One of the most accessible entry points to the Fire Emblem franchise, but it comes with a few foibles that might put established fans off.

Like many Fire Emblem games, our story here is centred around some heroic folk having to resist oppression and deal with a great big fantasy bust-up. In this case we take command of the twin scions of Renais, Eirika and Ephraim. The pair escape the invasion of their home by an evil empire and rally forces across the world to fight back, as well as investigating what caused their once-allies to turn so bad. The overall narrative's never really the draw in Fire Emblem though - it's all about the character writing! It's reasonably good stuff, and taking the time to do multiple playthroughs to find all the different interactions is as rewarding and satisfying as ever. The twins at the core of the story are a bit Game-of-Thronesy though, if you get my drift, and their interactions are just on the side of too uncomfortable.

The general gameplay is the usual Fire Emblem fare. It's a tactics RPG, so we've got a big grid around which we move our units, paying attention to terrain and the series' typical weapons triangle to make sure that you've the best chance each turn of winning your battles and not losing your units. Of course, this is Fire Emblem, so when I say "losing" a unit I mean that they die; yep, we've got permadeath as per the series' wont, and it's part of what makes any entry in the franchise brilliant for stat-obsessed weirdos who are happy to plan every turn meticulously and then reset through furious tears because one unit died (hi, it's me, I'm the problem, it's me). However, The Sacred Stones upsets some fans because it lets you level grind units in a repeatable dungeon; I personally love this because it helps alleviate some of the challenge, making the entire game more accessible. It is optional though, so you don't have to engage with it.

A whatever Fire Emblem game. It's the third one to use the GBA format, one that was growing extremely old by this point, and it shows. While the story is fairly unique, the decisions made by both protagonists make you question their intelligence. However, this game will NOT make you question your own. Perhaps the easiest game I have ever play, including the likes of LeapFrog games. Unless you hack the game to up the enemy growths by a significant margin, you will not struggle with this game whatsoever if you have ever played a Fire Emblem game before.

The snappy gameplay of GBA Fire Emblem is unmatched as always, and the writing is pretty good here even if it's nothing groundbreaking. I really enjoyed the characters of Lyon, L'Arachel, and the main twins Eirika and Ephraim.
Game's a little on the short side, especially because it's so easy, but I don't particularly mind; I would enjoy more Fire Emblem games of this length just as long as they had higher difficulty options for the people who want a challenge. It being short is also mitigated by the fact that it has a second route which I am eager to play.
It's not my favorite FE, but I've certainly grown attached to its world and cast.

Wanted to replay this before I finally ventured out with this franchise beyond the GBA. Still easily my favorite of the 3 on this system, the story and characters are leagues ahead of the other two. Both Eirika and Ephraim are solid lords but I nearly always pick the Ephraim route cause he's more fun to use and I like the way his story handles the Lyon dynamic better. Rest of the cast is aces too, they all get some great supports (most of which you will probably have to look up online but it's worth it) and the branching promotion paths with the reintroduction of skills let them all stand out among your army to fill whatever niche you're lacking. This was my first time playing on Hard mode with no grinding and most of the added difficulty comes from the latter. Sacred Stones has way less main story chapters (relative to 6 and 7) to make room for the grinding maps it presumes you will take advantage of, which meant I had to be a lot more economic in terms of EXP distrubution and weapon rank to go around. Feeling underpowered in this game was so alien at first but having to actually rely on the myraid of tools made available to you instead of just being a toybox to rift through for funsies gave me a new appreciation for maps that were no longer just pure slaughterfests and certain units whose usefulness I never fully considered until now. I couldn't have done it without you, Moulder.

I don't know, man. There's plenty to like here—charming characters, a cute story, semi-compelling political drama, good (enough) maps, gorgeous GBA aesthetic, whatever. But I've been frustrated and dragging my feet playing this. There is a tiny little fence between me and having fun, and no matter what I do, I cannot hop over it and be compelled to finish this game. That fence is named Seth.

Let me be clear. Lovely guy. Seems really sweet. But he is a sponge on the hypothalamus of my brain. He sucks up every drop of serotonin produced while playing this game. Instead of pumping my fist and shaking hands with another comically muscular man before we ride in a helicopter and are tricked into a death battle with a technologically superior alien species that only one of us escapes alive, I'm sucking my thumb and honk-shooing in my nightcap and gown beside a brick-and-mortar fireplace. Seth is the single most overpowered character I have ever seen in any video game. Still, with like 5 or 6 chapters left in the entire game, he one-shots every normal enemy and two-shots every boss. What are we doing here? Seth bends the very map design around him. Choke-points are no longer threatening. I stand slack-jawed as I drop the red-haired menace in front of 300 enemy goons, praying they will be enough to end his reign. Yet he stands steadfast as they all line up and take turns missing every attack and dying instantly. The Australian government cannot produce enough iron lances to feed into the Seth-powered enemy chipper. He is less a man and more an industrial machine.

Seth has ruined the thrill of permadeath. He has ruined my investment in the combat. He has stolen my crops, and he has pillaged my coffers. I never want to see this man again!

There is a lot to be said about how novel the pacing of this game is and how much I enjoy saving only at the end of chapters (and the chapter structure itself), but I'll save it for when I actually finish one of these things.

A difficult FE entry to rank to be honest.

For starters i don't like open map FE because it completely takes away the careful planning and managerial aspect of this series. On the other hand it has a much better story than other GBA titles, albeit very short. Minor characters are more present in the story than other entries and there's also unexpected reveals and hidden dialogues for them too that really enhances the narration. Cool classes are unique to this FE too, like the Summoner that can almost break the game by creating expendable pawns that can move onto ANY tile. The music is also very good, which is probably the only thing that is common to all the FE games.

Other aspects are not fleshed out however. The pacing gets really fast towards the end and the quality of the story depends on which route you pick. Ephraims is much harder but has a worse narrative experience in my opinion than Erikas, Cormag for example has a more satisfying personal story in Erika's route but is barely useless because he joins very late. The trainee units are just bad in general to use except Ross, who is the only one to join at the start of the game and has a reliable distance weapon.

Training them is more of a pain in the ass than a fulfilling objective, but then again, in open map FE you can just ignore all of this and train everyone to your heart's content (dungeons are also super boring). So you either destroy the pacing by making everyone super strong or play normally and suffer.

All in all it's not a bad game by all means, but it depends on what you prioritize for an FE experience, personally i liked it despite the open map system, for me the story more than made up for it.

P.S. Probably the greatest crime of this game is that Amelia doesn't have unique sprites.

Here it is, the very first Fire Emblem game I ever played, as someone who’s favorite franchise of all time is Fire Emblem.

I like Sacred Stones, not exclusively because I have a lot of nostalgia for this entry. It’s a shorter Fire Emblem game than most, its roster of units is pretty small, but its maps are pretty varied and fun for the most part. This factor is definitely childhood bias but, I love unit and balance discussion with Sacred Stones’s roster, since it’s been around forever online.

The Eirika and Ephraim routes are both fun but I enjoy playing Ephraim’s route just a bit more. The maps there are more engaging and challenging to me. This is also a great looking and sounding game, the new sprites they added for this entry DO stick out like a sore thumb, however, compared to sprites being brought back from The Binding Blade, the new ones are so buttery smooth.

The story is fine! I don’t have any problems with it (no, the Eirika thing is not a problem, any person would’ve done what she did), but it’s not the most intriguing or compelling tale out there.

I mentioned in my review of The Blazing Blade that it’s the ideal “first Fire Emblem” but you can’t go wrong with this one either. It’s a very solid entry, but not the most standout, in my opinion, just like Blazing Blade. It’s pretty straightforward, but has some depth with its maps (even if one of the “easier” Fire Emblem games for veterans). Alternatively, if you’ve only played the newer games and want to try the older ones (but are intimidated), this is the perfect bridge to get into them! (I’ve never played the Creature Campaign but it looks fun and is such a cool idea for postgame)

Good game. Seth is the GOAT.