I tried playing The Binding Blade a couple times in the past, but never found myself getting too far in it due to the obvious reasons - hit rates too low, ambush reinforcements, strong enemies, a weak early game cast, and poor growths making the game feel like it's going to be a punishing slog. But my enthusiasm for Fire Emblem has never been higher, and I think I played it at the right time to appreciate it.
The real problem is that the game is unpredictable ways which can be frustrating. I reset more than a few times due to inescapably bad odds messing up my plans. For example, Fire Emblem has never really done status effects well, and the AI seemed to use and successfully hit berserk and sleep spells way more often than any other game. Same with bolting and other long-range tomes. I'm glad I played my first full run on an emulator since it's really unfair to a blind playthrough.
Items in this game were a little bit off for me. While I was happy there are plenty of stat boosters which allowed me to keep a couple units I liked viable, I did find myself waiting around too long to get Hero Crest and Knight Crest that I gave up on the secondary projects I was working on. I tried bringing Noah and Fir back for the late game, but it was clear they were outclassed by the promoted units that you get later on. The gap between great and average or above average units is pretty steep in this game.
Overall, while I feel like I could pick up FE7 and FE8 at any time and have it feel fresh in some way, I don't feel any rush to jump into FE6 hard mode any time soon. I can't imagine another playthrough would be dramatically different in the way that other games can be. I might check out Project Ember or a randomized run in the future, but I don't have as much desire to jump back into vanilla FE6.
The real problem is that the game is unpredictable ways which can be frustrating. I reset more than a few times due to inescapably bad odds messing up my plans. For example, Fire Emblem has never really done status effects well, and the AI seemed to use and successfully hit berserk and sleep spells way more often than any other game. Same with bolting and other long-range tomes. I'm glad I played my first full run on an emulator since it's really unfair to a blind playthrough.
Items in this game were a little bit off for me. While I was happy there are plenty of stat boosters which allowed me to keep a couple units I liked viable, I did find myself waiting around too long to get Hero Crest and Knight Crest that I gave up on the secondary projects I was working on. I tried bringing Noah and Fir back for the late game, but it was clear they were outclassed by the promoted units that you get later on. The gap between great and average or above average units is pretty steep in this game.
Overall, while I feel like I could pick up FE7 and FE8 at any time and have it feel fresh in some way, I don't feel any rush to jump into FE6 hard mode any time soon. I can't imagine another playthrough would be dramatically different in the way that other games can be. I might check out Project Ember or a randomized run in the future, but I don't have as much desire to jump back into vanilla FE6.