FE6 HM - Pretty fun, but hard mode bonuses are way too good for recruitable allies. Shin, Milady, and Percival are almost invincible in the latter half of the game. I love the idea of HM bonuses too, but it’s kind of lame that this game gives them to units that are already amazing.
FE7 HHM - Big fan of this one. The changes are really substantive at points, something I think all hard modes should aim for. Reduced deployment definitely feels unnecessary at points, but it’s not a deal breaker for me the way it is for some others.
FE8 HM - It’s fine. There are some challenging moments if you don’t grind at all and bench Seth, but that’s already too many restrictions than should be necessary.
FE9 HM - Like FE8, it’s too easy, and requires self regulation (in this case, something like not using BEXP) to keep it interesting. There’s a massive dropping off point in difficulty once the gang reaches Begnion. I haven’t played Maniac Mode and it sounds pretty bad but I’ll need to form my own opinion some day.
FE10 - Enemy quality is really good from what I remember, and I don’t even mind that they took out the weapon triangle. Removing the ability to view enemy attack ranges was inexcusable, however, and a real shame considering how fun the rest of it is.
FE11 H5 - I just beat this for the first time recently and wasn’t impressed. The game just begs you to warp skip way too often with its map designs, enemy placement, and abundance of Warp uses. The end of the game left a really bad taste in my mouth.
FE12 - I’ve only tried up to hard, and didn’t find it very fun. I just don’t really like the nature of combat and formulas in DSFE. This game also brought back same turn reinforcements, which was stupid.
FE13 - Never played Lunatic and probably never will. I hate this game.
Conquest - Played it on hard and it gave me a run for my money. Overall I just think it’s a little bit exhausting in how every map is just as hard as the last, there are no breathers, and you constantly need to be checking enemy skills. I’ll do Lunatic eventually.
Birthright - Lunatic is way too easy. I had to bench Ryoma to make the game even remotely interesting.
Revelations - No thanks.
Echoes SoV Hard - A lot of fun. The bad map designs didn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought they would. Unlike DSFE, SoV units felt really bulky and ORKOs were rare, which is a style I found myself enjoying, as it led to a lot of improvisation.