< 
Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword was the first release of the tactical gaming masterpiece in North America, and it in all senses rocked the GBA. This was the 2nd installment to the GBA, a prequel to the first one, Sword of Seals.
However this new game,
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is entirely different. Unlike the majority of the titles which have asscoiated with the world of three main characters, this is on an entirely different continent, which is similar to an upside down Australia, sharing general shape and status as an island. The new continent Magvel (Magi Varl), is host to 6 countries, Carcino, Renais, Jehanna, Grado, Frelia, and Rausten. The latter five of those countries are in possesion of Sacred Stones, jewels that were used to seal demons from the continent long ago. Recently however, the peace that settled after the sealing of the demons was shattered when the largest of the countries, the Grado Empire invaded Renais a long time ally. Thus the story begins, with you in the seat of the kind-hearted exiled princess Eirika, whose twin Ephraim is abroad, now directly fighting Grado.
The story is epic and grand as expected, a war sim, akin to a more personal Advance Wars. Intelligent Systems has hit another home run, seamlessly making this a large scale story, and bringing deep personal elements. This is true of all of the titles in the series (or so I'm told, I've only played 2) however the change of charcters and setting seems abrupt. However, this abruptness is of no real surpise, the story revolves thus far in 4 worlds across 8 released games, 5 across 9 total (1 unreleased on a new continent). The introduction of these new characters is welcome although I still feel they are strangers as opposed to the characters Roy, Eliwood, Lyn and Hector. In this game's defense thes characters had high levels of anticipation built around them thamks to the the debut and partial bios in SSBM. The localization temas di brilliantly in making Japan's view of medieval Europe (or whatever) translate to a good game with great dialogue and beleivable characters, althogu they seem a tad aloof as compared to the highly realatable entitities of the previous installment.
I have to admit, with the absence of the nameless tactician, the first person views of scenes where you are the prominent character lack the former exucses. This is the only real flaw I see, Intelligent Systems incorporates sprite animation, the brilliant (for GBA) battle animation and the charming dialogue animations into a well done whole. The flaws are blatantly apparent, such as first person views of scenes in entirely different countries. Yet theses make little difference as you realize that you are in a video game and reality needs to take a break. I have to admit I really enjoyed the graphics on this game, the battle animations were no doubt pwnage, and the cutscenes retained most of their charm although the most notable absence is the little painted "moments" that were so expressive in The Blazing Sword. I loved the score, classical, triumphant, and emotive, this was the ONLY choice for the series.
Gameplay is of course, the draw to the game, a tactical engine that is simplistic and complex, and engrossing at the same time. I was sold with Blazing Sword, and Intelligent Systems was smart enough to improve the parts that needed tweaks. The game is stat and percentage driven, and these stats are built through a leveling up system that is incredibly well made and simplistic. The levels are made even deeper with an easy to understand class system. Here is how it works: A character normally comes in at a starter class (3 characters come in at rookie classes, capable of changing classes twice, the first time without an item) and can come in assorted levels. For instance assume you have a level 1 Knight and a Knight Crest. The Knight Crest would be useless for a while, as your character would be too weak. However after gaining 900 experience points (9 levels) by participating in battles. Once you make it to level ten you can use the Knight Crest to become a General, who gets stat bonuses to make the Knight untouchable by weapons and can use 2 of the 4 types of melee weapons. The biggest improvement to this easy system is choice. The General has disadvantages, he can't move far, and has 2 of the 4 weapons available to him. However, with the improvement to the system you can chose a Great Knight who has moderate movement, and 3 of the available melee weapons. However he lacks the defense of the General. You can level up at the point you choose, from level ten on. This was the major improvement that can affect your tactics greatly. They created new classes, which are: Great Knight, Rogue, Ranger (called nomad trooper in Blazing Sword. The nomad class was wiped out completely), Wyvern Knight, Manakete, Journeyman, Pupil, Mage Knight (formerly Valkyrie), Priest (a male cleric in Blazing Sword), and Recruit. The weapons system is as brilliant too. The weapon system is based on 2 rules, The Magic Trinity: Anima (or Element) is beaten by Dark, which is beaten by Light, which is beaten by Element. They each have advantages, Light is the most accurate and the least powerful, Element has the highest critical with average power and accuracy, and Dark is the most powerful with low accuracy and the only extra effects. Staves are considered magic, but only heals or induces effects like sleep or blocked magic. They can be used by Summoners, Druids, Bishops, Sages, and Mage Knights. Melee weapons are Lances, Swords, Axes, and Bows. Bows cannot be used in direct combat, but can be used for ranged attacks. Lances beat Swords, Axes beat lances, and Swords beat Axes. This system allows for surprising depth, and the improvements add to the replay value. What this does however, since battles are left to automated animations, and what will happen is shown in a submenu before the battle begins, is makes tactics all the more important. You can choose where you place your troops at the beggining of the battle and then in actual battle you must place your units in a safe place with a weapon that can take on the enemies that might come by. The enemies are not surpisingly difficult in normal or easy mode, they just swarm the people who have the lowest HP that turn. The fact that there are literally 50+ enemies on some maps can really make it hard though.Reinforcements steadily pour in from all sides and consistently guard bosses and swarm weakened enemies. It is kind of pathetc but the difficulty settings (Easy, Normal, Hard) can alleviate your problems with challenge. The free-roaming map is a new concept, which would be ultimately pointless if it were not for these concepts: Bases and Skirmishes. Bases mean you can shuffle your weapons on the fly, stock up and save before fights. Skirmishes are small experience maps that can be used to level up your characters. You can retreat at any point, and get some valuable experience for your n00b characters. The story splits between the twins of Renais, increasing replay value 100% as the stories are completely different. However this lacks the wealth of side chapters and the depth of Blazing Sword. It has 1 side chapter, and 27 chapters. Blazing Sword had 32 chapters in Hector's story. This was not counting side chapters. The story is still amazing, and deep enough for quite a few hours of gameplay, 60 plus.
PWNAGE. The game doesn't own up to Blazing Sword, but by God it lives up to the Fire Emblem name. The systems include what needed to be fixed in Blazing Sword, but the real problem is, the series offers inconsistent sequels, offering such little depth to this game but making high quality at the same time. It is a mixed bag; lacking major changes from Blazing Sword, yet at the same time including what was awesome from the first one. The title was released without as much hype or in-game advertising as there was for Blazing Sword or its cousin, Sword of Seals (which might be brought to this continent, still) so my reaction is a tad muted, this is definitely not a bigger, badder sequel and treads into familiar territory making the same mistakes as WindWaker did. We come to expect a massiveoverhaul or radical new game elements, but this is unnecessary in the sequels to the best games, the necessary changes are made, sometimes at the cost of depth. IF Blazing Sword had come second this game would be able to be viewed in a much more positive light, although the freedoms of this game would make Blazing Sword
worse by comparison. That is the moral of this game. It
IS awesome and well executed but lacks the scale and relation to another game. The mythology of Magvel is abruptly brought out and needs a bigger and deeper setup. The game could be repackaged like the Fire Emblem 1 was (Dragon of Darkness and the Sword of Light where Marth is from) when it was sold as Fire Emblem 3 (Mystery of the Emblem). This is a great game but both not earning and deserving of a place as a follow up to the masterpiece that was Blazing Sword. Path of Radiance is the next installment and promises to be the deepest game yet, and introduce new tactical elements.
Overall:
9/10
Final Ruling:
pwns all the same. A must- buy if you are an initiate to the series or have been considering jumping in. The pace is quicker and is overall shorter than Blazing Sword, buy this first if you have not bought either. Then, of course, buy Blazing Sword and you will be thoroughly impressed with the series. If you own Blazing Sword, this is so-so. Not as big or as deep, but you could be enthralled with the new continent and characters, but either way, this is one of those games where you can bypass controls and plots, just pick it up and go-go.