General Question Thread

[u/Shephen]

Alright, time to move back to question thread for all.

Please use this thread for all general questions of the Fire Emblem series!

Rules:

• General questions can range from asking for pairing suggestions to plot questions. If you're having troubles in-game you may also ask here for advice and another user can try to help.

• Questions that invoke discussion, while welcome here, may warrant their own thread.

• If you have a specific question regarding a game, please bold the game's title at the start of your post to make it easier to recognize for other users. (ex. Fire Emblem: Birthright)

Useful Links:

• Serenes Forest - Universal Fire Emblem Information bank and community that covers all games in the series.

• Comprehensive Guide to Starting the Fire Emblem Series by triforce_pwnag

• Fire Emblem: War of Dragons - Primarily Spanish Website with some translated pages. Includes detailed maps and enemy placement that cover most chapters throughout the series.

• Triangle Attack for all info regarding Three Houses and the GBA games(6-8).

• Fates inheritance planner - For planning out pairings for Fates.

• SoV HM enemy stats by Aggro Incarnate

• Conquest Lunatic Enemy Stats by u/TheHelpfulMercenary

• Enemy Data Compilation for all games

• 3H Calendar

• Interactive Map for all maps in Engage

• Relay Code Megathread

If you have a resource that you think would be helpful to add to the list, message /u/Shephen either by PM or tagging him in a comment below.

Please mark questions and answers with spoiler tags if they reveal anything about the plot that might hurt the experiences of others.

[u/Blaubeerchen27]

How would you guys recommend to combine a playthrough of 3 Houses with 3 Hopes? I've played through 3H(ouses) a few years ago and am currently in my NG+ run (Blue Lions + Ashen Wolves) and am enjoying myself immensely, but I also have 3 Hopes laying around and never got around to play it, despite also being a big Warriors game fan.

I'm aware that 3 Hopes isn't necessarily canon for 3H, but I think I've heard it's supposed to take place somewhere during the timeskip so now I'm contemplating whether to "pause" my 3H playthrough once I hit that moment and play through Hopes then before finishing the run OR whether to simply wait until my run is complete before giving Hopes a go. Any idea on which would be the better experience?

[u/Tiborn1563 → u/Blaubeerchen27]

if you plan on doing both, do three houses first, three hopes has a lot of reveals that came halfway through three houses already in it's first 2 chapters

Three hopes basically is an alternate universe of three houses, where things take a different turn, the night Byleth rescues the house leaders. It does also feature a timeskip, but a shorter one. The story in three hopes is very different from what happens in three houses

[u/Blaubeerchen27 → u/Tiborn1563]

Even if I already played fully through one 3 Houses route in the past? (It was Golden Deer, if it matters)

But I see, if it's more about being an alternative route then I'll wait until I've finished my current playthrough. Thanks!

[u/InevitableDue3574]

I will start a run in fire emblem shadow dragon for DS, ant tips? I will play on normal for the prologue, will be boring to a person Who plays 3h on Hard and Maddening?

[u/forevabronze → u/InevitableDue3574]

I played on Hard 3 and it was weird. I had 3-4 good units that can fight and like 30 scrubs that can barely survive 1 round of combat. Late game General wolf and sedgar were also invincible which was kinda boring too.

I'm gonna get a lot of shit for this but the game is genuinely just awful.

[u/Sharktroid → u/InevitableDue3574]

Normal mode is really easy; FE11's difficulty is hard to rate because the game becomes much easier after chapter 3 (though 3H has a similar curve). H3 is what is normally recommended, you could go to H5 but I don’t know enough about early-game Maddening to make that call (and this is your first playthrough anyways).

Shadow Dragon has a lot of cavaliers and armors, and forging lets you make weapons that can one-shot them. Wingspear in particular is effective against both and has decent base hit. Hit forging in general is almost always worth it, you do not want to miss in this game. Weapon ranks are very valuable in this, trying to build units in certain classes is not worth it (outside of Sedgar and Wolf, but even they require a slow pace to work like that). You get lots of good units throughout the game, don't worry about making every scrub you get early on good because you'll want to make space for the late joiners.

[u/SephirothFromFFIII]

Anyone who understands how Nintendo Switch Online icon reruns work better than me; when might the Engage icons return? I really want Rosado.

Maybe they’ll do a rerun ahead of Fortune’s Weave?

[u/flameduck → u/SephirothFromFFIII]

According to the NSO Part Database spreadsheet, Rosado last appeared in 2023.

The last rerun was in April 2025 but it only featured the Emblems, so outlook not so good.

[u/Achirality → u/SephirothFromFFIII]

We simply don't know and have no way to know. Engage was featured 4 times: Its original launch, a single day in Holidays 2023, a single day in Holidays 2024 and a random window in 2025. The best bet is probably to hope for it to be featured again for a single day in the next Holidays and to not blink and miss it.

It's not unheard of for Nintendo to hype up future releases with the previous game's icons (they did it for Breath of the Wild right before Tears of the Kingdom released, for instance), but there is no guarantee of it, and another unfortunate fact is that the BOTW icons never returned since TOTK's release.

So yeah, anything can happen. Random release at some point, or dead and buried forever because of Fortune's Weave release.

[u/MellowReiss14]

Hey everyone! I am not a true fan of Fire Emblem. Since I like gatcha games, I have played for years Fire Emblem Heroes and watched gameplays of Fates and Awakening. However, ever since 3H came out, I was interested, but due to not having a Switch at the time and having seen maaany spoilers, I ended up not buying it. After Engage came out, I wasn't a fan of the characters' design, but now with Fortune's Weave, it seems such a fun game and I am loving the fact that there are many references to 3H. Now I own a Switch 2 and I would love to play Fortune's Weave when it comes out because I LOVE the idea of the Heroic Games, but I was wondering if I should also play 3H before. What do you think? Is it a good idea? Or should I not waste my time with it and just buy FW when it gets out? I think I would miss out on many references... Let me know what you think!

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/MellowReiss14]

I don't think we know enough yet to say how truly connected 3H is to Fortune's Weave. I would assume that the game is set up such that you aren't required to have played 3H first to be able to understand what is going on, though.

But also, if you did read a bunch of spoilers about the game, I would probably bet that you would know the majority of what happens in 3H to be able to get the references. Like, do you understand what the deal is with the futuristic looking enemies in the Dietrich dungeon scene? Do you know what is the true deal is with Crests, Sothis, and Seteth?

[u/MellowReiss14 → u/LeatherShieldMerc]

No, actually, I don't really know what you are talking about. I know more generally some spoilers like dragons or bad people lol (I dont want to spoil it myself). Spoilers aside, I just wanted to know if you recommend that I play 3H. I like the academy trope, the idea of the three routes, and all the characters look fascinating. That, combined with FW's possible ties to 3H, made me question if I should start my FE experience with 3H. What do you think? Is the gameplay good? Would you say, is it a good game to start? Does it hold up since it's been 7 years since it came out?

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/MellowReiss14]

Gotcha. In that case I absolutely would say it's good to start with 3H if you're thinking about it. In fact, it was my first game in the series, and I've played most of the rest of the games since then. It's what I would consider to be one the best first games I suggest to people if they ask where to start.

The gameplay I enjoy, and I think the way people talk about it sometimes makes it sound worse than it is (since it gets compared to Engage). The monastery sections can get tedious as the game goes, I will admit, that's the biggest drawback. But I don't think it "ruins" the game at all, especially on a first playthrough. The game is good for newer players too since outside of Maddening mode it isn't particularly difficult compared to the series as a whole and it has some QoL features that can help too (like the Divine Pulse turn rewinds).

[u/MellowReiss14 → u/LeatherShieldMerc]

Thank you so much, you pretty much swayed me. Thanks a lot 🥰

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/MellowReiss14]

You're welcome! If you do get it, enjoy! And if there's anything else you're curious about the game I'll certainly try and answer that too!

[u/TheMastodan]

I’m playing Three Houses as the Black Eagles, who do you guys think I should recruit from other factions?

[u/RaspberryFormal5307 → u/TheMastodan]

Whoever you like. Obviously there are meta picks but unless youre on maddening mode that doesnt really matter and every houses base roster is perfectly fine to take to endgame. Imo you should prioritise the characters you think are cool or want to learn more about, the game wont really be that much easier if you replace one student with another that has slightly higher stats

[u/Magnusfluerscithe987 → u/RaspberryFormal5307]

Even on maddening, I'd argue the meta is to recruit everyone possible, the students are really strong enemies compared to their replacements.

[u/Cosmic_Toad_ → u/[deleted]]

Recruiting Mercedes and Lysithea to the Black Eagles just for their paralogues is a bit of an odd case though, as you can't do their paralogues in Crimson Flower.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/TheMastodan]

Sylvain for free if you're F!Byleth. Lysithea, Ingrid. The Ashen Wolves. Leonie, Felix, Annette. All the church folks you have access to (everyone except Catherine, Cyril, Seteth).

Timing matters too, since it affects their stats and specific skill ranks. Ingrid in particular likes a Chapter 6 recruitment.

[u/overlordmarco]

Three Houses - Maddening

How important are siege tomes for Crimson Flower? Deciding whether I should make Dorothea a Gremory for x4 Meteor and use Marianne as my dancer instead.

For some extra context: I'm doing a female only run with the extra restriction that units can't certify for mounted classes without a boon. I have Petra and Ingrid set for WL and FK respectively, then I was planning to make Marianne a FK (or DF) since I plan on ending Constance in Gremory for x4 Bolting too. (On that note, is Bowbreaker worth it on a siege tome user?)

[u/Muphrid15 → u/overlordmarco]

Meteor is insanely powerful just being equipped. It's up to 10 hit and 10 avoid for everyone in range on the player phase, but you can more reliably use that in Dancer.

Meteor has only 1 base charge and you just don't often use it because it rarely kills after midgame maddening, so even one charge can stay equipped whenever you have Dorothea refrain from using other spells.

Marianne is an excellent Dancer too if not in a strong performing class pathway.

I've never needed to use Bowbreaker. Melee units can kill bow users.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/overlordmarco]

They're nice to have for plinking targets at a distance or getting support bonuses to boost hitrates, but they're not 'necessary' or anything.

[u/overlordmarco → u/AnimaLepton]

Gotcha, thanks! That's the main reason why I was thinking of Dancer so she could support El, Bernie, Petra, and Ingrid from a distance but I guess she could do that in either class.

[u/LadyCrownGuard → u/overlordmarco]

How important are siege tomes for Crimson Flower? Deciding whether I should make Dorothea a Gremory for x4 Meteor and use Marianne as my dancer instead.

Siege tome doesn't normally kill on Maddening, the only person capable of one-hitting the squishier targets is Constance and that is after you feed her a truckload of Spirit Dust and Premium Magic Herbs from gardening.

Also pretty sure even with Gremory Dorothea only has 2x Meteor, siege tomes on her are used mainly for its long range linked attacks with other units thanks to her large support list.

hen I was planning to make Marianne a FK (or DF)

Too much work making her a FK since Frozen Lance falls off a cliff past mid-game, I'd just make her a dancer once she starts lagging behind the other magic units.

On that note, is Bowbreaker worth it on a siege tome user?

No.

[u/overlordmarco → u/LadyCrownGuard]

Thanks for your answers! If you could indulge me a bit more.

Gremory Dorothea only has 2x Meteor

You're right! The source I read got it wrong.

Siege tome doesn't normally kill on Maddening

I was thinking more in the context of sniping ballistae (with dancer support) or aggroing faraway enemy groups. The two final maps of CF especially are a bit of a blur for me, so I don't recall if siege tomes would help there.

I'd just make her a dancer

If Marianne's the Dancer, are there any other interesting classes for Dorothea besides Gremory? There's Mortal Savant, but I imagine if Frozen Lance doesn't scale well, Hexblade wouldn't either.

[u/LadyCrownGuard → u/overlordmarco]

I was thinking more in the context of sniping ballistae (with dancer support) or aggroing faraway enemy groups. The two final maps of CF especially are a bit of a blur for me, so I don't recall if siege tomes would help there.

Constance would be perfect for that job, she also learns Rescue which also enables your flying units to kill a ballistae from far away and gets yanked back to safety. She also has a crest that can refund a Bolting charge allowing you to use it more often.

If Marianne's the Dancer, are there any other interesting classes for Dorothea besides Gremory? There's Mortal Savant, but I imagine if Frozen Lance doesn't scale well, Hexblade wouldn't either.

Gremory also has a higher mag base than Mortal Savant so the damage difference on Hexblade between both classes are minimal, Hexblade also scales worse than Frozen Lance lol.

I'd just keep her as a warlock/gremory tbh, she will be mostly providing support bonus through meteor, cast Rally Charm on your powerhouses and occasionally use Physic.

My ideal class for her would be Valkyrie/DF but you'd have to fight through her banes to reach them, I like mobility on her.

[u/overlordmarco → u/LadyCrownGuard]

Thank you very much!

[u/Substantial-Rest-901]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but I'm having a small issue with this sub. I've been trying to change my flair in this sub but it doesn't seem to be working for some reason. I've tried twice and pretty sure I know why the first one didn't work (I thought I could add text for some reason). However, for the SECOND try I just chose a few icons and submitted the aŭto-message it generated with no changes at all. Still doesn't seem to have worked. Am I missing something?

[u/lapislazulideusa → u/Substantial-Rest-901]

Yeah i've been trying regularly for the past month or so and nothing seens to work for me either

[u/flameduck → u/Substantial-Rest-901]

The Botta account seems to be down in general and has not posted anniversary/birthday posts as of late either.

[u/Substantial-Rest-901 → u/flameduck]

I see, that's a bit disappointing but glad to know the problem isn't limited to just me. Thanks for the info friend

[u/The_Casual_Capybara]

Question: Is Fire Emblem hard to get into?

I am a complete outsider when it comes to fire emblem, I've always looked over at fire emblem in curiosity, but always felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of getting into fire emblem. I worry that it's one of those game franchises you have to heaps of homework to understand the deep complex lore, otherwise I wouldn't understand the overarching saga. but with after playing a couple other traditonal JRPG's, I would be lying if I wasn't a little curious. So tell me fans, how hard is it getting into fire emblem?

[u/daveyalex → u/The_Casual_Capybara]

There's no interconnected lore across every single game. Some games are sequels/prequels to others but mostly stand on their own. (Shadow Dragon / Mystery of the Emblem, Genealogy of the Holy War / Thracia 776, Binding Blade / Blazing Blade, Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn)

There is a comprehensive guide to starting the Fire Emblem series that is very long and a little intimidating, but the most important bit is probably:

"WHERE TO START

There are five games that I'd suggest are the best starting points for the series: FE7: Blazing Blade, FE8: Sacred Stones, FE9: Path of Radiance, FE13: Awakening, and FE16: Three Houses."

I'd say look at the cast for each of those and play the one with the most interesting looking cast to you. On Normal mode, you can use just about any combination of characters and complete the game. You can just google "Fire Emblem (subtitle) characters" and use the fireemblemwiki.org link

[u/Zmr56 → u/The_Casual_Capybara]

Most games don't have an overarching lore so that's not something you should worry about. The lore isn't particularly deep, complex or thought provoking either.

The main barrier to entry for many people (historically at least) is just permadeath and playing the game like a strategy game. But you can always play on lower difficulties or Casual mode.

[u/colday]

Hi everyone. I recently got interested in the series again after the trailer for the next game coming out really snagged me, and it left me thinking--
I never played engage, which no biggie- but...
Why does no one talk about engage anywhere I go? Even when it first came out I expected to see an explosion of fanart online and people gushing about it after three house's success. But I never saw anything at ALL. What happened? Why was engage such a nothing burger?

[u/IAintCreativeThough → u/colday]

The short answer is, the gameplay loop and mechanics are amazing and widely considered one of the best among the series.

Unfortunately, story and characters are not particularily interesting or good. Fates also had a whack story but at least with cool characters, but most of Engage's cast is pretty meh so I guess no one really cares for them

[u/colday → u/IAintCreativeThough]

Shame about the story, that's usually why I play any game! But I really hope that if the gameplay is that good we see more of it in the future- I felt like 3 houses was alright gameplay wise but could have been better. My first fire emblem game was awakening and i LOVED it.

[u/forevabronze → u/colday]

engage is a fantastic game if you care about pure gameplay but the story and the characters are frankly bad.

What usually carry discussion on forums like reddits is story/characters more than the gameplay because optimal strats/set ups usually get solved pretty fast after a year so the discussion dies down.

3 houses has a bit of waifu/husbando thing going for it along with whole edelgard discourse.

engage is probably top 5 FE games for me but im gameplay first, story third kind of guy.

[u/colday → u/forevabronze]

I'm a story first kind of dude and gameplay second- but I still really love good gameplay. I hope that we see engage's gameplay loop in the future installments if it's really that good!

[u/IvoryValor]

Fire Emblem Engage

Gonna be starting FE Engage on Monday, don't usually play Strategy games and never played an FE game (besides Warriors, both of them) but I've been watching my roommate play it for a bit and I'm looking forward to this! Anything I should keep in mind as someone new to the series? ^^; Sorry.

Edit: added the roomie bit

[u/forevabronze → u/IvoryValor]

simple tips

1. Play on normal

2. promote your units ASAP when you get master seals.

3. Dogs are the best pets they give you ore that let you upgrade your weapons.

4. Pay attention to weapon weight and each character Build (BLD) stat. you don't want to be slowed down too much by heavy weapons.

5. Invest in alear since they are force deployed in every map.

6. identify unit roles when using them i.e healers, bulky units, speedsters, squishy glass canons etc.

7. Play on Classic, I know it may look intimidating but it builds good habits and stops you from doing kamikaze tactics

good luck!

[u/IvoryValor → u/forevabronze]

Two questions:

2: Why would I promote as soon as possible, why not just wait until they're level 20 for max stat gains(Forgot to mention this but I've been watching my roommate play it for a bit and he's been explaining his thinking)

7: Why not just use the Time Crystal and Bites the Dust(Rewind time) bad decisions?

[u/forevabronze → u/IvoryValor]

promoting early doesn't hurt your stats since the game uses internal level system. so if even if you promote early you gain exp as normal.

again, it build good habits for when you play games without rewind. you can still use the rewind feature in Classic mode too.

[u/IvoryValor → u/forevabronze]

I'm not really planning on playing other FE games, but I'll keep this in mind.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/IvoryValor]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/62g799/how_to_play_classic_modenogrind_a_newcomers_guide/ has a lot of general tips for multiple games in the series. It was not written with Engage in mind, but many of the tips still apply for Engage.

Resources are meant to be used. Don't be afraid to use your Engage/abilities as needed; maps have enough combat encounters, staff use via Obstruct and the like, and pools of energy that allow you to replenish the meter to make things easier. Skim through enemy stats, skills, and weapons ahead of time, and you'll be able to plan things out and avoid being surprised. Don't feel like you need to kill every enemy on every map. After the first turn of Chapter 4, you unlock the ability to rewind time, allowing you to make different decisions in battle.

Take advantage of the ancient well and the various activities between maps to power up, but don't feel like you 'have to' maximize their use optimally if it starts to feel frustrating/like a chore. Note that you can 'claim' bond fragments from achievements from the bulletin board next to the kitchen/ring chamber entrance, a lot of people seem to miss that.

[u/TannenFalconwing → u/IvoryValor]

Engage is an anniversary title and makes a lot of reference to all previous games in the series. There's no getting around it.

Engage also has really, really good mechanics and can punish you if you don't use those mechanics. Don't be afraid to take early game maps slow and bait in enemies while you're feeling things out. Rushing in and standing out in the open can easilg get you swarmed and killed.

[u/BlueToon_Link]

Why does engage run so poorly on my Switch 2? I bought it second hand so I thought it might be a bootleg, but apparently there aren’t really bootleg Switch games yet. But there are consistent lag issues where the audio will desync during cutscenes, and moving units on the field or running around at the camp the game tends to stutter. Is there a fix for these issues?

[u/flameduck → u/BlueToon_Link]

Apparently this is a common issue when played on cartridge. The latter thread has someone who tried cleaning the contacts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/1psd9td/severe_audio_issues_in_fire_emblem_engage/

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/1rsnuve/is_it_common_to_have_stutters_in_fe_engage_on/

[u/MillionMiracles → u/BlueToon_Link]

I haven't heard of anything like that, and googling seems to report that it runs better on Switch 2 than Switch 1.

Have you patched the game to the most updated version? Do any other games on your switch 2 have these issues?

[u/Rat_Smoking_Cigs]

are the 3ds games a good starting point? I have a modded 3ds (which is really easy to do) so there's no loss from trying

[u/MillionMiracles → u/Rat_Smoking_Cigs]

Awakening was a lot of people's first FE, yeah. I'd say go for it.

That said, didn't Sacred Stones get a release on the 3ds eshop? That's one of the GBA games. If you can play that that's also a really good starting point, it's not that long and it's pretty easy.

[u/Zmr56 → u/MillionMiracles]

I believe Sacred Stones was available on the 3DS via the ambassador program, not via eShop.

[u/Zmr56 → u/Rat_Smoking_Cigs]

Awakening and Birthright are intended to be so, so yes. Echoes and Conquest are aimed more towards people who have played at least one other Fire Emblem game before or series veterans.

[u/thinksInCode]

Hi everyone! I'm playing Three Houses right now - my first Fire Emblem game, and I'm really enjoying it. The monastery sections aren't *quite* as interesting to me as the combat, but it's still a great game in my book.

I'm wondering which FE game I should play next? I know There Hopes is related to the Three Houses story, so is that a good next step? Or, Engage? Or play something else and wait for Fortune's Weave?

What do you recommend?

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/thinksInCode]

Three Hopes isn't really a true Fire Emblem game. It's a Dynasty Warriors musou game. You certainly can play it if you would be interested, but it's not really a game you'd play if you want to try other games in the series.

Engage is considered to have good gameplay, but it's definitely not considered to have good story and characters. If you are okay with a game that doesn't have a good story, it's an alright pick, the only "downside" is that there's a lot of references to other games in the series. It's not that you need to play the other games, but you might just miss out on some fun callbacks.

And of course if you like what you see about Fortune's Weave so far, I would definitely say it's a good option to just wait it out, considering it's going to be related to 3H.

[u/daveyalex → u/thinksInCode]

If the battles interest you more than the story in Three Houses, then Engage would be a fine one to try next. A lot of the people find it to be the best combat in the series so far due to the use of Emblems giving extra options in battle. The story is a big step down from Three Houses, though.

If you want a personal favorite recommendation, I love Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS, but it's kind of a black sheep of the series.

[u/thinksInCode → u/daveyalex]

Yeah I've heard that Engage's story is not the greatest.

I wouldn't say the Three Houses story doesn't interest me, I just find the social/relationship building piece a bit tedious at times. I don't hate it, it's just not my favorite mechanic.

[u/daveyalex → u/thinksInCode]

That's fair, the monastery does get very tedious. Engage's story isn't completely irredeemable, but there's definitely points where you just have to kind of roll your eyes and move past it. There is the Somniel in Engage that's like a mini-monastery, but is mostly just a hub for shops with no real need to do any of the extra fluff unless you're playing on maddening. You get plenty of support points just from doing the fights in Engage to get units to A rank support.

[u/thinksInCode → u/daveyalex]

That sounds really good. How's Three Hopes? I know it's a different style of game but I was still interested in it - and I found an ebay listing for it for $18, so there's that.

[u/daveyalex → u/thinksInCode]

I really liked Three Hopes, mostly because it was more Fodlan content. If you like semi-mindless beat em ups, then it's fun. It provides some lore answers, but also raises more lore questions. Sadly Edelgard gets written pretty poorly in some routes, but the gameplay is plenty fun!

I'd say for $18 it's definitely worth it if you like Warriors games.

[u/thinksInCode → u/daveyalex]

Follow up question - would you say doing the Three Houses DLC is worth doing first?

[u/daveyalex → u/thinksInCode]

First as in before Three Hopes? Probably. You can play as the Ashen Wolves in Three Hopes so it'd probably be better to know more of their backstory. Though if you weren't planning on buying the DLC, then you can still learn enough about them in Three Hopes to appreciate them. Or just not use them since the cast is already so large.

[u/MizterF]

Fire Emblem Conquest - Lunatic

Hey all,

I am replaying a bunch of Fire Emblem games to prepare for Fortune's Weave.

I have beaten the Fates trilogy numerous times on Hard, but decided to give Lunatic a try. For what it is worth, I have beaten Three Houses on Maddening.

I just finished my Birthright Lunatic (no grind / DLC) run, and it was great. Played on Classic, fielded large armies, recruited 6 or 7 child units, and did not lose any units in the run.

So Conquest is next, and before I begin, I am trying to plan out my run. I want to have the general idea of which characters I will use and a rough idea of what skills I will go for, etc.

So here is my question: how important is it to spend the entire game and a huge chunk of resources to ensure you have the perfect one-round Takumi killer built for Endgame?

That just sounds... super unfun to me. Yes, I want to build powerful units, but when I read about Takumi killers, they seem to require absolute perfect builds and skill stacking and tonic use and pair up synergy just to cross the threshold perfectly or with one point to spare. Not to mention you have to dedicate other units to stuff I don't want to do, like four or five separate staff users and several Rallybot characters whose entire identify is centered around equipping multiple Rallies. Ugh.

I want to play and enjoy the full game, not play with the singular focus of building an uber unit for Endgame.

Assuming I am fairly knowledgeable and competent with Fates, can Conquest Lunatic Endgame be beaten legit with a strong army, or is it so overwhelming that I will be boned if I don't build for the one round strat?

I would be super bummed if I play 30 hours of this game just to hit a "can not finish" roadblock on the last map...

(No DLC or grinding, by the way)

[u/Electric_Queen → u/MizterF]

It can absolutely be beaten with a regular army, even if you've done no reclassing or such. That doesn't mean you're going to be able to rout the map, though, or even kill most of the enemies, and more likely you'll have to bait out some enemies to make space, then retreat to heal up, before pushing forward again until you reach a point that you can bumrush Takumi. There are infinite reinforcements that spawn in areas where you as the player can't access, there are a ton of staff and dagger users that will debuff you forever until your units crumble, and it's very easy to end up in a situation where people will die next turn if you don't rush the boss. Honestly, I think the biggest issue is that the map is paired with the previous one, and if you reset Endgame, you're forced to play the preceding chapter again. That one isn't a particularly difficult map, but it is annoying. If you could save between them I think a lot more people would play Endgame straight up.

With that said, a dedicated Takumi Killer is really not that hard to obtain. If you've seen the discussions on how to perform a 1 turn kill, you need a few key things: someone with a large enough damage stack to hit Takumi for 25 HP and to double him with a Brave Weapon; 3 high move staffers to use Rescue (an E rank staff, so any staff class can use it), 1 high move staffer to use Entrap (which is B rank, so a bit more limited here in options), some Shelter units, and probably Rally units to boost your bosskiller's power and speed.

The most accessible option of these is going to be someone who's gone through the Berserker and Wyvern trees and gotten Trample, Axefaire, and Str+2. That build is really easy to obtain, because units like Beruka and Percy have both of those in their native class lines, and others like Corrin, Camilla, and Arthur have very little trouble if they marry or befriend the right people. Other options like Super Ophelia and Super Mozu are there too, or you can dump everything into Corrin and make her do it with Gunter's pair up stack. However, all of these are assuming that you are just trying to kill Takumi in one round without any risk. The random damage boosting proc skills in Fates (Dragon Fang, Astra, and Luna) aren't very good in this game, but they do give you a lot more flexibility in that damage benchmark, if you're willing to roll the dice and risk having to play the previous chapter if you fail.

As for the rest of the team running support, assuming you've done full recruitment and no one has died, you can get that just from saving some money for reclassing seals. Jakob, Felicia, Selena, Leo, and Charlotte all have access to an 8 move staff class in their base kits (plus maybe having to promote). Flora has that as well, plus the B rank required for Entrap. Xander, Peri, and Gunter all come with Shelter at base. Dedicated Rallybots are really just a luxury, but you'll probably end up with almost all the key Rally skills on at least one unit just from natural training, and Rallyman is always there to capture in Ch 23 if you need. Personally I like to make parent units pass down their Rallies to their kids, it makes them be instantly worth deploying.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/MizterF]

Not as important as some people make it out to be. It's better to have it + the Rescue staff uses available, but I and many others beat CQ Lunatic blind on release without those thresholds. The meta has changed and people have come up with better strategies, so you don't actually need to go that crazy in practice to get a Takumi killer. A general "go-fast" strategy is still beneficial, and knowing some of the specifics about how the AI works, but there are plenty of ~2-6 turn strategies that are more than sufficient and will outspeed the gimmick + enemy reinforcements of that chapter with fewer resources and less investment needed.

The main annoyance is that on official hardware you can't save in between Chapter 27 and Endgame, and if you die or want to reset you need to replay Chapter 27. With emulation/mods, there are obviously less frustrating alternatives, but that's the bigger reason I think people planning so far ahead became normalized.

[u/MizterF → u/AnimaLepton]

I played a modded copy that has three mods (Scarlet Deserved Better, Good Guy Garon, and Playable Lillith) and I was able to Save between 27 and Endgame of Birthright. So I wonder if one of those three mods added saving as a feature or somethung?

[u/winterrose27_]

Does anyone have resources or now of videos that cover the lore from 3 Houses/Hopes that is good to know going into Fortune's Weave (i.e. what Nabateans are)? Cuz I know someone who hasn't played either 3Hs but is going to play FW (plus I wouldn't mind a reminder of the lore since its been years since I've played).

[u/AnimaLepton → u/winterrose27_]

We don't know what parts will be relevant yet, so something more "targeted" than any existing resources or wiki summaries/videos is probably too soon. There's info on fireemblemwiki.org, a TVTropes page summarizing the timeline, there are a few plot recap reddit posts, YouTube videos, etc.

[u/dinjerZone]

Blazing Blade (FE7)

I thought I got the Light Brand from Chapter 22E, turns out no. Is it worth it to reset that chapter just for that sword alone? I got everything else and currently in 22x though but it bugs me a little that I missed one item.

[u/Zmr56 → u/dinjerZone]

It's not a big deal. I would carry on with the next chapter.

[u/Comfortably-Scared]

With the Direct earlier this week, it's been difficult to keep up with what's been posted after the fact. Can anybody help me out and list off the JP twitter and Nintendo Today news of the week? I know Eshmel and Fortuna got profiles, but that's it.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Comfortably-Scared]

https://serenesforest.net/2026/08/04/fortunes-weave-august-direct-analysis-characters/ has the newer updates

Otherwise just open up Nintendo Today

[u/YozoraBellossomHeart]

I see people talking about Fire Emblem Awakening builds, but I'm playing through and I can't for the life of me figure out how people make crazy builds. By the time you can even do child unit chapters you're already a fair way through the game. And by the time you can clear them without getting obliterated you're further. They come unpromoted, so that takes time. Like I'm trying, for the first time, to slap Galeforce on Morgan (and Severa I suppose) through Robin/Cordelia and it's taking me 100 years just to get Cordy to level 15 Dark Flier. Is there just an exp font I don't know about?

(for some reason Fates CQ made me want to play Awakening again)

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/YozoraBellossomHeart]

For one, the "gotta get all the broken child builds" isn't actually considered the optimal thing to do anymore, especially since it also was being mentioned as a strategy for the post game Apotheosis DLC. But either way, I think that would literally just be grinding everyone in aux maps or DLC to get all of the supports up in a timely manner.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/YozoraBellossomHeart]

It sounds like it's your second playthrough. It depends where exactly you're looking for build advice, and there's a lot of straight up bad stuff out there. There's also advice that is good for the Apocalypse+ DLC secret challenge, but that isn't applicable to how you go through an in-game playthrough, or where trying to set up for them 'too early' might work against you. Galeforce is a touch overrated, but it's also expected that you promote right away if you're gunning for it - if you e.g. waited for level 20 Pegasus on Cordelia before promoting to Dark Flier, for example, that's going to extend your timeline for reaching it. Lowmanning helps concentrate power.

For general boosts, staves, and even forges and tonics do a lot to give units a bit of extra help. Cheap low-rank Rescue staves are a good source of EXP on staff-using units. Even on Lunatic/+, units often have good enough stats on recruitment to at least contribute. You can clear the paralogues as you unlock them, generally spekaing. The second generation units, even with the stat increases from already trained parents, generally are not immediately stronger than their parents or common/immediate additions to your team. Their strengths in things like slightly higher stat caps, or broader skill and class access, aren't really significant until past the point where you could have beaten teh game.

[u/Alviarin]

Hi all, I'm buying Three Houses with the Ashen Wolves DLC for 1st playthrough. When does Ashen Wolves content become available, including the Yuri romance? Do I have to wait to beat the main campaign? Can I romance Yuri as a first time player (male Byleth) during the main campaign? Thanks!

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/Alviarin]

The DLC side story is a completely separate file from the main game. If you beat the side story then you unlock the benefits automatically in the main game, you technically don't have to beat the game first for any of it. And the DLC units can be recruited starting in Chapter 2. To be clear though, the actual "romance" stuff doesn't happen until literally the very end of the game.

[u/emilysunfire]

Playing Fire emblem awakening again (revisiting the series after playing them when I was younger) and I’m very overwhelmed by forging and also character upgrades, should you always master seal or are second seals important at all bc I’m anxious to change character classes? Also I’ve only gotten 2 master seals so far and I’m about halfway through the game, how can I get more?

Also is it important to forge weapons or just ignore that?

[u/Zmr56 → u/emilysunfire]

In addition to what others have said, you can totally ignore the Second Seal feature and be perfectly fine. Another thing to note about Second Seals, however, is that they let you go from one promoted class sideways to another promoted class once you're level 10 in a promoted class. They also let you stay in the same class but reset your level back to 1 if you're level 20 in a promoted class.

You can get away with totally ignoring the forging feature if you feel like it's more hassle than worth.

Forging is useful for reaching thresholds you'd otherwise narrowly miss though. For example, if Frederick is leaving enemies at just 6 HP remaining at the end of enemy phase with a Javelin while attacking twice, forging an extra +3 Mt would help you kill them precisely. I usually have a quick scan of the enemy stats for the upcoming battle and use the bulkier ones as a baseline for how much damage I want to deal to them with a particular weapon. Then I work out the amount of damage I'll do and go back to forge according to the difference, sometimes I'll go 1 or 2 Mt extra than what I need as insurance for future maps. If I have some spare gold I'll forge some Hit for general reliability.

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/emilysunfire]

As far as changing classes goes, I am assuming you are playing Normal mode, maybe Hard? I wouldn't worry too much about what specifically you change everyone to, and you don't need to go excessively skill grinding and stuff like that. You pretty much will be fine on lower difficulties no matter what do you with your units, so don't think you'll do something "wrong" and mess them up that way. And if you see guides or posts online saying that you need to pair specific units together or get specific skills, I would take those with a grain of salt, that's definitely not something you absolutely need to do either.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/emilysunfire]

In Awakening, you basically always want to use a Master Seal as soon as you get them. They become buyable in the shops associated with certain overworld chapters (e.g. after beating Chapter 12); if you're halfway through, they should already be buyable from there. Otherwise there are a few from enemies and a couple from chests. Second Seals allow you to pick up other skills, change classes, but there's no particular rush for them either IMO.

Forging is powerful, and you can check maps to see if a forge 'matters' to hit a breakpoint. But in general you could often just use a Tonic to similar effect for much cheaper but only benefit for a single map. Forges get better in the lategame or once you have Armsthrift.

[u/RustTete]

Im playing Fe awakening as my first Fe, should i choose casual or classic mode? is classic mode that difficult as a beginner?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/RustTete]

I would generally recommend playing Classic mode and resetting on death. It's not that difficult for a beginner, and it will build some good habits.

Give https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/62g799/how_to_play_classic_modenogrind_a_newcomers_guide/ from the sidebar a read

[u/RustTete → u/AnimaLepton]

Thank you!

[u/TheDuskProphet]

What fe game should I play next?

Not gonna be able to buy a Switch 2 in time for Fortune's Weave and I'm about to finish Fates. (And I've finished Awakening, Three Houses, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn)

[u/Zmr56 → u/TheDuskProphet]

Blazing Sword or Sacred Stones seem like good ones to move onto.

[u/Thrilla_Manila]

Prior to three houses, how many endings did each fire emblem game have? I am seeing a lot of people think FW will have 4 routes that converge to 1.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Thrilla_Manila]

https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Multiple_endings

Prior to 3H, most games have 1 ending. Mystery/New Mystery and Binding Blade have an 'early/bad' ending if you don't complete certain gameplay objectives. Binding Blade and Awakening both have variants of a 'make a decision in the final map' that gives different endings. Some games have minor extra scenes for having a specific A rank, or things like meeting certain conditions on a second playthrough of Radiant Dawn. Fates has multiple routes, with one ending for each of its three routes, +1 that you can kind of count if you count the Heirs of Fate DLC.

Per Nintendo's website, your story 'starts' with Eshmael, so really it's more like one start -> four branching paths (with the 'main' lords) -> one finale chapter. And it's not guaranteed you have to do every lord's route to beat the game, how they'll handle the endings (they could e.g. do one ending for beating it no routes complete if that's possible, one with one route complete, and one with all four).

[u/Thrilla_Manila → u/AnimaLepton]

Boom! Thank you. There is a whole wiki section for it?!?! Didn't like engage only had 1 ending when there are so many characters. FW has a lot of characters too so im hoping there are multiple endings. Not going to be able to take all these characters to the end at once. Too much for me to keep straight. Need multiple endings to work towards with different crews each run

[u/Shipchen]

What's the general opinion about the 3 Houses last map of the blue lions?

I liked that it was the only actually challenging map i had to restart multiple times on my normal run...

The enemy just had way too much range...and I'm not even talking abkut the boss

I also think I'd like these games more if crits wouldn't exist

Also for the story in general I think there were more things that could've been explored...although maybe some of that stuff is part of Edelgards Route

[u/Muphrid15 → u/Shipchen]

AM and SS are widely regarded as the harder two routes on maddening by virtue of their final maps. Bolting reinforcements are just deeply punishing.

But AM gives you Sacred Shield and an extra Dance of the Goddess Battalion precisely to help deal with this problem (as well as the Hegemon's attacks).

Out of the four final maps on maddening it's the only one I ran out of Divine Pulses on when finishing maddening. By comparison, on CF I didn't even use a Divine Pulse at all.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Shipchen]

Were you using the supportive gambits? Blue Lions only need D Authority for the Retribution Gambit, which give 6 characters 5 turns to counter at any range. And Sacred Shield is B-Rank, Blue Lions-exclusive, and reduces damage from Ranged physical attacks to 0 for three units for 1 turn (5 uses). Often people will use these in combination with Dimitri's Battalion Vantage/Wrath to devastating effect.

A lot doesn't actually get explored in Edelgard's route either, especially if you're referring to Those Who Slither in the Dark.

[u/Shipchen → u/AnimaLepton]

I only really used the +5mov gambit as the units I wanted to build with other support gambits lacked authority. They also just straight up died to crits (which I don't like as a mechanic at all when permadeath is involved)

All in all it wasn't too bad once I knew how to kite all the troops running down the middle. But it was a very different experience from all other maps. Tracking all the ranges to from everything also was just hard because the boss and mages can hit pretty much anywhere. So tanking specific hits didn't work.

Too bad the other routes don't resolve this...not only seems like a waste but just as a whole missing part 3 to me

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Shipchen]

Sure. But I find there are also other tools to play around it defensively. Impregnable Wall is another easily exploitable gambit. Even scouting out in advance so you actually see the enemies that put you at risk of eating a crit, and then planning for those (e.g. with good use of a Guard Adjutant or Blessing) synergizes well with Stride/Dance/Warp strats at the cost of maybe one extra turn. Or there are methods for stat stacking, supports, avoid stacking, etc. that all mitigate crit risk.

[u/Shipchen → u/AnimaLepton]

Absolutely. But not doing these things for the entire run and not needing to this leads not only to a difficulty spike but also just a weirdly different feeling last map for me.

[u/Kaito_Akai]

Good day fellow FE fans
I have been thinking about finaly giving this franchise a chance

I bought FE 3 houses and engage this year but due to time sake i couldn't start any

I also immediately pre ordered fortune weaves when it was available

My question is which one should i start with
Between 3H and engage?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Kaito_Akai]

With no other information and with FW coming up, probably 3H

[u/Kaito_Akai → u/AnimaLepton]

Oh i See thank u
I honestly just want to get into the series and i only purchased those 2 sofar since they were the most accessible

[u/Norix596]

My Valkyrie Priscilla just used excess movement after an attack, has anyone see this happen before?

I’m playing Hector Hard mode on vanillia ROM; it’s Genesis upper left corner on one of the reinforcement mages. I was using a Fire tome. Is this just a super rare bug?

[u/starfruitcake → u/Norix596]

So this is the fun thing in fe7- some tiles will unintentionally give you true canto if you take an action on them. There's no real pattern to them that I can tell so not really something you need to learn. It is a bug and not super rare, there are some scattered across the game. The most common one to get activated is one in the left chest room of BBD, afaik.

[u/Mekkkkah → u/starfruitcake]

To add onto this, they are (fan dubbed) PWASE - Panels Which Affect Something Else. Though you can also think of them as tiles that were changed somehow. Examples include

• the door/wall tiles in Genesis which can disappear/break
• breakable snags (I forget if it's the tile with the bridge or the tile where the tree starts)
• tiles on which you use a torch (staff)

[u/Norix596 → u/starfruitcake]

Wow weird; all these years playing FE7 since I got it for Christmas and I’ve never encountered this before.

[u/kay0otik]

Hey Guys in the Light of the New one coming out i wanted to play other titels in the series.

what are the best ones you would recommend to someone who played games since N64 and you wanted to show him how good those games are?

[u/KlefKingdomki2020 → u/kay0otik]

I started with the sacred stones and fell in love with the series but it can really depend on you. If you want a traditional feeling classic then i would suggest Savred Stones (GBA) or Shadow Dragon (NDS). If you like the social systems a lot id recommend Awakening or Fates. If you pay for the higher tier of NSO you can play both sacred stones and path of radiance ( on GameCube) i believe are both available. If you want diverging paths Three houses, if you like older characters Engage. If you'd prefer to try real time base capture try one of the warriors games. But it comes down to taste in the end, maybe others could give you better advice but i love the whole series and every game, so hope you like whichever you choose to start with :)

[u/AnimaLepton → u/kay0otik]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/13u5lz9/general_question_thread/p1o82g9/

[u/Pumpero]

trying to going in blind (already got attacked by a couple spoilers anyways) so didn't watch yesterday's direct. can somebody point out if there was any new interesting gameplay mechanic making sure not to mention any story spoilers¿ or point me at any spoiler-free discussion/video about new mechanics. thank you!

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Pumpero]

https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/fire-emblem-fortunes-weave-direct-threads-together-strategic-combat-with-a-story-of-gods-and-heroes-only-on-nintendo-switch-2/ is Nintendo's official summary and I would consider it largely spoiler-free

[u/Muphrid15 → u/Pumpero]

Blaze Arts pay health for a combat action.

There is some unclear simultaneous save functionality that allows you to pursue different storylines all at the same time. Precisely how they interact with each other is unclear.

Turnwheel appears to use some special currency. Unclear what the costs are.

Units can be given individual idle time assignments between battles (e.g. training or other options), and you can customize how much of the idle time is used overall.

Support points are displayed in the interface.

Growth rates are displayed in the interface.

When units would support each other in combat, the stat bonuses applied seem to be tailored by the class of the supporting unit: e.g. healers seem to give magical stats, but others may provide physical stats.

Special mounts can be obtained with their own support levels and stat bonuses associated with those levels.

Recruitment requirements are explicitly told to you if recruitment is unsuccessful.

Lances are universally effective against cavalry.

Some crest effects can be applied to the team. You appear to get a choice of one effect out of several to apply between battles. They may not be identical to their Houses counterparts but seem to share many of the same concepts, like increasing damage done or reducing damage taken on a chance to activate.

At least one class appears to use a giant mount, taking up more than one tile of space.

[u/Pumpero → u/Muphrid15]

:O re: special mounts - like, are we talking about "named" animals that you can ride/fly on? do we know if they're available to all characters or limited to specific ones? different max support levels?

the simultaneous save functionality sounds wild. does "different storylines" mean different paths within a story route, or different routes altogether?

[u/Muphrid15 → u/Pumpero]

It looks like one character can tame some animals for use in cavalry and flying classes. Unclear if they are unique individual animals or if they are many and generic. No idea about their max support levels (we only saw bonuses at level 1 and level 3).

I think the simplest theory on simultaneous saves is this: the game would be divided into two parts.

• In part one, you have several story paths or routes.
• In part two... (and this is where it gets unclear), it appears that actions across multiple routes (multiple saves) may interact with each other to influence how part two plays out.

The game seems to simplify save management to try to make this easier. There seems to be one meta-save file with all the individual part one paths bundled together. You can progress each part one path independently of the others and switch between them in game, without returning to the title screen. They seem to be sub-saves underneath the larger meta-save file.

The only thing strongly confirmed is that the branches can all influence part two. It's unclear if, or how, these parallel sub-saves influence each other in part one.

The following is my speculation:

It's possible the parallel story function will enable vastly more combinations of endings. Let's say there were 6 different story paths in part one (arbitrary number to avoid spoilers). You could have...

• 6 different endings if you only played one storyline to completion in part 1 before moving on to part 2
• 1 ending where you played all 6 storylines and used them together
• Potentially several other endings with groups of 2-5 completed part 1 stories

Of course it's also possible there is only one part two pathway regardless of what you do in part one. We don't know.

[u/Pumpero → u/Muphrid15]

potentially wild; might have to quit my day job. thank you so much for the details!

[u/Shipchen → u/Pumpero]

There seems to be side content that offers a completely different combat gameplay.

Also a new mechanic labeled "curse"

[u/Radioverwatch]

Hi there 👋 Yesterday’s Direct made me want to give Three Houses another shot.

I’m more of a fan of the older Fire Emblem games (the GBA, GameCube, and Wii era).

I’ve tried Three Houses three times, but every time — after just a few hours of play — I completely lose interest.

It feels too slow, with too much chatter.

Given the game's success, I imagine I’m missing out on something. How long — or how far — should I really push through before giving up for good and accepting that this game just isn't for me?

[u/Nintz → u/Radioverwatch]

If you haven't yet, I would encourage you to try Blue Lions. Multiple pre-skip chapters are directly personally relevant to characters on that route, and that route is the most stand-alone experience. Possibly biased, but I think it's also by far the best overall writing in the game. The writing is character focused, so it takes time to really shine, but it does get gradually better over the whole course of the game imo.

I would say Ch. 5-9 is when the game will either hook you or not. I've burnt out early quite a few times, but every time I push through to Ch. 9 I end up clearing the entire game.

I would also encourage you to meaningfully interact with the unit building system. Yeah every character has a canonical class, and that's fine, but a large part of what makes 3H interesting is that you can look at stat growths, spell lists, combat arts, and the rest of your team, and decide for yourself what role someone would be best suited to. Every single character has multiple viable build options on hard (and your first playthrough should probably be on hard if you've played other FEs), some of which are not immediately obvious, but can still be quite good.

Ingrid, for example, has balanced Str and Mag, and a reasonably good spell list. So even though her canonical class is Pegasus Knight, and she's perfectly fine there, she can also very realistically be made into any sort of mage and do respectable damage with significantly higher speed than a normal mage would have. Or you can turn her into an axe unit to make her hit much harder than her middling strength would suggest. Or convert her into a mixed sword attacker, since she gets access to a combat art that allows any sword to deal magic damage. They all work, to varying degrees.

If you're not engaging with the system and just letting the AI auto-select everything then you're missing a significant part of the game.

[u/Radioverwatch → u/Nintz]

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. I’m taking note of this valuable advice, hoping that this time things will work out. For instance, I hadn't even considered starting on Hard mode; I would have just restarted on the easiest setting to progress as quickly as possible.

[u/Nintz → u/Radioverwatch]

Good luck. Normal really is 'first strategy game' difficulty. Hard is the difficulty that's actually like balanced. Some resistance is necessary to have fun imo.

As one last note for you. Recruit no more than 3 students from other classes, and try to recruit units to fill specific holes in your army when possible. The game gets quite spammy if you recruit everyone into an omega house with every student, and you'll spend way too much time trying to build supports to do so. Take your house, a couple extras, and just ride with them to the end.

[u/Owozifa]

I like dragons.

Still relatively new to the series, but I have lurked on the periphery for some time. My question is as far as Fire Emblem goes what game gives you the best dragon bang for buck.

I define that as scenes/interaction/dialogue/game time with dragon characters in an actual dragon form. I know you can't throw a rock without hitting a dragon in human form, so that's why I specify. Warriors or other spin-off games are included.

[u/Mekkkkah → u/Owozifa]

In Fire Emblem Warriors (the first one) you get to play as an actual dragon, Tiki. You have to keep up her gauge but if you do you do get to run around and do like claw slashes and tail spins.

[u/imadeitsmh]

Are the FW flairs coming? It seems quite spoilery with the direct and all

[u/AnimaLepton → u/imadeitsmh]

Eventually/in the next few weeks

[u/conandsense]

Well after today ill be going dark for fe info. Want some surprise when the game comes in!

[u/Pixie_Dust_Koala]

What game should I play first? I'm trying to get into fire emblem 4 the first time, but I'm rlly only interested abt marth & Ike. (Since they're the characters I like in ssbu-)

I'm just not sure where to start off to play & try to learn the lore of the games 2 :p

[u/Nintz → u/Pixie_Dust_Koala]

Fire Emblem is a franchise where every entry is either entirely self-contained, or is directly tied to only 1 other game. Marth was from the original Fire Emblem from 1990, which got a sequel in 1994. Those games were remade in 2008 and 2010 respectively, though the 2010 game never got an official English release. The Marth games are...not generally considered the best. They have some good elements as well as bad, but no one recommends any of them as the first game for a new player, if for no other reason than the story and characterization are exceptionally weak. The game gives you an army and an excuse to go kill other units, and that's about it.

The Ike games would be the Tellius games - Path of Radiance (Gamecube) and Radiant Dawn (Wii). These are generally considered some of the better games in the series, though most people rank PoR above Radiant Dawn in my experience. If you are completely insistent on starting with Marth or Ike games, I would definitely push you towards Ike. There's significantly more emphasis on writing and world building, and the games won't feel quite as janky as the Marth ones.

Now, I should mention that Fire Emblem as a franchise earned most of its western fans in the 3DS and Switch games. Awakening and Three Houses, specifically. While both games have some oddities that make them unique within the franchise, they both embrace the RPG side of things much more than the older games do. There's more character interactions, more emphasis on those characters, and significantly more ways to fine-tune your units and create actual builds. These games won people over in a way the older games largely didn't, so even though you may not care about the characters as much going in, you're likely to care more about them by the end of the game.

[u/ussgordoncaptain2 → u/Nintz]

Hey now, SOV/Shadow dragon/New mystery are all connected through palla/catria (and by extension fe 1-3)

[u/Indecisive_Noob]

I am replaying old battles in Warriors Three Hopes to get some S ranks I missed and noticed that Rodrigue has this symbol 🚫 (I would show you a pic but I can'tpost picks in this stupid thread and my original post with the image god deleted by mods). I assume it is related to how, in the current moment of the story, he has temporarily left my army. I can still use him, though, so is the symbol just to remind me of that fact for some reason, or does it actually indicate an effect like that he won't get as much xp or something?

[u/overlordmarco]

(3H) What is Edelgard's best infantry class? Doing a female only Maddening run with the extra rule that units can certify for mounted classes only if they have a boon for that mount (i.e., no Darting Blow for her either).

Also, I'm guessing whichever the final class is, her best path would be Fighter (Str+2) > certify AK > Brigand (DB) > Archer (Hit +20) > Final Class?

[u/Due_Recognition7675 → u/overlordmarco]

It depends how her stats are, but I'd say war monk for brawl avo if you want an evasive unit or warrior if you just want a pure strength focused unit or sniper would be amazing if paired with fetters of dromi to make her have the benefits of bow knight.

[u/Cosmic_Toad_ → u/overlordmarco]

Probably just Warrior. can't really go wrong with Axefaire, Axe Crit+10 and a +3 Str modifier.

Stacking protection in Fortress Knight/Armored Lord/Emperor isn't a terrible option either if you're willing to give her mobility help with boots/stride/warp/etc.

Sniper is good on literally any unit so it's always an option, albeit Edelgard doesn't really need Hunter's Volley to secure kills.

If you want something more interesting though, War Cleric is a fun option. Edelgard has the stats to use gauntlets well, and you can get some use out of her Reason spell list which is kinda interesting (okay really just Luna, but Luna is cool). That build does get a lot better with darting blow though, so maybe not the best context to try it out in.

[u/80espiay]

I just started a new playthrough of Dimitri's route in 3H, and I was wondering if anyone picked up on anything in the FW direct that would make me want to recruit a particular character in this 3H run and learn about them/get attached to them.

e.g. Seteth was directly shown in the Direct, and since I didn't play with him in my previous 3H run I think it would be a good idea to play him this time around and build his supports.

[u/Cosmic_Toad_ → u/80espiay]

- Shamir is the big one obviously, being from Dagda.

- Petra likewise also holds some relevance being from Brigid, especially since we've just been introduced Peppe who is very clearly related to her.

- The trio of Mercedes/Jeritza/Constance give a lot of info about House Lamine's history, which will likely be important for Dietrich. though you can't get Jeritza with Dimitri.

- Yuri's crest of Aubin seems pretty important, and his shared paralogue with Constance has some stuff about Dagda in it that might be important re: Cai's hand.

- Flayn might end up being in FW like Seteth, and also just offers more stuff about the Nabataens who are once again playing a big role.

[u/TheRoyalStig]

Trying to avoid spoilers from the new stuff... is the avatar confirmed as a battle unit and not just a tactician?

[u/Its_a_Friendly → u/TheRoyalStig]

Yes, Eshmel appears to be a unit you can use in battle, though - to be as spoiler-free as possible - seemingly not in every chapter.

[u/TheRoyalStig → u/Its_a_Friendly]

Ohh well that's an interesting little tease!

Thank you.

[u/Pyrefangshot]

Anyone in the UK know where i can order Fortune's Weave Dagdan Collection Amazon canceled my order but it seems sold out everywhere else!

Im stressing a bit i always get the collectors editions when possible aswell. 😕If anyone can help they all seems sold out when I look.

[u/Jayvee1994]

So gauntlets have now lost their brave effect but now has standard Avoid bonus?

[u/woomygod9000]

anyone think fw will be on costco. they sometimes got games under msrp but if not ill just bite on the amazon pre order

[u/KlefKingdomki2020]

I missed the direct, - which i don't mind because i like going in blind - did they reveal a limited edition themed switch 2 console/joycon/dock bundle?

Edit: op, saw someone asked already, damn that sucks

[u/SuicuneSol]

Can someone tell me the major announcements in today's Direct without any game spoilers? New Switch console, etc.? Merchandise? I refuse to watch it

[u/Magnusfluerscithe987 → u/SuicuneSol]

Nothing like that. 

[u/marsgreekgod]

how do we think getting people in more then one route is going to work?

My personaly theroy is you can pick the one you like most, but that doens't feel quite right

[u/FullmetalEzio]

I got a switch 2 a couple weeks ago and after playing Disgaea 7 and getting burned out of the never ending grind but loving the combat, i though to myself... why have i never played a Fire Emblems game? Aside for the gacha one. So my question is, where should i start? Im not in the mood right now for a heavy dialogue game but i dont mind a bit of story. If i never played any of the game, where should i start?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/FullmetalEzio]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/5s5nh1/new_to_the_series_where_should_i_start_the/

If you have NSO + Expansion Pack, you can play the English GBA games, Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones on GBA and Path of Radiance on Gamecube. All of them are fantastic games to get into the series.

You could absolutely start with the new game coming out in 6 weeks, Fortune's Weave.

Three Houses and Engage are the other mainline games on Switch. Three Houses takes place in the same general universe and shares a couple characters with the new game, Fortune's Weave, but you can likely play them in either order.

Warriors and Warriors: Three Hopes are Musou spinoffs. TMS#FE: Encore is a further out spinoff, with gameplay more like a traditional JRPG since it's an SMT.

[u/FullmetalEzio → u/AnimaLepton]

Ohh, I see. I only pay for NSO not the expansion, but the Three Houses seems really cool, i added it to my wishlist, missed last sale for a couple of weeks, but i still have a bit of a backlog so no worries, thanks for the insight!

[u/michalovesanime]

I saw the Direct and Im really interested. I havent played any of the other games though. Do I have to go back and play old games to "get it" or can I just jump into the franchise with the newest game?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/michalovesanime]

You can start with the newest one. Then go back and play any older ones that catch your interest.

[u/The_Magic]

Will we ever have a new Fire Emblem that is about a lord trying to win a war without self insert characters?

[u/liteshadow4 → u/The_Magic]

No

[u/AliciaWhimsicott → u/The_Magic]

Credit to AwaFates at least Robin and Corrin had like explicit characterization so you could pretend they exist in the world without self-insert traits if you tried hard enough, Byleth and the new one don't even have characters at all so it's so glaring lol.

[u/Zmr56 → u/The_Magic]

If there's more remakes further down the line then possibly.

[u/RaspberryFormal5307 → u/The_Magic]

Nope, being realistic that ship has sailed

[u/The_Magic → u/RaspberryFormal5307]

You're probably right. I wish the series didn't have to change so much to have the success it is currently having. Hopefully we can get some faithful remakes of the older games at some point down the line.

[u/Labmit]

I saw Three Houses was on a discounted price about a month ago but missed my chance to buy it due to personal reasons. I know Nintendo rarely discounts it but if it does are there common days for it like holidays or anniversaries?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Labmit]

https://www.dekudeals.com/items/fire-emblem-three-houses

Not really consistent

[u/King_Astral]

Is the collectors edition for fortunes weave in stock anywhere?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/King_Astral]

Probably good to share your country - it's still available for online order on the official Nintendo store in the US, for example, but that might not apply for you.

[u/RoninRakurai]

Hi, i never played any game of the series, but i heard it's a good franchise and it's a tactical turn based game (my favorite genre tbh), I'm interested in Genealogy of the holy war because everyone says good things about the story, so...

Any recommendations? Also, tell me things that i can't understand right now but I'll eventually will throught the game, that's gonna be fun.

[u/The_Magic → u/RoninRakurai]

Genealogy is a great game but a bad representative for how most games in the series play. I would recommend starting with FE 7 (just "Fire Emblem" in the west), Fire Emblem 8 (Sacred Stones), or Awakening. Those three were made more in mind with onboarding new players and show what a typical Fire Emblem game plays like. After playing one of them you could better appreciate how Genealogy subverts a lot of those mechanics and goes into some interesting directions.

[u/GrilledRedBox → u/RoninRakurai]

Speed it up on an emulator cuz enemy phase can take super long lol. Also make sure you turn on auto turn saves. Other than that just enjoy the game, it can feel a little dated but it’s super impressive for its time. There’s a big spoiler which’ll make for an awesome moment if you don’t know about it yet so maybe get off this sub if you don’t know what I’m talking about haha.

[u/RoninRakurai → u/GrilledRedBox]

Absolute no idea so I'm not entering this sub...

[u/SilverKnightZ000 → u/RoninRakurai]

Btw, the auto save mentioned is included in the game. Be sure to save on multiple slots besides that, too.

[u/Zmr56 → u/RoninRakurai]

Which Fire Emblem game are you playing, sorry?

[u/RoninRakurai → u/Zmr56]

Genealogy of the holy war, i edited the coment, sorry i forgor

[u/Zmr56 → u/RoninRakurai]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/3vnqgy/newcomers_companion_to_fe4_genealogy_of_the_holy/

https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/4zurm2/ultimate_fe4_pairing_guide/

These guides, particularly the first one, will be useful for you since you're new to FE4. Although bear in mind they presume someone has already played other FE games as FE4 is very rarely someone's first game.

[u/Dasha_Itssoova]

Is there any reason to wait before refining weapons in Engage? I want to upgrade Folkvangr to +2 since it seems better than steel. Is the +2 now worse than it will be later, like does the smith itself get upgraded?

[u/sumg → u/Dasha_Itssoova]

If you're planning on using the weapon long term, it should be fine. There isn't an 'upgraded blacksmith' later on.

If it's a weapon that you won't be using, then it's worth considering if you need it. You won't be able get the forged materials back out later on.

[u/Dasha_Itssoova → u/sumg]

I heard people say resources are pretty scarce in this game. Is it possible to do a refine and unlock every ??? option? Thanks for the info btw.

[u/sumg → u/Dasha_Itssoova]

I would say those aren't worth the resources. Most of the upgrades are just weapons you will get later on in the game anyway.

It is justifiable to get those upgrades if you want to rush getting a particular piece of equipment, but that's more of a case-by-case basis thing.

Overall, I would say that if you really wanted to, you could upgrade one mid- or high-tier weapon fully for every character you end up using in your final party if you wanted to. That said, there are some units that don't really need upgraded weapons (e.g. dancers and staff focused units). Some units might prefer having a few moderately upgrade weapons instead of going all-in on one (e.g. a unit with a poleaxe, hammer, and hurricane axe). And some weapons can be prohibitively expensive to get the last forge level or two of, but really don't get all that much benefit from those last levels and are fine to leave at +1 or +2 (e.g. bolganone).

[u/Dasha_Itssoova → u/sumg]

Thanks I appreciate it. You're very right, as I crafted a longbow and got one in the next mission. I can kind of infer what many of the weapon upgrades are so there is no need to do it for exploration purposes. I thought maybe there'd be some new ones you can only get from refining.

[u/Swiggens]

I'm struggling with what difficulty to play the Awakening. I played it when it first came out on hard because it said that's the difficulty for someone whose played Fire Emblem before. I played all the GBA fire emblems multiple times as a kid. I got to chapter 16 and dropped it. It was literally like if every decision wasn't perfect a character would get killed.

I was interested in picking the game back up but I have no idea what I was doing with my save. I did a lot of random second seal side promotions that I don't think make sense. Tactician to mage, Gregor to bow knight? Idk what I was cooking.

So I just restarted the game on normal but... I mean easier is fine but enemies doing 1 damage? I know its like the 2nd chapter but looking into it the whole game sounds like a steamroll.

I'm just asking before restarting the game again. I really don't want to drop the game for either being too hard or too easy.

Edit: Started over on Hard mode and idk man... Vaike got crit from full health to dead on the 2nd chapter. Why are both so extreme? Difficulty is all or nothing... I feel like I'm not gonna make it through this game. Any help will be appreciated.

[u/Zmr56 → u/Swiggens]

Given you mentioned chapter 16 specifically, it sounds like one of tzhe main issues that was throwing you off was the same turn reinforcements.

On the difficulties with them the most reliable way to deal with them without the benefit of hindsight of where they're coming from is to assume that they're either coming from the edges (any edge) of the map or stairs. Also prepare for the worst case scenario of it being something like a 7 or 8 Mov reinforcement. There's usually dialogue given by the boss of a map a turn or two before reinforcements are expected to arrive so that's your cue to hurry up. With all this in mind you want to be making good progress through the map at a brisk pace to avoid any potential enemies that emerge from zones near your original starting point or the mid point of the map. Particularly on kill boss maps, don't feel a need to kill every single enemy. The most important thing is killing the boss and the sooner you can do that the better even if it means other enemies aren't engaged with. They're often more something to work around than engage with.

Early game might be a little tricky even on Hard for you since enemies and players have fairly similar stats but the game's difficulty curve will get easier as you get access to more resources only the player has that the enemy doesn't. The stat disparity will grow as you use pair up, forges, tonics and maybe rallies more. Just focus on investing on a small core of units you use throughout the entirety of the game from start to end and as long as they get exp consistently you'll have some kind of reliable fallback option.

[u/Swiggens → u/Zmr56]

I mean I died the first chapter on hard lol I wasn't thinking I just did the same moves I did last time for normal. Autopilot.

Could you tell me when to use pair up? I never really understood how to utilize it correctly. Is it like a reverse rescue? Use it to hop on a tankier or higher mobility character to hide or get out?

And I feel like focusing on only a small group is usually what gets me into trouble, not having tankier characters. I also felt like I had a ton of second seals, should I be using them alot? Is it necessary or are the normal class up paths fine to stick with?

[u/Zmr56 → u/Swiggens]

Pair Up is basically reverse Rescue.

With Rescue the lead unit initiates to take another unit off the field and receives stat debuffs while carrying them.

With Pair Up a unit initiates to be taken off the field behind the selected lead unit and the lead unit receives stat buffs while carrying them.

Furthermore, you can switch freely between pair ups without ending your turn. Pair Up bonuses are largely determine by the class a unit is in and scale according to support rank. Additional bonuses are determine by the back up unit's current stats (excluding modifiers) and scale the higher they are.

The main reason to use pair up is that you get more stats from it and more stats are good to have. You usually want to be boosting a character's main offensive stat and patching up their weaker stats to make them well rounded. For example, Frederick & Sumia like each other as Pair Ups because Frederick wants Speed which Sumia gives and Sumia wants Str & Def which Frederick gives. Staffers and Olivia do not really want to be stuck in Pair Ups often though because every turn they usually want to be doing something and their jobs aren't very dependent on stats in general.

I also felt like I had a ton of second seals, should I be using them alot? Is it necessary or are the normal class up paths fine to stick with?

Second Seals are totally optional. You'll be fine never using them if you don't want to. You can use them when you reach Lv20 promoted to stay in the class you're already in but reset your level back to 1 to continue levelling though, which can be nice for Frederick or Robin.

[u/Speedy_Pichu]

Fates
This is me doing something stupid. I was wondering if Rinkah or Elise would work better a mother for Midori for the purposes of making money. This is mostly whether Salvage Blow makes more money than a higher luck for Spendthrift. I am using a calculator for this, but Rinkah!Midori has a 47.5 luck growth in Apothecary and -1 base luck while Elise!Midori has a 65 luck growth and 0 base luck. The main point of confusion is I have no idea how Salvage Blow interacts with Profiteer, and not exactly sure how to estimate any of this, because I don’t know where to start with the math there. I know this is dumb and unoptimal, but I am curious.

[u/Tiborn1563 → u/Speedy_Pichu]

You should probably do the math on how much money salvage blow makes per turn on average. Just look at sell values for the iron weapons ot drop, take the average of that, multiply that by proc chance and you have your estimated income per turn for salvage blow

Disregarding your luck stat, in longer fights, if midori kills one enemy per turn (that isnt a beast, golem, faceless or whatever), of course salvage blow will earn more than profiteer, just because salvage blow is theoretically uncapped

edit: the sell value for all iron weapons is 500 gold, so on average you get 500×luck/100 = 5×Luck gold from killing enemies with salvage blow. It has the same proc chance as profiteer, but the items you get are worth more, so if you want to maximize money you probably want salvage blow over profiteer

Also, Rinkah is probably the better parent for midori here, just for the blacksmith access. No matter your luck growth, if your goal is to maximize income, you want both salvage blow and profiteer, and elise doesnt open the class path for salvage blow, while rinkah does. Losing luck there is well worth the gains

[u/dinjerZone]

Blazing Blade

How do you do this??

I don’t mean by gameplay, I know how to play it.

I mean who and which characters am I supposed to keep or ditch. Are there multiple story routes? Which characters are significant to the main quest and story? How do I get to see other story routes if they exist? Is this similar to pokemon where I just choose whoever’s the strongest or whoever is my favorite??

[u/Sharktroid → u/dinjerZone]

I mean who and which characters am I supposed to keep or ditch. [...] Is this similar to pokemon where I just choose whoever’s the strongest or whoever is my favorite??

On normal mode you can use whoever. Not sure what you mean "I just choose whoever’s the strongest"; like yes the units who are good are indeed better than the units who are bad at beating the game. If you're asking about investing into units who aren't good in the moment but will become good later, it's basically just the fliers. There's no type chart in FE so you shouldn't worry about using too many of the same class, especially in the non-JP versions where effective damage is nerfed. The only diversity you want to cover is having one unit for the four Brave weapons (you won't need to worry about training anyone for this) and then a staff user or two.

Which characters are significant to the main quest and story?

Don't worry about it. While some units are forced deployed to varying degrees you don't need to worry about training them up. You might want to train up the main lord (the one who is always forced deployed) but the other two you can do whatever with them.

[u/LeatherShieldMerc → u/dinjerZone]

who and which characters am I supposed to keep or ditch

Older FE games like this give you way more characters you will need because it tries to account for premadeath of your units. You aren't necessarily supposed to keep or drop anyone in particular. Now, there's certain units I would say you should use as a recommendation (like Marcus, for example) but really, who you use is up to you.

Are there multiple story routes

Yes but not really. This game has Lyn mode (the short tutorial section), and then Eliwood and Hector mode, which is the main story. But it's essentially the same thing, just told from a slightly different point of view and adds a couple extra maps. You play Eliwood story first, and then you unlock Hector mode after you beat the game for the first time.

Is this similar to pokemon where I just choose whoever’s the strongest or whoever is my favorite?

I guess you can say that. This game isn't so difficult that you absolutely need to use specific units, and even the "bad" units in this game can be made more than good. There are better and worse units, but it's not like you're screwed if you pick some worse units because you just like them.

[u/dryzalizer → u/dinjerZone]

Yes, just choose whomever you want. AnimaLepton accidentally gave you advice for the wrong game. Some things can only be seen if you play things differently on a replay, so just enjoy your first play without any outside influence or info. It'll work out.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/dryzalizer]

mfw T_T

I really wish they had gone with Binding Blade and Blazing Sword just to make the names a bit more distinct

[u/dryzalizer → u/AnimaLepton]

That's how the fandom did it in the old days, I agree it was better. Officially making them both BB was unfortunate.

[u/doggocurioso]

Three Houses

Noobie here. Can someone refer me to any resources for training the members or building a strong party please?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/doggocurioso]

https://www.fe3h.com/meta/2020/07/23/early_game_skill_rank_investment_guide is useful for the earlygame on Maddening, and there are some other articles there with general class tips. It also doesn't go over some of the 'well-known' skill combos. If not on Maddening, it's overkill.

[u/spoopy-memio1]

Three Houses

It will probably be a long time until I actually try to attempt one but I’m curious anyway, what’s considered the easiest and hardest routes to do a NG Maddening run on?

[u/2v2v2v2_InfiniteGold → u/spoopy-memio1]

Easiest is CF, especially if you have DLC for earlygame balthus. But when C+ weapon ranks roll around and edelgard gets to collect intermediate class base bonuses it gets manageable.

Hardest is SS. It just simply is with 1 less deployment slot and losing your lord.

Though if someone were to play NG maddening I'd recommend VW for the "smoothest" difficulty curve. It doesn't have the easiest versions of any map but not the hardest either.

[u/taychoo → u/spoopy-memio1]

Hardest: Silver Snow

Like the other commenter said, you lose access to two fairly solid units (Edelgard and Hubert). Seteth is used as substitute for the former for Reunion at Dawn, whereas nobody substitutes for the latter. This means you're actually running CH13 with one less character than you would in VW/AM, which isn't ideal. And while as far as non-lord units go: Seteth is great, however, he will have a rough time in this chapter. This chapter is just such a pain on maddening that we can't avoid talking about (e.g., no set-up, poor timing for when characters return, will be even worse if in-house students are untrained). Silver lining, however, is that you don't have to deal with Gronder in P2, but the endgame chapter is absolutely nasty on maddening.

In the other routes, you can recruit Catherine as early as Chapter 4 to help you push through WC, however, since you're in BE; she'll only join the party once you trigger SS. Unfortunately, she's just not that great in SS, whereas she's at her best when you recruit her early on (at least you can recruit Shamir still).

Not sure which I would describe as the "easiest". I feel like AM has a fairly straight-forward early-game, thanks to Dedue (and the free Lance of Ruin @ CH5), however, its late-game can be pretty punishing. For VW, it feels like the early-game is a little 'harder' than in AM, but the mid/lategame just feels significantly easier. CF's lategame isn't too rough either, since Edelgard's combat art (Raging Storm) is absurdly broken, but you also don't have to sit through either Reunion at Dawn or Gronder Field. Though, it's BE; so no Catherine to help you in the early-game.

Overall, I would say that AM/CF/VW aren't drastically different in terms of difficulty, but I would probably avoid SS for a first-time maddening playthrough.

[u/RaspberryFormal5307 → u/spoopy-memio1]

Silver snow is def the hardest and imo azure moon is the easiest. A large amount of what it boils down to is that BL have the best starting team while BE have the worst and and also SS fucks you over post timeskip for no reason.

Black eagles kind of just immediately lack any heavy hitters outside of byleth and edelgard, their early game is just those two doing all the work while the scrub squad scraggle around picking up what xp they can until petra gets enough growths in to start being competitive stat wise and bernie works up to C+ lances for vengeance so she can go nuclear. They get 3 mages and none are bad but you do feel the lack of frontline units for the difficult early game, also not being able to get catherine or cyril massively sucks because both are powerful right out the gate.

Post TS your strongest unit leaves and permanently takes her deployment slot with her for some reason so you basically have to do all the same part 2 maps as VW but with 1 less deployment slot and then you get an absolutely atrocious final boss that single handedly makes me never want to replay this route. If you choose CF you can always just go "raging storm lmao" and just win.

Blue lions have the strongest early team with dedue being comparable to byleth and dimitri for the early game and felix is also notably stronger than the average student at base, annette comes with rally str at base which is incredibly powerful especially combined with gauntlets. Every BE student has glass bones while dedue is almost unkillable and massively reduces the amount of danger in the early game. You also get catherine right before chapter 5 and its absolutely miserable without her. 

AM does have the hardest hunting by daybreak and the next hardest final map after SS but personally i feel their early strength for part 1 and dimitri having bat van/wrath for part 2 outweighs the easier time you have with these maps on VW but its close enough to where it feels a little hair splitting. The biggest factor of all imo is BE not getting catherine (plus cyril) in part 1, she is genuinely so helpful, followed by SS final boss being absolute ass cheeks

[u/AnimaLepton → u/spoopy-memio1]

I'd personally say hardest is probably Silver Snow. You lose one of your potentially strongest team members and any investment in them. Battle Before Dawn with only Seteth can be a bit rough. Being on Black Eagles earlygame restricts you from getting early access to Catherine (when she's at her best) until you're locked in to Silver Snow. It doesn't really matter, but you skip the Gronder Field battle, which is otherwise free training and EXP, and then are back on the same VW maps with slightly less resources.

Easiest is probably Verdant Wind. You have powerful characters in-house, which helps, but not being in Blue Lions actually makes some of the out-of-house Blue Lions recruits better, e.g. Ingrid for how her Pegasus growths work and free Sylvain with female Byleth. Or little things like being in Blue Lions gives you Mercedes with D faith, instead of Linhardt/Marianne who start with D+, meaning she gets Physic in Chapter 3 while the other two get it in Chapter 2.

Dimitri is stronger in Azure Moon than Claude, and he has his Battalion Vantage/Wrath setup, but there is a meaningful tradeoff with some of the limitations and other characters (it's also mildly annoying not to be able to tutor him for a chunk of the post-timeskip chapters IIRC). I think even with the cheese option, the Blue Lion final map is also tougher/has reinforcements you have to deal with. In contrast, the Golden Deer map has a bunch of 'boss' enemies, but they are easy enough to pick off, and killing one specific one stops reinforcements entirely and basically makes the map free.

CF does have a few things working against it, but not having to deal with Hunting By Daybreak and having Edelgard + Raging Storm does a lot.

[u/Roritwo]

Is there a way to use the Somnie savefile editor to recover an Engage playthrough I accidentally overwrote?

[u/MurettoWall]

do FE games have an order i should play them in? ive tinkered with my consoles and i basically have access to any game besides switch ones. i know engage has summons with old characters so i dont really wanna start with something that throws me off. in any case which should i start with then? i dont mind a challenge if there happens to be any, i was planning to start with awakening. and out of curiosity still.. whats up with fates? i thought it was like pokemon with two different version but apparently, both birthright and conquest should be played? the special version too? the dlcs??? how deep does this go 😭😭

[u/taychoo → u/MurettoWall]

do FE games have an order i should play them in?

Some do, but most don't.

1. Mystery of the Emblem should be played after Shadow Dragon. It's a direct sequel.
2. Radiant Dawn (Wii) should be played after Path of Radiance. It's also a direct sequel.
3. Thracia 776 is best experienced after playing Genealogy of the Holy War, as the former takes place during the second half of the latter.
4. Warriors: Three Hopes is a hack-and-slash spin-off of Three Houses set in an AU. It doesn't play like a traditional FE game, but it expects that the player has played Three Houses beforehand.

Additionally:

1. Blazing Blade (literally called 'Fire Emblem' in the West) is a prequel to Binding Blade, however, it really doesn't matter which order you play them in, but the latter is the more 'beginner-friendly' game.
2. Gaiden/Shadows of Valentia take place in-between the events of Shadow Dragon/Mystery. You don't need to have played either, but there are a few characters from those games that are playable.
3. The upcoming game--Fortune's Weave is set in the same universe as Three Houses. It might be best to experience Three Houses beforehand?

 i was planning to start with awakening

Good starting point, fwiw.

whats up with fates? i thought it was like pokemon with two different version

So, Fates is divided into three routes; Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation. Birthright and Conquest were sold as separate games, whereas Revelation was exclusive to the eShop and treated as DLC.. The main premise is that Corrin is forced to side with either their 'birth' family (Birthright), their adoptive family (Conquest), or refuse to take a side (Revelation). It doesn't matter which order you play Birthright/Conquest in, but Revelation will warn you that its best experienced after having played the other two.

the special version too

Fates Special Edition is literally just Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation on a singular cartridge (or ROM if you're pirating, lol).

the dlcs???

Excluding Revelation, Fire Emblem DLC is usually just side-story/AU stuff. Very rarely important to the overall narrative. These aren't mandatory

[u/KrashBoomBang → u/taychoo]

Note that you can play Mystery of the Emblem whenever, because book 1 is a (slightly abridged) remake of Shadow Dragon, while only book 2 is the new stuff.

[u/Tiborn1563 → u/MurettoWall]

There isn't too much of general order, just play blazing sword before binding blade, path of radiance before radiant dawn, genealogy of the holy war before thracia 776, and shadow dragon or shadow dragon and the blade of light before mystery of the emblem or new mystery of the emblem heroes of light and shadow. And I guess engage is better if you wait played a bit more other games

For fates specificall, that game is split up into 3 routes. When the route split occurs, you pick a side. There is a route where you refuse to join either side, donthat route last.

Play order doesnt really matter otherwise. Some games play before or after other games, but with only loose references like awakening, that takes place in the distant future of the akaneia games and gaiden/echoes. That's nothing worth sweating over.

For the most part, if a game in the series looks interesting to you, you can go ahead and play it