History YMMV / FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade

** Lyn's Tale suffers from this to those who've played later games in the series. It was the first truly in-depth tutorial in the series, which was necessary at the time due to ''Blazing Blade'' being the first game released outside Japan. The issue now is that the tutorial is not only [[ForcedTutorial completely unskippable]] on a first playthrough (aside from a Japan-exclusive [[OldSaveBonus game-link]]), it lasts for ''[[ProlongedPrologue ten chapters]]'' (i.e., a full third of the non-sidequest chapters in the game), and very little of its plot is connected to the rest of the story. The actual tutorial itself outright ''[[{{Railroading}} forces]]'' certain moves on the player (Prologue is entirely scripted, Sain is forced to attack an Axe user with a Lance just to demonstrate TacticalRockPaperScissors; you're also forced to promote Wallace the moment he joins). Skipping straight to Eliwood or Hector's story (after beating the game once, of course) causes Lyn's entire legion to miss out on valuable experience. Thankfully, playing Lyn's story on Hard (which removes the tutorials) still allows you to change the difficulty to Normal for Eliwood or Hector mode, so players who don't want the tutorial aren't forced to play [[NintendoHard Hector Hard Mode]]... but again, that's only available ''after' beating the game once.
** Over time the game on a whole has hit this issue. It was well-beloved for its time, and was immensely important for being the first game in the series to be localized, but since people have newer, more polished entries to compare it to, as well as older games being translated to further put this title into perspective, it no longer has the appeal it once did, in which it was a one-of-a-kind for non-Japanese players.

** Lyn's Tale suffers from this to those who've played later games in the series. It was the first truly in-depth tutorial in the series, which was necessary at the time due to ''Blazing Blade'' being the first game released outside Japan. The issue now is that the tutorial is not only [[ForcedTutorial completely unskippable]] on a first playthrough (aside from a Japan-exclusive [[OldSaveBonus game-link]]), it lasts for ''[[ProlongedPrologue ten chapters]]'' (i.e., a full third of the non-sidequest chapters in the game), and very little of its plot is connected to the rest of the story. The actual tutorial itself also hasn't aged well as, rather than letting the player experiment with the mechanics, it outright ''[[{{Railroading}} forces]]'' certain moves on the player (Prologue is entirely scripted, Sain is forced to attack an Axe user with a Lance just to demonstrate TacticalRockPaperScissors, you're forced to promote Wallace the moment he joins). You can skip straight to Eliwood or Hector's story after beating the game once, but this isn't a good idea, as all of Lyn's party misses out on valuable experience. Thankfully, playing Lyn's story on Hard (which removes the tutorials) still allows you to change the difficulty to Normal for Eliwood or Hector mode, so players who don't want the tutorial aren't forced to play [[NintendoHard Hector Hard Mode]]... but that's only available after beating the game once.
** Over time the game on a whole has hit this issue. It was well-beloved for its time, and was immensely important for being the first game in the series to be localized, but in recent years, most of its aspects have aged very poorly. While it's cast has a strong following, the story, while not terrible, has been held back by its inconsistent continuity with ''Binding Blade'', despite being a prequel, not helped by its really messy writing. Gimmicks like weather and the Gaiden chapter requirements also didn't age well, as the former can hamper one's playthrough really badly, whereas the latter has things like getting a certain amount of EXP to unlock one of the Gaiden chapters being infuriating due to [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper Pent sucking up all of it]], and trying to keep [[spoiler:Jaffar]] and Nino alive in what is arguably one of the worst chapters in the game, and probably in the entire series when taking [[ThatOneLevel its Hector Hard Mode version]] into account. The game isn't seen as outright bad by the community as a whole, but has aged a lot, and more of the design issues are often noticed/discussed over the positives it brings.

** And rounding out the trinity of magic, Luna Druids. Luna, in addition to [[ArmorPiercingAttack piercing resistance and all boosting effects like Pure Water or Ninis's Grace]], has a sickening 95 hit and 20 crit, meaning that even your dodgiest light magic users have a reasonable chance to get hit, while just about ''everyone'' is liable to get crit. While Shamans wielding it are weak enough to just be an unusually hard-hitting annoyance most of the time, Druids have the stats to back it up, including a Magic stat that often reaches '''20''' or higher. The playable HP cap is 60 and a CriticalHit deals triple damage - [[OneHitKill you do the math.]] It says something that Louise, a decent-but-not-amazing Sniper in one of the most bow-unfriendly games in the series, is sometimes brought to difficult chapters with tight deployment slots ''solely'' [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman to deal with the Luna Druids]], since her massive Luck and A-support with Pent makes her the only unit at base capable of fighting them head on with their crit chances at a flat 0.

** All of the above, on top of their offensive prowess, can also carry status staves such as Sleep, Silence and Berserk that are difficult to avoid for most of the playable units. While they're not as prevalent as in [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade the previous game]], they can still be a huge issue for unprepared and even well-prepared armies, particularly on [[ThatOneLevel HHM Cog of Destiny]] where [[ZergRush ''all'']] [[ZergRush of the above enemy types appear,]] [[ZergRush ''all'']] [[ZergRush carrying status staves]]. (Admittedly, the staves can be something of a blessing, since enemies will always prefer to use them over attacking if they can, [[ArtificialStupidity even if there's a potential kill in range]] - if an enemy still has staff uses left, you can utterly whale on them knowing that [[SkewedPriorities they'll spend their turn using their staff instead of retaliating]]!)

** Among them, Bolting Sages deal the most damage. While they're not as prevalent as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade the previous game]], they can also carry status staves such as Sleep, Silence and Berserk that are difficult to avoid for most of the playable units.
** Normally enemies with long range magic and staves are stationary and are weighed down by their weapons, but late-game Valkyries ignore these drawbacks by being mobile, move in groups, and have enough speed to dodge attacks or being harder to be doubled against. The only saving grace is that their Magic isn't very high by virtue of being {{Fragile Speedster}}s, so stacking a high-resistance unit with Barrier or Pure Water can reduce their attacks to ScratchDamage.
** And rounding out the trinity of magic, Luna Druids. Luna, in addition to [[ArmorPiercingAttack piercing resistance and all boosting effects like Pure Water or Ninis's Grace]], has a sickening 95 hit and 20 crit, meaning that even your dodgiest light magic users have a reasonable chance to get hit, while just about ''everyone'' is liable to get crit. While Shamans wielding it are weak enough to simply be an annoyance most of the time, Druids have the stats to back it up, including a Magic stat that often reaches '''20''' or higher: the playable HP cap is 60 and a CriticalHit deals triple damage - [[OneHitKill you do the math.]] It says something that Louise, a decent-but-not-amazing Sniper in one of the most bow-unfriendly games in the series, is sometimes brought to difficult chapters with competitive deployment slots ''solely'' [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman to deal with the Luna Druids]], since her massive Luck and A-support with Pent makes her the only unit at base capable of fighting them head on with their crit chances at a flat 0.

** "Cog Of Destiny" (Chapter 27/29) is generally and genuinely regarded as one of the most intense, challenging, and ''goddamned'' '''''fun''''' chapters ever programmed into a ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' game. The difficulty level earns a lot of respect for forcing many gamers to take genuine tactical measures, and the story elements introduced and/or developed during the chapter don't hurt, either.

** As seen elsewhere on this page, Battle Before Dawn is either the worst chapter in the game or the best one. Detractors bring up having to protect three [=NPCs=] who can all die before you can get to them if you're unlucky(only one is plot-critical, but he's the weakest of the three), and it being a Fog of War mission. This has led to CriticalBacklash and some fans re-evaluating it as one of the better-designed defend maps in the series, as the primary protectee starting far away means you need to rely on strategies other than mindless turtling, the actual odds of Jaffar and Nino dying without your input aren't too high, and the mission having a good variety of side objectives (recruiting Jaffar, getting the treasures, killing Ursula, stealing an Earth Seal) to keep you busy while you wait out the time limit. It is agreed, however, that the Hector Hard Mode version of this chapter is brutal.

* CriticalBacklash: "Battle before Dawn" is considered to be one of the worst maps in the entire series due to being seen as overly and unfairly difficult, and gained a reputation for this. Some people came in expecting this to be one of the worst maps, but instead found it to actually be quite challenging and fun. One of the things that did not help however was that many evaluations were based upon Hector Hard Mode, which is something almost universally agreed upon to be ThatOneLevel.

** Among them, Bolting Sages they deal the most damage. While they're not as prevalent as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade the previous game]], they could also carry status staves such as Sleep, Silence and Berserk that are difficult to avoid for most of the playable units.
** Normally enemies with long range magic and staves are stationary and are weighed down by their weapons, but late-game Valkyries ignore these drawbacks by being mobile, move in groups, and have enough speed to dodge attacks or being harder to be doubled against.

* UnintentionalUncannyValley: The Fire Dragon's sprite in-battle is [[NonStandardCharacterDesign frighteningly detailed and malefic]] compared to the other battle sprites: [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily Sharp teeth]], red hot scales, and horns decorated on its head are all very intimidating enough as it is, but its [[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes]] deserve a mention; it is so real, you can ''feel'' the amount of burning rage within the goddamn thing compared to others! Even more, it is surprisingly expressive for a dragon, with it making faces of pure hatred while bellowing out roars of bone-chilling fury, and screaming in abject agony when it is finally slain.

** Similarly, the tiers shift depending on whether a player plays or skips Lyn's campaign (which is mandatory during the game's first playthrough, but can be skipped on subsequent runs). If skipped, any characters that would normally appear in Lyn's campaign start at a set level when they rejoin in Eliwood's/Hector's campaign, which is typically lower than their potential level if they were used even moderately in Lyn's campaign. Certain characters - chiefly Kent, Sain, and Florina (all of whom join early in Lyn's campaign) - are considered substantially stronger in a non-skip run (doubly so if playing Lyn hard mode, where the player isn't forced to use the final mission's Knight Crest on Wallace and can instead use it to early-promote one of the cavaliers, giving them a very strong asset to use in the rest of the game).

* CharacterTiers: Hard Mode and [[HarderThanHard Hector Hard Mode]] bonuses cause interesting and notable shifts in the tiers[[note]] Characters that start as enemies in ''The Binding Blade''[='=]s Hard Mode and ''Blazing Blade''[='=]s Hector Hard Mode gain the same random stats boosts that enemies have[[/note]].

** Eliwood is considered weak for being a JackOfAllStats (whereas Hector and Lyn specialize in strength and speed, respectively), and for being a NiceGuy who hates war and openly weeping when [[spoiler:his father ''dies in his arms'', and again when he mistakenly kills his friend/potential girlfriend Ninian, with the ''legendary sword he had just obtained'']]. It should be noted that the West really tends to favor RatedMForManly protagonists like Sigurd, Hector, and Ike, so this view isn't entirely surprising. Even the Japanese fanbase gives him flack for his mediocre stats, even if they find no fault with his character.

** As seen elsewhere on this page, Battle Before Dawn is either the worst chapter in the game or the best one. Detractors bring up having to protect three [=NPCs=] who can all die before you can get to them if you're unlucky, and it being a Fog of War mission. This has led to CriticalBacklash and some fans re-evaluating it as one of the better-designed defend maps in the series, as the protectee starting far away means you need to rely on strategies other than mindless turtling, the actual odds of Jaffar and Nino dying without your input aren't too high, and the mission having a good variety of side objectives (recruiting Jaffar, getting the treasures, killing Ursula, stealing an Earth Seal) to keep you busy while you wait out the time limit. It is agreed, however, that the Hector Hard Mode version of this chapter is brutal.

* CriticalBacklash: "Battle before Dawn" is considered to be one of the worst maps in the entire series, and gained a reputation for this. Some people came in expecting this to be one of the worst maps, but instead found it to actually be quite challenging and fun. One of the things that did not help however was that many evaluations were based upon Hector Hard Mode, which is something almost universally agreed upon to be ThatOneLevel.

** In "Cog of Destiny" (either story), whichever Reed Brother you're fighting is carrying an Iron Rune (negates your chance to crit), but magic swords don't crit at range either, so all it takes to win is a barrage of ranged weapons... but since he's a Swordmaster/Hero on a throne, ''good luck getting any to hit him''. Something the game doesn't tell you is that if you send Nino up to talk to him (Lloyd will never attack her on his own, but Linus is a bit too far gone by this point in the game), he'll actually ''move off the throne'' to attack any nearby units, where he thankfully loses the evasive boosts but will send your units running for their behinds.

** [[spoiler:Ninian and Nils are dragons. Spin-off titles even expect fans to know this fact; ''Fire Emblem Heroes'' has Ninian and Nils as Manakete units, while ''Fire Emblem Warriors'' has Lyn outright mentioning it in her support conversation with Tiki.]]
** Another potential spoiler that most people know these days is that Jaffar [[spoiler:defects from the Black Fang]].
* ItsEasySoItSucks: Some of the more negative opinions about this game are thrown at the difficulty. While it did add some minor adjustments that made certain aspects of its predecessor more tolerable, it's for the most part an easier version of that very game and can get rather stale at times. This made it a perfect entry point for the franchise when it launched in the U.S., but newer fans, hardened by the likes of Lunatic Modes or just naturally harder titles, will probably find anything outside of Hector Hard to be somewhat of a walk in the park.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass:
** Eliwood is considered weak for being a JackOfAllStats (whereas Hector and Lyn specialize in strength and speed, respectively), and for being a NiceGuy who hates war and openly weeping when [[spoiler:his father ''dies in his arms'', and again when he mistakenly kills his friend/potential girlfriend Ninian, with the ''legendary sword he had just obtained'']]. It should be noted that the West really tends to favor RatedMForManly protagonists like Sigurd, Hector, and Ike, so this view isn't entirely surprising.
** Hell, as mentioned above in MemeticLoser, even the Japanese fanbase gives him flack for his mediocre stats, even if they find no fault with his character.
** Ninian suffers from a case of DieForOurShip with Eliwood, and shippers really hate that it's strongly implied she is Eliwood's canon lover and thus, Roy's mother as well. Her combat prowess, or lack thereof, can be a point of contention. Although most fans usually adore characters of the Dancer class for their extreme usefulness, there are some who think the mother of Roy should be an ActionGirl like Lyn. The only time they'll ever give Ninian a break, true to this trope, is when she appears in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', where she's a [[spoiler:Manakete unit]] (which doesn't exist in ''Blazing Blade'') and [[AdaptationalBadass capable of kicking ass]].
** Lyndis herself tends to get hit with both sides of this trope. On one hand, she was one of the main leads in the first game the West ever got, and a female lead at that. For fans who haven't gone out of their way to play older games (which have characters like [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Caeda]] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Ayra]], '''([[MemeticBadass especially]]''' Ayra), she is ''the'' female character against whom all others are subject to, and barring Lucina, they never measure up. On the other, while she is the lead of the prologue, she fades into the {{Tritagonist}} role for the real leads: Eliwood and Hector, both of whom are important in ''The Binding Blade'', which some fans find annoying since they "forget" that Lyn was ''created out of cloth'' for ''Blazing Blade'' and, unlike Hector and Eliwood, the writing team had no leads about her from the beginning.

* LowTierLetdown:
** ''The Blazing Blade'' is a game that's easy enough that even the lowest tier units can generally see use with favoritism. Karla, the little sister of [[BloodKnight Karel]], is an exception to this. She's recruited literally a handful of chapters away from the end of the game, outright ''requires'' that the player train Bartre to use him[[note]]who's already a unit that, while entirely usable and thus exempt from this trope, is considered in tier rankings a resource sink with not enough payoff to be worth it on average[[/note]], and then survive an engagement with him... and even with 10/5 Bartre, she joins with base stats that he could easily sneeze at, and is sword-locked in a game where swords are considered very weak due to lack of a reliable 1-2 range option. This altogether gets Karla notoriously solidified as arguably the worst Swordmaster in the series, with the only one that rivals her for that title being Shannam in ''Fire Emblem: Thracia 776'', who's a ''JokeCharacter''.
** Renault is a Bishop recruited in the penultimate chapter with very poor magic stats for his level, and is overshadowed by Athos who joins in the very next chapter and fills a similar role but better. Players tend to recruit Renault only for his good equipments or to see his supports.
** While very well-liked, Lyn suffers from having low strength and being fragile despite her speed and accuracy being phenomenal. It's especially prevalent if her campaign was skipped, as she tends to fall off strength-wise compared to both Eliwood and Hector. On the bright side, she can promote regardless of which story is being played, but she still has several issues that make her a hassle to use properly.
** Eliwood competes with Lyn for the worst of the game's three Lords, being average at best compared to Lyn and Hector. This is very apparent in his story, where he is unable to promote until very late in the game, limiting his grinding options and rendering him underleveled. He does gain the most movement of the three upon promotion, but his mediocre stats will still remain.
** Nino comes at Level 5 and unpromoted ridiculously late in the game. MagikarpPower or not (her final stats are, on average, the highest in the game), that's a lot of LevelGrinding, especially when she essentially just becomes a slightly better version of Pent.
** Rath, like the other Sacaean characters, can score critical hits like a madman, but otherwise, his stats are sub-par, even when promoted. It doesn't help that he comes a little late in the game and the chapter following his recruitment is a desert chapter, making it impossible for him to get anywhere due to being a mounted unit. While you get a chance to level him up in Lyn's story, he's late even ''there'' - and gets hampered by rain.

** [[EarlyGameHell Chapter 11 on Hector Hard Mode]], for all the wrong reasons. Only [[MightyGlacier Hector]] and [[FragileSpeedster Matthew]] are usable, and you get ''no healing'' unless you can steal a Vulnerary from one of the enemies, which is easier said than done when everything kills Matthew in two hits. This map is very RNG-reliant, with one miss from Hector often spelling doom and the random stat bonuses on enemies making a huge difference (for example, whether Hector kills the boss in two hits or three). Making matters worse, you need to hurry and kill/stop an enemy Thief before it escapes with a Red Gem, as in Hector Mode, said item is ''your only source of funds until Chapter 13x''. Ranked runs often need to restart this map several times, and it's even worse if you skip Lyn Mode, making Matthew even weaker.
** Lloyd's version of Four-Fanged Offense on any mode other than Eliwood Normal. It's an annoying Fog of War map with a plentiful amount of ballistae and some enemies that can get the drop on you. However, this all pales to the fact that you are dealing with a moving Lloyd with a Light Brand who can tear you apart if you aren't on top of your game, and that you are practically on a time limit to rescue Wallace if you want to recruit him. Many prefer to take on the Linus version instead not only to avoid this chapter (which requires significantly more investment in babysitting all 3 Lords combined with all the issues above), but to also recruit Geitz, who is clearly superior to Wallace in every way.

** Unlocking Chapter 19xx, a sidequest within a sidequest, involves getting Nils to at least Lv 7 in Lyn's Story. Not especially difficult, just ''incredibly tedious'', and frustrating since you have absolutely ''no'' hint whatsoever that you have to do this for Nils so much earlier. Then, you have to defeat Kishuna in 19x, which is a total LuckBasedMission (he has a ton of evasion, and if you don't beat him in one turn he flees the map).

** Lundgrn, Lyn's EvilUncle, crossed the line by not only poisoning his own brother in order to take his throne, but even letting him know that he'd done so, that his granddaughter wanted to meet him but was being hunted by Caelin's forces on Lundgrn's orders, and taunting him by openly wishing death on him and telling him how much he's despised him this whole time.

* LowTierLetdown: ''The Blazing Blade'' is a game that's easy enough that even the lowest tier units can generally see use with favoritism. Karla, the little sister of [[BloodKnight Karel]], is an exception to this. She's recruited literally a handful of chapters away from the end of the game, outright ''requires'' that the player train Bartre to use him[[note]]who's already a unit that, while entirely usable and thus exempt from this trope, is considered in tier rankings a resource sink with not enough payoff to be worth it on average[[/note]], and then survive an engagement with him... and even with 10/5 Bartre, she joins with base stats that he could easily sneeze at, and is sword-locked in a game where swords are considered very weak due to lack of a reliable 1-2 range option. This altogether gets Karla notoriously solidified as arguably the worst Swordmaster in the series, with the only one that rivals her for that title being Shannam in ''Fire Emblem: Thracia 776'', who's a ''JokeCharacter''.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** Renault is a Bishop recruited in the penultimate chapter with very poor magic stats for his level, and is overshadowed by Athos who joins in the very next chapter and fills a similar role but better. Players tend to recruit Renault only for his good equipments or to see his supports.
** While very well-liked, Lyn suffers from having low strength and being fragile despite her speed and accuracy being phenomenal. It's especially prevalent if her campaign was skipped, as she tends to fall off strength-wise compared to both Eliwood and Hector. On the bright side, she can promote regardless of which story is being played, but she still has several issues that make her a hassle to use properly.
** Eliwood competes with Lyn for the worst of the game's three Lords, being average at best compared to Lyn and Hector. This is very apparent in his story, where he is unable to promote until very late in the game, limiting his grinding options and rendering him underleveled. He does gain the most movement of the three upon promotion, but his mediocre stats will still remain.
** Nino comes at Level 5 and unpromoted ridiculously late in the game. MagikarpPower or not (her final stats are, on average, the highest in the game), that's a lot of LevelGrinding, especially when she essentially just becomes a slightly better version of Pent.
** Rath, like the other Sacaean characters, can score critical hits like a madman, but otherwise, his stats are sub-par, even when promoted. It doesn't help that he comes a little late in the game and the chapter following his recruitment is a desert chapter, making it impossible for him to get anywhere due to being a mounted unit. While you get a chance to level him up in Lyn's story, he's late even ''there'' - and gets hampered by rain.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Both Florina on the heroes' side and Ursula on the villains' are commonly interpreted as closeted lesbians (or possibly bisexuals) with [[SubordinateExcuse feelings for their respective liege ladies]] Lyn and Sonia.

** [[spoiler:The Fire Dragon has all the makings of being ThatOneBoss; it has high defence AND resistance and a 1-3-range attack that negates the defenses of your units... but then you realize that it's vulnerable to the GameBreaker Luna tome. And the game gives you the strongest magic user in the game in the final chapter, who can use the tome at that point to boot. [[EleventhHourRanger Athos]]+[[StatusBuff Filla's Might]]+[[ArmorPiercingAttack Luna]] can [[CriticalHit crit]] it to death [[OneHitKill in one shot]], and so can a sufficiently leveled Canas with enough magic and some supports with the same setup. A different story if you're doing a no-Luna run, though.]]

** Karla. Some like her simply for the fact that she is the mother of Fir in ''The Binding Blade'', but others see her as a very [[TierInducedScrappy useless character (at least gameplay-wise)]]. Her [[AdaptationalBadass far better treatment]] in ''Heroes'' merely fanned the flames: her detractors state her star treatment is so egregiously disproportionate to her actual role in ''Blazing Blade'' to the point of favoritism (and at the expense of the far more popular Canas) while her supporters are ecstatic ''Heroes'' breathed new life into a character that the game should be doing more with.

* LowTierLetdown: ''The Blazing Blade'' is a game that's easy enough that even the lowest tier units can generally see use with favoritism. Karla, the little sister of [[BloodKnight Karel]], is an exception to this. She's recruited literally a handful of chapters away from the end of the game, outright ''requires'' that the player train Bartre to use him[[note]]who's already a unit that, while entirely usable and thus exempt from this trope, is considered in tier rankings a resource sink with not enough pay-off to be worth it on average[[/note]], and then survive an engagement with him... and even with 10/5 Bartre, she joins with base stats that he could easily sneeze at, and is sword-locked in a game where swords are considered very weak due to lack of a reliable 1-2 range option. This altogether gets Karla notoriously solidified as arguably the worst Swordmaster in the series, with the only one that rivals her for that title being Shannam in ''Fire Emblem: Thracia 776'', who's a ''JokeCharacter''.

** Limstella {{downplay|edTrope}}s this by remaining more sympathetic than any of the aforementioned examples; her KickTheDog moments are exclusively reserved for [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness other villains]]. She nonetheless crosses the Horizon herself when she [[spoiler:murders one of the Reed brothers, [[HeelFaceDoorSlam right when they're reconsidering their views on the heroes and the Black Fang]], which then provokes the surviving brother into attacking the heroes out of misguided rage]]. Her UndyingLoyalty to Nergal prevents her from considering redemption at any point, even as [[AlasPoorVillain she reflects on her existence as she's dying]].

* DiscreditedMeme: Jokes involving Hector accusing Roy for trying to date his daughter Lilina are slowly starting to become this not only for its oversaturation in the fanbase, but also because of their out of character nature, which leads to concerns that Hector himself is very misunderstood in general. It also doesn't help that in the Elibe Duology, he was okay with letting his daughter spend time with Roy.

* HilariousInHindsight: The extended epilogue has Lilina ask her father Hector if she can show Roy her pony. Come ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', Lilina gets [[https://feheroes.gamepedia.com/Lilina:_Blush_of_Youth three]] [[https://feheroes.gamepedia.com/Lilina:_Beachside_Bloom alternate]] [[https://feheroes.gamepedia.com/Lilina:_Firelight_Leader variants]] of her older self from ''The Binding Blade'', all of which ride on horseback.

* MemeticMutation:
** It became a common joke among the fanbase to write support conversations that couldn't happen in the game. Some featured certain characters staring at each other going "..." while others featured {{crack pairing}}s. The former would [[AscendedMeme become reality]] in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' where two characters (Saizo and Beruka) have the "..." support with one another. What's more, they are ''exactly'' the types of characters who got the "..." treatment back in the 2000s.
** "We need disguises." "Perfect!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]At one point in the game, the main lords decide that they should, justifiably, start wearing disguises on their journey. [[PaperThinDisguise Their disguises consist of cloaks thrown over their regular armour]]. A hypothetical scene of the characters making this decision, with Eliwood unironically declaring it to be perfect, was created, and it's popular to photoshop the lords out to show other characters having the same idea, often when one is an {{Expy}} of an existing character.[[/labelnote]]

* DesignatedHero: In ''Binding Blade'', the Eight Legends seem like an unexplored case of WrittenByTheWinners--it is stated outright that humans started the Scouring with no apparent provocation, and the Eight Legends who brought the decisive victory went on to be revered as founders of the major nations. Although the characters themselves don't angst much about this fact, nothing discourages the players from developing a jaded view. This game gets into Designated Hero territory by having two of the Legends appear--Athos the Archsage is treated as a wise, knowing guide, and Braimmond also gets a sympathetic showing. They were likely not the ones who ''started'' the war, but they're never questioned about the fact that their people waged a brutal and nearly one-sided conflict that ended with the exile of dragons from Elibe except in a highly weakened form.

* DesignatedHero: In ''Binding Blade'', the Eight Legends seem like an unexplored case of WrittenByTheWinners--it is stated outright that humans started the Scouring with no apparent provocation, and the Eight Legends who brought the decisive victory went on to be revered as founders of the major nations. Although the characters themselves don't angst much about this fact, nothing discourages the players from developing a jaded view. This game gets into Designated Hero territory by having two of the Legends appear--Athos the Archsage is treated as a wise, knowing guide, and Braimmond also gets a sympathetic showing. They were likely not the ones who ''started'' the war, but they're never questioned about the fact that their people waged a brual and nearly one-sided conflict that ended with the exile of dragons from Elibe except in a highly weakened form.

** While the game is overall generally fair even on the highest difficulties, Battle Before Dawn on Hector Hard Mode (Chapter 28) is so chock full of ClassicVideoGameScrewYous that it wouldn't be out of place in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776''. To elaborate: It's a FogOfWar ProtectionMission where the protectee in question, Prince Zephiel... ''is on the other side of the map''. What makes it difficult is: Whichever path you take means you're screwed. You'll either be in range to be sniped by Ursula's Bolting spell, or be ambushed by [[BossInMookClothing Maxime]]. Splitting the party is a no-go as the enemy units '''will''' overwhelm you if you do so, unless they're beefed up enough. What mitigates it somewhat is that Zephiel is smart enough to hide on a pillar tile that give him a nice evasion boost and he can actually defend himself for a while... until ArtificialStupidity kicks in and Zephiel ''moves off the one thing that's helping him stay alive'' if he uses an Elixir (although he might just move onto another pillar tile). As if that wasn't enough, to recruit them and get the extra chapter, you need to keep Jaffar and Nino alive. Easier said than done. All three of them could very well be killed before you get to them, effectively turning this into a LuckBasedMission. And if you haven't taken her out by the time the battle reaches its 13th turn, Ursula ''starts to move''. And with her stats, she can ''double Zephiel with her Bolting''. Even worse, one of the treasures in this mission is a ''Rescue staff'', which would trivialize this mission by an unbelievable amount had it been obtainable earlier. The same goes for all the other treasures found in this chapter, which seem to be tailor-made to make this mission less of a headache. And for the final nail on the coffin, [[spoiler:you were put through all that only to see Zephiel pull a FaceHeelTurn in ''The Binding Blade'' and ''kill Hector, one of the men who saved him'']].

** Prince Zephiel appears in all of two scenes, but he leaves a lasting impression, and it's ''not'' a pretty one. [[spoiler: How utterly sympathetic he is makes the crazed misanthropic monster he becomes in the prequel that much more dark and tragic.]]

** Over time the game on a whole has hit this issue. It was well-beloved for its time, and was immensely important for being the first game in the series to be localized, but in recent years, most of its aspects have aged very poorly. While it's cast has a strong following, the story, while not terrible, has been held back by its inconsistent continuity with ''Binding Blade'', despite being a prequel, not helped by its really messy writing. Gimmicks like weather and the Gaiden chapter requirements also didn't age well, as the former can hamper one's playthrough really badly, whereas the latter has things like getting a certain amount of EXP to unlock one of the Gaiden chapters being infuriating due to [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper Pent sucking up all of it]], and trying to keep [[spoiler:Jaffar]] and Nino alive in what is arguably one of the worst chapters in the game, and probably in the entire series. The game isn't seen as outright bad by the community as a whole, but has aged a lot, and more of the design issues are often noticed/discussed over the positives it brings.

* DemonicSpiders: All promoted magic enemies in the mid-late game are this, but Bolting Sages take the cake since they deal the most damage. While they're not as prevalent as [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade the previous game]], they could also carry status staves such as Sleep, Silence and Berserk that are difficult to avoid for most of the playable units.

** Prince Desmond appears in all of two scenes, but he leaves a lasting impression, and it's ''not'' a pretty one. [[spoiler: How utterly sympathetic he is makes the crazed misanthropic monster he becomes in the prequel that much more dark and tragic.]]

** Over time the game on a whole has hit this issue . It was well-beloved for its time, and was immensely important for being the first game in the series to be localized, but in recent years, most of its aspects have aged very poorly. While it's cast has a strong following, the story, while not terrible, has been held back by its inconsistent continuity with ''Binding Blade'', despite being a prequel, not helped by its really messy writing. Gimmicks like weather and the Gaiden chapter requirements also didn't age well, as the former can hamper one's playthrough really badly, whereas the latter has things like getting a certain amount of EXP to unlock one of the Gaiden chapters being infuriating due to [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper Pent sucking up all of it]], and trying to keep [[spoiler:Jaffar]] and Nino alive in what is arguably one of the worst chapters in the game, and probably in the entire series. The game isn't seen as outright bad by the community as a whole, but has aged a lot, and more of the design issues are often noticed/discussed over the positives it brings.

* AccidentalInnuendo: Chapter 6 of Lyn Normal Mode teaches the player how to unlock treasure chests by using a key/thief. Unfortunately, a portion of Matthew's dialogue sounds very dirty when taken out of context.
--> Hey! Unless my eyes deceive me, that’s a chest!