Esgares, the country that started it all....sort of.  If you haven't already read this on the internet, you can play Esgares by entering a controller-pad code.  At the country select screen, hold down L1 and R2 and press start.  You will be taken to the difficulty select screen.

The main difference with Esgares is that there is no story.  The closest thing is Mira & Millet's quest.  That's it.  Nothing else.  And you don't get any quest knights.  And you don't get any joined Knights, whether you defeat a country or if a country is defeated by a different country.

---