Sacred Stones conclusion x2

I didn't give Sacred Stones enough credit when I first played it. This game is really, really good. I don't know what I was thinking. I want to play it again.

There are so many good characters in this game. I had my select few and promoted them like crazy (as I previously mentioned). Franz was unstoppable. No one ever hit Lute. Buddied her up with Ross, who was equally epic. Ewan was a summoner, for goodness sake.

And I also went a little crazy with supports (all A-rank):
Eirika/Innes
Franz/Forde
Ewan/Saleh
Ross/Lute
Neimi/Colm

I was trying for Ephriam & L'Arachel as well, but that didn't quite happen (they were only at C).

I accidentally killed Saleh in the endgame, which I didn't think was possible, and at that point Ephriam had already critically hit the demon king (what?) so it was stupid to reset. The only guy that died the entire game. Sorry, Ewan.

Oh, and summoners are cool. They can summon a little phantom that enemies go after instead of real characters, which gives me potentially one less enemy attack. That certainly came in handy near the end. And Ewan gains experience every time he summons, too. Bonus!

I really need to be finishing Sword of Seals now, though. I feel like I've been playing that one forever.

Demon King

What the heck. I just defeated the demon king in two hits.

Well three, technically.

Ephraim hit once. Critical hit the second time. Left him with 13 HP.

Innes finished him off.

I don't know if I feel victorious or cheated.

More on this conclusion later.

SS Promotion

For some reason, I wasn't completely sold on Sacred Stones the first time I played it. My excuse is that I was still somewhat new to the Fire Emblem GBA world, and I didn't quite understand its tricks and secrets. Plus I played Ephriam's route which, I later learned, is the more difficult of the two. I went with Erikia's instead this time, though more for variations reasons than anything else.

I am obsessed with promoting people. It's unnatural. I wait until they achieve level 20, and then give them the boost. Sometimes twice, if I can. This is made easier by playing every skirmish. So Ewan, for example, had promoted from pupil before even playing a chapter. That's how you play this game.

So my list of promoted units include:

Joshua: Swordmaster
Forde: Paladin
Franz: Great Knight
Cormag: Wyvern Knight
Artur: Bishop
Vanessa: Falcoknight
Ewan: Summoner
Ross: Warrior
Lute: Sage
Neimi: Ranger
Colm: Rogue

When I stumbled upon the second secret shop, I didn't even have a reason to buy any promotion items. I've just about promoted everyone I can.

This game is awesome.