Current Events > Replaying the Golden Sun games lately, they're not that bad

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I often see people claim those games are "the poster child of only liking it for nostalgia." I don't think that's really fair. For what it's worth, I first played them when I was 16-17ish, which was over 10 years ago but I wasn't a little kid.

The class system is genuinely really cool. You can get really creative with the way you set up and use your djinn and summons Unfortunately it be be kind of hard to make every character a good class at once.

The story is perfectly fine, somewhat charming. It uses the 4 classical elements well. The music is nice. The characters are fine. Of course, the long cutscenes are annoying and too slow. An issue that would be solved with some kind of speed up button, but it's a valid criticism.

I like the puzzle gameplay. More jrpgs should have that sort of thing. The slow speed of the animations are the biggest problem, which would also be solved by some speedup button. The other annoying thing is if you have to waste time changing classes for psynergy for a puzzle.

The only major problem is the extremely low difficulty. I don't remember how challenging it was back in the day, but it's a total cakewalk now. The only time I lost in the first game is against the hardest boss, because you can go there early (which I did). I even beat the secret challenge boss on my first try without trouble. In the second game, I didn't lose at all until I challenged one of the super bosses as soon as it was possible, and even then I probably would have won if I tried. I just got bored and quit while everyone was alive again and back at near full hp, but the setup was poor so it would be quicker to quit and restrategize. The point is, difficulty is a complete joke. Maybe Hard Mode would make the second game better, but that would be a lot to overcome. It's really a shame, because that's the only insurmountable criticism.

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i played the first two religiously as a kid and loved them. i'd put them right up there with final fantasy 7 and 9 in terms of the impact they had on my early gaming and appreciation for jrpgs

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whole first half of the second game is a filler arc isn't it

yet for some reason i find it the most memorable

Air's Rock 4 Lyfe

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DarkChozoGhost posted...

The characters are fine

If by fine you mean completely forgettable with interchangeable "personalities" then sure. Kraden is an amazing villain though, the games do a great job of hiding that he's the worst person in the whole series.

And Golden Sun games puzzles are basically all the same.

I did like the class system though, as pointless as it was, the variety was nice.

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The first time I played them was actually just before Dark Dawn was announced so I didn't get the "nostalgia goggles" thing other people have said about them. I thought they were good. Maybe somewhat generic but they were much better than other shit released around the same time period.

So I was super excited for Dark Dawn but then it went and gone fucked everything up with ponrs and stupid story.

I still hope someday we'll get a sequel with Alex as the main character.


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Yeah I love these games. I know a lot of people can't stand the dialogue, but once you get past Vale in GS1 the dialogue is spread out a lot more. Unfortunately Dark Dawn doubled down on the meandering convorsations repeating endlessly. I still like DD but that part is annoying even to me. Also DD is even easier.

By the way, if you want to play the first two games with more difficulty, there's a couple really good fan patches for them. They aren't one of those uber hard patches where they just dial up the stats on everything, these patches actually rebalance the game. GS2 especially gets a lot of attention, even changing the enemy formations.

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From what I remember Dark Dawn would be fine if it didn't have points of no return. That brings the quality of a game down a lot. The puzzles are better, people only think otherwise because they got better at solving puzzles over the course of 7 years. The combat is still way too easy, and a point against the game as a whole, but not compared to the other games.

Tyrell is just a worse Garet though. The bad personality traits without anything balancing it.

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The Lost Age has a nifty randomizer available if you want some more replay value. Makes good use of how much of the game world is open to you at once.

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I've been playing them as well. I realized at some point during the first game that they're basically 2D Dragon Quest games with (arguably) better graphics, summons, a class system, and more sophisticated puzzles.

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The first 2 are great i remember not liking Dark Dawn to the point i didnt finish it should probably give it another shot. Venus Lighthouse is only matched by the MMZ games when it comes to gba.
https://youtu.be/pGaxaHVJRdY

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