Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Overview

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is the eighth game in the Fire Emblem franchise and is the second one to be released in the United States, outside of Japan; it was released on May 23, 2005. The Sacred Stones was the third and final game in the series to be produced on the Game Boy Advance, but is not set in the same universe as the previous GBA titles. The game brought of series of innovations, some of which were inspired by Fire Emblem Gaiden. The game was widely well received but was also criticized for it's lack of difficulty in comparison to other games in the series and it's overall lack of originality, and forgettable characters compared to other games. The storyline was one of the main draws of the game, along with the trademark Fire Emblem gameplay.

The game was rereleased on December 16, 2011 as one of ten GBA titles made part of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program. These games were made available free of charge as downloads through the 3DS eShop to anyone that had bought a 3DS and connected to the online shop before the cutoff date. It is not known when or if The Sacred Stones will be made available for purchase by late-adopting 3DS owners.

Storyline

The story in Sacred Stones is divided in 3 major lines. One involves Eirika, one involves Ephraim and the final part unites both.

In the Year of the Stone 803, the Grado Empire, a long-standing ally of Renais, launched a surprise attack on Renais, ordered by Emperor Vigarde. Renais is unable to mount resistance against such a swift and forceful attack. Prince Ephraim of Renais is nowhere to be found as Grado sweeps through territory after territory. King Fado of Renais orders his trusted general, Seth, to take his daughter Princess Eirika to safety in neighboring Frelia while he stays behind in order to discover the motives behind Grado's sudden attack. King Hayden of Frelia suggests that Eirika remain until Prince Ephraim returns, however she is determined to find him and goes to Grado. Aided by several of Hayden's retainers, Eirika travels towards Grado where her brother was last seen. Passing through Renais once again, they see first-hand the devastation caused by the war. Even more troubling is the appearance of foul undead creatures throughout the world. In the village of Serafew, Eirika encounters a former Grado cleric called Natasha. She tells Eirika of Emperor Vigarde's plan to destroy the Sacred Stones that safeguard the land from evil. Meanwhile, Prince Ephraim has been causing havoc in Grado territory. As part of his guerrilla campaign to disrupt Grado's military efficiency, he decides to capture the strategic Fort Renvall. However, after a brilliant tactical victory, he is forced to flee by Grado's army. After recovering Eirika's bracelet from a mysterious man, Seth reveals its true importance; along with Ephraim's bracelet, they open the secret door to Renais's Sacred Stone. Eirika presses on to Fort Renvall, hot on Ephraim's trail. Inside, she finds Orson, one of Ephraim's guards who offers to lead her to Ephraim's prison cell. However, Orson turns out to be a traitor and traps Eirika inside the fort. During the battle, Ephraim arrives and with their combined strength, they seize the fort. After their reunion, they return to Frelia to plan their next move. They wonder what happened to the peace-loving Prince Lyon of Grado who would surely disapprove of his father's war.

In Eirika's storyline, Eirika and Ephraim decide to enlist the help of the other nations in combating the global threat posed by Grado's aggressive campaign to destroy the Sacred Stones. To save time, they decide that Eirika will sail to warn Rausten of the war, Prince Innes of Frelia will go to warn Jehanna and Ephraim will attack Castle Grado directly. At the port, no ship will sail because of a ghost ship that terrorizes the seas (dealt with on Ephraim's route). She has no choice but to take the overland route to Rausten, which goes through the Republic of Carcino, the only country in Magvel with no ties to a sacred stone. Eirika finds Prince Innes under attack by Carcino armies lead by Councilman Pablo, who has allied with Grado. After triumphing against the mercenary army, they discover Councilman Klimt, the man who Pablo was hunting and trying to assasinate with his mercenaries. Klimt tells her that Pablo was the one who decided to side with Grado, and that not all of Carcino was against Renais. United with Innes, they continue their march towards Jehanna. During a run-in with some Monsters along the way, they are joined by a zealous monster-hunter called L'Arachel and her cheerful bodyguard Dozla. To avoid more conflict, they take a mountainous route through the secluded village of Caer Pelyn, lead by a young mage called Ewan. In a mountain valley on their journey to Jehanna, they are confronted by Glen, the Sunstone general of the Grado empire. Eirika convinces him to let her proceed, and a few short moments after she leaves, Valter shows up and assasinates Glen. Once the army makes it to Caer Pelyn, they are attacked by yet again, more myriads of monsters. Ewan's mentor Saleh offers to guide them to Jehanna. At the mid-point from Caer Pelyn to Jehanna, the group passes through Hamill canyon. Meanwhile, Valter has returned to the Grado capital and shown Glen's brother Cormag the corpse of the formar general. Valter, being the treacherous man that he is, tells Cormag that Eirika was the cause of Glen's death. Outraged, Cormag flies to Hamill canyon, where Eirika was last reported to reside. The two forces meet, and Cormag if set straight by Eirika and swears revenge on Valter. When they finally arrive in the desert country, they find Jehanna Palace under siege from Grado. After a long and tiring battle, Eirika discovers the Queen Ismaire of Jehanna, mortally wounded by the axe of Grado's Tiger eye General Caellach. Even worse, Jehanna's Sacred Stone has been destroyed. With her dying breath, Queen Ismaire calls to her

child, Joshua, a young myrmidon whom Eirika met in Serafew and unknowingly, the prince. While these events took place, enemy soldiers had set fire to the palace. Barely escaping with their lives, Eirika finds herself trapped between the forces of two of Grado's generals: Caellach and Valter. In the middle of a desperate escape, Ephraim rushes to her aid with reinforcements.

During the events of Eirika's quest, Ephraim ventures to Grado. During this journey, he finds Grado forces commonplace, with mercenary groups attempting to catch him. First, in Fort Rigwald, Ephraim finds Tana, the princess of Frelia, and frees her from her kidnappers. Next, he recruits Duessel, the obsidian general in Grado's army and the man responsible for Ephraim's weapon training, who is dubious of the intentions of Emperor Vigarde. Duessel mentions a "Dark Stone" to Ephraim, a substance that Lyon extraced from the Grado sacred stone. The group suspects that the occult powers of the dark stone are the cause of Emperor Vigarde's change in personality. During the same battle in which Duessel switches allegiances, Duessel encounters Cormag, a Wyvern Rider whose brother, Glen, has been murdered (see Eirika's story). Duessel convinced him to join Ephraim. Ephraim takes a sea route to Grado, but is hindered by a ghost ship said to be sinking any ships it encounters. After he arrives in Grado, he is attacked by Grado forces combined with monsters sent by the blood beryl general Riev. Shortly after, in the Z'albul marsh, Ephraim defeats General Selena Fluorspar, receiving a dragonstone stolen from his friend Myrrh. Ephraim arrives in Grado Keep and annhiliates Emperor Vigarde, who bizzarely cannot speak. Following the battle with Ephraim, Vigarde crumbles to dust. Lyon appears to Ephraim, and tells Ephraim that they are now enemies and that it was him that started the war. Ephraim learns the secret of the Dark Stone (also known as the Fire Emblem) from Knoll, a researcher of ancient magic and assistant to Lyon before he discovered the Dark Stone. Ephraim then learns of his sister being ambushed by Caellach and Valter at Jehanna Hall. He rushes to meet

her, still burdened by the knowledge that his former best-friend was the cause of the country feud. He eventually reaches his destination and the two siblings are rejoined.

Ephraim meets up with Eirika in the desert, and they defeat Caellach and Valter. When Ephraim and Eirika reunite their forces, they find Renais in a state of chaos, and must defeat the person assigned to guard Renais, the traitor Orson. They are disgusted by the creature in Orson's sleeping chambers, which oddly resembles Orson's wife. Orson's wife's actions resemble that of Emperor Vigarde's, and they kill her and discover that it was created by the same dark sorcery as the Emperor. After securing their homeland, Ephraim and Eirika receive Renais' legendary weapons Sieglinde and Siegmund, and their Sacred Stone, they decide to head to Rausten to secure the last remaining stone. As they continue, they are supposed to meet up with Frelian reinforcements, but all are killed by Grado remnants apart from Syrene, their commander, who then joins Ephraim and Eirika's army. The twins meet Lyon, who has radically changed from the friend they once knew. He retreats into the mountains, and the twins give chase. This leads them into a trap, intending to defeat them with Gorgons and their hatching eggs that dot the mountains. However, the army is victorious over the sulphur fumes, demons, intense heat and molten magma, and one of the twins goes to confront Lyon.

When following Ephraim's quest, Ephraim approaches Lyon, who freezes Ephraim, takes the Sacred Stone, and crushes it. Ephraim argues with him and asks whatever happened to him. Lyon says that the possessed form is a drama and that everything he had done had been under his own free will, but the Demon King controls him as he says that.

Along Eirika's journey, Lyon is completely possessed by the Demon King, and manipulates Eirika into giving him the Sacred Stone with her feelings for the old Lyon, whose soul was almost completely gone, then he then crushes the stone like a walnut. Lyon says that he will be in Darkling Woods, and teleports away.

Eirika and Ephraim take time to rest at Rausten Court and to obtain Rausten's Sacred Stone, the only surviving one. Rausten Court is invaded by the last Grado General, Riev, who seeks revenge for his exile years before. After repelling the attack, the army give chase to Darkling Woods to stop Lyon from performing a ceremony which he has tricked the last remaining piece of the real Lyon into believing will stop a natural disaster from occurring in Grado in the future. However, the ceremony only leads to the full resurrection of the mastermind behind all of these events... Formortiis, the Demon King. Formortiis will then try to wipe out the army. However, Erika and Ephiram are able to defeat Formortiis due to the help of their friends and the five countries sacred twin tomes. Formortiis will dissapitate, captured in the remaining sacred stone of Rausten.

Gameplay

In many ways, The Sacred Stones is nearly identical to both of its predecessors. However, a limited amount of novelties were added to the formula.

The biggest of which was the presence of a world map, which allowed the player to move from one location to the other, sometimes going through missions in a non-linear fashion. The feature was similar to what the series had already tried (and almost failed at) in Fire Emblem Gaiden.

The world map was a reason of heavy concern for veteran players of the series. Random encounters and special maps, in fact, allowed the player to literally abuse of the extra features to strengthen his/her characters and make the main story missions extremely easy.

Weapon and Magic Triangles

A staple of the series, using a certain weapon can net an advantage or disadvantage in battle.

Melee Triangle

Swords + VS Axes -

Axes + VS Lances -

Lances + VS Swords -

Magical Triangle

Light + VS Dark -

Dark + VS Anima -

Anima + VS Light -

There are some special advantages that apply only to certain weapons, e.g.: Using a bow against a flying unit will provide a massive damage bonus.

Classes

All classes that say upgrade have to be level ten at least before they can upgrade. Also all classes stop gaining experience once they hit level 20. Once this happens if it says upgrade class the player can upgrade their class which will power up the character even more and puts them at level one in that class.

It's recommended having at least one of each class.

Basic classes:

Only three characters fall under theses classes. Each is one of the following (all choose between one of two class to upgrade to when they reach level 10 {no item required}) (class change happens immediately)

2nd classes:

2nd class change needs the items listed to change, but cant happen until the character is between the levels of 10 and 20.

Final Class change: