Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

"Fire Emblem is good for challenge and fun. This had neither."

Let me start off by saying I'm a diehard Fire Emblem fan. Maybe not diehard, but hardcore, at least. I've played all 9 games and beaten all but 2 (The first Fire Emblem and Path of Radiance) and I've loved them all- almost.
I was brought into this series by 7, which was Rekka no Ken- Loosely translated to Sword of Fire, I believe. I began diving into the emulated world of Fire Emblem- Mystery of the Emblem, Thracia 776, Seisen no Keifu and then Sword of Seals and Gaiden. I loved them all, down to the smaller details, even if I have problems with each. Then they announced Fire Emblem 8, or better known as The Sacred Stones. And by looking at it, it WAS Sacred in every way. I was soon granted the opportunity to play it.

The only thing is, it blew. Chunks.

Gameplay: 4/10
Saving grace for some of the games, it's relatively hard to blow up Fire Emblem gameplay. This game managed it. They brought back elements of Gaiden- dungeons that constantly respawned battles, an interactive world map and random battles on said map. So, in evidence, this game should have been good, because it brought back some innovation. What killed it?

The difference between this one and other Fire Emblems after Gaiden are the dungeons, first of all. Ridiculously easy and yielding decent experience to a degree, you can take any character, any level and power level him to 20, easily. The catch is that it's not very bountiful until you hit later floors, at which point your weapons will be crippled. But not only do they make this place easy, they put Arenas in, and therefore you have an essentially endless supply of money as long as you stay behind a chapter with an arena, and make sure to abuse it.

Now, there's their class changing system. Characters now upgrade into two classes based on your choice. You can go, for instance, from Fighter to Warrior or Hero. This sounds good! You can patch those slow Fighters by making them into heroes, or you can make those pesky Knights into Great Knights to combine the best of defence and speed! But what's that I hear? "What if the growths don't correspond"? Bingo! A Fighter can go into a Hero by sacrificing 5 points of strength- it sounds little, but it really isn't in the end. In the end, you're making your Fighters Warriors, your Mercenaries Heroes and your Cavaliers Paladins, simply because their growths are tilted that way. Why try to get what you won't, after all?

They added new classes, too. The Mage Knight replaces the Valkyries with Anima, who now use Light Magic. Rogues are upgraded Thieves who don't need Lockpicks to open chests or doors. Great Knights are combining the best of Paladins and Generals. Rangers are Nomad Troopers with a crappier Sword attack animation. The Lords are obviously redone, too. There's also the pre-classes, which are Pupil, Trainee and Journeyman, who use Anima, Spears and Axes respectively. They're really all preference, but then the Rogue just makes the game easier yet again.

They added skills, too, but they're so seldomly activated that I won't go into them, as they barely affect the game.

In short, if you didn't read all that, they made the game incredibly abuseable and made the promotion system very idiotic.

Sound: 9/10
If you can't screw up one thing in a Fire Emblem, it's the soundtrack. That's impossible. Every Fire Emblem, including this one, has stellar music. This game has some exceptionally good tracks- Lost Heart, Determination, The Battle Must Be Won and Laughter are exceptionally good in my eyes.

Graphics: 5/10
They basically shined and polished the old graphics, and brought in new ones. The result? The old classes move like a cube trying to roll while the new classes flow smoothly in and out of the battle scene. It really shows you the lackluster effort they put into the graphics.

Difficulty: 0/10
Yes, zero. Z-E-R-O. How? Well...

Powercharacters out the butt. 1 had Oguma, Est and Linda, 2 had Cliff, Dyute, Est and Zeke, 3 had Chiki, Oguma and Est (again) and Maric, 4 had Sety, Shanan, Aless, Lakche and Celice, 5 had Carrion, Othin and Sety (again), 6 had Roy and Fa, 7 had Nino and Raven, and this peice of garbage has (start counting on your fingers, children) L'arachel, Gerik, Ewan, Ross, Amelia, Tana, Ephraim, Colm, Seth, Myrrh, Cormag, Joshua and Marissa. Hell, I'm probably forgetting some.

See? That's 13 if you count 'em up, and FE4- arguably having the most before this hunk of crap- has a mere 5, and 4 of them are really only superior because of their Holy Weapons. This game has no such overpowered items, and all these characters are going to be vastly superior to just about anyone else you try and use- but almost everyone else is very much useable. Gerik, L'arachel, Ephraim and Tana alone can take down an entire army.

But then you've got Ewan, Ross and Amelia, who get an extra 10 levels with growths that surpass some of the regular characters, Colm, who will easily max Speed and Luck, with a rather fair chance at everything else, Joshua, who will max Speed, Skill and Strength- very odd for a Swordmaster- and Marissa, who will max Speed, Skill and possibly Luck, along with a possible Strength...

Cormag, who is a flying monster who will max Skill, Strength, Defence and possibly speed, Myrrh who's a Mamekute... (which they call Manakete... the hell?)... which wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have 50 uses on her stone... Seth is a beefed version of Oifaye... and tack this onto the dungeons, the Arenas and the enemies who will be weaker than an authentic Jeigan at the last levels, and you have a game you could probably beat without trying.

Replay Value: 1/10
So why the 3? Because this game has no replay value, either. Yeah, there's different routes, and that's... one more playthrough. Believe me when I say Hard Mode will be hard for the first 6 or 7 chapters, and will then descend back into easy mode.

Total: 3/10
Easier than Gaiden, and that's saying something. Less graphically improved than FE3, and that's also saying a lot. Gameplay is at an all-time low for Fire Emblem as it's simply regurgitating the worst of two worlds, and that's not good, obviously. Saving graces are the music, but one cannot simply screw up Fire Emblem soundtracks. Just can't.

Buy? Rent?
If you're like me and you'll play and beat a Fire Emblem, even if you hate it, just so you can tack it onto your record, borrow it or rent it. I borrowed it, personally, and I'm glad I never bought it.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/06