Fire Emblem is a series of peaks and valleys. Rarely is it bad, but there are a few games in the series that just get it. FE8 is one of those games. For it's era this is a really good Fire Emblem. Only a couple of midgame maps are really boring, but the entire cast stands out and this is the first time in the series (I suppose FE2, in a janky way, had branched promotions) that you're really given the chance to customize your units. The entire cast is great: colorful characters that don't feel too tropey, and I can forgive the GBA/early console support system for being what it is given it's from that era of Fire Emblem. Just an absolutely swell game.