Current Events > Golden Sun is more fun than it has any business being.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Playing through it again for maybe the first time since 2002. Game doesn't really do much that's unique and the characters are underdeveloped. Yet, it still has satisfying gameplay and the art direction has its charm. I can't even bring myself to hate the minimalist story.

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there's a lot of really cool little things in it, like all the different Psynergy spells, like being able to read random NPC's minds and i like some of the environmental puzzles and exploration. the combat even has some cool ideas with the Djinn class-based system but unfortunately the game just doesn't challenge you enough and balance things to actually flesh it out. and yeah the story and characters are just beyond bad

the games (at least the GBA ones) also look fucking amazing for their time

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I got stuck fighting the two antagonists on top of the tower and I didn't want to grind to beat them. How close to the end of the game was I?

I occasionally get the urge to replay it, but I just know that it's not going to hold up if I do.

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That was the final battle, lol. Though there's an optional boss that's more powerful than them. Were you missing a lot of Djinn?

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

I occasionally get the urge to replay it, but I just know that it's not going to hold up if I do.

I'm surprised that's held up well enough to hold my attention. I knew going in that it was not going to seem as good as it did as a kid, but it hasn't let me down completely. Far from it actually.

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Would be kinda nice if they got a remaster or 3d remake like Trials of Mana got for Switch.

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I love those games. The first one is good. The second is the best of the trio. The third isn't as awful as people say, but it did commit some unforgivable choices.

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I love those games, still waiting for a third part, any day now...

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I played it on a emulator, and even with 2X speed on consistantly my patients barely got me through the first and only 1/4ths the second.

The class system cant be utilize until endgame, the story is almost non existent, and about 90% filler, character or character development? None to speak of. And there is waaaaay to much dialogue. And the combat is easy, barebones, and boring as fuck.

Also you spend 90% of the game to obtain the single skill you needed to infiltrate a early game hideout you could have just steamrolled through right off the bat.

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Autocraticus posted...

I got stuck fighting the two antagonists on top of the tower and I didn't want to grind to beat them. How close to the end of the game was I?

In the first game? Assuming you mean on top of Venus lighthouse, literally the final bosses.

I dunno how you could actually find anything difficult in these games unless you ran from almost every battle, but try unleashing Flash and getting the party-wide 90% damage reduction more often.

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Imagine if Dark Dawn hadn't been aggressively mediocre and killed the franchise.

We needed a prequel, not a sequel.
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I just finished TLA less then a hour ago. It was fun but the class system might as well not even be there. Looks at final boss putting my entire parties djin in stand by.

Cookie Bag posted...

I love those games, still waiting for a third part, any day now...

There is a third game for the DS.

I never got around to playing the 3rd entry but the first two were pretty good.

They should do remakes or a new one for Switch.

If you haven't played Dark Dawn yet there is literally zero reason to >_>
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Shadowplay posted...

Playing through it again for maybe the first time since 2002. Game doesn't really do much that's unique and the characters are underdeveloped. Yet, it still has satisfying gameplay and the art direction has its charm. I can't even bring myself to hate the minimalist story.

That's the thing though. That's what sometimes makes older rpgs still so great. We don't need to know every facet of every character. Sometimes using your imagination can be a wonderful thing. And not having the story bogged down with scenes explaining EVERYTHING in great detail

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Bio1590 posted...

If you haven't played Dark Dawn yet there is literally zero reason to >_>

I have not. What's so bad about it compared to the first two?

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Shadowplay posted...

I have not. What's so bad about it compared to the first two?

Its not bad, a bit mediocre and you have permanently missable djinn and items. It's also a little too easy. They also rehash the first two games to death lore-wise in a very annoying way. Like its shoved in your face constantly.

I do like some of the new psynergy, djinn, summons and some of the new characters. Sveta kinda sucks in battle unfortunately, and Eoleo's not that great either. Amiti, Hime, Karis and Rief are good.

The dungeons are...well, I'd say they're not as good or memorable as some of their predecessors. But that's up to personal taste and its not like GS and TLA didn't have some dull and tedious dungeons as well.

I like the game, just not as much as the first two. Oh! And some of the music is nice.

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I loved the first one, but the other two were alright. The main problem I had with them is that the pacing/structure just falls off a cliff as soon as you get the boat. Especially in The Lost Age, youre just wandering around the whole world searching for what youre supposed to do next at a certain point.

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I was interested while playing it but largely disappointed in hindsight. The Djinni system is basically a false system--There are only a couple combinations that are even useful for character builds, and it doesn't take the mixing and matching far enough to warrant real exploration of the mechanics. The puzzles were pretty good, the story was alright, the combat was alright. Nothing really spectacular though.

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Shadowplay posted...

I have not. What's so bad about it compared to the first two?

It's just...aggressively mediocre and doesn't really do anything new? Like I think it's fine on its own but compared to the first two it doesn't stand up.

The story is a bit of a mess (you start off doing one thing, then the plot veers in an entirely different direction for almost the entire game before finally coming back) and also just ends on a cliffhanger (because they were obviously expecting another game). The game is also kind of short, and really easy compared to the first two (like there's no real effort required to hunt the Djinn or Summon Spirits).
Despite that you somehow have 8 new playable characters thrown at you in one game. And only ONE of them isn't directly related to a major character in the previous games (ex. one of the playable Mars Adepts is Eoleo, the son of Chaucha and Briggs the pirate and who you meet as a toddler in the second game).
Combat was essentially the same.
I think they added...one single new Summon?
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Oh yeah I forgot about the game having MULTIPLE points of no returns for absolutely no reason other than to fuck with you.
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I love the music.

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Lil_Bit83 posted...

Its not bad, a bit mediocre and you have permanently missable djinn and items. It's also a little too easy. They also rehash the first two games to death lore-wise in a very annoying way. Like its shoved in your face constantly.

I do like some of the new psynergy, djinn, summons and some of the new characters. Sveta kinda sucks in battle unfortunately, and Eoleo's not that great either. Amiti, Hime, Karis and Rief are good.

The dungeons are...well, I'd say they're not as good or memorable as some of their predecessors. But that's up to personal taste and its not like GS and TLA didn't have some dull and tedious dungeons as well.

I like the game, just not as much as the first two. Oh! And some of the music is nice.

Himi's entire existence is a deus ex machina
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The first two games are absolutely amazing fun, they just have a few remnants of 2001 game design that could be fixed with a modern rerelease.

The third game isn't TERRIBLE but should still just be retconned IMO for being way worse than the first two games.

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Never finished it and lost my copy I regret that to this day

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dark dawn was actually pretty fun for the first half of the game. it ends up falling apart at the midway point though and turns to complete shit. they also still threw useless time-wasting dialogue in your face and the game really didn't need 8 characters. i hope they just pretend it never happened if the series gets another entry.

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I hated the enemy spawn rate, especially when doing puzzles. But yeah it's a fun little game, too bad it didn't really do anything unique or interesting though.

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Wetterdew posted...

The first two games are absolutely amazing fun, they just have a few remnants of 2001 game design that could be fixed with a modern rerelease.

The third game isn't TERRIBLE but should still just be retconned IMO for being way worse than the first two games.

Frogles posted...

dark dawn was actually pretty fun for the first half of the game. it ends up falling apart at the midway point though and turns to complete shit. they also still threw useless time-wasting dialogue in your face and the game really didn't need 8 characters. i hope they just pretend it never happened if the series gets another entry.

Yeah I don't really understand why they went "Hey let's make a sequel set 30 years in the future so we can still use the kids of characters from the original games, but to make it just not the same game map we're going to say some crazy events occurred that have completely changed what the world looks like".

The sequel should have been 100+ years, at least.

But they always should have gone with a prequel, at least before any sequel. There was way too much established unanswered lore to just pile on more out of nowhere in a sequel. Like you're telling me shit like the Apollo Lens, Alchemy Forge and Well, and the Eclipse Tower were just sitting around during the events of the first two games? And weren't even mentioned in passing? Like the fuck?
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FantasticAssGas posted...

I never got around to playing the 3rd entry but the first two were pretty good.

They should do remakes or a new one for Switch.

Camelot is too busy making mediocre Mario Sports titles

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1 and 2 were my favorite games on the GBA I think. The music and graphics were really good for the GBA. Agreed with all the common criticisms too though - game is WAY too dialogue-heavy, especially at the beginning when you just want to get into the game. Also I don't feel like you're ever encouraged to experiment with the class system, nothing feels as powerful as just loading everyone up with their main element Djinn.

theAteam posted...

Never finished it and lost my copy I regret that to this day

I feel like the cartridge just despawns after a while because so many people myself included ended up losing their copy of the game.
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I let my friend borrow my copy of TLA when we were younger and he was going to visit family in the Philippines for like a month.

He lost it somehow but was able to replace it, and I'm 99% sure the replacement was a bootleg copy (the cartridge just feels...off) but I still have it and it still works so I'm not complaining >_>
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I found GS to be boring when I played it like 10-15 years ago.

Thought the story was weird too. Like dont you get separated from one of your friends and then all of a sudden he becomes your enemy later, for no good reason?

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Golden Sun + The Lost Age were originally meant to be 1 game. If you didnt play the second game then you only got half of the story. Play the second and it will make sense.

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AvlButtslam posted...

1 and 2 were my favorite games on the GBA I think. The music and graphics were really good for the GBA. Agreed with all the common criticisms too though - game is WAY too dialogue-heavy, especially at the beginning when you just want to get into the game. Also I don't feel like you're ever encouraged to experiment with the class system, nothing feels as powerful as just loading everyone up with their main element Djinn.

I feel like the cartridge just despawns after a while because so many people myself included ended up losing their copy of the game.

In fairness, you can do pretty well if you swap entire groups of elemental Djinn around. Isaac and Garret have been doing pretty well with all of their Djinn swapped. Looking forward to experiencing the insane class system of The Lost Age though.

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BTW, if anyone wants a reason to replay The Lost Age, there's a randomizer available for it now.

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imo full blown remakes woudn't be the best idea. the spritework in the first two games is amazing and a large part of the charm, and i think a big reason why no one cares about Dark Dawn is because of how bland it is visually.

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Alpha218 posted...

Golden Sun + The Lost Age were originally meant to be 1 game. If you didnt play the second game then you only got half of the story. Play the second and it will make sense.

Yep it was clear that that the second game would pick up right where the first game left off but it wasnt interesting enough for me to want to continue.

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