Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones is the product of many prolific elements rolled into a uniquely satisfying and addictive package. While the difficulty and time investment is occasionally frustrating and the storyline frequently falters in fantasy conventions Fire Emblem’s pick up and play mentality and deceptively deep turn-based combat lend it great to the handheld space.
Gameplay in Sacred Stones pits you through a arduous campaign of twenty one turn-based missions. Initiating a mission will introduce you to Fire Emblem’s recognizable grid based system to put your troops in formation to withstand enemy attacks. Once within range you can initiate a battle sequence to eliminate enemy troops. These are decided by a large number of factors, such as terrain, the type of weapon used, and your chosen character’s stats. Chief of these factors is the Fire Emblem “weapon triangle” which gives certain weapons an advantage over others. The triangle is as follows: sword wielding characters have an advantage over axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. There is a similar mechanic present in magics. Keeping this in mind during gameplay will make a big difference on your performance.
The opposing turn serves mainly to grade your strategic performance during your movement phase. The enemy AI is pretty ruthless and if you made a mistake in positioning your characters the computer will punish that. This is fairly typical of strategy RPGs but the stakes are amplified in Sacred Stones, where character death is permanent and you will never get to use that character for the rest of the game.
When a unit bites the dust you have two options: either continue on without them or restart the chapter to avoid their death altogether. The former option is usually the safest as units in Fire Emblem are unique characters and there is no telling when you will get an additional unit of that class, so you may go into new fights crippled without a valuable class. Permanent character death can be a frustrating mechanic but the increased tension is better for the game in my opinion because there is a unique weight behind every decision that you make.
The campaign of missions is interjected by a relatively forgetable story that frequently falters in generic fantasy tropes. The dialogue portion of the game is still enjoyable however, with sharp and generally well done writing highlighting every character’s personality. Every aspect of the plotline is skippable if you desire but paying attention to the story will grant you bonuses in battle as certain units will gain statistic bonuses if they fight alongside a character they relate to.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is not the longest RPG on the market, clocking in at about twenty-five hours at the climax, but the game is easy to pick up again to try developing a new character or playing again on a harder difficulty. After a small set of missions designed to help you into the game you are given a split between two campaigns following either Ephraim, the prince, or Erika, the princess. Fire Emblem is a great value for your money if you are willing to invest the time in it.
On the whole I would reccomend Sacred Stones to anyone who thinks they are up the challenge. The game is a different experience than anything on the platform and its thinking oriented gameplay makes it an easy game to occupy your time with on long commutes. If you can put up with the frustrating character death Fire Emblem’s satisfying and exceptional gameplay make it a worthy addition to any GBA owner’s library.
Presentation: 8/10 Entertainment: 9/10 Value for Money: 9/10 Overall: 9/10
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