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...Your opinions never fail to astound and bewilder me.
FE7 was made as a prequel, and that somehow lowers its appeal? Have you learned nothing from Star Wars?
As for the story not being as satisfying as people make it sound, I redirect you to FD's evaluation which was more objective than opinion.
Also, slight objective correction: Not seeing our FE7 characters in FE6 does not mean they are dead. It means we do not see them. They are not involved in the goings on of the world at the current time. Quite a few of the characters in FE7 were made to go on to live average lives away from the military or politics, thus having no obligatory appearance. Plus, we learn that some characters die, such as Karla and, though presented only as a rumor in her ending, Vaida. Unless we are told that a character is dead, we have no reason to believe that he or she is. We can only make theories for the ones, such as Ninian or any other of Eliwood's pairings, who logically might be seen and aren't. This claim of yours is an assumption and nothing more.

Lolwut pear: ...I'm not sure what game you're thinking of when you say "relying on magic and dragons". I cannot think of any FE game where one could really do that, given the low amount of dragon rider and dragon units in each game.

Lyon: You do realize that racism exists in other games that come before FE9, yes? For instance, in FE's 6+7 there is distinct racism against nomadic peoples. The level in Lyn's story where she meets Rath is a prime example. Though, I suppose you may specifically mean that you appeal towards the way the racism factor was so firmly pressed into the plot of FE9?

Best: FE7
Worst: FE8

Luckily Fire Emblem isn't about the Dragons the riders ride. 4laugh And don't pull that Thracia BS with me; it's not King Trabant's dragon who is causing greef. :/

And just for the record: Luke Skywalker- the earlier sequel/ Star Wars IV-VI >>>> Anakin Star Wars I-III.

Oh, you just had to ask the writer/English major about plot. XD

Cutting out the long literary commentaries no one wants to read, my votes are hands down as follows:

Best: FE 7, Blazing Sword. The reason I keep coming back to this game over and over and over and over again is for the plot, the story, and the characters. Yes, the game play isn't extraordinary and the graphics are no longer top-of-the-line, but that's not what I play it for. I still cry when Ninian dies; I still feel awful for Hector when he realizes his brother's dying and Oswin's been hiding that fact from him on Uther's orders; I still want to rip Sonia's eyes out for what she did to Nino and the Reed family; I still want to slap Nergal and make him realize what he's doing to Ninian and Nils, make him remember. This is an amazing story with a plot that is not contrived or forced and also fits seamlessly into the timeline with its sequel game, and by far my favorite.

Worst: FE 8, Sacred Stones. Gameplay aside, everything just seems so forced. Yes, it does make sense, but at the same time, even Lyon seems out of character at times, nevermind his split-personality deal. I don't feel any attachment to most of the characters, and the story never drew me in. About a month ago I picked this game up again, and not two chapters in I was already starting to get sick of it, just because of the story. And everyone else has pretty much said all that needs to be said about this.

Loving all the interaction between people this week, so I'll jump right back in.

@Lyon/Rath: There has been racism or at least ostracism in every game in the series, I believe:
-Marth's games: Dragons are outcast and spat upon by social norms, essentially being racism.
-Jugdral games: Isaacians and Verdanians are both seen as inferiors by other people much like how Nomads are later in the series. Before Yurius is in power, Lopt members weren't exactly welcome anywhere either.
-Elibe games: Dragons got kicked out of Elibe: how is that not racism by default on a massive scale? Sacaens, too.
-FE8... pretty tame. Unsurprising for one of the weakest games in the series.
-Tellius games: Obvious beyond obvious.

@Rath&Lolwut: Rath wasn't pulling and Thracia BS on you, Lolwut. I don't think he even knows who Trabant IS. Conversely, I think Lolwut was referring to Nergal's intentions when he mentioned dragons and magic (which is majorly shafting FE7 in so many ways, IMO, but moving along).

@OJ: There's a link to the translation patch I use right from Serenes Forest. And this is just the patch, not the ROM itself, so the link is perfectly legal.

@Rath&Demon: Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I would point out, Demon, that you didn't cite any reason for why you think FE6 has the best plot in the series (I'd also argue that not all opinions are created equal: the opinion of someone who's played EVERY game in the series will be more objective than someone who has only played 3. Likewise, opinions based on logical reasoning have more clout than others in most circumstances). You merely listed reasons for why you think FE7 doesn't deserve it (an effort which can be read as a concession that FE7 is indeed better in terms of plot). But let's consider the FE6 plot:

A maniacal King tries to take over the continent and give it to Dragons and a 15 year old boy somehow manages to lead up an army against him to stop him without any tactical advice because he's that amazing. Is it grandiose in scale? Yes. Is it thorough or moving? Hardly. FE6 is surprisingly shallow when it comes to plot, actually, and quite stereotypical fantasy in many ways. It's basically: "we fought Bern here, and then here, and then here, and learned about the dragons here and here, and fought Bern again here." The large-scale of FE6's plot actually hurts it, arguably, because since it moves so quickly from battle to battle without allowing for very much character or plot development at all. The plot is actually kind of boring when compared with some other entries when you think about it, really. It starts with Bern being the bad guys and sticks on that note for a really, really long time before shifting to backstory on the Dragons for some bonus chapters. It terms of plot, FE6 might not be the worst in the series, but it's pretty bland, all the same.

And it's not really fair to say you dislike FE7's plot because the majority of characters don't appear in FE6. It's not FE6. It's FE7. Whether they appear in FE6 or not has nothing to do with FE7's plot.

@ FD: I was always under the impression that he did play FE4, but nonetheless, then that just gives me merit to say that FE4 > FE7 IMO (and really, I mean IMO) in that: sure, there was a dark cult somewhere in there, but it wasn't the only thing fueling the story. Keep in mind, Manfroy would have gotten nowhere without the political strive which in turn is his ultimate weapon to set the stage for the greatest game to grace the Fire Emblem series storyline-wise.

And regarding FE6, it's his opinion, I think we're being a bit harsh on him by trying to shove FE7 down his throat. I mean I can go on to rant of how better Luke Skywalker is than his father, but all n' all, nothing will persuade those Darth Vader fans out there just as nothing will persuade me to change my opinion on Luke Skywalker.

@ Penguin: If the lack of supports was a turn off for you, anything below FE6 probably isn't best for you.. but yeah, FE11 was rather bad in comparison to others, but it's like comparing Dragon Warrior to Dragon Quest VIII, you can if you want and technically be correct, but it ain't right. D:

And IMO: I thought FE11 was the best remake of FE1 yet, FE1 was just scary without any movement range to tell you how far to move (Meduith's song made me want to rip my eardrums out) and FE3 was great, but the menus were too sloppy as well as it was REAAAAALLY slow whereas FE11 had fast animations and stuff. But of course, bad Anglicized names (Sheeda to Caeda, ouch, Maji into Cord, please stop, Chiki into Tiki, OH GOD).

Ah, I guess I was being harsh, I see, if you read this Rath, I did not know that. I LOVE politics (I want to major in social sciences) so FE4 really hit home to me as it was the prime concern in FE4 (such as all the nations [Thracia in particular] taking advantage of the Empire to better their nations). Relying 100% on magic and mythic beasts just ain't my cup of tea, but then again, I'm a gameplay kind of dude as well (which is why FE5 is my personal favourite), so I CAN play a crappy story game and love it, but I guess why FE6-10 are so low in my tier is for one personal reasons, but two, after playing such wonderful games such as 3 (Book 2), 4 and 5, the rest sort of lose their meaning, but that's for another time to talk about, this week is about the stories.

Maybe for favouritism? I know I can love a crappy game if it has a kickass hero, Roy fills that role for some, and maybe he has something against Eliwood?