Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones: Difference between revisions

{{GameInfo

| caption=     

| released=    '''Game Boy Advance'''<br>{{JP}}October 7, 2004<ref name="feworld">http://www.nintendo.co.jp/fe/few_series.html#08</ref><br>{{NA}}May 23, 2005<ref name="nindbrelease">http://www.nindb.net/game/fire-emblem-tss.html</ref><br>{{EU}}November 4, 2005<ref name="nindbrelease" /><br>'''Nintendo 3DS'''<br>{{WW}}December 16, 2011<ref name=''ign''>http://ds.ign.com/articles/121/1214743p1.html</ref>

| platforms=  [[Game Boy Advance]]<br>[[Nintendo 3DS]] <small>_{(Ambassador Program)}</small>

| predecessor= {{title|Blazing Sword}}

'''''Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones''''' (ファイアーエムブレム 聖魔の光石, ''Fire Emblem: Seima no Kōseki'', lit. ''Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones of Light'') is a 2004 [[Game Boy Advance]] game.  It is the eighth installment in the {{FES}}, the second installment to be released internationally, and the third and final installment released for the Game Boy Advance.<ref>http://www.nindb.net/series/fire-emblem.html</ref> The game is the only completely isolated title in the series, set in a completely separate world from all the others: [[Magvel]]. It stars [[Eirika]] and [[Ephraim]], twin heirs to the kingdom of [[Renais]], as they combat the sudden aggression of their southern neighbour [[Grado]] and investigate the dark forces that have caused their former ally to so swiftly turn on them and the rest of the continent.

In 2011, ''The Sacred Stones'' was given a free limited reissue to early adopters of the [[Nintendo 3DS]], under the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program.  As with the other Game Boy Advance titles reissued under the program, Nintendo has stated that there are currently no plans to give them a wider release as a full Virtual Console set of titles.

In the castle of [[Renais]], troops from [[Grado]] have breached the castle. Fearing the safety of his daughter [[Eirika]], [[Fado|King Fado]] sends his paladin [[Seth]] to take Eirika to safety. On his way out, they are attacked by [[Valter]], a Grado soldier, and several bandits. Soon they meet [[Franz]] and [[Gilliam]] at Mulan, a border town of Renais and Frelia, and rescue Princess [[Tana]] of Frelia. In Frelia they meet [[Hayden|King Hayden]], who sends his vassals Gilliam, [[Vanessa]], and [[Moulder]] to help. Eirika decides to go to Grado and help her brother, despite Hayden's advice to stay safe.

As they travel past the village of [[Ide]], where they meet retired war General [[Garcia]] and his ambitious son [[Ross]], Eirika's bracelet is stolen, and Seth insists that they recover it. She retrieves it from [[Colm]], a snide young thief. They also meet a tearful archer named [[Neimi]], Colm's close friend. Meanwhile, Generals [[Duessel]], [[Selena]], and [[Glen]] of Grado talk about the strange behavior of [[Vigarde]], the king of Grado. Normally, Grado would never attack Renais, a longtime ally. Vigarde introduces three new generals to help in the conquest of the continent: [[Riev]], [[Caellach]], and [[Valter]].

At Caer Pelyn, the army passes through a fort that Ewan claims to be empty; however, monsters appear. L'Arachel and Dozla appear, without Rennac, and join Eirika. Ewan finds his teacher, Saleh, who had been looking for a girl back in Serafew. He agrees to lead them through the mountains. General Glen arrives to kill Eirika, but he is convinced that she is innocent and refuses to kill her. When he flies back, he is killed by Valter.

After Carlyle is defeated, Caellach fatally wounds Ismaire and destroys the stone. Eirika meets Lyon, who is still the gentle person she has known, but he leaves quickly. Ismaire, dying, calls Joshua to her side, and it is revealed that Joshua is the prince of Jehanna. She dies, leaving him the Sacred Twin weapons of Jehanna: the sword [[Audhulma]] and the anima magic tome [[Excalibur]]. Joshua reveals that he left palace life behind to see the world as a man, not a prince. By now he regrets his decision, and vows to fight Grado and defend Jehanna. They escape the palace and find that two Grado armies led by Caellach and Valter are coming their way.

Of course, a battle breaks out. Early in the battle, Ephraim arrives with Duessel and a shaman named [[Knoll]] and helps Eirika defeat the Grado forces, including Caellach and Valter. Ephraim provides the group with two Sacred Twin weapons from Grado, the axe [[Garm]] and the dark tome [[Gleipnir]]. Ephraim tells the others he has managed to seize Grado's capital and defeat Vigarde. He says that according to Knoll, a Dark Stone has been created by Lyon. Vigarde has already been dead for months, somehow resurrected as only a puppet. Ephraim reveals that Lyon is the one controlling the stone, although he barely believes it. Lyon had said that he was behind the war and that he had only befriended Eirika and Ephraim to invade Renais in the future. L'Arachel suggests that they will still be able to conquer evil with the remaining Sacred Stones.

In Rausten, the army meets [[Mansel]], Pontifex of Rausten. Eirika and Ephraim explain their long tale of eighteen-and-a-half chapters so far. Suddenly, there is an attack led by General Riev. Eirika manages to hold out until the Grado troops retreat. They receive the Sacred Stone and the Sacred Twin weapons of Rausten: the light tome [[Ivaldi]] and the divine staff [[Latona]]. Quickly, Eirika heads to Darkling Woods to find Lyon. "Lyon", or rather, the Demon King, is confronted by Morva, the foster father of Myrrh. Although Myrrh is looking forward to meeting her father again, he is turned into a zombie by Lyon. The army battles many monsters, including Riev and Morva. Lyon runs into the Black Temple, and Eirika and her army follow.

After the credits, a flashback of Eirika, Ephraim, and Lyon in the castle courtyard occurs. It is their first meeting - Lyon introduces himself shyly, suggesting that they be friends. Afterwards, the total number of turns on the game's chapters and the character endings are shown.  

** Eirika gives Ephraim the Sacred Twin weapons of Jehanna: the sword [[Audhulma]] and the anima tome [[Excalibur]] from Eirika.

A turn-based strategy game as with the rest of the series, ''The Sacred Stones'' is built on the same engine as {{title|Blazing Sword}} and {{title|Fuuin no Tsurugi}}, but features a number of unique features which have only been seen before in {{FE2}} and since in {{FE13}}.

Since the Sacred Stones are being destroyed, [[monster]]s have appeared in Magvel. There are many types of monsters, and they usually have inferior stats. All are only enemies. There are promoted forms of other monster classes, although no monster class changes are seen; for example, a [[wight]] is a promoted form of a [[bonewalker]]. Monsters appear in some chapters, rarely alongside human fighters. Some can use regular weapons, but others use special monster weapons. Some of these monster weapons appear as items but seem to be some innate ability of the monster, such as [[Rotten Claw]]. Others are affiliated with dark magic, such as [[Evil Eye]] or [[Stone]].

The Creature Campaign is a post-game mode, similar in vein to the [[Trial Maps]] of earlier and later games, in which the player can train the characters endlessly in the above methods. Special characters can be unlocked for use such as Fado, Ismaire, and Lyon. Skirmishes continue to appear, and in the Lagdou Ruins, many different rare items can be found.

The main story mode of ''The Sacred Stones'' features 34 playable characters.

==Prototype builds==

{{main|Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones beta}}

A prototype build of the Japanese version of ''The Sacred Stones'' was leaked to the public in 2009 and is available in patch form via [http://www.serenesforest.net/fe8/prototype.html Serenes Forest]. The prototype is dated at five months before the Japanese retail release of the game, and compared to the leaked {{title|Blazing Sword}} prototypes, it is vastly incomplete and prototypical. At this stage in development, the game is largely unmodified from ''Blazing Sword'' with all of that game's graphics and music. Only the first eight chapters are even remotely started on, with only the barest infrastructure existing for the rest of the game, and only a handful of characters have portraits, some of which are vastly different from the finished release.

|eng-mean=The title refers to the [[Sacred Stones]], five holy relics key to the game's story.

|jap-mean=''Fire Emblem: Seima no Kōseki'', lit. "Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones of Light".   

 

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