You know, as much as I hate Super Smash Bros now, I have to admit that it introduced me to some baller franchises. One of many being, you guessed it, Fire Emblem. I’ve spent literal years trying to get in this series but it just never worked out. I either didn’t have the hardware for the games I was interested in the most (FE7) or didn’t have the budget to afford ones for the systems I owned (Path of Radiance, Awakening, etc.). Then, when I eventually was led to the floodgates to the world of emulation, I finally gave the series a shot with Fire Emblem 7. Then I dropped it for some unknown reason. Then a year later, I was randomly enticed in trying this series again so I booted up Sacred Stones, and it all escalated from there.
And you know what? It basically lived up to my expectations. The strategic risk vs reward gameplay style, the dynamic cast of characters, and the simply AWESOME battle animations all culminated in a really fun experience for me. It’s truly a series that deserves it’s iconic place in Nintendo’s vast catalog of titles. Now I can’t compare this game to the other entries because, well, it’s the only one I’ve finished, but I had a good time with everything the game offered.
The story isn’t like peak fiction or anything, but I liked the protagonist duo Eirika and Ephriam a lot, and the villain is really cool because they act differently depending on what route you take, but it’s in a logical sense that fits together in the end. Whenever you save a little town, protect a falling kingdom, or have more heroes join your cause, you really feel that satisfaction of putting the world back together. When one of your units dies because of a miscalculation you made, you really feel bad for your mistake and want to try better next reset. The series in general seems to be great at giving the sense of camaraderie with the player and their units, so it makes me excited to try the other entries that do this even better.
I am… very bad at this genre. This is the first tactical JRPG I’ve ever finished, and it was an absolute struggle for me at some points. Sure, many of those problems are just a literal skill issue, but I mean come on, some of the later maps just CTRL+V enemies all over the place lmao. That being said, it gave me a big feeling of relief when I finally got through each chapter, slowly but surely beefing up my units and putting my brain to the test. I do think some level up methods are rather obtuse (healers in particular take absolutely forever to promote because they gain barely anything from casting spells), but I’d say the level up curve is mostly fair, especially considering how many broken units you can get in this game, Seth being the one who carried literally every chapter I was in, it was kind of ridiculous.
But anyway, that is all I really have to say about The Sacred Stones. It’s a neat game from a neat series I’ve had interest in for so long, and it was worth the wait. Very much looking forward to titles such as Path of Radiance and Shadows of Valentia. Also please block me immediately if I somehow start playing Fire Emblem Heroes.