[Xyphlan]

Fire Emblem Rekka No Ken (translated as "Blazing Sword", and released as just "Fire Emblem" in America) was the first game to be released in America, but the 7th game in the series. As evidence, I point to the cliffhangers of the game, which were never resolved by a future release. This is because it was a prequel to Fire Emblem 6; the cliffhangers were already resolved. Other references include Armads telling Hector that he will die in battle, and Roy and Lilina being shown at the end.

The original Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, was for the NES, and starred Marth. Shadow Dragon was a remake of this game, which explains its dated mechanics. It takes place in a universe entirely separate from that of Blazing Sword, although Awakening does take place in the same universe, but in the far flung future.

Support conversations have always been where characterization shines the most in any Fire Emblem game, and Awakening pulls them off quite well. There is no cap placed on the number of supports a unit can have, as long as it only has one S-rank support (marriage). This means that most of a character's supports can be explored in a single playthrough, if one wishes. While it can be disconcerting to see Kellam, who starts as a knight, dressed in ridiculously excessive armor when his class is "archer", it has little effect on the narrative. Reclassing works with the skill system and breeding system to introduce interesting strategic opportunities. For example, if one were to breed a Draco knight to have both the bowbreaker and tomebreaker skills, they could train an incredibly powerful unit with few weaknesses.

To be honest, I've forged but one weapon in my playthrough and a half of Fire Emblem Awakening. While it is true that you are allowed to increase damage, hit rate, and critical chance by forging, there are a plethora of unusual and unique weapons in this game, far more than any previous Fire Emblem. For example, there is a sword that, upon defeating a foe, has a change of granting the user a small bullion, proportional to the unit's luck stat. The forge allows no opportunity to add these unique bonuses. I feel the need to stress again that this game is quite difficult. By the time you have regular access to steel weapons, your foes will be consistently wielding silver.

Apologies if I ranted for too long. I have... strong feelings about Fire Emblem.