Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest (classic hard)
The story had me vaguely curious but I feel it really shined in its music and gameplay, both were amazing. The new weapon triangle was strange but the colour system made it extremely easy to adjust to the changes. The difficulty in this was never outrageous (unless the strange new RN system was at it again) but it was consistently devious and turned me into a tsundere towards it. There were very few chapters I actually cleared in my first go, and it forced me to adapt, which I quite enjoyed however frustrating the absurdly low percent fatal blows were.
My last save in the game (before completing it) was 65 hours, which is comprised of my successful runs and the time they took. The Activity Log says I poured 157 hours into the game (comprised of my successful AND unsuccessful runs), which speaks for itself.
If I were to put it on the series spectrum
FE4 => FE14-C > FE7 = FE12 > FE2 > FE11 > FE6 = FE8 > FE13
it'd probably look something like that, might give FE4 a run for its money tbh
Might do a more efficient rerun or Lunatic run later, my planning was sloppy given my blindness of everything. Barring that, next up is Birthright (then Revelations), but I get the feeling this version will be my favourite still.
EDIT: ALSO I LOVE THE RECRUITMENT THEME IN THIS GAME
best in the series no contest