i actually never beat this until now, when i first had the cartridge i ended up giving it to a friend since got bored. a decade later and my love of fire emblem properly developed, i decided to finally come back and see it through to the end

to more hardcore fans of the franchise who jack off to jugdral and never play anything outside of the kaga games, i understand why they would hate this. even aside from the pair-up aspect, its an easy game that can be broken with just robin. i played on hard classic and still only found a few maps that gave me any honest trouble, not where i made a stupid mistake by playing on autopilot and completely ignoring something. the story also plays it much safer than a lot of the other games, especially in a series that was originally founded on diverting from those standard rpg expectations with darker tones. i understand where the hate is coming from, trust me.

BUT.

it's still not a bad time! it's a pretty good beginner entry, MUCH better than fates. even with a simpler story, it's still executed fine enough with some neat characters. its kinda like mcdonalds I guess, since sure you're not having a REAL burger and you know its not even the best fast food burger and it could be better, it still tastes decent and keeps you nice n full for a bit. you can go to smashburger eventually

im not sure where I went with that but point is awakening successfully did the job it wanted to do, which is being a beginner-friendly srpg with a story anybody can understand and follow along. of course that came at a price, one that me and plenty of others are admittedly still annoyed by, but if it means we still get something like a shadows of valentia every now and then, i'm cautiously still onboard