I’ve played through The Blazing Sword and Awakening. I really liked both. I loved the variety of classes and ways you could prioritize various skills and strengths of your characters in Awakening, but I found The Blazing Sword more immersive because I felt it was more challenging and that the story was a bit stronger.
I’m not 100% on how I feel about this, but I almost wish the supports in Awakening onward DIDN’T end in marriage. I know it’s necessary from a gameplay perspective because of the second generation characters , but I still wish they could’ve found a happy medium. I just can’t stomach certain relationships being romantic in that game (Gregor X Maribelle, Donnel X Panne,). Despite this, however, I am somewhat GLAD for these options because there are also a number of couples I DO really like (Stahl X Sully, Chrom X Sumia, Virion X Panne).