This is a pretty good entry level handheld RPG with some good systems design and enjoyable dungeons, clearly riffing on Zelda, but it's doing more than your typical RPG dungeons. The real flaw with the game is how bland the main cast are and how simple the story is, despite the games abundance of text to tell it. It can just get absurd how long some scenes are when what's actually communicated to the player could be boiled down in a fraction of the words used. Overall its a decent RPG, but kind of the epitome of a comfort food game that doesn't ask terribly much from the player nor challenge them in its mechanics or writing.
Haven't been playing games lately (reading books.. and to some extent still recovering from the sprint of IGF judging) but I didn't have anything written down for Golden Sun. I was looking over the guidebook to Golden Sun at my parents' place last year and I was reminded of what an approachable JRPG series this was for kids! But that aside, what I want to draw attention to is more how much I like (and still like) the field psynergy mechanics. The puzzles are only lightly challenging, but they lend a richness to the world: dungeons aren't just defined by treasure boxes and monsters, but they're physical places with rules and ways to manipulate the environment. Sure, the ways this is expressed is through simple puzzles, but it's still a neat idea that I thought was tied together really well and exciting to discover. The small plant? You can grow it! A secret passage might be there if you cast reveal! Move things around to hop over passages. I would love to see more of this kind of inventiveness on the field in narrative-focused RPGs.
Great game if you’re having trouble falling asleep
A lightning strike. A scared town. A friend in peril. A mysterious duo. A tragedy.
Golden Sun quite literally opens up with a bang in the prolouge I've just summarized. It's also an interesting way to give you a bit of time to see what the basic gameplay is like such as inventory management, moving around, combat and the like.
GAMEPLAY
GS is an RPG meaning it follows a lot of gameplay tropes such as; a large overworld map, dungeouns and settlements being explorable and generally being a road trip kind of story. However, what it does do to stand out from the rest is relying on puzzles as a major component of the gameplay. During even the most simple of caves, you'll find a puzzle you can solve and these usually have 3 types. One is just progression, getting from point A to a new room. Second is creating a shortcut for easier traversal later on (these 2 are usually linked or the latter being optional). Third is accessing hidden treasures and other goodies. This is also where the majority of the replay value and general sense of completion comes from. I highly encourage new players to complete as many dungeouns as they can find, not just for completion purposes but also because that's where the best gear in the game is, and also finding hidden Djinn to aid you. You must be wondering what Djinn are I assume.
DJINN AND CLASS SYSTEM
Once you leave your hometown of Vale to set out on an epic journey, the first thing you'll encounter is an odd looking creature. This cute little fella is named Flint and is a Venus Djinni. Djinn are essentially the embodiment of the four main elemental energies in the world; Venus (earth), Mercury (water and ice), Mars (fire), and Jupiter (wind and electricity).
Once you acquire a certain number of Djinn you'll gain access to new or more powerful versions of your current abilities. For example you can have Diamond Dust turn into Diamond Berg or Ragnarok turn into Odyssey. Setting them and putting them on standby also affects your stats with their own trade offs. Once you acquire all 4 party members, you're most likely gonna put corresponding Djinn type to their user; Jupiter adepts are gonna have Jupiter Djinn i.e. Now while that is a solid strategy that still lets you experiment with Psynergy, the true depth lies with mixing and matching them. For example Isaac has the Slayer class when he has all Venus Djinn set, but you can also make him Swordsman if you put 1 Venus and the rest Mercury Djinn or a Ninja with 4 Mars and 5 Jupiter Djinn. The point is you're free to experiment however you like, you can have the party all be half-healers half-attackers or make every member specialized, a healer, an enfeebler, a tank etc. And one extra thing to note is that, every Djinn comes with an inherent ability of their own; Flint is a good attack Djinni, Flash reduces damage you take etc. Once you use them you can either set them to regain your stats or you can use for summoning.
SUMMONING
Once you use a Djinni, you'll see a new tab in the battle UI. This is called summoning which gives you a secondary use for Djinn once you've used them. And just like classes, they get more powerful the more Djinn you have. Ranging from just 1 Djinni which is just pure elemental attack all the way to 4 Djinn which allows you to call upon the might of gods like Boreas (god of the north wind) and Judgment (the might of the apocalypse). These are not only the most powerful moves in the game, but they also give you a buff for that
corresponding element you used; wind based summons will make your wind psynergy stronger i.e. Your Djinn will be in recovery mode after this however, rendering them unusable and unable to give you any stat buffs, so be wary of when exactly you want to use them.
WORLBUILDING AND LORE
The continent of Angara is filled to the brim with towns, villages and other structures you can explore and discover interesting tidbits about. Every town has a small backstory to it and a current event taking place in it. Mount Aleph has been the home of Elemental Stars, Imil has a healing water spring, Lamakan Desert is an infamously hot desert that has mirages you have to brave through etc.
My favorite part about the world as a whole is how connected and alive it feels, no two places are alike and yet they none of them feel alien. This feeling is further emphasized by how the story is essentialy a road trip with some anime vibes sprinkled on it.
SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, is pure goodness, with variety in theming and instruments. Some of my favorite tracks being Elemental Stars, Isaac/Saturos' Battle, Hopelesness, The Angarian Journey, The First Book, and the best one of them all, Venus Lighthouse. It has tracks for every kind of mood you can imagine; happy tunes, adventurous, imposing and mysterious. Highly recommend trying out these tracks, great and catchy melodies.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I've been trying to get into the RPG genre for the longest time, but to little success which led me to having this as my least favorite genre. After playing Golden Sun however, I can confidently say it changed my view completely. This game is, as quite a few people said including myself, the perfect introductory game. It covers the familiar tropes while also having original takes on it's own. Whether you've been wanting to get into the genre or are a seasoned RPG veteran, this will be a great journey to experience. And with that, I give this game an 8.5 out of 10.
Golden Sun quite literally opens up with a bang in the prolouge I've just summarized. It's also an interesting way to give you a bit of time to see what the basic gameplay is like such as inventory management, moving around, combat and the like.
GAMEPLAY
GS is an RPG meaning it follows a lot of gameplay tropes such as; a large overworld map, dungeouns and settlements being explorable and generally being a road trip kind of story. However, what it does do to stand out from the rest is relying on puzzles as a major component of the gameplay. During even the most simple of caves, you'll find a puzzle you can solve and these usually have 3 types. One is just progression, getting from point A to a new room. Second is creating a shortcut for easier traversal later on (these 2 are usually linked or the latter being optional). Third is accessing hidden treasures and other goodies. This is also where the majority of the replay value and general sense of completion comes from. I highly encourage new players to complete as many dungeouns as they can find, not just for completion purposes but also because that's where the best gear in the game is, and also finding hidden Djinn to aid you. You must be wondering what Djinn are I assume.
DJINN AND CLASS SYSTEM
Once you leave your hometown of Vale to set out on an epic journey, the first thing you'll encounter is an odd looking creature. This cute little fella is named Flint and is a Venus Djinni. Djinn are essentially the embodiment of the four main elemental energies in the world; Venus (earth), Mercury (water and ice), Mars (fire), and Jupiter (wind and electricity).
Once you acquire a certain number of Djinn you'll gain access to new or more powerful versions of your current abilities. For example you can have Diamond Dust turn into Diamond Berg or Ragnarok turn into Odyssey. Setting them and putting them on standby also affects your stats with their own trade offs. Once you acquire all 4 party members, you're most likely gonna put corresponding Djinn type to their user; Jupiter adepts are gonna have Jupiter Djinn i.e. Now while that is a solid strategy that still lets you experiment with Psynergy, the true depth lies with mixing and matching them. For example Isaac has the Slayer class when he has all Venus Djinn set, but you can also make him Swordsman if you put 1 Venus and the rest Mercury Djinn or a Ninja with 4 Mars and 5 Jupiter Djinn. The point is you're free to experiment however you like, you can have the party all be half-healers half-attackers or make every member specialized, a healer, an enfeebler, a tank etc. And one extra thing to note is that, every Djinn comes with an inherent ability of their own; Flint is a good attack Djinni, Flash reduces damage you take etc. Once you use them you can either set them to regain your stats or you can use for summoning.
SUMMONING
Once you use a Djinni, you'll see a new tab in the battle UI. This is called summoning which gives you a secondary use for Djinn once you've used them. And just like classes, they get more powerful the more Djinn you have. Ranging from just 1 Djinni which is just pure elemental attack all the way to 4 Djinn which allows you to call upon the might of gods like Boreas (god of the north wind) and Judgment (the might of the apocalypse). These are not only the most powerful moves in the game, but they also give you a buff for that
corresponding element you used; wind based summons will make your wind psynergy stronger i.e. Your Djinn will be in recovery mode after this however, rendering them unusable and unable to give you any stat buffs, so be wary of when exactly you want to use them.
WORLBUILDING AND LORE
The continent of Angara is filled to the brim with towns, villages and other structures you can explore and discover interesting tidbits about. Every town has a small backstory to it and a current event taking place in it. Mount Aleph has been the home of Elemental Stars, Imil has a healing water spring, Lamakan Desert is an infamously hot desert that has mirages you have to brave through etc.
My favorite part about the world as a whole is how connected and alive it feels, no two places are alike and yet they none of them feel alien. This feeling is further emphasized by how the story is essentialy a road trip with some anime vibes sprinkled on it.
SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, is pure goodness, with variety in theming and instruments. Some of my favorite tracks being Elemental Stars, Isaac/Saturos' Battle, Hopelesness, The Angarian Journey, The First Book, and the best one of them all, Venus Lighthouse. It has tracks for every kind of mood you can imagine; happy tunes, adventurous, imposing and mysterious. Highly recommend trying out these tracks, great and catchy melodies.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I've been trying to get into the RPG genre for the longest time, but to little success which led me to having this as my least favorite genre. After playing Golden Sun however, I can confidently say it changed my view completely. This game is, as quite a few people said including myself, the perfect introductory game. It covers the familiar tropes while also having original takes on it's own. Whether you've been wanting to get into the genre or are a seasoned RPG veteran, this will be a great journey to experience. And with that, I give this game an 8.5 out of 10.
similarly to mario rpg's remake i went into this with rather low expectations, figured it was just another cool novelty that boomer-y games sorta fawn over. game is in fact great.
the class/djinn system is fantastic, extremely addictive and intuitive and fun, where so many games attempt this sort of system and stumble, if not fail outright, this game make looks effortless. where final fantasy has attempted and failed at plenty of times before, this game succeeds and sets a bar on its initial outing. the djinn/class sytem alone is worth playing this game for just to see an example of how to implement a job system in a deep and meaningful way while still being approachable and fun.
the story is cool but in my opinion far too reliant on context clues and random npc dialogue and hidden flavor text. could've done with a little bit more party member dialogue, half the time i honestly felt like i was playing a dark souls clone or some shit with how cryptically this game delivers information about what is going on. which is interesting given the good-vs-evil all ages presentation of things here. hoping that all picks up a bit for the sequel.
the combat is fantastic, but in my opinion often doesn't really require the player to make use of all the systems in place. for all the cool classes and spells and weapons, you can just as easily use mono-element jobs and spam your strongest spells for 20 hours and clear the superboss with little resistance. stuff is fun but i am hoping that stuff like buffs and debuffs become a little more important at some point in the next game. felt like there wasn't much room to spread the large wings the game gives you.
the puzzle system is fantastic, at its best this feels like a zelda game except with real rpg combat instead of the cinematic simulations of challenge that zelda often prefers (at least up until more recent zelda entries). the way the game delivers context clues about the story and constantly requires the player to interact with the world outside of battle makes weyard feel very involved and compelling to explore.
all in all, pleasantly surprised and had a great time, the game's original ideas are phenomenal and work fantastic, but i am hoping the core storytelling and boss fights get ramped up a little for the next go around.
the class/djinn system is fantastic, extremely addictive and intuitive and fun, where so many games attempt this sort of system and stumble, if not fail outright, this game make looks effortless. where final fantasy has attempted and failed at plenty of times before, this game succeeds and sets a bar on its initial outing. the djinn/class sytem alone is worth playing this game for just to see an example of how to implement a job system in a deep and meaningful way while still being approachable and fun.
the story is cool but in my opinion far too reliant on context clues and random npc dialogue and hidden flavor text. could've done with a little bit more party member dialogue, half the time i honestly felt like i was playing a dark souls clone or some shit with how cryptically this game delivers information about what is going on. which is interesting given the good-vs-evil all ages presentation of things here. hoping that all picks up a bit for the sequel.
the combat is fantastic, but in my opinion often doesn't really require the player to make use of all the systems in place. for all the cool classes and spells and weapons, you can just as easily use mono-element jobs and spam your strongest spells for 20 hours and clear the superboss with little resistance. stuff is fun but i am hoping that stuff like buffs and debuffs become a little more important at some point in the next game. felt like there wasn't much room to spread the large wings the game gives you.
the puzzle system is fantastic, at its best this feels like a zelda game except with real rpg combat instead of the cinematic simulations of challenge that zelda often prefers (at least up until more recent zelda entries). the way the game delivers context clues about the story and constantly requires the player to interact with the world outside of battle makes weyard feel very involved and compelling to explore.
all in all, pleasantly surprised and had a great time, the game's original ideas are phenomenal and work fantastic, but i am hoping the core storytelling and boss fights get ramped up a little for the next go around.
I wasn't too interested in the story, but as an RPG, this is very good. There seems to be a whole shit ton of depth here that I wasn't really interacting with, like the different classes from the different djinni load-outs, but I'm fine with how I played through it. Going through dungeons and Lighthouses were very fun.
7/10
7/10
The most nothing RPG ever created. It's like if a group of demigods got together and pooled together their creation powers with one goal in mind: creating the most pointless RPG of all time
For every cool aspect of this game, there's something that takes it away. The djinn and the combinations of spells can be cool in theory, but it seems it's optimal to just have one element tied to a corresponding character.
The set up for the narrative and the world is cool in theory, but then there's a lot of events that don't seem to tie in to the overall story and are just there to pad out the game.
Even with the virtual console rewind feature, random encounters are such a pain to work around. I hit walls multiple times and I was just losing my enjoyment of it as I tried to press on. I knew recently I wouldn't do the sequel because I feel that aside from the story, the gameplay experience seems to be relatively the same. I wanted to like this, and I think if I had played this when I was younger, I would have loved it and I totally get why this is a beloved and underrated game in the GBA's library for some, but ultimately it shows its age.
The set up for the narrative and the world is cool in theory, but then there's a lot of events that don't seem to tie in to the overall story and are just there to pad out the game.
Even with the virtual console rewind feature, random encounters are such a pain to work around. I hit walls multiple times and I was just losing my enjoyment of it as I tried to press on. I knew recently I wouldn't do the sequel because I feel that aside from the story, the gameplay experience seems to be relatively the same. I wanted to like this, and I think if I had played this when I was younger, I would have loved it and I totally get why this is a beloved and underrated game in the GBA's library for some, but ultimately it shows its age.
I'm a sucker for a classic turn-based RPG and Golden Sun certainly provided an experience which scratched that itch. It's got some neat twists to the formula with the Djinn system and Psynergy, but the combat overall isn't terribly engaging and is more just serviceable. The dungeon design is more notable with some genuinely awesome puzzles and generally well laid out maps. Story is, in classic RPG fashion, barely present, mostly serving to shuffle our heroes from location to location. I enjoyed Golden Sun for what it offers, but it's definitely not an all-time great, more of just a solid all-around game.
Nintendo recently released 'Golden Sun' on Nintendo Switch Online, offering people who missed out on its initial release on Nintendo's GameBoy Advance another opportunity to play this beloved RPG classic.
After playing ‘Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth’ with its copious amount of systems, it was nice to play an older RPG with a lot simpler mechanics. Unfortunately though, the one mechanic it does have is vast and can be very confusing. I have started ‘Golden Sun’ on numerous occasions but never got past the first area due to the slow pacing and lack of interest.
You start in a town called ‘Vale’, home to Isaac, Felix, Jenna and Garet. They are your starting party members. The town is being bombarded with falling boulders as the nearby volcano is erupting. Boulders block your path meaning you need to find alternative routes around town. This can make the starting area feel like a bit of a maze as you get used to the game’s traversal mechanics.
Some time after the eruption, Isaac and the others discover elemental stars located in a sanctum. As they retrieve them, the antagonists of the game, Saturos and Menardi, ambush them and steal most of the stars. Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia pursue the antagonists to retrieve the stolen stars, prevent them from lighting the 4 lighthouses with the stars, and save their friends who have been taken by Saturos and Menardi. What sets this game apart is that the antagonists don’t all share the same views; in the scenes where they appear, they often argue with one another about what should be done with the stars and their prisoners.
The beginning of the game sets up all the basics, movement, fighting and using Psynergy. Psynergy is the magic that your team can use either in battle or on the field. While on the field you can use Psynergy to interact with the landscape, clearing or creating obstacles.
Psynergy is very much like the items found in the Zelda games where you can backtrack to a previous area and unlock passages previously blocked to reveal items. The bad thing about this fun gameplay mechanic is having to perfectly place Isaac in front of the obstacle to successfully use the magic. Sometimes this could get quite frustrating as I couldn’t find the right placement or I would interact with the object normally rather than using psynergy due to the GameBoy Advance’s limited buttons. The game does allow you to hotkey the moves to the devices shoulder buttons which can be a godsend.
The battle mechanics are pretty standard for an RPG: attack, magic (attack, status effects and healing), summons and items. The elements do matter as some enemies are weak to some elements and stronger against others.
As mentioned earlier, Golden Sun debuted in 2001 for the GameBoy Advance, embodying the characteristics of a classic RPG from that era. Compared to RPG games nowadays with upgrade and unlock systems galore, ‘Golden Sun’ has Djinn, equippable summons much like ‘Final Fantasy VIII’ with your usual battle levelling and armour/weapon shops. Those are the only 3 ways to improve your character and I like it that way. However, akin to older RPG games, Golden Sun lacks a quest tracker and fails to effectively remind players of their objectives and where to proceed next. If you have a few days gap between play time you may completely forget what you were doing and why.
For my playthrough I opted to use guides for parts where I was absolutely clueless what was going on. I did love the equipment shops in this game where it tells you how each weapon affects each character. Then you can buy and sell your old equipment in a quick series of prompts to save you wasting time going in and out of menus.
For character levelling, ‘Golden Sun’ does not require much grinding, fortunately. Just fight every battle, seek out additional areas, collect Djinns, upgrade weapons and you’ll be good as gold for the end game.
The Djinn summon system may be one of few mechanics in the game but the game does not do a great job of explaining it so players may figure out its full potential. So I will try to explain the Djinn system as short and concisely as possible. Each one of your 4 party members has an elemental affinity. There are 4 elemental Djinns corresponding to each party member. You can just stick Djinn on their respective party member based on the elements but if you experiment with mixing and matching you will be provided with different character classes and abilities. To fully understand the potential of your characters you will need to do a lot of research online to figure out how to allocate the Djinn for the best outcomes.
Once assigned to each character, you can opt to allocate the Djinn to be ready for summoning in battle or to be "set," granting the owner of the Djinn a significant stat boost. For 90% of my playthrough I opted for this method over summoning to help strengthen my team. Most of my battles were basic attacks or spells for the boss battles.
Players can collect Djinns akin to Pokémon; however, each elemental type only has four distinct designs available. You can either find Djinns in secret areas or out on the world map. Some will come with you without a fight but some require battling and may even run leaving you out of pocket for a wasted time battle. You can leave the area and come back to try again.
For a GameBoy Advance game the Graphics of Golden Sun are incredible. The game features a pseudo-3D effect, with the camera panning around the battlefield during attacks. The summon cutscenes are awesome too. The environments are vibrant and well detailed. ‘Golden Sun’ has such a wonderful design style.
The music isn’t much to write home about, the most memorable song is the battle music which you will hear very often. The game has fantastic background sound effects which can make the game feel atmospheric, much like “The Legend of Zelda: Link of the Past’. I felt that the music didn't effectively convey the emotions of the characters during dialogue scenes. The game relies on speech bubble sounds, and emotive faces appearing above the characters to let the player know the attitude of each character in a scene. I found the speech bubble sounds irritating so I turned them off immediately after I started the game.
The dialogue in this game is one of its biggest downfalls. Too often conversations will be lengthy and go around in circles without progressing the story much. ‘Golden Sun’ has a dialogue selection feature like all other RPG games where you can select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. However, your choices ultimately hold no significance, giving the impression that the choice system was merely included as a checkbox requirement for RPGs. I can imagine that if there were ever a remake, this would be a feature greatly improved upon.
Playing this via Nintendo’s Online GameBoy Advance emulator allows for rewinding gameplay. This will make the game more palatable for modern gamers. Full disclosure, I used this feature from time to time if I made a poor decision in battle or messed up a puzzle. This is because I have a massive backlog and want to complete & review games within a reasonable timeframe.
Golden Sun is actually part one of a two part game. 'Golden Sun: The Lost Age' has also been released on NSO, offering players the chance to delve into the conclusion of the story initiated in 'Golden Sun,' akin to the two-part finale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
I enjoyed my time with Golden Sun. The stunning gameplay design, smart puzzles with satisfying outcomes. Casting epic attacks or summons on enemies in battles is thrilling and as your team gets stronger you feel invincible. However on a downside, from the midpoint of the game I felt it started to drag a bit. The last two areas felt long and complicated as you need to unlock certain areas in each of them to progress. These areas are frequently concealed, requiring players to utilise a Psynergy called "Reveal" to uncover the secret passages. The game isn’t always clear when you need to do this. Even after consulting two online guides and a YouTube video, I remained lost about what to do next, as none of them offered consistent guidance.
‘Golden Sun’ is an iconic game and worth the time spent playing it that’s for sure. While I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who is new to RPG games as the game doesn’t do a great job of explaining itself but the game doesn’t sting you for making bad decisions. It's certainly one to play for gamers who are RPG fans and already have a few franchises under their belt. The game has become much more accessible with its availability on Nintendo Switch's Online service. I hope we see a remake of this game one day because it definitely deserves it.
After playing ‘Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth’ with its copious amount of systems, it was nice to play an older RPG with a lot simpler mechanics. Unfortunately though, the one mechanic it does have is vast and can be very confusing. I have started ‘Golden Sun’ on numerous occasions but never got past the first area due to the slow pacing and lack of interest.
You start in a town called ‘Vale’, home to Isaac, Felix, Jenna and Garet. They are your starting party members. The town is being bombarded with falling boulders as the nearby volcano is erupting. Boulders block your path meaning you need to find alternative routes around town. This can make the starting area feel like a bit of a maze as you get used to the game’s traversal mechanics.
Some time after the eruption, Isaac and the others discover elemental stars located in a sanctum. As they retrieve them, the antagonists of the game, Saturos and Menardi, ambush them and steal most of the stars. Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia pursue the antagonists to retrieve the stolen stars, prevent them from lighting the 4 lighthouses with the stars, and save their friends who have been taken by Saturos and Menardi. What sets this game apart is that the antagonists don’t all share the same views; in the scenes where they appear, they often argue with one another about what should be done with the stars and their prisoners.
The beginning of the game sets up all the basics, movement, fighting and using Psynergy. Psynergy is the magic that your team can use either in battle or on the field. While on the field you can use Psynergy to interact with the landscape, clearing or creating obstacles.
Psynergy is very much like the items found in the Zelda games where you can backtrack to a previous area and unlock passages previously blocked to reveal items. The bad thing about this fun gameplay mechanic is having to perfectly place Isaac in front of the obstacle to successfully use the magic. Sometimes this could get quite frustrating as I couldn’t find the right placement or I would interact with the object normally rather than using psynergy due to the GameBoy Advance’s limited buttons. The game does allow you to hotkey the moves to the devices shoulder buttons which can be a godsend.
The battle mechanics are pretty standard for an RPG: attack, magic (attack, status effects and healing), summons and items. The elements do matter as some enemies are weak to some elements and stronger against others.
As mentioned earlier, Golden Sun debuted in 2001 for the GameBoy Advance, embodying the characteristics of a classic RPG from that era. Compared to RPG games nowadays with upgrade and unlock systems galore, ‘Golden Sun’ has Djinn, equippable summons much like ‘Final Fantasy VIII’ with your usual battle levelling and armour/weapon shops. Those are the only 3 ways to improve your character and I like it that way. However, akin to older RPG games, Golden Sun lacks a quest tracker and fails to effectively remind players of their objectives and where to proceed next. If you have a few days gap between play time you may completely forget what you were doing and why.
For my playthrough I opted to use guides for parts where I was absolutely clueless what was going on. I did love the equipment shops in this game where it tells you how each weapon affects each character. Then you can buy and sell your old equipment in a quick series of prompts to save you wasting time going in and out of menus.
For character levelling, ‘Golden Sun’ does not require much grinding, fortunately. Just fight every battle, seek out additional areas, collect Djinns, upgrade weapons and you’ll be good as gold for the end game.
The Djinn summon system may be one of few mechanics in the game but the game does not do a great job of explaining it so players may figure out its full potential. So I will try to explain the Djinn system as short and concisely as possible. Each one of your 4 party members has an elemental affinity. There are 4 elemental Djinns corresponding to each party member. You can just stick Djinn on their respective party member based on the elements but if you experiment with mixing and matching you will be provided with different character classes and abilities. To fully understand the potential of your characters you will need to do a lot of research online to figure out how to allocate the Djinn for the best outcomes.
Once assigned to each character, you can opt to allocate the Djinn to be ready for summoning in battle or to be "set," granting the owner of the Djinn a significant stat boost. For 90% of my playthrough I opted for this method over summoning to help strengthen my team. Most of my battles were basic attacks or spells for the boss battles.
Players can collect Djinns akin to Pokémon; however, each elemental type only has four distinct designs available. You can either find Djinns in secret areas or out on the world map. Some will come with you without a fight but some require battling and may even run leaving you out of pocket for a wasted time battle. You can leave the area and come back to try again.
For a GameBoy Advance game the Graphics of Golden Sun are incredible. The game features a pseudo-3D effect, with the camera panning around the battlefield during attacks. The summon cutscenes are awesome too. The environments are vibrant and well detailed. ‘Golden Sun’ has such a wonderful design style.
The music isn’t much to write home about, the most memorable song is the battle music which you will hear very often. The game has fantastic background sound effects which can make the game feel atmospheric, much like “The Legend of Zelda: Link of the Past’. I felt that the music didn't effectively convey the emotions of the characters during dialogue scenes. The game relies on speech bubble sounds, and emotive faces appearing above the characters to let the player know the attitude of each character in a scene. I found the speech bubble sounds irritating so I turned them off immediately after I started the game.
The dialogue in this game is one of its biggest downfalls. Too often conversations will be lengthy and go around in circles without progressing the story much. ‘Golden Sun’ has a dialogue selection feature like all other RPG games where you can select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. However, your choices ultimately hold no significance, giving the impression that the choice system was merely included as a checkbox requirement for RPGs. I can imagine that if there were ever a remake, this would be a feature greatly improved upon.
Playing this via Nintendo’s Online GameBoy Advance emulator allows for rewinding gameplay. This will make the game more palatable for modern gamers. Full disclosure, I used this feature from time to time if I made a poor decision in battle or messed up a puzzle. This is because I have a massive backlog and want to complete & review games within a reasonable timeframe.
Golden Sun is actually part one of a two part game. 'Golden Sun: The Lost Age' has also been released on NSO, offering players the chance to delve into the conclusion of the story initiated in 'Golden Sun,' akin to the two-part finale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
I enjoyed my time with Golden Sun. The stunning gameplay design, smart puzzles with satisfying outcomes. Casting epic attacks or summons on enemies in battles is thrilling and as your team gets stronger you feel invincible. However on a downside, from the midpoint of the game I felt it started to drag a bit. The last two areas felt long and complicated as you need to unlock certain areas in each of them to progress. These areas are frequently concealed, requiring players to utilise a Psynergy called "Reveal" to uncover the secret passages. The game isn’t always clear when you need to do this. Even after consulting two online guides and a YouTube video, I remained lost about what to do next, as none of them offered consistent guidance.
‘Golden Sun’ is an iconic game and worth the time spent playing it that’s for sure. While I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who is new to RPG games as the game doesn’t do a great job of explaining itself but the game doesn’t sting you for making bad decisions. It's certainly one to play for gamers who are RPG fans and already have a few franchises under their belt. The game has become much more accessible with its availability on Nintendo Switch's Online service. I hope we see a remake of this game one day because it definitely deserves it.
The first of the original Duology, Golden Sun pushes the GBA to its limits. Everything in the game moves very fluidly, and Motoi Sakuraba makes the GBA create sounds I didn't even know were possible with his progressive rock-inspired soundtrack. The Djinn class system can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get a handle on it it is easily one of my favorite overall combat systems in a turn-based RPG.
The primary thing that holds Golden Sun back is its writing. The plot overall is alright (and keep in mind this is only half of it), but the dialogue is very long-winded, often repeats itself, and just generally slows the game to a crawl. I have a relatively high tolerance for this type of thing--especially since it is not voice acted--but if constant, drawn-out cutscenes are a dealbreaker for you, you may want to look elsewhere.
The primary thing that holds Golden Sun back is its writing. The plot overall is alright (and keep in mind this is only half of it), but the dialogue is very long-winded, often repeats itself, and just generally slows the game to a crawl. I have a relatively high tolerance for this type of thing--especially since it is not voice acted--but if constant, drawn-out cutscenes are a dealbreaker for you, you may want to look elsewhere.
This review contains spoilers
Lo mejor del juego es el sistema de combate, el diseño de las mazmorras y los gráficos pixel art son muy buenos y cuentan con buenas animaciones
Lo que no me ha gustado del juego es la historia, los personajes (tanto protagonistas y villanos) y la poca dificultad de los combates
El sistema de combate es más dinámico que los típicos juegos con combates por turnos, ya que puedes hacer invocaciones que no gastan puntos mágicos y los ataques mágicos también son útiles y lo bueno es que recuperas bastantes puntos mágicos caminando, y los ataques normales no gastan mana, pero hacen un daño respetable. Así que uno puede avanzar por el juego tranquilamente sin tener que estar pendiente de ir a la posada para recuperarse.
Lo que me hubiera gustado es más profundidad en el combate, ya que los personajes solo tienen 6 estadísticas salud, puntos de magia, ataque, defensa, velocidad y suerte, no hay cosas como separación entre defensas físicas y mágicas, o debilidades o resistencias a disitintos elementos. Puedes cambiar las habilidades mágicas que tienen los protagonistas alternando entre distintas combinaciones de Djin (son las criaturas que sirven para poder hacer invocaciones) pero el juego se me hizo tan fácil que no tuve que cambiar mi estrategia en ningún momento. Lo bueno es que no hay subidas bruscas de nivel que hagan falta farmear.
El diseño de las mazmorras se siente muy interactivo ya que en muchos hay puzles y muchos de esos puzles se resuelven con la magia que desbloqueas poco a poco conforme avanzas en la aventura. Porque muchos otros juegos las mazmorras son solo laberintos que tienes que llegar al fondo para pasarla, pero en este juego no son largas, y suelen contar con diferentes mecánicas en muchas mazmorras y con los puzles no se hacen aburridas.
Los gráficos me han sorprendido porque a pesar de ser un juego de game boy advance cuenta con un pixel art realmente bueno, detallado y colorido, y las animaciones sobre todo para las invocaciones de nivel 3 o 4 y algunos ataques mágicos son muy vistosos y espectaculares
Sobre la historia me ha decepcionado, porque el juego empieza bien con un día bastante trágico que viven los protagonistas y un time skip donde se ve que han estado entrenando para fortalecerse. Pero desde el primer santuario empieza a empeorar bastante como que los villanos huyan despavoridos por miedo de un guardián que es buena gente y solo tiene intenciones de ayudar, así que los villanos desde allí ya dejan de dar respeto y miedo, y solo ves a los villanos dos veces mas en el juego, la siguiente vez los derrotas sin complicaciones y tienen que huir, y la ultima ya es justo al final del juego (aquí hacen algo bien porque en las dos ciudades que hay antes de eso ves como los villanos han estado atacando a guardias, que en el resto del juego no ves ninguna cosa que han hecho los malos mientras les sigues) que los vuelves a derrotar y se vuelven a escapar. Y el final del juego no es auto conclusivo, si quieres ver como termina esta aventura tienes que jugar a la secuela, por eso los villanos se escapan al final.
Pero mi mayor problema con la historia es el desarrollo de la misma, porque los protagonistas saben desde un principio que su misión es ir a los 4 faros para detener a los malos y rescatar a su amiga y al señor mayor que han sido secuestrados, pero como no saben dónde están los faros, lo que hacen durante todo el juego es ir de pueblo en pueblo ayudando a la gente (incluso cuando les dicen que no les ayuden) y por casualidad se encuentran con el primer faro, ya que van a un pueblo donde hay un montón de personas enfermas, encuentran la curandera que utiliza psicoenergía y los protas la siguen para preguntarle como sabe y terminan llegando al primer faro y por casualidad pasa todo lo que ocurre en el juego. Da igual que hables con todos los npcs nadie va a decirte que cerca hay un faro o que han visto a un grupo de personas sospechosas como al que estas siguiendo. Los objetos que consigues en los pueblos para que te ayuden a avanzar son por salvarlos, pero no porque hay un bloqueo en el camino y ellos se tienen que desviar para conseguir algo que les permita superar ese bloqueo. El desarrollo del juego me ha parecido el siguiente, vas a un pueblo, ayudas a alguien, consigues un objeto que te sirve para la siguiente zona y a repetir. Como ya he dicho antes solo ves el caos que están causando los villanos en las dos ultimas ciudades, que es justo al final del juego, durante todo el juego parece que no existen. Por ejemplo hay un dialogo entre los protas justo después de derrotar al jefe final que es el siguiente:
-Iván: ¿Qué podemos hacer ahora?
- Mia: ¿Qué pasa con Nadia?
- Garret: ¡Es verdad! Me había olvidado completamente de Nadia
En el juego te pasas más rato haciendo turismo y ayudando a la gente que pensando en tu misión de rescatar a Nadia y salvar el mundo.
Los protagonistas no son nada carismáticos, el más carismático es Garret y es porque es el tonto del grupo, los otros son personas educadas que siempre ayudan a los demás, me he pasado el juego y no sé que como describirlos porque no han mostrado prácticamente nada de su personalidad. Luego tampoco es que se relacionen entre ellos, por ejemplo cuando se une Iván al grupo tiene sentido que no haya diálogos de Hans o Garret explicándole que misión tienen o como se conocieron porque Iván puede leer la mente y se las lee, pero cuando se une Mia no hay ni un solo dialogo explicándole esas cosas, además de que resulta de que en el grupo de los villanos hay una persona que resulta ser el hermano de Mia, y eso es lo único que se de esa persona porque del mismo modo que Mia no pregunta que quien es Nadia y porque siguen a los malos, Mia no explica que cuando fue la ultima vez que vio a Alex o porque cree que esta ayudando a los malos. Pero no es porque el juego no quiera soltar esos rollos porque por ejemplo cuando rescatas a Hammet te sueltan un rollo sobre Dodonpa y luego sobre un mercader que había ido a esa ciudad porque noseque consejo de su maestro, noseque de una carretilla y noseque excusa estúpida de que no puedo ir por el camino secreto. Lo mismo sobre Babi soltando sermones o sobre el padre de Sore que lo poco que aparece habla mas que las conversaciones que tienen los protagonistas. Y sobre Sore resulta que pasa a ser un npc que esta escondida en el castillo de Babi, que si no exploras todo el castillo no la ves, a un personaje muy importante porque tiene poderes y esta toda una ciudad preocupada de ella. Hay cosas que me han dado mucha pereza en este juego.
Como conclusión diría que este juego es una mezcla entre los primeros final fantasy por su sistema de combate y exploración, y los juegos de zeldas por tener mazmorras con puzles. Si te gustan los juegos con un sistema de combates con turnos entretenidos y mazmorras con puzles puede que te guste, aunque su historia a mi no me haya gustado.
Lo que no me ha gustado del juego es la historia, los personajes (tanto protagonistas y villanos) y la poca dificultad de los combates
El sistema de combate es más dinámico que los típicos juegos con combates por turnos, ya que puedes hacer invocaciones que no gastan puntos mágicos y los ataques mágicos también son útiles y lo bueno es que recuperas bastantes puntos mágicos caminando, y los ataques normales no gastan mana, pero hacen un daño respetable. Así que uno puede avanzar por el juego tranquilamente sin tener que estar pendiente de ir a la posada para recuperarse.
Lo que me hubiera gustado es más profundidad en el combate, ya que los personajes solo tienen 6 estadísticas salud, puntos de magia, ataque, defensa, velocidad y suerte, no hay cosas como separación entre defensas físicas y mágicas, o debilidades o resistencias a disitintos elementos. Puedes cambiar las habilidades mágicas que tienen los protagonistas alternando entre distintas combinaciones de Djin (son las criaturas que sirven para poder hacer invocaciones) pero el juego se me hizo tan fácil que no tuve que cambiar mi estrategia en ningún momento. Lo bueno es que no hay subidas bruscas de nivel que hagan falta farmear.
El diseño de las mazmorras se siente muy interactivo ya que en muchos hay puzles y muchos de esos puzles se resuelven con la magia que desbloqueas poco a poco conforme avanzas en la aventura. Porque muchos otros juegos las mazmorras son solo laberintos que tienes que llegar al fondo para pasarla, pero en este juego no son largas, y suelen contar con diferentes mecánicas en muchas mazmorras y con los puzles no se hacen aburridas.
Los gráficos me han sorprendido porque a pesar de ser un juego de game boy advance cuenta con un pixel art realmente bueno, detallado y colorido, y las animaciones sobre todo para las invocaciones de nivel 3 o 4 y algunos ataques mágicos son muy vistosos y espectaculares
Sobre la historia me ha decepcionado, porque el juego empieza bien con un día bastante trágico que viven los protagonistas y un time skip donde se ve que han estado entrenando para fortalecerse. Pero desde el primer santuario empieza a empeorar bastante como que los villanos huyan despavoridos por miedo de un guardián que es buena gente y solo tiene intenciones de ayudar, así que los villanos desde allí ya dejan de dar respeto y miedo, y solo ves a los villanos dos veces mas en el juego, la siguiente vez los derrotas sin complicaciones y tienen que huir, y la ultima ya es justo al final del juego (aquí hacen algo bien porque en las dos ciudades que hay antes de eso ves como los villanos han estado atacando a guardias, que en el resto del juego no ves ninguna cosa que han hecho los malos mientras les sigues) que los vuelves a derrotar y se vuelven a escapar. Y el final del juego no es auto conclusivo, si quieres ver como termina esta aventura tienes que jugar a la secuela, por eso los villanos se escapan al final.
Pero mi mayor problema con la historia es el desarrollo de la misma, porque los protagonistas saben desde un principio que su misión es ir a los 4 faros para detener a los malos y rescatar a su amiga y al señor mayor que han sido secuestrados, pero como no saben dónde están los faros, lo que hacen durante todo el juego es ir de pueblo en pueblo ayudando a la gente (incluso cuando les dicen que no les ayuden) y por casualidad se encuentran con el primer faro, ya que van a un pueblo donde hay un montón de personas enfermas, encuentran la curandera que utiliza psicoenergía y los protas la siguen para preguntarle como sabe y terminan llegando al primer faro y por casualidad pasa todo lo que ocurre en el juego. Da igual que hables con todos los npcs nadie va a decirte que cerca hay un faro o que han visto a un grupo de personas sospechosas como al que estas siguiendo. Los objetos que consigues en los pueblos para que te ayuden a avanzar son por salvarlos, pero no porque hay un bloqueo en el camino y ellos se tienen que desviar para conseguir algo que les permita superar ese bloqueo. El desarrollo del juego me ha parecido el siguiente, vas a un pueblo, ayudas a alguien, consigues un objeto que te sirve para la siguiente zona y a repetir. Como ya he dicho antes solo ves el caos que están causando los villanos en las dos ultimas ciudades, que es justo al final del juego, durante todo el juego parece que no existen. Por ejemplo hay un dialogo entre los protas justo después de derrotar al jefe final que es el siguiente:
-Iván: ¿Qué podemos hacer ahora?
- Mia: ¿Qué pasa con Nadia?
- Garret: ¡Es verdad! Me había olvidado completamente de Nadia
En el juego te pasas más rato haciendo turismo y ayudando a la gente que pensando en tu misión de rescatar a Nadia y salvar el mundo.
Los protagonistas no son nada carismáticos, el más carismático es Garret y es porque es el tonto del grupo, los otros son personas educadas que siempre ayudan a los demás, me he pasado el juego y no sé que como describirlos porque no han mostrado prácticamente nada de su personalidad. Luego tampoco es que se relacionen entre ellos, por ejemplo cuando se une Iván al grupo tiene sentido que no haya diálogos de Hans o Garret explicándole que misión tienen o como se conocieron porque Iván puede leer la mente y se las lee, pero cuando se une Mia no hay ni un solo dialogo explicándole esas cosas, además de que resulta de que en el grupo de los villanos hay una persona que resulta ser el hermano de Mia, y eso es lo único que se de esa persona porque del mismo modo que Mia no pregunta que quien es Nadia y porque siguen a los malos, Mia no explica que cuando fue la ultima vez que vio a Alex o porque cree que esta ayudando a los malos. Pero no es porque el juego no quiera soltar esos rollos porque por ejemplo cuando rescatas a Hammet te sueltan un rollo sobre Dodonpa y luego sobre un mercader que había ido a esa ciudad porque noseque consejo de su maestro, noseque de una carretilla y noseque excusa estúpida de que no puedo ir por el camino secreto. Lo mismo sobre Babi soltando sermones o sobre el padre de Sore que lo poco que aparece habla mas que las conversaciones que tienen los protagonistas. Y sobre Sore resulta que pasa a ser un npc que esta escondida en el castillo de Babi, que si no exploras todo el castillo no la ves, a un personaje muy importante porque tiene poderes y esta toda una ciudad preocupada de ella. Hay cosas que me han dado mucha pereza en este juego.
Como conclusión diría que este juego es una mezcla entre los primeros final fantasy por su sistema de combate y exploración, y los juegos de zeldas por tener mazmorras con puzles. Si te gustan los juegos con un sistema de combates con turnos entretenidos y mazmorras con puzles puede que te guste, aunque su historia a mi no me haya gustado.
5.5/10
This was my favorite RPG on the Gameboy advanced. I'd love a remake of this.
Back in 2001 this would be an easy 10/10. Today 7/10, really surprised me, very good story, puzzles.
Decent Garrett representation, although it’s ugh, spelled wrong! Guys, it’s with two R’s and two T’s. “Garet,” for crying out loud. “Hello, my name is Garet, and these are my friends ‘Mikel’ and ‘Bilee.’” You see, it sucks when I do it to your name, doesn’t it? Garet, sheesh. It doesn’t even compute for my phone, even my keyboard is trying to autocorrect it to “Harry.” I know, Tim Apple, how do you think I feel about it? Oh god, what if they pronounce it in some weird way, some stupid high-fantasy inflection? Oh no, oh dear me, oh my word, oh fuck ass and shit, even. I hope there’s no voice acting in the DS sequel, if I hear one of them call out to Gah-rotte or some shit I just don’t think I could bear it. All that aside, I do like that the Garet here is a major himbo.
What’s that, the game? Oh, it’s pretty good! I love the little react faces they give to the characters whenever they are angry, sad, happy, etc. It’s maybe not as good as Mario pantomiming dialogue while transforming into other characters in Super Mario RPG, but it’s close! At the very least it shows that someone understood the limitations of a cute SD top-down JRPG and then did something about it. How do we convey the party’s disappointment at this series of unfortunate events? Give them dialogue bubbles with cute frowny faces.
Also the fighting system is uh, something. I’d call it neat if I were in a good mood, and goddam deranged if I wasn’t. You get a handful of pokemon who give you super spells, except when you use them your stats and available normal spells go down temporarily, which sucks except the pokemon spells and super summons are strong enough to knock out the bosses in one or two turns, except when maybe it might be better to use your normal stats and spells? It’s also totally playable if you assign the Pokémons to the matching character by element, but if you mix and match elements they create thousands of permutations of different character classes which take years of scholarship to master. I don’t get it, and I just got done playing it. I’m the Argentinian calculating weird math lady meme right now.
It also has one of the silliest bad endings I’ve seen since “attack lavos at level one” in chrono trigger. You can literally refuse the Joseph Campbell call to adventure, which will earn you a screen that says “and then the world ended. Try again, dummy!” People complain about the Dragon Quest series asking the player questions that force you to answer yes, and I respond, what’s the alternative, shit like this?
Aside from that, it has a story that I’d call “a smidge better than Secret of Mana,” which, as a known JRPG liker, is really all I’m asking for when I boot up one of these things. Not to mention I’d also call it “only half done.” Coincidentally the second one just came out for switch online, I just might give it a spin on there
Update: I’m being told that there is indeed no voice acting in the DS golden sun, and that the Garet in that one also has an excellent dad mustache
What’s that, the game? Oh, it’s pretty good! I love the little react faces they give to the characters whenever they are angry, sad, happy, etc. It’s maybe not as good as Mario pantomiming dialogue while transforming into other characters in Super Mario RPG, but it’s close! At the very least it shows that someone understood the limitations of a cute SD top-down JRPG and then did something about it. How do we convey the party’s disappointment at this series of unfortunate events? Give them dialogue bubbles with cute frowny faces.
Also the fighting system is uh, something. I’d call it neat if I were in a good mood, and goddam deranged if I wasn’t. You get a handful of pokemon who give you super spells, except when you use them your stats and available normal spells go down temporarily, which sucks except the pokemon spells and super summons are strong enough to knock out the bosses in one or two turns, except when maybe it might be better to use your normal stats and spells? It’s also totally playable if you assign the Pokémons to the matching character by element, but if you mix and match elements they create thousands of permutations of different character classes which take years of scholarship to master. I don’t get it, and I just got done playing it. I’m the Argentinian calculating weird math lady meme right now.
It also has one of the silliest bad endings I’ve seen since “attack lavos at level one” in chrono trigger. You can literally refuse the Joseph Campbell call to adventure, which will earn you a screen that says “and then the world ended. Try again, dummy!” People complain about the Dragon Quest series asking the player questions that force you to answer yes, and I respond, what’s the alternative, shit like this?
Aside from that, it has a story that I’d call “a smidge better than Secret of Mana,” which, as a known JRPG liker, is really all I’m asking for when I boot up one of these things. Not to mention I’d also call it “only half done.” Coincidentally the second one just came out for switch online, I just might give it a spin on there
Update: I’m being told that there is indeed no voice acting in the DS golden sun, and that the Garet in that one also has an excellent dad mustache
First part of the duology, Golden Sun takes everything Camelot did in previous years and takes it to the extreme, before they had been relegated to mario sports games.
Golden Sun is a wonderfully presented game; visuals are phenomenal, with charming and colorful sprites filling the rich world of Weyard. The music by Sakuraba is at time soothing, at times imposing, at times inspiring, always perfect for the occasion. The Lost Age will come up next, taking everything the first Golden Sun did and cranking it up to eleven.
Just use a guide for the djinn, I honestly had no idea where half of them were. Puzzles are fun and so is character building, but I will not leave one of those critters behind.
Golden Sun is a wonderfully presented game; visuals are phenomenal, with charming and colorful sprites filling the rich world of Weyard. The music by Sakuraba is at time soothing, at times imposing, at times inspiring, always perfect for the occasion. The Lost Age will come up next, taking everything the first Golden Sun did and cranking it up to eleven.
Just use a guide for the djinn, I honestly had no idea where half of them were. Puzzles are fun and so is character building, but I will not leave one of those critters behind.
Gbakino at its finest. I love the class system being so in depth and pointless because the game is so easy going monoelemental is still extremely viable. The story here is nice and simple, no bullshit. The gameplay is amazing, “what if everyone was the mage” is such a good idea. The battle scenes are absolutely kino, and i only wish the overworld reflected how good this game can look.
Few quirks aside, this is classic 2001 JRPG gaming that holds up two decades later. Cannot wait to dive into the next games in the series.
Great pixelart, great use of Djiini for magic and classes, decent pacing, optional things not made very obvious. The game ends with a huge cliffhanger tying directly into the sequel, and the ability to carry over items and stats with save data is a cool feature.
ごく普通のRPGでストレスもないけど、日本語の会話ダイアログに違和感ある。
Golden Sun was such a huge part of my childhood, and after not touching it for many years, I'm really happy I was able to come back and still really enjoy it.
Golden Sun's class and Djinn system is easily the game's greatest strength. There's so many different builds to experiment with for each playable character, and since it is so easy to swap classes, you have basically the entire game to experiment and find a style you like. Even once you've picked a class, you need to think about whether to use the Djinn in battle since their abilities are very powerful but come at the cost of your character's stats. Golden Sun isn't very difficult, so just about everything is viable and it's up to the player to decide what they enjoy most.
I wish there wasn't as much backtracking, and I wish the cast of characters were more interesting and memorable. I also found the dialogue to be pretty jank at times, especially since Isaac can only ever react with a 'yes' or 'no'. Overall, Golden Sun is a flawed but great JRPG and I'm really glad I can still enjoy it today. Onto The Lost Age!
Golden Sun's class and Djinn system is easily the game's greatest strength. There's so many different builds to experiment with for each playable character, and since it is so easy to swap classes, you have basically the entire game to experiment and find a style you like. Even once you've picked a class, you need to think about whether to use the Djinn in battle since their abilities are very powerful but come at the cost of your character's stats. Golden Sun isn't very difficult, so just about everything is viable and it's up to the player to decide what they enjoy most.
I wish there wasn't as much backtracking, and I wish the cast of characters were more interesting and memorable. I also found the dialogue to be pretty jank at times, especially since Isaac can only ever react with a 'yes' or 'no'. Overall, Golden Sun is a flawed but great JRPG and I'm really glad I can still enjoy it today. Onto The Lost Age!
Awesome fast-paced turn-based JRPG. Yes, there are, and this series is one of those.
This is a really impressive RPG for the GBA that I played through all the way something like 5 times. It's a great game for a portable system and the way you change character's classes by giving them different combinations of summons is neat... but I will say that the story is pretty dull and the amount of dialogue they use to tell it is pretty absurd. The cutscenes can really drag on due to the amount of times you have to watch a little character sprite bounce while they have a little sad face bubble appear over their head.
Solid and compact RPG experience and a good recommendation title for a first-timer looking to explore the genre.
Pros: Combat, Class system, Mixing and matching Djinn, Atmosphere, Set pieces (i.e. Colosso Tournament), Overall level of exploration, Mind read
Cons: On the easier side, Story, Bland party members
Pros: Combat, Class system, Mixing and matching Djinn, Atmosphere, Set pieces (i.e. Colosso Tournament), Overall level of exploration, Mind read
Cons: On the easier side, Story, Bland party members
Tenho um carinho especial por Golden Sun por ter sido o meu primeiro jrpg que zerei
Finished this sometime in 2023. Played it to pass time at family events and such. What a bore, lol. Still, the battle mechanics got me going.
Golden Sun (2001): Es imposible ver con buenos ojos un juego que es casi el 50 % relleno. Por lo demás, aunque el combate es agradable (sin ser ninguna revolución), la historia es insulsa, con unos personajes completamente olvidables. No es espantoso, pero esperaba más (5,95)
Great game, one of the best RPGs on the GBA. Didn't manage to get past the final boss and have lost the cartridge. May replay it in the future.
I've never seen an ending this disappointing and abrupt lmao. It's like if in Dragon Quest III when you get a ship to travel the seas the game just ends.
Besides that, though, It's a fun game with a very creative combat system, fun environmental puzzles and dungeons, nice music and a cute cast of characters.
Besides that, though, It's a fun game with a very creative combat system, fun environmental puzzles and dungeons, nice music and a cute cast of characters.