Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (2004)

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones does little to make itself stand out among other entries in the series but maintains a strong level of quality throughout that makes it an excellent pick for anyone who just wants more Fire Emblem. It's also a good introduction for newcomers to the series if you ask me (it was my first, though I didn't complete it till now), with a level of difficulty that has some teeth but never feels oppressive. The story never quite found its footing but got better and better up through its climax, which made the final chapters fun to binge.

I was impressed with how well the GBA graphics hold up. Character portraits are vibrantly colored and hit the sweet spot where they give each character a distinct personality without becoming overly busy. The sound effects as you navigate the UI are charming and everything feels nice and responsive. If you're accustomed to the newer games, you'll find yourself needing to do a bit of math to calculate how much damage you can expect to dish out in any skirmish as well as to figure out whether you'll strike twice. It's an extra step but assessing stats going into a battle becomes second nature quickly.

While few members of my army outside of the main batch got much dialogue screentime, it was easy to develop favorites based on how they performed in battle. Lute, L'Arachel, and Joshua are probably near the top of the pack for me. My only disappointment here is how obtuse the support system can be. It's never explained in-game to my knowledge and I even after looking up how to use it I was only able to experience precious few interactions.

The story is pretty average for the franchise. A neighboring nation goes rogue and attempts to subdue everyone around them. There are dark forces at work behind the scenes. The usual. It works well enough and the split path adds some replayability, which is cool. I think the middle portion of the game loses momentum though. I had to push myself to keep coming back to those chapters, despite enjoying the gameplay. I will say the minor villains in this one are a lot of fun. There's some infighting and a few of them, such as Valter, have a larger presence than they probably deserve given their roles in the story-- in a good way. It makes them very memorable.

There's not much to say about the gameplay here if you've ever seen a Fire Emblem game before. The maps are decent overall, and you get enough good units that even if you lose a few to permadeath you'll be more than alright. Some of the bosses in the back half of the game are weirdly powerful though. I often found myself struggling to put a dent in their defenses even with my best units. But I'll also concede that I did zero grinding outside of the main story, so I was weaker than I could have otherwise been. At the end of the day, it's classic Fire Emblem tactical gameplay, so it's just pure fun.

I'm very glad to put this one to rest. I started it on my 3DS something like 13 years ago but put it down around halfway through. I'm hoping to knock out some other GBA games I never got around to finishing (or starting) while I have my subscription active on the Switch. Maybe I'll finally play Banjo-Kazooie as well!

After playing Fire Emblem Engage I decided to start from the earliest Fire Emblem non-Japan releases. That’s how I went through The Blazing Blade on April – and now it was turn for The Sacred Stones.

The truth is this game is very similar to its previous entry in aesthetics, music, gameplay and general presentation.

Some stuff I noticed wasn’t in the previous entry are: the overworld map, optional skirmish with monsters, and different options when changing classes.

Regarding the Skirmishs, I did like having the option to level up somewhere else, and not to depend on the story length to develop your characters. However, it took away most of the challenge out of the game. In comparison with The Blazing Blade, you now have enough time to level up whatever character you want in whatever order you desire. I appreciate the diversity, but it made the game a lot easier undoubtedly.

Music is top notch! The GBA chiptune never ceases to amaze me in the kind of sound it could produce regarding of its limitations.

The plot is… well. It’s kind of there. It is definitely better presented than The Blazing Blade in my opinion, but the truth is that the visualnovel-esque format it is not my favorite. I just couldn’t connect much with it. Some of the scenes are rather short and usually an excuse to “Oh no! they are attacking us!” follow up – apart from some specific big stages, it doesn’t add much value.

Buuuuuut, yes, the game is addictive! Great and fun experience. Technically speaking the game has a lot to offer: you can get to level up whatever character you want, you can get farm money, levels, you have a wide cast of characters, you even have a kind of “battle tower” thing.

Anyway – we could say this is a good entry for those would like to try a Fire Emblem but are afraid of the difficulty. The game is well presented, and overall, a good experience for strategy game lovers.

Fire Emblem is so much fun. This was my first foray into the series outside of Three Houses, and I was pleased to see that the gameplay on the GBA is essentially the same as it is on the Switch. Three Houses had some updates and improvements to the mechanics for which I am retroactively grateful, but everything you need in a Fire Emblem game was already there as early as 2004, which is pretty impressive.

Ordering my units around the combat field is always a delight, and figuring out the perfect strategies so as to not get any of them killed is challenging and exciting. It's also rather difficult, and I had almost everyone killed by the end of the game. Fortunately, the difficulty curve was pretty well perfect, so that my available units lasted me right until the last turn of the game and I never had to grind for levels.

Not too punishing and not too easy. A nice, happy challenge that gave me 25 hours of enjoyment in an otherwise stressful time.