A friend bought me Awakening on my birthday for me. At the time he liked it (now he thinks it is terrible). After Awakening, I got Fates and regrettably most of the DLC. I also played a little of I think FE6 - whichever had Lyn and Elliwood. I never got to meet Elliwood. I played it on a friend’s console but never had a chance to finish it. I also got Fire Emblem Echoes but still have to beat it. Awakening and Fates, in spite of the flaws I saw in some aspects of the games or the stories (or both), I felt those ones helped me a lot in determining whether I’d play other ones. As bad as the character writing and localization (and censorship in Fates since they left out a lot from dialogues) was, I still grew really attached to the characters and enjoyed the story. I think Awakening’s story seemed to make more sense. Fates’s story had a lot of issues but I stilldid enjoy it (then again, it wasn’t until much later after i played them multiple times all routes, when I found out how they changed some characters’ personalities, dialogue, etc).
I heard a lot of good things about Three Houses but I was still hesitant about getting it when I looked at getting it for Christmas. Usually right away, before starting the game, I’ll see one character that will strike my interest, but I did not see any with three houses (maybe felix.) I was definitely not impressed with Byleth’s designs. I got it and played five playthroughs in a row, that’s how much I loved it. Now I like a majority of the characters and appreciate their designs (still don’t care for Byleth’s much)

. I love this game so much; it just broke me having to fight my favorites that can’t be recruited into a different house lol.