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+----- Thread: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (/showthread.php?tid=2999)
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 11th June 2005
The kingdom of Renais has just suffered a surprise attack by their longtime allies, the kingdom of Grado. Under orders from the king of Renais, Seth, the captain of the army, takes Princess Eirika out of Renais and away from the attack. Seth and Eirika then depart to the other lands to warn them of Grado's treachery and try to find answers as to why, after hundreds of years of peace, Grado attacked without provocation. Along the way, many other brave men and women would join their cause, and as darkness spreads across the land, the answers Eirika finds would prove far more terrifying than they could have ever imagined.
<b>GRAPHICS</b>
If you played the original, you'll feel very familiar with the units, interface, landscapes, battle animations, and even backgrounds of Sacred Stones. That's because very little was changed graphically in the sequel, the game uses the same engine as it's predecessor. Some may find this lack of graphical improvement detrimental to the game, but I rather like the familiarity. Still, if you're expecting a flashier show out of the sequel, sadly, you won't get it.
If you're new to Emblem, you'll find the graphics pleasing yet practical. Every unit on the map is distinctive and easy to discern (unless you have two or more of the same class of unit on the map at once, in which case you must move your cursor over him/her to tell the difference), landscapes and backgrounds look detailed and realistic, battle animations are smooth and in some cases, a sight to behold; many units critical attacks will leave you laughing at your enemies painful demise.
<b>SOUND</b>
Sound effects and music far from disappoint, they add a great atmosphere to the game. While much of the visuals of the previous game were recycled, music is almost all new, and the few remaining familiar songs are redone and made better. As for sound effects, all are well done and clear, adding much to battles. Attacks that do no damage give a pitiful *chink*, while critical attacks make an extremely satisfying BOOM when they land.
<b>GAMEPLAY</b>
The original Fire Emblem set a new standard in the genre of turn-based strategy/RPG for the Game Boy Advance. The entire concept revolves around easy-to-learn but hard-to-master gameplay, epic storylines, and incredibly deep character development. The formula that Fire Emblem created, Sacred Stones wonderfully perfected. All the shortcomings of the original were rectified and great new options added, Sacred Stones is everything a Fire Emblem fan could want out of a sequel and more. Much like the Final Fantasy series, each Fire Emblems storylines and characters are new and seperate.
One welcome addition was the Supply option. In Fire Emblem, about halfway through the game, you would acquire the services of a merchant to carry your excess equipment, and to access it, you had to visit the extremely vulnerable supply tent that was set up on the battlefield. As all weapons and most equipment degrades with each use, eventually they will break and you'll need to replace them. Before, this involved leaving your allies in the battle behind, exhausting possibly several turns trekking unarmed back to where the tent was set up while avoiding enemies, getting the weapon you needed, and rushing back to the battle, if it's still even going on. Well, this inconvenience has been thankfully removed. From the beginning of the game, Eirika serves as your supply and can hold up to 100 weapons and items not currently equipped by any of your units. Therefore, since Eirika is not only on the field, but also in combat, your units probably won't be far from a new weapon if the one they have breaks.
As with it's predecessor, Sacred Stones focuses heavily on the interaction between the men and women in your army. Every unit has compatability levels with certain other units, and if they spend enough time near one another, they may recieve the opportunity to have a support conversation. These conversations can range anywhere from hilarious to heartwrenching, can lead to rivalries, close friendships, and even love, but they all have the same benefit: The more conversations those two units share (up to three), the better they fight when they are near one another. Putting units near each other with full support level can raise both units speed, defense, evasion, critical hit ratio, and other factors. Thus, supporting one another on your team can lead to great dividends. Choose your relationships wisely, though, as every unit is only capable of 5 conversations apiece. Supporting units is also much easier in Sacred Stones. In the original Fire Emblem, some units would have to spend literally hundreds of turns next to each other to prompt a conversation, but it's been reduced for the sequel, so conversations are much more frequent and, sometimes, even unexpected.
Another welcome addition is the ability to enter certain areas without missions simply to train your fighters. Two such areas exist, each containing 8 progressively more difficult enemies, and are mostly populated by monsters. Training here every so often will help your characters level up, and is especially useful for catching up some of your lesser-used fighters. One aspect that is prominent in the game is that units that do good will continue to do good, while weaker ones get used less and less, if even at all. Your strongest fighters are usually the ones you want in important battles, and since taking your weak units into a chapter battle can be risky, you can bring them here to level up. Also, if they've bit off more than they can chew, the option to retreat is always available if things get nasty.
The basic principle of the game is easy. Your army starts on a predetermined area of a battle map, and you must complete certain objectives to pass the chapter. Usually, this goal is to either clear the area of enemies, or to defeat a powerful boss enemy, though some missions require you to simply survive a certain number of turns or to protect a neutral unit. Battles follow a weapon heirarchy of axes, swords, and lances. Swords best axes, axes best lances, and lances best swords. Magic follows a similar pattern between light, dark, and anima (elemental) magic. Simple enough, and crucial to learn, but this is just the basics of the basics when it comes to battle. For instance, some axes are specially equipped to best swords, certain lances and axes can be thrown, hammers deal extra damage to armored foes, light magic does well against monsters, and arrows deal critical damage to flying units. Such are a few examples of many tactics that must be taken into account when entering a battle. You'd also be smart to check enemy equipment as well. Sending your mounted units against enemies weilding Halberd axes, Horseslayer lances, and Zanbato swords will likely end badly for you, and enemies armed with Killing Edge swords should be dealt with swiftly, as the odds are against you. Likewise, a group of enemies weilding swords can be handled easily and fairly painlessly with one or two units skilled with a lance.
Overall, Sacred Stones is a great follow-up to an already solid game. The lack of innovation may be a turn-off for some, but if that doesn't bother you, and you enjoyed the original Emblem, you'll love Sacred Stones just as much, if not more than the first. I rate this game 9.0 out of 10.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2005
I've been trying to convince myself to buy this now, despite the fact that I spent $90 on games just last week...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 11th June 2005
Trust me, if you liked the original, Sacred Stones is everything you could want, plus infinity.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2005
I know, but I have so many games to play right now, do I really need more?
... yeah, I'm sure I'll have it before the week is out. Though it'd be nice to finish Fire Emblem first... stupid dragon...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 11th June 2005
Don't feel bad, I never finished it either. I made the crucial mistake of being far too protective if my lords that when the time came that I needed them to kill the final boss, they were too weak.
So far, I've not invested the time to start over and try again.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2005
Eliwood is useless. Oh, that sword does awesome damage, but he only attacks once (sicne I've thought he is useless since... oh, the first level you had him in... :) he's only level 4 of rank 2... yet you have to drag him around with you...) Lyn and Hector are in somewhat better shape, but Lyn does minimal damage and Hector takes far too much when hit and is slow by nature, and you can only attack the stupid thing with characters fast enough to not get attacked twice...
And it sure doesn't help that part 1 of the final mission is pretty tough, either. The one time I beat it Athos died fighting Nergal, and he's like the only guy who can actually attack the dragon, hurt it to a degree that matters (Oh joy, Florina can hit it for 2 points of damage (and her at almost max level)!), and not die...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 11th June 2005
Eliwood is far from useless, if you ask me. Use him often and he becomes quite valuable. He's quick and I never had a problem with him attacking twice later in the game.
It's just that I tended to keep Eliwood near the rear of the formation and let Marcus and the other strong fighters handle the enemies. Unfortunately, you kind of need to use all three lords to have a chance in the final battle.
Oh, and as for the first part of the final mission, yeah, that's a bitch. Fortunately, one of the first enemies you encounter gives you a mean Reinfleche bow which I gave to Rath, and he summarily slaghtered just about everything else that came near him.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2005
I'm sure it partially depends on who you've been using as your main party... that kind of guides what you can do. Maybe I should try using Erk or Pent instead of Nino, though, they're both higher levels... but either way, the game is cruelly hard. "Do, redo, re-re-do, and re-re-re-do the mission until you've memorized what to do exactly and your luck is perfect" isn't fun, you know... oh, it's a great game, but very, very frusterating.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 11th June 2005
Geez, I never used Nino. By the time I got her, I had no time to level her up, she was pitifully weak against the powerful enemies I was facing.
Erk had leveled up to a Sage by the time Pent joined, and the two of them working together became a mighty force. Hawkeye was invaluable too. Dart was good for those annoying missions where pirates would come from the water. And Rath. Rath is the best.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2005
Yeah, I had to be pretty careful in protecting her to level her up, but she's not so bad... the problem is that she's level 5 of rank 2 now while Erk and Pent are levels 15 or 16.
I'm not using Marco, Dart, Rath, Eliwood (... I wish...), or Hawkeye. :) Who I've used has changed some as the game progressed, but in the final mission I am trying it with (all are rank 2 except Nils)Eliwood, Hector, Lyn, Nils, and Athos, of course, along with Nino, Rebecca, Priscilla and Serra, Florina (not far behind Jaffar at level 18), Fiora, and Jaffar (my highest level guy, at 19...). I've also frequently used Wil, Sain (I'd probably have him in this mission, but I was stupid and he died like 40 turns (stupid 'sit around and do nothing waiting for your supports to get somewhere' game design...) into mission 26 or so, and I really didn't want to do that all again...), Pent, Erk, Lucius, Canas (yeah, I like the mages... though Canas is used least of those. He never got to rank 2... and he's the only dark magician, so I never got a rank 2 dark magic guy. Oh well. Athos can do it all. :)), and, when you need a thief, Matthew. Most of the time I'd have only a few front-line warriors with many more mages/archers...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - Dark Jaguar - 12th June 2005
I notice you called the first Fire Emblem we got "the original". It didn't really set any standards considering it was actually the second of the series to hit the GBA (and I STILL want Nintendo to at least give us the first, though considering the total lack of Mother 1+2 stateside as of yet, that seems doubtful...), and further, it was like the 7th in the long series of the game.
It's just that JAPAN HATES US!
But yeah, I want Sacred Stones (and ya see? I told you they should have went ahead and given the first one they brought over it's subtitle).
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 12th June 2005
I wasn't saying that THIS game was anything innovative or new, but the ORIGINAL Fire Emblem was.
As for the series as a whole, you'll see in my review of Fire Emblem that I acknowledge it as the 7th in the series, but for American gamers, it was the first. Such is how I will refer to it.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - Dark Jaguar - 12th June 2005
Not ALL American gamers.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 12th June 2005
DJ: It's original for us, that's all that matters... sure, there were six before it, but we didn't get them and it's kind of hard to play them, so it's somewhat unimportant to the point... it's the original. It isn't in Japan, but is here.
Quote:But yeah, I want Sacred Stones (and ya see? I told you they should have went ahead and given the first one they brought over it's subtitle).
It'll work just fine with just putting subtitles on all future titles.
Quote:Not ALL American gamers.
Yeah, only to 99% of them...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - The Former DMiller - 15th June 2005
I've had the Sacred Stones for a little over a week now, and it is almost exactly like the first US Fire Emblem game, except there isn't a lengthy tutorial and it seems to be tougher. I didn't think the US Fire Emblem was all that hard, but I didn't rely on the powerful characters like Marcus and eventually turned Eliwood into an awesome fighter. If Eliwood is powerful the final dragon is easy. You just have Eliwood attack the dragon and then heal him whenever he gets hit.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 15th June 2005
My Eliwood wasn't bad, but my problem was my Lyn was pitiful. Even if I got Eliwood up to the dragon, a sage far away would cast Bolting or something and obliterate Lyn, which is of course a Game Over.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 15th June 2005
Yeah, my problem is that Eliwood stinks and can't attack the dragon unless he can kill it in one stroke because it gets to attack him twice... my only hope is to get Athos to be able to attack twice, because with Luna he can take off 2/3rds of its health in one fight (1/3rd per hit -- does the same to Nergal...)... but last time I tried I didn't manage it, attacked with Eliwood when the dragon had 22hp, and died because Eliwood only does 18 damage with Durandal.
Lyn is great (yes, if she gets hit she takes a lot of damage, but has a pretty high dodge...), but can't hurt the dragon much... Sol Katti does very little. Reinfleche (Rachel) also does nothing... Florina with the Rex Hasta manages to do 8, but she's about the only one other than Athos who can actually hurt it more than a point or two I think... (well, maybe SOMEONE can, but only Athos and Eliwood seem to be able to do damage worth mentioning.)
Anyway, the thing to do I think is beat the dragon in turn one. Athos attacks with Luna, gets healed, gets given a second turn, and kills it. ... I hope that that'll work, anyway...
Anyway, I got The Sacred Stones. I've heard it's shorter than the first game (especially since a third of the game is split, forcing you to replay it to see all the missions), and easier (the first three missions are QUITE easy), but oh well... maybe I'll play it on Hard? :)
I know, FE's difficulty is frusterating, but I wouldn't want it any easier... I would like the supports system to be seriously reworked (did they fix that in this game? The number of turns required for supports in FE was just so insane that unless you sat in front of a boss for 100 turns a few times you'd never get them...), though.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 15th June 2005
Yes, as I mentioned, supports are much, much easier to obtain. There were a few occassions where I was given the chance for a support conversation when I wasn't even trying for one. Colm and Moulder, as well as Joshua and Artur are two unlikely pairs that ended up having chats.
Also, I think your spells are mixed up. Luna doesn't absorb HP, it ignores enemy RES. Nosferatu absorbs HP.
And yes, There are, technically, fewer chapters, although when adding up the different battles available for Eirika and Ephraim respectively increases the number, as well as extra battles and the very, very welcome addition of the Tower of Valni. If you've not unlocked it yet, trust me, I know you'll like it.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 16th June 2005
Quote:Also, I think your spells are mixed up. Luna doesn't absorb HP, it ignores enemy RES. Nosferatu absorbs HP.
I meant that it did 1/3 damage to both Nergal and the dragon... AND Athos attacks twice with it in one battle (against either one). Really useful, when the other spells I was using either did less damage or he only attacked once with... yeah, Nosferatu is the lifesteal one.
... oh, did you mean 'get healed'? No, by that I meant 'have a cleric heal him'... and then have the bard give him another turn (if he can reach Athos-in-front-of-dragon on turn one... I hope...), and hopefully finish off the dragon before my turn ends.
Easier supports: Great, the length of time required for some of those in FE was just stupid. I mean, I wanted to do the supports, but I was NOT going to sit around doing nothing for 250 turns (and some of the supports DO require about that, for all three levels...)! That's insane!
Quote:And yes, There are, technically, fewer chapters, although when adding up the different battles available for Eirika and Ephraim respectively increases the number, as well as extra battles and the very, very welcome addition of the Tower of Valni. If you've not unlocked it yet, trust me, I know you'll like it.
By 'extra battles' you mean random battles, right? Haven't gotten to any of those yet... I'm sure that helps.
Oh, and what, the Tower of Valmy is hard? Nice... :) (because if you look at the Gamefaqs reviews of TSS, 'it's easier than FE' is mentioned in a bunch of them)
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 16th June 2005
The Tower of Valni isn't necessarily hard, more like mid-level difficulty. What it is, though, is an eight floor tower filled with monsters you can fight and get experience for. You can also go again and again. So if you have the time to spend in the tower, your units can be killing machines in time without even advancing the story to do it.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 16th June 2005
Ah...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 19th June 2005
Fire Emblem has such a great formula... addictive, challenging (or at least it can be), with complex strategy... great story... we need more of these games. :)
... could they bring over the first GBA FE game now? I want more... sure, I have quite a ways to go in TSS, and could finish and replay in hard mode (or the slightly-different-but-mostly-the-same (except it's a bit harder I think) Hector's Story), but that's just retreading old territory, which is quite different from an actual new game to play... maybe I will do that though, FE doesn't seem like a formula I'll get bored of easily. :)
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 19th June 2005
My first time through, I took Eirika's path on Easy. This time, I'm playing Ephraims on Normal, and I can say, it's definitely harder.
After I finish this (and I've just reached the mission wher ethe two paths meet), I am really going to challenge myself and see if I can play through the game without restarting any missions. Meaning, of course, that if I am careless and someone dies, then I move on without them. Should be interesting.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 19th June 2005
So you never finished FE once but you're about to have finished TSS twice? ... taking advantage of them letting you choose Easy mode this time, then... I'm playing on Normal. Currently in chapter 8, right before the split I believe. Mission 6 was hard, but then 7 was pretty easy and I've only failed 8 twice because of some dumb mistakes...
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 19th June 2005
I finished all of FE but the final boss. I know a lot more about how to manage my team and best use my characters, and to use my lords more, and thus, I was more well equipped to take on the final boss in Sacred Stones.
Though to be honest, Cormag and Artur did more damage than anyone and could actually take a hit from the boss without dying. Of course, then I'd need to have Seth and L'Arachel get them the hell out of there so they could get healed, but still. I barely had to use Eirika or Ephraim.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 19th June 2005
It's not fair to split the game like that, I want to follow both stories... :)
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - EdenMaster - 19th June 2005
And you can, you just need to play it twice :). Besides, anything important to the story is recapped when they're reunited later on, so all you're really missing out on are the actual conversations that are had and the different battles. Otherwise, you'll get all the pertinent information you need to further the story.
Also, I understand that something special happens once you beat the game on both paths. What, exactly, I'm not sure, but since I'm on Chapter 13 out of 20 on my second playthrough, I'm sure I'll have that answer before the week is out :D.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - A Black Falcon - 20th June 2005
You mean beating it once and then playing again on a different difficulty, or just beating it both ways any way (that is, would saving at the split and doing two games from there count? That'd be easier...)?
And yeah, I know you can play again, etc, but ... strategy games don't usually have branching mission paths, beyond perhaps "you get either mission A or mission B and then go back to the linear mission tree"... when it splits like that you feel like you're missing something. I mean, one mission is okay, but this splits for eight... clearly they're adding replay value to make up for the shorter game. And that's alright... just a bit frusterating. :)