Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

"Equal to the original in diffrent ways."

Ahh, the new Fire Emblem game. The second Fire Emblem in America and also the second for the GBA. The first American-released Fire Emblem was a true gem, offering the best RPG experience on the GBA, in my opinion. Closely followed by Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance and Advance Wars, which was made by the same developer (Intelligent Systems). Unfortunately , as for most RPG's, it wasn't that popular with the casual gamer. Mainly due to it's brutal difficulty and different battle system. But for the RPG or strategy faithful, it was one of the best. It's interesting story and characters prevailed with the stylish look of the graphics and battles. After two years, the second America-released Fire Emblem game came out and the fans rushed to the nearest Game Stop. As you can see by my score, I believe it is worthy of its name.

Graphics- 10/10
This game is a serious contender for best graphics ever put into a handheld game, not including PSP of DS games of course. The battles have pretty much the same style and animations, but the new classes, such as the Great Knight or the Rogue, have equally-stunning animations and are a nice addition to the franchise. The character models on the field are still a little awkward and toy-like, but it's not enough to lower the graphics score as it isn't that important. The character models in the story telling are still as colorful and detailed as ever. No real complaints here.

Sound-9/10
The sound design, the most unneeded part of a GBA game in my opinion. I usually play with the sound off, as when I'm playing my DS I'm usually in a quiet spot or in the car and my mom wouldn't approve of the sound on, plus there are no voiceovers, so the sound design is unneeded. But just for you guys, I'm going to turn the sound on to see how good it is. Anyways, the music is perfect for a GBA game. Zelda-style music that's all original. If you like the music for Final Fantasy or Zelda games, be sure to leave the sound on for this game. There is also a sound room where you can listen to your favorite tunes anytime.

Story-10/10
Where would an RPG be without a story? The tale of this game stars brother and sister Ephraim and Eirika, prince and princess of Renais, a peaceful country in the continent of Magvel. Renais shared the continent with other countries that were all peaceful, that is until one day a neighboring country, Grado, suddenly attacks Renais with full force and slays their king. Ephraim is away when this happens, and Eirika, with her trusted knight Seth, flee the castle, barely making it out alive. They travel to find help from other neighboring couyntries and to find Ephraim, later going on a search for all the sacred stones in order to defeat the demon king. The story for the Sacred Stones is not as fantastic as the previous entry, but nonetheless is unforgettable. Betrayal and trust are the key points in the story, and you'll find the story just as interesting as the gameplay. The characters all have good backstories and even have special endings if you get an A support with another member of your party.

Gameplay-10/10
The gameplay, always the most important part of the story. If you liked the gameplay from the first one, you'll find no problems here. It is almost completely unchanged except for the new characters and classes. There are some new elements, such as skills. An example of a skill is that rogues can pick locks without the use of lockpicks. The point-and-click system from the original is back with a vengeance and is just as responsive and easy to use as before. The new characters are great, maybe even better than the previous one. Here's a hint: Ephraim owns later in the game!

The only problem with this game to me is that there is only 20 chapters, other than the thirty in the previous one. But this game makes up for it with solid story and gameplay with some nice updates.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Cheatcommandos8!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05