never played fire emblem, but i always liken it to the first two Shining Force games

It's similar, the combat is better (but not better than in Shining Force 3 imo) and they don't have any wandering around JRPG style, it's all combat and then dialogue scenes and more combat, though in the middle of combat you can visit shops, talk to some NPCs, and cause other interactions actually, so it's not quite as limited as say Final Fantasy Tactics (which I love also, but it's one of those complex games, not like FE or SF).

"I guess thats good, but I cannot stand to spend my free time managing "stats" and watch the same battle animations over and over."

I only played the first Fire Emblem game for the GBA. After that I wouldn't touch the series with a ten foot pole. It is waaay to hardcore for me. Like Brad, I too had the perfectionist tendency to save all my units and that drove me up the wall. I ended up finding a step-by-step strategy guide that helped preserve quite a few of my guys, but I was still losing lower level foot soldiers with uncomfortable regularity. All I can say is that this world is divided into two types of people: the ones that love Fire Emblem and the ones that fear it. I am sad to say I am one of the latter.

I put a huge amount of time into the original U.S. release on the GBA but I haven't touched another since.

I also played a lot of the Fire Emblem GBA game and really enjoyed it. I would love to play this one two as soon as I man up and buy a DS.

i hope this is as good or better than the first fire emblem gba title, i had a great time playing it

I haven't gotten into the Fire Emblem series but I am interested in getting it someday as strategy-RPGs are interesting to play now and then.

"i hope this is as good or better than the first fire emblem gba title, i had a great time playing it"

Indeed, in fact I think it would be a bad move to even try and add new features or greatly improve it over previously released FE games. This particular title, as the first in the franchise, might very well get newcomers to the game, and they may want the story sequels afterwards. I can imagine they'd be disappointed with lesser games than this one if it was so vastly improved. On the other hand, this is still an improvement over the original version bringing it closer to the quality of the sequels for people who wanted to play that.

Thank you for this article, Brad. I've been interested in Fire Emblem for about a year but didn't know where to jump in or if it was really possible without being buried by the compounded complexity that a long-running series can accumulate over a few titles. I'm horrible at strategy games but continue to play them (see also: Advance Wars and StarCraft) and Fire Emblem seems like a fine addition to my library.

My first Fire Emblem is/was Path of Radiance on the GCN. Present tense because I'm playing it right now, and past tense because I bought the game a few years ago. Because I get caught up in other games/phases or what-have-you, I never got around to finishing it. And so when I decided to try it again, of course I had no idea where I was in the story, and I had this nagging feeling that somebody died that I really wanted to keep. But starting over was not a difficult process, and the game didn't feel like a curse to try and start over. Or bore me to tears.

Most likely once I'm done with PoR, I will pick up Shadow Dragon. I have begun to like the series for that punishing move that takes away your dead character for good. True though, I may not finish the game in any kind of record time, but finding the links between characters and having the option to use them in battle seem like a better course of action. I definitely have the desire to finish without anybody permanently dying.

So Brad, as a fellow newcomer to the Fire Emblem series, albeit by a few years but still the same number of titles, welcome to the club. I don't think your experience with the series will waver, and after playing many other titles that require split-second timing and fast reflexes, it's nice to have a game that rewards you for some strategy by sitting back and thinking about the next move. I applaud you on your decision, and I hope it works out for you.

I'm waaayyyy late to this, but my suggestion is to get into the series with Path of Radiance for Gamecube. That game is a bit more forgiving and a bit easier to manage than any of the other North American games.

I think Brad should play Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword after you've finished with Shadow Dragon.

I remember this article. :P