History YMMV / FireEmblemTheSacredStones

** Gheb was just some random {{gonk}} that takes little to no effort to kill, but can often be found in mods of the game, typically with a bigger role.

* ContestedSequel: The game is sometimes seen as the best of the Game Boy Advance trilogy thanks to its easier difficulty, fixing gameplay-related issues plaguing both ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'' while retaining things people liked about them, recycling mechanics from ''Gaiden'', innovating with its branching class trees, telling a self-contained, watertight story with good worldbuilding and a strong antagonist, and removing unloved ideas like secret optional chapters with frustrating and opaque requirements.[[note]]There ''is'' one side chapter in the game, but it is more of an intermission than a side story.[[/note]] However, this game also gets criticized for being too easy (sometimes even without LevelGrinding), a ClicheStorm plot (original by ''Fire Emblem'' standards but ''very'' derivative of other JRPG titles), its short length without using postgame features, and a lack of variety between the two main story routes. Which game from the trilogy is worth playing first and whether the complex and interesting characterization of the main antagonist makes up for the generally-cliche nature of the plot are both common sources of debate.

** Forde sticks out as mediorce compared to all of his competition, having low base stats for his level and middling growths, and being only available after the route split guarantees him a spot in most player's bench. His brother Franz shares identical base stats and growth at level 1 and available all the way from the beginning, which means Franz will quickly catch up and ready to promote by the time you finally got the first Knight Crest. His saving grace is that he's still a cavalier with well-balanced stats and a good candidate for Great Knight promotion.

* ContestedSequel: The game is sometimes seen as the best of the Game Boy Advance trilogy thanks to its easier difficulty, fixing gameplay-related issues plaguing both ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'', recycling mechanics from ''Gaiden'', having lesser plotholes than the latter, better worldbuilding, and removing Sidequest chapters with frustating requirements.[[note]]There ''is'' one Sidequest chapter in the game, but it is more of an intermission than a side story.[[/note]] However, this game also gets criticized for its ClicheStorm plot, being too easy, and its short length. It's quite common to debate as to which game from the trilogy is worth playing first. Similarly, there is debate as to whether the complex and interesting characterization of the main antagonist makes up for the generally-cliche nature of the plot.

* ContestedSequel: Among the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' fandom; detractors say it was too easy and short compared to other games, fans love it for its worldbuilding and the return of various mechanics from ''Gaiden''. Similarly, there is debate as to whether the complex and interesting characterization of the main antagonist makes up for the generally-cliche nature of the plot.

** Chapter 11 of Ephraim's route on Hard Mode is one giant onslaught of enemies, including Gargoyles, which come at you from all directions, [[DemonicSpiders are able to bypass your defensive units and hit like trucks]]. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse after a few turns]], when two recruitable [=NPCs=]; L'Arachel (a defenseless healer) and Dozla (who lacks a ranged weapon) show up on the other side of the map where Mogalls can chip away at their health. [[ArtificialStupidity Dozla's determination to ignore the most dangerous units doesn't help matters]], so unless you've been grinding like a madman, they'll likely die before you can reach them.

** The Pirate/Berserker line is nearly always chosen for Ross' promotion, as it gives him useful water-walking utility you otherwise have no access to until Dozla joins, along with Berserker's sweet critical bonus.

** Forde sticks out bad compared to all of his competitions, having low base stats for the level and middling growths, and being only available after the route split guarantees him a spot in most player's bench. His brother Franz shares identical base stats and growth at level 1 and available all the way from the beginning, which means Franz will quickly catch up and ready to promote by the time you finally got the first Knight Crest. His saving grace is that he's still a cavalier with well-balanced stats and a good candidate for Great Knight promotion.

** When it comes to [[GameMod ROM hacking]], for the first several years ''Sacred Stones'' tended to be ignored in favor of using ''Blazing Blade'' for most ROM hacking purposes, mostly because of the then-current hacking tools and resources being primarily made with the ''Blazing Blade'' ROM in mind. As the ROM hacking scene went further into the new decade, more people started moving into modifying ''Sacred Stones'' over ''Blazing Blade'' because of the less strict engine limitations of the former which allows them to import more impressive custom sprites and other quality-of-life changes that weren't possible in the ''Blazing Blade'' engine, and many other factors that make modding ''Sacred Stones'' better than ''Blazing Blade''. As of the new decade, ''Sacred Stones'' has effectively replaced Blazing Blade as a staple for ROM hacking the GBA ''Fire Emblem'' games.
** Eirika and Ephraim as well. While they're still [[BaseBreakingCharacter base-breaking]], both made a pretty good performance in the Voting Gauntlet in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', with Eirika curb-stomping [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Elise]] and Ephraim managing a ''very'' close victory over [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]], the Lord of the most popular game in the series. Considering Eirika used to be among the most reviled Lords in the series and Ephraim had a lot of detractors, this says something.
** The Summoner class was regarded as the worst in the game for a long time due to it being stuck with the game's worst magic type. Later on, though, fans started cracking open its AIBreaker capabilities, and it became much better-regarded, almost to GameBreaker levels. This meant that Knoll, the character who can most easily enter Summoner, went from being derided as the game's worst character to being seen as low-mid-tier at worst.

** Vigarde, in Chapter 14 of Ephraim's route. He always has that chance to proc Great Shield to completely NoSell your attacks, and is very, '''very''' tanky. While his evasion is not as high as Carlyle due to his lower speed and at least unlikely to avoid getting doubled, or let alone double-attack your own units, not to mention he's also vulnerable to anti-armored weapons (Armorslayer, Heavy Spear, Hammer); however, he is equipped with a hard-hitting Spear that also gives him a 5% crit boost, which can pose a chance to instantly OneHitKill all but the sturdiest of your units unless they have good enough luck to avoid facing a critical hit from him. Magic attacks won't simply fell him, either, due to his deceptively good resistance stat.

** The Gorgons' Stone spell is treated as a regular Dark Magic spell rather than a monster-exclusive attack, but it lacks a proper weapon level, so if acquired via hacking or the enemy control glitch, it can be used by ''any'' of your units ''except'' Myrrh. As there are no E-ranked Dark Magic tomes in this game, it takes 8 uses of the Stone spell to permanently teach a unit Dark Magic. This is primarily used to give [[SpoonyBard Tethys]] attacking capabilities and allow Sages access to all four types of magic. And it also has another unintended effect. The Sacred Twin weapons' effect of doubling in might against monster enemies overrides the Bishop class's Slayer ability, which ''triples'' the might of a tome used against monsters, such that the class actually deals more damage to monsters with the A-ranked Aura than the S-ranked Ivaldi. Except Gleipnir, the Dark Magic Sacred Twin, is the only one that ''lacks'' this doubling effect--and as such, a Bishop that has been taught Dark Magic will have Slayer activate with Gleipnir, the most powerful tome in the game.

* HighTierScrappy: Seth, a CrutchCharacter who goes well past his intended role into being flat out overpowered. Despite initially meaning to be the games early crutch, Seth has really good growths and starting stats, high rank in both Sword and Lances, and joins on the very first level, making him really good out of the gate much like Marcus in the previous games, and he only gets better as you use him. Not using Seth at all is considered closer to a challenge run than a Seth only run in fact. Worse, even if the player makes an effort not to over rely on him, he's still the best cavalier in the game by a wide margin, beating out all the other options like Forde and Kyle, and would only really lose out if a player actively never uses him, and only focused on other characters. Despite being a popular character, he tends to be looked at as a bad unit, in that he's so good that not using him is a major handicap, and some players hate using him because of that.

* ScrappyWeapon: Dark magic in this game. It's not ''bad'' per se--just [[IncrediblyLamePun overshadowed]] by Anima and Light magic. Sure, it ''does'' attack enemy resistance, meaning it's still useful against monsters. But, on the other hand, their legendary weapon is the only one that does not get a damage multiplier against the FinalBoss or EliteMooks at the end of the game ''and'' you only have two potential users--Knoll and Ewan. Both of them join when the game is more than past its halfway point, and Ewan requires you to ''really'' baby him to get him ready to go; it's arguably not even the best route to take him down since the Sage class is so powerful. Oh and Luna was nerfed--severely hampering its usefulness. It's saying something when the best weapon for the category overall is Flux, the low level but still respectably powerful base Dark tome, thanks to its high might compared to Fire and Lightning.

** [[GirlyBruiser Amelia]], [[BoisterousWeakling Ross]] and [[ChildMage Ewan]] are all very popular among fans, especially among casual fans of the series. Common reasons include all three being [[TheCutie adorable]] [[TokenMiniMoe Token Mini Moes]] with ''very'' [[TheWoobie sympathetic backstories]] and [[HiddenDepths interesting personalities]], all of whom growing into [[MagikarpPower utter badasses]] should you choose to use them. Alongside that, there's also the heartwarming and very well-written dynamics they have regarding [[GoodParents Garcia and Ross]], [[ParentalSubstitute Duessel and Amelia]] and [[BadassTeacher Saleh and Ewan]]. Bonus points for the fact all three trainees can be shipped with each other, leading to some really cute [[ToyShip Toy Ships]].
*** Amelia deserves a special mention in particular, as she's practically the Nino of her game; on top of being prime-time waifu material, there's her adorable dynamics with [[NiceGuy Franz]], [[BoisterousWeakling Ross]], [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Ewan]] and [[CoolOldGuy Duessel]] making her among ''the'' most popular characters in the entire continuity of Magvel. This is bolstered by the [[MemeticMutation notorious]] fact she can turn into a General when she has the stat spread of a FragileSpeedster, which only adds to her already large popularity. It's telling how well liked she is that in spite of the already-large popularity of the Magvel Trainees, she ranked ''seventh'' of the Choose Your Legends 1 poll for Magvel characters, ''and'' was the first one who made a debut in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'' before ''any'' of the other trainees, whom had to wait another '''two''' years.

** Carlyle on chapter 14 of Eirika's route is a Swordmaster with high speed, hit, and avoid, the last of these is boosted even further by the throne he's on, not unlike ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'''s Kel. Not only that, he also uses a Wind Sword which hits Res instead of Def at 2-range (although that means forcing him to attack at 2-range against a unit with high resistance might be a viable option), and does effective damage against fliers. Though, he is also vulnerable to the Swordslayer, which can be obtained in the chapter before him, however, said Swordslayer is a [[PermanentlyMissableContent]] that the player might not get if they aren't patient or aware to know that one of the reinforcement Warriors can possibly drop it, provided it is unequipped.

** Carlyle on chapter 14 of Eirika's route is a Swordmaster with high speed, hit, and avoid, the last of these is boosted even further by the throne he's on, not unlike ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'''s Kel. Not only that, he also uses a Wind Sword which hits Res instead of Def at 2-range (although that means forcing him to attack at 2-range against a unit with high resistance might be a viable option), and does effective damage against fliers. The only saving grace is he happens to be vulnerable to the Swordslayer weapon which can be dropped in Chapter 13.
** While not as bad as the above, Vigarde, in Chapter 14 of Ephraim's route. He always has that chance to proc Great Shield to completely NoSell your attacks, and is very, '''very''' tanky. While his evasion is not as high as Carlyle due to his lower speed and at least unlikely to avoid getting doubled, or let alone double-attack your own units, not to mention he's also vulnerable to anti-armored weapons (Armorslayer, Heavy Spear, Hammer); however, he is equipped with a hard-hitting Spear that also gives him a 5% crit boost, which can pose a chance to instantly OneHitKill all but the sturdiest of your units unless they have good enough luck to avoid facing a critical hit from him. Magic attacks won't simply fell him, either, due to his deceptively good resistance stat.

** Valter goes down way too easily and without much ado for someone who's been a major threat for about three quarters of the game. Although he has a Fili Shield to protect himself from [[AchillesHeel arrows]], there's nothing stopping you from just stealing it from him. Also, you can get a Dragon Axe on the same level, which is tailor-made for taking down Wyvern Knights, and on Ross or Garcia with high strength, it can even kill him in one hit without the help of a critical hit.

* GoddamnedBoss: Vigarde, in Chapter 14 of Ephraim's route. He always has that chance to proc Great Shield to completely NoSell your attacks, and is very, very tanky. Unlike Caryle (also in chapter 14 of Eirika's route), his evasion isn't that great aside from the Throne boost, and Vigarde is at least unlikely to avoid getting doubled, or let alone double-attack your own units, and he's vulnerable to anti-armored weapons (Armorslayer, Heavy Spear, Hammer).

* ThatOneBoss:
** Caellach can be notoriously hard to defeat, since he has a close-combat axe ''and'' a hand-axe and hits like a truck with either one of them, and he carries a Hoplon Guard to prevent critical hits from landing against him. He is either this, or an AntiClimaxBoss if you use the easy trick of dealing with him: Stealing his Hoplon Guard to make him vulnerable to critical hits like every other boss and/or using the Swordslayer, which counts as effective as him ''despite he uses axes exclusively'' because the Hero class is count as a sword-wielding class for the effective damage purposes of Swordslayer.
** Carlyle on Eirika's route is a Swordmaster with high speed, hit, and avoid, the last of these is boosted even further by the throne he's on, not unlike ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'''s Kel. Not only that, he also uses a Wind Sword which hits Res instead of Def at long range, and does effective damage against fliers.

* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: It's less apparent than some other entries, but the game often elicits this reaction. The gameplay is considered solid but unremarkable, but veteran players are critical of the game [[ItsEasySoItSucks for being too easy]], while newcomers might not like the lack of quality of life improvements from older games, such as the ability to see all enemies' ranges at once or the option to turn off permadeath. However, the story, while cliched, has an interesting setting and solid characters, especially the main villain, so fans tend have more appreciation for the story than the gameplay.

** Seth, the game's CrutchCharacter, actually has really good growths, meaning he both starts off and ends up good. In fact, he averages equal to or better stats that the game's non-Crutch Character Paladins. Seth is regarded as so good that a SoloCharacterRun with him is considered ''easier than playing the game normally''. The most common SelfImposedChallenge for the game is simply to ban using him.

* NoYay: Valter's VillainousCrush towards Eirika can become {{Squick}}y very quickly since it's heavily implied [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil that he wants to rape her.]]

* CatharsisFactor: For some, killing Valter especially with either Eirika, Ephraim, or Cormag, and slaying Calleach with Joshua. For the two Lords, Valter has been trying to hunt down and kill the twins and the heirs of Renais. For Cormag and Joshua's cases, it's even more noticable in Eirika's route, as the events of Valter killing Glen (Cormag's older brother) and Calleach killing Ismaire (Joshua's mother and the queen of Jehanna), which justifies their {{Revenge}} and them PayEvilUntoEvil onto those two petty murderers. Although the Ephraim route version doesn't provide these scenes, Joshua still can prove his superiority against his former mercenary partner Calleach, and Cormag proves that he is DefiantToTheEnd for his betrayal of Grado when facing down Valter.

* AntiClimaxBoss:
** The final boss, [[spoiler:Fomortiis the Demon King]], can easily be defeated in a single turn by simply [[ZergRush Zerg Rushing]] him with the numerous [[InfinityPlusOneSword sacred weapons]] that are given to you for free as you progress through the story.
** Valter goes down way too easily and without much ado for someone who's been a major threat for about three quarters of the game. Although he has a Fili Shield to protect himself from [[AchillesHeel arrows]], there's nothing stopping you from just stealing it from him. Also, you can get a Dragon Axe on the same level, which is tailor-made for taking down Wyvern Knights.

** Caellach can be notoriously hard to defeat, since he has a close-combat axe ''and'' a hand-axe and hits like a truck with either one of them.
** Carlyle on Eirika's route is a Swordmaster with high speed, hit, and avoid. Avoid is boosted even further by the throne he's on.
* ThatOneLevel:

** Chapter 19 is a defense map with FogOfWar, which can be a frustrating combination. The player must protect Mansel for thirteen turns, but enemies are plentiful, have very high stats, and receive reinforcements every single turn. An alternative win condition is to defeat the boss, Riev, but he is equipped with Aura[[note]] An A-rank light tome with decent critical hit rate[[/note]] and is located in the southern portion of the map, where the majority of enemies spawn. Although you are given the option to use up to 17 units, the map's narrow corridors will likely restrict you from using all of them effectively.

* CommonKnowledge: No, Eirika and Ephraim do ''not'' get married in their Japanese paired ending. The ending is identical to the English version, any accusations of censorship never happened. There's definite IncestSubtext there, but it ''never'' goes beyond that.