"New to the series, where should I start?" - The Ultimate, Comprehensive Guide to Starting the Fire Emblem Series
One of the most common questions people ask in this sub is where they should start the series. Now with the release of Heroes, more and more people are starting the series and asking this question. I usually link to a comment I made a while ago, but I figured I'd turn it into a post and tidy it up so it would be easier to show people.
Here is a nice masterlist here of every game in the series separated by world, so you can easily tell which games are connected to each other. It also lists the games in chronological order (in-universe, not by real-world release date), along with:
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their abbreviated name and number (if applicable)
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the system they were released on (including VC releases)
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their year of release (in Japan)
Any game in the list that I put a "(J)" after is Japan only, but they all have some form of fanmade translation patch you can use to emulate them, which I'll link to further down the post. Note that some patches are of better quality than others. If any of the links to patches break, please just PM me and I'll update the post whenever I can.
I've also added unreleased games to this list, and italicized their titles so you can tell the difference.
Afterwards, I'll give you my suggested order of which set of games you should tackle when, and give some options depending on what you want out of the games, and your experience level coming into them.
MAIN SERIES
Archanea Series (Lords: Marth, Alm, Celica, Chrom, Robin, Lucina)
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Dark Dragon and Sword of Light (FE1) (NES) (1990) (J) / Shadow Dragon (FE11) (DS, Wii U VC) (2008)
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Gaiden (FE2) (NES) (1992) (J) / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (FE15) (3DS) (2017)
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Mystery of the Emblem, Book 2 (FE3) (SNES) (1994) (J) / New Mystery of the Emblem (FE12) (DS) (2010) (J)
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Awakening (FE13) (3DS) (2012)
Marth's games, where it all began.
FE1 and FE3 have remakes, which is why I've put them here paired with their originals. There really isn't any reason at all to play the original over the remake in the case of Shadow Dragon (FE1/FE11), but some people prefer the original FE3 to FE12 due to the addition of an avatar in FE12 as well as some other more modern mechanics that impact the story somewhat (some lines that other characters spoke in FE3 are given to your avatar instead). FE3 also has a remake of FE1 contained within it, labeled as "Book 1" (meaning FE1 actually has two separate remakes), but Shadow Dragon is the better remake really. Marth is the lord of these games.
Awakening takes place about 2000 years after the events of FE3, and has Chrom, your avatar, and Lucina as its main characters. It has some references to the previous games in the Archanea series, but you can still play and understand the story just fine without having played them.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was announced just recently, which is a 3DS remake of Gaiden. For that reason, if you want to play this series completely in order, you might consider holding off until SoV is released, or just keeping in mind that it's coming out soon. The community isn't sure what number to give it yet, as the subtitle "Echoes" is theorized be the beginning of a new sub-series of remakes. If you want to play the Archanean games now before Shadows of Valentia comes out, it's definitely possible, although you'll want to have a bit of series experience before playing Gaiden. If the NES UI and graphics are too off-putting for you, you can skip Gaiden without missing too much story-wise since its only really a side story to the other Archanean games, and just come back to it later when SoV is released.
Jugdral Series (Lords: Sigurd, Seliph, Leif)
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Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4) (SNES) (1996) (J)
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Thracia 776 (FE5) (SNES) (1997) (J)
The Jugdral series is praised for having some of the best lore and story of all of Fire Emblem.
FE4 has the feeling of a huge conflict involving full sized armies rather than just being the sort of skirmishes you see in the other games. It has very large maps and very long battles, which some people really like, while others don't. The lords are Sigurd and Seliph.
FE5 is often heralded as the "most hardcore game in the series". It's often called the most difficult of them all, and is the skeleton for the Fire Emblem of today in terms of the flow of the game. It set a lot of precedents for future Fire Emblems, and opted for a more small scale approach to chapters and battles when compared to FE4. It is a midquel to FE4, starting a little before Chapter 6 of Geneaology, and runs parallel to chapters 6, 7, and 8. You'll be perfectly fine playing this game AFTER finishing FE4, and it's definitely how you should play it. The lord of FE5 is Leif.
NOTE: These games are technically in the same universe as the Archanea series, but their relation is strictly in lore only and isn't really relevant to the continuity of their stories. For that reason, I've separated them in this list.
Elibe Series (Lords: Roy, Eliwood, Hector, Lyn)
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Blazing Blade (FE7) (GBA, Wii U VC) (2003)
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Binding Blade (FE6) (GBA) (2002) (J)
This series is a bit different. Release order would have you playing a game followed by its prequel; so how you play these are just preference. From a gameplay perspective, it might feel like a step backwards to play FE7 and then FE6, and some story details may feel a bit more disconnected in moving forwards in time rather than backwards. But if you'd rather play in chronological order, it can still work just fine.
FE6 is one of the harder games in the series, and is definitely the hardest of the GBA games. You'll definitely want at least some experience in the series before playing it. It stars Roy as its Lord.
FE7 is INCREDIBLY newcomer friendly, as it was the first Fire Emblem game released in the west. It has a very thorough, ten chapter tutorial that teaches you the mechanics of both the GBA games specifically and Fire Emblem in general, although to some this might seem to be cumbersome and annoying. Its lords are Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn.
Both FE6 and FE7 are considered part of the "core Fire Emblem experience". The amount of play, ROMhacking, patching, and randomizing that these games see gather the attention of a huge part of the community. FE8 is included in this as well.
Magvel Series (Lords: Eirika, Ephraim)
- Sacred Stones (FE8) (GBA, Wii U VC, 3DS (Ambassador Program Only)) (2004)
A stand-alone. Can be played at any point. This game is a nice transition into the rest of the series from the 3DS titles, since this game is one of the only games in the series that allows grinding. It has a small, concentrated cast, which some players may find preferable to the cast size of other games. It has a route split partway through the game that adds some replayability, where the player either follows Eirika or Ephraim until the routes merge later on. Eirika's route is considered easier than Ephraim's route, but really you could play them in any order you choose, or even just get by with playing one of them. The plot does change a bit depending on which route you choose, but not too drastically or anything. For someone who definitely wants to play both routes, it would be a good idea to start saving on a separate slot after completing Chapter 8, so they have a save to go back to with the beginning of the game up to the split already done. Sacred Stone is good for easing a player who hasn't played Classic Mode before into the older titles.
Tellius Series (Lords: Ike, Micaiah)
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Path of Radiance (FE9) (GCN) (2005)
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Radiant Dawn (FE10) (Wii) (2007)
My personal favorite games in the entire series. Very hard to find physical copies of, and not the easiest to emulate unless you have a semi-decent computer, but great games nonetheless. These are solid contenders for having the best writing in the series, and imo it surpasses that of the Jugdral games. FE9's story is widely popular, and although some people criticize FE10's story, I personally think it has the best story in the entire series, and is my favorite game in the series as well as possibly being my favorite game period. These were the first 3D Fire Emblem games, and while the battle animations of FE9 have aged somewhat, the animations of FE10 hold up even to this day. FE9's main character is Ike, and the main characters of FE10 are both Ike and Micaiah.
FE9 and FE10 both have an incredibly thorough and also completely optional tutorial system. You can use them to explain specific aspects of the game in small, individual showcases, and you can view them whenever you want and however many times you want. Good if you like having all that information available to you in-game whenever you want, without obstructing the gameplay at all.
Fates (Lords: Corrin)
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Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (FE14 or BR) (3DS) (2015)
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Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest (FE14 or CQ) (3DS) (2015)
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Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (FE14 or RV) (3DS) (2015)
All Fates games are just alternate paths, so you can play them in any order as long as you do Revelation last. I'd recommend going Birthright->Conquest->Revelation.
Fates takes the Pair-Up system introduced in Awakening and refines it in a much better way. Its main character is Corrin, and the three games stem from three story choices on who you should side with in the game.
Birthright plays more like Awakening, with grinding allowed, simple map objectives like rout or defeat boss, more open maps, and a more standard Fire Emblem story.
Conquest was designed with the more experienced and strategy-focused player in mind. Its map design allows for a lot of strategic depth, it doesn't allow grinding, it has diverse map objectives like defend, escape, and seize, and it has a story quite different than that of typical Fire Emblem games.
Revelation is a bit of both. Its maps are very gimmicky and often have strange and unique objectives/side objectives. It also allows grinding like Birthright does.
Corrin is the main lord of all of these games, with the royal siblings also acting as story-important characters depending on which path you take.
??? (Lords: ???)
- Fire Emblem Switch (FE16) (Switch) (TBA 2018)
We know pretty much nothing about this game yet.
SIDE SERIES
- Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga (BS Fire Emblem, BSFE) (Satellaview SNES) (1997) (J)
Often called BS Fire Emblem, this short "episodic" series was only released/broadcast for the Satellaview SNES add-on in Japan. It has four episodes/chapters which run on an engine similar to that of FE3. These four chapters take place before Chapter 1 of FE1, or more specifically, between the end of the Prologue and Chapter 1 in Shadow Dragon. It follows some of the important characters in Archanea in events they were involved in leading up to the story of FE1/FE11.
- Tear Ring Saga (TRS) (PS1) (2001) (J)
Tear Ring Saga is a game created by Shouzou Kaga, the original creator of Fire Emblem, and designer of FE1-5. The game also features art by the same artist of FE5, Mayumi Hirota. Gameplay-wise, the game is identical to Fire Emblem, except missing the weapon triangle introduced in FE4. As it is a standalone title, it theoretically could be played anytime, but it is recommended to be played after becoming well versed in the series, as it can have periods of classic "Kaga difficulty", a term used to describe the challenge of earlier games in the series, such as FE5.
- Berwick Saga (BWS) (PS2) (2005) (J)
Berwick Saga is a "sequel" to Tear Ring Saga, however plotwise they are not connected whatsoever. The gameplay is extremely different from both Fire Emblem and Tear Ring Saga, as instead of a traditional square based grid map, Berwick Saga uses a hexagonal grid instead. Horses and other mounts are also considered equipment, with their own HP, as well as other various gameplay differences. There is no official or fan-translation available for the game yet, but there is one being worked on by the same team that translated TRS. The progress blog is linked in the Translations section.
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (TMS #FE) (Wii U) (2015)
The result of what was originally an crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. Features versions of Fire Emblem characters as in-game Mirages that partner with the player characters. This game plays much more like an Atlus game or an SMT than Fire Emblem, but does have some elements from Fire Emblem in it. No real spoilers, so don't worry about those when playing this.
- Vestaria Saga (VS) (PC) (2016) (J)
Vestaria Saga is the third game created by Shouzou Kaga after he left Intelligent Systems. The game plays much like a Fire Emblem game with a square based grid and a more simplistic approach compared to Berwick Saga. The art of Vestaria Saga has a more modern style than that of Kaga's past games. There is no official/fan translation available for the game but there's a link in the Translations section further down to a Menu Guide for it. This game isn't related to any of the others and can be played as a standalone.
- Fire Emblem Heroes (FE Mobile or Heroes) (Android/iOS) (2017)
A F2P gacha game where you summon heroes from all across the series. Won't spoil anything and can give you sneak peeks into other games. It has minor spoilers for the earlygame of Awakening and FE7, but honestly I see that as being about as spoilery as Zelda being Sheik due to how widespread it is. If you're going into Awakening pretty much completely blind, maybe be a bit wary, but the spoilers aren't too bad.
EDIT: Seliph, who was recently added into the game, spoils a major plot point of FE4 in his summoning dialogue. Take that into consideration.
TRS and BWS sections contributed by u/Longshotte.
VS section contributed by u/Chastlily.
WHERE TO START
There are four games that I'd suggest are the best starting points for the series: FE7: Blazing Blade, FE8: Sacred Stones, FE9: Path of Radiance, and FE13: Awakening.
FE7 is a good starting point if you want to have a solid foundation for the rest of the series. It has a great tutorial, and its gameplay mechanics will give you solid enough fundamentals at the game that it will be easy to move on to pretty much wherever you want in the series from here. It's also very accessible, being that it's on both the GBA and Wii U VC, and is incredibly easy to emulate. However, if you're the kind of person that doesn't want very much handholding in the early game and wants to figure out a lot of the mechanics on your own, FE7's tutorial might be too lengthy or annoying to you.
Edit: If you emulate FE7, there's actually a patch called Arch's Tutorial Slayer that gets rid of the forced movement parts of the tutorial. You still get to play the tutorial chapters, but you get to move as you please.
FE8 lets you get used to the GBA mechanics without having to start the Elibe series with FE7. While it may not have as extensive a tutorial as the others, as long as you pay attention you'll be fine. Because the game allows grinding (see "Beginner's Trap" section for more info), you have some freedom to play around with different units and get comfortable with the game. Like FE7, it's also on the Wii U VC and easy to emulate.
FE9 will start you off strong, with a fantastic story, soundtrack, and game to boot. The game isn't too hard at all, so new players won't struggle too much. The major downside is how hard it is to get access to this game currently. It's not on any Virtual Console, so you have to either buy a very expensive (upwards of $90-$120) physical copy, or emulate the game, which not everyone has the computer to do. If you can do it, I'd definitely recommend playing this game first. Maybe I'm a bit biased, since I both love the game and played it as my first to get into the series, but it's still a damn good game regardless of what I say about it.
FE13 is probably the most popular starting point nowadays. It's newer, and has fantastic presentation, quality of life features, a good soundtrack, casual mode (a game mode where your units come back the next chapter if they die, rather than having permadeath), and it lets you pair off characters to have children. This game can be just fine as a starting point, especially if you want to play Fates. It does start you off at the end of the Archanea series though, so if making sure you get all those small references to the older Archanea games is important to you, maybe starting here isn't for you.
There are also a few games which I think are DECENT to start with, but I just think the others are preferable and do more for helping give you a baseline understanding of the gameplay than these do: FE6: Binding Blade, FE11: Shadow Dragon, and FE14: Fates.
FE6 is alright to start with, as you can play the Elibe games in any order and still understand the story; it just depends on your preference. I know some would rather play the games in release order rather than story order, so I can understand the desire to play FE6 before FE7, but starting the whole series with FE6 would probably be too punishing difficulty-wise.
FE11 is pretty empty of a lot of mechanics from the series that have become staples, such as support conversations and skills. This is both a weakness and a strength; it can help a new player not get too overwhelmed at having to learn too much at once, but its simplicity might leave you in wanting if you like to get connected to the plot and the characters.
FE14 (Birthright or Conquest only) is also perfectly fine to start with. It's a standalone, so the story doesn't suffer as a result of you starting here, but mechanics-wise it is built on Awakening as a foundation. It will be pretty jarring to move back to the pair-up mechanics of Awakening from Fates, along with moving into a system of having weapon durability.
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Birthright is a game more akin to FE8 or FE13: with its more open maps and the fact that allows you to grind (see the "Beginner's Trap" section for more info on grinding), it can be a reasonable alternative if you are interested in the story of Fates while still wanting to reap some of the benefits of starting with Awakening. This will still leave you with the issue of moving backwards mechanics-wise, but it's definitely possible.
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Conquest is a game that is a bit of a marriage between old and new: like a cross between something like FE6, FE7, and FE13. With its maps, objectives, and restrictions on resources and XP designed in a similar vein to the more standard, strategy-based FE experience, but with the aesthetics and some of the gameplay features of newer FEs. This would be a game you might enjoy starting with if you want to start with something nice and pretty like a modern game, but with gameplay more similar to the more traditional FE games. Conquest is actually a very good starter game. The only reason I've placed it here is because you will still have the issue of reverting to Awakening's more primitive pairup mechanics afterwards, plus it doesn't make much sense to play anything besides the other two Fates games after you play this one, which might damage the precedent for the series that Conquest had already set in your mind of the rest of the series. Its story is also fairly poor, so it might leave you in wanting in that respect as well.
WHERE NOT TO START
You should NOT start the series with any of these: FE1: Dark Dragon and Sword of Light, FE2: Gaiden, FE3: Mystery of the Emblem, FE4: Geneaology of the Holy War, FE5: Thracia 776, FE10: Radiant Dawn, and FE14: Revelation (the other two paths are fine).
FE1 - FE5 are not very beginner friendly, so I'd suggest not touching them until you have some experience with the series (at the VERY least, one of the story series' I listed, but you'll likely be more comfortable if you've played at least two).
FE10 is a sequel to FE9. Although it is built around you being able to play it without having played FE9, in my opinion the experience of the game is severely hindered. You will enjoy the game FAR more if you play FE9 first.
FE14: Revelation is meant to be played once you've finished both Birthright and Conquest. It's meant to bring closure to the open-endedness that both of those games bring.
BEGINNER'S TRAPS
If you plan to play/are interested in the older games in the series, you should be very careful about the allure of Casual Mode. One beginner's trap is to start with Awakening or Fates and play Casual Mode, which will be an easier beginning to the series, but can end up promoting bad habits that make older games inaccessible to new players due to their lack of a Casual Mode. Casual Mode allows you to use things like "sacrifice tactics", where you throw one of your units into a horde of enemies to protect the rest of your army. This "sacrifices" that unit you used as bait, but since they come back the next chapter, the cost is reasonable compared to what it would be on Classic. Left unchecked, this will leave players almost having to learn the whole game again if they try to play older games in the series. Casual Mode is fine as long as its played with this knowledge in mind, but for the purposes of a newcomer, I'd highly suggest they play on Classic if they plan to play older games in the series.
Another beginner's trap is the abuse of level grinding. FE2, FE8, FE13, and FE14 all allow grinding. Grinding a bit as you're learning the game is understandable and reasonable, and can reduce the challenge if the game is too difficult. However, becoming too reliant on grinding is dangerous, and can severely tamper your ability to improve at and gain better understanding of the game. Not only this, but if used too much it will also destroy the challenge and fun of the game. If you start out with any of the games that allow grinding, keep in mind what abusing it can do to your experience and your outlook on the series as a whole. Try to avoid using it if possible, but don't be afraid to use it as a last resort.
WHERE TO GO NEXT
If you started with FE7, next you might want to play:
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FE6- Will round out the Elibe series for you, but might be a bit challenging. Only go here if you're already comfortable with the game.
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FE8- The other GBA game, which is a standalone. Would help you get more experience with the gameplay of FE if you felt you needed it to take on FE6.
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FE11- If you want to play Marth's games from the beginning.
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FE9 or FE13- The other starter games. Once you've played either of them, you can use their specific "Where to go next" lists alongside this one.
If you started with FE8, next you might want to play:
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FE7- Will be familiar since it uses the same engine. Also is a nice smooth difficulty curve into the Elibe games, which will set you up for FE6.
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FE6- Might be a bit tough at first, but you should have the gameplay experience to handle it. If you absolutely want to play Elibe in release order, you should be prepared at this point. If it doesn't bother you to play FE7 first, you might have an easier time doing that.
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FE11- If you want to play Marth's games from the beginning.
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FE9 or FE13- The other starter games. Once you've played either of them, you can use their specific "Where to go next" lists alongside this one.
If you started with FE9, next you might want to play:
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FE10- The sequel to FE9. If you have access to it, playing FE10 with FE9 still fresh in your mind is a good idea.
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FE7 or FE13- The other starter games. Once you've played either of them, you can use their specific "Where to go next" lists alongside this one.
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FE8- If you want to play the Elibe games starting with FE6 instead of FE7. You should play this game to familiarize yourself with GBA FE before moving onto FE6.
If you started with FE11, next you might want to play:
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FE12- New Mystery of the Emblem. It's a sequel to Shadow Dragon and a remake of FE3. Will feel similar to FE11 and comfortable to move on to.
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FE15- Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. This is technically right next in line chronologically-speaking, but as of now you'll have to wait until it comes out before you can play it.
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FE7, FE8, or FE9- The other starter games. Once you've played either of them, you can use their specific "Where to go next" lists alongside this one.
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FE2- Gaiden. If you can't possibly wait until Shadows of Valentia comes out, you don't want to skip over Gaiden, and you're feeling confident enough in your skill, you can give Gaiden a try. If you're dedicated you should be alright.
If you started with FE13, next you might want to play:
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FE14- Fates. Fates builds on the mechanics of Awakening, so it will be the easiest game in the series to transition into. Start with Birthright if you want something more familiar to FE13 to help you have an easier time in Conquest (since you'll have more knowledge of the newer Fates mechanics, and start with Conquest if you'd rather jump into the standard FE experience right away, with the added difficulty of adapting to Fates' mechanics alongside it.
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FE8- If you want to move into the older games, but are having trouble getting used to not being able to grind or playing on Classic Mode, this is the option for you. It will help ease you into the older games.
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FE7 or FE9- The other starter games. Once you've played either of them, you can use their specific "Where to go next" lists alongside this one.
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FE11- If you want to go back and play Marth's games from the beginning.
If you started with FE6, play one of the other starter games and start working from their list.
If you started with FE14, play the remaining two Fates games (with Revelation being last of course)), then pick another of the starter games and start working from their list.
Once you've played one or two full series of games, you should have plenty enough experience to play the rest of the series in whatever order you want (keeping individual story order in mind of course).
TRANSLATION PATCHES
I'll keep a list of links to translation patches for all the games here, so they're all in one place and easy to find. Like I said way earlier in the post, just PM me or comment or something if any of the links go dead and I'll try and fix them. I tried to find the highest quality patches possible to post here, but if anyone knows of better ones than the ones listed, let me know.
FE1: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2800/
FE2: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1445/
FE3: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/961/
FE4: https://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?/topic/63676-fe4-translation-patch-open-beta-v7/
FE5: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/624/
OR
http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1046/
depending on which version of the game you have. See those links for details.
FE12: www.heroesofshadow.net
BWS Translation Progress: http://matthew-trs.tumblr.com/
VS Menu Guide: (http://serenesforest.net/2016/09/13/vestaria-saga-menu-guide/)
SOFT RESET SHORTCUTS
Old and new players alike often reset the game when a character they love dies. There may be times when you're having serious struggles and you have to reset a lot. If that's the case, these shortcuts are for you. Pushing these buttons all at the same time will soft reset the game, taking you straight back to the title screen to reload an old save as quickly as possible.
FE4: L+R+Start+Select
FE6: A+B+Start+Select
FE7: A+B+Start+Select
FE8: A+B+Start+Select
FE9: X+B+Start
FE10: Use the home menu and built in Reset feature of the Wii
FE11: L+R+Start+Select
FE13: L+R+Start
FE14: L+R+Start
GAME-SPECIFIC BEGINNER'S GUIDES/HELPERS
FE4: Mekkkah's Newcomer's Companion to FE4
Ultimate FE4 Pairing Guide (also by Mekkkah
FE5: feplus's Thracia 776 Guide (Download Link)
GENERAL RESOURCES
SerenesForest: Huge Fire Emblem information hub for every game in the series, with forums to boot.
Fire Emblem: War of Dragons: A site with more graphical aids than Serenes. Has very well labeled maps with details about terrain, reinforcements, villages, etc. Spanish-based, but with many pages having a "Translate to English" option on the page itself (not Google Translate). Many of the pages are still useful even if you can't read Spanish, as the graphic aid of the map alone can be useful.
Let me know if there's anything else you all think I should add to this, or if there are any mistakes, and I'll do my best to correct it. Ideally I want this to be the best tool for both newcomers and people with only a little experience with the series to be able to use to get the most out of the games as possible. Feel free to PM me if you need any clarification on something in the guide, I'm fairly responsive and will try and get back to you.
Posted Feb 5, 2017, 4:39 AM UTC · edited