The tactical strategy genre has exploded in the past five years, owing largely to the success of Final Fantasy Tactics. Granted, FFT had its issues with game balance and spotty translation, but even now it still holds up pretty good. What many gamers might not realize is that Nintendo has had an excellent tactical RPG in the wings since the days of the SNES. After being obscured for so long in the US by real-time strategy titles, Fire Emblem made it over in 2004, likely due to the demand caused by Super Smash Bros. Melee and not FFT. To be honest, it's that sort of "not what you expect" twist which makes the latest installment such a mixed bag.
Seemingly borrowing a page from Intelligent Systems' other turn-based portable war simulator (Advance Wars), The Sacred Stones begins with the unprovoked invasion of the land of Renais by the Empire of Grado. This comes after a peace of 800 years, brought about by the titular Sacred Stones, which were used to seal away the darkness (it's always "the" darkness, didn't you ever notice that? Not just some darkness, not just any old darkness, but "the" darkness). Grado's Emperor, Vigarde, has suddenly decided he wants the five Stones for himself, and sets out to claim the other four from the remaining kingdoms. Renais, being closest, is the first to fall; players take control of Eirika, princess of Renais, and later her twin brother Ephraim in a quest for answers and to defend their fief.
If you've played Advance Wars or the previous Fire Emblem, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. To wit: units are represented by icons on an overhead tile map. On each side's turn, these units are selected, moved, and given orders to attack enemies or aid allies. There are melee attacks and ranged attacks, and a rock-paper-scissors-like schema to the supremacy between lances, axes, and swords. You don't need to have everything memorized, though-- the game's interface cheerfully gives you the expected outcome of an attack before you execute it, so you can plan your moves accordingly.
Fire Emblem takes things a little step further. Rather than having units represent a squadron of soldiers, as in AW, a unit in FE is an individual with a specified amount of hit points, as in FFT. Units in FE gain experience as they fight, and can change class when certain conditions are met (such as their level being high enough). There is a big caveat to this, of course-- the world of Fire Emblem does not permit resurrection. If a unit falls in battle, they're gone for good. And if either Eirika or Ephraim fall, the game is immediately over. Furthermore, each character's equipped weapons have a limited number of uses. After they're used up, the weapon breaks and the character may potentially be left defenseless.
You don't have to worry too much about that, though. Fire Emblem's biggest flaw is its AI. Faced with no obviously advantageous course of action, the enemy will basically commit suicide on your forces. Enemies tend to make poor decisions about who to attack, usually resulting in taking more damage themselves than they inflict on you (if they even hit at all). However, it's ridiculously easy to bait your foes into approaching-- simply dangle your main character or one relatively low on HP out for the bad guys to see, and they'll come running. The enemy AI also ignores fog of war in the maps that bear it, so the challenge becomes lopsided. Actually, that's inaccurate; in the normal difficulty level, there is no challenge.
There are some other inconsistencies in the gameplay which keep The Sacred Stones from being a perfect 10; for example, why can archers shoot through walls indoors, but pegasus knights can't fly over them? I can understand magic working like that, but in the real world arrows tend to bounce off or stick when you shoot them at walls. To recruit new units, you have to talk to them with certain characters who share a relationship; if this happens to put them on opposite sides of the battle lines, they could be killed before getting the chance to parley, or even more unsettling, they could kill their supposed friend before they get a chance to convert. Even when the unit converts, it won't bring its subordinates with it-- they must all be convinced separately, running the same risks. I'm not going to say it's unfair-- just not logical.
Combined with slightly above-average aesthetics and the chance to go through the game again as a different twin, The Sacred Stones is a solid and worthy diversion for the tactical fan. Its frustrations and quirks mean that it's not exactly everyone's cup of tea, though, especially if you're coming from a more contemporary tactical system like FFT or Tactics Ogre. At its default level, it makes a great introduction into the world of tactical games for players new to the genre, as well. There's no doubt it's a good game, but the amount of enjoyment you'll get is very closely related to how much you expect out of it.
