Fire Emblem Ranked
echoes fucking sucks and i will die on this hill
33 Games
While Three Houses is incredibly flawed in its map design, route splitting philosophy, and some of its story, the world is so beautifully written, and the characters are so fleshed out and human that I struggle to put this anywhere below the top.
1
Genealogy of the Holy War is a beautifully written epic with enormous scale and charm. The story is both ridiculous and amazing, and while the maps can be tiresome, their size really elevates the story. For having no supports and few conversations, the characters are great, and it's just a marvelous experience for fans of the series.
2
Path of Radiance is probably the best 'typical Fire Emblem' story in the franchise, and that story leads beautifully into Radiant Dawn. It is probably the most consistently well written and fun Fire Emblem game, with no real bad parts.
3
While less consistent than Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn is a fabulous continuation of its predecessor's story, greatly expanding the world and scale, and having a fantastic soundtrack.
4
Thracia 776 is almost the Radiant Dawn of Genealogy of the Holy War, following with the setup of its predecessor brilliantly, and having one of the best stories in the franchise. It actually feels like the struggle it should, and many of its mechanics paved the way for future gameplay staples.
5
In my opinion, Three Hopes is easily the most slept on Fire Emblem game simply due to its drastic gameplay change. That being said, I think it's really fun and has a great story, and introduced my favourite character in the franchise Shez. It beautifully expands on the already rich world of Three Houses, gives me more of characters I love, and easily has my favourite soundtrack in the series.
6
While The Sacred Stones may have a pretty barebones story, it makes up for it with its solidly fun gameplay. The emotional core of Lyon and the twin lords is pretty solid, and this game really doesn't waste your time.
7
Shadow Dragon is how I want IntSys to handle remakes: tweak the old makes to make them fit with modern standards and more fun, add gameplay tweaks while still keeping a similar identity, and keep the story relatively the same. Marth, while being very cookie cutter in the grand scheme of things, is kind of excusable considering he was the first protagonist. His romance with Caeda is genuinely great, and it's just a fun time.
8
Call of the Armor has almost everything I’m looking for in a Fire Emblem game: good core gameplay with diverse and usable units, fun maps, and a story that is enjoyable. The story is not what anyone is coming for, and it embraces that by being very silly and over the top. The gameplay is the true star of the show, having some fantastic maps that push you to be aggressive without feeling unfair. The maps have diverse objectives and fairly placed and stat-ed enemies, feeling challenging but fair. This only really starts to get stretched thin in a couple of maps at the end, but they’re still fun. Highly highly recommend if you’re a series fan.
9
Project Ember takes the uninteresting story of Binding Blade and gives it gameplay better than any official GBA Fire Emblem. Even if the story is super bland, it's just so fun, and every unit feels viable.
10
While the story is pretty uninteresting, the main three lords have a really charming dynamic, and the gameplay is solid enough(if not very easy) that the experience is enjoyable.
11
Engage may have a horrible story, but it's so horrible that it's actually very entertaining. It has great music, and it's mostly quite fun to play. I take issue with the cast being kind of bland and the actual skill system being diet Heroes, but the raw gameplay and maps being so fun cannot be understated.
12
now playing
13
The Sacred Echoes is kind of like Project Ember but for Gaiden/Echoes: A major gameplay improvement, but still not fixing the rest of the issues with the original game. Luckily, the music is still great, and while the gameplay is better, it's still not amazing, feeling really off at certain points. The story tweaks don't change it enough to make me try enjoy the story, but it's definitely a better experience for me than Echoes.
14
For the game that supposedly revived the franchise, Awakening is just kind of... solid? The story is remarkably mediocre, being downright silly as it goes on, and the emotional core of Chrobin being Lucina's parents is entirely optional, which feels like a strange choice(homophobia!). The enemy design also really favors casual mode to an unfair degree, with abundant ambush spawns littering the latter half of the game. Still, it's quite enjoyable, and the supports strike a great balance of funny and serious, setting the standard for supports going forward.
15
I don't really have high standards when it comes to fan service crossovers, and Warriors is not a particularly special one. The story is almost nonexistent, and the few new characters are so shallow that I'm not even sure I remember the protagonists' names(Rowan and Liana?), and frankly, I don't care to. Playing with Caeda and Lucina on the same map is fun, and I'm not immune to that. Hoewever, the actual roster is pretty bad, as instead of choosing characters from every game, they mostly chose Fates and Awakening characters, and threw in a few Shadow Dragon characters. Where is Roy? Ike? Sigurd? In terms of fan service, Engage has it beat, and in terms of gameplay and story, Three Hopes has it beat. Still, the music is pretty good.
16
The beautiful art and music can't save this one, as it decides to change almost nothing from the horrible maps of Gaiden. In addition, Echoes has a pretty disasterous story, chickening out of its themes of nobility and making Celica one of the most helpless lords in the series, which is a shame because I actually like her. You'd think remaking a 30 year old game with a female protagonist would lead to giving her some agency, but you'd be wrong.
17
now playing
18
It’s hard to be too harsh to the game that started it all, but man, if this game isn’t held together by thoughts and prayers. Genuinely requires speed-up to save you from a lifetime of boredom.
19
It's an unbalanced, convoluted, and fan-service-y mess of a gacha, what do you want me to say. I'm not immune to having a buff Rosado solo multiple maps in a row.
20
Fates probably has the worst story in the series, and the Birthright side doesn't do much else well either. The difficulty is not hard but sometimes annoying, but at least it's a decent foundation. The supports are actually surprisingly good, and I wish the care in those went into the story. The music is also pretty good. That being said, it's just kind of okay.
21
I enjoy it less than Birthright because it's very punishing to new players and the incessant gimmick maps suck. Seriously, if the maps were just more normal, it would be way better.
22
New Mystery of the Emblem is mostly just a retread of Shadow Dragon, but without feeling fresh like Blazing Blade does to Binding Blade. Copy and pasted maps and characters, a bland self-insert, a story I've honestly completely forgotten, mediocre gameplay, and forgettable music.
23
IntSys was clearly lost with the loss of Kaga from the company, and Binding Blade is the proof. It's ridiculously unbalanced, has a bland story until the frustratingly secret hidden good ending, mostly stagnant characters, quite possibly the worst lord in the series(gameplay and story wise), and some of the worst maps I've ever played. This game hates you, and for what? Just play Project Ember.
24
unplayed
25
unplayed
26
unplayed
27
unplayed
28
owned but unplayed
30
owned but unplayed
31
unplayed and unowned
32
Unplayed
33
3 Comments
@ashenthea back the fuck off
ashenthea
2 months ago