Never played Awakening, I don't have a 3DS yet. If you haven't played Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn, play that instead. It arguably has the best story in the entire series without relying on waifu marriage mechanics and generic character tropes.
Conquest is better.
Reported
But it is, even oldfags are saying that it's probably the best all around game in the series. The map design especially gets praise from them.
This doesn't help my statement though. Play Path of Radiance and then Radiant Dawn for top tier Fire Emblem.
LC, Lucina, Why is Fire Emblem Awakening so hard?