Guten morgen! It's me again, after years of retirement. Been a while since I published something, and since I've been so busy with university and stuff, I figured I'd kick back and take off some steam from the system by writing about a franchise I care a bit about. And what better way to do so than with a review of one of the best games to get into the franchise? Well, that was the initial intention, but then I thought of dragging along my friend Yuu Suzuki (formerly Agustina) to help me spice up the review. Initally, I assigned her to talk about the story, but as you'll soon see, that was a theoretically fruitless endeavor. So what she decided to do was write a retrospective of the franchise, talking about the games that came before The Sacred Stones.
Without further ado, join us on this trip down memory lane so you can eventually understand what makes The Sacred Stones a great experience for beginners.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Before talking about the 8th entry in the series, it would be the best going back in time so we can have a summary of how the franchise has evolved through time. Surely there have been lots of changes since 1990, right? After all, this franchise was one of the big 3 SRPG series with Top-Down view along with Shining and Langrisser.Shouzou Kaga, the evil mind behind the series.
Among all of the story character archetypes it presents, the most important ones that are going to be repeated in future entries are:
- The protagonist, being a prince or princess (commonly called Lord)
- The strong bodyguard.
- The edgy/cool swordsman.
- The Char Aznable Clone: an antagonist that looks like it can be recruited but you can’t.
- Goku and Vegeta: two similar characters that are friendly rivals.
- Religious girl who falls in love with the edgy / cool swordsman.
- El wiwi / the mage kid who is always happy and filled with energy.
- The mercenary leader who is actually a good guy.
- The wise tactician that gives advice to the protagonist.
There was so much text for the time, with all the talks and ending possibilities if someone made it to the end alive, to the point where Nintendo had to make a new chip for the cartridges, since the already ones had exceeded the japanese character limit. Sadly this meant that the idea of adding different scenarios if you did X or Y had to be scratched for space, same with the fixed art scenes for important story segments and the multiplayer. Luckily, all of these features would be added to future installments.
After 3 years of development, Marth was ready to slay the Shadow Dragon with the help of his friends, but neither reviews nor sales were good at first. Still, being a commercial success wasn’t Kaga’s intention when developing it. The point was making something entertaining just for fun, and after some time it gained praise and the possibility to make a sequel… Or, rather, a side story.
Even with all that, this new entry still received bad reviews, most people compared it to both ‘‘Zelda II: The Adventure of Link’’ and ‘‘Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest’’ and even the original ‘‘Super Mario Bros. 2’’ for its difficulty in the second half of the game. But funnily, it sold well and was going to be one of the biggest pillar designs for the creation of the 8th entry.
Although this entry sold like ice cream in a hot day of summer, it still didn't escape from Japna. I guess that for Nintendo it wasn't enough to show that SRPGs could also be popular in the west.
After redoing the game from almost scratch three times and removing features so it could fit into a single cartridge, it was released after delay in 1996 as ‘‘Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War’’. The fourth game in the series was a critical success once again and was going to mark the start of the Jugdral duology because 3 years later they released another Side Story / Gaiden game set in the second arc of FE4.
The one we are not going to remember with any fond memories is the first Fire Emblem video game for the GBA released in 2002, ‘‘The Binding Blade’’.
It actually was in production back in 1997 and it was going to be released for Nintendo 64 as ‘‘Fire Emblem: Maiden in Darkness’’ but a couple of problems, like Kaga’s departure from Nintendo, made them start from scratch years later. For better or worse, the game came and it was inspired by high fantasy novels like Slayers and Record of Lodoss War, with a basic story and a protagonist designed to appeal to the young players of the portable system. It was well received and while people said it was easier than Thracia 776, the game was designed like a puzzle instead of an SRPG which made things kind of artificially difficult because most of the chapters were trial and error with sometimes crazy unfair reinforcements in a nasty terrain.
At some point Roy and Marth, protagonists of FE6 and FE1 respectively, joined ‘‘Super Smash Bros. Melee’’, making that the first official appearance of Fire Emblem characters in a game to the West. And before this, all we had was some unfinished FE3’s anime OVAs. Of course, no one knew who those two were until years later, but after some time our prayers were fulfilled…
1 year later, in 2003 we finally got a new official Fire Emblem video game in the west which it was a prequel to the previous one. In the West it was just called ‘‘Fire Emblem’’ but in Japan its name was ‘‘Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade’’. This was going to be the start of the series coming overseas from now on. The game was as basic as water and as easy as hitting a FE6 fan (kiddin’!), and it didn't at anything, but features a robust tutorial with its own story that serves as a prequel to the events of the game.
AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!
The land of Marvel, uh, I mean, Magvel.
- Triangle weapon system? Check
- Two campaigns / two protagonists? Check
- Support system? Check
- Class evolution? Check
- Monsters / Demons? Check
- Fog and Gaiden chapters? Check
- Story archetypes? Check
- World Map? Check
- Side content? Check
If only it had the horse breeding mechanic that was scrapped from FE4...
The game starts with Eirika, the princess of Renais and twin brother of the other protagonist of this game, Ephraim (the unstoppable). Grado, a nearby ally nation without any advice or prior dispute with Eirika’s homeland, attacks their lands, takes the castle and kills their king in just a moment. But thankfully Eirika manages to escape through the mountains with help of Seth, one of the (unkillable) generals of Renais who has the task to protect both her and the bracelet she has.
When they reach Frelia, an ally nation, they talk to king Hayden and reach an alliance to stop all this madness but before going balls out against Grado, they have to rescue Eirika’s brother, Ephraim and his soldiers who are being cornered close to a castle. Meanwhile, our prince, who only has two friends with him and one guy with a face that looks like he hasn't slept in ages, decides to rescue a kid in the middle of a war zone. After realising she’s from a super rare dragon tribe called Manakete and that actually she’s not a kid (I guess??) but actually is more than 1200 years old (classic Japan), his best idea is to assault the whole nearby castle with just his little team, because why not?
He actually made it alive and everything went well until the sleepy guy betrayed him and Eirika reached the castle to save him but… She also falls in the same trap and I guess Ephraim and Eirika save each other? Yeah, it’s a bit confusing. But it doesn't matter, the brothers are finally together again and they start to go back to Frelia with the Manakete, around here is when things are going to get a bit… Weird.
In the middle of the journey they stop in a town and they start to have fond memories of them playing with the prince of Grado, Lyon, who is their
And even then, this still goes in a weird direction between the brothers with or without the localizations because the final weapons for both Eirika and Ephraim are Sieglinde and Siegmund, both names refer to two characters from the second epic musical drama ‘‘Die Walküre’ part of the fourth pieces of ‘‘The Ring of the Nibelung’’ from 1869, in which two twin brothers are separated in their childhood and when they grow they meet again and fall in love, this can be tracked to even the old english text ‘‘Beowulf’’, just with different names.
To be honest, this wouldn’t be the first time that Fire Emblem makes crossover with incest, that already happened with FE4 and Kaga wanted to add something more in the scratched arc.
But back to our plot, when the whole party reaches Frelia and after the manakete tells the king that bad people are most likely destroying the sacred stones that are being protected in each nation, they divide in two different groups so they can find the rest of the stones before Grado possibly does it. Here is when we can choose to view the story from Eirika’s side or Ephraim’s one for the rest of the game, giving a good chunk of replayability to the game.
I don’t want to spoil more of the game, just wanted to talk about it until the path breach but I can of course say that the rest of the story holds up pretty well, I wouldn’t call it the best story in Fire Emblem because… FE4 and 5 exist but it’s pretty close around there. It has good plot twists, a pretty good Camus archetype, a very well written villain and especially the supports and relations between characters are some of the best in the 2D era (I’m seeing y’all, Gerik, Ewan, Lute and Marisa…) and I kind of don’t want to talk about them because I really want you to experience their lives. Especially the ones on Eirika's side, maybe it would be a bit sad in this game if any of your characters dies because then you couldn’t see the whole support but I guess that’s what makes Fire Emblem a… Fire Emblem. On the other hand this entry also has lots of goofy moments that the others didn’t have much, for me that’s not a problem but I don’t know if people would like that, especially in the main plot or with the villains.
CLASSIC GAMEPLAY WITH A TINY TWIST
After leveling up, your characters MAY increase your stats. Key word: may.
Back to Aziamuth! Remember just a second ago when Yuu told us that the story isn’t meant to surprise you? Well, guess what: the gameplay is more of the same. The skeleton of gameplay that was introduced in Binding Blade and Blazing Blade is present here as well with barely any changes. This, by itself, isn’t that bad, and is more of a byproduct of being a Fire Emblem GBA game. The developers might have been aware of the limitations of the console, so they decided to bring some new (and not so new) additions. Let’s go over them one by one.
I should start by explaining the previously mentioned skeleton, in case you’re new. Most Fire Emblem games are played more or less the same: you have a limited selection of units (usually between 8 and 14, depending on the chapter and game) and move them in a grid. Each character has a certain number of spaces they can move. What you have to do in each chapter is completing a certain objective, which can be routing all enemies, defeating a boss, surviving a specific amount of turns or reaching a certain place. When one of your units and an enemy unit are in range, they can fight, and the unit that depletes the other’s health kills them. This goes both ways, because most Fire Emblem games (including this one) feature permanent death, which means that they will never, ever come back, so playing with caution and strategy is paramount to success. I mean, if one or two units die is no big deal, but if 10 die… it can get tough. The good news is that the games usually give you plenty of units so that you can get by. The bad news is that not every unit is good. In fact, some are so bad that they are dead weight.
The result of combat is decided by the stats. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but I should point out a few:
- Skill refers to the hit rate of the character.
- Speed is, mainly, your avoid rate. However, if a character’s speed exceeds the enemy’s by 4 or more, you can do a follow up attack, effectively doubling your damage.
- Luck affects anything related to hitting, critical chance or evading, but to a lesser degree than the other stats.
- On the topic of critical strikes, they do three times the damage.
And that’s it. The Sacred Stones doesn’t deviate from this formula, making for a very familiar and comfortable experience. It does, however, differ in one small area.
Whenever a unit reaches level 10, you can use an item on them and promote them. Usually, this is just a straight up evolution, being the same but better. The unit goes back to level 1 but keep their stats and even earn a bonus (depending on the class). An unit can go up to level 20 before and after promotion, so it’s a good idea to do that to maximize results. In Sacred Stones, however, you have the option of choosing between two promotion paths, and in the case of Trainees, you can choose an additional time! That being said, for 90% of cases, one of the options is notably worse than the other, such as in the case of Paladin vs Great Knight or Hero vs Warrior. Notwithstanding, the fact that you can choose makes for a more customizable and fun option. And, really, it’s not like it matters because…
MY BABY’S FIRST FIRE EMBLEM
A valid strategy for this game is using exclusively the character Seth.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, is an absurdly easy game. This is because of three factors:
Number 1: the difference in power between playable units and enemy units.
To be fair, this is a common factor in most Fire Emblem games, and in fact, a lot of the time it’s not even a problem. For example, Thracia 776 has, probably, the weakest enemies in the series, and yet it’s the hardest game. Nevertheless, it’s still something to take into account. Just for the record, the one of the final bosses has extremely high stats save for speed, making it very easy to double him.
Number 2: unremarkable level design, save for a few select stages.
Even by standards of “modern” Fire Emblem, the map design of Sacred Stones is extremely average, with the positioning of enemies being, for the most part, not very dangerous. There are, however, a few exceptions, which are the following:
- Chapter 6, if you wish to save the villagers.
- Chapter 11 of Ephraim’s route.
- Chapter 14 of Ephraim’s route if you forget to bring a Restore staff.
- Chapter 18.
Number 3: the ability to grind.
Last, but certainly not least, this is what separates Sacred Stones from the rest in terms of difficulty. This is not the first time Fire Emblem had the option to grind your characters at any time, but it’s the first time where it’s so convenient and easy. At no point will you feel weak if you make use of the grinding facilities. And if you don’t, it doesn’t matter, because the game remains easy.
The best (or worst) part is that the game is still easy even on the Hard difficulty (the difficulty I played on), being on par with the Normal difficulty of Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword, aside from the previously mentioned characters. This, however, isn’t a bad thing, because it just makes The Sacred Stones a great game for beginners of the franchise. While it doesn’t feature a robust tutorial like the aforementioned (it doesn’t actually have one), the very beginner friendly curve allows you to learn the mechanics of the game at an easy pace. If only it had a Casual mode (not that it needs one), it would be THE perfect beginner game.
CHOOSING YOUR PATH
One of the few things that make this game stand out.
Another thing that The Sacred Stones does that, sadly, is not an unique feature (as it was already featured in Gaiden, Binding Blade and Blazing Sword) is the possibility to choose between two routes starting from chapter 9. In one of the routes, you play as Eirika, while in the other you play as her twin brother, Ephraim. It’s universally considered that Eirika’s route is easier than Ephraim’s, so it’s recommended that you go for that one if you’re a beginner. To compensate, Ephraim is stronger, both in bases and growths, and uses lances that are considered better than swords.
Aside from different protagonists, the routes:
- Feature different chapters (the main reason why Ephraim’s path is harder).
- Recruited characters are obtained in different orders (some are not even obtained until the paths converge).
- Change the characterization of the main antagonist. On Eirika’s route, he’s simply evil. On Ephraim’s route, however, he develops significantly.
AN ATTEMPT AT POST GAME
Although it appears with the route split, the Tower of Valni is one of the objectives of the post game.
Last, but not least, Sacred Stones features a post-game, because why not? Called Creature Campaign, this feature can only be accessed after beating the game and saving at the Epilogue. During this post-game, you’ll keep your characters as you left them after beating the final boss (this means that dead characters don’t come back) and be able to visit any facility like in the main game (except the arena). All you can do is fight in the skirmishes in the world map or visit the two grinding spots: the Tower of Valni and the Lagdou Ruins. Reaching certain objectives or completing both dungeons several times will award you with characters that are not recruitable throughout the story, including the main antagonist, so it’s a good way of getting more mileage out of the game if you happen to love it.
GOOD OLD GBA GRAPHICS
The music is also good, and it’s distinguishable from the one in Binding/Blazing despite the fact that they all share the same sound font. There are some notable tracks such as Prince’s Despair, Truth, Despair and Hope and the battle theme, but I think that, in comparison to the Tellius duology or even Thracia 776 it’s a bit lacking.
CONCLUSION
These are our favorite characters!
Fire Emblem is cool. I wish Awakening was good.
Pros
- + A good difficulty curve for beginners
- + A simple and compelling story, easy to follow
- + Good writing
- + Good art and music
Cons
- - Despite its pros, the story is very average and not that exciting
- - Doesn't excel at anything
- - The artistic department is derivative from previous games
8
Gameplay
Just good gameplay, nothing exciting. The branching promotions supposedly give you agency but there's always an option that's better.
10
Graphics
Great art and well-crafted sprites make The Sacred Stones a dessert for your eyes
7
Story
The story is very average, but the writing is solid and the villain is quite good
8
Sound
Good, but falls short in comparison to other entries in the franchise
10
Replayability
Aside from the route split, Fire Emblem as a series is very replayable thanks to the random nature of growths
8.6
out of 10
Overall
While Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones doesn’t wish to impress you with difficult gameplay or new mechanics, it still manages to be fun enough to be played from start to finish, even if only because of its short duration. I appreciate some of the things it does even if they end up being lackluster. Fortunately, it also has some unique qualities of its own, such as the writing, the music and the possibility (despite being flawed) of choice. If you are interested in Fire Emblem but aren’t sure how to get into it, look no further than the adventures of the twins of Renais.
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Super!
