I really want to play Fire Emblem: Awakening, but here's the thing.

I played Path of Radiance for a bit when it came out, then I got distracted with something. Fastforward to like 2007 or 2008, I start Path of Radiance over, love the hell out of it, and finish it. Then I foolishly roll right into playing Radiant Dawn, to find that I don't like the way the game is structured (constantly giving and taking away party members for plot reasons), and also I'm maybe a little burnt out on Fire Emblem. I finished the first act, with the Dawn Brigade, and stopped I think on the first mission of the second act. That's where my save file still is. I don't think I would have to start my file over, because frankly so little had happened in the second act that I think I could just jump back in. I didn't like it as much as Path of Radiance, but I do want to get back to it.

But my enthusiasm for Awakening is super high. I know the stories are unrelated, but my issue is that if I play Awakening first, I'll probably be satisfied with Fire Emblem again for a little while, and I really don't want to have this half-played Wii game STILL kicking around when it's already been like 3 or 4 years since it was last in my Wii. But if I play Radiant Dawn first, I fear it will dampen my enthusiasm for Awakening, and also I'll miss out on all the forum buzz and timeliness of actually playing a Fire Emblem game near launch (which I've never had the opportunity to do).

Basically, I want to play Awakening way more, but if I start playing Awakening I fear I will just never get around to playing Radiant Dawn.

@BisonHero: You want to play Awakening, you are excited for it. You don't want to resume Radiant Dawn, you already played a good chunk of it.

Easy solution: go and get on to playing Awakening. You can always go back to Radiant Dawn if you find yourself wanting to.

I'm about three hours into Awakening, it's great. It'll probably have long legs with all the dlc they have planned, so I say jump on board now.

@BisonHero: I say just play Awakening, man. I'm really enjoying my time with it as far as gameplay and presentation. As for Radiant Dawn, you have to learn to let go.

Better to play Awakening and enjoy it than to play Radiant Dawn and lose your enthusiasm again. Awakening is a significantly superior game imo. You don't have to beat every game you own.

Radiant Dawn is a slog at times and it's probably one of my least favorite games in the series. Ergo, I would be fully in favor of you just playing Awakening, the Fire Emblem game that people seem to really like.

@BisonHero: I'd consider myself a advocate of Radiant Dawn but it seems like you're just more excited for Awakening. I doubt anything I would say would convince you otherwise.

The Ambassador Sacred Stones was my first Fire Emblem, and it got me really excited for Awakening. I was considering trying to find reasonably priced copies of the Cube and Wii games ($120 & $100 on Amazon no thanks) but I think you just talked me out of Radiant Dawn.

@sonicrift said:

The Ambassador Sacred Stones was my first Fire Emblem, and it got me really excited for Awakening. I was considering trying to find reasonably priced copies of the Cube and Wii games ($120 & $100 on Amazon no thanks) but I think you just talked me out of Radiant Dawn.

Path of Radiance is legit awesome. You have your main character and his band of friends, you go from area to area on this quest, pickin' up knights and mages and wolfmen, then you bring it all home and fight the bad guy at the end. Throughout, you choose how to make your main posse of dudes and who to leave on the bench, because you have a lot of options.

The structure of Radiant Dawn is just weird. It's a continuation, but it's split up into chapters, with each chapter taking place in a different country, and using only a portion of the full cast of characters. So right off the bat, don't get too attached to your current group of characters, because you only have them for the current act, until suddenly you resolve that act, and are then dealt a new set of characters. It does all come together at the end (from what I've heard), but it's kind of a bummer that you only have the full roster available in the final act. Also, at least in what I've played of the game so far, it seems to really like giving and taking away characters for plot reasons (keeping in mind you will eventually get that character available again at a later point), but short term that messes with you sometimes. Also, the first act keeps giving you characters that are WAY too high level, as if the game is actively trying to trick you into not giving XP to your low level party members.

If you can somehow get a copy of it, Path of Radiance is super legit, though if you're really observant you may notice a couple plot threads left suspiciously unresolved. Radiant Dawn resolves those threads, but I'm not crazy about the game overall.