I have not played every Strategy/Tactical RPG out there but I am a fan of the genre. Since Shinning Force and Final Fantasy Tactics I learnt to worship and love this genre.

I see these days a lot people singing Valkyria Chronicles praises and I think it is well deserved. It is a fresh and innovative game with a cute story and presentation. It is very unique and there is a lot of fun involved in deciding either to choose for lots of snipers or troopers in a specific mission. Valkyria Chronicles was one of the main reasons I decided to buy a PS3 and I don't regret a bit.

The reason I am sharing this with you is because I think there is a game out there that, the way I see it, is way better than Valkyria. It has a terrific story, is much larger, way harder and a better experience all around, but it didn't get the praise it deserves either from the critics (wait, a hardcore game on the Wii with no motion controls?) neither from the public. That wonderful game is Fire Emblem and I think every SRPG fan should play this game no matter what. There is a lot of strategy into each battle: you need to think not only about how to win a battle, but at the same time you need to take special care into improving everybody's experience without losing a single ally. That is epic!

Graphics are not amazing neither bad, not that any SPRG would really need them to be outstanding. Anyhow, the FMV are gorgeous and they feel pretty much as a well earnd prize after the glorious efforts that were faced.

I am not saying you should hate Valkyria, no one who is not mentally ill would do that. I am just saying that if you like the genre or if you tried Valkyria and you loved it and somehow there is a Wii somewhere around you, it wouldn't hurt you to try Fire Emblem out. Even better if you can play the Gamecube Path of Radiance first.

In the meantime, I am eagerly waiting for a non portable follow up of both of them.

I couldn't get through FE: RD. Found it way too annoying that people that died stayed gone forever instantly which drives me crazy because I always feel like I should restart a mission if I lose someone. Compound that with the fact I didn't really care about the story enough to make it through the difficulty of the game and I guess this would all lead to me disagreeing with your comparison of the two.

That's exactly what I had to do lots of times.

Funny how being hard is one of the things that people praise about Demon's Soul. In Fire Emblem, just like in it, when one of your characters die is only your fault. And you know it. It's up to you to try it again and grow better or not.

I know this kind of gameplay may lead to frustration and it's not meant to be enjoyed by everyone. But I don't get how it can be praised by Gamespot when it comes down to Demon's Soul and point out as a serious problem when it comes down to Fire Emblem.

But it isn't like Demon's Souls because when you fail in Demon's Souls it can only be your fault.  On the other hand when FE:RD gives me a mission where I'm supposed to protect two utterly retarded merchants that I don't control and the computer seems happy to send these two to certain doom whenever possible that drives me up a wall.  I probably would have finished the game if I hadn't gotten distracted by some game in the middle of it (no recollection what), but I find no drive whatsoever to pick the game back up. 

From what I can tell, Radiant Dawn is way harder than Valyria, even on Easy mode. It's not going to appeal to the same people, even within the same genre, if only because it's going to kick the shit out of most people who pick it up.

All right, I guess I can take issue with this.

If you lose in Radiant Dawn, it's one hundred percent your fault. part of the tutorial for the level to which you refer shows you how to direct allied units - you set a yellow cursor that yellow units (like the merchants) run toward, so you direct where they move. It's very, very important for your strategies.

Radiant Dawn, more than any other game in the genre I've played, is fair. It is hard, but it is fair. If you lost, it's because you fouled up, not because the computer behaved poorly.

Perhaps I missed that, or attempted using that and still failed.  I'd tell you that I would give the game another shot, but I sold it a while ago since I felt no reason to get back into it so oh well. 

I trust you will not take offense if I say that, that being the case, you're not really qualified to make comparisons between the games.

Not that I am, of course. Only a handful on the boards have played both games for any length of time (though I plan to play Valkyria when I have access to a PS3).

I enjoy FE games, but I found Valkyria superior in every way except difficulty...

And how long do you think someone has to get through the game before they are qualified?  I made it through that fight, I would have to check my memory on the Wii to see exactly how long I played.