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.