I finished Fire Emblem Awakening yesterday - this is actually the first Fire Emblem-game that I have completed, having played a bit of Path of Radiance on GameCube before this. So for all practical purposes this was my first meeting with the franchise.
I quite liked the game but I, as Tales above, did not enjoy starting a level over again and again because I got a character killed. However, I let one die at the very last chapter simply because I didn't care enough (Libra) and just wanted to finish the game. Finished in 29 hours (3DS counter) or 21 hours (game counter) - the difference is due to hard resets of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed the game but it suffers from a giant leap in difficulty. The first 10-15 chapters were extremely easy but then suddenly all the enemies are super powerful and started acting more clever, going for my knights with magic or for my wyverns with bows for instance which I didn't experience at the same degree for the first large portion of the game.
Another point is that the game got a bit tedious and samey after a while, it was always the same mission (defeat the commander or kill all enemies) with only a few chapters with varied missions (warn the villages) or such. They could have mixed it a bit up.
Then I didn't find the story all that exciting.
Overall, I enjoyed the game but it will be a while until I insert Fates into my system. I got Conquest and will play on Casual just because that's effectively what I'm doing anyway.
Next up is Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages which I spent an hour on yesterday. Got the Harp of Ages and am now ready to explore the Ages!