Lol fuck Nintendo. Glad they don't mess with exclusives from third-party devs. SMT would be utterly destroyed as far as the games exclusive to the DS and 3DS go.

Anybody here playing Shadows of Valentia or is it just me? Could be the fact that it's new but I'm enjoying it a hell of a lot more than Awakening and Fates. Then again it could just be a way better game. Music is great, voice acting is decent. Speaking of voice acting, the supports being fully voiced is the greatest. I don't know if Intelligent Systems will use the success or lack thereof of SoV to gauge how they should move forward with the series but the voice acting and concise supports is really good. Supports are at a good amount so far where you're not being bogged down in them and slowing down story progression just because you're trying to unlock more and more

I've still got Fates to do, I might get it once I've got around to that. X)

Might've passed me by otherwise, but that's sounding pretty good.

Just made it through this. I don't know why but I shed a single tear at the end for some reason. This was grueling. One moment I'm loving it and the next I want to chuck the cartridge. Glad I got to play this though. Intelligent Systems doesn't make em like this anymore. But maybe IS is taking notes. Berkut is such an asshole but he was an amazing addition. Fernand too. Also an asshole. I'm noticing a pattern here. Dungeon exploration was pretty bare bones but it was cool to have. Hopefully these Gaiden / SoV features make it into Fire Emblem Switch but way more polished

I'm making too many threads =-/

Anyway, this one though now because it's what I'm playing, starting with Path of Radiance which I never finished a long time ago although got partway and then onto the others which are lying around, and also whenever Fire Emblem Warriors comes out because I like that one also. 

So yeah I realize now going through the older FEs that I really don't like Ike all that much, I mean he's cool and all but I think they've had a number of better main characters since.

So does anyone want to share what their first FE was and how they got into the series.. I came across Sacred Stones having liked all the other tactical RPGs I played such as Tactics Ogre and so on, and also like a lot of people was playing Super Smash Melee when I was like "Roy? What the.." I think that was a lot of people in the west's introduction to the series. 

I got a 3DS almost entirely on impulse... I don't even really remember what I wanted to play, primarily. I think my sister had one and I wanted to play with her. It seemed like a fun thing we could do together.

And Awakening is on about 5 dozen "Must-Own 3DS Games" lists. I like visual novels, so I got it. Started on Easy/Classic, married Lucina, got more than half of the kid units, didn't allow anyone to die, and generally had a gay-ol'-time. 

Then Fates was coming up within the next year or so, and I was getting excited to play more. I emulated 7 and Sacred Stones, got more than halfway through both of them (this was on my phone) before I had to delete the emulator and all that to make space for school stuff I needed.

I got Birthright on release, and beat it. I wasn't really happy about getting it, because of all the localization news going around, but it was a gift, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I honestly didn't really connect with it. I mean, I played it, but it felt super "eh". I bought Conquest and Revelations and downloaded them to my 3DS because I heard they were better.

I have yet to finish Conquest, Revelations, 7, or Sacred Stones, though I have the latter two on my new laptop, and I do plan to get back to it at some point. They were kinda easy, which was surprising. I know I made it sound like I wasn't that far, earlier, but I'd almost finished 7, and it wasn't bad at all. I only restarted a map like... twice. Everyone talks about how hard the old games were, though, and I just don't see it. Personally, I have a much harder time when pairing becomes involved, because I like to unlock as many as possible, so I put terrible units in dangerous positions to rank up their supports, lol. 

That all being said, I do like Fire Emblem for more than the waifu stuff. I just also happen to enjoy the waifu stuff. As someone who likes to draw and make up stories and all that, I constantly use FE for references when designing characters. They're so consistently good, and have been for decades. It's genuinely amazing how many properly "iconic" character FE has. I even find myself enjoying the strategy aspect. I don't put nearly as much thought into my tactics as the hardcore fans do, but I can play on Hard/Classic and make it through without letting anyone die, so I think I'm getting pretty decent at it.

Echoes is great. I'm almost done with it. On the last fight, as of last night. Just creeping up on 40 hours. I would love to see more classic games remade like this. Especially the Japan-exclusive games. Playing on Hard/Classic.

Oh, and just as a side note, I actually knew about Awakening about 3 years before I realized I did. I had a friend from the old BSN who liked them, and he sent me links to the OST for Awakening before it came to the US (or Europe, in his case). I had "Don't Speak Her Name!" on my iPod for years, lol. I still do, actually. I'm hoping to buy the soundtracks for a lot of these games at some point...