Agree with almost everything; thing is, i really like the game. Yes, you can pretty much kill everything in the game with a few characters, leaving behind 75% of the characters without barely touching, but I think that this game really depends of story, and your personal liking to characters, to really stand out. 

I have put 120 hours on this game, only beaten one time, and was on hard/classic. The game was challenging in the initial chapters, when you have to really use your brain to make it alive without anyone dying. Yes, this part can be easy if you use frederick, but i tried not to use him to often, as i made the mistake in Fire emblem: Path of radiance to use titania (aka frederick) too much on initial chapters, making the game difficult when titania was not so good in later chapters. The difference is, while PoR leave you with few units and not opportunity of grinding (making you select only a few as the elite of your army), Awekening gives you the opportunity of grinding, gives you a massive army, and gives you DLC which complety kill strategy on this game. Yes, you can play the story without grinding, but i think this game wasn made with this in mind.

The thing is, this game is broken; nosferatu, avatar and pairing up make this game easy on hard, and the game for me is more like a RPG that a SRPG. I only want to make my units stronger, unlock their relationships, and see how marry/children affect my army. I only found strategy on DLC missions, and only in a few. This game is more about opening Fire emblem to the not-fan players that being a fire emblem. And even with that on mind, i still love this game; but as i have mentioned, is more about the characters and story than the "SRPG". Maps have almost zero level of strategy; your only objectivies are killing everyone in the battle; and an army of 50 (yes i too have made this) is easily killed by my avatar/children combination.

So yes. Gameplay is broken, yet fun when i see it like a RPG and not like a SRPG. Ost is spectacular. Story is ok with a few big,emotional, moments. Graphics are really good for 3DS.

I could not give a rats you could not give a rats ass about metacritic. You made a general statement about an entire genre. Game quality is subjective in nature, aggregate review attempt objectify a games quality.  Else I would only have word of mouth to go on like "jrpgs are going down the crapper" by some who has not only not played the game in question, but is basing his premise of someone else's word of mouth impression.

Awakening is very different and very similar to the rest of the franchise at same time, and actually borrows elements from most of every previous game. The world map was used in Sacred Stones on the GBA, the Avatar character is a returning idea from the other Fire Emblem GBA game, Reclassing was used on the DS entry, and some of the main characters were heavily inspired by characters from the GCN/Wii games. There's no definite consensus as to which is the best, as different fans will have different opinions obviously, but my personal favorite is Path of Radiance (FE9) on the Gamecube. I've mentioned it on another thread (funny how most of my few posts here have been about the same games XD), but FE9 really hit all the right chords with me. The characters, story progression, and overall themes were sublime. 

Anyways, I'll post my own personal comparisons below, using only the titles that been released outside of Japan. I tend to avoid fan-translations and don't speak Japanese, but I can offer my opinion on those titles, if you're interested in playing any of them.

Story: Path of Radiance (GCN) > Fire Emblem (GBA) > Radiant Dawn (Wii) > Awakening (3DS) > Sacred Stones (GBA) > Shadow Dragon (DS)

Gameplay/Mechanics: Path of Radiance (GCN) > Awakening (3DS) > Radiant Dawn (Wii) > Fire Emblem (GBA) > Sacred Stones (GBA) > Shadow Dragon (DS)

Support/Relationship System: Awakening (3DS) > Fire Emblem (GBA) > Sacred Stones (GBA) > Path of Radiance (GCN) > Radiant Dawn (Wii) > Shadow Dragon (DS)

As you can see, I wasn't a huge fan of Shadow Dragon on the DS. It wasn't a bad game by any means, but after the epic stories of the GCN and Wii games, it just fell pretty far short to me. The game itself was a remake of the first game in the series, released on NES/Famicom, and the story really wasn't as interesting to me.  

The GBA games were both incredibly fun, and I loved the story of the first. That particular game was actually a prequel to one of the Japan-only games, but it's really not necessary to play that one (as I assumed most Western fans didn't). Sacred Stones, the other GBA title, used nearly the same game engine as (if not the same) as the the first. The only notable difference in that one was the World Map feature, something that returned in Awakening, which allows the players to grind if they choose.

The GCN/Wii games had an interwoven story, so I'd recommend playing them together, if possible. I've already fanboyed over PoR enough, but its sequel was also a fantastic entry. I wasn't a huge fan of the game's sometimes inconsistent difficulty, and the support system was essentially pointless, but I thought it was a worthy sequel, and a proper conclusion to the Ike/Tellius games. 

Now...Awakening. Like I said earlier, I really didn't share Soriku's complaint about the levels being mindless, nor did I find it all that repetitive outside of bonus or Spotpass missions. The problem is, like FOX was saying, the game really allows you to play however you like. It can be incredibly challenging or mind-numblingly easy, depending on if you choose to exploit some of the game's mechanics or not. Awakening was really intended to be accessible to the widest possible number of fans, which is exactly why it pulled in so many new ones. Whether or not you like that accessibility is a matter of opinion. I was glad that I was able to play the game in close to the same way as every previous entries, so the option to grind or break stat caps with Team Ups really didn't bother me as much. I admit to taking advantage of these options while playing Hard Mode, but at the end of the day, these options were...well, optional. Breaking the game is by no means necessary to finish the game on standard difficulties.

Compared to the other games in the franchise, I found Awakening to be more or less in the center of my favorites. I enjoyed the story, loved the gameplay, and was a big fan the support system. My only gripe with the latter was that it sacrificed quality for quantity, in a way. It was nice being able to marry your avatar with most any playable character of the opposite gender, and marry basically any member of your army together, but I found the supports to be a bit less compelling than the GBA games. I ranked it above those games due to the incredible amount of possibilities, but I'd say it's more a matter of personal opinion.

Hope that answered your question at some point!

Yo! Thanks for the detailed reply.

I'm a bit busy with new years and all atm, so I'm tagging this for tomorrow