Better than you expect
First of all, I have never played a Fire Emblem game but it didn't slow me down so this is not a bad place to start the fire emblem series. The controls are very simple to understand but the game is as hard as you want it to be. The more thought you put in this game will give you more rewards plus there is an option of choosing the difficulty.
The gameplay involves selecting unique units to fight in the battlefield, and it is up to you to keep these characters alive, level them up, gain new characters and complete the missions given.
The story is focused on a boy called Ike who becomes a mercenary and eventually ends up being a general of a whole army. This game is filled with many other characters which have their own personailties and stories which makes you keep on playing to find out more about the characters and more about what will happen next.
The story also keeps you going as there are many twists that will keep the story interesting.
The gameplay is very strategic and involves a lot of thinking as one wrong move could kill off your characters which because of the deep story is really annoying and will probably make you reset your game and try again from the latest chapter you have started from.
I will advice this game to anyone, and not to avoid this game beacuse of its genre. I have never played a game of this genre before but the story, the gameplay, the characters and strategy make this game very rewarding and enjoyable to play.