Looking for an SRPG which doesn't focus on 100's of hours of grinding? You've come to the right place!!
The story follows the adventures of the two children of the King of Renais, a moderately powerful nation on a continent of six different nations and one of the guardians of the Sacred Stones which keep the Demon Lord from rising again. One disastrous day, Renais is invaded and conquered by a seemingly peaceful neighboring country and Eirika and Ephraim (the Princess and Prince of Renais) must escape to safety and plan how to liberate their kingdom.
Story: 6.5
Pretty standard fare, really, but presented in a way that isn't groan worthy. It's not a whole lot more than a vehicle to move you on to the next battle. While some of the characters are memorable, and some are even quite charming and funny, a good half to two thirds are forgettable, to say the least.
It does pick up some steam just prior to and during the denouement, but unfortunately, that only accounts for the final 2-3 chapters of the game. On the positive side, you do get to flesh out the characters a little further if you put in enough effort to earn support conversations (which have an effect on battle performance as well, more in the gameplay section).
Visuals: 7.5
I was surprised at just now nice the character portraits, battle animations, and maps looked, considering it's a GBA game. The character portraits are as good as the ones on Path of Radiance on the Gamecube (my only comparison, I promise).
On the other hand, the world map was woefully dull, the battle backgrounds were dreary, the main battle map icons were difficult to distinguish, and the location variety was poor.
If I had to describe the graphics in one word, it would be quaint. To be fair though, this issue is hardly a major selling point for the SRPG genre.
Music & Sound: 8
Even more surprising than the graphics was the rich sound. The battle sounds were well varied including some great sounds for some of the magic attacks.
The music was pleasant, though a tad forgettable. Still, from a handheld game, I find myself hard pressed to complain.
Gameplay: 9
This ranges from supremely simple to aggravating depending on how much attention you pay to how far enemy units can move and what weapons they are wielding.
The battle system is predicated on a rock, paper, scissors arrangement where Sword beats Axe, Axe beats Lance, and Lance beats Sword. Mixed in with these weapons are bows and magic; neither of which is weak against a particular weapon, though bows are strong against flying units.
There are a variety of different goals to complete to win maps. Most are pretty standard (Kill X Enemies, Defeat Boss, and Seize Gate), but there are also some that I haven't seen in many other SRPG's like Surviving X Turns.
As you travel through the game, you will automatically recruit some new units, but in battle is where you'll find most of the top tier characters. Some are fighting against you at battle start and some are by-standers that you must rush to help or rescue. All of the optional units require a talking to by a specific character (or one of a small group of specific characters) in your party, so occasionally, this will result in a battle restart if you like to collect everyone and did not bring the proper personnel.
As is standard for SRPG's, you level up as your characters gain experience and at certain levels, they can be promoted into a new class. What's different about Sacred Stones is that it offers you a branching system where you get to decide between two different classes each time a character classes up to tailor your squad to your own play style.
It's a pretty deep system that allows for a goodly amount of customization, and that makes it a-okay in my book.
Final Score: 7.75 (GS Score 8)
If you're a fan of SRPG's in the vein of Shining Force, then this is definitely a game worth checking out. It's not heavy on grinding like Disgaea, so if that's your bag, this might bore you.
Difficulty is largely based on how desperate you are to keep all of your team members alive. I call it "Just Right", but if you're okay with letting them die and picking up new ones later, then it could just as easily be "Easy".
My total time to completion - 24 hours, 30 minutes.