Path of Radiance has one of the most captivating plots in the entire series.
Ike is also one of the best FE protagonists, in my opinion. The fact that he isn't of royal blood, and that he doesn't know much about the world outside of his home nation of Crimea, makes him more relatable than most FE-lords and protags without having the need to give him amnesia or something.

Coming to this after only having played the 3DS games and finding out that Fire Emblem games can have more than only Rout the Enemy objectives was a real eye-opener as well. For example, there is a stealth mission which gives you the choice of either brute forcing your way through, or sneaking by unnoticed, which earns you some bonus EXP as compensation. My absolute favorite map in the entire game is the one where the enemy are using innocent, unarmed priests as meat shields. You can easily kill the priests in cold blood in order to reach the enemy, but the game rewards you with bonus EXP and items based on the amount of priests that are still alive at the end of the chapter.

The interesting map objectives and the plot makes this game truly shine, and this is so far my favorite Fire Emblem game.