History VideoGame / FireEmblemTheSacredStones

The eighth ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' game, and the only completely self-contained story; no other ''FireEmblem'' media takes place in the universe of this game.

The game shares some mechanics not seen since ''[[FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem Gaiden]]'', the biggest of which is the ability to traverse the world map. Instead of going to the next story point immediately, the player can fight the monsters roaming the map, or can visit monster-infested areas. This allows for [[LevelGrinding easy grinding]]. Additionally it has a unique branching class tree, giving almost every unit multiple class options for promotion.

** This is pretty much standard for Paladins in the Fire Emblem series. They are very powerful in the beginning or when they join you, then slowly become more balanced with the rest of the party.

** Like Canas in ''FireEmblemElibe'', Knoll says that it's actually ancient magics, not evil.

* EmergencyWeapon: Averted in gameplay (as per Fire Emblem usual, empty-handed units cannot attack) but present in a different way. The battle setup screen gives access to an armory that sells the most basic weapons and tomes, making it that much harder to save yourself into an unwinnable situation.

* LevelGrinding: The primary reason fans dislike this one, as every other game (bar Gaiden) has only Arena Abuse (risky without save states), Boss Abuse (takes forever, also risky and limited by weapon durability), and infinite reinforcements (very rare, generally happens very late or is intended to be very dangerous and also limited by durability) allow for more XP than "normal".

** Ephraim is basically [[FireEmblemElibe Hector]], but with lances instead of axes. It's not unheard of for him to cap out ''several'' stats even before promoting.

* {{Nerf}}: The game-breakingly powerful Luna spell from the previous game (which could let its wielders take out even the end bosses like last week's trash) is made more cumbersome in this game, having its accuracy cut substantially as well as being rather bank-breaking to purchase. Paladins are also a little weaker in this game than they were in FireEmblemElibe due to losing the use of Axes to help differentiate them from the Great Knight, though it's consistent with pre-Elibe games.

* NoFairCheating: This is the only game in the Fire Emblem series to give you more than one Hammerne staff with more than one charge (although the second one comes with Lyon, who is pretty much a BraggingRightsReward), and Hammerne staves can be used to repair any weapon, tome, or staff... except the other Hammerne staff.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To Fire Emblem Gaiden, sharing many of the game's...unique elements (that are present in most [=RPGs=] but not in FireEmblem), such as infinite XP and branched promotions.

** Caer Pelyn, an independent village isolated from the outside world. It's also the only place that knows the full story of the Demon King's fall. Home to Saleh, the location must have been known to Gerik's Mercenaries as Ewan and his sister were part of the group.

* PowerUpLetDown: Snipers have a randomly-activating skill that results in an auto-hit... but snipers are the most accurate unit in the game already. Likewise, Generals have a skill that nullifies damage, but their defense is so high that anything but magic or a hit from a boss will bounce off anyway.

* YouCantFightFate: Lyon had a vision of an earthquake that would destroy Grado sometime in the future. This vision prompts him to start messing with Grado's Sacred Stone for the purpose of preventing it. He ends up starting the war instead and the earthquake happens in the epilogue, which is seen as Grado's divine punishment for the war.

* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to stop the Demon King's return and assume rulership of Renais, but they had to fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]] and discovered that they had been the source of much angst for him, leaving them both heartbroken. Renais, Grado, and many other countries have been devestated by the war Lyon started and many people have died as a result, including Erika and Ephraim's father. Then Grado is further devastated by an earthquake shortly after the war.

* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to prevent the Demon King's return and take their place as the rulers of Renais; but the war their best friend Lyon started to revive the Demon King has devastated both Renais and Grado along with several other countries and has resulted in the deaths many people, including Erika and Ephraim's father and Lyon himself. Then Grado is further devastated by an earthquake shortly after the war.

* YouCantFightFate: The war happened because Lyon had a vision of an earthquake that would destroy Grado in the future. This vision prompts him to start messing with Grado's Sacred Stone for the purpose of preventing the earthquake and he is subsequently corrupted by the Demon King and starts the war. The earthquake ends up happening after the war and is seen as Grado's divine punishment for starting the war.

* YouCantFightFate: The war happened because Lyon had a vision of an earthquake that would destroy Grado in the future. This prompts him to start messing with Grado's Sacred Stone for the purpose of preventing the earthquake and he is subsequently corrupted by the Demon King and starts the war. The earthquake ends up happening after the war and is seen as Grado's divine punishment for starting the war.

* YouCan'tFightFate: The war happened because Lyon had a vision of an earthquake that would destroy Grado in the future. This prompts him to start messing with Grado's Sacred Stone for the purpose of preventing the earthquake and he is subsequently corrupted by the Demon King and starts the war. The earthquake ends up happening after the war and is seen as Grado's divine punishment for starting the war.

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: For a split second when the title screen starts up, an image of Fomortiis, the Demon King and GreaterScopeVillain of the whole story flashes on the screen.]]

** With a hefty dose of DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything, Grado possesses a predominantly blond (or otherwise light-haired) populace which uses its extremely large army to attack a former ally without provocation and nearly wipe out all the other nations by surprise.

* TragicMonster: [[spoiler: Lyon, who falls under control of the Demon King bwhile trying to save his country.]]

** Remember the name of their sacred twin weapons? Both named after an incestuous brother/sister couple in Norse Mythology.

* SummonMagic: Summoners can summon ghouls.

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: For a split second when the title screen starts up, an image of Fomortiis, the Demon King and BiggerBad of the whole story flashes on the screen.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: For a split second when the title screen starts up, an image of Fomortiis, the Demon King and BiggerBad of the whole story.]]

* PuppyLove: Amelia/Franz (or Ross, or Ewan). Colm and Neimi may count as well, though they appear to be at the older end of the scale.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Joshua, Gerik, Tethys, Marisa, Rennac and Caellach. Erikia pretends to be one, and Gerik leads a company of them.
** In general, both sides employ mercenaries, with a Guild providing assignments. There are a disproportionate number of Jehannans as mercenaries, as their kingdom is noted for that profession.
* PuppyLove: Amelia/Franz (or Ross, or Ewan). Colm and Neimi may count as well, though they appear to be at the older end of the scale.

The story of the game can be easily divided into three separate parts:

* YouKilledMyFather: In Eirika's route, [[spoiler:Joshua calls out Caellach for killing his mother, and Cormag calls out Valter for killing his brother.]] Downplayed with Lyon; the prologue reveals that [[spoiler:Lyon was present when Fado was killed and may well have killed Fado himself, but neither of the twins ever calls him out for that, presumably because they didn't know about his direct involvement in Fado's death.]]

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:[[EmptyShell Orson's wife]] and [[DamagedSoul Emperor Vigarde of Grado]]]] both died and were resurrected with the power of the stones. [[spoiler:Vigarde]] promptly crumbled to dust when Ephraim defeated him. And the less said [[spoiler:of Monica,]] the better.

** Like in ''FireEmblemElibe'', Knoll says that it's actually ancient magics, not evil.

* LetsSplitUpGang: After Chapter 8, you have the choice of two completely separate paths, Eirika or Ephraim. The recruitable characters follow whichever lord you choose, and everybody reunites in Chapter 15. In addition, you recruit the same characters although at different times.

* PowerUpLetDown: Snipers have a randomly-activating skill that results in an auto-hit... but snipers are the most accurate unit in the game already. Likewise, Generals have a skill that nulls damage, but their defense is so high that anything but magic or a hit from a boss will bounce off anyway.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Averted. While Jehanna is obviously proud of its 95% mercenary population, to the point where its widowed queen has an A-level in swordsmanship, the Jehannans are the most casual and friendly characters. The only person who does act like this, Marisa, is seen as ''really'' weird.

** This was a translation error. The Japanese script refers to "Coma", which is the Japanese name of Colm, who Neimi DOES know. An understandable mistake. And in hindsight, a positive error at that - bows are very effective in shooting down flying units (such as Cormag), who would worry about archers.

* WackyWaysideTribe: Some have claimed this about Eirika's half of the LetsSplitUpGang sequence, as Ephraim [[spoiler:saves General Duessel, sinks the ghost ship, and conquers Grado among other things]] while Eirika [[spoiler:fails to save Jehanna's Sacred Stone and is rescued by Ephraim when they reunite]]. However, this is a rather unfair interpretation as Eirika did learn about Carcino's treachery (and did something about it), rescue Prince Innes, and participated in some of the more dramatic moments in the game (which only get a HandWave mention with Ephraim). Besides which, even Ephraim didn't realize Eirika was going to run into ''all'' of that trouble--her original mission was only to make it through monsters and mercenaries to warn Rausten while he was specifically aiming for most of the crises he was involved in.

** One of the houses in chapter 15 does give you the general idea of what happened to [[spoiler: Glen and Selena; they both died. We're not told ''how'', though: Glen's death is only shown in Eirika's route, while Selena's is part of Ephraim's.]]