FiboSai

If you try hard enough, almost any FE game can be soloed by a variety of characters. The only ones I don't think can be soloed are Fe10, for obvious reasons, and the DS games.

It is extremely hard (or even impossible) to come up with criteria that fit all Fire Emblem Games. X-nauts definition of "a unit needing a niche" is probably as close as it gets. Another good way to formulate it would be "a unit that is above replacement level is good". This basically sais that a good unit will contribute more than most other units if you were to replace the former with the latter. There is also the case of units that are only good because of their unique access to certain weapons. This mostly affects Staff users, the best example being Renee from Tearring Saga. She is the only character in the game who can use the Warp Staff, so some tier lists put her as the best unit in the game because what she does cannot be replicated by anyone else. The best combat units in the game cannot save as many turns as a late joining priestess with the warp staff. The criteria also change depending on how you play the game. Some units get much better in efficiency runs. Vanessa from Sacred Stones is a great example. Her stats are not very good, but being the only flyer until chapter 9 makes her irreplacable if you are looking to minimize your turn count. If you would rather take your time and level up your other units, Vanessa gets much worse.

The mechanics of fates were some of the best ever, so I wouldn't mind if they copied some of the good elements. The bad thing about fates was the story, mainly the fact that it was too focused on the avatar character. That can't really happen in Three Houses. I would also like it if they kept the support system from fates, but I think it is more likely it will be similar to SoV with the game being fully voice acted. From what I have seen from the trailers, it would appear that the game mechanics are very different from any game up to date, but really, nobody can tell at this point.

For me, the music that plays during the battle scenes is also a big part when deciding whether to keep animations on. I'm not too fond of the GBA battle music, so I tend to leave them off more often than not. But I absolutely love the battle themes in Awakening, Fates and Echoes, so I play with animations on most of the time. The exeption is when I have to play a map multiple times.

Compared to other RPGs, Fire Emblem's writing is definately below average. I consider Path of Radiance the best in that regard, since it is the only game that doesn't fail in either the plot department or the character department. It is solid in both. All other games have either a flawed story (Sacred Stones, Fates, Shadows of Valentia) or flawed character writing (all the pre Elibe games, Radiant Dawn). Path of Radiance is also the game with the least supernatural influence, the final boss is a powerhungry human ruler, not a possessed wizard or a mythological dragon.

Forde is considered mediocre because his base stats are not that good for the time he is recruited, and even with his growths is unlikely to ever become great. For example, his base stats are not that much better than Franz's despite being many levels higher, and Franz joins in chapter 1, giving him a huge level lead by chapter 8. Kyle is not much better, but at least he has enough strenght to 1RKO many enemies once he starts doubling. Forde has to get blessed to consistently 1RKO, so even if he is trained, you don't get that much out of him.

I don't like that first suggestions, that will most likely cause even more balance issues in favor of the early joiners. The other suggestions I like pretty well. Limiting the BEXP to say 100 per character per chapter, or just impose a total BEXP limit by chapter solves the issue of funneling all into one character.

Many other games have RNG-proof prepromotes that join in the mid game and immediately trivialize the game. Binding Blade has Percival, who most likely has better stats than any paladin you have raised up to that point, is in the best class and has great weapon ranks. His only downside is that his accuracy can be shakey Blazing Sword has Pent, who can ORKO most generic enemies and even comes with A rank in staves. His low defense hardly matters since most enemies that can to a lot of damage have rather low accuracy against him, and his free A support with Louise greatly increases his survivability. Saleh in Sacred Stones is similar to Pent. He has worse stats, but compared to the enemies, he is just as powerful as his predecessor. In Radiant Dawn, each part has its own overpowered units. In part 1, you get Tauroneo, Nailah, Tormod and the Black Night, all of which can solo the chapters they are available in. In part 2 and 3, you get Haar, who needs basically no investment to trivialize all chapters. Ike and Titania are also extremely powerful and require no investment. In part 4 you get Tibarn for his chapters, which he will destroy on his own if needed. In Genealogy, anyone with a holy weapon outclasses the rest of your cast, and the insane stat boost means that their stats hardly matter. Ryoma is just another unit that needs no investment and pays you off by making the rest of the game much easier. I agree that the powergap between Ryoma and the rest of your army is bigger than in the games I mentioned (exept in Genealogy), but you in no way need to use Ryoma, it is just more efficient to have him clear a group of enemies instead of devoting half your army to do the same.

Having recently played Tearring Saga, which does have movement growth, I am completely against it. It is basically impossible to balance movement growth. If the growth rate is too high, it makes the units with a high growth overpowered, and if you make them low, it leads to a huge variance in unit viability. Just one extra point of movement makes a unit two tiers better.

It really is just the unpromoted axe users that suck. Once you get Lott, Gonzales or Geese to promote, they turn into quite capable units thanks to their great promotion gains. The problem is getting them there. All axe users are hard to train due to having either bad accuracy, bad speed, or bad durability. Gonzales on hard mode is the easiest since he comes with good base stats and can be instantly promoted if you go the B route on the western isles.

The voice acting gave most characters a more distinct personality. I don't think some of the characters would be as popular as they are if they didn't have such great voice actors. Personally, I think Berkut is totally saved by his voice actor. His dialogue is nothing special and his character is shallow, but the performance of the actor makes him much more believable and relateble. Same is true for many others.

I got many units killed in Awakening because A) I didn't bother to check for effective weapons (Kellam got killed by the Hammer-Fighter in chapter 3 many times) or B) sending units into the fray without paying attention to the weapon triangle. I remember that I got so frustrated by chapter 10 in particular, because I kept on attacking a mercenary or mage with a lance wielding cavalier withoug noticing that they were surrounded by fighters and wyverns. No wonder I lost two units on that map. Even more embarassing is the fact that all of this happened on normal mode, which is one of the easiest FE experiences to date.

The mid- to late-game prepromotes have low base stats compared to a trained growth unit. They will do fine on normal mode, so if you really like a certain unit you can make them work. On higher difficulties, the late-game prepromotes are completely worthless though. For example, Astram gets one rounded by the heroes that accompany him in his recruitment chapter.

Etzel's main draw is his ability to use Excalibur at base while also having staff utility. Merric and Elrean will outclass him in the lategame, but Etzel needs no investment at all to be good. On Maniac and above, Etzel is one of the best units.

Ninjad by Ping... I think Yumina is often better than Mallesia. She has better bases and generally better growth, except for Magic. Mallesia has the obvious advantage of being able to use the Hammerne staff later, but Yumina will have better survivability because she won't be doubled. The main reason Sirius is good is because you can reclass him into many good classes depending on the chapter, such as Dracoknight, Sniper, Swordmaster, Paladin and General (not all of them will be available to you since you have not beaten the game yet though). Palla and Catria are supperior to Sheeda because of their join time. If you use both of them extensively, they will have a massive lead on Sheeda when you finally recruit her. Sheeda is needed to recruit certain characters later, such as in chapter 6 and chapter 8.