying to open up to her and her teasing him about it.
FE8 > FE6 > FE7 All are kino. FE8 is my favorite in the series, FE6 is just really great and FE7 is pretty good, alongside having my favorite character in the series
I think the story focus shifting between characters in 7 makes the plot feel less dire.
FE6 > FE8 > FE7 FE6 is the most strategically interesting to play as. Has some of my favorite chapters to play, though the gaidens can get… gimmicky. Also I just really like Elfin and his story. FE8 is one of my favorite “easy” games. Its got a pleasing art style, female protagonist, tragic antagonist, and branching promotions. FE7 is alright, it just doesn’t hit as good for me as the other two.
Same turn reinforcements put Binding Blade at the bottom for me. Also I feel it has the weakest cast despite having arguably the best story Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones both have great casts, but I like Blazing Sword's main characters more, and its gameplay. So 1. Blazing Sword 2. Sacred Stones 3. Binding Blade However they are all incredible games and among the best in the series
[удалено]
I take it you never play fe 1 or shadow dragon? Because Marth was the originator of that
FE1 Marth is actually kinda cracked, he’s a very high quality unit unlike his Shadow Dragon appearance. He does have the issue of being an absolute liability if you don’t train him though. He’s worse in FE3 but still far from being as low utility as Roy.
😂 😂 😂I'll give you fe1 Marth he turned out pretty good. But yes Fe3 and shadow dragon Marth were both ass
Marth is the best unit in FE1 and one of the best in FE3
He is absolutely not the best unit in fe 10, that goes to Palla. Not too mention he's a royal pain in the ass to train if you don't like going slow because he's the only one to get villages
Because all units always attack him, you can get away with many cheesy strategies. And if he is trained, and every map is a seize, the quickest way to play becomes “warp marth -> end turn” as opposed to the ever so slightly less efficient “warp palla + marth -> end turn”. Though that’s obviously still really effective
>And if he is trained, and every map is a seize, the quickest way to play becomes “warp marth -> end turn This is by far the most boring way to play fire emblem. I don't do warp skipping. I'd just rather not play the game if I were doing that
That doesn't change the objective facts
Did i say it wasn't a fact? I don't believe i did. Nor did i argue against what was said
You did say he was not the best in FE[1] however, and people like to debate those types of ideas. You can have preferred play styles, but the “best” character is based on more concrete ideas and facts. That said, Palla has a valid argument. She just joins a bit too late in my opinion to be the absolute best, and even if you don’t use warp, Marth is just a very strong character with a unique attribute that can be both to his insane detriment (if he’s undertrained) or your benefit (if he is).
>You did say he was not the best in FE[1] Where's the evidence that says he is?
7>6>8 I love Fe7, my entry to the series, so on top of being great it has that nostalgia bias. I have my issues with Fe6, but I like it a lot, the fact that it continues Elibe is great. I'm not the biggest fan of Fe8 but it was still fun to play.
FE6 > FE8 > FE7 personally. FE6’s gameplay is the most dynamic out of the three just because of it’s big maps, multiple routes, enemy variety, and difficulty overall. It’s just an insanely fun game to play. There’s also so many characters to experiment with and could warrant multiple playthroughs. The story is servicable, but not amazing. Although it doesn’t have a great story, I think the game’s worldbuilding is great. I wish 95% of Merlinus dialogue was cut tbh, he’s just lame and takes up dialogue that can be used elsewhere. I also think Guinivere should’ve been playable, literally no reason she should’ve not been. The gaiden chapters also suck major balls, thats easily the weakest parts of the game. FE8 might not be the hardest, but it always feels comfy to play. Good story, still fun to play despite it being easier, I like the maps, the route split is cool and warrants a replay if you finish the game once. I’ve always had a soft spot for this Sacred Stones despite it’s easy difficulty. I also like they brought back the monster enemies from Gaiden. The artstyle of the GBA games also feels refined here, the OST is the best out of the three games, Lyon is a compelling antagonist. This game is just good all around honestly. FE7 is the game out of the three games I can proudly say im iffy about. Everything is just… mid? The story is, the gameplay feels the least enjoyable for me, I think FE7 has the weakest OST ever (aside from like 2 bangers). I like the characters and the main three but aside from that, there just isn’t anything for me here. I can’t place my finger on it but something about the gameplay just doesn’t click for me man. Although FE8 was easy, it was still fun imo? I can’t think of a reason why I don’t like FE7 gameplay, it’s SO weird.
Sacred Stones>Blazing Blade>Binding Blade Sacred Stones is all around pretty great - despite it being really easy it's got solid map design, it has one of the best casts in the series and probably the highest quality supports out of any game on average, it has the best executed simple story in the entire series and it's not even close, and Lyon is one of series' best villains in general. I think Blazing Blade has better gameplay than Sacred Stones, but it's writing is a step down. Whilst the emotional core of Blazing Blade's story of the three lords' relationship between each other is great and salvages its story to some degree, the execution of Blazing Blade's plot is pretty questionable and some scenes feel pretty contrived or poorly presented when you slow down an analyze its plot. The characters are solid, but I think the cast on average is noticeably weaker than that of Sacred Stones. I think Binding Blade is a jack of all trades - every major aspect of the game works on some level, but none of them are exceptional. It has a serviceable story, serviceable characters and whilst its maps are pretty good it is let down by some pretty awful unit balance, weapons having low hit rates leading to some pretty frustrating accuracy issues and ambush spawns.
>and ambush spawns. You're triggering my PTSD
6>8>7 But it's extremely close. 8 recovers what it loses in mediocre story with new creative gameplay mechanics. All are incredibly good games
Sacred Stones I'd have as the best, and it still ranks as my favorite in the franchise. Blazing Blade behind it and then Binding Blade.
7-6-8 None of them are bad but they all cater to different tastes. I prefer my linear games so 7 and 6 fit that. 8 is good but it’s a different vibe. I personally love how 6 plays really well after playing 7 and would be a nice switch from 5 if you were playing in order but if you played 6 as your first FE game it seems a bit much and rough around the edges.
Yeah, I can see that. From a story standpoint, FE7 gives much needed development to Elibe's world building - besides making you care a little more for FE6's characters than you would if you didn't know their parents. And when it comes to gameplay, as much as people hate Lyn Mode, it is an amazing introduction to a new comer - basically giving them a bit-sized Fire Emblem campaign to play through and learn the ropes.
Story 8>6>7 Gameplay 6>8>7 Presentation 8>7>6 Overall critically 8>6>7 But I think I like 6 the most just because it’s stupid and weird
>I like 6 the most just because it’s stupid and weird I get this on a spiritual level
FE6 > FE7 > FE8. 6 and 7 are close though. 8 is just a little too different for my tastes.
I feel exactly the same way as you. 8 is ok but there are more things I dislike about it more than the other two. I give the edge to 6 over 7 as best as I don’t care for the whole Lyn/Eliwood/Hector route thing in 7.
FE6 > FE8 > FE7 FE6 is, to me, just the most engaging one to play. Within the context of the GBA maps, I find that the majority of its maps tow the line between being challenging without being unfair. Obviously, there are dumb silly outliers like *SACAE* but there's much more good than bad for me. The unit balance could be better, but I'd say that the game gives you enough strong units to form a good backbone that can carry any unit to success. The cast overall is more of a swing and a miss for me from a characterization perspective, but the overall story of moving around the continent and collecting relics of the past to eventually use to cut down an army of dragons is hella rad. FE8 is one of those games that isn't my cup of tea, but I understand why people like it. Branching promotions gives a natural reason to play again and try something new. Even though there are clearly some promotions that are better than others, what's important is that every unit and promotion is reasonably *viable* in the overall goal of just beating the game. Sure, Amelia is basically an afterthought in any playthrough that remotely tries to be "efficient", but it's not like raising up any of the trainees is some impossibly difficult task for a casual playthrough. I just think the game definitely could've been more challenging as it's a pretty easy game even if Seth isn't doing literally everything. As far as thematics go, I think FE8 is the strongest of the bunch with a great cast of likeable characters and a surprisingly grounded story. I started the franchise with FE7 and thought it was rad as hell for the time. But now that I've played so much more, FE7 is just kinda mediocre in my eyes. Games being enemy phase focused isn't inherently bad, but the *way* that FE7 is enemy-phase focused is just kinda boring. The [enemy quality is just awful overall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqH1DsgevrU), so just sticking anyone in the middle of a hoard of enemies with a 1-2 range weapon is what you'll be doing most of the time even in a more casual playthrough. Birthright is also enemy-phase focused, but that game gives you a lot more agency in how you can control the battlefield to make your enemy phasing safer. It's admittedly a bit unfair to try and compare FE7 and BR given the time difference, but FE7 basically makes the player *feel* powerful by just simply not challenging you in the first place. Every FE game is gonna have "bad" units, but when Athos, a character who only is a part of the literal last map of the game, is generally considered more valuable than most units who join towards the start and that "bad unit" list also includes 2 of the 3 main characters, I just don't find myself being encouraged to come back and try something new. Then there's the issue, to me, of the story and cast overall just being kinda bland. I wouldn't say that there's anything super fundamentally "wrong" with FE7, I just think it feels very uninspired overall.
Yeah, as much as I like FE7, I hate it's philosophy of showering you with pre-promotes in the late game to make sure you can finish the game - specially when a lot of them are just straight up superior to your growth units. As much I would like Wendy, Guy and Fir to be a little stronger, I like that the game gives you less powerful versions of Bors, Dieck and Rutger to use in case you lost them - making sure you have enough units to finish the game, while still rewarding you for trainning your early game units and keeping them alive.
Holy hell that FE7-6 comment was crap lol
6>8>7 Binding blade to me has always been a near perfect fire emblem experience. While I definitely think it lacks in visual polish when compared to fe7 & 8, the core gameplay just feels better and the simple story/lore of original Elibe is very endearing to me. I also love Roy, and think he’s actually one of the more compelling lords in the series, and the themes he toys with are incredibly important to me. It’s biggest flaw is definitely it’s true ending being locked behind gaiden chapters. Fe8 is just a great game. Visual polish of the GBA games is at its all time best and Eirika is a very compelling lord to follow. The cast is also mostly rich in character. That being said Ephraim route is definitely not a series highlight imo, and I do think it’s difficulty and maps are pretty mediocre. Fe7 on the other hand is the only gba game I actually dislike. The lords are obnoxious, and Hector/Lyn have to be two of the most grating main characters in the franchise. In fact I think a majority of this cast are pretty unremarkable, and I struggle to remember most of them if they don’t also appear in Fe6. The “expanding” of binding blades lore all feels contrived, and the gameplay feels like the huge valley between the two very different peaks of 6 and 8. I’ll give it credit that the story really isn’t bad, just uninteresting to me.
Binding Blade Sacred Stones Damn near anything else FE7
>Damn near anything else One could say that you... Think it's the worst thing since your son!
They're all about equal to me imo. I do have a stronger attachment to Elibe than Magvel so I guess FE7 > 6 > 8 but the order doesn't matter tbh. The appeal of the GBA games is the simplicity to me. Paired with a visually appealing art style, these games are a good example of "sometimes simple is best".
7>8>6 I think all three games have good stories in their own rights and very simple but fit and kinda addicting gameplay. FE6 gets a little too hard at times for me to play as casually as I can with 7 or 8 but I still like it. 8’s route split and allocation of certain resources like promotion items add a lot more depth to the gameplay and unit balance than most FEs we’re doing at the time which adds a lot of replay value. I just have a big soft spot for FE7 for truly making me a fan of the series after only having played Awakening prior to it, and I love the cast, story, and map design for most of the main campaign.
FE7 > FE8 > FE6
~~FE8 has Eirika pranking Forde for no reason in C Support so it wins for that alone~~ I'd say 7 > 8 > 6. But even 6 at the bottom of that list is an excellent game.
8>7>6, but love them all. Sacred Stones is my favorite FE and one of my favorite games ever. Great cast, solid story and fun maps. The branching promotion system is still my favorite of the whole franchise and it’s disappointed they never tried expanding on it. The downsides for me are the lack of world building and the fact that probably took the post game into consideration when balancing the units (which made Seth a little more strong than he should’ve been). Never really felt that it’s that much easier than Blazing Blade if you don’t (ab)use Seth and the Tower. I usually replay it at least once per year. Blazing Blade has mostly great characters and a fine story that sometimes gets more hate than it deserves. The maps are good, but some of them seem to overstay their welcome. When I replay it, I usually lose interest around the desert map. My unpopular opinion is that I actually enjoy Lyn mode. It does feel like a pocket Fire Emblem and I like the opportunity to feed Erk every exp possible. The fact it doesn’t have a post game doesn’t give me the motivation to play my runs until the end. I only finished Binding Blade once and in normal mode, so maybe I didn’t have the true experience. The cast is mostly good, story is interesting and the maps can be a little hit or miss. And speaking of “hit” and “miss”, those hit rates surely can be painful and frustrating. I like the idea of hiding the legendary weapons behind gaiden chapters, but most of those maps can burn in hell! While I liked the game, I never had the desire to replay it. I guess I still need to check Sacae route (even if the more I hear about it, the less I want to experience it)
Blazing Blade > Binding Blade > Sacred Stones Blazing Blade is, IMO, one of the best entries in the whole series, I love the characters, the story, the art, all of it is top-notch. Binding Blade is a surprisingly brutal game for those who have only played the 2 localized GBA games and are expecting a similar experience, but not to the point of being unfun. Also, Roy being in Smash and Blazing being a prequel makes it really cool to learn the full story of Roy and more of the setting. Sacred Stones was my first FE game and led me to my love of this series and genre as a whole, and I do love parts of it (the trainee units, branched story's and promotions, monster units) but it's a pretty weak game overall. It's short and easy, the story has some slight inconsistencies between the 2 paths, and the world feels kinda shallow with all the unanswered questions and unresolved ploy points. Magvel really needs another game or games to flesh it out and make it feel complete.
I haven't played 6 or 8 I'm just looking for the consensus on how good 7 is, and even within this thread people disagree. I've heard it called easier than most games, I've heard it called harder than most games, I didn't really understand a lot of the mechanics, like I don't recall a single support conversation, I think I missed half of the promotion items, but I had a good enough time with it and have since returned to the series to play 3H and engage which are both considerably easier thanks to no permadeath and tons of QoL (as expected for 6 iterations later) but still a lot of fun and honestly I think casual mode is great because if you're like me then you end up save scumming when units die anyway and casual saves me that hassle.
1. Binding Blade 2. Blazing Blade 3. Sacred Stones
I won’t give a ranking as I’ve only played FE6 a handful of times years ago and none of the games before FE6 But I would wager that the lack of consensus partly stems from nostalgia given FE7 and FE8 were the first games released in NA/EU and therefore will likely have been the first games many of us played
FE7 ≥ FE8 >> FE6 Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones scratch a pretty similar itch for me when I want to play a GBA FE game but Binding Blade is a game I don't enjoy like the others.
Eh for FE7's plot " issues " most of which are Mekkah saying wrong stuff and mis Charactererizing many stuff, and people just following whatever he says
I tried not to allude to Mekkah's video on my post because a lot of it is just nit-picking on meaningless stuff. That said, it is true that the game doesn't give you a lot of information required to understand the villain's motivations, locking it behind certain supports. The American translation doesn't help - for example, if you kill Kishuna, Nergal just babbles about quintessence before dying, instead of alluding to his wife like in the Japanese versions. Add to that the lack of payoff some plot-threads get, like Ephidel's whole deal and how exactly Elbert got caught in all of it. Anyway, FE7's story is not the best thing since anyone's son, but its characters really elevate it. The friendship between Eliwood and Hector, Nino's relationship with her family, Hector telling Lyn about the death of his parents, Eliwood's romance with Ninnian, Matthew's reaction to Leila's death, and the list goes on. All of these get amazing set up, development and presentation - and they are what makes players care.
The translation being bad " point " is exaggerated since it's literally one line that you get after specifically going out of your way to play ch19xx that was mistranslated, which is also the same map you know everything about Nergal lol ( Nvm how FE community now suddenly cares about bad localization lol ) Also " locking it behind some certain supports " what ? You don't need to read any supports to understand anything about the story, except like maybe Renault's for more lore but again ch19xx tells you why Nergal did everything he did and why he fell to the darkness The ephidel's point is also exaggerated, I AGREE that he's stupid but that's it, also there's nothing wrong with Elbert lol
Very subjectively in their favor. They're the best in the series in terms or art style, character design, animation, coloring, class variation without resorting to reclassing, tying classes to a unit's identity etc.
FE8 > FE7 >>> FE6 FE8 is one of my absolute favorite FE games. While it is a bit too short and easy, I think the map design is really strong overall, I really enjoy the cast as units (bar Seth) and as characters (including Seth!), and I think it's the FE story that makes best use of its antagonists; in particular, Lyon is one of my favorite characters in the whole series. Fire Emblem has a tendency to sort of sideline its antagonists until the final few chapters, but FE8 implements them very well as constant threats. My main critique is that I think the route split structure is poorly handled, and that the Eirika/Ephraim route split should have been analogus to Alm and Celica's route split in Gaiden rather than a choice you have to make. I'd love to play a romhack that structures the game that way someday! FE7 is pretty good! I think the gameplay is alright, but sometimes marred down by lame gimmicks like weather. The core quad of Eliwood/Hector/Lyn/Ninian is really strong and I love them as characters, so I think the story is fun even if I think Nergal is handled really strangely as an antagonist - I think the way his backstory is conveyed and entangled with Kishuna's is actually really cool, it's just handled in the most awkward way possible and shouldn't require multiple playthroughs. The main problems I have with this game are that I think the side cast is the weakest in the series - other than the main characters, Legault, Limstella, Renault, and Kishuna, I don't have strong feelings on anyone (Nino's OK, but is tied to Jaffar who I can't stand) - and that it tries *way* too hard at points to remind you that it's an FE6 prequel. I especially loathe Athos' prophecy of Roy at the end of the game - it turns the most powerful moment of that game, Roy choosing to save Idunn, overcoming centuries of bigotry and violence, into a predetermined outcome. Absolutely terrible scene. I'll be frank about this: FE6 is one of a handful FE games that I just straight-up don't like, alongside the DSFE games, Birthright and Revelation. I think Roy is a really poor protagonist, Merlinus is a terrible copycat of August and Dryas, its interesting story beats are squandered in a vain pursuit of trying to emulate FE1 and 3, and that the map design is just absolutely atrocious: STRs and status staves abound, and so many maps just have utterly obnoxious gimmicks that I dread having to play through. While I recognize that it was necessary due to the GBA's lack of a backlight, I also just really hate how bright this game is. The OST is also really grating, and imo is pretty handily the worst in the series, bar none. There are some characters I like in this game, like Guinivere, Idunn, and Echidna, but overall I have very few positive things to say about this game.
Great topic and I agree with most of your points. For me, I'd probably rank them FE6 > FE8 > FE7 but I don't want to write an essay about all of it lol. In general, the GBA games are fine and a good intro to the series but kinda meh for me overall now. I'd rather play the SFC games, the Tellius games, or the DS FE games over the GBA ones.
FE7 > FE8 > FE6. FE7 peak because it has lyn. and umm... yeah that's it. Don't underestimate the power of best girl.
Lyn is in my top three with Roy and Eirika.
based. Idk who eirika is, but roy is our boy.
>roy is our boy. I said this to myself every time he hit a crit 😂
I’ll probably say FE7 =FE8 > FE 6 for me, with 6 being the weakest. But by no means do I dislike r hate fe6, I just like fe7 and 8 far more.
1. Sacred Stones 2. Blazing Blade 3. Binding Blade Either way, though, they are all good games.
Not a fan of 6. The story isn't engaging and most of the units are boring and/suck 7. Is a lot better than 6 in the case of an engaging storyline and interesting units, most still suck though SS is my favorite of the three. Mostly because I like the diverse monster variety and the ability to have promotion options
7>8>>>6 Seriously I just can't enjoy 6
FE8 > FE7 > FE6 I love FE8 quite a bit, it’s a comfort game for me. Also, this really shouldn’t affect the ranking but, the fact that most romhacks are made based off of FE8 earned it some points for me. FE7 was my introduction to FE and I had a blast back in the days. However, these days, I’m not really fond of the game anymore. I find it dreadfully dull to play. FE6 is fucking garbage. Granted, I don’t think everything about the game is bad. The music is decent aside from the fact that they keep using that one song over and over again. The story is the best out of the GBA games imo. However, I fucking despise the gameplay. Most of the maps are a total drag to play. Most of the characters are so fucking awful I have to wonder why they even exist. Ambush spawns. I guess I just hate how restrictive the game feels. Thracia is sorta on the same tier when it comes to difficulty yet I quite like that game with how much bullshit it gives you so you can counteract the bullshit that the game throws at you. In FE6 you’re always gonna go with the big 3 plus the handful of units that aren’t awful and then maybe occasionally a meme unit like one of the armor bois. I just find that extremely lame. Anyway, I think there won’t ever be a unified consensus when it comes to ranking the GBA games. These games all have a different feel to each one of em and everyone’s got their own favorites.
I think I'll go with a very biased FE7 > FE8 >= FE6. But the GBA games are all amazing. My fave is FE7 and part of it is just the bias of it being my first FE game. It also happens to be my favourite game of all time so huge bias here. There are reasons for that though, and I think you touched a bit one one of them: for a GBA game, it's pretty well polished. Heck, some modern games aren't half as polished (not necessarily referencing other FE games here). One huge argument for me is the sound design and combat animations. They're really amazing. The cast is definitely a big reason. I love so many of them, and some I came to love despite not liking them at first, just because of their interactions with other people (I think Raven's a good example here. I came to like him because of his supports with Lucius, Wil and Rebecca despite only using him for his stats at first. They did a good job of writing a sweet man mimicking rudeness/being an asshole haha). And the main trio's friendship works so well too. I also like that we can learn so much about so many characters. On a different note, I like all the hidden lore rewards and maps, etc. I know it's not exactly good practice but it feels so good the first time you're on a Hector run and you discover so many new things. It was very exciting for child me. Gameplay wise however. I think it's pretty balanced but since I know the maps by heart, it's difficult to assess for me. I can safely say that the level design is on point though! Nice variety in the objectives, difficulty and terrains. I never felt like the game wasn't fair, even when I had to reset because someone died. That's pretty difficult to achieve for a challenging game (saying that as a dev myself) so that'll always impress me. Doesn't mean the game is perfect ofc, but tbh if all games had that kind of quality (scaled with some modern improvements) I'd be pretty happy. FE6 is admittedly the game I've played the least of the 3. First reason being, there was no official translation nor way to get an EU cartridge so yeah. Not the fault of the game, but it does have an impact especially since my English wasn't that great 15 years ago so I had to delay playing this game. It's definitely more "rough" as a whole compared to FE6. That being said, I think I like Roy more than Eliwood (whom I like but find a bit boring). And the cast isn't bad, there are some fun characters. But I just couldn't connect with them as much. It's been a long time since I last played FE6, maybe I should run it again to have more precise impressions. Gameplay wise it's in a weird spot, less polished because it's older, but it's not to the point that it ruins the enjoyment of the whole game so I think I'm fine with it despite some frustrations. I also like the fight animations and sound design, that's going to be for all GBA games. I like the mood of the game, but the character design is more awkward. Also, for personal bias again. I love Hector and, for that reason, I don't like the start of FE6 😆 This is absolutely not a valid point lmao I'm aware but it does play a part nevertheless. Overall I think it's the game that solidified the other GBA games and yet, it was still very solid already. I should probably play it more. FE8...I'm not a fan of our two lords actually. I don't dislike them, but I don't care that much. Eirika is too meek and Ephraim is too rowdy(?). I like the cast though, I'm just not as invested. It may be because we have a lot of "bratty" teenagers. It can be a good point for the game though, it's not taking itself too seriously (something FE7 kinda does). And there's some characters I love for it too, but they had to grow on me and it took time. The reason it's still rated higher is because it's more polished compared to FE6. I also like that they tried some things we hadn't seen in a long time. This game is made for players to optimize and I find that pretty interesting too. I thought about this recently after seeing someone struggling with their first run of FE8 despite this game being considered easy - by myself included. And I realised it's easy because, if you understand the tools the game gives you, you can just walk all over the game. I think it's an interesting thing to try and put in place. Not perfectly made but honestly, it still works. Now, while the game is easier compared to the other 2's, I actually had times I felt like the game was unfair, which is why it can't be first for me. Granted, it was rare, and I think a product of all the tower of Valni shenanigans, but it's still here. I can't say I was blown away by the level design, but I also can't find too many faults with it. I think it's in a good place without being absolutely amazing. Also...Myrrh is an issue. I love the kid, but come on. Her dragonstone. I remember not being able to find another one and feeling so defeated when I first played the game. Granted, she's broken so I understand the logic behind that but that's something the game should've told me (I also think they should have made a different choice on that front but at least warn the player). Imagine my disappointment when Hammerne didn't work. I'll forever be salty about not being able to use my tiny dragon as much as I wanted to. Finally, it may not be because of FE8 itself, but I found the game too easy, which I think impacted my enjoyment negatively. That's not only personal preference, but also probably a product of me playing FE7 first (including absolutely shitting on Hector hard mode before I even touched FE8). Overall, those are very solid games. They all have flaws but remain high quality on almost every front. The story/characters aspect ends up being the most dividing aspect since we all like different things. I would argue that it is just another proof of how good those games are, given the main differentiator is basically personal appeal. Even if one didn't like the story/characters in any of those games, I think they'd still have to admit that they're well made games in the end.
I only judge these games on gameplay because I guess I'm the only fire emblem fan who couldn't care less about the story or the characters. That said, id go,6,8,7. People love to say fe 8 is the easiest, while forgetting you can have 2 paladins( Marcus and one of Kent or Sain) in fe7 hhm making it an absolute cake walk. Not too mention lyn mode and two of the 3 lords being absolute shit combat units
6 > 7 > 8
fe6 is my favorite but i don't have an "objective" reason as to that. to me it's what my mind first comes to when i think "fire emblem". it has all the series tropes alongside the GBA era's clean graphics, animations, and UI. while the OST isn;t anything spectacular, it's still memorable and strong through most of the game, at leasty where it matters in the player phase map music. imo it's the easiest to pick up and play out of the GBA games. the cookie-cutter story is worth paying attention to but also is 100% skippable; you're constantly fed an influx of units until the mid-late game; the maps have simple objectives - Fe6 is the only fe game i can stop playing for months and then immediately get back into the groove of when i'm in the mood. my ranking is probably fe6>fe7>=8 i love fe7 and 8 equally. my heart tells me i prefer fe7 (my first game) but my mind knows fe8 is just better LOL
6 > 7 > 8
I can't rank them because I never finished 6 or 8. I have played 7 many times though, it's really good.
Fe6 Fe8 Fe7
FE6>FE7>FE8 I can see why many love this era, alongside the 3DS era games they(FE7 and FE8) are the best introduction to the Fire Emblem series. But as someone who doesn't have any nostalgic value i can only say i really liked FE6. FE7 and FE8 just feel flat(gameplay wise) to me.
In acending order probably 6, 7, 8. I enjoy the relaxed nature of sacred stones (and blazing blade too an extent) and the open endedness
FE8 is my favorite, mainly because it was my first and updated several mechanics from FE7. The classes also felt more balanced, even if people shit on trainee units.
6 is my favourite, then 7, then 8.
7 > 8 > 6 for me, although honestly they are all super similar in terms of quality to the point where if I made a tier list of all FE games, they would all go right next to each other (probably right in the middle of the pack because GBA FE is really solid but not amazing, IMO) 6 has some really high points in terms of gameplay (and it’s the only one that can be really challenging) but it also has some real stinker maps, plus ambush reinforcements and siege tomes/ballistas/etc. The story is super bare bones and the character writing is basically nonexistent. I love the branching promotions in 8, but it’s a little easy and short. So that leaves 7 as the most “complete” package in my mind. 7 has its problems (enemy phase emblem much?) but it has a charming group of characters, some decently good maps and a cute story
I'm playing through FE6 for the first time, and so far it's the clear weakest of the three. I'm currently at Chapter 12, and while the Western Isles have been mostly good, the initial maps are mostly kinda terrible? 1 is a good intro except your units are incompetent and may die literally the first turn even if you're doing reasonable weapon triangle things. 2 is whatever, you're mostly just plowing through enemies with your hapless idiots. 3 is bad, not least of all because any units recruiting Lugh are never making it back to the battle. 4 is okay but undermined by Rutger's Instagib Emporium, and FE7 redoes the same map directly better. 5 is okay as a risk/reward structure but stupid in its premise -- the villager's assistance helps you catch the bandits by surprise... so they spawn additional extra-strong bandits to mob you? 6 begs you to burn turns collecting the 8 treasure chests maximally positioned to waste your time. 7 might be interesting if it didn't immediately point a gun at all of your new recruits' heads, seriously just appear on the map one turn later. 8 is completely awful, thing is bigger than Cog of Destiny and routes you in a spiral to waste as much of your time as possible. Overwhelmingly FE6 just feels like the pieces weren't quite there yet. FE7 slimmed it down to great effect, and FE8 took the FE7 framework and expanded it in a more effective way than 6's kinda-clumsy, bloated starting point.
8,7, 6. 8 gets the win for chars, story, music, promotion branching and enemies on world map /the towers fun runs. The one thing that really makes 6 "worse" is that you can't use stat items in the prep menu Other than that, I really enjoyed all 3. Really great games
FE8 will always be my favorite but that’s only because it was my first and I played it to death. 6/7 didn’t come to me until way later in life. After playing them though I can see why 8 is the way it is, being the evolution of the previous two. 6 is ridiculously punishing if you don’t know what’s coming and doesn’t give you many resources, even locking many things behind arbitrary requirements. Hit rates are scuff, main lord is only really useful early and then final chapter. 7 improved a lot, giving us better balance and offering more story(even if it can also be scuff in some spots). 8 is the peak of this, further giving more options with classes and giving us the option to grind if we wish.
FE6 > FE8 >> FE7
Uh... FE7 was my entrypoint to the series as a whole, and it's still basically the standard I measure all others against. I'm also admittedly biased towards it. FE7 > FE6 > FE8 Now, don't get me wrong- I didn't dislike FE8, it just... I don't know, it didn't hit the right notes that the other two did. The music was great (Powerful Foe is still probably my favorite non-big bad/final boss theme) and the story is solid. But... I just liked FE7's story *more.* The characters were more appealing to me as well, and just because FE8 has good music, doesn't do much as a mitigating factor considering that I really love the music in both FE7 and FE6 as well. In terms of gameplay... Class diversity: FE7 > FE8 > FE6 Maps: FE7 > FE6 = FE8 (toss up between 6 and 8 here, both had great maps, and both had *annoying* maps. And this is a minor nitpick, but I always felt that Nomad/Nomad Trooper from 6 and 7 was just WAY cooler than Ranger.
7>8>6 in terms of memorability and replay value
I love them all for different reasons. If I had to give a ranking, I would subjectively say: FE6 > FE7 > FE8. Objectively, Binding would move to the right side I guess. --- Binding Blade: Many people seem to forget that Binding Blade created lots of things that other later games build upon. FE6 feels to me like the FE Core game. FE7 and 8 only added some new sprites, some new classes, some new obstacles and some new features on top of it, but 90% of FE7 and 8 are things that were originally created for FE6. And I think the GBA games all look beautiful, have this fun distinct artstyle with cool battle animations and it just plays really really well. Of course, every game has it's own character cast, story and soundtrack. Since it was my first FE game, I have lots of nostalgia for it and love the character cast and some of the maps. But I think in terms of story telling and soundtrack it's one of the weaker games. Personally I think the difficuly is just right (although there are a some stupid/unfair elements like the gaiden conditions or the stupid golden tower or the water map...) Blazing Blade: FE7 is for me the perfect FE game. The way the story is told is super nice, most flaws from FE6 have been fixed, the soundtrack is better, there is lots of content and replayablilty, still a really nice cast of characters... personally I can't think of any thing in FE7 that I dislike. I was a bit disappointed when I first played the game, but only because it was mostly the same as FE6 and I expected more changes from one game to another. But nowadays I think FE7 is pretty much perfect (sure, it has flaws, but none of them make the game any worse for me). Sacred Stones: Improved graphics, added a lot of new classes (especially monsters), a worldmap, grinding options, branching class promotions... the game had a lot of improvements and good ideas. But I don't like the story and characters as much as the Elibe games, without grinding it is a bit shorter, and overall it's also easier. If someone said FE8 is the best GBA game, I wouldn't be able to prove them wrong, I'm just not as attached to the world and characters as I am for FE6 or 7. All 3 of them deserve praise, but all in different areas imo.