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How do you rank the FE stories from best to worst?


Alastor15243
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If this has already been asked to death, I apologize, but I'm having difficulty finding it on the site's new search engine. Basically, how do you rank the fire emblem games you've played, from best to worst, in terms of story?

For me:

1: The Tellius games. The best all-around story, with the best combination of worldbuilding, writing and presentation. I adore the story of these games. I know that Radiant Dawn has its detractors, but frankly I don't have much issue with the stuff introduced in Radiant Dawn, and I think that the main antagonist, while being a bit flat, was by far the most interesting in terms of what they were and what sort of themes and mood they brought to the final battle (which I consider the best in the series).

2: The Jugdral games. I'll admit I haven't finished Thracia (a combination of factors, not the least among them being a sort of "what's the point" bumminess about the fact that there's no complete translation patch), but 4 and what I've seen of 5 are fantastic, and the reasons why they're fantastic have been discussed to death on these forums, so I won't go into much further detail besides saying that the mid-game climax of 4 was utterly heartbreaking and made the fact that I had read a guide beforehand for pairings and thus had superhuman children so much more satisfying, in that I was excited to kick that dastard's ass.

3: Sacred Stones. Somewhat generic setup, but well-told with great characters and by far the best villain in Fire Emblem history.

4: The Elibe games. While playing Blazing Sword again made me realize that the pacing is a little less fluid than younger me remembered it, it's still passably told, and it's a solid story that still has its moments. The fact that even now, fourteen years later, the game was able to move me to tears when Lyn reunites with her grandfather and "Lyn's Desire" started playing, tells me the story doesn't deserve to be any lower than here.

5: Echoes. Great presentation and an amazing job expanding on the worldbuilding and story of such and old game. The story has its problems, to be sure, but it's still good.

6: Shadow Dragon. The remake told the story well with good writing and presentation, but that really can't mask the fact that it's clearly a dolled-up telling of the story in a video game from a time before people decided we wanted to care about stories in video games.

7: Awakening. While this is the game that introduced the more cartoonish and anime feel of the series that I really do not appreciate, and while the second half of the game is all over the place in terms of story, the writing was good enough to keep me invested and only notice this stuff in hindsight, and Robin is definitely the best-written avatar in the series, so there's that.

8: Birthright. Really, this is the best any Fates game could hope for. Birthright is just a poor-man's Shadow Dragon with some added themes of familial conflict they didn't do nearly enough with. The story is generic and the worldbuilding is as bare-bones as they come with almost nothing interesting done.

9: Revelation. This is the story where the writers clearly stopped caring, like, at all, and just went through the motions of getting all the characters together against a common foe. The plot is terrible in this game, and Corrin does almost nothing whatsoever to earn the loyalty of anyone, and the Nohrian brothers join you out of sheer luck. I'd have to go into way more detail to fully outline how terrible this story is, but I will give it this: Corrin didn't do anything in this route that made me want to grind his face into the pavement and smear him into such a fine paste that there isn't a molecule left on top of another. Which is more than I can say for...

10: Conquest. Yes, Revelation is both less interesting and worse-written. But Conquest, as a Fates game, can only be marginally better in those fields anyway, and it is bogged down by the single worst protagonist in any video game I have ever played. Selfish, cowardly, idiotic and useless, the entirety of the second half of Conquest consists of Corrin acting in the most self-centered and cowardly manner possible without the game admitting that this is anything other than a necessary evil and that Corrin is oh so brave and noble for damning his soul for the sake of the world. He isn't, and I consider it to be the baseline entry requirements for common sense to be able to see that. I HATE Nohr Corrin. He doesn't even feel like a protagonist so much as this idiot the game forces me to take control of to get him out of his own messes. And I could forgive almost all of this if he were at all held accountable for his actions and if he wasn't forgiven by the Hoshidan siblings, who he essentially told through his actions "I care more about my Nohr siblings than I care about my mother's country, the lives of half of its people, or the safety of so much as a single one of you."

 

 

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12. Birthright: Um, what story? I don't recall anything happening until you reach Garon's castle. While it doesn't have its own story Birthright still has to carry the ball and chain of Fates writing to some extend. Its the worst of both worlds. 

11. Conquest: Unlike Birthright the story actually exist so it gets a higher spot then birthright. Its just a shame the story is complete trash. I can respect that it at least tries but its just such a trainwreck about it. 

10. Shadow dragon: Um, what story? Never saw anyone say or do anything of interest nor a villain with decent presence or screentime. Its got Marth and some pretty excellent map narration at least. It has an absence of a great many things and not nearly enough positives to overcome that. So the balance strikes very easily to the negative end of the spectrum. 

9. Binding blade: The story is okay but I'd say its a little bit below average when it comes to Fire emblem stories. I think it really hurts from borrowing the archaic shadow dragon style to much. To often the cutscenes are just Roy, his adviser and the plot important princess. Its got some decent villains, even if I don't like Zephiel and the world building is good, excellent even if you add what Blazing sword brought to the table.

8. New mystery: It does a lot of things Shadow dragon failed to do. Archenea gets some lore, we got better villains and even some supports. Its still held back by an archaic style and bland characters but its okay.

7. Awakening: The story of Awakening is problematic but it also does a lot of good. The kids are handled well enough, the main characters are all very charming and its got some really good moments like Emyrin's death or Lucina's reveal. But its all so rushed. Villains come and go so fast its hard to find them threatening and the world building hardly exists.

6. Sacred Stones: Sacred stones does plenty of good things. Its villains are all an interesting bunch, the main lords are good main characters and enough things of interest happen. On the negative end of the spectrum it probably has the worst world building of the series and the demons are to generic to really take the prominent role the game needs them too. 

5. Shadow of Valentia: Its got its problems but its just told really well. Nothing more to say about it really. 

4. Radiant dawn: There's a lot of bad stuff like the blood pact, the black knight and characters disappearing for no reason but a lot of the things that don't work come from the same place as a lot of good stuff, RD's ambition. RD is a very ambitious game with a great scale. Sometimes the ambition is TOO big and the game suffers for it. 

I can respect that. At least it tries to do something interesting, unlike Birthright and Shadow Dragon and unlike Conquest it manages to try without becoming a total trainwreck about it. 

The ambition also pays off a lot of the time. RD nails it sense of scale. It really feels like a war partly because the cutscenes show us a lot of strategy. The little bit of political drama is well executed and while somewhat generic part one is also good enough. The world building is the best of the series and the barrack conversations ensure everyone can show off their personality even without supports. Aside from the Black Knight a lot of villains miss presence but they make up for it by being well written or hatable enough to do their job. 

3. Blazing sword: Just a competent game. It doesn't try to do that much original but because it stays safe and conventional I don't think it really screws up much either. Unlike other Fire emblem games it stays safe and conventional while still actually having a story.  Thank to having three lords the story is told in a more engaging way then just having the lord talk to his adviser and the world building is probably only second to Tellius. 

2. Genealogy:

Genealogy is unique. Its much darker, on a much larger scale and spawns two generations. Arvis remains the best villain of Fire emblem and he's joined by colorful villains of all sorts. Its hardly any less ambitious then RD and unlike that game doesn't make as many mistakes. Despite being on such old hardware a lot of characters have a clearly defined personality and I really respect that. This is something pretty much all games in the Kaga era struggle with but put someone like Azelle next to any shadow Dragon, (Pre echoes)Gaiden or Tracian character and we see a sizable difference. 

I want to give it the top spot....but I can't. Its to handicapped by its age for that. Its great story is still somewhat archaic and while a lot of people have clearly defined personalities....a lot of them also don't, especially in the second generation. Who were Delmud and Lester again? 

The world building also isn't entirely up to snuff because of how the maps work. Its great that we can have a stage the size of a country but this causes a lack of distinct landmarks. 

1. Path of Radiance: Like Blazing sword its a simple, safe and conventional story that actually has stuff happening in it despite its simplicity, but unlike Blazing blade it has the benefit of being set in Tellius which immediately gives it the best world building. Unlike RD it doesn't drag around any mistake around as a ball and chain. Its got the Amazing black knight without his RD persona dragging him down and Daein is a very good enemy nation to go up against. 

Path of Radiance isn't the most impressive story but its the best. Its got enough in it so that things are always happening, it doesn't get to big for its bridges, it doesn't lack world building or supports and it doesn't make any huge mistakes. 

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Listen, i know the question asked from best to worst but i'm gonna do the opposite, since there was a similar question asked in the debate boards so i'm just gonna copy over what i said

On 9/29/2017 at 9:21 AM, Armagon said:

From worst to best

Fates: Revelation: It's nice for Supports (and Fates as a whole has decent Supports tbh) but it completely ruins the point of Conquest and Birthright.

Fates: Conquest: The thing is, Conquest's story was actually pretty decent up until Ch.15, in which everything went downhill faster than my faith for humanity. While the gameplay is probably the best in the series, everything about the story past Ch.15 sucks. The only reason it's above Revelation is because, again, the first 14 chapters of Conquest were actually alright.

Fates: Birthright: It's bland but it's simple and it's not a mess like the previous two

Awakening: Awakening was my first game. And while Awakening had some great Supports and great characters, the story was inconsistent at times. It's not like, terrible or anything, but it could've definitely been improved upon. The Valm arc kinda just came out of nowhere and Grima resurrected himself because why the fuck not? But overall, the story is pretty alright.

Shadow Dragon (FE3 Book 1): I have played the Shadow Dragon remake on the DS, but i stopped playing it because DS emulators suck. So i went and played the FE3 Book 1 version. Shadow Dragon's story is pretty standard. It's not super interesting but it's not terrible either.

Mystery of the Emblem: Like Shadow Dragon, i played FE12 but DS emulators suck. So i played FE3 instead and i found the story to be pretty enjoyable. Shadow Dragon's conflict was mostly black and white, while i found FE3 to be morally gray in it's story telling. Especially since Marth essentially becomes a rebel against the Empire in the first few chapters. 

Blazing Blade: I liked the more personal approach. While it had some issues such as Nergal's power level and Ninian ex machina, the story as a whole was alright.

Binding Blade: The story is essentially a sort-of retelling of FE3, but i find it to be better. Main reason being that Zephiel is a better villain than Hardin, and there's no generically evil sorcerer *cough* Gharnef *cough* in the plot. I also like Idoun. While she sucks as a final boss, i actually felt sorry for what happened to her.

Sacred Stones: While the plot is fairly standard, what did it for me was the relationship between the Renais Twins and Lyon. Lyon is one of my favorite villains in the series because of it.

Shadows of Valentia: While the plot did have it's flaws (c'mon guys, no plot is perfect), i found the storytelling to be quite good, which got a boost thanks to the amazing voice acting. Everyone felt truly alive. Again, the plot has it's flaws like Rudolf's plan but, because at it's core, it's a retelling of an NES game, i'm more forgiving on that front.

Genealogy of the Holy War: While i despise Genealogy of the Holy War with a passion, i can't deny that it has a good story. It's definitely the darkest FE story out there and it shows how political corruption can truly fuck up a continent. I also liked how time actually passes in this game. The plot does have it's flaws, mainly Sigurd, but overall, FE4 has the best story (of the games i've played all the way to the end).

Of course, that's just me rating the plot. If we were to take everything else into account, this list would be very different.

 

I've also played Thracia 776, and as mentioned before, FE11 and 12, along with Gaiden, but i never finished them due to various reasons (Thracia had too much bullshit, FE11 and 12 were plagued by my shitty DS emulator, and Gaiden was dropped after SoV's announcement).

 

 

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I don't really want to write out a whole paragraph about each one so I'm just going to do a list.

14. Birthright

13. Revelations

12. Path of Radiance

11. Mystery of the Emblem

10. Conquest

9. Radiant Dawn

8. Awakening

7. Shadow Dragon

6. Sacred Stones

5. Geanology of the Holy War

4. Binding blade

3. Blazing sword

2.Thracia 776

1. Shadows of Valentia

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From worst to best:

Archanaea - It's somewhat hard to separate plot from characters sometimes, and this is such a case. The world is generic, the plot is generic, and bpth could have worked... but I'd have had to care about the characters. I didn't, at all. The game almost completely fails at developing them, both heroes and villains, to the point where unlike most FEs I typically felt absolutely nothing when one of them died. A game failing to engage me at all is worse than a game engaging me and then doing stupid things.

Shadows of Valentia - On the other hand, it's easy to separate plot and characters here, because a number of Echoes' characters are quite fun! But the plot is almost entirely tied up in some of the stupidest things the series has ever done - Rudolf's crazy plan, Celica's weird trusting of Jedah - and the game sabotages its own themes (by having Alm be the Emperor's kid) and actively ignores its setting (with indolent Zofia crushing warlike Rigel in a paint-by-numbers FE war).

Revelation - Revelation is boring and the way it resolves the Xander conscience crisis which is so important to the other two routes is like something out of a children's cartoon. It made me care about the characters though (or perhaps more accurately Birthright/Conquest did? Hard to score this) and nothing it did made me as angry as the aforementioned decisions by Echoes.

Awakening - The arc about Gangrel and how the previous Exalt was partly at fault is neat. Then Valm is a mess and mostly irrelevant. Then the Grimleal are somehow more of a mess and some of the least compelling/believable antagonists out there (a country-wide cult!). But there's good in there at least.

Birthright - Boring generic plot except the family drama stuff is pretty damn good. Most scenes where one of Corrin's siblings appear are excellent. Most of the rest puts me to sleep. Still, that's better than the above.

Elibe - Both games are problematic in different ways. Binding Blade is kinda like Archanaea, with a mostly vapid group of characters who as a result fail to engage me. The setting work is probably the best of anything on the list so far but it's hard to care. The main thing the game has above all the rest is that Zephiel is a neat, well-developed villain, and that goes a long way. Blazing Sword, meanwhile, has some well-done arcs (the building intrigue in early Eliwood is solid, as is the stuff with Bern/Zephiel) but unfortunately its "main" arcs, involving a thousand-man band of assassins and a crazy sorcerer and his army of zombies, are Grimleal-level bad.

Conquest - I embrace Conquest more than most people here because I think it asks some interesting questions - what will people do to justify war? Corrin basically pushes the war all the way to its end because she wants to keep her family intact. It's really bad from a moral standpoint but that's the point (people can easily rationalise the deaths of thousands of others). The game also has some excellent character work and some effective emotional scenes, though the setting is garbage.

Path of Radiance - Okay, here we get some great setting work and a plot which overall feels well-constructed... for the first 75% or so. Unfortunately the arc in which you chase Ashnard into a different country is completely ridiculous, and feels like egregious padding, and does lower the game's score some. Which is a shame because right up until then the game was doing good stuff, even details like how the player army is seen as villainous by Daein.

Sacred Stones - Lyon is an excellent villain who gets great interactions with the protagonists, and the game explores how the characters influence each other in a way that's really neat. Beyond that the game has some strong emotional resonance at points and does nothing really wrong.

Radiant Dawn - Even of more of that excellent Tellius worldbuilding. It also has main characters in moral quandaries, something only Conquest does otherwise. It has a large, diverse cast of villains with differeing agendas and clear ideologies. I feel that petrifying the armies to stop the war is a bit of a cop-out but that's really my biggest complaint. It's still not a game that I would play for plot alone, but it is the series' best IMO.

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Best to worst huh...I can't comment on games 3-6 or 12 since I haven't played them, and I seem to remember nothing of Shadow Dragon so I won't touch upon it, which I guess is pretty telling.

Radiant Dawn

Uses the excellent worldbuilding of Path of Radiance to cut right to the delicious character interactions which are the best the series has ever had. Lots of issues and things are skimmed over like crazy, but the highs really save the plot from the lows.

Awakening/Path of Radiance

Both have fairly unimpressive plots and generally unimpressive villains, but the casts are great and they have fantastic moments that make it easier to gloss over some of the more negative aspects. What Awakening lacks that Path of Radiance has, like worldbuilding, it makes up for in charm and generally more (as in numerous) likeable characters.

Sacred Stones

Honestly, Lyon carries this.  It's his scenes and that of the support cast that I generally remember. Outside of Lyon, Eirika and Ephraim are the dullest protagonists in the series - not worst, just the most boring, and that weighs down the story a lot.

Blazing Blade/Echoes

Both are quite the mess with particularly bad villains and in Echoes' case protagonists as well. There are definitely strong points here, like Echoes' generally good cast and Blazing Blade's portrayal of Eliwood and Hector's friendship and the Zephiel arc, but the main stories are poorly paced and generally uninteresting.

Fates, as in all of them

Birthright does the least wrong of the three versions but that doesn't mean much. While playing through the main mission of Fates I'm either bored out of my mind or straight up disgusted with how everything is handled. The saving grace of Fates' writing is some of its stronger characters like Takumi, Oboro, Leo, Flora and Shiro, but that's a bandaid on the gaping wound that is Fates' mess of a plot.

 

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I'm not gonna include any non-localized games since I haven't played them as much and no disrespect to fan translators since they do amazing work, but I consider official translations more canon (Don't know if that's the word, but I think you get what I mean). Anyways from best to worst:

1. Path of Radiance: I just find this to be a really compelling story that illustrates a conflict between two countries amazingly. The way it also treats racism is fantastic. I also feel like Ike is genuinely likeable here and his progression through out the story is nice. I do have a few minor complaints, like how Ike gets away with shouting at Sanaki and sometimes I think he is portrayed as too perfect at some points, but overall, the goods outweighs the bad.

2. Sacred Stones: I just find the story amazing. Lyon is one of the best villains in the game and I really like Eirika as a protagonist (Not as big on Ephraim though). The cast is also a fun bunch and I care for them a lot. My main complaints would be how short the game is and the lack of info on the five great heroes.

3. Shadows of Valentia: While Alm and Celica are pretty meh (Though I still stand by the fact Celica's choices in Act 4 were reasonable), the story is well told more 90% of the game and the cast is one of my favorites. I think the voice acting also greatly helps with why I like the story.

4. Awakening: Yes the story has problems, but overall I think the positives outweigh the negatives. The first arc is IMO really good and could have spanned the entire game, the second arc, while filler, is fun and I love Walhart. The third arc yes is cliche and bad, but I didn't really mind it. The cast is fun and memorable and the good moments in this game are really good.

5. Blazing Blade: I don't mind it. Overall it's meh. I like Lyn's story since it seems the most realistic (Also it's the one I have played the most). I like Eliwood's and Hector's relationship too. Otherwise, I don't have much to say.

6. Radiant Dawn: Part 1 and 2 are good. I like how we see the aftermath of a war on the 'evil' country. It's a nice change. And Part 2 is well done. It helps I really like Elincia, again the change of pace is nice (The story being that of a rebellion). But once Part 3 comes, it all goes downhill. Miccy is made into an idiot and Ike is bland and doesn't develop at all. It doesn't help Miccy, who should have been the main character alongside Elincia, was puched into a secondary character role by Ike and Yune and it aggravates me.

7. Shadow Dragon: While I love this game, the lack of character for the character hurts it. The only ones I care about are Marth and Caeda and that's about it (Tiki too, but that's mainly cause I played this after Awakening). Marth is characterized well and I think Archanea has good world building but that's it.

8.Fates (In order C-B-R): Fates is just bad overall. The only reason Conquets is my favourite is cause stuff actually happens in most chapters to help further the plot. In Birthrght, I don't recall much exciting happening till much later in the plot and even then, it's just a bore with boring characters. At least Conquest had decent characters. I think we all know why Revelation is anyones least favourite so I'm not gonna bother expanding on it.

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I may elaborate on this list later:

1. Genealogy of the Holy War

2. Radiant Dawn

3. Path of Radiance

4. Thracia 776

5. Binding Blade

6. Sacred Stones

7. Shadows of Valentia

8. Blazing Sword

9. Shadow Dragon

10. Heroes of Light and Shadow

11. Fates Conquest and Birthright

12. Awakening

13. Fates Revelation

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/17/2017 at 7:46 AM, Dark Holy Elf said:

From worst to best:

Awakening - The arc about Gangrel and how the previous Exalt was partly at fault is neat. Then Valm is a mess and mostly irrelevant. Then the Grimleal are somehow more of a mess and some of the least compelling/believable antagonists out there (a country-wide cult!). But there's good in there at least.

Going to jump in, but the previous Exalt wasn't at fault and Gangrel only cared about the past war as a source of propaganda.

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8 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Going to jump in, but the previous Exalt wasn't at fault and Gangrel only cared about the past war as a source of propaganda.

They're referring to Chrom's dad here. It's hinted at that he was kind of an ass and wanted to tear through Plegia. That war led to his death and Emmeryn had to make peace afterwards.

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Worst to best:

Fates trio: Even the best of them is pretty damn bad, the worst of them being downright insulting. The villains across all 3 being the most cartoonishly evil and nobody with any dignity really questioning them for most of the game is just frustrating. There's so much wrong with these three. Conquest gets some kudos for at least trying something interesting, but it fails just as bad as the other two. It just has a slightly more compelling premise.

Sacred Stones: This one suffers from bad pacing, a ton of filler, and really, really lackluster story-telling anytime Lyon isn't interacting with Eirika or Ephraim(Except that one case with Eirika, which is one of the dumbest moments of any FE protagonist), which is a surprisingly little amount of an already story-light game. Magvel is also just a disjointed mess of a continent. The lack of world-building really hurts it. The villains also randomly warping around the map purely to advance the plot is some of the laziest writing in the franchise.

Awakening: The first arc is solid. The game kind of takes a nosedive when Emmeryn dies, and it plummets when Gangrel's dealt with. The Walhart arc feels like pure filler, and Validar is such a goofy, dumb, completely evil villain that the Grimleal chunk of the game is nearly impossible to get invested in. But again, it does at least have a solid first chunk, which is a sizeable part of the game.

Shadows of Valentia: There's a rather large jump in quality between Awakening's writing and SoV's. SoV's plot isn't necessarily bad like the last few entries, but it's lacking in some areas, and there are a few conveniences that advance the plot in questionable ways(IE Celica getting mad at Alm, Celica's random dreams that cause her to fall for Jedeh's plan). But it remains somewhat believable and engaging, and the leaps in logic aren't nearly as big as the bottom 3 games.

Elibe: As a whole, this is a solid, contained story throughout these two games. I'd rank 6 above 7, since 7 is more about the character interactions than the actual story of Hector, Eliwood and Lyn than it is the group chasing down Nergal and stopping him from opening the Dragon Gate. They also introduce a plothole/retcon that comes out of nowhere to explain why, if Eliwood marries Ninian, she isn't around for FE6. The Elibean atmosphere being toxic to dragons is nowhere in FE6, and Fae, Idoun and her soulless offspring don't seem to mind at all. FE6 works better overall as a story, even if it is more or less a shameless retelling of Marth's story.

Archanea: This one's pretty standard and middle of the road. The actual story here is nothing super remarkable, but it does world building amazingly well, and it set damn near every template and archetype that the rest of the series would follow nearly to a T for most entries to come. FE3 is generally more compelling, but I'm a sucker for "Friends must now face each other as enemies" stories.

Tellius: IMO, there's another noticeable jump in story telling from Archanea to Tellius. I think PoR is the stronger between the two, due to its consistency, but RD has a lot of highs with its story as well. The themes it tackles aren't anything ground breaking, but they're done well, and it's surprising to see things like slavery, racism and classism handled seriously in a major Nintendo title(Not that Fire Emblem hasn't done darker before, but we'll get to that). Ike, while I'm not hot on him as a character, IS a breath of fresh air as a completely normal dude who rises to being a war hero and lord. SoV/Gaiden would have probably ranked higher if Alm was just a country bumpkin, and not royalty destined to be great from the outset. Radiant Dawn being probably the most epic(In the grander sense) story FE tried to tell gets brownie points, even if it falters with Micaiah in some cases, and specifically with the Blood Pact. There's a really good story gasping for air somewhere in RD that just only occasionally manages to breach the surface, before going back under.

Jugdral: It goes without saying, to some degree. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, and that Genealogy and Thracia are far from perfect stories, but they also tackle some pretty heavy themes and subject matter, and, IMO, they handle them pretty well. They're probably the most "adult" stories ever in a first party Nintendo title. And I do like how Sigurd's story is handled, as a headstrong lord who ends up getting swept up in a war purely because he went to save his friend, only to inadvertently create a power vacuum that allowed an ambitious, manipulative cult to exploit and control the entire continent. The decision to kill off most of the characters from the first generation, and then leave it to the children 15 years later to pick up the pieces, I'd say, is downright bold for video game writing. Most games get lauded as emotional and heart-wrenching if they kill off ONE main character, let-alone virtually all of them. The framing to the story helps, a lot, too. First gen has some dark moments, like Eldigan's beheading, but by and large, gen 1 is presented as a romantic(In both meanings of the word), heroic adventure, only for it to turn into a great tragedy just as it seems like the heroes are going to get recognition for their efforts. And to top things off, Leif gets probably the most well-developed and compelling personal story in the whole franchise with Thracia 776. That whole game can be summed up as "Leif overcomes his insecurities and personality flaws and saves the day", while still staying true to the tone and atmosphere of Genealogy. He's still going city to city, trying to stop an evil cult from mass murdering children while liberating his country. It's also neat to get people like Sleuf and Sara who were connected to the Lopto Cult, showing us, for the first time, a more human side to the "Evil mage people" that have been so common in FE since FE1. Hell, some FEs still struggle to this day to do this(*coughcoughtheGrimlealcoughcough*).

If I were to tier them:

Great tier - Jugdral

Good tier - Tellius

Decent tier - Elibe, Archanea, Valentia

Bad tier - Awakening, Sacred Stones

Garbage tier - Conquest

Burn-it-and-forget-it tier - Revelation and Birthright

Edited by Slumber
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From worse to best:

Revelation: A skeleton of a story there nothing interesting happens after Corrin and crew reaches Valla. With tons of plot holes and forced reasons to exists.

Radiant Dawn: Unpopular opinion, I find the game filled with poor characterizations to the previous cast (Astrid especially), bs plot objects, plot magic, mustache twirling villains or villains that somehow became sympathetic to a game that worn out it's welcome. 

Sacred Stones: I find the plot on the same level as early Final Fantasy games, maybe I don't like stone/ crystals as plot object in my game (with the exception of Bravery Default) Lyon is the only saving grace in the title that is chock filled with RPG cliches.

Heroes of Light and Shadow/ Shadow Dragon: A meh title that story inspired other stories in the series. aged poorly.

Birthright: A typical Fire Emblem game, does nothing offensive to me. 

Conquest: The story in the game is more interesting in the series, with many hiccups along the way.

Shadows of Valentia: A decent story that is held back by 90s RPG cliches, the best part was Berkut.

Awakening: A semi-reboot of the series that helded my attention of most of the game, with a couples stumbles along the way.

Path of Radiance: A strong title that demonstrates what a coming of age story should have been.

Mystery/ New Mystery: I find the story the most interest since it takes Marth's story and turned it into a fun adventure most FE games copied from.

Omitting FE 4,5,6,7 since I didn't play it yet 

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14 minutes ago, Jingle Jangle said:

 

Radiant Dawn: Unpopular opinion, I find the game filled with poor characterizations to the previous cast (Astrid especially), bs plot objects, plot magic, mustache twirling villains or villains that somehow became sympathetic to a game that worn out it's welcome. 

2

What is a moustache twirling villain? 

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1 minute ago, Icelerate said:

What is a moustache twirling villain? 

I am referring to the Begnion Senators where most of them (except Hetzel to some extent) are responsible for majority of the events in the Tellius world. With no redeeming qualities about them.

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11 hours ago, Dayni said:

They're referring to Chrom's dad here. It's hinted at that he was kind of an ass and wanted to tear through Plegia. That war led to his death and Emmeryn had to make peace afterwards.

I know what he is referring to.

He attacked Plegia because he wanted to stop the Grimleal from reviving Grima.

Gangrel's motives are unrelated to the war.

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2 hours ago, Jingle Jangle said:

I am referring to the Begnion Senators where most of them (except Hetzel to some extent) are responsible for majority of the events in the Tellius world. With no redeeming qualities about them.

I think Radiant Dawn had the most different types of villains and protagonists. There is Jarrod who is a loyal soldier but brutal sadist. Then there is Ludveck who is a manipulative racist/nationalist individual. The Begnion senators had some depth to them as well. There was Lekain who is manipulative, power hungry and self-righteous. Hetzel who knows what he's doing is wrong but is too cowardly to oppose Lekain. Valtome who is narcissistic and foolish (basically a dumb version of Lekain). Admittedly, Numida was quite generic from what I recall. Then there is the funny Oliver who doesn't really have a sense of right and wrong but only cares about the herons and beauty regardless of whether he is doing the right thing or the wrong thing. Then there is Izuka who is simply a mad scientist. There are sympathetic villains like the Black Knight who is basically what Soren would have been if Ike were Sephiran. Levail was a more likeable camus compared to other camus archetype characters due to the fact the guy he was following, Zelgius, was more honourable than most other villains. Then there is Sephiran who was genuinely kind but ended up depressed due to the state of the world and wanted Ashera to pass her judgement. Then there is Deghinsea who can be debated to not be a villain, due to the fact he was simply fulfilling a promise made to the goddess and tried his very best to prevent war.   

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5 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

I think Radiant Dawn had the most different types of villains and protagonists. There is Jarrod who is a loyal soldier but brutal sadist. Then there is Ludveck who is a manipulative racist/nationalist individual. The Begnion senators had some depth to them as well. There was Lekain who is manipulative, power hungry and self-righteous. Hetzel who knows what he's doing is wrong but is too cowardly to oppose Lekain. Valtome who is narcissistic and foolish (basically a dumb version of Lekain). Admittedly, Numida was quite generic from what I recall. Then there is the funny Oliver who doesn't really have a sense of right and wrong but only cares about the herons and beauty regardless of whether he is doing the right thing or the wrong thing. Then there is Izuka who is simply a mad scientist. There are sympathetic villains like the Black Knight who is basically what Soren would have been if Ike were Sephiran. Levail was a more likeable camus compared to other camus archetype characters due to the fact the guy he was following, Zelgius, was more honourable than most other villains. Then there is Sephiran who was genuinely kind but ended up depressed due to the state of the world and wanted Ashera to pass her judgement. Then there is Deghinsea who can be debated to not be a villain, due to the fact he was simply fulfilling a promise made to the goddess and tried his very best to prevent war.   

I'd agree.

The Mustache twirling villain game is Awakening.

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3 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

The Mustache twirling villain game is Fates.

Fixed it for ya. Awakening's villains aside from Validar and Grima at least had some motivation. Fates' villains lacked any motivation other than "rawr, i'm evil".

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3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Fixed it for ya. Awakening's villains aside from Validar and Grima at least had some motivation. Fates' villains lacked any motivation other than "rawr, i'm evil".

The only Awakening villain who had motivation was Walhart, even then, you spent most of the time interacting with the "Rawr, I'm evil" Excellus, who was also a stereotype.

Everyone else was just evil or forced to fight for the villains.

Fates had at least one attempt at a sympathetic villain, Xander.

Edited by Emperor Hardin
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I haven't played every FE game, so I'm just gonna rank the ones I did play.

1. Path of Radiance
2. Radiant Dawn
3. The Sacred Stones
4. Echoes
5. Fates Birthright
6. FE7
7. Awakening

I did play Shadow Dragon and Fates Revelation too, but only barely. I just kinda got more interested in other things after a little while. And SD really turned me off with its sacrificing units business. I didn't finish Echoes either, but I played a lot more of it than these two.

Edited by Anacybele
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35 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

The only Awakening villain who had motivation was Walhart, even then, you spent most of the time interacting with the "Rawr, I'm evil" Excellus, who was also a stereotype.

Everyone else was just evil or forced to fight for the villains.

Fates had at least one attempt at a sympathetic villain, Xander.

Xander isn't a villain though. He's the Camus archetype in Birthright, and your playable unit in the other two paths. So those don't count. 

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Just now, Emperor Hardin said:

Ergo villain.

Hardin, do you know what villain means?

Villain (noun): (in a film, novel, or play) a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.

None of Xander's actions are in any way evil. Camus archetypes are NEVER evil, and thus never villains. If anything, they are more under the case of anti-heroes. 

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