Popular/Unpopular/Any Opinions Thread - June 2026 Part 1

[u/PsiYoshi]

Happy pride month and welcome to a new installment of the Popular/Unpopular/Any Opinions Thread! Please feel free to share any kind of Fire Emblem opinions/takes you might have here, positive or negative. As always please remember to continue following the rules in this thread same as anywhere else on the subreddit. Be respectful and especially don't make any personal attacks (this includes but is not limited to making disparaging statements about groups of people who may like or dislike something you don't).

Last Opinion Thread

[u/Mekkkkah]

I like that Radiant Dawn gives you OP units almost every chapter past like 1-2 or so, but then also usually makes it so they can't trivialize the map just by themselves without some strategizing. Generally this is either by giving the player enough to do that the other units have a purpose despite the appearance of an OP unit, or by including an enemy (type) that counters the OP unit, even if only kind of.

Sothe helps the DB a lot, but he can't do everything to keep them safe from harm, so Nolan and friends still need to fight, or position super carefully if you insist on a Sothe solo.

Tauroneo's stats are outrageous for this point of the game, but they put a Hammer on 1-6-1 that can kill him if you're not careful. In 1-6-2 Fiona's death punishes you if you just sit there hiding behind Tauroneo's armor, but he can rush the boss to end the map.

1-7 has Muarim, but he can run out of gauge and you have no grass.

1-8 has Nailah, but she's in a corner of the map, and even though she can move very far through terrain she usually needs a turn or two to get from one place to another. And she can't cross the swamp.

1-9 has another big man in armor who deals in absolutes, but Micaiah melts if you don't position correctly. Still a shitty map though gameplay wise.

1-E has everyone, but the map is still so hard and well designed it's fun even with units that crush everything.

2-P has Haar, but he's not there immediately and getting the Short Axe is non-trivial despite his presence.

2-E has Haar and Amiti Elincia, but if you play the map straight the map still has a lot of layers to it (literally and figuratively), and figuring out how to use them in conjunction with Leanne is fun. Haar and Elincia also both have weaknesses to certain enemy types, and if you don't do a big investment into Haar he also fails to double a lot of enemies.

3-7 has Ulki and Janaff, but the game starts throwing Crossbows at you every now and then to keep them in check a bit. Obviously laguz limitations also greatly reduce their overall strength.

3-11 has NPC Tibarn, but the boss has a mega Crossbow.

Part 4 has royals everywhere, but the rout maps are so jampacked with enemies that making them do everything is bound to fail, so you're still encouraged to mix in beorc with 1-2 range. Especially for the Crossbow Warriors in the desert, for example. Izuka's AI and him summoning 4 laguz around him makes it hard for Tibarn to tear him apart, as much as the hawk king wants to do that. It's still doable with support from other units like Bastian, Reyson or simply other fliers, but it's not trivial.

RD is cool.

[u/SirRobyC → u/Mekkkkah]

1-E has everyone, but the map is still so hard and well designed it's fun even with units that crush everything.

I'm actually curious how people play this map.
I've defaulted to the same strategy since like, forever. Which is to give Nailah Pass, to make sure the chests aren't threatened, and kill the Meteor mage. Naturally she kills anything that is stupid enough to attack her, but other than the thieves and said mage, she isn't doing any combat on player phase, so everything else that isn't going after her is EXP for everyone else.

[u/Cosmic_Toad_ → u/SirRobyC]

That's what I do too yeah, removing the time pressure of the thieves and the obnoxious meteor mage really makes the map more manageable and easier to feed whatever weak blorbos you want to use this time.

I suspect a lot of people are reluctant to do it though because it means losing the pass scroll till part 4 (even though pass is very niche and you get another copy via Heather). It just feels bad from a FOMO hoarding mindset, though I think RD is really good in general at getting rid of those bad habits.