I can see why he didn't want a Casual Mode. When I played Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, I found myself always doing the hard chapters more than once. The usual routine was to lose a comrade unexpectedly, restart the game, then use much more strategy than before, and find a way to prevail without losing anyone. Fire Emblem has an awesome ability to make me really value the lives of the heroes you control, and you'd really want to move on without seeing a comrade die -- especially a favorite.
As for Fire Emblem: Awakening, the game has so many unique, awesome characters that I wasn't even going to think about using Classic Mode. Maybe I'll do that in a new save file for Lunatic Mode to get that Restart-vibe again.