Due to Fire Emblem Awakening's success the future of the franchise was saved. So now we can rest peacefully knowing there will be another one eventually.

The question is : What will the next one be like?

I thoroughly enjoyed Awakening  clocking in about 50 hours. However there were many things that I think were detrimental to the series. The RPG map battles/ grinding signigantly changed the way is played. Instead if mainly focusing on your  current battles strategy it was more about training your team. As a SRPG it was more rpg than strategy. AlsoI felt the ability to move around the map and do other battles messed up the flow of the story. In the Radiant games you got a more focused story that was steadily moving forward. Also I was quite dissapointed with the descicion to get rid of FE's normal unique art style to something more cliche anime(Although I'm willing to live with it if it means betters sales)

So will the world map type gameplay be the new norm in Fire emblem?  Will we ever see another console game? Will we ever get to return to the amazing continent of Tellius?

Awakening leaves me with a lot of questions. In the end I'm just happy the we'll be getting more Fire Emblem in any form.

This is the only nintendo series I like having played Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn on my brother's wii. My question would be: when is the next home console fire emblem? It seems that the series is historically more successful on handhelds so I'm not holding my breath. I wonder if that's a side effect of the handhelds just being more successful in general or the fans truly preferring handheld.

Historical sales for Fire Emblem are really hard to gauge, since the franchise's first five entries, all on consoles, never made it outside of Japan. Of the 7 console Fire Emblems, only 2 have made overseas, while 4 of the 6 handheld entries have made it. FE3 and FE4 are currently the best-selling entries in Japan, both on consoles.

But I would agree with your thinking, mostly due to how handheld-centric Japan is nowadays, and that FE is still a very Japanese-oriented franchise. I personally would put my bets on the next mainline game (excluding the SMT/FE crossover, which I'm super excited for) being on the 3DS and placed in Awakening's universe once again. With one exception, the games have always come in sets placed in the same universe. Whether it will be a prequel to Awakening, like FE7 was to FE6, or a direct sequel, like FE3 and FE10 were to FE1 and FE9 respectively, we'll have to wait and see.

Regarding your last comment, I don't have an exact idea how the Japanese fanbase thinks, but outside of Japan the Ike/Tellius games have a pretty strong following. Those two are actually my personal favorites in the franchise, so I'm also rooting for another mainline console entry. I think the notion that the franchise is better suited to handhelds is bogus. Awakening did a great job making the game easy to pick up and play in short spurts, but that's more the exception than the rule in the series. I don't recall any other FE title where my average play session would be under an hour.

On a side note, there was fun rumor on Serenesforest (online FE database/FC) a while back about Paris/Prium being included in Awakening as a hint that the next mainline title would return to the Tellius/Ike universe. *sighs* If only...

The free grinding in awakening was a bit annoying, the game lost all the difficulty it had in previous installments. Awakening was just too easy as a Fire Emblem, I liked how Radiant Dawn was so hard, it alway made me play carefully. Awakening is a great RPG, but an average Fire Emblem.
I really hope the next game is a bit more difficult, the series could return to Tellius and tell Greil's story.

FE: Awakening is my favorite in the series by far, so hopefully they continue down that road.

It would be a good a idea if the next Fire Emblem be a Free-to-Play. With online matches and stuff. Nintendo said they wanted to use the free-to-play model, but they metioned that they weren't using their biggest franchises.

Radiant Dawn was weird in the pacing department. Micaiah's chapters were pretty challenging then you get Ike's team who are way overpowered relatively, then at the end, you get a couple unkillable characters to help you beat the game. I didn't quite get why it was designed that way

I dont really consider that a mainline FE game

Yeah, I like the IKe story myself in the 2 games I've played. I'm not really a fan of handhelds though. If they keep releasing more for the 3DS, I guess I might cave in at some point if I have nothing else to play. IMO, SRPGs are better on consoles. They are typically long and complex games. I don't get why the genre has basically been relegated to handhelds these days. It may be the Japan preference again.

Reported. /s