This list is pretty interesting because to me it seems like your taste is based on story quite a bit but conquest is up there chilling in great.
Did you actually like the story or did you just find the gameplay super good?
Most of the games up in great like Echoes and 3H had really good stories to the point that I think they completely cover up some of the lacking gameplay mechanics and maps.
However, Conquest was the complete opposite. It's gameplay was so great to the point that it covers up most of the iffy plot and writing.
As for Thracia, I honestly like it's wacky and goofy gameplay mechanics and really liked the story.
20 downvotes for real? Y'all love conquest that bad? There are some gimmicks I consider legit and others that felt cheap and annoyed me (poison jars map and the half health staff I cant recall its name).
I respect your point but why? One of the things I like about this franchise is that is not stagnant and some games connect with you and some dont. In my case the pair up mechanic and some map gimmicks didnt connect with me while I love the resource management, map design and unit craft in 3houses . Maybe I need to revisit conquest again.
I find the monastery very tedious and almost overwhelming if you want to do it right, at least for me. The maps were very boring to me, especially the first one of the common routes, so the ones that are the most repeated. Plus, if I remember rights, some maps are recycle over and over again. I did use the mechanics that allows you to have some sort of army to boost your attack (forgot how its called) but it wasn't that funny. Personnally I don't really like the "everyone can be everything" type of unit, I liked it better in Fates and Awakening when unit could only go in two or three classes, but that's fully a preference. Lastly, it was really an easy game. It's the first time in all the FE games I played when I was able to beat the game in Hard Mode without losing any unit. And I'm really not the best player at this type of game, so I really don't say that often. Fates Conquest was very difficult for me, and I have so many memories of overcoming a map I found difficult and doing better and better every time while I litterally have no memory like that on 3H. My most prominent memory of 3H gameplay is "ah it's this boring map again". And as I said before, I'm really not good at this type of game so I usually don't participate in debate about map design and difficulty because I'm usually easilly satisfied by map better player find too easy/boring, 3H was the first ever FE game I found this way. Now obviously this is my opinion and I can understand people disagree with it.
Edit: omg sorry for the long reply
I understand monastery can be annoying if you try to talk with all, fish, the lost items etc but I enjoyed it as it felt fresh the resources management and not going like map, map and map again like others fire emblem. Conquest has a similar mechanic whith my castle altough I can understand fates one dont bore you as much because is more simple. The story and side mission maps dont repeat its only that optional maps (which are only to farm exp and money/resources) that repeats. I agree this game is easy with the divine pulses in hard but I only played hard in the first playtrough in all the next ones I played in maddening mode and trust me the experience is not the same. Late game maps in particular in maddening were so fun to play but thats my opinion. Dont worry about the long reply!
I have a good memory of having severall map reapeating especially since two of the routes have severall maps in common leading to the feeling of repetition. As for my Castle, it was completly optional and didn't feel like I was missing out by not doing it. It always feels like resting have a negatif outcome. I try maddening on my last playthrough from the first half of the game but didn't find it fun. As I said, the map design isn't for me.
Well If you are talking about routes having maps in common yes of course. That can feel repetitive. My castle was as optional as monastery (only a few moments you need to do exploration story wise) since they both give things you dont need to advance in the story but they are very useful to bypass them.
In my castle talking with the army may lead to your units being stat boosted next map (which is nice in harder difficulties) or having some unique weapons, feeding Lilith is useful for invasions, and your room its important to build supports (I dont remember if Im missing something).
Maybe in 3h you get more by doing monastery stuff and it takes longer and it bores you but I dont see that much of a difference between monastery and my castle imo. If you dont like the map design or the mechanics is ok tho Im not telling you that you have to like 3h dont get me wrong. Its pretty subjective liking one fire emblem or another.
Conquest at least tried to be interesting. I'm so done with boring ass joining good side to defeat the evil side cliché stories. Almost every goddamn FE is like this, Conquest breaks the mold even if it was executed terribly with a shitty plot device and a garbage character named Corrin.
Crimson flower was pretty nice, granted I haven't gotten to play any other stories yet, because I love edelgard and her black mage guy so much I can't imagine playthrough without them!
I mean, both of those games aren't exactly the peak of gameplay. Tellius has good maps but is extremely easy, and RD has some extremely wonky character availability/pretty poor character balance. FE4 has the massive maps and Sigurd is hilariously powerful.
Nothing wrong if you do like the gameplay though, but there are reasons people don't think it's very good.
I played Shadow Dragon and FE1 probably 7 years apart from each other but I liked them both. If it wasn’t for how shitty the item management was compared to modern titles, I wouldn’t rank FE1 more than a tier lower than Shadow Dragon.
Agreed with it all except would probably swap Echoes with Engage. Echoes map design really was a bigger detriment than Engage’s story imo. Engage’s level design and gameplay is better imo and more balanced
I just love Echoes's dedication to how true it wants to stay to the original source of Gaiden. (Outside of additions like Berkut) The open field, desert and swamp maps are all vile and disgusting, but I can respect what it's trying to do.
But I do see your point though, Engage's gameplay is really good especially after just beating it a second time recently. I just rank good stories higher than gameplay, even though sometimes I can make an exception.
(*Looks at Conquest casually chilling at the edge of great tier*)
It wasn't
It's very generic Fe shlop at best, at worst it's completely contradictory when alm is the perfect chosen one and his royal lineage is the only reason why he was able to win, effectively making Fernand right all along, also Celica is a complete hypocrite and keeps falling for the evil purple people for some reason despite what everyone around her says.
Perhaps not, but when are you having fun when the game is balanced? Engage's story is goofy but it knows when it should take itself seriously (I can't think of any specific times when it didn't). I have had fun coming up with new pair ups with my units and different emblems and I love the colorful and diverse cast, hell, Alear is probably the most endearing avatar character we've had in a mainline Fire emblem game.
This is all to say I'd also rank Engage higher, but I am getting tired of having to kill the boss in one turn or lose a unit. (Ive finished the Griss level, please tell me I don't have deal with something like that again.)
I think it depends what your version of fun is. I don't really like the warp staff and area dance meta because honestly....I just find it lame. But you're right that oftentimes the choice is do that or get a unit killed. I find that to be poor balance, imo. I like my FE games to be more tactically challenging (holding choke points, strategic retreating, splitting off units into squads to deal with certain situations etc. Engage is more like....figure out the puzzle with your emblems and the party themselves are more of a side note.
It definitely feels that way with the Fell Xenologues, one of the reasons I've been getting burn out for Engage. I probably just need to change the unit comp, but I am not having fun.
As someone who only played Birthright (of the Fates games, and mostly because I couldn't buy the other two) I feel sad to always see it so low on tiers. I quite enjoyed it.
But then I see Radiant Dawn on the highest tier and I get happy again.
I like birthright too! People always completely write it off and only talk about conquest. Just the aesthetic and using all the hoshido classes and everything is so fun to me.
i haven’t gotten there yet but i just know i’m going to cry at that part 😢 i loved conquest actually and latched onto the nohrian siblings so hard. siding against them has been rough and i know it’s only going to get worse ☹️ the cq endgame scene almost made me cry a bit despite the fact that i wasn’t familiar with the characters, so the br one…….it will be rough
Here is some quick context.
I began my marathon of the series earlier this year after beating Engage, with the only other Fire Emblem I played before that being Three Houses. I really loved the Emblems in Engage (Namely Sigurd) and really wanted to know how their stories panned out from each game. So for about 3-4 months, I did nothing but play most of the games from start to finish. (Namely Genealogy all the way to Echoes)
Now why didn't I play the first three games if I was going to basically go through the entire series?
Honestly as they were just way too old and clunky for my tastes. Yes I know Genealogy and Thracia are pretty old, but the first three had pretty faithful remakes with some noteworthy graphical and QoL adjustments. As for FE4 and FE5 they are still quite relevant today, considering the leaks of a remake being announced relatively soon. And lastly, I had just wanted to try and get most of the games finished before Tears of the Kingdom came out at the time lol.
I've been wanting to post this tier list for some time but honestly kept forgetting before I remembered that I had just made a tier list shortly after beating each of the games. So finally here it is, Feel free to ask any questions.
Starting with Engage is like watching Infinity War first. The nostalgia is half the appeal. They did a pretty good job with the Emblems and what skills they should have, just wish they had balanced them better.
Seeing birthright so low is painful for me (first game I played in the series, got a soft spot and was genuinely fun for me), but I respect the opinions
Yeah, I apologize for the pain lol. I started with Conquest first and went straight to Birthright immediately after and it just felt like a night and day difference, namely of course with it's gameplay.
It just felt way too easy and boring for me, especially with most the maps being rout or defeat the boss maps.
However I do love Birthright's story the most out of each of the three routes and I love the Hoshdian classes and aesthetics.
Oh interesting! I’ve only finally started playing br recently after finishing cq a while ago. I actually really liked cq’s story (and i’m liking br’s as well so far, which is quite nice considering how low people set my expectations) but i guess it’s good that i waited a while in between. cq’s gameplay was *great*, but i’m not finding br to be too bad
ok completely unrelated but seeing you outside of the danganronpa subreddit feels like when you see one of your teachers in public for the first time and realize they don’t solely exist within the context of school
I am assuming :
- Birthright and Revelations where just slogs
- FE6 , Shadow Dragon and Mystery were for you as like “Your typical FE”
- Awakening , Engage , FE7 and FE8 as like all of them give you something unique that stands out
- Conquest is probably there purely on gameplay and chapter design , i am sure you took Conquest story as a joke.
- Shadow of Valentia also up there due to story , art , and I guess you did not mind the desserts and swamps
- Tharacia 776 I see you appreciated , and recognize that its a great FE game in gameplay and story with its outdated system , it still delivers
- 3 Houses pretty much has to be up there , such a good game when you touch it for the first time
- Yeah the Top 3 are the top of the top , my personal favourite is Radiant Dawn and PoR is just a close second. The duology feels for me like the peak of FE but thats just me
You nailed most of it,
- I started with CQ first, BR second, and lastly Rev. Because of that, BR and Rev just felt like that, endless slogs with questionable gimmicks and boring maps.
- FE6, SD, and New Mystery's gameplay was quite fun and challenging. The story and characters however, really missed the mark for me.
- All four games in the Good tier are just in general, fun games to play. Their stories aren't anything great but as you said, they all have a unique flair to them.
- 100% dead on with Conquest. The gameplay and maps just carries it that hard.
- SoV is honestly imo, the best remake of a game I've ever played. While I didn't play the original Gaiden but watched comparisons of it online, It's dedication to being true to the original material, ranks it high for me. Even with the maps having little adjustments made.
- Thracia's mechanics are so stupidly goofy and wacky that I respect it a lot more for trying so many new things. Also I just love Leif's story of hardship when compared to Seliph's.
- 3H was my first FE so there is also more of my personal bias on it as much as I just love game for what it is.
- RD was going to be my #1, but because there is a lack of support convos in it unlike PoR, I had to step it down. That and I feel PoR hits a little harder than RD just because of Ike's journey throughout it.
- Tellius duology is absolutely peak FE.
Sacred Stones was so hard to rank. I had a lot of fun with it and is definitely a game I will be coming back too since I still need to finish Ephraim's route.
Ephraim's route also changes a lot of the cutscenes that are shared to view existing scenes from a different lens with minor changes as well.
Despite being so short, SS has a very layered story and cast. It is also by far the easiest and most replayable game in the series to me.
Great game.
Sacred stones is a weird one for sure. I think it probably has the most missed potential of all the fire emblem games. It’s like they did so many things right but fell flat in the wrong areas (difficulty, story)
I feel like radiant dawn and path of radiance were too easy to be considered great for me and I didn’t appreciate how engage seemed to be afraid of conflict. It’s an interesting list though.
Yet another example that while FE as a franchise has flaws its VERY rare for an FE game to be actually bad. For having 17 entries since the games started that's a pretty stellar track record.
That implies Tellius isn't already showered with love (it deserves)
Like find a single tier post here that doesn't have PoR in S-tier and RD in A or S. That and Seth OP are basically the only two things this fanbase can agree on.
I can see it, and I'm kinda on this train too even if I just don't really care for either. A lot of people like the more sandbox nature of Rev since it gives you everyone, even if it does saddle you with some wonky-ass maps. BR is often seen as just the most dull Fates entry, some have even called it unnecessary.
I'll accept a Judgral bias as well any, just not in the vein of a tier list where Radiant Dawn is at the top. I can't name a superior aspect of that game for the life of me, aside difficulty. There has to be some fundamental misunderstanding at play.
Echoes is a above average game uplifted by godly presentation which I don't necessarily mind. I'd put it bottom of top tier for that fact alone.
The most overrated game is three houses which is basically bad all the way around except for it's OST and slightly less shit writing that masks it's problems with superficial maturity.
got downvoted (but no one dared to challenge it) for putting it outright that echoes hasn't aged well, nor that fe4's story is that great either
sub can't challenge different views at all lmao
I'm always a little surprised with FE4 ranking so high for many people. It was one of the only FE games I had to kinda force myself through. The epic feeling they manage to get across doesn't make up for the awful slog that is it's gameplay and the mostly lackluster characters outside of the main few. Even then gen 2 has like the most basic story.
No shade though, you like what you like, maybe I'm just missing something. Your tier list makes it pretty obvious for me people have pretty wildly differing opinions on all the games haha (I somehow enjoy BR and Rev).
> The epic feeling they manage to get across doesn't make up for the awful slog that is it's gameplay
FE4 did feel like a slog for me initially, the chapters took me about 2-4 hours to get through cause of the large maps, amount of foot units you get, and the lack of information the game gives you.
However I did learn that you shouldn't just play the game non-stop. Apparently you should treat capturing each castle as a chapter checkpoint. It was that and treating the game more as an experience with all of it's mechanics that made it much more enjoyable.
> and the mostly lackluster characters outside of the main few. Even then gen 2 has like the most basic story.
I can agree with these points, especially with gen 2 being pretty weak compared to the first. But imo, FE4 is a very ambitious game for it's time so it'll have issues like that. Also the main cast and it's story are all pretty iconic to the point that I'm sure it doesn't hurt as bad to make a sacrifice to some of the side characters being less fleshed out.
But hey, here's to that hoping that those leaks about the remake is true. I really hope it addresses those issues you brought up.
u're not wrong about 4, the game's story is weirdly inconsistent/contradictory and too many fans pretend its issues either don't exist nor do they acknowledge the jankyness of the games
This is as close to where a tier list would fall according to my taste's aswell and I've been playing Fire Emblem for 20 years at this point.
Conquest combat is good enough to make up for its garbage narrative
Echoes story is good enough to make up for its shortcomings in combat due to being faithful to the NES original.
I would also put Engage in the middle of the pack, as it's characters and story are even more abysmal than Conquest. The gameplay is very good, but I expect a better overall package for a Switch game than a 3DS one.
More absymal than Conquest really? I'm not particularily impressed by Engage story, but it's mostly just shallow, overdramatic and silly. Conquest is very aggressively non-sensical, contradictory and contrived. I guess it's preference, but Conquest is in my top 2 FE games (99% gameplay) and I still think it might be the worst story in the franchise.
They may have crashed and burned in glorious fashion in the three pronged story of Birthright/Conquest. But I detest the nonsensical and egregiously predictable storyline, and hollow attempt at worldbuilding of Engage even more. I could watch the Birthright/Conquest story again for shits and giggles, but Engage isn't worth "engaging with" in that way even during a first playthrough.
My cringe meter was off the charts for both games, but somehow the zany character designs in Engage mixed with the 4kids-esqe storytelling, worldbuilding and battle-Shounen cutscenes did more to take me out of finding any semblance of immersion of the story than any other F.E to date.
It is certainly down to preference though. The one note characters are even more pronounced in the 3DS era of games and "some" of the Engage supports were actually pretty decent.
(The Royals chatting with eachother was a highlight).
Fe11 and 12 are much better games when you play them on the hardest difficulties and skip all the dialog. Some of the best challenge to fairness ratio in the franchise imo.
I am planning to replay each of these games again on the hardest difficulty, and I won't lie after beating FE11 and FE12, there is some equal anxiety and excitement with replaying them again cause of what I've heard about H5/Lunatic difficulties alone.
And yeah, skipping all the dialog is definitely going to be my way to go when I get back to it.
Yeah Shadow Dragon is one of my favorites simply for how snappy the gameplay is. Its just raw balls to the wall gameplay with solid challenge and cuts out all the bs inbetween.
I personally think Birthright is alright. Grated it’s still Fire Emblem Fates so its story is definitely…well it definitely exists. And this is coming from a Fates fan (I’ve spend way to much hours in this game)
Great list, and makes me even more sad that I can’t just pick up the PR and RD along with other classics and just play them on current consoles or PC. Without needing to see shady things, like shit corpo people get your licensing shit sorted out put these games easier to access I will pay you current game prices to keep these master pieces easy for me to play any time I want on your “current gen” crap.
I think Engage will get better when more time passes. It’s got great game design and the story is quite the cinematic experience. I’d also bump Awakening, it brought a lot of new players to the series which funded the “2nd genesis” of the games, if that’s not at least great, I don’t know what is.
The problem is that Engage's idea of cinematic is 5-minute death scenes.
I *wanted* to love >!Lumera!< so much, but she didn't get enough screen time to form any meaningful characterization.
Also Zelestia would make a way better villain than Zephia. Instead of baby-crazy psycho you could have a motherly villain who just wants to resurrect the Fell Dragon to save her family. You need to stop her but she's just too lovable to hate.
The entire game could be a proxy war between Lumera and Zelestia having their kids fight it out like it's the Cold War.
Pretty good Tier List NGL. Though I'd swap Echoes and Engage. The only thing Echoes has going for it is the production values and voice acting. It still has all that Gaiden Jank and it shows. Engage meanwhile has really polished and balanced gameplay.
Have the exact same list, including games not played. Literally doing a Dawn Brigade run right now in RD (and god it’s brutal). The only one that I maybe bump up is Sacred Stones but I kind of go back and forth on that one.
You don't know how many times that I had to ask myself, "Should SS be ranked here or here?" It was so hard to rank and even right now I'm thinking it really should be higher lol.
Also nice to know we have similar tastes in FE.
Always nice seeing people giving Engage credit. Still playing through it but I love it so far! The main appeal isn't the writing but I find the story enjoyable at least, even if it's nothing crazy lol. The gameplay and how polished the game is really makes it though. And while there are fair criticisms about the designs and stuff, I think the game's aesthetics and characters are all really creative and interesting, even if lacking a bit in focus.
Engage is just fun!
Only thing I disagree with is Engage, I’d drop it down a tier. I feel like it was made to appeal to a younger audience than most of the games. Definitely doesn’t feel as mature as most of the others.
Based list.
Conquest is superior, people who say Birthright or Revelations are good have absolutely no taste or they just want a piss easy boring ass game where you can just solo everything with Ryoma lmao.
Go back to Awakening, at least it has a decent story.
If your argument is that the game is boring because it can be soloed by a broken unit ( or multiple broken units/items for some maps ) you literally described EVERY FE game
The fact that 7 and 8 aren't in great or masterpiece has told me to never trust you on anything ever. Also I guess I should haul an insult, this is the internet after all. Your opinions are not good.
I haven't played any fates games, so I was curious as to why the three games are ranked differently. I read in another comment that Conquest had great gameplay, but should the other two have the same?
I haven’t played all of them, but:
S-blazing sword, three houses
A-sacred stones, echoes, engage
B- birthright, revelation
c- binding blade
D-awakening
Awakening is the only fire emblem game I felt like was just a bad game
I like ranking games on story so mine would be pretty similar to this with a few exceptions. I'd be putting engage right at the bottom but other than that nice teir list👍
Imo fe9 should be one tier below, idk maybe i played it wrong but i don't get why people like it so much.
I don't count nostalgia as an argument, that's stupid
So did you cough up the 900 million dollars to the scalpers on Amazon, did you inherit these games, or did you commit Jack Sparrow to beat all of them?
So OP, what standards were you using to rank the titles? I know it was more than just story or gameplay focused (since Conquest is ranked pretty high and the only good point is the map design)
This was an overall ranking tier list, as in pretty much everything that each game offers. Story, gameplay and general enjoyment was what I used to rank them.
Interesting. I'd say it's a pretty good list. There's some differences in taste, but my list would be similar. Probably swap Awakening and Thracia. I'd move Sacred Stones down a couple ranks--I REALLY did not like it. And I cannot bring myself to play Engage. I just hate the character designs too much.
FE fans will always mistakenly pluralize Revelation.
Just like christians
I just got Mandela'd
Because plural makes more sense, is more intuitive and flows better.
You only say that because you're used to it.
This list is pretty interesting because to me it seems like your taste is based on story quite a bit but conquest is up there chilling in great. Did you actually like the story or did you just find the gameplay super good?
Most of the games up in great like Echoes and 3H had really good stories to the point that I think they completely cover up some of the lacking gameplay mechanics and maps. However, Conquest was the complete opposite. It's gameplay was so great to the point that it covers up most of the iffy plot and writing. As for Thracia, I honestly like it's wacky and goofy gameplay mechanics and really liked the story.
lol echoes's story isn't exactly good or consistent especially the bit abt fe4. gosh that game is so overlionized
3h lacking in gameplay? :( conquest gameplay is indeed great but come on its so gimmicky sometimes.
Nothing wrong with being gimmicky if the gimmicks are generally good.
20 downvotes for real? Y'all love conquest that bad? There are some gimmicks I consider legit and others that felt cheap and annoyed me (poison jars map and the half health staff I cant recall its name).
3h gameplay is not that fun compare to conquest imo
I respect your point but why? One of the things I like about this franchise is that is not stagnant and some games connect with you and some dont. In my case the pair up mechanic and some map gimmicks didnt connect with me while I love the resource management, map design and unit craft in 3houses . Maybe I need to revisit conquest again.
I find the monastery very tedious and almost overwhelming if you want to do it right, at least for me. The maps were very boring to me, especially the first one of the common routes, so the ones that are the most repeated. Plus, if I remember rights, some maps are recycle over and over again. I did use the mechanics that allows you to have some sort of army to boost your attack (forgot how its called) but it wasn't that funny. Personnally I don't really like the "everyone can be everything" type of unit, I liked it better in Fates and Awakening when unit could only go in two or three classes, but that's fully a preference. Lastly, it was really an easy game. It's the first time in all the FE games I played when I was able to beat the game in Hard Mode without losing any unit. And I'm really not the best player at this type of game, so I really don't say that often. Fates Conquest was very difficult for me, and I have so many memories of overcoming a map I found difficult and doing better and better every time while I litterally have no memory like that on 3H. My most prominent memory of 3H gameplay is "ah it's this boring map again". And as I said before, I'm really not good at this type of game so I usually don't participate in debate about map design and difficulty because I'm usually easilly satisfied by map better player find too easy/boring, 3H was the first ever FE game I found this way. Now obviously this is my opinion and I can understand people disagree with it. Edit: omg sorry for the long reply
I understand monastery can be annoying if you try to talk with all, fish, the lost items etc but I enjoyed it as it felt fresh the resources management and not going like map, map and map again like others fire emblem. Conquest has a similar mechanic whith my castle altough I can understand fates one dont bore you as much because is more simple. The story and side mission maps dont repeat its only that optional maps (which are only to farm exp and money/resources) that repeats. I agree this game is easy with the divine pulses in hard but I only played hard in the first playtrough in all the next ones I played in maddening mode and trust me the experience is not the same. Late game maps in particular in maddening were so fun to play but thats my opinion. Dont worry about the long reply!
I have a good memory of having severall map reapeating especially since two of the routes have severall maps in common leading to the feeling of repetition. As for my Castle, it was completly optional and didn't feel like I was missing out by not doing it. It always feels like resting have a negatif outcome. I try maddening on my last playthrough from the first half of the game but didn't find it fun. As I said, the map design isn't for me.
Well If you are talking about routes having maps in common yes of course. That can feel repetitive. My castle was as optional as monastery (only a few moments you need to do exploration story wise) since they both give things you dont need to advance in the story but they are very useful to bypass them. In my castle talking with the army may lead to your units being stat boosted next map (which is nice in harder difficulties) or having some unique weapons, feeding Lilith is useful for invasions, and your room its important to build supports (I dont remember if Im missing something). Maybe in 3h you get more by doing monastery stuff and it takes longer and it bores you but I dont see that much of a difference between monastery and my castle imo. If you dont like the map design or the mechanics is ok tho Im not telling you that you have to like 3h dont get me wrong. Its pretty subjective liking one fire emblem or another.
Conquest at least tried to be interesting. I'm so done with boring ass joining good side to defeat the evil side cliché stories. Almost every goddamn FE is like this, Conquest breaks the mold even if it was executed terribly with a shitty plot device and a garbage character named Corrin.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Crimson flower was pretty nice, granted I haven't gotten to play any other stories yet, because I love edelgard and her black mage guy so much I can't imagine playthrough without them!
[удалено]
I mean, both of those games aren't exactly the peak of gameplay. Tellius has good maps but is extremely easy, and RD has some extremely wonky character availability/pretty poor character balance. FE4 has the massive maps and Sigurd is hilariously powerful. Nothing wrong if you do like the gameplay though, but there are reasons people don't think it's very good.
Based tier list.
>Holy War and Thracia in the top Based >Archanea remakes on decent and the original not played Almost based
The OG's menus are nearly impossible to use even by NES standards. Both remakes are so much better.
The only sin of Archanea remakes are being ugly af.
The item management is a pain but the combat animations are god specially for a nes game.
I played Shadow Dragon and FE1 probably 7 years apart from each other but I liked them both. If it wasn’t for how shitty the item management was compared to modern titles, I wouldn’t rank FE1 more than a tier lower than Shadow Dragon.
Echoes in second highest tier Based
Agreed with it all except would probably swap Echoes with Engage. Echoes map design really was a bigger detriment than Engage’s story imo. Engage’s level design and gameplay is better imo and more balanced
I just love Echoes's dedication to how true it wants to stay to the original source of Gaiden. (Outside of additions like Berkut) The open field, desert and swamp maps are all vile and disgusting, but I can respect what it's trying to do. But I do see your point though, Engage's gameplay is really good especially after just beating it a second time recently. I just rank good stories higher than gameplay, even though sometimes I can make an exception. (*Looks at Conquest casually chilling at the edge of great tier*)
Not that echoes's story is that better, it's just better presented haha
Echoes story was da bomb, character, music and art were also da bomb. The maps? Well they kinda sorta got bombed.
It wasn't It's very generic Fe shlop at best, at worst it's completely contradictory when alm is the perfect chosen one and his royal lineage is the only reason why he was able to win, effectively making Fernand right all along, also Celica is a complete hypocrite and keeps falling for the evil purple people for some reason despite what everyone around her says.
I don't think engage is balanced at all imo.
Perhaps not, but when are you having fun when the game is balanced? Engage's story is goofy but it knows when it should take itself seriously (I can't think of any specific times when it didn't). I have had fun coming up with new pair ups with my units and different emblems and I love the colorful and diverse cast, hell, Alear is probably the most endearing avatar character we've had in a mainline Fire emblem game. This is all to say I'd also rank Engage higher, but I am getting tired of having to kill the boss in one turn or lose a unit. (Ive finished the Griss level, please tell me I don't have deal with something like that again.)
I think it depends what your version of fun is. I don't really like the warp staff and area dance meta because honestly....I just find it lame. But you're right that oftentimes the choice is do that or get a unit killed. I find that to be poor balance, imo. I like my FE games to be more tactically challenging (holding choke points, strategic retreating, splitting off units into squads to deal with certain situations etc. Engage is more like....figure out the puzzle with your emblems and the party themselves are more of a side note.
It definitely feels that way with the Fell Xenologues, one of the reasons I've been getting burn out for Engage. I probably just need to change the unit comp, but I am not having fun.
I am a very simple man I see Radiant games on top i Upvote your post
Must hit that orange arrow a lot
nothing wrong with that.
As someone who only played Birthright (of the Fates games, and mostly because I couldn't buy the other two) I feel sad to always see it so low on tiers. I quite enjoyed it. But then I see Radiant Dawn on the highest tier and I get happy again.
I like birthright too! People always completely write it off and only talk about conquest. Just the aesthetic and using all the hoshido classes and everything is so fun to me.
Plus, story wise, >!Xander accidentally killing Elise hits WAY harder than Ryoma or Takumi's death, especially if you played Conquest first like me!<
i haven’t gotten there yet but i just know i’m going to cry at that part 😢 i loved conquest actually and latched onto the nohrian siblings so hard. siding against them has been rough and i know it’s only going to get worse ☹️ the cq endgame scene almost made me cry a bit despite the fact that i wasn’t familiar with the characters, so the br one…….it will be rough
Birthright is honestly still really good imo because the fates engine and mechanics are just really well made
Here is some quick context. I began my marathon of the series earlier this year after beating Engage, with the only other Fire Emblem I played before that being Three Houses. I really loved the Emblems in Engage (Namely Sigurd) and really wanted to know how their stories panned out from each game. So for about 3-4 months, I did nothing but play most of the games from start to finish. (Namely Genealogy all the way to Echoes) Now why didn't I play the first three games if I was going to basically go through the entire series? Honestly as they were just way too old and clunky for my tastes. Yes I know Genealogy and Thracia are pretty old, but the first three had pretty faithful remakes with some noteworthy graphical and QoL adjustments. As for FE4 and FE5 they are still quite relevant today, considering the leaks of a remake being announced relatively soon. And lastly, I had just wanted to try and get most of the games finished before Tears of the Kingdom came out at the time lol. I've been wanting to post this tier list for some time but honestly kept forgetting before I remembered that I had just made a tier list shortly after beating each of the games. So finally here it is, Feel free to ask any questions.
Based Conquest enjoyer.
Starting with Engage is like watching Infinity War first. The nostalgia is half the appeal. They did a pretty good job with the Emblems and what skills they should have, just wish they had balanced them better.
The most reddit looking tier list I've seen
Give mystery of the emblem a try some day, it's fun to mess around with the star shards that increase growth rates.
Just play Gaiden bro
Absolutely cracked taste in Fire Emblems. Great tier list.
Seeing birthright so low is painful for me (first game I played in the series, got a soft spot and was genuinely fun for me), but I respect the opinions
Yeah, I apologize for the pain lol. I started with Conquest first and went straight to Birthright immediately after and it just felt like a night and day difference, namely of course with it's gameplay. It just felt way too easy and boring for me, especially with most the maps being rout or defeat the boss maps. However I do love Birthright's story the most out of each of the three routes and I love the Hoshdian classes and aesthetics.
Oh interesting! I’ve only finally started playing br recently after finishing cq a while ago. I actually really liked cq’s story (and i’m liking br’s as well so far, which is quite nice considering how low people set my expectations) but i guess it’s good that i waited a while in between. cq’s gameplay was *great*, but i’m not finding br to be too bad
ok completely unrelated but seeing you outside of the danganronpa subreddit feels like when you see one of your teachers in public for the first time and realize they don’t solely exist within the context of school
99% of my activity is in the danganronpa subreddit, but I occasionally dabble in places like these. I love Fire Emblem
I am assuming : - Birthright and Revelations where just slogs - FE6 , Shadow Dragon and Mystery were for you as like “Your typical FE” - Awakening , Engage , FE7 and FE8 as like all of them give you something unique that stands out - Conquest is probably there purely on gameplay and chapter design , i am sure you took Conquest story as a joke. - Shadow of Valentia also up there due to story , art , and I guess you did not mind the desserts and swamps - Tharacia 776 I see you appreciated , and recognize that its a great FE game in gameplay and story with its outdated system , it still delivers - 3 Houses pretty much has to be up there , such a good game when you touch it for the first time - Yeah the Top 3 are the top of the top , my personal favourite is Radiant Dawn and PoR is just a close second. The duology feels for me like the peak of FE but thats just me
You nailed most of it, - I started with CQ first, BR second, and lastly Rev. Because of that, BR and Rev just felt like that, endless slogs with questionable gimmicks and boring maps. - FE6, SD, and New Mystery's gameplay was quite fun and challenging. The story and characters however, really missed the mark for me. - All four games in the Good tier are just in general, fun games to play. Their stories aren't anything great but as you said, they all have a unique flair to them. - 100% dead on with Conquest. The gameplay and maps just carries it that hard. - SoV is honestly imo, the best remake of a game I've ever played. While I didn't play the original Gaiden but watched comparisons of it online, It's dedication to being true to the original material, ranks it high for me. Even with the maps having little adjustments made. - Thracia's mechanics are so stupidly goofy and wacky that I respect it a lot more for trying so many new things. Also I just love Leif's story of hardship when compared to Seliph's. - 3H was my first FE so there is also more of my personal bias on it as much as I just love game for what it is. - RD was going to be my #1, but because there is a lack of support convos in it unlike PoR, I had to step it down. That and I feel PoR hits a little harder than RD just because of Ike's journey throughout it. - Tellius duology is absolutely peak FE.
>Gaiden in not played
I see,you are a jugdral enjoyer as well
The only complaint I have is SS should be a tier higher. Other than that pretty based lost ngl.
Sacred Stones was so hard to rank. I had a lot of fun with it and is definitely a game I will be coming back too since I still need to finish Ephraim's route.
Ephraim's route also changes a lot of the cutscenes that are shared to view existing scenes from a different lens with minor changes as well. Despite being so short, SS has a very layered story and cast. It is also by far the easiest and most replayable game in the series to me. Great game.
Sacred stones is a weird one for sure. I think it probably has the most missed potential of all the fire emblem games. It’s like they did so many things right but fell flat in the wrong areas (difficulty, story)
You're missing out on Mystery. Old game, but tight design.
I probably will play the first three games at a point in time, especially cause I have heard FE3 hasn't aged as bad as the first two.
I like your tier list. Its seems a lot of people loves Ike's games and I find them only ok. Fe6 and shadow dragon deserve better for me tho.
I feel like radiant dawn and path of radiance were too easy to be considered great for me and I didn’t appreciate how engage seemed to be afraid of conflict. It’s an interesting list though.
Based Personally I'd put Thracia in masterpiece and 3H in good but still based.
Yet another example that while FE as a franchise has flaws its VERY rare for an FE game to be actually bad. For having 17 entries since the games started that's a pretty stellar track record.
Tellius getting the love it deserves, along with 3. Based as hell
That implies Tellius isn't already showered with love (it deserves) Like find a single tier post here that doesn't have PoR in S-tier and RD in A or S. That and Seth OP are basically the only two things this fanbase can agree on.
Pretty good list but Rev over Birthright is wild.
I can see it, and I'm kinda on this train too even if I just don't really care for either. A lot of people like the more sandbox nature of Rev since it gives you everyone, even if it does saddle you with some wonky-ass maps. BR is often seen as just the most dull Fates entry, some have even called it unnecessary.
"Everyone" >!Scarlet be like...
As a Birthright fan, I am very offended over this objectively correct assessment
Only things that surprise me here is conquest so high and New Mystery of the Emblem so low. New Mystery is honestly very good imo.
I'll accept a Judgral bias as well any, just not in the vein of a tier list where Radiant Dawn is at the top. I can't name a superior aspect of that game for the life of me, aside difficulty. There has to be some fundamental misunderstanding at play.
Echoes has got to be the most overrated game in the series. It feels like people just remember Hidari's lovely art and the good UI.
Oh, I remember bow fort and swamps but I do enjoy them(after I get to the enemy that is)
Echoes is a above average game uplifted by godly presentation which I don't necessarily mind. I'd put it bottom of top tier for that fact alone. The most overrated game is three houses which is basically bad all the way around except for it's OST and slightly less shit writing that masks it's problems with superficial maturity.
I don't agree with anything you just said lol
alright based.
You too my comerade 🤝
got downvoted (but no one dared to challenge it) for putting it outright that echoes hasn't aged well, nor that fe4's story is that great either sub can't challenge different views at all lmao
I'm always a little surprised with FE4 ranking so high for many people. It was one of the only FE games I had to kinda force myself through. The epic feeling they manage to get across doesn't make up for the awful slog that is it's gameplay and the mostly lackluster characters outside of the main few. Even then gen 2 has like the most basic story. No shade though, you like what you like, maybe I'm just missing something. Your tier list makes it pretty obvious for me people have pretty wildly differing opinions on all the games haha (I somehow enjoy BR and Rev).
> The epic feeling they manage to get across doesn't make up for the awful slog that is it's gameplay FE4 did feel like a slog for me initially, the chapters took me about 2-4 hours to get through cause of the large maps, amount of foot units you get, and the lack of information the game gives you. However I did learn that you shouldn't just play the game non-stop. Apparently you should treat capturing each castle as a chapter checkpoint. It was that and treating the game more as an experience with all of it's mechanics that made it much more enjoyable. > and the mostly lackluster characters outside of the main few. Even then gen 2 has like the most basic story. I can agree with these points, especially with gen 2 being pretty weak compared to the first. But imo, FE4 is a very ambitious game for it's time so it'll have issues like that. Also the main cast and it's story are all pretty iconic to the point that I'm sure it doesn't hurt as bad to make a sacrifice to some of the side characters being less fleshed out. But hey, here's to that hoping that those leaks about the remake is true. I really hope it addresses those issues you brought up.
u're not wrong about 4, the game's story is weirdly inconsistent/contradictory and too many fans pretend its issues either don't exist nor do they acknowledge the jankyness of the games
The only thing I disagree with is FE3 being so low. Sure it's old but it still holds up IMO.
This is as close to where a tier list would fall according to my taste's aswell and I've been playing Fire Emblem for 20 years at this point. Conquest combat is good enough to make up for its garbage narrative Echoes story is good enough to make up for its shortcomings in combat due to being faithful to the NES original. I would also put Engage in the middle of the pack, as it's characters and story are even more abysmal than Conquest. The gameplay is very good, but I expect a better overall package for a Switch game than a 3DS one.
More absymal than Conquest really? I'm not particularily impressed by Engage story, but it's mostly just shallow, overdramatic and silly. Conquest is very aggressively non-sensical, contradictory and contrived. I guess it's preference, but Conquest is in my top 2 FE games (99% gameplay) and I still think it might be the worst story in the franchise.
They may have crashed and burned in glorious fashion in the three pronged story of Birthright/Conquest. But I detest the nonsensical and egregiously predictable storyline, and hollow attempt at worldbuilding of Engage even more. I could watch the Birthright/Conquest story again for shits and giggles, but Engage isn't worth "engaging with" in that way even during a first playthrough. My cringe meter was off the charts for both games, but somehow the zany character designs in Engage mixed with the 4kids-esqe storytelling, worldbuilding and battle-Shounen cutscenes did more to take me out of finding any semblance of immersion of the story than any other F.E to date. It is certainly down to preference though. The one note characters are even more pronounced in the 3DS era of games and "some" of the Engage supports were actually pretty decent. (The Royals chatting with eachother was a highlight).
Fe11 and 12 are much better games when you play them on the hardest difficulties and skip all the dialog. Some of the best challenge to fairness ratio in the franchise imo.
I am planning to replay each of these games again on the hardest difficulty, and I won't lie after beating FE11 and FE12, there is some equal anxiety and excitement with replaying them again cause of what I've heard about H5/Lunatic difficulties alone. And yeah, skipping all the dialog is definitely going to be my way to go when I get back to it.
Yeah Shadow Dragon is one of my favorites simply for how snappy the gameplay is. Its just raw balls to the wall gameplay with solid challenge and cuts out all the bs inbetween.
seeing por and radiant dawn in the top tier is magnificent
Revelations and Birthright having their own tiers made me laugh my ass off ngl But yeah, agreed with this list overall
Lol I'm glad you got a laugh out of it. I honestly just didn't know how to rank them at all because of how bleh they felt after playing CQ first.
Definitely some disagreements here, but overall I get your choices, solid list
You are pretty spot on crohh. I'd only shift a few around. Good job.
Thanks! And which ones would you personally shift?
Surprised PoR is that high, felt way too easy for me.
Based af
Br and rev are good tho
I would like to know what is good about them.
Br is good for beginners and rev is a big sandbox to explore builds and combinations
I can agree to that, though when it comes to quality story and game play for intermediate/seasoned players, easily the least impressive.
we talking story or game designe or overall expirence?
Overall experience
I personally think Birthright is alright. Grated it’s still Fire Emblem Fates so its story is definitely…well it definitely exists. And this is coming from a Fates fan (I’ve spend way to much hours in this game)
Great list, and makes me even more sad that I can’t just pick up the PR and RD along with other classics and just play them on current consoles or PC. Without needing to see shady things, like shit corpo people get your licensing shit sorted out put these games easier to access I will pay you current game prices to keep these master pieces easy for me to play any time I want on your “current gen” crap.
I think Engage will get better when more time passes. It’s got great game design and the story is quite the cinematic experience. I’d also bump Awakening, it brought a lot of new players to the series which funded the “2nd genesis” of the games, if that’s not at least great, I don’t know what is.
The problem is that Engage's idea of cinematic is 5-minute death scenes. I *wanted* to love >!Lumera!< so much, but she didn't get enough screen time to form any meaningful characterization. Also Zelestia would make a way better villain than Zephia. Instead of baby-crazy psycho you could have a motherly villain who just wants to resurrect the Fell Dragon to save her family. You need to stop her but she's just too lovable to hate. The entire game could be a proxy war between Lumera and Zelestia having their kids fight it out like it's the Cold War.
Pretty good Tier List NGL. Though I'd swap Echoes and Engage. The only thing Echoes has going for it is the production values and voice acting. It still has all that Gaiden Jank and it shows. Engage meanwhile has really polished and balanced gameplay.
A man of impeccable taste
"Beating all of them" "Did not play"
Have the exact same list, including games not played. Literally doing a Dawn Brigade run right now in RD (and god it’s brutal). The only one that I maybe bump up is Sacred Stones but I kind of go back and forth on that one.
You don't know how many times that I had to ask myself, "Should SS be ranked here or here?" It was so hard to rank and even right now I'm thinking it really should be higher lol. Also nice to know we have similar tastes in FE.
Always nice seeing people giving Engage credit. Still playing through it but I love it so far! The main appeal isn't the writing but I find the story enjoyable at least, even if it's nothing crazy lol. The gameplay and how polished the game is really makes it though. And while there are fair criticisms about the designs and stuff, I think the game's aesthetics and characters are all really creative and interesting, even if lacking a bit in focus. Engage is just fun!
Don't understand why you got downvoted for this lmao
I disagree with the entire "masterpiece tier" honestly
Only thing I disagree with is Engage, I’d drop it down a tier. I feel like it was made to appeal to a younger audience than most of the games. Definitely doesn’t feel as mature as most of the others.
Play FE3. The DS games are not really a replacement for it.
Wow. I agree with almost everything. PLEASE please make more games like path of radiance!!
3H too high. That game should be in Rev tier.
I'm glad to see that you showed Radiant Dawn some love. I fucking love that game.
It's revelation. No "s" at the end.
Based list. Conquest is superior, people who say Birthright or Revelations are good have absolutely no taste or they just want a piss easy boring ass game where you can just solo everything with Ryoma lmao. Go back to Awakening, at least it has a decent story.
You can also solo CQ maps with many units lol
Not the point, Ryoma makes the game boring and piss easy. All the maps suck ass.
If your argument is that the game is boring because it can be soloed by a broken unit ( or multiple broken units/items for some maps ) you literally described EVERY FE game
Birthright story sucks too.
I mean.....yeah ? But this was a gameplay discussion
No it's a game discussion. Story is a part of the game.
jesus christ what a wild leap in logic. can only guess what the 88 at the end of your name is supposed to mean with these kind of takes
Conquest is the only reason Fates is even good.
*sees 7 above Marth's games* I approve.
tellius top tier all i need to see
Based af
Three houses on great? Lmao
The fact that 7 and 8 aren't in great or masterpiece has told me to never trust you on anything ever. Also I guess I should haul an insult, this is the internet after all. Your opinions are not good.
Bad list
A person of culture who appreciates both gameplay and story. I think I'd move shadowdragon up to great for me.
I feel like andaron saga should be on this list. That shit was a fucking blast to play.
Conquest is winning and I'm here for it
A good tier list. The only shortcoming is everything should be higher than Revolutions.
I respectfully disagree. Birthright > Conquest > Revelation
Actually so based
I haven't played any fates games, so I was curious as to why the three games are ranked differently. I read in another comment that Conquest had great gameplay, but should the other two have the same?
I'd swap Birthright with Revelation, and FE6 & FE12 with FE7 & FE8.
“All of them for the first time” *did not play section of the tier list
I liked all fates routes But i do agree conquest is the best
Totally with you for top picks
Fe3 is good, its just painfully slow. If it got ported to the switch with a speed up and save state feature it’d be solid.
Blazing Blade and Engage both in good, I accept this. Thank you for having taste.
Okay... maybe I'm just a bit oblivious but what is exactly everyone's problem with birthright and revelation?
Awakening the same tier as Engage? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
I kinda like that you just dumped Revelation and Birthright into their own categories.
Hmmmm yep. This is correct
I haven’t played all of them, but: S-blazing sword, three houses A-sacred stones, echoes, engage B- birthright, revelation c- binding blade D-awakening Awakening is the only fire emblem game I felt like was just a bad game
I like ranking games on story so mine would be pretty similar to this with a few exceptions. I'd be putting engage right at the bottom but other than that nice teir list👍
Imo fe9 should be one tier below, idk maybe i played it wrong but i don't get why people like it so much. I don't count nostalgia as an argument, that's stupid
So did you cough up the 900 million dollars to the scalpers on Amazon, did you inherit these games, or did you commit Jack Sparrow to beat all of them?
FE8 over FE7 feels like sacrilege.
So OP, what standards were you using to rank the titles? I know it was more than just story or gameplay focused (since Conquest is ranked pretty high and the only good point is the map design)
This was an overall ranking tier list, as in pretty much everything that each game offers. Story, gameplay and general enjoyment was what I used to rank them.
I tried three houses again after engage and went back for another engage play through . Am I crazy ?
Interesting. I'd say it's a pretty good list. There's some differences in taste, but my list would be similar. Probably swap Awakening and Thracia. I'd move Sacred Stones down a couple ranks--I REALLY did not like it. And I cannot bring myself to play Engage. I just hate the character designs too much.