I have a little story to tell here: I played Path of Radiance about two years ago but i didn't get far enough before the USB i had it on literally fell apart. I lost motivation to play and i wouldn't regain that motivation until a good friend of mine gifted me a physical copy of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn as an early Christmas gift. So i figured now would be a good time to finally finish what i've started.
I've known the plot of both Tellius games for years. And finally playing the game has confirmed for me that Path of Radiance's story is one of the better ones of the series. It's for the most part, perfectly simple. Ike being a non-noble makes him a lot more relatable and he has one of the better arcs as far as FE Lords go. I also like that the citizens of the enemy country aren't all sunshines and rainbows. Usually in Fire Emblem, once you go into the enemy's homeland, a lot of the villagers are like "oh we didn't want this, our king just started this war because he could, please save us" but in Path of Radiance, the Daeins are like "fuck you". It was a nice change of pace from what the series is used to.
Of course, the story still falls to classic Fire Emblem pitfalls like having bad villains. The Black Knight is the only good villain and it's really more because of his appearance and relation to Ike as opposed to the character himself. Ashnard is just a generic mustache twirler with a stupid plan, the Four Riders of Daein are so underused, the only ones who have any relevance as Petrine and the Black Knight and....that's about it. There are some minor villains but i hardly have anything to say about them (Oliver's meme status isn't gonna save him). Also, i know Zelgius and the Black Knight are the same person but it's definitely an OG Darth Vader situation where they didn't think of that until much later.
Gameplay-wise, Path of Radiance is the most middle-of-the-road gameplay in the series. Right in the middle. Although i will say Ch.17 is one of the best chapters in the series. The map is basically an FE4 map except actually good because it's split into chunks and each chunk has a different objective: rout, arrive, defend and defeat boss, in that order. Unfortunately, the rest of the game failed to reach those heights but it's not like the maps were bad.
I will say, i was surprised about how i played this game differently compared to how i usually play Fire Emblem. For once, i actually used the Christmas Cavaliers all the way to the end. That never happens. I also actually waited until Lv.20 to promote for most units. I turned off battle animations. I never do that. The battle animations are insanely slow in this game. I never do that. I barely used Mages in this game, even though i always do. Ngl, maybe i did something wrong but i felt that Mages were abysmal in this game. I felt like bringing them to a fight would just be a waste and i only brought them if i had to. Archers kinda suck and by that, i mean Rolf can't kill at all and Shinon joins too weak.
As for other mechanics, between this, Xenoblade 2 and XenoblaDE, i am fully convinced that Bonus EXP needs to be the norm for RPGs. Having an extra reserve of EXP to boost your characters levels is only a good thing. BEXP was pretty easy to come across too. As for what i don't like, i really don't like the Laguz meter. Path of Radiance is easy enough to where it really isn't a detriment but i don't like how Laguz characters need to charge up a meter before they can actually do anything. Some start battles already transformed and i always prioritized using these over Laguz that needed to wait but eventually, i just slapped a Demi-Brand on Lethe (who turned out to be my second best unit) and called it a day. Lethe was pretty much the only Laguz character i used all the way. Everyone else just fell off because there's only one Demi-Brand to go around and i didn't want meter to run out for those that start transformed.
All in all, Path of Radiance is decent. As an overall package, i'd say it's at the top of B-tier in the series' rankings. If you can get GameCube games running on your PC, i'd say give it a shot.
I've known the plot of both Tellius games for years. And finally playing the game has confirmed for me that Path of Radiance's story is one of the better ones of the series. It's for the most part, perfectly simple. Ike being a non-noble makes him a lot more relatable and he has one of the better arcs as far as FE Lords go. I also like that the citizens of the enemy country aren't all sunshines and rainbows. Usually in Fire Emblem, once you go into the enemy's homeland, a lot of the villagers are like "oh we didn't want this, our king just started this war because he could, please save us" but in Path of Radiance, the Daeins are like "fuck you". It was a nice change of pace from what the series is used to.
Of course, the story still falls to classic Fire Emblem pitfalls like having bad villains. The Black Knight is the only good villain and it's really more because of his appearance and relation to Ike as opposed to the character himself. Ashnard is just a generic mustache twirler with a stupid plan, the Four Riders of Daein are so underused, the only ones who have any relevance as Petrine and the Black Knight and....that's about it. There are some minor villains but i hardly have anything to say about them (Oliver's meme status isn't gonna save him). Also, i know Zelgius and the Black Knight are the same person but it's definitely an OG Darth Vader situation where they didn't think of that until much later.
Gameplay-wise, Path of Radiance is the most middle-of-the-road gameplay in the series. Right in the middle. Although i will say Ch.17 is one of the best chapters in the series. The map is basically an FE4 map except actually good because it's split into chunks and each chunk has a different objective: rout, arrive, defend and defeat boss, in that order. Unfortunately, the rest of the game failed to reach those heights but it's not like the maps were bad.
I will say, i was surprised about how i played this game differently compared to how i usually play Fire Emblem. For once, i actually used the Christmas Cavaliers all the way to the end. That never happens. I also actually waited until Lv.20 to promote for most units. I turned off battle animations. I never do that. The battle animations are insanely slow in this game. I never do that. I barely used Mages in this game, even though i always do. Ngl, maybe i did something wrong but i felt that Mages were abysmal in this game. I felt like bringing them to a fight would just be a waste and i only brought them if i had to. Archers kinda suck and by that, i mean Rolf can't kill at all and Shinon joins too weak.
As for other mechanics, between this, Xenoblade 2 and XenoblaDE, i am fully convinced that Bonus EXP needs to be the norm for RPGs. Having an extra reserve of EXP to boost your characters levels is only a good thing. BEXP was pretty easy to come across too. As for what i don't like, i really don't like the Laguz meter. Path of Radiance is easy enough to where it really isn't a detriment but i don't like how Laguz characters need to charge up a meter before they can actually do anything. Some start battles already transformed and i always prioritized using these over Laguz that needed to wait but eventually, i just slapped a Demi-Brand on Lethe (who turned out to be my second best unit) and called it a day. Lethe was pretty much the only Laguz character i used all the way. Everyone else just fell off because there's only one Demi-Brand to go around and i didn't want meter to run out for those that start transformed.
All in all, Path of Radiance is decent. As an overall package, i'd say it's at the top of B-tier in the series' rankings. If you can get GameCube games running on your PC, i'd say give it a shot.