AwakeningNoob

Basically this. =) I am in the middle of my own blind Gaiden playthrough at the moment, and even though I have found it a tad boring at the beginning indeed, I was hooked the moment chapter 2 kicked in. It does play a lot different to a normal FE game, but the spirit is still there. Recently I would even venture to argue that due to there being less unit classes and each unit being limited to single item AND maps being a lot less pre-designed, the pure army positioning tactics (one of the core elements of FE gameplay, no?) are strongly emphasized and basically make or break the encounter. It is bloody difficult though, I didn't even finish chapter 3 yet and I am already at my wits end more often than I would like. -_- All in all it is a very good game, definitely worth a shot if you can stomach retro games.

For me it has to be Leif! My first time playing through FE4 I have dismissed him as a hard to train and not so useful at the beginning prince class character, but then I played Thracia and fell in love with the dude. I have then proceeded to replay FE4 and made Leif into a monster (which is not hard with the uber promotion Princesses and Princes get in FE4). I have also made a point of making him into a strong char in Thracia since the notion was that he is as hard to train and as not useful in the beginning as in FE4.

Let's not forget stamina (the army is constantly on the run so the troops tire quickly), escape and defend chapters (fighting against the overwhelming odds) and I believe even the 1-99% hit chance caps play a part here to an extent (nothing is ever certain in a fight to the death). I am also fully here with you that FE 5 goes above and beyond in representing the narrative through gameplay mechanics and that alone makes this game special. At the same time I don't think every game should match the narrative with gameplay mechanics and vice versa, some games are better off keeping the story and gameplay separate (to a degree, of course). Even more, unless you are gonna go all the way with it, like FE 5 did AND do it well, I think it is better to keep them separate to avoid one or the other feeling forced.

I was the same when I tried to jump into FE1 for the first time, straight from Fates. It was much easier to do however after finishing FE4 and 5 - those were much more bearable and have gotten me used to retro FEs. I am giving it a shot right now, actually! =) It does feel much different though, so I am a bit worried I will not get the same FE kick out of it or that the repetitive combat will get too boring at some point.

It took me a bit longer than expected but finally my playthrough of Fire Emblem 1 is complete. I wanted to thank everyone who provided me with tips and explanations in my other thread, THANKS! :) Here are some thoughts I had about the experience of playing the original Fire Emblem. THE POSITIVE - The thing that surprised me the most was how many more unusual unit types had their origin in the very first game - pegasus/dragon knights, polimorphs, shooters and the absolutely unique Mr. Chainy. I was totally expecting to see only the classic knights and mounts. - This is easily the longest and most complex NES game I have ever played. If I had gotten to play this game back in the day on a cartridge I would've been blown away by its sheer size. - It is actually a decent FE game. Yes it is old, devoid of any QoL feature known to men and with dated graphics, but the core FE gameplay still holds up fairly well. THE NEGATIVE - Inventory management in this game can go to hell. -_- - I was expecting it to be harder, to be honest. The hardest part of the playthrough for me were the initial chapters and the few final ones. The rest was more or less smooth sailing, with some mistakes and unlucky crits here and there. I was bracing myself for the hardcoreness and unbalanceness of an NES era game but in the end it was not too bad. In summary I think this game is worth giving it a shot, even if only to see the project that started it all. If you can put up with the horrendous inventory management and the same tune playing in every single chapter then there is some decent FE gameplay to be had here. ^_^ And finally if you are curious how my playthrough went I have recorded everything in the form of an amateur LP:

When I played FE4 for the first time I was using this guide: It is basically a relatively spoiler free explanation of how the game and its system works aimed at saving you the frustration of messing up by simply not knowing how things work. I had it pinned in my browser and looked it up while playing all the time, definitely recommend. =)

Played through another several chapters and still not much to report to be honest, other than the fact that shooters confused the hell out of me - both gameplay and design wise. Got my first promotion items as well, but holding onto them for the moment since I don't feel like anyone from my squad needs a promotion boost just yet. If you are curious how those chapters played out for me, here is the playlist with all videos I made so far. ^_^ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLds-2lx0hxhloyrurqW1wSUB0Up4Keblx

Just finished chapter 7 and chapter 6 before that (both on Youtube already if you want to check them out!). I have reset once each of them due to nothing but sloppy play. x) Missed one chest in chapter 6 but didn't bother to reset just for that so I will have to live with it. (was it anything good? :P) Yup, I have realized that the moment I check the stats on the Fire Stone and I was like whaaaat. Also no, I have not played the remakes yet, so everything here is new to me. ;) EDIT: Finished another 3 chapters, I believe with no resets. I feel like I'm getting the hang of the game now and my units have outscaled the enemy troops for the most part. Marth is becoming a beast and Marich is my resident boss killer. Also finally getting to buy something other than basic weapons made me more happy than it should, to the point where I was enjoying shopping more than playing the chapter. XD

No worries, appreciate your help so far regardless! =) Also I'm back and just finished chapter 5 - a rather quick and straightforward one, I must say. I, together with all 14 points of base Speed of Wendel, agree. x)

I guess it is just as you guys are saying. :) However it looks like I managed to keep myself a bit more collected in chapter four as everything went much more smooth this time around. :D I will be going on a trip tomorrow for four days so I will be continuing the playthrough once I'm back, until then!

Thanks for the advise! I like mercenaries so I will definitely use him. I also just finished chapter 3, but not before getting my ass handed back to me... I wonder if commentating on your gameplay distracts you too much so make a lot of small mistakes you wouldn't do normally, because I know I did a lot of them this chapter. :O

Thanks everyone for the answers and insights into the game, this is super helpful! :D I will check out the weapon stats online then. Also if anyone feels like they want a stable doze of cringe, I decided to make a completely amateur LP out of this. Like it says in the description, I want to use it to better my speaking skills (since I'm on the shy side) and have some fun while I'm at it. :) I have no big plans for this project, but I do welcome any advise. =)

Now that I am all done with Thracia I decided to start with FE 1. I have finished the first chapter and would like to ask a few questions about the game mechanics: 1. How does doubling work in this game? Do I just need to have more speed than the enemy? 2. Can I somehow view weapon stats inside the game? Or do I have to google those? D: 3. Is it worthwhile to try and level-up stave users? Since they can only level-up by being attacked this seems like an extreme, and dangerous, chore. Also I don't know much about the viability of the units so I am going to go with whoever I like best, so far focusing my efforts on Marth and Sheeda. Other than that it is funny that after playing games from SNES era it is much easier to jump back to NES games than it was originally. One of the reasons I decided to start with FE4 before was that the NES games felt way too old/clunky, so I guess it was too big of a jump all at once. Right now the game doesn't feel nearly as bad as it did at the beginning and I think I can enjoy it a lot. :D

I appreciate the complement, but if anything it was pure ignorance. :D And thanks for the welcome!

Might be a Stockholm Syndrome. If there is one FE game truly capable of developing it in the player, it must be Thracia. :D