It’s interesting to hear someone coming at this from the angle of familiarity with and affection for more modern fire emblem games rather than older ones. I think I agree overall, even if having cut my teeth on an earlier game in the series meant I was more jaded to some of the things you complain about just being the way things are. The class tree in particular was, if I’m not mistaken, the first real time fire emblem offered that level of customization at all.
And I share your frustration with the slow pace of support growth. I understand it’s just a different philosophy of what supports ought to be and how they ought to work, but I prefer the series status quo from the new mystery remake/awakening. This game in particular has many characters that benefit deeply from the right supports.
As a slight clarification, while I prefer Three Houses' class system, I liked the ability to choose which class you promote to in Sacred Stones. One disappointing part is that, without class or personal ability, most of the characters with the same classes are basically only distinguished by their base stats, growth ratse and whether they're pre-promotes.
Part of the problem with the slow growth rate is that it's hard to tell whether supports are going up at all. At least with the newer games, there are hearts over the units affected when supports go up.
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Not the best or worst Fire Emblem
I've noticed that while Sacred Stones has its share of fans and detractors, not all that many people consider it the best or worst Fire Emblem game, myself included.
The plot is relatively standard Fire Emblem fare, since it involves Eirika and Ephraim, the princess and prince of Renais, fighting to reclaim their homeland from The Empire of Grado, as well as preventing Grado from destroying the Sacred Stones sealing a demon king away.
The story branches midway through, and you can choose to spend the middle third playing as Eirika or Ephraim, with the other twin's adventures happening offscreen, before they reunite for the last act. Since both routes' last acts are mostly the same, perhaps the game would have been better off doing the separate parties mechanic from Fire Emblem Gaiden.
Now for the characters. Eirika is definitely a "love her or hate her" kind of Lord since, not unlike Celica, she makes several foolish decisions, and while some are understandable given her personality, others are not. Ephraim is somewhat less controversial, but he doesn't seem all that interesting in my opinion, at least compared to a character like Dimitri, who deconstructs some of the tropes Ephraim plays straight. Lyon is one of the most complex, tragic and well-written characters in Fire Emblem, although I personally prefer his portrayal on Ephraim's route, which goes into more detail about his backstory and gives him more agency.
The supports are reasonably well-written and interesting, but there are a few problems. First, the conversations have to be done in battle, and you don't know whether two characters can support unless you open the action menu while they're next to each other. Second, the five-support limit mans it will take several playthroughs to see all the supports. Third, supports take forever to level up. As such, you're better off watching them on YouTube.
Now for the gameplay. The game has a reputation for being easy given that you can level grind if you're stuck(which I don't consider a bad thing). However, not only do several maps have Fog of War or other frustrating features, but the game lacks some features that make newer Fire Emblem games less frustrating, such as the ability to turn off permadeath or to see all enemy units' ranges at once.
The character progression is standard Fire Emblem fare, with a level cap of 20 and units being able to promote into more advanced classes at Level 10. Unfortunately, there isn't much to distinguish units apart from their starting classes and growth rates, due to the absence of class or personal skills, limiting character customization and making it harder to choose between similar characters.
All in all, Sacred Stones is a good game in its own right, but newer Fire Emblem games may prefer the more recent games due to their quality of life improvements, while older fans may prefer some of the more Nintendo Hard entries.