Newcomer to Sacred Stones; Seeking Advice 4 First Playthrough

[Selena4Lyfe]

Hey there, folks!  I never thought I'd touch any of the games prior to the 3DS titles, but after playing with my 5-Star Ephraim and yearning for an Eirika in Fire Emblem Heroes, my curiosity was piqued and I decided, "eh, why not?" and grabbed me two emulated games (Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones).  I'll make a topic about TBB in its respective forum, and will obviously focus on TSS here.

 

First impressions so far, (I think I'm at mission 5x right now), I like it.  I didn't think I would be, but I'm impressed with the sprites, the animations, even the sound and music (I absolutely love the sound used for the vintage gas station knights! xD).  I can't say anything about the story or characterization, but I'm fairly impressed with the resoluteness of Eirika through her ordeal.  Simply put, I'm drawn in enough to continue, and I like most of the characters so far (except for that thief dude; he's a douche).  Also, I'm surprised how quickly I've gotten used to the lack of a pair-up or fight-together system.  Last bit is thank God for FE:H's means of reminding the player of the weapons triangle.  I wouldn't have remembered it for this game without it (and probably would've lost people by now). xD

 

I'm curious to know if anyone has any tips or tricks for me going forward to help me get the most out of my first experience?  Also, how do characters unlock supports, since pair-up/battle supports don't appear to be a thing in this/these games?

Edited February 23, 2017 by Selena4Lyfe

[Nym]

For supports, you just have to deploy the units that can support together in battle. Then after a battle, there's an option that allow you too see when 2 units can support together (I don't remember correctly but I think ''support'' gets green or bright I don't know).

Edit: I guess I was wrong after all.

I would suggest use the trainees, they are kinda like an Est character.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Nym

[SullyMcGully]

To support, just have two compatible characters end their turns next to each other. Do that whenever you can and eventually you'll see a "Support" option in the field menu. Just remember, you don't have unlimited supports in this game. They only go to A-rank, and each character can only have five conversations. 

 

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Characters gain support points by ending their turn adjacent to each other. You don't really unlock more than one or two naturally over the course of the game, so if you want characters to support, park them next to each other before clearing a chapter and then end your turn repeatedly until the support command appears when selecting one of the units. It is a very slow process. As you progress the game, you'll get grinding areas where you can do this on your own time. Characters can only have up to 5 conversations per game file, so you'll only see one A naturally. After beating the game, you'll get a support log to view any support conversations you earned in any previous playthroughs. By abusing the game's multiple save files, you can grind out supports to fill the log in just one playthrough in pretty much the same way you do in the 3DS titles. If grinding supports interests you, try to leave 3 open conversations on your characters. Otherwise, we have all the supports in text on the main SF site.

 

[Selena4Lyfe]

31 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

Characters gain support points by ending their turn adjacent to each other. You don't really unlock more than one or two naturally over the course of the game, so if you want characters to support, park them next to each other before clearing a chapter and then end your turn repeatedly until the support command appears when selecting one of the units. It is a very slow process. As you progress the game, you'll get grinding areas where you can do this on your own time. Characters can only have up to 5 conversations per game file, so you'll only see one A naturally. After beating the game, you'll get a support log to view any support conversations you earned in any previous playthroughs. By abusing the game's multiple save files, you can grind out supports to fill the log in just one playthrough in pretty much the same way you do in the 3DS titles. If grinding supports interests you, try to leave 3 open conversations on your characters. Otherwise, we have all the supports in text on the main SF site.

 

I don't think I have enough time to groind out support convos that way, so I'll check them out on the SF site.  Many thanks though!

[ping]

Sacred Stones has a rather balanced cast, with the huge exception of Seth who rules supreme for the entire game, so you can basically use whoever you want without screwing yourself over. Some units need some work to get going, for example the trainees (Ross less so, but Amelia and Ewan will be pretty underpowered when they join) or Neimi, to name someone who has already joined you. But in general, almost every unit will end up alright, barring terrible luck with the RNG, and as Gustavos said, you have unlimited grinding available.

There's a huge route split coming up - not quite Fates tier since the paths will converge again towards the end of the game, but you'll have to choose to accompany either Eirika or Ephraim. There are no route-specific characters and all of your current units except the other twin will still be available, and while Ephraim's route is the more difficult one (well, it's mostly one rather nasty FoW map), both are quite doable. It's worth replaying the game to see both routes, though, since the game hardly shows you the exploits of the twin you didn't choose.

Make use of the shops on the world map. iirc, the armory in the prep menu charges 50% extra. Also, you should consider buying a torch staff as soon as you finish chapter 5x.

[Shadow Mir]

Rogues (the promoted form of the Thief class) are a pretty good class to have; I'd make the blue haired thief one. Also, Thieves have good vision in Fog of War maps. Speaking of, the one coming up gives you the only Orion's Bolt in the game if all the civilians survive.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Levant Mir Celestia

[eclipse]

If it's really your first run, HAVE FUN!  Anyone is usable, and if you're familiar with Awakening, there's a nice little overworld map that will let you challenge monsters for experience.  Shopping is also very similar to Awakening, except only certain nodes have shops.

And when in doubt, throw Seth at the problem, and it will probably go away (as long as you fed him some experience).

[Water Mage]

An advice, beware of the Berserk staff. If you see an enemy with it, try a unit with high resistance in it's range, since staff accuracy when inflicting status effects is determined by resistance. Be especially careful with any wyvern unit, because they have low resistance and berserked Wyvern riders are not fun.

Also, tell us which path you picked when you reach the decision. Some units are recruited in different ways depending on the path.

[Eric0913]

I'm actually on my 3rd play through on fire emblem the sacred stone (on hard). First thing you have to know is in (almost?) every game boy advance fire emblem game, they have a support feature. Every character has a different amount of support requirements that need to be done each to gain a support. They do stack up though but the character must be next to each other to count. (Unknown if movement is required each turn to gain a support nor any other factors have been tested yet). There is a wikia site that can help you more on what to expect as well as the secret shop locations and strategies for defeating bosses. Feel free to google it. (If you like, I can send you a link on what I recommend using for help.)

 

As far as I know, there is no known amount of support points needed with each character (besides Garcia and Ross for rank C).

[Flee Fleet!]

5 hours ago, ping said:

Seth who rules supreme for the entire game

Oh, come now, Lute is the true OP master of the game for me at least.

 

Almost every unit is usable, with only one that could be considered "bad", but he still does his job fine.

[eclipse]

4 minutes ago, Flee Fleet! said:

Oh, come now, Lute is the true OP master of the game for me at least.

 

Almost every unit is usable, with only one that could be considered "bad", but he still does his job fine.

ITT: Amelia is male.

But still, every unit in Sacred Stones can contribute, so use a team of literally anyone~!

[Hawk King]

Everyone is good in this game so use characters that you like.

Just make sure you don't use everyone. Pick a core of characters that you bring on every map and only switch out a few units at most from map to map.

 

Most importantly, have fun. It is a pretty great game.

[Flee Fleet!]

6 hours ago, eclipse said:

ITT: Amelia is male.

I meant Knoll, actually. Lol.

[Heptade]

3 hours ago, Flee Fleet! said:

I meant Knoll, actually. Lol.

Knoll is very underrated as a Summoner. He can fill out a unique niche by easily manipulating the enemies (which would be even more awesome in a harder game...). He's also a decent healer. His combat abilities are not that bad either, as he's pretty much your typical glass cannon magic user. He'll barely take a physical hit, but he can deal damage quite well, and he destroys all enemy mages.

Not sure if I'd recommand him to a beginner, though.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Heptade

[Flee Fleet!]

46 minutes ago, Heptade said:

Knoll is very underrated as a Summoner. He can fill out a unique niche by easily manipulating the enemies (which would be even more awesome in a harder game...). He's also a decent healer. His combat abilities are not that bad either, as he's pretty much your typical glass cannon magic user. He'll barely take a physical hit, but he can deal damage quite well, and he destroys all enemy mages.

Not sure if I'd recommand him to a beginner, though.

Yeah, pretty much that. Knoll is a good summoner, although admittedly he's not one of the best characters in this game.

Then again, thanks to having a map, you can easily just grind all of your characters to level 20 promoted, especially the trainees.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by Flee Fleet!

[Shadow Mir]

11 hours ago, Eric0913 said:

As far as I know, there is no known amount of support points needed with each character (besides Garcia and Ross for rank C).

Erm, isn't it 80 points for each support rank? Also, it's Colm and Neimi who start with instant C (not necessarily instant, but yeah).

[ping]

@Knoll: Why not? Phantoms work pretty well with a cautious playstyle, since you can use them to aggro enemies with zero risk. With the additional instruction 'Instantly promote him and don't use him in combat, ever', he makes a decent backup healer and a great utility unit.

[Flee Fleet!]

24 minutes ago, ping said:

@Knoll: Why not? Phantoms work pretty well with a cautious playstyle, since you can use them to aggro enemies with zero risk. With the additional instruction 'Instantly promote him and don't use him in combat, ever', he makes a decent backup healer and a great utility unit.

Yeah, I know that. It helps that summoning means you get experience, which does make it easier for Knoll, although I prefer to promote him when he's level 20, which actually makes him more usable for combat.

Also using Phantoms as bait to lure enemies is a great tactic, hence why I always have Knoll be a summoner.

I rarely use mages for healing, but it's nice backup, I guess.

[PurpleKawaii]

Lute. *Drops Mic and leaves the non-existing Room* 

Edited February 24, 2017 by PurpleKawaii

[eclipse]

2 hours ago, Flee Fleet! said:

Yeah, pretty much that. Knoll is a good summoner, although admittedly he's not one of the best characters in this game.

Then again, thanks to having a map, you can easily just grind all of your characters to level 20 promoted, especially the trainees.

 

 

If you really know what you're doing, Knoll is far from the worst character.

But that wanders into very advanced tactics territory, which isn't very newbie-friendly.

[Zirlax]

The Training Tower will sorta ruin the game for you as it will make an already easy game even easier. But it is good if you want to use the recruit class. Also all the characters in the game are good in some way. 

[Thinks Their Own Way]

The trainee units are fun to use (I like how they automatically heart seal themselves at level 10 (their max level), in the next chapter when they are at that level so they aren't dead wait). I wish future games brought trainee units like this back. With the exception of Fog of War (I'm glad this shit is sort of gone), the game is pretty fair (I still need to get pretty far myself, Chapter 10 on Eirika's route and Chapter 11 of Ephraim's route). Ephraim might be my favourite lord in the series. Healers are a bit tedious to level up and try not to worry about supports on the first play-through. 

[Just Some Dude]

On February 24, 2017 at 2:11 PM, I'm a Spheal said:

 Healers are a bit tedious to level up 

Or you could just barrier cheese them to level 10 and promote instantly