History VideoGame / FireEmblemTheSacredStones

* BittersweetEnding: Eirika and Ephraim manage to end the war with Grado and [[spoiler:prevent the Demon King's return]], assuming leadership of Renais afterwards. But their father was killed in the conflict, and they had to [[spoiler:fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who was responsible for starting the war and causing the Demon King's revival. [[note]]And it's implied that he's the one that killed their father.[[/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.

%%** 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. Incidentally, one of its generals is named [[GratuitousGerman Duessel]].

** Carcino is practically Renaissance Italy, notably being a merchant-led republic.

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

* LevelGrinding: The primary reason fans dislike this one, as every other game prior this one (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".

%%* 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.
%%* BadassTeacher: Saleh (as Ewan's magic instructor) and Duessel (as Ephraim's combat instructor).

%%* BoisterousBruiser: '''DOZLA.'''
%%** Ross is one in training.

%%* NiceHat: Joshua

%%* ThePowerOfLove: Subverted. [[spoiler: It doesn't fix possessed Lyon.]]

%%* TragicVillain: Read above.

%%* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Artur, if you don't pair him with Lute. Innes and Tana, if you don't pair them with Eirika and Ephraim, respectively. [[spoiler: It doesn't matter ''what'' you do, Lyon ends up as this to Eirika.]]
%%* WarriorPrince: Several, but especially [[LightningBruiser Ephraim]].
%%* WeaponTwirling: Several characters do this as part of their critical hit animations. Ephraim in particular looks like a deadly member of a school color guard.
%%* WeDoTheImpossible: [[spoiler: Subverted when Eirika tries to save Lyon.]]
%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Lyon.]]

* BehindTheBlack: Erika apparently can't see Myrrh's wings until her sprite moves slightly forward and they are visible to the player.
* BittersweetEnding: Erika and Ephraim manage to end the war with Grado and [[spoiler:prevent the Demon King's return]], assuming leadership of Renais afterwards. But their father was killed in the conflict, and they had to [[spoiler:fight and kill their [[BigBadFriend best friend Lyon]], who was responsible for starting the war and causing the Demon King's revival. [[note]]And it's implied that he's the one that killed their father.[[/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.

* EasterEgg: If you complete both Erika's and Ephraim's routes and start a new game; Ross, Amelia, and Ewan have access to their exclusive "super trainee" classes (which are similar to their starting "trainee" class, but with added extra quirks).

** At the start of he game, Seth is injured by Valter while trying to protect Erika. Throughout the rest of the game, Seth's wound is mentioned several times, making it clear the wound has not fully healed during the events of the game. This serves to explain why Seth is a CrutchCharacter at the start, while still being able to be a strong unit: him healing is him leveling up.

* PantyShot: Played with in one of Eirika's support conversations. Forde questions the [[LampshadeHanging practicality of wearing a miniskirt on a battle field]], Erika pretends to flash him as a joke. Though it's all text.

** 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. Incidentally, one of its generals is named [[GratuitousGerman Duessel]].

* EasyLevelsHardBosses: Often in ''Fire Emblem'' it turns out the other way around, but in this game, roughly the last 7 chapters feature a string of dangerous bosses that either have a high critical hit rate, some other trick up their sleeve (Pierce skill, [[spoiler:Defense-piercing dragon breath]]) to deal/tank a ton of damage, or both. [[spoiler:[[AnticlimaxBoss Sadly, the final boss snaps this streak.]]]]

** In the English version, having a Wyvern Knight attack with a javelin can crash the game.
** Another English version exclusive - if a Wyvern Knight triggers Pierce, fails to kill the enemy and double-attacks, hitting the enemy before the HP bar stops completely changes, the game will hang. Fixed in European version.
** If Tethys is given a Dark Magic weapon via a GoodBadBug and double-attacks with combat animations on, the game will hang due to her lacking a "return to ready" part of animation.

* MarathonLevel: The optional dungeons. Tower of Valni is eight floors long with no checkpoints. [[BrutalBonusLevel Lagdou Ruins]] is ''ten'', and every one of them laughs in the face of the rest of the game's ItsEasySoItSucks reputation. However, you CAN use the quicksave function, so you don't really have to beat them in one sitting.

* NiceHat: Joshua, though it's mostly in the fandom's view. It's to the point that said hat has reached [[MemeticMutation memetic]] levels.

* ThePowerOfLove: Subverted. [[spoiler: It doesn't fix possessed Lyon.]]

* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Artur, if you don't pair him with Lute. Innes and Tana, if you don't pair them with Eirika and Ephraim, respectively. [[spoiler: It doesn't matter ''what'' you do, [[TearJerker Lyon ends up as this to Eirika]].]]

* GameBreakingBug: In the English version, having a Wyvern Knight attack with a javelin can crash the game.

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

** Among the [=GameBoy=] Advance titles, this game uses a darker and more saturated palette for the official artwork and in game. The reason for this is that when ''The Sacred Stones'' came out, the frontlit SP was around for awhile, and thus they used a slightly darker palette (especially evident in the menus, which are a lot darker brown.)

* 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 is cheating.

* DarkMagicalGirl: Oh, Selena. In terms of personality, she's actually a decent person, just chained by [[MyCountryRightOrWrong Grado's will.]]

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Half of Grado's generals, specifically the three who aren't newcomers. Duessel [[spoiler:eventually realizes that continuing to serve Vigarde in his current state is ''not'' acting in Grado's best interests and switches sides]]; [[spoiler:Glen seems to eventually realize the same thing [[HeelFaceDoorSlam but Valter doesn't let him do anything with this realization]]]]. Selena, for all her doubts, remains loyal to Vigarde until the bitter end.

* 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.

** Among the [=GameBoy=] Advance titles, this game uses a darker and more saturated palette in offical artwork and in game.

* TheKingdom: Renais, Frelia, and Jehanna. They're all attacked by Grado. Renais and Frelia are out and out honorable and virtuous. And while Jehanna may hire out mercenaries, it's only because they have nothing else to trade (being mostly desert, it doesn't seem to have very much).

%%* BadassPrincess: Eirika, Tana, and L'Arachel.

''Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones'' is one of the ten GameBoyAdvance games available to participants in the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS Ambassador Program, having been given a limited rerelease to early adopters of the system for free on its [=eShop=] as of December 2011. As of January 2015 in the PAL regions and June 2015 in North America, it is also available on the UsefulNotes/WiiU UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole.

-->--Prologue

* 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.

%%* BadassTeacher: Saleh (as Ewan's magic instructor) and Duessel (as Ephraim's combat instructor)

* HighHeelFaceTurn:
** Parodied. Marisa arrives as part of the enemy's reinforcements in one chapter, but she was originally part of Gerik's guild and they weren't even ''supposed'' to be fighting on different sides.

** Remember the name of their sacred twin weapons? Both named after an incestuous brother/sister couple in Norse Mythology (most famously retold in ''Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung'')

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Lute's death quote seems to be the prototype for the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius 9th and 10th games]] having very disturbing death quotes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Colm, but only to Neimi. Also Innes, though sometimes he's just an outright JerkAss.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Half of Grado's generals, specifically the three who aren't newcomers. Duessel [[spoiler:eventually realizes that continuing to serve Vigarde in is current state is ''not'' acting in Grado's best interests and switches sides]]; [[spoiler:Glen seems to eventually realize the same thing [[HeelFaceDoorSlam but Valter doesn't let him do anything with this realization]]]]. Selena, for all her doubts, remains loyal to Vigarde until the bitter end.

** Ephraim and Eirika share a joint role as TheLeader / TheHero, but which gets more focus depends on who you choose to follow.
** Seth and Innes share the TheLancer role. The former as chief adviser and NumberTwo to the Renais Twins. The latter a cunning strategist that considers himself Ephraim's {{Rival}} in all things.

** [[spoiler:Joshua is the "SixthRanger" as the secret prince of Jehanna who poses as a wayward gambler until his identity is revealed (in Eirika's path at least)]].
* TheManBehindTheMan: Lyon to Emperor Vigarde and Fomortiis to Lyon.

* TragicVillain: Read above.

* 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 learned about Carcino's treachery (and did something about it), rescued 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.
* WarriorPrince: Several, but especially [[LightningBruiser Ephraim]].
* WeaponTwirling: Several characters do this as part of their critical hit animations. Ephraim in particular looks like a deadly member of a school color guard.
* WeDoTheImpossible: [[spoiler: Subverted when Eirika tries to save Lyon.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Lyon.]]

** Jehanna is a more innocuous mix of Egypt, India, Israel, and other Middle-Eastern countries. While their strength is also in arms, it is composed of loosely organized mercenary bands who take up the work simply because there are very few other options.

* BadassPacifist: Tethys. Has no direct offensive capability[[labelnote:*]]barring a GoodBadBug that allows any unit to learn Dark Magic[[/labelnote]], 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.

* 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 it's implied that he's the one that killed their father.[[/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.

** '''Dozla''' of all people is one. Being a Berserker, he naturally hits hard and crits very often. Albeit having good HP and HP growth, he has horrible Speed and Speed gains (meaning he gets hit VERY OFTEN, and is more likely to get hit TWICE), and at best average Defense, he gets a good start, but his growth is barely better than his Speed growth, which means if he gets hit, he takes a load more damage compared to say, Ross.

** Weirdly, both [[spoiler:Innes and Lyon]] love Eirika, and they feel ([[spoiler:Lyon]] in a flashback and [[spoiler:Innes in his support conversations]]) that they have to compete with Ephraim, her ''brother'', for her hand.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Half of Grado's generals, specifically the three who aren't newcomers. Duessel eventually realizes that continuing to serve Vigarde in is current state is ''not'' acting in Grado's best interests and switches sides; Glen seems to eventually realize the same thing [[HeelFaceDoorSlam but Valter doesn't let him do anything with this realization]]. Selena, for all her doubts, remains loyal to Vigarde until the bitter end.

* PoorCommunicationKills: If only Vigarde had let Lyon tell his friends about the earthquake that he had predicted, Lyon's whole DespairEventHorizon and all of the resulting tragedy might have been averted.

** Joshua is the "SixthRanger" as the secret prince of Jehanna who poses as a wayward gambler until his identity is revealed (in Eirika's path at least)

* 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 a war instead and the earthquake happens in the epilogue, which is viewed as Grado's divine punishment for starting the war.

* 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, monsters as enemies, and branched promotions. The two-protagonist setting and their ideals also brings Alm and Celica to mind, and the Arena theme is based from ''Gaiden''[='=]s battle theme.

''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'' takes place in the universe of this game.

* 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".

* 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, monsters as enemies, and branched promotions.