They didn't play on Lunatic+ and instead looked at "Normal Casual" and said DIS FIER EMBLUM EEZ FOUR bABEEZ
And as I said, the game isn't "hated" so please stop saying that. It's overwhelmingly loved except by some vets who want to feel better than other people.
Funny thing, Awakening didn't even introduce Casual to the series. Phoenix mode for Fates is [tornado fang]ing ridiculous, but New Mystery, a remake of Mystery of the Emblem as the third game in the series and direct sequel to first (and its remake of course), actually introduced both a customizable protagonist My Unit who can support with everyone and the Casual mode where no player unit perma-dies. The game directly preceded Awakening, but it was Japan-only (with a
fan translation) so that probably explains why those who [sonic slicer] about Casual heap its existence onto Awakening's shoulders to blame.
But then Awakening also made it so your Avatar could marry and then forced the generation mechanics in a lot more liberally than Genealogies did, so..