What Makes a Good Early Game Map in Fire Emblem?

Early game Fire Emblem maps are interesting because they have a lot of jobs. They have to teach a new player how to play the game, while ideally still being interesting for other players, and they need to provide you with an introduction to the setting and atmosphere. Here's what I think makes a good early game map in Fire Emblem

Music:
Lo-Justice - KornTortilla
Rain on the Plains - Cerales
March to the Cemetery - Treatstar

[RushStudios]

I've always held that FE1 has surprisingly strong level design for having absolutely nothing to go off in the past. Love seeing it get praised!

[devastator]

As someone whose first game in the series was FE7, I actually really appreciated that the tutorials in that game took things slowly to make sure you absorbed all of the information. I think the main problem is that they can’t be toggled off, meaning that series veterans will have to sit through them if they want to play Lyn’s route.

[________-vysx]

I want to comment of Fates Chapter 5 being a good and weirdly difficult early game chapter that teaches the players a lot of mechanics without being to obvious about it. Like the existence of the 1-2 range healing staff, dancers, weapon being more effective against certain types of enemy, enemy being able to pair up and the usage of tonics

[Pitto]

engage earlygame is almost flawless, is fun and challening, it gives you a lot of tools to find a way clear the maps but nothing is too op, perfectly balanced

[betterthanbrooklyn]

That map rotation shit blew my mind unironically

[thekoifishcoyote]

Something I really like about 5's first map is that Osian is the closest unit to his house, so there's a good chance new players who know the basics will get his item immediately

[shytendeakatamanoir]

I'm a huge defender of Lyn Mode, but one bad thing about it is that it makes the early map of Eliwood and Hector Mode somewhat redundant. Because both Chapter 11, and chapter 12 are really good early maps!
HM Ch11 is the one who benefits the most from Lyn Mode, because it makes Matthew more valuable if he got the extra exp.

If you could chose between all three modes (and difficulties) from the start, you'll have a perfect option for all players, instead of having a perfect beginner's tutorial that will immediately discourage any veterans from trying it.

[Xertaron.]

I never even realized that FE games before Engage didn't teach how to use warp at all. On one hand it's nice that the game has faith in the player, but on the other it would be nice to at least get a glimpse of what you can do with it, if only to ease the player that it's a convenient tool, not some gatekeeper of extra content that they'll miss if they won't have it.

[Neogears]

I really like radiant dawns early game for the idea it counts ANY death as a fail state. I wish this idea was played with more. It’s a good way of conditioning new players the importance of playing non suicidally and can be used to improve character attachment because you can assure a character will be there for a scene.

[swiftbuizel]

For specifically chapter one maps I think the key is to have around 6 characters that you can play with on turn 1. It allows you to make meaningful decisions from the get go and it doesnt become a chore to do on repeat playthroughs.

[MrGombaonfire]

I think 2 really good early maps are chapters 3 and 5 of radiant dawn. In chapter 3 it's the first time you are introduced to the ledge mechanics and the combination of the longbow archer and the reinforcements that spawn at the bottom it's a good way of showing just how huge that boost is. The placement of the chest is also pretty big since the first few have the thani tome which greatly helps with boss who is guarding a another helpful chest.

Chapter 5 is a another good one since it's your introduction to laguze and it be a route map with lots of treasure it. The rest being by the bosses mean if you want them you have to mindful of the laguze gauges.

[Generalth]

Hi Lizard!

Have you ever considered redesigning FE8's maps to be the best they can possibly be? In my opinion, this kind of thing is a fun exercise! It stretches the mind in new ways and forces you to consider why the developers made the choices they did, which can lead to a deeper appreciation of the original content.

[CatManThree]

The mountain tiles in FE1's first maps also teach the player on difficult terrain. Theyre placed in a small space where youre forced to move into a range where their effect on movement is noticable. You can see how you can walk on them, but they still slow you down.

[noukan]

Langrisser 1 first map imo is the peak of early map design. An hidden tutorial that naturally teach almost everything about the game to an observant player.

[Hawlo]

They may not be good in the category of teaching the players stuff, I wouldn't know, but I really love most of the part 1 maps from Radiant Dawn.

[POKENAR]

Chapter 3 and 4 of Engage is how you do a tutorial without making it feel like a tutorial, as stated chapter 4 introduces Sigurd, Celica, and the strengths and weaknesses of armor and flier units. Chapter 3 introduces the utility of a bow, the range of a cavalier, and the bulk of an axe fighter, as well as the useful of the Rapier on Marth for dealing with the boss.

[CursedCatTruffa]

For my favorite early game, Id say Thracia 776 and Engage took the cake; both are intuitive, very to the point and you're constantly learning something from the gameplay or the plot/vibes of the world, which make them very dynamic. This video made me realize how important a good early map is, you cannot hand hold too much but you can't drop your player unaware. Cool video.

[GODHAND]

This might be a hot take, but I think Chapter 1 Lyn Mode (NOT the prologue) is a great introductory chapter. On lower difficulties it simultaneously teaches about the weapon triangle and terrain, and does so with great story/mechanical integration, establishing Kent and Sain's characters naturally while it teaches you how to play the game. And on harder difficulties, the map is structured in a way with spread out enemies that an experienced player can feed all of the exp to one unit they want to power level. Nothing revolutionary, but very efficient and successful in its purpose.

[GreatAether]

Wow I never noticed that Chapter 1 of FE1/3/11 has basically the same layout as Chapter 1 of FE6, except rotated. My mind is blown.

That said, I actually like Lyn mode, even as a veteran. It's excellent for beginners, that much is certain. But replaying it recently through NSO on Switch I didn't feel like the tutorial bored me even though I already know all the basics. I've been trying to get some of my friends into playing FE and I always suggest FE7 as the best starting point because of the tutorial. So going through it again felt nice to be validated when I saw first hand that I have been giving potential new players good advice.

I also really like the early game in Path of Radiance. Ike training against Boyd and then Greil, as well as Chapter 1, were both great ways to teach the player about the weapon triangle, healing items, and the danger that bandits pose to houses on the map. Chapter 2 kind of just reinforces the importance of the weapon triangle but it also does a good job showing you the value of a healer. Chapter 3 is great for time sensitive objectives because you want to get to Marcia as fast as possible so the pirates don't kill her. Chapter 4 teaches you to use bulkier units to defend less bulky units. Titania, Gatrie, and Shinon are really helpful to keep enemies away from Soren and Rhys in particular, but also Ike too if he hasn't leveled well so far. Chapter 5 I think is a great example of a defense map and fog of war too. Etc...

[ungulatemanalpha]

I think Awakening does a good job of balancing out the need for explicit tutorialising with its story quite well.

Premonition hits the right balance of being straightforward while still giving the player just enough control to impact things. More importantly, it underlines the themes of the game and sets up several key plot ideas that will come back in more interesting ways. It's why the similar maps in Fates and Engage kinda suck. Fates' is way more restrictive in terms of gameplay, doesn't make a lick of sense even by dream sequence standards, and is followed by multiple better tutorial maps (though Fates Chapter 1 also isn't very good). Engage's does a good job at establishing Emblems but is less interesting and also kind of nonsense in the context of the wider story. Engage Chapter 1 is a much better tutorial map, though the drip-feeding of mechanics across the next couple of chapters is to its detriment.

Awakening's Prologue and first few maps play very differently depending on difficulty settings thanks to enforcing no Pair Up on Normal and being far more dangerous on Lunatic. Unlike the other games I mentioned, its first 'real' map has enough going on that I think the prior tutorial map is actually justified. (As an aside: I wonder if Fates has such an extensive tutorial because player feedback indicated that a lot of people were confused starting Awakening?)

The unfortunate conclusion, however, is that Awakening's map design is kind of ass. There's a lot of maps where enemy positions are effectively the only terrain, and while that can always be a factor, it makes a ton of gameplay 'bait as few enemies as possible, kill them, repeat' since there's not much in the way of objectives, time pressure or obstacles. Chapters 1 and 2 kind of solve this by having the enemies be extremely aggressive and reasonably dangerous even on Hard, but the game isn't balanced around keeping that kind of pressure up the way most of Engage or the better Conquest maps are.