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.

Pretty good in every way which makes it my favorite of the GBA Emblems. It's obviously known for being quite easy, but I didn't really mind that much since it's a pretty relaxing and fun distillation of Fire Emblem mechanics. Like, you can definitely brute force a lot of it if you want to but there still is an element of strategy to it and unique mechanics that I enjoyed messing around with more than in the other GBA games. You get a bunch of genuine growth units to raise up, including 3 trainees, a branching promotion system, a pretty wide variety of options in terms of army composition, etc. I'm not making my point well but basically I don't really mind this being too easy because it definitely feels more like a "sandbox" to me within a Fire Emblem framework. That being said, I think the map design in this game is just outright not good regardless of difficulty. There's two main issues I have with the maps usually
1. Lack of depth: Most of the maps lack any sort of interesting side objectives or reward you enough for making an effort for playing a certain way. There's only like a couple maps where you get a reward for saving some people or going out of your way for a village or chest. It's pretty easy to do basically all you need to do in terms of side objectives within your first few turns
2. Rout maps: I understand wanting to switch it up from Seize occasionally but the rout maps just play into the worst aspects of this game. It ends up being one of your best units tanking every trashmob to kill like 10 of them in one turn, on some of the most bland maps ever. There aren't a ton of these or anything but they feel pretty surprisingly weak and under designed.

I guess both of these probably read as difficulty complaints but I really wouldn't mind if the game was still easy, just make it more interesting at least! Side objectives aren't just to make things harder overall, it's a way of rewarding players in a very tangible and satisfying way for putting in extra work without alienating people who just want to finish the game. You can have rout maps that reward you for splitting up your group more and getting the most out of each unit type (the desert map is a good example of this). This is a lot of complaining for something that doesn't ruin the game for me, but it sticks out a lot more in a game that does everything else well. They had the groundwork laid already and less chapters to make than the other GBA emblems so it's a shame it feels so phoned in. I guess I can't blame them much since this game was made in like a year, but it is what it is. At least I prefer easy bad maps over FE6 bad maps.

I do think the rest easily outshines the other GBA FEs. For one, the cast is just way more interesting and fun. Maybe the bar is lower for me after an entire game of just Roy talking to Merlinus, but it feels like there was extra effort put into making the characters unique in design and personality. L'Arachel is the obvious highlight and steals every scene but I just enjoy how much more we get to see characters (even villains) talk about things that aren't just how to harness evil magic or something. I guess it's probably the benefit of having so many characters already know each other/be related.

The story isn't anything crazy but definitely a step above as well. Even though it falls into some of the same tropes, there's a fresh perspective offered through Lyon that feels much more well developed and interesting. Magvel is a peaceful place generally, and there's nothing happy or triumphant about this war. Both their dialogue and the interspersed flashbacks give a good idea of how difficult this is for Eirika and Ephraim to be doing. There's just an overall sense of tragedy to the conflict that I enjoy, ultimately these are people that they care about who were corrupted despite having good intentions. And I appreciate that there are multiple bosses that are genuinely sad to have to fight. Despite that I appreciate that it ends on an optimistic note, hammering in a simple but effective theme about relying on your friends and loved ones to move forward. I think there were a lot more ways they could've expanded on this stuff and sold it but it works well overall. But I guess this is the way FE8 is as a whole; a simple but effective twist on the formula that does exactly what it sets out to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

A pretty good installment in the Fire Emblem franchise. Worth playing.

For one, I really love the look of this game; it's got this faded sepia color tone to it that gives it a little more character than FE6 & FE7. It feels more ancient, if that makes sense. Like you're taking part in an old story.

The story is good enough, I think. It was unique to me that the story splits off into two separate experiences (essentially an "easy" and "hard" mode), that eventually converge in the end of the game. You get to recruit different units in each route, so you won't be able to collect all of them in one run. Its fun and challenging to build different teams though!

((SPOILERS))

I think the story between Eirika and Ephraim and their childhood friend being the villain of the story made for a REALLY interesting tale! ...I just wish maybe there could've been more growth between them all throughout the story.... I feel like they didn't change much, or their arcs could've been a little stronger. It definitely tugs at your heartstrings in some parts, but I would've loved more depth to it. Just a bit more.

((END SPOILERS))

This game improves the leveling up slightly by introducing the "Tower of Valni" which is a place to level grind, but goodness its very slow. It takes ages to level up your units, but I suppose some kind of help with the leveling up is better than none. The past two GBA games definitely suffered in that aspect, and it was much harder to cap your units to level 20.

I think this is a good game to try out. It starts out in the middle of some action, so it has an exciting beginning to get you hooked on the story.

More people should play this Fire Emblem game.

The biggest criticism this game has is its lack of difficulty - many people consider this to be one of the easiest games in the franchise. There are multiple reasons for this (grinding, weaker enemies, etc.) but the biggest culprit of them all is Seth, a unit that starts with you in this game that is very overpowered. This, to me, seemed like a purposeful move by Nintendo to garner new audiences, particularly those outside Japan. I feel like it's a great way to introduce people to the traditional FE format. Combined with forced permadeath, it's the perfect way for people to dip their toes into the franchise without feeling too overwhelmed. I'm a firm believer that permadeath is necessary to truly enjoy a Fire Emblem game as that is what makes the game series unique, but I also understand that some people may not enjoy this format. However, by being a bit more forgiving, this game strikes the perfect balance of having this feature without alienating casual audiences.

One of the biggest strengths that this game has is its cast. It has, in my opinion, one of the most memorable casts of any Fire Emblem game. The characters are very entertaining and it's the only Fire Emblem game where I'm genuinely excited to unlock all the support conversations. Even the villains themselves are written well, with Selena in particular being one of my favorite villains in a Fire Emblem game. The lore is really cool too, and I hope we see Magvel in another game, maybe even in a prequel, as the intro in this game alludes to a very rich backstory to Magvel.

The game also provides a stunning postgame to keep you playing after the final boss. This is one of the only Fire Emblem games to do this, which I find shocking as Fire Emblem games seem like the perfect games to have a postgame, in order to reward you for investing in your team. This postgame provides new challenges for those who found thhe original difficulty lacking, and gives you a plethora of new characters to unlock.

After ten years (I discovered this game through the 3DS Ambassador Program), I still think about this game, its world, and how exciting it is. This game seems like it would be an ideal candidate for a remake. With a higher difficulty option, I would easily give a remaster of this game five stars.

The Fire Emblem that started it all for me. It's not a flawless experience, no Fire Emblem is, but that's what I believe marks the series' charm. What makes this rank so highly for me is that it's the one I keep returning to. I am consistently the most intrigued by its plot, by its characters, by its music, and, yes, by its gameplay. It's short, sweet, it knows what it wants, and executes it without a hitch. There's an identity in there that is steadfast and solid, and that deserves my utmost respect.

This is almost my ideal FE game. The story features well written antagonists, likable protagonists, shocking twists, and enjoyable side characters that fill out your army and leave a bigger impression than the units in other games I've played. Gameplay wise, it's kind of just more FE7, which was already peak in that department. But it's made even peaker by the even better map design and addition of branching promotions, the latter of which makes me care even more about my units. This feels like MY army because I am the one who chooses how my units promote. The deeper connections that your units have with the worldbuilding also make these characters' lives feel so much more meaningful, which gives the gameplay more weight. My biggest issue, which is still pretty small honestly, is that the final boss and ending are pretty underwhelming.

Basically just polishes up what blazing blade and binding blade did right and made it a more fun experience to go through. Great characters and great pixel art portraits. This game makes supports and being able to level up much better to handle as you can do skirmishes and the tower if you want to build up supports or levels. The support conversations just as great here as they were in blazing blade and even gives more lore to the story. The villain is probably the best of the gba games by far. This is the best gameplay wise out of the GBA fire emblem games