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I first started playing fire emblem games with Path of Radiance and then Radiant Dawn. I only started originally because of my wife; we were engaged at the time. She has only one good hand so it was important to find games that both of us could enjoy without one just being a spectator. Be that as it may, I still handled most of the combat. I'm sure that others are more polished than I am but I figure that I can throw my two cents in to get the talk flowing.

I tend to play with an aggressive defense strategy that I learned from X-COM Apocalypse. This strategy can be condensed down to a few points.

-I do not tolerate the loss of any character under my control.

-I create a shield wall in suitable choke points and fully capitalize on the canto skill as well as flying units.

-I lead with ranged troops such as mages and archers to weaken the enemy front line troops and then follow up with frontline fighters to finish them off.

This minimizes damage received by my characters and allows me to protect any underdeveloped characters long enough to build them up. In Radiant Dawn for example, I have brought Fiona into the tower. The forces there, with few exceptions, could not hurt her and Wishblade became... even more deific than it already was when in her grip. Meg is actually one of my most common linchpins in the tower due to her ability to not only wield Alondite but also develop into a nearly invincible frontline bulwark. The combination allows her to function in combat as an alternative centerpoint of the defensive line should something go wrong and Ike be injured enough to require a momentary withdrawl.

Thanks for both of your contributions guys. Hopefully I'll see more different faces around here to join in. Before I actually start though I really find what Haeo said about Fiona and Meg very interesting. A lot of fans of the FE series hates on Radiant Dawn and honestly looking at Meg and Fiona from a statistically point of view they're kind of mediocre units. And the only way to get them decent enough is if you have loads of patience in order for them to become useful to you. Fiona I think would've faired better if she was a magic unit or something of that class but that's my opinion on the matter. But anyways, I just find it interesting that there's someone that actually had a positive thing to say.(Meg is adorable though not gonna lie there)

Now, as for my approach when it comes to Fire Emblem. If anyone knows me well enough, I have a strong passion for the old Shining Force game series. Of course now the series is dead to me to what it has become ever since Tony Taka became the lead character designer but that is a long irrelevant rant which shouldn't be said here.

The original game on the Sega was my childhood way before I knew about Fire Emblem I didn't exactly own the game though. There was a neighborhood kid that I used to play with who had it on a CD rom for the PC and it was known as Sega Smash Pack. I never had a huge interest into strategy all that much mostly because I was pretty bad at them. Though, I did enjoy a game of checkers when I was in grade school. Shining Force was the game that showed me that strategy games can be really fun, dramatic, and charming if done correctly in the right way. At the time I loved everything about it and even today as flawed the original is, it's very nostalgic to me. It's a simple, fun, memorable story that is done to death a dozen times but it was fine at the time because not many games did it much at the time.

I remember how my neighbor and I got to the final chapter boss and we got destroyed badly because we didn't understand how the mechanics worked. Number one having a variety of different units, and second making your units stronger and using tactics in the most essential way counts.. It took me many years until I got the game and beat it after many hours.

However, Fire Emblem is a different deal compared to shining force and it should not be called a Fire Emblem rip-off to those that think it is. Shining Force has the tactics but it has more of an RPG logic to it so when characters falling in battle you can revive them for a small fee. Fire Emblem deals death with an entirely realistic approach on the matter and it gets you to stay emotionally attached to your characters.When a character dies they stay dead. Every move freaking counts especially in the harder difficulties or harder games like Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. I can certainly understand the thought behind why many confuse it like Fire Emblem. Shining Force has terrain and the strategy part. There's a wide and diverse amount of recruitable characters that you can find but that's kinda it really...

Like with Shinon, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword(Or call it FE7 if you will) was my first Fire Emblem game. I got it out of curiosity during the smash melee popularity era. I've talked about my first FE game and how I got into it so I don't see the need to repeat that.

The point is when I got down to play it, I didn't realize what I was getting into. The concept of perma-death was kind of difficult for me to comprehend at first within my 13 year old brain. So yes, I made a ton of mistakes like relying solely on prepromoted units to get the job for me. I used Marcus all the way to the end even though I think he's awesome now. I abandoned on using earlier units and cared about who's more stronger. Sure, availability is important to consider but that's not the only thing that matters. I think it ends up with characters or units you like to use and they appeal to you as the player. There is bias within experience so objectivity is another matter.

There's just very many ways FE players approach the game so it honestly depends. Some players like Haeo are aggressive players, some are passive and are very carefully and defensive, and there's a mix of both. Me, personally I'd have say I'm in the middle of both being aggressive and defensive. Both are critically important elements in Fire Emblem. I pick a variety of balanced units which I find fascinating to use and suits me personally. I even like Axe users which I understand wouldn't be popular. There's a lot of bad ones but I still think they can be useful.

If there's anything FE5 taught me when I attempted the game my first try blind. It's definitely that every unit you is essential to survive. Never ever focus on certain characters EVER. Or you'll find yourself having a bad trolltastic time with FE5 I kid you not. There's such a massive character roster in Fire Emblem so it's up to you to use them to their fullest potential.

I've been playing Fire Emblem since 2003 and here it is, 2015. That's 12 years of Fire Emblem. Holy. Crow.

Anyway, I can't exactly remember anymore how I played when I first started out. I know I used to use archers a lot; now I tend to pick one and occasionally a second, and that's it. Mostly I use magic users, peg knights, and sword users, in addition to the given lords, and I heavily favor the magic users. I'm more willing to use lance wielders now than I was before, and mounted units aside from Rath (who is normally my go-to bow wielder in FE7).

I think I've always been very cautious in my play style; it is absolutely unacceptable for me to lose a unit (unless I'm playing FE11 and want the gaiden chapters), so yes, I played Awakening on casual mode the first time. Sue me. I don't like rushing, and I like to defeat the enemy before they have a chance to attack me. Although oddly enough, I'm far more reckless in FE13 than I am in the other FEs, mostly cause once I get the kids, or at least Morgan and Lucina, the rest of the game is a breeze (except for a certain paralogue and some of the DLC chapters).

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, my strategy is different depending on which game it is. But for the most part, I use the lords, magic users, Rath, Florina, Nino, Morgan, and Lucina. It's been a while since I've played 8 or 9, and I've only played 10 and 11 once, so I can't speak for them as much as I can for 7 and 13.

Haha, I just ended up listing five of my favorite FE characters because of an Ask on my tumblr... *snort* But that would be an interesting thread to post in should you make it, Rhys! =D We'll see how vastly or similarly everyone's faves are!

I got into Fire Emblem because I kept seeing this copy of Path of Radiance at my local Vintage Stock and kept looking at it and wondering what it was like -- I've always liked turn-based strategy games; as a kid, I played the hell out of Final Fantasy Tactics, plus the two that came after that and other games with similar mechanics (Front Mission 3 comes to mind). Plus, I've always enjoyed chess (despite that I don't feel I'm that good at it). Strategy games in general really appeal to me because I think of myself as a "swordsman" insofar as anyone can be that in our age, and I take that to naturally entail that I should be an aspiring tactician also.

Plus, I'm just really competitive, and really like a challenge.

As tactics go, I tend to play defensively. I place myself in defensible positions and allow enemies to attack me while I take the strongest formation the circumstance allows. I don't typically make much use of Dancers, actually -- I try to position everyone as I want them the first time around, and the Dancer typically constitutes another point of vulnerability that I need to consciously defend.
I don't allow anyone to die, ever. It's rarely a concern at this point, though, being accustomed as I am to the game's rules.
Out of personal preference, I tend to value highly evasive units like Swordmasters significantly more than highly defensive ones like Generals (also, I just have a personal affinity for Swordmasters in particular anyway).
I tend to advance in formation unless the power differential is great enough to render that just a waste of time. I like to draw fire using units I know will survive it and finish off any remaining attackers using supportive units.
Due to my approach, I frequently feel I end chapters with what is probably a relatively high turn count.

It's funny, because I feel like the kind of person who's naturally inclined towards offensive tactics, but apparently not in this context.

I started playing with Blazing Sword, I think a year or two after its release. I was initially interested in the series after unlocking the characters Marth and Roy in Melee, so it was nice to see it start coming to the West. I played tactical RPGs before that with Advance Wars and before that I was doing strategy games like Chess, so I was curious to see how I'd do starting off.

It wasn't that great, mostly because of perma-death. I didn't know how the AI functioned (even now the AI still does weird things) so it was mostly trial and error going through. I kept my options open and explored a lot of character unit types going in. When I started out, it was mounted units and mages for days. Eliwood was level 12 when he had his forced-promotion.

My strategy follows as such: move slowly and turtle as needed. There is no need to send my units deep into enemy territory. They will come for me. Once their numbers match mine, only then will I start moving more aggressively. It hurts for speedruns but at least everyone is more or less equal in level. Stat-boosting items are usually saved until the very end and given to units that are either close to capping or to improve the stunted growths so that they're move viable.

Wow, I forgot about this thread of mine, it's been awhile since anyone posted. except for Roy awhile back.


To be fair killing Shinon in FE9 is a completely understandable mistake. You have to talk to him first with Rolf then let Ike deliver the finishing blow. It's not really something you would think to do the first time playing. Normally when you have a character talk to another character they'll join you but no, not in Shinon's case. And honestly Shinon in FE9 is kind of mediocre compared to FE10 Shinon who's like the best marksman in the entire game. FE9 Shinon is incredibly useful in the beginning I won't deny that, but both he and Gatrie leaves and by the point you get Shinon back his base stats aren't very impressive. You have Rolf who's a much better Sniper and there's more time to use him. Imo he growths WAY better as a unit because of his awesome availability.

Also, the recent FE games are too easy for you? Have you played Conquest? That game on normal classic is pretty brutal on its own.

(Btw I actually kinda like Reina)

EDIT: Wait... I realized there was a few more others than Roy who have posted. It's greatly appreciated all of you who have posted in this old thread I made. It's interesting to see different answers. XP