Building comparison
head to head
Fire Emblem: AwakeningvsShin Megami Tensei
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Engineering unit pairings and reclass paths to dominate maps whose enemy scripts are fully mappable.
Shin Megami Tensei
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The original post-apocalyptic demon-fusing dungeon crawler where preparation and fusion knowledge decide survival.
Fire Emblem: Awakening leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Shin Megami Tensei leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Fire Emblem: AwakeningShin Megami Tensei
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 1
Fire Emblem: Awakening leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
No twitch elements; pair-up placement is the only spatial decision under time
Shin Megami Tensei
First-person menu battles; trivial inputs.
Reads1 vs 0
Fire Emblem: Awakening leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Enemies follow simple aggro patterns on fixed maps
Shin Megami Tensei
Demon negotiation is random, not adaptive.
Variance5 vs 5
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Hit and crit rates plus random level-up stats create run variance
Shin Megami Tensei
Negotiation rolls, ambushes, and moon-phase RNG bite hard.
Optimization8 vs 8
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Marriage pairings and Second Seal reclass chains are the optimization spine
Shin Megami Tensei
Fusion charts, alignment routes, and weakness mapping are solvable.
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.