Overall 9.6 Graphics 8.9 Sound 9.4 Addictive 9.6 Story 9 Depth 9.4 Difficulty 6.4
9.9
Grado has attacked, prepare for war!!! Dante0
This was one of my first GBA games, and oh boy did I choose a good one to start out with. Well.. Not really start with, my first gba game
was actually Yoshi's Island, and as awesome as that game is, we are not talking about that today. It is Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones, so let us start with the history.
Developed by Intelligent Systems and Published by Nintendo and released in JP in October 7, 2004, in NA May 23, 2005, and in EU November 4, 2005. FE TSS (Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones, I will be calling it FE TSS from now on) is the second Fire Emblem game to be released outside of Japan. This is actually the eighth game is the series, but only the third in Japan, and the second to be released outside of Japan. ( Fun fact, in Japan this game is known as: Fire Emblem: Seima no Koseki , which stands for: Fire Emblem Shining Stones of Holiness and Evil.) For those of you new to the series, FE TSS is a tactical RPG, and a dang good one at that. It got good reviews but was criticized for not really improving anything major over the last game.
But it is still loved by many and in my opinion one of the best Fire Emblems to date. This game also got a virtual console release in JP December 16, 2011, which is also the same date it was released on in NA, and EU, but AUS got it a day early on December 15, for some odd reason lol. To be honest guys, I don't like tactical RPGS, I found they were slow, boring, and just not fun. I have tried Final Fantasy Tactics, and many others, but with no luck. I love RPGS like the Persona series, Final Fantasy series, And Dragon Quest series. I LOVE RPGS, but not tactical RPGS.... EXCEPT THIS ONE! For some reason, I just cannot get enough of this game, and we are about to find out why. Enough with the history, lets get in to the game itself.
Graphics: You know what, this games graphics aren't amazing, even for a GBA, but you know what, they are good enough. The maps are really varied, and I never feel like I'm playing on the same map just with a different paint coding. Each one feels unique and awesome, and well designed for some pretty intense tactical battles. The battle sprites are really cool, each class with its own attack, critical attack, and sometimes special ability attack animation. Which all look really cool btw If we are judging this game just by pure graphics, this game gets about a 7/10, but its not going to get that, the games graphics fit the game very well, with tons of different enemy and friendly sprites. I wouldn't want the games graphics to be any better or any worse then they are, which is why I am giving the games graphics a 9/10. For tons of detail put in to the maps, great character and enemy design, and awesome battle animations.
Sound: Don't even get me started on the music, there isn't a single track I don't like. From the amazing intro music to the battle music, the music will not get annoying and you will love every second of it, there isn't much else to say about this category, just one word, amazing. Which is why it gets a 10/10.
Addictiveness: Oh you will want to play this game again, with three saves you are going to beat the game three times. With two stories to the game, I have beaten it over ten times. Replay value is very high, with tons of classes, unlockable characters, and many other things that fall more in to the depth category, which is why I'm just going to ditch this category right now and continue this stuff when I reach depth. You just better have a lot of spare time cause you are going to be hooked to this game. The story and characters are going to draw you in, mix this with an awesome battle system and maps, also with insane difficulty you are going to be driven to play the map that you are stuck on over and over again until you complete the map and advance the story. Once your done with the story, you can go back to the map and go on a certain thing that if I said the name of would spoil a part of the story. Basically you can go around the map and do battles with.... well.. I wont spoil the enemies for you, go back to shops to stock up on items, and you can visit the Tower of Valni and the Lagdou Ruins. So trust me, you're going to put hours upon hours upon hours into this game. At least I have..... and still am :D. Giving the addictiveness a 10/10.
Story: The story is really interesting, with a lot of twists, and awesome ones at that. I even found myself close to crying a few times. I love the characters and how many there are, each with there own personalities. The only character I really don't like is Ewan, what a brat. He has the personality of an arrogant annoying kid, and isn't even that powerful. By the time ya get him you already have Lute who should be way more powerful then him by then. I'm not going to spoil anything but the story goes something like this: You are put in to a world called Magvel, with 5 sacred stones that sealed the Demon King a long time ago, but now the biggest and most powerful continent, known as Grado, which also housed the most powerful sacred stone and was the one that sealed the Demon King away, has attacked all the other continents. Renais which was the continent closest to Grado, which is also where our main heroes live, are baffled to why they have invaded the other continents mercilessly killing everyone. The two main heroes Erika and Ephraim set out to find out why. Trust me the story gets much more complicated then this with tons of cool twists and really interesting plot elements. You wont be forgetting the story anytime soon. Betrayal between friends, war, and all in the middle of it, you and the sacred stones. The story gets a 9/10. While I adore the story, it's not quite strong enough to get a perfect ten.
Depth: I already said this, but there is SO MUCH TO DO IN THIS GAME! Character classes, a sweet battle system, support conversations, which I'll get more into later, 34 recruitable characters, with ten unlockable characters, do some simple math and there are 44 characters in this game. Which all need to level up, change class, equip different types of weapons, magic, and items, and all have support conversations. You can visit houses and villages to get some cool items, oh, hey, step on a certain space in the map, and there ya go, secret item! There are so many gameplay mechanics that would each need entirely different threads to go into to detail with. The Tower of Valni, the Lagdou Ruins, the shops, the different types of weapons and magic, the secret shop, the secret items, and so much more. Just play the game.. NOW!
Now to go into the support conversation system, With different characters, come different shall we say social links. While on the battlefield certain characters can develop support conversations with other certain characters. You achieve this by keeping those two characters adjacent to each other. which characters can develop support conversations is up to you to find out. but, each character can only have, I think, five support conversations. Four ranks, C, B, A, and S. S is for opposite genders only and will result in a marriage. While this really fleshes out character development; I still to this day do not like the 5 conversation limit. Although it does increase EVEN MORE replay value if you wanna see who can marry who. Thankfully, I think Awakening fixed the whole only 5 support conversation thing (Awakening is another FE game.) Having a higher rank between two characters who (whom, whatever) are close to each other will get them stat boosts when in battle, which is awesome! They're all like, aw man, that girl I like, shes watching me! I gotta try harder! Its pretty awesome/hilarious, too bad they don't ever actually say those things but it's totally what they are thinking XD. There's a lot more to cover, but just play the game for yourself and find everything there is to find. It's an awesome time. For a GBA game, there is tons of content. The depth gets a 10/10.
Difficulty: Oh man this game is gonna make you throw your system out the window. There are three difficulty settings; Easy, normal, and hard. Even on easy this game is NOT easy. mainly due to one of the many simple reasons, when a character dies, he/she is dead forever! They are not coming back, so its up to you whether to restart the chapter, or to keep on going. Easy difficulty has the tutorial, and enemies are easier. Normal is.. Well, normal. No tutorial and normal difficulty for enemies. Hard is INSANE!! The enemies are cranked way up to impossible and of course, no tutorial. I actually hate the fact that only the easy setting has the tutorial. At least make the tutorial an option for the other settings. I don't like it too easy but I want the game to explain to me how to play! Its like playing a board game with someone and you have never played the board game before, and your friend is a pro and says "I could explain how to play the game, and I'll go easy on you." Now I personally like a challenge, so your friend says "Okay, I wont try my hardest but I won't explain how to play, or I can just crush you and not explain anything!! :). WHAT! No, that's just stupid. Tell me how to play the game then don't hold back. I'll figure the rest out as I go, but don't withhold information.
The first time I played this game I was on the normal difficulty thinking I could just figure it out as I go. I didn't know your allies deaths were permanent so as I go my allies are thinning and I was like, "Wait, where's my thief Colm?? Well at the end of the game, fleshing out character development even more, the game tells you what that character goes on to do, and when it came to Colm it said.... Oh, well I don't remember exactly where he died (along with many others btw), but the game said he was dead *
insert place here*. I googled it and sure enough, character death is permanent. WOULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL TO KNOW GAME!!! Yeah I just don't like that the tutorial is only on easy, but a small complaint. Since there are two stories anyways and replay value is through the roof as it is, I would just recommend to do one story on easy and the other one on normal/hard depending how confident you are. I personally didn't like the first Fire Emblem very much. I didn't like the characters or the story. Never actually beat the game, but this sequel is fantastic, I cannot recommend this game enough. Tactical RPG fans you are in heaven. This stands as my favorite tactics game of all time. Difficulty: 10/10
The finishing touches: To sum it all up, FE TSS is a fantastic game that, if you have a GBA, or a DS that you can play this on, or a 3ds or wii so you can download from the virtual console, or just play it right here on vizzed for free! Great website right :D; then you NEED to do yourself a favor and play this game. If you like a great story, awesome characters, amazing music, plot twists, tons of content or if you just wanna challenge yourself to a hard game, then this game is for you. Here is a challenge, if It's your first time playing this game and you wanna have a good excuse to smash your brothers ps4 that you are jealous of; then play this game on hard and don't look up ANYTHING. Um... actually don't do that, you'll probably end up burning down your house.
Well that's the end of my review. Let me know how you liked it. Or if you don't think I did good, WELL SCREW YOU YA STUPID ******. Lol just kidding. Seriously, if you think I did something wrong or if you can think of any way I can improve my reviews I would greatly appreciate you telling me so I can improve them. I plan on doing many more in the future. To sum up the review, FE TSS is a game you need to play, so I'll be giving the game a 9.9/10. It's so close to a ten, but alas, with a few of the problem I have already mentioned, it stops it from getting a perfect ten. The story could have been a bit better, and I personally think that the difficulty can be bullcrap sometimes. On hard difficulty, enemies will, more often than not, hit you even though they only have like, a 10% chance to do so, which can be incredibly frustrating. Although it really was mostly the story that stopped it. There's nothing really wrong with it, the game or the story, but I just don't feel like it deserves a perfect ten. It's very close though, and you need to play this game... NOW!! Overall game score: 9.9/10
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.8/5
Submitted: 03-16-14
Updated: 04-21-16
Review Replies: 6
9.7
Mint's second game review: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Chewedmint
I finally got around to making another review. This time, it will be Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. I am a huge fan of the Fire Emblem series and FE : SS is definitely my favorite of all Fire Emblem games. Now, without further ado, here is my review:
Graphics: The graphics aren't anything special by any means, but they're not terrible either. I'd say they're above average in my opinion. Considering this game was released in 2005, you shouldn't expect the graphics to blow you away, anyway. My rating: 7/10.
Sound: The music in FE : SS is excellent. As I mentioned in my previous review, I usually keep the sound off when I play games. I don't mind having the sound on for this one, however. I love the dramatic battle music. There are 69 total soundtracks on this game. My personal favorites are Determination and Combat Preparation. My rating: 10/10.
Addictiveness: There are so many different ways you can play this game. You can try and finish chapters in the fewest amount of turns as possible, or you can take your time and defeat every enemy on every chapter, which is what I usually do. If a character dies, you can let it go for an even bigger challenge or restart the chapter so you don't lose the character. I always restart when one of my character dies, I just hate letting them die because of one of my miscalculations. Also, you can try to finish the main story without promoting your units to higher classes. However, if you really want a challenge, you can even try to beat the game with only one character. It's a lot of fun trying to beat the game using all the different methods. My rating: 10/10.
Story: I won't get too in depth here, as to avoid spoiling anything for those of you who haven't played the game before. The story is definitely intriguing, with several plot twists. In fact, each character in the game has their own back story. Intelligent Systems did a very nice job of developing each character to have different personalities. My rating: 10/10.
Depth: While there is a fairly low amount of chapters, it does take a decent amount of preparation for each one if you want to get the most out of them. Once you reach a certain point in the game, the main characters, Ephraim and Eirika go on separate paths and you'll have to choose which one you will accompany. Each route has several different chapters, although they do meet up again eventually. Also, after you complete the main story, you'll be able to start the Creature Campaign. During the Creature Campaign, you'll be able to unlock characters that you previously encountered during the main story. You'll also be able to buy almost any weapon in the game. Stat boosting items will also be available to purchase, so if you wish you can continue training your characters to max out their stats. My rating: 9/10.
Difficulty: At the beginning, you will be able to choose between three difficulties: Easy, Normal, and Hard. As I previously mentioned, you can also impose restrictions on yourself to make the game even more challenging. If you play on the normal difficulty, it won't be too difficult, but you will undoubtedly have to restart chapters a number of times if you don't want to lose units. Some chapters are more difficult and time consuming than others; like I said, it does take time to prepare and plan for each chapter. You can't just run though each chapter like it's nothing. You'll need proper execution of your plan to get the most out of each chapter. My rating: 7/10.
Overall, I really enjoy this game. It's definitely one of the best tactical role-playing games out there. I would highly recommend Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones to anyone, especially if you are a fan of RPGs. Final rating: 9.7/10.
Graphics 7 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 9 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4.7/5
Submitted: 11-22-13
Updated: 11-22-13
Review Replies: 1
9.7
One of the Best Games Ever FMAfan123
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (FE8) is probably my all-time favorite Fire Emblem game. In my first playthrough alone, I spent around 180 hours leveling up my characters, battling enemies and finishing the main storyline.
Graphics: The graphics are rather good for the GBA, though I think they could've been brushed up a bit. Either way, it's a beautiful game. Whether it's the character portraits, maps, or battle animations, this game is great in the graphics department. There really isn't much else I think can be said here. The only other GBA game I have played is Pokémon Emerald, so I don't have much to compare to. 9/10
Sound: One word; amazing. I've mentioned this before in my previous reviews, but it needs to be mentioned again - the Fire Emblem franchise houses some of the best songs in video game history, in my opinion. Almost all of the songs in Sacred Stones are catchy and memorable - I can even name off a few (Truth, Despair and Hope; The Prince's Despair; Powerful Foe; The Battle Must be Won and many more). As for some of the games sounds, they're pretty good. I really have nothing to say about the sounds in general, other than the fact that they seem to sound very realistic to me. 10/10
Addictiveness: I can safely say that the Sacred Stones is a very, very addictive game. First off, the story (which I will get into more later) is very enticing. That, and the fact that there's so much more you can do here other than the story line. I'll play this game over and over and over again without getting bored because there's so many characters to level up and so much time to actually level them up. Plus, The main story, not counting buying supplies and extra levels across the map, can take up to about 20-50 hours of gameplay. 10/10
Story: Someone (not sure if they would want to be outright mentioned) commented on my Shadow Dragon review earlier and said that almost all of the Fire Emblem games have a sort of storybook feel to them. And to that, I would have to agree wholeheartedly. Playing Fire Emblem games, especially Sacred Stones, in my opinion, feels like you're reading a story. A really good story, at that. You know, one of those books where you're like; "Okay, just one more chapter... Oh! Cliffhanger chapter! Just one more, then I'll put it away.... Hm... One more after this one... One more..." Repeat this process over and over and that's how it feels to play this game. Yes, this game does have the 'must reclaim homeland' cliche but it's not nearly as bad as, say, Shadow Dragon. 'Prince Ephraim and Princess Eirika flee from their homeland of Renais when the neighboring country of Grado attacks and their father, King Fado, is murdered. After centuries of peace, no one knows why Grado suddenly attacked. In order to find the truth and bring peace back to the continent of Magvel, they will have to build an army and oppose the Grado Empire. But the truth is more sinister then either of them could ever imagine and someone who they once thought of as a friend will become their worst nightmare...' Good, right? (lol) Anyways, I think I've spent enough time drooling over this game's story, but I also want to mention one more thing; character development. There's plenty of it in this game. Whether it's just in the main plot or the extra Support Conversations between characters, there is plenty of character development.
Depth: This game has a lot to offer in depth. It can take well over 100 hours to beat if you go through the main story as well as try to level up ALL OF YOUR CHARACTERS to at least decent levels. Yes, that's me. You can go back to your save file after you beat the game and go to different places on the map, to do nothing more than challenge monsters and level up your characters even more.Also, I've heard about a few characters being unlocked if you do some certain things, but I've never tried to unlock them, nor have I really seen anyone play as those characters. However, if it's true, that definitely adds to this games replay value.
Difficulty: This game isn't that difficult, compared to other Fire Emblem games. I've completed the game on both easy and normal modes so far. Easy Mode; didn't lose a single character. Normal Mode; lost one character. I haven't played Hard Mode yet, but I'm getting there. Even the final level, with three enemy exceptions there, wasn't too hard. However, there is a tower level - the Lagdou Ruins - where I have a bit of difficulty at on Normal Mode. All in all, I'll give this game a 5/10 for difficulty.
Overall, This excellent game gets a 9.7/10 from me! It's an excellent game that I highly recommend people to go check out. There are a few issues, such as the lack of difficulty, but this game is still a great one.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 07-02-14
Review Replies: 1
9.8
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones Deadman9001
The Second installment of the fabled Fire Emblem series to reach outside of the Japanese border, truly rocks the handheld market by storm. One of the few Final Fantasy esq. games where the player will suffer perma death if any party member dies. Unlike in Final Fantasy if a party member falls at any point in the game, that person is lost forever. This feature in all Fire Emblem games is what continues to set the series apart from the rest of the Nintendo and video game library. The series made only two trips to the consoles with Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn being released on the Gamecube and Wii respectively. These releases followed Sacred Stones in the order release. This game is a top view map featuring grids guiding the character movements, using RPG elements and mechanics to advance the battles along. Cutscenes and music shine through despite a lack of voice acting.
Story: 10
One of the classic and great RPG games of the Gameboy console, Sacred Stones uses the long old tale of war to drive its story. The many kingdoms on the continent of Magvel are driven into war, when the southern most kingdom of Grado suddenly attacks its long time ally Renais. You play as the Princess and Prince Erika and Ephraim on a quest to discover why Grado began an unprovoked war, and to free your kingdom from its evil clutches. Along the way the main characters meet many a friend who will valiantly give their lives to return peace to the world. It is only after a few chapters in, that you discover the true reason your neighbor envelops all of Magvel in total war.
The twists and turns the plot line of the game puts you through are wonderfully done, and well scripted. This game is a true testament to how well the developers of the Fire Emblem series are.
Depth: 10
With the perma-death mechanic and the many many chapters you will play in this game, the depth is tremendous. Each character can level up and change their class to one of two or even three advanced classes once they reach level 10-20. You must collect class changing items in order to do this, and once you've invested the effort to level the characters up, you will want to start keeping them alive, even if you have to restart the console and play the level all over again. If that wasn't enough for you, the game also offers the ability to travel anywhere you had previously been on the map (the first time this had been used since Fire Emblem: Gaiden, the second game in the entire series), and either fight in two grinder towers (they are there simply to level up your characters) or to the various shops and armories all over. After you have beaten the game, you will then be allowed to continue from that point and use your current team to fight through the grinder towers to the top and even unlock NPC's to play for your team. It even features a multiplayer function, where you can challenge your friends to linked arena battles using your best fighters with their best weapons.
Difficulty: 10
While the game's controls are relatively easy to figure out, it is the constant threat that your lord, or any of your precious characters will be killed, that you will most likely have to restart the console and try again so that you can keep that character alive. Surviving the entire game without losing one character is a difficult task, and takes a lot of careful planning and strategy to pull off. This is what makes the game so good however, that you are forced to develop the characters and learn them.
Graphics: 10
For a game of this console, having a top down, sprite ruled screen can be a bit disappointing. However the graphics fit the bill for the game, as each battle features cut scenes showing the attack, and very fun critical hit moves that will make the player beg for more "killer" weapons to see this happen more often. The maps are beautifully designed and each character is beautifully colored and placed in. Even the overworld map is very well designed as well, allowing the player to be aware of what each place on the map offers.
Sound: 10
Fire Emblem is very well known for its soundtracks. Each map uses a variety of over 100 or so songs, with the individual battles having its own sound effect based on whether or not it is the players turn, enemies turn, or allies turn. The soundtrack is one of the top memorable things about this game, as each song at the beginning is hidden from the sound room until the player has heard it at least once.
Addictiveness: 10
There is not one time that I have found myself not wanting to play a Fire Emblem game of any kind. While I find that Path of Radiance offers a little more than what is offered in this game (plus Path of Radiance also auto changes your class rather than forcing you to use the class changing items found in the world). I own this game and still go back to playing it every now and then to challenge my skills, or play one of the other two games that came before it.
Overall: 9.8
This game is not as good as it could be for me. I feel that some of the added features of Path of Radiance would fit this game beautifully and make it a perfect 10/10 game. I really enjoyed that games ability to auto level without having to find class seals, or get enough gold to aquire them, as well as the ability to customize and create your own weapon. However this game is the better Game Boy Advanced out of the three released (only the last two GBA games for Fire Emblem were released outside of Japan, the other one was a sequel to the game simply known as Fire Emblem). I recommend anyone looking for a challenge and wanting to test their skills start playing this game now! It is that great.
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 02-13-14
Review Replies: 1
8.5
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Evil G
Hello, and here's my review of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on the Game Boy Advance.
For those who don't know, Fire Emblem is a long-running tactical RPG series made by Intelligent Systems and all games have been published by Nintendo. You may know the series from Smash Bros., where Marth (from Dark Dragon and The Sword of Light and Mystery of the Emblem), Roy (from Sword of Seals), and Ike (from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn) have all been playable. You may have also picked up Awakening a while back, and know the series from there. Well this is the 8th entry of the series, and it stars siblings Eirika and Ephriam. Now, onto the review.
GRAPHICSThe animations are wonderful, not much to complain about there, except the new animations lack the over-the-top flashy stuff that's the best part of the graphics. Like I stated the animations are flashy and over-the-top (excluding the ones for the new classes like the Great Knight or the Summoner) and I love every single bit of the animations. Not much to really complain about here.
SOUNDThe sound's great, however I really don't remember any of the tracks like I remember some from the previous game (Blazing Sword) like Attack and Together We Ride, and really for a part of the game I didn't play any sound so I really can't tell you much. All I know is that there weren't any bad songs.
ADDICTIVENESSLike most strategy games, Fire Emblem's formula is VEEERY addictive, and keeps you coming back for more. I don't know how but I could probably play this game every day for a year. Seriously. I don't know how to describe it but the game should get an 11 for addictiveness.
STORYOh god, now I'm going to have to be negative here. The story is...meh. The twists weren't very much, and a lot of the characters felt very bland, especially our leads, Eirika and Ephraim. There were a few good characters like Amelia, Joshua, and L'Arachel, but compared to Blazing Sword where you had Florina, Sain, Serra, Hector, Matthew, Rath, and so many more it's just pathetic.
DEPTHWhere it makes up for the story is the depth that this game has to offer compared to it's predecessors. First, Skills are in this game, however there are very few and all class-specific, compared to Awakening where there were so many skills it was unbelievable. Second is the introduction of branched class promotions. Oh. My. God. These...are amazing. It adds so many different classes like Great Knight, Wyvern Knight, Summoner, Mage Knight, Ranger, and Rouge to name all of them, and it gives the option of what you'd want more on your team. Want more cavalry? Consider making your Armour Knight a Great Knight instead of a General. Want more Dark magic instead of Anima magic? Maybe make your Pupil a Shaman instead of a Mage. It gives you so many options on how to play your game. Speaking of the Pupil class, this game also introduced three "trainee" classes the Recruit, the Journeyman, and the Pupil, all of which have some of the best characters in the game, and have so many options into how you want them to end up. Finally, there is the World Map, which allows for a more convenient way to buy items instead of having to waist your turn count.
DIFFICULTYIt's probably not a good thing where the last is the least, but this game can be pathetic at times because of how easy it is to grind. Not only is there an arena early on, but there's also the Tower of Valini and the Lagdou Ruins, which can easily get any unit up to Level 20 in no time. Sure, you have to unlock more rooms to get to the better enemies that give more exp, but you can just clear the same level over and over again. The only reason this isn't lower is because it is very difficult to go without losing a unit, and that can require a decent amount of resetting.
OVERALLI like this game. Sure, it's easy and the story is meh, but the key factor into liking a game should be how fun it is, and this game is very fun. Go play it. Now. Please. I BEG OF YOU.
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 10 Story 6 Depth 10 Difficulty 3
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 08-15-14
Review Replies: 0
10
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones Review! mehsk1ll
It's actually been a little while since I've played this game. It really is one of my favorite games. When I saw this game as the Game of the Week, I must admit, I smiled.
Overall - Well, overall the game is one of a kind despite it not being a main fire emblem in the series. I really like to think of it like chess, and if you don't like chess.. well, this might not be the game for you. But back to the main point; the combination of all the mechanics, ideals, story, graphics, music, and so much more make this game really enjoyable for people of all ages. I started this when I was young and I still play it! But this game is really well made and the story will grab you attention which I really like. Generally this game isn't too hard, but rather it just has some parts that will make you want to pull your hair out! But if you start to get into this, trust me, ha ha, you won't put it down! To be honest, the hardest part is actually recruiting some of the other characters. If this is your first time playing, characters that you can recruit will attack you. This game right here will not only get you into the Fire Emblem games ( which this is a good starting game I'd say) but it will get you into strategy games that otherwise you wouldn't touch (Pikmin, a real time strategy for Wii and Gamecube).
Graphics - I've never known Fire Emblem to be known for it's graphics, I'll be honest the in game graphics are less than stellar, though when it's a memory or just a portrait, I really like how it looks. The animations haven't changed, still being your typical Fire Emblem fighting animations and walking/movement. Though I will say I really like the background, that's something they have improved on and I personally commend them!
Sound - The music in this game is just out of this world! the music selections in this game are top notch. If you're one of those people who listens to your own music when you play a game, well, you won't this time. The music helps you get into the game, intense fighting scenes, dramatic plot twists, and interesting personal stories from the characters; the music gets you into it all! Many other games have a good soundtrack which is nice to listen to, but this game really nailed it.
Addictiveness - I'm forced to put this game down; I do not willingly put this game down! With all the positive features being mentioned in this review, it's a definite attention grabber. Even with the ever-popular Pokemon games, there just aren't that many extremely adding games for Gameboy Advanced! This game though, is in the list for sure,
Story- This story isn't necessarily unique, but it's still really interesting if you follow it. Grado (the largest nation) without warning attacks Renais, Seth (a paladin) take Princess Erika to safety, well, safety is a stretch but still! I won't go further then that with the main story, you'll have to see it for yourself! But not only is their a main story, but all the characters have small stories of their own, some revealed when you meet them, others in support conversations! If you're anything like me, you desperately try to get all the conversations you can and really learn and love the back story/stories!
Depth - This really depends on who you are as a person and gamer. For me, it offers quite a bit, and definitely a lot to do! Gathering all the characters is one challenge you get, another is getting all the chests, then after beating the main story you have the creature campaign! Honestly, I cannot take a time reference on this game, it really depends on who you are. I probably could do a speed run of this entire game, but when I first started, it took me awhile!
Difficulty - Once again, it depends on who you are. There are some hard parts in the game, that's for sure, but the whole game may seem to be impossible to one person, and the easiest game ever! If you're unsure, just do the easiest difficulty, then work your way up. Hard, personally, is still challenging! But again that's just me. If you know what you're doing, this game works like a dream, and the games are just simplicity within themselves!
So to wrap it all up, play this game! I hope this got you wanting to play this game! :D!
Graphics 7 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 8 Depth 8 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.4/5
Submitted: 07-24-12
Review Replies: 0
10
AWESOME FE GAME!!!!!!!!!! Miran-CG-Knyte-M
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Seima no K?seki in Japanese) is likely one of the best GBA Fire Emblem games within its entire series!!! The plot is somehow more exciting and organized than Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword (Rekka no Ken in Japanese). It is more advanced than Fire Emblem: Binding Blade (Fuuin no Tsurugi in Japanese). It is easier to play than Blazing Sword or Binding Blade in my opinion. It is the eighth game in Fire Emblem series. This game takes on a different world, or continent, than Fire Emblem Blazing Sword and Binding Blade, as the story is set in the continent of Magvel, rather than Elibe as it is the continent of Blazing Sword and Binding Blade. There are six nations within the continent of Magvel: Renais, Frelia,
Jehanna, Rausten, Grado, and
Carcino. I will try not to spoil any more events. The story is as interesting as Blazing Sword and Binding Blade and maybe even more fascinating depending on your tastes. It focuses on Eirika and Ephraim, the princess and prince of Renais, and that they are trying to investigate why Renais's longtime ally, Grado, had tried and succeeded in invading their nation and the sudden appearances of ancient monsters all over Magvel. That's the basic plot of this game, hopefully you are all hooked by now. This game featured a "Creature Campaign" and players can enter the Tower of Valni or Lagdou Ruins and progress through them by fighting monsters. You can get experience and level up your units that way. Also, if you complete enough levels in these maps, you can unlock secret characters like King Fado, Lyon, and Glen, most which appeared to be former enemies in the main story. This game has the basic gameplay of the Fire Emblem series such as the weapons and magic triangle. But this game also featured a navigable world map, unlike the previous GBA games like Blazing Sword and Binding Blade. "Rather than limit the ability to train units and buy items to story battles, the ability to traverse the world map allows players more freedom in choosing how to play the game. It is possible to purchase weapons and items by visiting shops at points scattered across Magvel...It is also possible to enter "Skirmish" battles against monsters unrelated to the story..." (from wikipedia) Also, when you promote a unit other than the Lords, Ephraim and Eirika, you get to chose which promotion of the class you want the unit to promote into. For example, Pegasus Knights can become either Falcon Knights or Wyvern Knights when you promote them. This game has three difficulties: easy, normal, and hard. The easy mode is a tutorial aimed for newcomer players to the series, the normal mode is a casual level for experienced players who knows the basic skills of this series, while the hard mode is for tactical and skilled masters who is more than familiar with the gameplay and are looking for a challenge at their free-time. Overall, this game is well received by the audiences by its storyline, gameplay, and the difficulty settings such as the death of a character or unit is permanent. Although lack of originality, this surely is a very nice last game of Fire Emblem on the GBA.
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.1/5
Submitted: 06-14-13
Review Replies: 5
10
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones Marcmoney
Overall - 10
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones is one of the best GBA games I have ever played. At first, I thought this would not be fun, but when my friend told me to try it, I got so addicted to this game that I just had to make a review about this. I would highly recommend playing this game if you like RPG-type games and leveling people up. There are so many people you can have in Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones and they can do different moves, definitely better than the first Fire Emblem.
Graphics - 9
The graphics are amazing. It shows the flashing powerful hits of a critical hit in the game. The sprites are very well-made for a GBA game.
Sound - 10
The sound is wonderful, it sounds like a battle everywhere you go and it feels good inside. The battle songs are very good and is good in relating to what the levels would look like.
Addictiveness - 10
The addictiveness...very addicting to me. :P I would play it constantly because I just love leveling up people and getting them. It just drives me crazy lol.
Story - 10
The story is very good, the way it plays makes it even more fun. The story in the beginning looks like Dynasty Warriors with the continents and stuff, but when you read the stories, it makes the game more fun. What I like is the side stories (I think they are in this game, just not a lot) cause it can help you a lot if you need to level up people.
Depth - 9
The game has a lot of features. For example, your people can change classes (a few of them can even change classes twice) and the weapons of what they can use can be stronger. It is just amazing on how much it offers in the game.
Difficulty - 5
And the difficulty is not that hard if you know how to play this kind of game. It also has evolution in it, you can change your people into something even better and it makes the game cooler. The only thing I would give for an advice is not to use everyone, especially when you want to beat the game because if you use the people you are most comfortable with, you will do good cause you can't use like 20 people in one chapter. :P
Wrap Things Up...
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones is one of the best games I have ever played. It is not better than Zelda Ocarina of Time because that is my number one game in the world. :P I highly recommend getting this game, it will blow your mind away for all you Fire Emblem fans. :D
NOTE: My advice is to not do cheats that will mess up the game. For example, Tethys just dances and gives people an extra turn. You can use a cheat that can let her use an attack on the enemies, but the game will freeze if you leave the animation on and I like watching them fight. :P
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 9 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 06-06-11
Updated: 09-05-11
Review Replies: 0
9.2
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones Onfirewatch
The creators of this game definitely had a winning formula! I was looking for an alternate to Final Fantasy Tactics when I stumbled upon this game. Maps are well thought out and challenging, character development is unique to your strategy/ gaming style, and there is limitless replay value here. With two different paths to take in the core story line, you already have to play it twice to get the full feel. Add the arena features, a separate set of maps off the beaten path for leveling, and a creature campaign after the game is completed to collect the characters you've killed along the way, and you have a very well thought game that I wish I could have appreciated when it came out originally for the game boy advance console. Makes me wish I could read/ understand Japanese so I could play all the versions leading up to this game. Fire Emblem, the 1st North American release was also a good game, but I liked the freedom to move around the map in this version and certain tweaks to the promotion tree that allowed for the series to progress without changing the gaming engine.
Pros in my opinion: love the character death consequence. If you play carelessly, you will lose toons... forever!! So great! Makes you think. Cons: There is no hard mode. Be nice if there was a weak lord like Hector that you have to struggle with during your campaign. Another con is the RGR saving system, because you can cheat.... but that's a pro too ;)
Either way... I give this game two experienced thumbs up. A must play for anyone who have ever loved a strategy/fantasy type game! Please enjoy!
Graphics 10 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3.6/5
Submitted: 08-12-11
Review Replies: 0
10
This is My favourite game of ALL time! Ephraim15
The Graphics in this game are top notch for a GBA game. The sprites are all visibly unique and the differentiation between normal and critical attacks is fantastic.
The Composer of the music scores should be given a medal for this, all of the music is dramatic and fits the scene
it accompanies perfectly, I quite often find myself rocking out to the battle theme and not actually paying attention to the battle results.
I could play this game forever, it's so addictive, I must have played through each storyline on every difficulty, just trying to get every character and promoting them both different ways.
The storyline is very thorough and in-depth, the whole idea of this story is intricate with not a single detail out of place. I can't really say anything else without ruining the storyline but it is a very thrilling adventure.
It is also very long, over 20 chapters, I loved playing through the whole game, and even when you've finished the main storyline, you can keep playing on all the maps to finish levelling up your characters.
It's not very difficult though, the only real challenge is trying to keep all of the characters alive through the chapters, keeping them all alive gives you a little surprise at the end of the game, the challenge is very taxing but also worth it providing you want to know what happens to the characters after the game's end.
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.4/5
Submitted: 06-18-13
Review Replies: 1
9.5
Favorite Tactic Game jayron122
This whole series is by far my favorite tactic game. But this game is just amazing. I love it so much. I almost love every character you get in your party. I love them so much that if they die I would reset the chapter just to make sure they don't die. My favorite character of all of them would be Joshua one because sorry for the bad language but he is bad ass and the second reason is his name is the same as mine. My other favorite would be Prince Ephraim. He's just so headstrong and never gives up; and it's not just the characters I like about the game I like the whole tactic fighting style. I also love the story because it gets more and more intense. For example (warning spoiler alert) Eirika finding out that her father's dead and then a few chapters later finds out that her brother who she's tring to find anyway is captured and to be executed soon. That's why I like the story. To me the game is so Addictive like I said to my self I'll stop playing when I beat chapter 3 by the time I was done it was chapter 6. Also the music is beautiful to listen to. I normally mute the game and play other music from youtube but with this game I actually blare the music on Fire Emblem. Also something I like about this game is it's not an easy game to beat it's actually very hard and if you don't strategize good enough you can die easily or lose one of your favorite characters. Also the graphics are not bad and in my opinion very good when your attacking the enemy or the enemy is attacking you. So overall I love the Fire Emblem franchise but this would be by far my favorite of all of them or Fire Emblem path of radiance either or. But I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes strategy games or like playing role playing games.
Graphics 7 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 8 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3.3/5
Submitted: 03-16-13
Review Replies: 1
9.1
Good Game IMIega
Fire Emblem is one of the best strategic games out there for game boy advance today.This is not just some chess style game…this game you have to expect the unexpected… be warn beforehand that this game is not by any means simple. It takes time to think of all the strategies you can use. If you are familiar with this type of game then it should be very simple to learn to play with ease. Personally I think this game is much, don't bash me for saying this, better then Advance War because it takes into account other such things as speed and skill abilities. In Advance Wars, the stronger unit wins nearly all the time. The units you receive are not expendable. In Fire Emblem you will be resetting your game in order to make sure your unit lives. The battles themselves are exciting to watch. Also you should be much more careful in which weapons you use. Do not just blindly use your most powerful weapon on a unit that has one health. This game makes you think whether or not you should use that or should I move that unit there. Just because your unit has an advantage doesn't mean it will win and vice versa for disadvantage. Plus the variety of units is pretty good. There's mages, monks, cavaliers, healers, archers, knights and more. Plus some units can upgrade their class making them much stronger and can use different weapons or magic abilities. One thing that I especially like is that you can use the terrain to your advantage. If you are in a fort then your defense is higher and you are more likely to avoid an attack. All in all good game.
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 9 Story 9 Depth 9 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3.3/5
Submitted: 10-27-11
Review Replies: 1
9
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Review Davien
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, the eighth game in the Fire Emblem series, greatly resembles its predecessors. Which may provide some comfort to old fans; the game play mechanics mostly remained the same. For people new to the series, one feature to take note of is permadeath where upon dying a character is lost for the remainder of that play-through. At times this may seems frustrating but it's one of the many appeals of the series. From a bird-eye view, players direct the actions of the characters to complete an objective each stage in turn-based combat. Reviewers has spoke favorably at the level of attention given to the game's story and individual units.
Graphics: 9
The graphics, as expected, are arguably more refined than previous installments albeit not by much. The game features a visually pleasing map display, fast-paced individual battles and some admirable animations. The character portraits has an acceptable level of detail compared to the rest of the game.
Sound: 8
The music was well-received by reviewers, nothing particularly worth criticizing, and I consider some to be quite engaging. There are 70 songs throughout the game, many of which are up-beat. Sounds outside of music were pretty standard.
Addictiveness: 7
I'm a fan of the Fire Emblem series, it's safe to say I'm often willing to try out the newer games. When I start a play-through, I usually play for several sets of many consecutive hours to beat it. However after the adventure is over, I'm not inclined to pick it back up. But for me, that usually apply to most games. Other reviewers have noted Sacred Stones' replay values to be above average.
Story: 7
It's a standard medieval fantasy story with swords, magic, and everything else people normally expect of the genre. The story takes place on a continent called Magvel, home to six kingdoms: Renais, Frelia, Jehanna, Rausten, Grado, and Carcino. Renais is the home of the main twin protagonists, prince Ephraim and princess Eirika. Frelia ruled by Hayden the Sage King is known for their pegasi military units. Jehanna is ruled by the Queen of the White Dunes, Ismaire. Rausten, a theocracy is ruled by the Divine Emperor, Mansel. Grado who suddenly experienced a boost in military power is ruled by the Silent Emperor, Vigarde. Carcino may not actually meet the qualifications to be called a kingdom. They're more of a commercial based republic with a council of democratically installed leaders. Anyway, the story starts with Grado's invasion of its old political ally, Renais. As the kingdom's main castle is being taken over, Erika makes her escape with the assistance of her loyal knight, Seth while her brother Ephraim is engaging in guerrilla warfare with Grado. The twins are surprised by the sudden attack, and thus embarked on a campaign to seek the truth behind this war and the appearance of demons all over the land, and put an end to it all.
Depth: 8
The games has plenty of depth to its game play. 20 levels for the first class, 20 for the second class, and the three trainee units technically have an extra 10 levels before their promotion to a standard class. The world view map offers travel to and fro previously traveled destinations. There is an system allowing easy organization of your units' equipments and other miscellaneous items plus a large storage.
Difficulty: 5
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is noted for its relatively easy difficulty compared to other games of the series. This is mostly because the game allow players to grind if they want to, a feature absent in its predecessors. Of course, players can impose artificial difficulties on themselves if they desire a challenge such as keeping all the characters alive during the course of the game. I don't recommend it but there exists a exploit called arena abuse which makes the game trivial. You'll have to search for further information at other sources since I won't explain it here.
Overall: 7.3
I recommend it to those interested in the Fire Emblem series. It's a fine game.
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 7 Story 7 Depth 8 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 10-24-14
Review Replies: 4
9.9
Review for Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones merf
Thanks for checking out another of my reviews! I really like doing these, so let's get started! Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones is another Nintendo-created game, and the second to be localized in either the US or Europe. I personally am glad that Nintendo decided to bring this one over, it's a great game! Another RPG, Sacred Stones follows Eirika and her brother, Ephraim, as they set out to battle the occupying Grado empire. At the beginning of the story, Eirika has to leave her father to die in the hands of the evil Grado empire, after they invade and force their way into the castle. Eirika's personal guard has a brief skirmish with one of Grado's top generals, and gets badly injured. That's where the playable story begins. Eirika must fight her way to her brother, Ephraim, and then they split up in order to acomplish more. Ephraim heads down to the Capitol of Grado to smush the opposition where they least expect it. Eirika heads east, to warn the countries there. She meets with opposition, but must fight through it. This is when both of them find out about a greater enemy, one who is using the powerful Grado empire as a puppet. Each meets up with greater oppostition, as they get closer. They meet up again, to fight the most dangerous enemy yet together.
Graphics: As with all Fire Emblem games, Sacred Stones has incredibly diverse battle animations. This, combined with map graphics, doesn't really give me a choice! Graphics, you get a big fat 10!
Sound: While it's been a little while since I've played this game, I still remember it well. The soundtrack is right back on track, with another good one. I like the music in all the Fire Emblem games, and this is no exeption. Sound grabs a 10 from me.
Addictiveness: While I'll play this again, I don't find it as addicting as the other Fire Emblem games. It's still good, but (especially if you use the Tower of Valni) the game can drag out. If you want a good challenge, try playing this without using the Tower of Valni. I still really enjoyed Sacred Stones, so I can't give it a bad rating. How 'bout a 9?
Story: As with most FE games, you can't really beat the storyline. Intelligent Systems really outdid themselves with this one, creating an moving, gripping storyline. The bro/sis team must fight their way through a combination of mythical monsters and soldiers, defeating both without flinching. As with all FE games, though, it's gotta have a dragon. Wow, I haven't even started on the Stones themselves yet! Ok, the Sacred Stones were used by people to bind the very dragon they fight now. Once all 7 are broken, he will regain all his power and will declare war on humanity, and won't have to get others to fight for him. He (the dragon) needed someone to inhabit until that occured, though, so he chose one of the siblings best friends, a necromancer named Lyon. One of the hardest things they must do is kill their friend. Anyway, Sacred Stones is great story-wise, so I'll give out an 11 (I wish! LOL, 10)
Depth: Sacred Stones isn't a short game by any standards, and if you play it right could be a long one! If you use the Tower of Valni, an 10 story tower inhabited by monsters which is infinitally replayable, you could play for weeks! And, as with all Fire Emblem games, you get to know each character personally and get an idea of their background. Therefore, I think a 10 is appropriate.
Difficulty: Sacred Stones is a more challenging game than some of the others, and as such is very fun. You gotta use all your characters to your advantage, and can't make many mistakes. If you just use a few people in your army, you could find yourself exposed to a full attack on the weak side of your army. Yeah, a 8 is great for this. Oh, watch out for reinforcments...
Conclusion: Another FE that I really enjoyed, and can't help reviewing! If you like RPG's, this one's for you! I hope I convinced some to try this out, it's worth the time! Thanks for reading!
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-04-13
Review Replies: 1
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word Master) Finish the Tower.
aladin) Finish the Tower, 6F.
