History VideoGame / FireEmblemTheSacredStones

* SpiritualSuccessor: The game takes several mechanics from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' (which are present in most [=RPGs=] but not in ''VideoGame/FireEmblem''), such as infinite XP, use of a world map, and branched promotions.

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: The Sniper class has the Sure Strike ability, which ensures the next attack will always hit. Unfortunately, the Snipers you have will have high enough accuracy, so it's rather useless.
** But of course, the ''enemy'' Snipers will get some mileage out of the technique.

* TheAlliance: What the player party eventually becomes, having members from all the nations to fight Grado [[spoiler: and then the Demon King.]]
** When the game starts, Frelia and the Renais government-in-exile (read Eirika) are trying to hold off Grado.

* BadassArmy: The group as a whole.

* BadassFamily: Ephraim and Eirika, Innes and Tana, Vanessa and Syrene, Forde and Franz, Garcia and Ross, and Tethys and Ewan.

* BadAssLongCoat: Colm comes closest in the official artwork, though Joshua's Swordmaster sprite counts too.
* BadassLongRobe: Saleh and Lute.
* BadassMustache: Moulder.

* BadassPreacher: Artur, Natasha, L'Arachel, and Moulder. Riev counts for the villain team.
* BadassPrincess: Eirika, Tana, and L'Arachel.
* BadassTeacher: Saleh (as Ewan's magic instructor) and Duessel (as Ephraim's combat instructor)

* {{BFS}}: Mercenaries battle sprites count, but Generals take the cake.
* BoisterousBruiser: '''DOZLA.'''
** Ross is one in training.

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

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

** The powerful Luna tome from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' had its accuracy cut in half, its CriticalHit rate reduced substantially, and had its price hiked up so it's bank-breaking to purchase.

* {{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 VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe due to losing the use of Axes to help differentiate them from the Great Knight, though it's consistent with pre-Elibe games.

* ScriptBreaking: It's possible to get some support conversations that refer to characters that haven't joined your party yet. Notably Neimi's A-level support with Gilliam refers to Cormag being intimidated by her stare, even if Cormag is still a soldier of Grado.

** A bit of HypocriticalHumor too, since L'Arachel's portrait shows that her own shoulders are bare.

** This was a translation error. The Japanese script refers to "Coma", which is the Japanese name of Colm, whom 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.

''Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones'' is the eighth ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' game, released on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance in 2004. It is the only game with a completely self-contained story; no other ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' media takes place in the universe of this game.

The story takes place on the continent of Magvel, as the southernmost country, Grado, attacks Renais. Renais had been allies with Grado for years, and was caught completely off guard. The game itself starts with Renais' princess, Eirika, fleeing from her castle as it is overrun. She then goes off in her search for her brother Ephraim, and her childhood [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend friend]], Lyon, the Prince of Grado, in hopes of finding out why Grado attacked, and how to stop the war.

''Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones'' is one of the ten GameBoyAdvance games available to participants in the Nintendo3DS Ambassador Program, having been given a limited rerelease to early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS for free on its [=eShop=] as of December 2011.

As of January 2015 in the PAL regions and June 2015 in North America, ''The Sacred Stones'' is also available on the UsefulNotes/WiiU UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole.

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

The game shares some mechanics not seen since ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', 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, luxury not available in most other ''Fire Emblem'' games. Additionally it has a unique branching class tree, giving almost every unit multiple class options for promotion.

The game shares some mechanics not seen since ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', 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.

As of January 2015 in the PAL regions and June 2015 in North America, The Sacred Stones is also available on the Wii U Virtual Console.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: L'Arachel has an excellent luck stat, while Joshua's is rather mediocre. The two end up gambling in their support conversations; as it turns out, L'Arachel is so much luckier that she wins their bets ''even when Joshua cheats''.

The game shares some mechanics not seen since ''[[VideoGame/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.

''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' is one of the ten GameBoyAdvance games available to participants in the Nintendo3DS Ambassador Program, having been given a limited rerelease to early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS for free on its [=eShop=] as of December 2011.

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

* BadassPacifist: Tethys. Has no direct offensive capability, but she can give those who do the ability to kick ass more than once. Also, Innes tells her and Gerik to flee at one point when certain death looks likely, and like Gerik, she stands her ground.

** By the end of the game, when Myrrh decides to fight for Ephraim, you'll probably be using her most of the time, because of her ability to one-hit most enemies, including bosses. She's kind of a Late Game Crutch Character.

* {{Badass}}: Ephraim, Gerik, Joshua, Marisa, Cormag, and Innes. Caellech counts for the villain team.
** BadassAdorable: Amelia, Ross, and Ewan are very cute kids (none of them is over 16), but if properly leveled and promoted, they can kick your ass. Myrrh count as well, since she looks like a harmless little girl, and Neimi also fits.
** BadassArmy: The group as a whole.
** BadassBeard: Garcia, Gilliam, Dozla, and Duessel sport some awesome facial hair. Gerik has a nice goatee too.
** BadassBookworm: Knoll, Lyon, Saleh, Artur, Lute. Ewan is on his way to become one through Magikarp Power. Saleh has the in-story bonus of being ''[[BadassAdorable Myrrh's]]'' bodyguard.
** BadassFamily: Ephraim and Eirika, Innes and Tana, Vanessa and Syrene, Forde and Franz, Garcia and Ross, and Tethys and Ewan.
** BadassGrandpa: Duessel is obviously older than the rest of the cast by far, but age does NOT slow him down. Moulder is also in this age bracket or reasonably close to it, as is Gilliam.
** BadAssLongCoat: Colm comes closest in the official artwork, though Joshua's Swordmaster sprite counts too.
** BadassLongRobe: Saleh and Lute.
** BadassMustache: Moulder.
** BadassPacifist: Tethys. Has no direct offensive capability, but she can give those who do the ability to kick ass more than once. Also, Innes tells her and Gerik to flee at one point when certain death looks likely, and like Gerik, she stands her ground.
** BadassPreacher: Artur, Natasha, L'Arachel, and Moulder. Riev counts for the villain team.
** BadassPrincess: Eirika, Tana, and L'Arachel.
** BadassTeacher: Saleh (as Ewan's magic instructor) and Duessel (as Ephraim's combat instructor)
** FourStarBadass: Ephraim, Eirika, and Innes are by virtue of commanding their nation's best fighters and by being the ranking combat worthy nobles. Duessel was already one when he joins your cause. [[spoiler:Joshua becomes this by the end of the game.]]
** LadyOfWar: Eirika, Syrene, Vanessa. Tana, Amelia, Marisa and Neimi grow into these too.
** OneManArmy: Seth starts as this in the beginning of the game, and unlike most [[CrutchCharacter Jeigans]], he's still quite viable as a mounted dealer of death by the end of the game.
** RetiredBadass: Garcia still is one damn fine warrior, even after several years of retirement.

* StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter: The twin protagonists Eprhraim and Eirika follow different questlines, but reunite in the final chapters. The player then picks one of them to continue spearheading the plot through the same endgame sequence of events, but with different dialogue and personal scenes.

The story takes place on the continent of Magvel, as the southernmost country, Grado, attacks Renais. Renais had been allies with Grado for years, and was caught completely off guard. The game itself starts with Renais' princess, Eirika, fleeing from her castle as it is overrun. She then goes off in her search for her brother Ephraim, and her childhood [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend friend]], Grado Prince Lyon in hopes of finding out why Grado attacked, and how to stop the war.

* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to end the war with Grado and prevent the Demon King's return, assuming leadership of Renais afterwards. But their father was killed in the conflict and they had to fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who was responsible for starting the war and causing the Demon King's revival.[[note]]They also find out that they were partially responsible for fueling Lyon's insecurities, with said insecurities contributing to his fall.[[/note]] Several countries have been devastated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have lost their lives. Then Grado is further devastated by an earthquake shortly after the war.

** Amelia appears in a village in Chapter 5 as well, dropping a torch as she leaves to join the Grado army. You won't be seeing her again until chapter 9 on either route.

* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to end the war with Grado and prevent the Demon King's return, assuming leadership of Renais afterwards. But their father was killed in the conflict and they had to fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who was responsible for starting the war and causing the Demon King's revival.[[note]]They also find out that Lyon had been secretly harboring much angst towards them both, making them partially responsible his fall.[[/note]] Several countries have been devastated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have lost their lives. Then Grado is further devastated by an earthquake shortly after the war.

* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to end the war with Grado and prevent the Demon King's return, assuming leadership of Renais afterwards. But their father was killed in the conflict, and they had to fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who was responsible for starting the war and causing the Demon King's revival.[[note]]In addition, Lyon had been secretly harboring much angst towards them both, making them partially responsible his fall.[[/note]] Several countries have been devastated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have lost their lives. Then Grado is further devastated by an earthquake shortly after the war.

* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to end the war with Grado and prevent the Demon King's return, assuming leadership of Renais afterwards. But their father was killed in the conflict, and they had to fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who was responsible for starting the war and causing the Demon King's revival.[[note]]And they're further heartbroken from the revelation that Lyon had been secretly been harboring much angst towards them, making them partially responsible his fall.[[/note]] Several countries have been devastated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have lost their lives. 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 end the war with Grado, assuming leadership of Renais afterwards; but their father is dead and they had to kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who inadvertently started the war, caused the Demon King's revival, and had secretly been harboring much angst towards the twins, leaving them both heartbroken when they find out. Several countries have been devastated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have lost their lives. 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 end the war with Grado, assuming leadership of Renais afterwards; but they've lost their father and had to kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who inadvertently started the war, caused the Demon King's revival, and had secretly been harboring much angst towards the twins, leaving them both heartbroken when they find out. Several countries have been devastated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have lost their lives. 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 end the war with Grado, assuming rulership of Renais afterwards. However, they had to fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]] because he started the war and discovered that they had been the source of much angst for him, leaving them both heartbroken. Several countries have been devestated by the war, including Renais and Grado, and many people have died as a result. Then Grado is further devestated by an earthquake shortly after the war.