I would agree to a certain extent. I really like Sacred Stones, but it has some really dark moments, especially revolving around Sir Orson and his wife. I wont' say why, but it is shudder worthy. Compared to Awakeing the characters in Sacred Stones leave a little more to be desired. However, Kyle and Forde from are a blast. Whether they are talking to each other or Ephraim, hilarity will most likely ensue. Plus, I really like Seth as the noble knight kind of character.
As it stands, Awakening is my favorite. It feels and looks great, Chrom is a fun main character. He has his serious and goofy side, and is far from perfect while being the noble, seemingly perfect Lord character at the same time. Going back to the Sacred Stones, Ephiram and Erika are a bit bland in comparison. Not that I mind, I am totally cool with the super good, noble, but slightly bland characters anyway.
Just as a side note, if I recall, Awakening was supposed to be the last Fire Emblem right? At least until they saw how much people(particularly in the west) actually loved the series once they tried it. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's not surprising. You can tell they wanted to make Awakening the best it could be.
Shadow Dragon on DS just arrived in the mail a few days ago, but that will have to wait for Christmas. :3 I'm interested to find out why Marth is the poster child of the series.
I really want to play more Fire Emblem games. It also helps that they just released one on the Wii U virtual console. I'll probably download that in the near future.