You could *understand* the story without playing PoR, but you won't really appreciate it nearly as much since most of the cast are returning characters from PoR.

Do you already have these games?  If not... They are incredibly hard to find and prohibitively expensive...

that being said they are both great games, but awakening is by far the best in the series...

I've just bought Radiant Dawn.
But there are a couple games I will play first.
So I'm thinking of getting Path of Radiance too and starting that one first.
Its been a while since I've played a tactical rpg. And I'm looking forward to it.

Nice find with RD. Where'd you find?

I'm sure PoR is more rare.

I just got Radiant Dawn, and I found no major issue. The story was well crafted to be able to jump straight in without playing the original. Indeed, I've played it, what, 10 times if not more now? You'll love it, so just go for it!

This goes for the OP as well, ofcourse.

I found it on a dutch website for second-hand items, like ebay, for 30 euro. PoR is listed a couple times for 50 to 70 euro.

Sounds about right, GC gems go for a high price.

Bumpity bump.

I saw this thread before I went on vacation, and felt bad I didn't have a chance to give some insight on two of my favorite games. D:

FE9 / Path of Radiance is in my Top 5 list, so I'd strongly recommend trying that out first...if you can find it. FE10 / Radiant Dawn makes it pretty easy to jump right in, but some of the scenes in Part II/III of the game will hit you harder if you've played them in the proper order, or at least it was that way for me. I also thought FE9 tackled the complex themes of war and discrimination much better than FE10 did. The themes were present in both games, for sure, I just found FE9's focus to be done much better. It was the first Fire Emblem game where I actually stopped to think, "Am I the really the good guy here?"

The plot of FE9 was also much more focused than FE10, which expanded the previous game's cast and jumped around quite a bit more. This might be a matter of preference, though.

But....I do realize that FE9 is hard to find nowadays, so I certainly wouldn't say playing FE10 before FE9 is a waste of time. Both games are amazing, and FE10 does a great job of explaining the events of FE9, so you won't be lost if you play that one first. I think it's just a matter of how you'd prefer to experience those events.

Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy those fantastic games!

I'm the opposite. The customization and general freedom of Awakening makes all the difference. In fact, it makes Awakening a fundamentally different experience than previous FE games, because it essentially follows the same formula that makes Final Fantasy Tactics popular: start with a handful of low level units barely getting by, and end with a full, highly-cuztomized unstoppable legion. Does this come at the cost of balance? Yep. For those who think that FE's greatest strength is its ultra-refined, linear take on the genre, Awakening borders on blasphemy.

But I think Awakening combines the best aspects of two wonderful SRPG franchises into a strange, yet fascinating middle ground. FE's near-perfect interface and surprisingly accessible gameplay merged with FFT's penchant for class-based experimentation, and I can't stop playing the result. I just beat Awakening for the fifth time, to put things into perspective.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this!