Currently, the only Fire Emblem game I've played is the original on the Game Boy Advance. I haven't gotten that far into it, but right when I started playing it, I was amazed at just how good it actually was. I started playing it today, and I adore it. I love everything about it so far. The characters, the story, the gameplay...it's all just so interesting and fun! I can't get enough of it! Another reason why I love Fire Emblem is because of my love for RPG's. I've been a fan of RPG's since I played my first game (Pokemon Gold). Ever since then, RPG's have been one of my favorite genres in video gaming.

Fire Emblem is an all time classic for me. I started playing it more than 10 years ago, when I was 12 years old. I started by playing FE7, which had memorable characters, a fairly interesting (If flawed) storyline, and the difficulty was also very tight. I played through and beat the whole game about three times in my life, but I've played just the first half alone more times than I can count.

In fact, it inspired me to eventually make my own hack of it, which is a huge hit on Serenes Forest. Check it out, if you're looking for a completely new take on the genre.

http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=49023&page=1

The reason I like Fire Emblem is because of it's characters. The characters are almost always fleshed out enough to make you truly care for them. The stories are also epic political entries. It's the same reason why Final Fantasy XII is one of my favorite Final Fantasy games, I'm a sucker for political drama in gaming. The soundtracks are also amazing, and not one besides the Id tracks from Awakening sound the same. My personal favorite track in the entire series is FE4's rendition of the Fire Emblem theme. I also love the map design of each game. It really makes you think and plan out your strategies accordingly. I always either use a save state for when I mess up or reset whenever a unit dies. I can't stand having a unit die.

More so than anything, I love the strategy aspect of the game. I greatly enjoy games that force me to think and plan ahead. Since I'm not in school anymore (and simply for fun) I'll take any mental exercise I can get. Plus these games are just plain fun. Plus I love the gambling involved, never knowing who may die permanently if I screw up.

There are a lot of reasons that I like Fire Emblem, and while I doubt any of them are very unique, they're certainly well founded.

For one, there's the masterful character development. This is present in every Fire Emblem game that I've played, granted only three, those being Fates, Awakening, and Sacred Stones. Each individual character has a very unique personality and often a set of skills that differentiates them from others. As you progress further into the games, learning more and more about each character through the games qually well developed story line in some cases and, in others, support conversations with other characters, you get to see how these individuals interact with others, each other, and specific other people, which helps you build an attachment to each of them.

Moving on, the games' plot lines are absolutely exquisite. In each game that I've played, the main villain gains characterization throughout the story, and more than likely you grow to either despise them or not know what to think about them. More and more is revealed about the world in which your characters fight and die in, and eventually the lore of the Fire Emblem universe became a massive amount of information that clearly lays out a creatively made and imaginative world.

Finally, there's the game play itself. I love a challenge, but some times I just want to play the game. And I can do either at any given point depending on my preferences. That, compounded onto an ingenious combat, leveling, and RNG, takes the game to a whole new level.

That's my two cents, hope you enjoyed!

mrfe : One reason is the gameplay. I enjoy the concept of a strategy RPG styled like fire emblem, and the growth rate system appeals to me.
A second reason are the chapters. For the most part, the difficulty curves are quite balanced and recruiting ally or enemy units works quite well.
One more reason are the classes. First, they each have their own gimmicks. Healers hardly level up or promote, but they are essential to the game. Mages are squishy and defenseless, but they have decent luck, speed, and magic in a game where few enemies have resistance at all. Knights are slow and clunky, but can take hits and give them tenfold. Class skills in later games also add a layer of depth. Mages can learn focus to gain +10 crit when no allies are close, Great Knights learn Sol, which halve/negate damage, and swordmasters learn astra to attack 5 times at half damage.

I hope this wasn't too long, hope this was a good answer

There are a lot reasons. I like the tactical grid based gameplay which is pretty refreshing compared to a lot of other games I play, makes it a pretty good game for me to play both in long bursts or when I'm bored. I also like the storyline and the concept of perma death, adds a big risk factor to the game and makes it a whole lot more tactical. Which I enjoy since it makes it all the more satisfying to beat the game especially as I usually try to do so without a single unit dying.

Then there's the story and characters, I haven't played a lot of fire emblem games, only awakening and one of the GBA games but the ones I've played have had pretty good storylines and charming (albeit a bit one dimensional and anime-y) characters. It doesn't have the most complex character arcs since they're usually predefined most of the time but it is a pretty nice change from other games that focus entirely on the development of a few characters. The relationship system also gave way for a bit of dynamic story telling which is pretty cool.

After beating Path of Radiance I have a new outlook on the series.

Personally, I love Fire Emblem solely because it keeps my mind entertained, building my tactics, delving into each and every characters backstory through support conversations, and simply learning the lore.

Plus the art style is super aesthetic, at least before we got to awakening and fates.

I enjoyed the newest 3 games for the 3DS, Awakening, Fates, and Shadows of Valentia, mostly because of the simplicity, yet complexity at the same time the game can offer. You can play on casual to allow for non permanent death, as well as playing on classic mode, testing your skills as a strategist and maneuvering through each map as if your actual life depended on it. I also enjoy the romancing in Awakening and Fates, and I was fine with it not being in Shadows of Valentia since it let me enjoy different aspects, such as a dual story and dungeon crawling.

I have played all the games since awakening so far, so I am still pretty new to the series but I would definitely say that I enjoyed valentia more than awakening or fates and I have yet to fully complete 3 houses. I enjoy it because I like getting to know the characters and their relationships with one another and I still want to get around to playing the earlier games of the series one day too since I love the look of them but I suck at strategy so I would probably lose most of my characters in like no time flat knowing me. XD

LuckyCharms : I think it's wild to find people who are just now being introduced to the series - I've been playing this since I was a kid, and Awakening came out after I'd already poured thousands of hours into the series, and you were just getting started. Super neat.

LuckyCharms : I think it's wild to find people who are just now being introduced to the series - I've been playing this since I was a kid, and Awakening came out after I'd already poured thousands of hours into the series, and you were just getting started. Super neat.

merf : Yeah that is pretty neat I must admit. XD I really want to get into the older games but I'm not really good when it comes to tactics and I think I prefer the style of the games with pixels. I was wondering if you had any recommendations of games in the series that you would recommend to me? :o