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To me, Conquest reeks of wasted opportunity as far as the story goes. I still prefer conquest because I like the characters and the gameplay more, but I don't think the story was good on its' own by any stretch. Birthright's story was better, definately, but I didn't resonate with most of the characters as much, and the story wasn't good enough to completely make up for the so-so gameplay.
I found CQ especially disappointing since I love FE5 so much, and it did so many things that conquest did, but better and with more emotion and moral grey area. I went for Conquest first because it promised me storytelling through gameplay. I kinda got my wish, but it's a shame that the story stank.

I don't like how Fates in general treated character death. I don't think either were really "dark" in that regard. Sometimes the deaths held weight, like Ryoma in CQ and Xander in BR, but for the most part they just felt like shock deaths to me.

Conquest could've been handled better. But I still stand by what I said and I really prefer it over Birthright simply because the maps felt more memorable and the gameplay is still pretty damn good and creative. It FEELS like the most replayable game out of the three paths solely for that reason. Say what you will about the story not being THAT great. I realize it has problems But the fact of the matter is that it tried and I'm pretty satisfied for what I got in the end. Honestly I'm not really a big fan of Birthright's story either. The story is better put together I will agree that it has a better story. But most of birthright is forgettable and just not that interesting as a whole. There are powerful moments in there. Chapter 26 is freaking sad I will not deny that at all. But it just wasn't enough for me to feel invested.

Revelations probably has the best story out of the three paths combining the two previous games. And while doing that sounds pretty awesome, there are parts in it I don't really like. The endgame boss is incredible! But parts of the game felt lackluster because of the way they implemented the two paths together into it. .

I was fine with Fates as is, but I'm definitely with you Michuo I still don't think it holds a candle to the older games or demonstrates what the series was originally about. Every time I feel like they're on the right track IS holds back somehow. I've been a long time fan who has played every single FE game(except the NES games I haven't beaten them) and you know what I just feel like Fates is missing the big picture here. It's miles better than awakening that much is true I will give it that.

What made Fire Emblem so good wasn't always the gameplay because even the older games such as Pre-FE6 has issues, but they had the ability to tell a good story from beginning to end. It made the player more engaged and took the games more seriously with better care.

FE7, FE5, and FE9 are my personal favorites in the series because IS just put way more effort into these games.