Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

I guess you may be wondering why I am blogging about a GBA game. It all started when I was bored, and I downloaded Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones to my computer. Kinda like "Final Fantasy Tactics" but with crappier graphics. For those who have played the previous "Fire Emblem" series (like me), you will find that the Sacred Stones is no doubt the best GBA game ever

The game kicks off with one of the two main protagonists, Eirika escaping from a castle under siege. The first level is a tutorial level, which one will be guided through what the player has to do. Oh, one more thing. The protagonists CANNOT die. This means that Eirika and Ephraim cannot die or else its game over. Another thing is that once your party dies, they will not be revived again. So pay extra attention to their health. Once you are in the game, a typical battle screenshot looks like this:


Yeah, I know, it looks so.... lame, but hey, this is what you get when you play tactical games on GBA. Controls are very simple. Move the character around, lock on to a target, select what weapons you want to attack the enemy, and that's it. Combat in Fire Emblem works around a triangle called the "Weapon Triangle". Swords best axes, axes best lances, lances best swords. Once you select "Attack", a small cutscene or combat footage appears like this:



See the damn cool dragon? That's one of the nice things in the game. The combat looks damn cool, cool enough for a GBA game. Furthermore, the storyline of the game is good, starting with Eirika, and then somewhere in the middle of the game you get to choose whether you want to follow Eirika or Ephraim. I have played both storylines and I think it doesn't matter which character you choose, you will end up in the same story arc towards the end of the game where you have to fight the Demon King, something which look like this



Scary? Not really if you know how to defeat him. The story ends where the Demon King is finally defeated and peace is restored upon the land. Wait.... It's not over yet. After you complete the game, one can go on to "Creature Campaign", a feature which you can challenge the tower and the ruins, defeat the monsters and unlock characters not found in the game.

What I have to say about the game is that, if you enjoyed the original "Fire Emblem", you will love Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones as the enhanced difficulty, class upgrades and weapons challenges its players at every level. This is suitable for everyone who is bored and likes tactical games. I would recommend this game to all those who have VBA inside their computer.