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Ages ago, or so the stories tell, the power of Alchemy ruled over the world of Weyard.
Alchemy wrote the base elements of humanity into thriving civilizations, like lead into gold.
But in time, man’s dreams gave birth to untold strife. Dreams of endless riches, of eternal life, of dominion over all that lived… Dreams of conquest and of war.
These dreams would have torn the world apart if not for a few brave and wise men, who sealed away the power of Alchemy deep in Mt. Aleph’s Sol Sanctum…
And so the journey of a young boy named Isaac began.
Golden Sun. Undoubtedly my favorite video game of all time, and definitely the one I’ve clocked the most hours on. How many games have you played for 2,000 hours without getting bored? How many games have you beaten 120 times? Needless to say, Golden Sun has been a huge part of my gaming life, and is probably the single greatest influence on my longtime infatuation with JRPGs.
Before I go any further, though, I should note that this blog will act as an introduction to Golden Sun, and will explain the workings of the game and why it is so great. Keep in mind that there will be mild spoilers about the plot of the game for the opening portion, though I will not reveal anything absolutely critical to the story. I also won’t discuss the plot of The Lost Age at all, since the story from The Broken Seal (the first game) is tied heavily into it, and divulging anything from TLA would most likely spoil those who haven’t played the first game.
The Golden Sun series of handheld RPG games, produced by Camelot, began with The Broken Seal (simply titled “Golden Sun” outside of Japan), released in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance. The story revolves around Isaac, a young boy living in a village inhabited by people with special powers based around the four elements of air, earth, fire, and water. These “Adepts” guard the sacred peak of Mt. Aleph, to prevent the abuse of the sealed secrets of Alchemy which granted them their powers. However, a group of mysterious strangers, hailing from the northern reaches of the world, infiltrate the sanctum atop Mt. Aleph and steal the Elemental Stars, the keys to breaking the seal on Alchemy across the world of Weyard. If the Stars are used to light the beacons of the corresponding lighthouses scattered throughout Weyard, the world will eventually consume itself whole. Isaac and his childhood friend Garet set out to recover the Stars, defeat the thieves who took them, and rescue their friends Jenna and Kraden, who were abducted along with the Stars.
A fairly generic plot, as far as JRPGs go. But the story isn’t what makes the game so incredible.
Graphics and Music
For a game that was released in 2001 on the Game Boy Advance, Golden Sun looks absolutely stunning. The graphics are far ahead of anything before it, with incredible amounts of detail in nearly every aspect of the game world. Golden Sun is a game that pushes the limits of the Game Boy Advance, despite being released about eight months after the handheld console itself was made available. Referred to in a Game Informer review as “a visual treat” with graphics that “would have amazed Super Nintendo owners back in the day” (sentiments shared by countless others who played the game), Golden Sun remains one of the most gorgeous titles for the GBA. Battles explode with brilliantly crafted effects, the world around Isaac is alive with color and detail, and the characters themselves are modeled with care. Overall, Golden Sun is an exquisite experience for the eyes, and has certainly not aged badly compared to games like Final Fantasy VII or Morrowind.
+ Show Spoiler [Samples] +
Golden Sun is no slouch in the sound department either. Fans of the Tales or Star Ocean RPG series will recognize Motoi Sakuraba’s musical style as they play through Golden Sun. Though sound quality on the GBA system is obviously limited compared to the DS or other modern consoles, Sakuraba works his magic on the game nonetheless, composing a memorable soundtrack that will undoubtedly cause nerd-chills for longtime GS fans, and leave newcomers wanting more. Gorgeous music, coupled with a vivid array of sound effects that further flesh out the world of Weyard and its inhabitants, serve to leave a lasting impression.
+ Show Spoiler [Samples] +
Bottom line: Golden Sun, if nothing else, is a feast for the eyes and ears.
Psynergy
Psynergy is the ability to manipulate one or several of the four base elements of the world. Those who are able to wield such power are known as “Adepts”; conveniently enough, your party members are all Adepts of different elemental alignments. Each of the four elements — air, earth, fire, water — can be used to devastating effect in battle, but you will often be presented with a puzzle or task outside of combat that requires the use of Psynergy to solve. Fortunately for you, Psynergy can do all sorts of things to assist you in progressing further, ranging from moving under obstacles while transfigured into sand, pushing faraway objects, conjuring gusts of wind, and smashing pillars to reading minds and causing small earthquakes.
The land of Weyard, and those who live there, can be manipulated in countless ways. An experienced Adept knows where to find such foci, and how best to utilize his powers to proceed along his journey. However, in a land as treacherous as Weyard, basic puzzle-solving will not be enough to prevail; one must also know how to defeat the various foes one will encounter along the way.
Combat
Golden Sun is, at first glance, a simple turn-based RPG, but several unique mechanics take an otherwise boring battle system into something wondrous. The basics of combat are relatively intuitive; you can choose to attack with your equipped weaponry, smite the enemy with Psynergy of various elements, use items to help your allies or hinder your foes, guard attacks, or simply flee from battle. The key mechanic that separates Golden Sun from Generic JRPG #284 is the Djinn system.
A Djinni is an entity consisting of pure elemental energy that can bolster the abilities of the Adept it is assigned to. Like Adepts, they are separated into one of the four base elements of Alchemy, but are not limited to their own alignment (meaning, a Jupiter Djinni can be assigned to any type of Adept, not just a Jupiter Adept). The Djinn system is essential to combat, where they have multiple uses, but their most important role is arguably the Class system they provide to the player.
The Class system is one of the main reasons why Golden Sun’s battle system receives such praise. When you assign one or more Djinn to a party member, their “class” may change. Stats may be raised or lower, and new Psynergy may be granted, depending on the combination and number of Djinn assigned to that character. This allows for a great deal of customization and versatility when stuck at a certain difficult battle. Instead of being forced to grind levels or obtain new gear to face the threat, you can experiment with different classes to see what combinations will best aid your party.
The Class system is by no means the only use for these little guys, though. All Djinn can be “unleashed” in combat for various effects. Some, like Flint, simply damage the enemy, while others can buff you and your allies, paralyze foes, seal opposing Psynergy, and cure status effects. However, once a Djinni is unleashed, they go into “standby” mode, which means that any bonus they might have provided to your character’s class is removed until it reverts to its “set” mode (which costs a turn to correct for each Djinni on standby).
Should you wish to further engage the enemy even with standby Djinn, you can use them as reagents for powerful summon attacks. These spells are extraordinarily powerful, but will temporarily disable any Djinn used in the attack and prevent the player from manually resetting those Djinn to “set” mode. Of course, the sheer power of summons (and the occasional buffs they can provide, such as healing or Attack bonuses) more than offsets the opportunity cost of wielding such potent spells.
Memories
+ Show Spoiler [I remember…] +- … knocking down a boulder in Altin Cave that nearly crushes Isaac (with Yakety Sax-esque music all the while)
- … finally collecting the Muramasa in Crossbone Isle level 9 for the first time
- … understanding and utilizing the DP method for the first time to obtain a Kikuijimonji
- … cheesing the hell out of Deadbeard with Flash and Granite
- … falling in love with Mia (rofl!)
- … the girl at Kolima Crossing giving Isaac a Hard Nut for rescuing her
- … using Mind Read on everybody and marveling at the sheer detail put into the game
- … “!!!”
- … Making all the women and old people row the boat to Tolbi
- … Summoning Judgment
- … the adrenaline surge I felt when competing in Colosso
- … refusing to allow Flint to join the party, and laughing at his increasingly pathetic whining
- … the first Saturos battle, and the amazing music
- … Ragnarok
Share some of your fondest memories from the games!
With any luck, this blog was able to show you why Golden Sun is a masterpiece of gaming. Who knows, perhaps the Golden Sun will rise for some of you.
One can only hope.
 
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I didn't play it but it reminds me of the good old classic JRPG. They were so good compare to the craps we been getting recently *cough* FFXIII-2 *cough*
Edit: did i forget to mention the badass music they used to have?
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I remember...
Being amazed at the graphics. Ragnarok and Apocalypse were my favourites.
Being amazed at the music. Damn I love so many tracks.
Passing by that missable dijinn, and having to re-start and getting very mad at myself for not being careful and mad at the developer (this is one of the things I hate the most about rpgs - permanently missable stuff).
Many of the stuff you listed, using RNG for items, mindreading EVERYONE, staying/battling for the music...
EDIT: now just listening to ost :D
EDIT2: I think while it isn't the most memorable, Walking Forward with Determination (World theme #2 right) was the most impactful. I remember being awed when it swtiched.
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On June 13 2012 00:08 Wala.Revolution wrote:
Passing by that missable dijinn, and having to re-start and getting very mad at myself for not being careful and mad at the developer (this is one of the things I hate the most about rpgs - permanently missable stuff).
... Huh? There are no missable Djinn. Which one are you talking about?
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Nicely done! Never owned or played gameboy advance, but I've always sort of liked the console/japanese style turn based-RPG; there are some really fantastic games in the genre. PC Gaming >>>> Console Gaming always, but I might have to throw this onto my absurdly long list of games to play eventually (on a PC emulator of course) 
-edit 5/5 ofc
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Was it not in the original? I must be confusing it then with GS:TLA.
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I also played this game a lot. I remember farming xp from the Thunder Lizard thing that takes you to Deadbeard's island, I finally got my guys up to level 99! Then, when Lost Age came out (I played from original release), I imported those lvl 99s to rape face! I only had one GBA though, so what I remember most distinctly is the 3 hrs or so I spent with the code system of data transfer, pouring over thousands of individual characters trying to find the one mistake I made, and rewriting it out all over again when I couldn't find it. Good times.
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On June 13 2012 00:14 Wala.Revolution wrote:
Was it not in the original? I must be confusing it then with GS:TLA.
There weren't any in Lost Age, either... which Djinni are you talking about?
On June 13 2012 00:14 ManicMarine wrote:
I also played this game a lot. I remember farming xp from the Thunder Lizard thing that takes you to Deadbeard's island, I finally got my guys up to level 99! Then, when Lost Age came out (I played from original release), I imported those lvl 99s to rape face! I only had one GBA though, so what I remember most distinctly is the 3 hrs or so I spent with the code system of data transfer, pouring over thousands of individual characters trying to find the one mistake I made, and rewriting it out all over again when I couldn't find it. Good times.
FUCK GOLD PASSWORDS
Seriously.
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On June 13 2012 00:16 Archas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 00:14 ManicMarine wrote:
I also played this game a lot. I remember farming xp from the Thunder Lizard thing that takes you to Deadbeard's island, I finally got my guys up to level 99! Then, when Lost Age came out (I played from original release), I imported those lvl 99s to rape face! I only had one GBA though, so what I remember most distinctly is the 3 hrs or so I spent with the code system of data transfer, pouring over thousands of individual characters trying to find the one mistake I made, and rewriting it out all over again when I couldn't find it. Good times. FUCK GOLD PASSWORDSSeriously.
Agree lol. I still play Golden Sun from time to time, I think I last played through it last July during my mid semester break from uni.
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On June 13 2012 00:14 ManicMarine wrote:
I also played this game a lot. I remember farming xp from the Thunder Lizard thing that takes you to Deadbeard's island, I finally got my guys up to level 99! Then, when Lost Age came out (I played from original release), I imported those lvl 99s to rape face! I only had one GBA though, so what I remember most distinctly is the 3 hrs or so I spent with the code system of data transfer, pouring over thousands of individual characters trying to find the one mistake I made, and rewriting it out all over again when I couldn't find it. Good times.
My thoughts exactly, the number of hours I spent farming that Thunder Lizard, you had to walk through his whirlwind to fight and then leave/re-enter the zone and do it again.
And, copying the code from one game to another. My god that took forever but I was so happy to have done it. The Lost Age if I remember correctly was about 3x as long as the original, I had so much fun with that.
Also the happiness I felt when I beat the Magician ... oh man. Good times. Thanks for the flashback.
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Star Magician is my favorite boss by far, definitely.
But you can't forget... him...
+ Show Spoiler +
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Was seriously nothing missable? I must have wasted hours because I mistook it... or someone telling me.
I also did not have a cable and had to enter the passwords manually. Twice since I restarted later.
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As long as you collected them all in TBS, you could get all the Djinn in TLA. The only missable items are inconsequential items like Herbs and stuff.
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I loved this game so much. I probably shoulda mentioned it in my blog, but this goes hands down as one of the best I've accidentally played. I had some spare money and asked my dad if I could get a game, he said yes. So I was at Best Buy looking for the game I wanted, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So I settled on another cool game called "Golden Sun." I think the only complaint I ever had with that game was waiting for the Lost Age to come out since you know most games don't end halfway through.
My favorite moments were Star Magician, Dullahan, and link battling this kid who got destroyed.
On June 13 2012 00:19 juicy wrote:
My thoughts exactly, the number of hours I spent farming that Thunder Lizard, you had to walk through his whirlwind to fight and then leave/re-enter the zone and do it again.
And, copying the code from one game to another. My god that took forever but I was so happy to have done it. The Lost Age if I remember correctly was about 3x as long as the original, I had so much fun with that.
Also the happiness I felt when I beat the Magician ... oh man. Good times. Thanks for the flashback.
The best place I found to farm was for that one extra boss with the long hallways. You could find wonder birds there which gave you like 10,000 xp each and you can get dark matter too. I used them to level all my characters up to 90.
Oh favorite weapon I got was Excalibur. That had so much potential to do a lot of damage. It was just so hard to make it.
Edit: Just read the memories section, and now that's bringing back so many memories. The summons in the game were incredible, and Judgement was awesome. The ones in Lost Age were great too, I can't remember what it was called but the one with the dragon that consumes the land.
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That game was truly amazing. Played the ever living hell out of it for several years. One of my friends I showed it to is still in the ROM modding community for it.
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This game was like... my addiction for the longest time. I played it throughout middle school thinking how great and wonderful the story was, and how well the puzzles were made for the majority of the game. When the second one game I out, I was even more thrilled. They did such a great job.
Then I heard them making another for the DS. Unfortunately, I wasn't as impressed... Oh well. I would suggest playing the first and second ones as they are wonderful hidden gems in the Nintendo line up.
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On June 13 2012 00:39 Zhou wrote:
This game was like... my addiction for the longest time. I played it throughout middle school thinking how great and wonderful the story was, and how well the puzzles were made for the majority of the game. When the second one game I out, I was even more thrilled. They did such a great job.
Then I heard them making another for the DS. Unfortunately, I wasn't as impressed... Oh well. I would suggest playing the first and second ones as they are wonderful hidden gems in the Nintendo line up.
The third one was not as fun, but it is still a decent game, although not as good as the first 2.
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lvl 99 on all 8 characters took me 58 hrs to complete. i spent way too much time lvling them. 2nd golden sun to clarify
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I still have the Golden Sun VGM playlist on loop every once in a while. Beat GS like 10 times and TLA like 15 times. Best RPG in my heart by miles 
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This game was amazing, i loved it. It was like the only game i found it acceptable to get to the last boss, die a whole bunch because he was significantly harder than anything before (understatement), go back and basically do everything that was not done to 'farm/grind' and come back later.
AND HE WAS STILL F***ING HARD
but beating him was one of the greatest moments ever. :D
The game as a whole was so well done, and the djinn system had some serious depth to it. I had planned rotations for specific scenarios, basically being 'use this sequence to do insane damage. then as they recover do X to stay alive while my stats are bust due to all of them being on cooldown, then use Y rotation to steadily, safely finish the boss fight'
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That game is freaking excellent. Loved it almost as much as I liked Chrono Trigger
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"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!"
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wow i remember this game, spent so many hours on it on the emulator when i was meant to be studying. Was such an awesome game.
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First you cause me to install a N64 emulator, now this. sigh.
<3
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On June 13 2012 02:33 r.Evo wrote:
First you cause me to install a N64 emulator, now this. sigh.
<3
You say it like it's a bad thing.
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On June 13 2012 02:34 Archas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 02:33 r.Evo wrote:
First you cause me to install a N64 emulator, now this. sigh.
<3 You say it like it's a bad thing.
I'm actually gonna check if I find that game somewhere on ebay or something. Playing a GBA game on PC must feel pretty weird. =S
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Both these games were really really good. I beat both of them on my game boy advanced - definately my favorite GBA games ever. These were up there with pokemon red and blue as games that were so good i would break out my gameboy even though there was a perfectly good SNES or N64 sitting right there.
+ Show Spoiler +"the girl at Kolima Crossing giving Isaac a Hard Nut for rescuing her"
lol, i remember seeing that and thinking "wtf?"
What is a good GBA emulator? I own the cartridge, but i'd rather look at a big screen
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Russian Federation748 Posts
I'll never forget the music. Everyone should listen to Venus Lighthouse Theme, Kolyma Forest, Mystical Shaman Village and Isaac Battle Theme, to name only four (the names are not official).
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Ah Golden Sun, played and love this as a kid but before I had internet I got stuck in one of the final towers, had absolutely no idea where to go sigh and never finished it.
Oh and to make it better I lost that save due to my GBA running out of batteries as I was saving and corrupting the data. The day when I learned to dual save, although I'm not sure if that would have made a difference.
Might have to emulate it now, got nostalgic. Think I still have the physical game somewhere but I'm not touching GBA again.
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This was a gameboy advance RPG close to my heart, I remember slaving away beating this and Lost Age trying to hide the gameboy from my parents who caught me playing at like 3 am under the covers.
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I remember being stuck trying to figure out how to finish certain parts of this game for days at a time. The two most memorable, as they were the longest, was when I was stuck on the part of the game at gaia rock and trying to get into Lemuria in lost age. At gaia rock I could see where I needed to go but there wasnt any path there. Apparently I had never gotten that psynergy that reveals hidden ground back at air rock. I think I had progressed as far as you possibly can in that game with out that hidden terrain reveal ability.
As for getting into lemuria I had apparently ignored those little kids telling you how to get into lemuria as they were idiot little kids, how would they know how to get into lemuria? Apparently I was the idiot there.
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Will read over again when i have leisure time
But i fucking LOVED that game. The sequel was good too but not the same
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On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!"
The Lost Age endgame:
+ Show Spoiler +Doom Dragon uses Djinn Storm!
"buh...?"
Doom Dragon uses Outer Space!
"gwaaaaaa?!?"
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Played the first one and loved it when I was little. Somehow I missed the 2nd maybe I had just bought ps2 or something. Despite the hate for 3rd I think it's pretty damn good. Only gripe being the lack of difficulty
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The Golden sun games were some of the best iv ever played, not to forget either the music was so damn good and the story is pretty fantastic. So many happy memories =)
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On June 13 2012 00:09 Archas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 00:08 Wala.Revolution wrote:
Passing by that missable dijinn, and having to re-start and getting very mad at myself for not being careful and mad at the developer (this is one of the things I hate the most about rpgs - permanently missable stuff). ... Huh? There are no missable Djinn. Which one are you talking about?
He's probably thinking of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn where there are a number of permanently missable Djinn.
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On June 13 2012 02:48 TheFish7 wrote:
What is a good GBA emulator? I own the cartridge, but i'd rather look at a big screen
Personally, I'm quite happy with Visual Boy Advance. Keep in mind that the GBA's screen has a tiny resolution, so playing any games in full screen is going to look borderline atrocious.
To me, Golden Sun really felt like "the game that didn't care it was just for GBA". The visuals are pretty amazing, and hell, it doesn't even sound like a GBA game. The music's just awesome, for the most part. My favourite tune would be the one that plays on Crossbone Isle.
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LOVE THIS GAME!!!
Thanks for this blog.
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On June 13 2012 05:40 OlorinTheWise wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 00:09 Archas wrote:On June 13 2012 00:08 Wala.Revolution wrote:
Passing by that missable dijinn, and having to re-start and getting very mad at myself for not being careful and mad at the developer (this is one of the things I hate the most about rpgs - permanently missable stuff). ... Huh? There are no missable Djinn. Which one are you talking about? He's probably thinking of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn where there are a number of permanently missable Djinn.
i thought u can miss dijnns in the first game? guess not
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the only reason I didn't play Golden Sun 2 was because of the fucking password ~_~
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Nothing in the main storylines of any of the 3 Golden Sun games was particularly challenging (Crossbone Isle did get difficult), the backtracking for Djinns and the like was annoying, and they broke the cardinal rule of RPGs in Dark Dawn:
Thou shalt not make things permanently missable without making DAMN SURE the player knows it.
I got Golden Sun when it came out, imported to GS2, and recently picked up DD for $5 at Best Buy (unadvertised one day sales ftw). I can't even bring myself to finish it, I quit playing after a particularly boring scene in which you have to solve 12 single room puzzles in a row to unlock the next set...it's just boring. Though I picked it up again several weeks later, did the Venus Adept Asian Chick's place then stopped again.
The Djinns were just ridiculously overpowered. First turn you can drop 4 stat boosting Djinns, 3 and a healing one 2nd turn, 4 offensive ones 3rd turn, and 3 offensive and a healing followed up by T5 infinity summons. Or you could just cheese it, set all the djinns on your more powerful heroes, spam summon on the first couple turns, then use the huge elemental power you get from summoning to crush face while your healer takes care of you.
With the exception of the very beginning of the games,every normal battle can be won with minimal damage by autoattacking, though GS has the age old annoying ""you will attack thin air if the target dies" mechanic. And the random encounters in the first 2 games are numerous enough to be annoying (DD alleviates it somewhat).
Replaying GS after replaying games like Chrono Trigger and some early Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests makes it just not hold up as well. The things it does better (Graphics, Djinn custom class system) are eclipsed by the sheer mediocrity of everything else.
Ask me 5 or so years ago, and I'd say GS was one of the best games ever, but after playing it in retrospect, it just doesn't hold up for me.
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I think it was in golden sun that I had my first game trap. What I mean is that in the early stages of the game, I, being a not so GS savvy 8 year old, lost all my money healing up my team because I constantly lost fights and didn't know where to go in the game. Thank you Piaget and your Concrete Operational stage of thought . The game was good though, like a harder version of pokemon and digimon combined in a way, with a much more in depth plot line. I know its kind of blasphemous to say, but I enjoyed pokemon more, and GS was just too hard for 8 year old me . I played it on the gameboy SP, so it wasn't the original GS game I believe.
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On June 13 2012 00:16 Archas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 00:14 Wala.Revolution wrote:
Was it not in the original? I must be confusing it then with GS:TLA. There weren't any in Lost Age, either... which Djinni are you talking about? Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 00:14 ManicMarine wrote:
I also played this game a lot. I remember farming xp from the Thunder Lizard thing that takes you to Deadbeard's island, I finally got my guys up to level 99! Then, when Lost Age came out (I played from original release), I imported those lvl 99s to rape face! I only had one GBA though, so what I remember most distinctly is the 3 hrs or so I spent with the code system of data transfer, pouring over thousands of individual characters trying to find the one mistake I made, and rewriting it out all over again when I couldn't find it. Good times. FUCK GOLD PASSWORDSSeriously.
in TLA there are a lot of them hidden in random places on the world map that you cant see
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Yes, but those aren't missable either. The term "missable" in that context refers to an item or entity that will never be collectable if you pass a certain point in the game. All of those overworld Djinn can be found whenever.
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On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!"
Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!
Dullahan uses Charon!
Dullahan uses Charon!
I'm Dullahan and this is my favorite thread on TL
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On June 13 2012 10:09 Dullahan wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!" Dullahan uses Djinn Storm! Dullahan uses Charon! Dullahan uses Charon! I'm Dullahan and this is my favorite thread on TL
Fun fact about you: The three scariest attacks from Dullahan are Charon, Djinn Storm, and Formina Sage. Formina Sage is a mistranslation from the Japanese attack name, "Fulminous Edge". When I learned that, the word "fulminous" became my third favorite word, after "indignation" and "cornobble".
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I never really played the first one but I had over 100 hours in my GS2 game. I believe it was the first RPG that I played untill the very end, I was quite young back then hehe.
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Cool, didn't know that
+ Show Spoiler [Memories] +
Totally agreed on the stuff you mentioned. Also:
-Sailing(/flying) around listening to TLA ship music (and using Hover so that random battles don't interrupt the music)
-Finally meeting up with the original GS cast
-Venus Lighthouse BGM
-Magma Rock BGM
-Mars Lighthouse epicness
-Sheba teasing Jenna about Isaac (also side note, so happy to see Valeshipping canon, though not as happy about the rest of DD)
-Glitching into old GS territory
-Wonder Bird massive XP farming
-Seeing Gaia Sword/Titan Blade and Sol Blade/Megiddo for the first time
-Discovering Flash imba (lol this Flash came first)
-Solving the whirlpool/current puzzle to get into Lemuria
-Gabomba statue
Also gold passwords indeed
P.S. This thread needs some discussions about favorite class setups
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On June 13 2012 10:31 Dullahan wrote:Cool, didn't know that + Show Spoiler [Memories] +
Totally agreed on the stuff you mentioned. Also:
-Sailing(/flying) around listening to TLA ship music (and using Hover so that random battles don't interrupt the music)
-Finally meeting up with the original GS cast
-Venus Lighthouse BGM
-Magma Rock BGM
-Mars Lighthouse epicness
-Sheba teasing Jenna about Isaac (also side note, so happy to see Valeshipping canon, though not as happy about the rest of DD)
-Glitching into old GS territory
-Wonder Bird massive XP farming
-Seeing Gaia Sword/Titan Blade and Sol Blade/Megiddo for the first time
-Discovering Flash imba (lol this Flash came first)
-Solving the whirlpool/current puzzle to get into Lemuria
-Gabomba statue
Also gold passwords indeed
P.S. This thread needs some discussions about favorite class setups
Maybe I'm just a Mia fanboy (I did say I fell in love with her at one point ~_~), but Mudshipping > Valeshipping. Jenna can have Piers or something.
+ Show Spoiler [Right] +
+ Show Spoiler [Wrong] +
+ Show Spoiler [Acceptable] +
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On June 13 2012 07:53 deth2munkies wrote:
Nothing in the main storylines of any of the 3 Golden Sun games was particularly challenging (Crossbone Isle did get difficult), the backtracking for Djinns and the like was annoying, and they broke the cardinal rule of RPGs in Dark Dawn:
Thou shalt not make things permanently missable without making DAMN SURE the player knows it.
I got Golden Sun when it came out, imported to GS2, and recently picked up DD for $5 at Best Buy (unadvertised one day sales ftw). I can't even bring myself to finish it, I quit playing after a particularly boring scene in which you have to solve 12 single room puzzles in a row to unlock the next set...it's just boring. Though I picked it up again several weeks later, did the Venus Adept Asian Chick's place then stopped again.
The Djinns were just ridiculously overpowered. First turn you can drop 4 stat boosting Djinns, 3 and a healing one 2nd turn, 4 offensive ones 3rd turn, and 3 offensive and a healing followed up by T5 infinity summons. Or you could just cheese it, set all the djinns on your more powerful heroes, spam summon on the first couple turns, then use the huge elemental power you get from summoning to crush face while your healer takes care of you.
With the exception of the very beginning of the games,every normal battle can be won with minimal damage by autoattacking, though GS has the age old annoying ""you will attack thin air if the target dies" mechanic. And the random encounters in the first 2 games are numerous enough to be annoying (DD alleviates it somewhat).
Replaying GS after replaying games like Chrono Trigger and some early Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests makes it just not hold up as well. The things it does better (Graphics, Djinn custom class system) are eclipsed by the sheer mediocrity of everything else.
Ask me 5 or so years ago, and I'd say GS was one of the best games ever, but after playing it in retrospect, it just doesn't hold up for me.
True, I wouldn't be that harsh since all the other RPG's for GBA are trash (Well Riviera was better and harder).
Note that I'm not talking about Тurn-based games, I think that's the genre where the GBA shines.
The story was pretty cool too.
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On June 13 2012 10:12 Archas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 10:09 Dullahan wrote:On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!" Dullahan uses Djinn Storm! Dullahan uses Charon! Dullahan uses Charon! I'm Dullahan and this is my favorite thread on TL Fun fact about you: The three scariest attacks from Dullahan are Charon, Djinn Storm, and Formina Sage. Formina Sage is a mistranslation from the Japanese attack name, "Fulminous Edge". When I learned that, the word "fulminous" became my third favorite word, after "indignation" and "cornobble".
"Indignation" being one of your favorite words means I assume you are also a Tales fan?
GS was one of my favorite RPGs when it first came out, and I even played through it again on emulator about a year back. Still one of the best RPGs i've ever played.
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On June 13 2012 11:13 Duskbane wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 10:12 Archas wrote:On June 13 2012 10:09 Dullahan wrote:On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!" Dullahan uses Djinn Storm! Dullahan uses Charon! Dullahan uses Charon! I'm Dullahan and this is my favorite thread on TL Fun fact about you: The three scariest attacks from Dullahan are Charon, Djinn Storm, and Formina Sage. Formina Sage is a mistranslation from the Japanese attack name, "Fulminous Edge". When I learned that, the word "fulminous" became my third favorite word, after "indignation" and "cornobble". "Indignation" being one of your favorite words means I assume you are also a Tales fan?
+ Show Spoiler [You know it!] +
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Favourite RPG on Handheld hands down. Hours and hours and hours of fun with it. It's a shame the sequel on DS couldn't live up to both golden sun and lost age. <3 so many good memories. First time I saw judgement my jaw dropped. Sick animation and damage
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On June 13 2012 11:20 Archas wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 11:13 Duskbane wrote:On June 13 2012 10:12 Archas wrote:On June 13 2012 10:09 Dullahan wrote:On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!" Dullahan uses Djinn Storm! Dullahan uses Charon! Dullahan uses Charon! I'm Dullahan and this is my favorite thread on TL Fun fact about you: The three scariest attacks from Dullahan are Charon, Djinn Storm, and Formina Sage. Formina Sage is a mistranslation from the Japanese attack name, "Fulminous Edge". When I learned that, the word "fulminous" became my third favorite word, after "indignation" and "cornobble". "Indignation" being one of your favorite words means I assume you are also a Tales fan? + Show Spoiler [You know it!] +
OMG you have to tell me the details about this! For what Tales game? What system? How do I get this mod? Does it work? Are there summons and Djinn?
TELL ME
Also, this brings back so many memories. <3 The boss fights, the music (favorite tracks are Saturos theme and Elemental Stars), and just WATCHING THE BATTLES. All the visuals just give you the feel that you really are owning it up with earthquakes and firestorms and shit. I especially loved the mixed djinn summons in GS2, IMO they were just so much more COOL compared to the vanilla summons. Especially shit like Catastrophe, Azul and Iris. YYEEAAHHHH
Oh! I remember, when I was a kid I was stuck on the final boss of GS2 for so long. Literally months spent pounding at the guy, trying to devise a strategy with incomplete djinn sets, horrid equipment (I hadn't even gone to the optional dungeons, that's how crap my equipment was) and my entire party at around level 37. Yes, I remember the exact level lol.
The one time I beat him, he was down to one head. And when DD is down to one head pretty much every other turn he uses his shield or Cruel Ruin. God I hated those two moves. I get him down to one head and my first party is doing good, all of them hurt on HP and PP but still going. Then he busts out his big guns, and blows my first and second party EZPZ. Oh shit! I was literally down to just Garet and I put maybe 2 or 3 summons on him. Literally all I have left is Kite, T2 Jupiter summon, and enough PP for one spell.
I throw the summon and Heat Wave at him and kill him right then and there. YEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-
Time to go to bed!
I didn't even get to watch the endgame cutscene. 
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On June 13 2012 11:59 Thienan567 wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2012 11:20 Archas wrote:On June 13 2012 11:13 Duskbane wrote:On June 13 2012 10:12 Archas wrote:On June 13 2012 10:09 Dullahan wrote:On June 13 2012 02:09 BajaBlood wrote:
"Dullahan uses Djinn Storm!"
"Oh, that doesn't sound good"
...
"Oh, WTF!" Dullahan uses Djinn Storm! Dullahan uses Charon! Dullahan uses Charon! I'm Dullahan and this is my favorite thread on TL Fun fact about you: The three scariest attacks from Dullahan are Charon, Djinn Storm, and Formina Sage. Formina Sage is a mistranslation from the Japanese attack name, "Fulminous Edge". When I learned that, the word "fulminous" became my third favorite word, after "indignation" and "cornobble". "Indignation" being one of your favorite words means I assume you are also a Tales fan? + Show Spoiler [You know it!] + OMG you have to tell me the details about this! For what Tales game? What system? How do I get this mod? Does it work? Are there summons and Djinn? TELL ME
Unfortunately, this is just some very skillfully done fanart. :/ I WISH it was real, I really do.
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Wasn't disappointed when I came in.
I loved this game so much, just replayed TLA last month. Thinking of replaying GS1.
... >_>
... <_<
/wants some Isaac/Feizhi fanfiction, I refuse to accept Isaac/Jenna.
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Golden Sun is awesome. I remember entering that password, twice, because I typed it wrong the first time. I remember trying to stay as low level as possible in the first Golden Sun (~27) then porting my characters over, and then beating my friend with my party when her characters are almost 20 levels higher. I could beat her when she used summons, I can't beat her if I also had to use summons (we ended up doing a summon-only fight too). I remember putting my characters in this get-up that let Mia use Wish every turn, forever. Also, Alex is very good looking.
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Feizhi? Never seen that one before, though I guess it's logical given what happened at Champa.
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Omg I love this game.
Thank you.
EDIT: This
… finally collecting the Muramasa in Crossbone Isle level 9 for the first time
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There's a -shipping name for Isaac/Feizhi, forgot what though.
also, forever a Mudshipper/Flameshipper/Windshipper, and I refuse to call Picard 'Piers'.
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Oh my god I loved these games. I downloaded DD and I'm going to try playing it tomorrow. Hopefully its good, but I haven't heard exactly positive reviews..As for the first GS, I absolutely loved it. Great story, great characters that you grew attached to, amazing music.
GS2, however, was not as great for me. Sure it finished the story, but I didn't feel the same type of attachment to the characters. You were with a completely different group that you knew nothing about, and the developers sort of just...threw you into the middle of it. I did enjoy the ending of the series though.
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On June 13 2012 14:44 coZy wrote:
Oh my god I loved these games. I downloaded DD and I'm going to try playing it tomorrow. Hopefully its good, but I haven't heard exactly positive reviews..As for the first GS, I absolutely loved it. Great story, great characters that you grew attached to, amazing music.
GS2, however, was not as great for me. Sure it finished the story, but I didn't feel the same type of attachment to the characters. You were with a completely different group that you knew nothing about, and the developers sort of just...threw you into the middle of it. I did enjoy the ending of the series though.
DD tbh just felt like carbon copy of TLA with better graphics and a worse story, which was a little underwhelming (I was hoping at least for new class combinations or at least MINOR tweaks to the gameplay...) BTW, there are a TON of perma-miss items (IIRC there are 3 seperate points-of-no-return) so if you're a completionist, be careful!
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On June 13 2012 13:50 DoNotDisturb wrote:
There's a -shipping name for Isaac/Feizhi, forgot what though.
also, forever a Mudshipper/Flameshipper/Windshipper, and I refuse to call Picard 'Piers'.
Weirdshipping, apparently because both Feizhi and Isaac have "weird" powers. Great name. >_>
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Oh man i forgot about golden sun. That game was so awesome.
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SICK BLOG. Haven't played dark dawn but GS and GS:TLA were fukin awesome.
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I have played all 3 of the Golden Sun games, great games even if the last one is a little lackluster.
I'v completed 1 and 2 like 3 times
Golden Sun and Advance Wars are the gameboy advance games I would most like to see a sequel to
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I LOVED THIS GAME!!! well i only played the second harvest moon then i went back to play the first one. I spent so many hours on it. I remember using psy energy in the beginning to get my first djinn in that rocky mountain place. I think you had to grow vines or something like that. I remembering being like in 6th grade playing on my aunt's leather couch in the summer while waiting for the afternoon to swim. Man good times.
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simply the best gameboy games i have ever played. good memories...
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oh my god...i remember this... i used to play this when i was in primary school. I remember beating the doom dragon at least once everyday til i went to highschool xd, Sadly the new ones does not really resemble the epicess of its previous games, was expecting a bit more after all those years :/
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Great game! The story in this game is amazing and the landscape keeps changing so often. Love the discovery aspect of this game.
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The "class" system was so awesome!
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Pretty much anything with Motoi Sakuraba music in it is good.
Tales of Phantasia had Sakuraba himself in the game though.
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I have a special place in my heart for this game. I spent uncountable hours on my Game Boy Advance as a kid splaying the shit out of this game. Time well spent IMO ! This is a classic.
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Oh man, I thought "just maybe" looking at the title of the blog. Wow, this brings back memories. I lost SO much of my life and GBA battery power to Golden Sun. I almost got a DS just for GS3 when it was finally released but after reading the reviews I just couldn't bring myself to tarnish such an epic series.
I lived outside of Philly, 2x every year we went as a family to visit my grandparents out in Ohio. I got GS for my birthday and had it for the trip that Spring. I made it a fucking point to always playthrough another time, it was so much fun, even after the 10th time. Thanks, really put me in a good spot today, and I'm making a point to find my GBA so I can play that bad boy again. I don't usually rate blogs, but when I do it's worth every star.
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On June 15 2012 08:26 Badfatpanda wrote:
I lost SO much of my life to Golden Sun.
No, you didn't.
YOU ENJOYED EVERY GODDAMN MINUTE.
Don't you think it's better to see those hours of your life as hours spent instead of lost?
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These games are some of the best games made for GBA. So fun.
I've recently picked up Dark Dawn but haven't really gotten into it as much. Dunno why. ;__;
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I know there's a lot of love for Golden Sun, but to me the combat system was really, really repetitive and the story was annoying in it's badness. I finished it mostly because I liked the puzzles.
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On June 15 2012 09:16 UniversalSnip wrote:
I know there's a lot of love for Golden Sun, but to me the combat system was really, really repetitive and the story was annoying in it's badness. I finished it mostly because I liked the puzzles.
I realize a lot of it is rose-tinted glasses, and that Golden Sun is not OMFGBESTGAMEEVER. However, it set a huge milestone in what was capable on a portable device, and since a lot of us grew up playing the game, it's secured a place in our hearts. Yeah, it's a cliché story and a repetitive battle system, but that's standard for turn-based RPGs.
There's just something about Mary Isaac...
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reunion with Isaac's team in TLA, sick.
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Around 8-9 year ago I installed an emulator onto my windows to play game boy games. The only game I downloaded was Golden Sun in French. I somehow managed to beat the entire game in french without even knowing what my combat moves were, let alone the problem solving parts that required a basic literacy level. I would just select 4 djinni at a time and use the racine attack and wait for it to recharge. It was fucking pain in the ass but when I came out victorious I was like "Vive le france!!!!"
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On June 14 2012 09:09 Ramong wrote:I have played all 3 of the Golden Sun games, great games even if the last one is a little lackluster. I'v completed 1 and 2 like 3 times Golden Sun and Advance Wars are the gameboy advance games I would most like to see a sequel to
Um, Advance Wars has plenty of sequels...
GBA: AW -> AW2
DS: AWDS, AW Days of Ruin
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