Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

« An ideal handheld game. It's simple to pick up, the quest is long and worthwhile, and there's plenty of replay value. »

« The gameplay is simply addictive, the graphics and sound are stellar and the storyline is incredible making Fire Emblem a must buy srpg for the GameBoy Advance! »

« Overall, this game is brilliant. Great gameplay, good graphics, witty writing and a rich storyline support this game and make it one of the best of its genre. »

« This is easily one of the finest and most refined GBA games to date (maybe one of the last, too). It contains a narrative that takes the audience seriously (yet provides good comic relief) and a superb cast of characters. »

« Strategy noobs might find this title a bit too much to digest, as character death is permanent and even normal fights stretch your brain to the limit. [July 2005, p.126] »

« Sacred Stones brilliantly treads the line between depth and accessibility, and Intelligent Systems has bone to great lengths with the difficulty settings to please gamers of all skill levels. [July 2005, p.100] »

« It is challenging, with enough depth of both gameplay and story to please existing fans, while multiple difficulty settings will keep the title accessible to most everyone. »

« Just as good as the original, but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. For fans of the series and newcomers this is a great thing. »

« The Sacred Stones is that Fire Emblem that, while not the most ambitious or the most complex, has a charm that gets under your skin. It is accessible without being simple, beautiful without being cloying, and flexible enough for every player to find their own **** it is also inconsistent: when it shines, it dazzles; when it falters, it is very noticeable. It has inspired maps and others that feel tedious. It has wonderful characters and others who seem like poorly paid extras. And its grinding system, while convenient, is a double-edged sword that can completely ruin the tactical thrill if you don't know how to hold back. »

« one of my favorite fire emblem version in gba，I played it for hundred time in childhood »

« The best 2D fire emblem in my opinion. Fire Emblem as a series is best enjoyed when you can grind your characters level through random battles and optional content and i WILL die on this hill What i like about fire emblem the most shines in this entry. Flashy combat moves despite only having 4-5 pixels, Fantastic and strategic battles that make you think, with the pressure of permadeath if your characters die and a vibrant and colorful cast of allies that may only get 3 minutes of dialog but still live in my brain all these years later. I always struggled to follow the stories in 2D fire emblems. Maybe its my 'books r 4 NERDS!'mindset from my childhood, maybe my diagnosed ADHD needs a voice-over to follow the dialog. But the story is lost to me unfortunately. Even skipping most of the story this game is fantastic and would recommend to someone trying to get into Tactical RPGS. »

« One of the best games for the game boy advance. Loved the world map and that you can max out your characters. Highly recommended. »

« Another game that is very solid, but I can't appreciate in its entirety because I am bad at it. I always struggled with classic Fire Emblem and its permadeath... »

« This is my personal favorite Fire Emblem game. I might be a bit biased since it is the game that got me personally into the series, but I just love this Fire Emblem game in particular. Just like FE7, it has great sprite work, amazing music, great cast of characters, etc. I would argue that, of the Fire Emblem games I've played, it has the overall best map design (I can only think of 1 or 2 levels that are iffy). I like how you actually get to have a choice in your branching path (unlike in FE6 and 7 where the unlock requirements for certain maps are very arbitrary and forced upon you). It's also neat that even when the two paths converge, there are still differences in the story and maps between the two. It's also nice that every character in the game is accessible despite which route you pick, since the two characters that show up on each route during the split will join you when the paths converge. Some argue that the game is too easy, but I think personally that the difficulty is fine and levels up in difficulty at a really nice pace. However, if you are looking for a super hard challenge, the Hard difficulty is no pushover. I would argue that this game is the best one to introduce players into classic Fire Emblem. A couple small nitpicks is that it is definitely on the shorter side (being around 20 chapters when the average FE game is around 25-30) and that the postgame is a bit on the weaker side (though on the flipside of that, FE games hardly have a postgame to begin with, so having a postgame at all is a plus for those who want it); it's really only a novelty for if you want to collect and use the various Creature Campaign exclusive characters. I have personally beaten the game countless times, fully completed the sound test, gotten every single Creature Campaign character, obtained every single last support in this game (remember this is a game that only lets you get up to 1 A support per run) and completed both the Eirika and Ephraim routes on Hard Mode. This game holds a special place in my heart. If you're either an FE fan who hasn't played this one yet or are someone who is curious into getting into FE and wants to play a more classic game, I would highly recommend playing this game. »

« Sacred Stones is a slightly easier game than FE7, but it does offer more tangible changes that improve upon the formula from the previous game. The ability to choose which class your characters can change into, stages to train in, post game content, and the addition of skills help make Sacred Stones a more robust title to the predecessor. »

« I enjoyed this game for what it was , and although the story was simple it was still fun. I liked all of the characters and the challenges the game presented. »