Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

"A Fine Game, But Has To Much Changes!"

Introduction

First of all you should know that this game is the 8th to be released in Japan but the second who has made its way in the US. This is maybe the best strategy game that you will find on the GBA. This game does not have Marth and Roy in it, they are not even mentioned in the game, hopefully you are not to disappointed. Although they are not in the game, it does not mean the game is bad and it is far from it. Instead, they feature to new heroes “Ephraim” and “Eirik”. This game is very good and it is worth of a try. Now lets go to the review.

New Things in the Game

A lot of new things were brought up in this game. I'll describe the biggest ones because there is a lot. First of all, everyone will notice that this game is very different from the other Fire Emblem because now their isn't just Humans and Dragon that are incorporated in the game but there is also monsters, abominations from the under world that crawl on the land. Some of these creatures have there own ability to attack, you know without any weapons. You will have few chapters that you will actually confront them but after a certain amount of levels, these creatures will appear on your map and you will be able to battle them like any regular chapter. Also, I just referred to a map, yes in this FE you have the ability to control where your soldiers go, after a battle you will be able to control them and roam the continent. With this new option, you will be able to manage your soldiers and enter shops from towns you have already visited. You won't be able to enter the town but a screen will appear like any shop you would normally enter. There is also the promotions that have changed, you will have the choice to choose which class you want your character to change in, example, a Shaman that promotes, will have the choice between the old promotion “Druid” or the new one “Summoner”. Every character will have two choice to promote in. You have to be careful because some classes can be much more powerful than other ones. Also there is the trainees, these trainees are a class that can promote to a regular unit without any promotion item, they promote at level 10. There is three trainee characters, one for the axe family, one for the magic and one for the infantry. I recommend these characters greatly because they are the best of their class. There is also two side quest that can be accessed by the map menu, the Tower of Velni and the Lagdol Ruins. To brief up a little bit, there is a map that you can control your party on, new classes, the ability to choose the class of your unit will promote in, the ability to replay chapters (except there is monsters instead of Humans, and that they have nothing to do with the story) and newly incorporated in the game “monsters”. A hole lot of things to be discovered in this new title of Fire Emblem. Although many of you can hate these changes, I personally like most of these changes.

Gameplay

Pretty well the same as the other Fire Emblem titles. You are a tactician, you prepare battles before entering them, you fight the enemy and you watch your casualties with great interest because once a unit is dead you can't bring them to life again under any circumstances. Also sometimes there is more to do than just bring down your enemy, you have to seize castle or thrones, protect your main character for a specified number of turn etc.. This is pretty much the same as any other Fire Emblem title, you control a character, each character has a specified number of squares it can go, you will have to be careful because a mounted unit can go farther than any unmounted unit. Well it's pretty much the same as every Fire Emblem so I'm not going into to much details.

Story

The story, I will not go into to much detail to not spoil the game but enough to catch your interest. First of all there is five stones, these stones are a great mystery that you'll find out during the game, each stone is kept safely in every countries of the game Calcino, Grado, Renais, Frelia and Rausten. In the beginning Grado the strongest empire of all the continent has launched an attack against Renais the empire of our two heir twins. Ephraim has gone to meet the enemy with the forces of Renais but Grado is to strong and it results in the defeat of Renais. Eirik sets out with Seth on the order of the king, when the stronghold of Renais was taken down by Grado. Eirik has for objective of discovering Grados plan and to find her twin Ephraim. This is how the story begins, more and more you will advance in the game, more the story gets attractive. To me it is one of the best stories I have ever seen in a game.

Graphics

The graphics pretty well the same as Rekka no Ken (FE7). Nothing to extraordinary for this game but in FE titles it is not the graphics tat we are looking for it is the good story and the gameplay. Still, the graphics were improved and it should be remarked by any fans of Fire Emblem.

Sound

You can't expect to much from a GBA title, the music isn't that bad compared to other games but still needs improvement. The games tunes are good and some of you can recognize some old music from the previous Fire Emblem series. But like every GBA title, after a while you will get bored from the repetitiveness of the music.

Play Time

If you are looking for a great GBA game that has a lot of hours before you can go through that game than go and buy it. There is two routes for you to take, one is Ephraims route and the other one is Eiriks route that you will want to try. There is the ruin and the tower that you'll want to complete, a lot of support, level a lot of characters and play through Free Map mode that you will acquire after beating the game. There is a lot to discover and for veterans of this game, you should find it easier than other FE titles because of monsters that you'll encounter on the map menu after you have beaten a chapter, the ruins and the tower are all side quests that can bring your character a few levels before going through their main task.

Buy or Rent

Before anyone ask me this, I don't know where you can rent GBA games because where I live you can't rent any GBA games. If you can rent it then rent it before because not every people like style of the game or the new changes. If you have already played FE titles and you like the style of the game than do not hesitate and go buy this game, because you're going to miss a very good FE title. Be careful though, because you may not like the changes that were brought in the game.

Final Word

A very good game, I personally like it but I'm sure many of you will not like the changes that was brought up to the game. A lot of its challenge was brought down but still it may be hard for new comers or poor tactician for the veterans. I strongly suggest to play it at lest once if you are not going to buy it because you will miss something great. Although some changes were brought up that I do not really agree with, changes were made to bring up the game to a better level, still I liked the the original FEs better than this game but it does not mean that this game is bad.

Overall 7/10 – Could be improved a little bit but still it is a great game

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/25/05