I never noticed that, and I have played Shadow Dragon. Those really don’t bother me that much since it is a fantasy world. Most fantasy stuff does have dragons and wizards and what-not.

Sacred Stones just would’ve been a lot better for me if they hadn’t actually gone into demons. I’m not going to judge anyone if they really liked it. I liked the training system that’s for sure. I wished they’d put that into other games. And maybe if they’d just given the central villian a different name it wouldn’t have been such a big deal to me. The monsters don’t bother me.

Point taken, but I still didn’t like it. Paper Mario 2 even got ruined for me because they brought in a demon.

Your obervations are accurate. Light mages (Priests and Bishops) in this game can’t use Dark magic. In fact, you only get one Dark magic user, or Shaman as they’re called. Well, two, because you can get a Trainee mage who can become a Shaman.

You’re also right about the girls in this game, with the exception of Tethys.

I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if they didn’t get into demons. Now, I don’t have a problem with monsters (I’m into mythology) but demons are all too real.

When judging fantasy worlds based on the Christian worldview I like to look at the elements and themes presented in the magic, and look past the fact that it is fantasy ‘magic’ we’re dealing with. The good magic, the ‘Light’ power, has an advantage over the evil ‘dark’ magic. From what I’ve seen in the first Fire Emblem- this may or may not apply to this game- a mage specialized in the Light cannot use Dark magic. This was a relief for me! I hate how commonly fantasy takes both ‘light’ and ‘dark’ magic and allows it to be used interchangeably. Fire Emblem draws a line between good and evil and shows it for what it really is. Evil is weaker then good- for your armies can defeat their enemies even as they are largely outnumbered.

Not only that, but the content is squeaky clean. All of the females, from what I’ve seen, are actually clothed- a very uncommon thing to find in fantasies these days. The language is very tame- some harsher words coming from the bad guys and occasionally a good guy will call a bad guy a name when their temper is short. The combat is bloodless and focuses on strategy more then the battle itself- once you set up your unit on the battlefield, you don’t even control their attacks- you just sit by and watch the quick and bloodless cutscene.

I can only imagine that Sacred Stones contains content as tame and enjoyable as the first, but I have yet to play it. Hopefully my observations remain true to this one.