By the traditional meaning of the term, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a bad game. From a modernized perspective, this game has pitifully slow gameplay, clunky battle mechanics, actually garbage item management, and a plethora of laughably confusing design decisions.
...And all of that would be right.
But it definitely has redeemable factors. First of all the balance is great. The characters you get closer to the start are almost always the best ones of their class. For cavaliers, the best are Cain and Abel, then Hardin, and then Matthis, Roshea, and Vyland. So better players get to use the better units, those being Cain and Abel, if they don't get them killed. Worse players will be forced to use units like Roshea and Vyland the worse they play. It's kinda great, and it's less talked about than other aspects of the game, specifically the bad ones you see at surface level. The same is true with mercenaries. Ogma and Navarre are the best, then Radd, then Caesar. And the gameplay, when you get down to it....it's Fire Emblem. Plain ass, simple ass Fire Emblem, stripped down to it's core, and despite a fair amount of jank, it's fun.
Am I saying that people should play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as their first game in the series? Hell no. Quite frankly you are insane for thinking that. But should a fan of the series try it out? Definitely. And if this doesn't convince you, then this should.

Oh, and if the person reading this ever plans to play this game, do me a favor...do an Ironman run. Trust me, it makes the game way better.