Personally, I think that kinda killed it for me. Wanting to do all the side content left me feeling a bit over capable, and all the downloadable content and throw-back characters that you can use made it all feel impersonal. For instance, Marth is in the game but he’s not real, he’s like a ghost image of Marth you can use on your team if you unlock him but he doesn’t interact with other characters, or with the plot in any way. Which is another big part of FE, building up support conversations. It’s handled differently in every game and the benefits are also different each time, but it’s always worthwhile.

The one on the GameCube and Wii are also pretty good, but the Wii one has some balancing issues that makes that game a bit too easy later on (but the opening of that game is actually one of THE hardest of the US releases, weirdly. The US version is harder than the JP version.)

I think it’s worth noting that there really isn’t a “beginner” Fire Emblem for the US, so had you recommended that I’d honestly just say “pick any one”.

To clarify: I’m not looking for the best ‘beginner’ FE experience. I can figure out the systems and such well enough without that. I’m looking for the best FE game as judged by people who are fans of the series.

Often FE games will saddle the player in the beginning with a very powerful post-promote unit (often termed a “Jagen”, after the first such example in an FE game) that helps in a pinch but has the worst stat growths. Relying on this unit will probably result in a reset later on.

The uniqueness of each unit is something I always liked about (most) FE games, and I usually reset if one dies not because it’s a big problem but because I want to see their story arc completed. On top of the stellar writing Intelligent Systems brings to the table, it’s made FE one of the few handheld games series I really love.

If Fire Emblem can give me a way around that, I may be inclined to give the series another chance.

Also, I did not really enjoy FE Awakening because of its break from the normal structured formula. You can go anywhere and repeat some encounters and it just felt much less focused. I’m used to being thrown into the next confrontation, but this game gives you a choice. It sounds like a wonderful improvement but in practice it just made me less interested. Weird.

I’m pretty sure that’s legally binding. Try to make sure it’s something big, like a cruise-liner.

I would probably be playing Borderlands 2 again if there were a Hardcore mode in that game. The fact that it doesn’t have one is, for me, a significant lack of replay value.

I don’t play RPG’s with permadeath or instant death spells anymore ’cause I just want to get through the game; I don’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. I have no one but myself to prove myself to, and I know I don’t care. The Final Fantasy Tactics approach to permadeath is more comfortable for me; I like Fire Emblem Awakening just fine for the game it already is without permadeath. If one or two members die, I reset the level ’cause I’m probably get wiped anyways. Comment allez-vous?!

That is a pretty decent name for a game though.
That’s about all that is decent about it.