Golden Sun

Voices of: N/A
Developer: Camelot Software Planning
Publisher: Nintendo
Directed by: Shugo Takahashi
Rating: E
Genre: Role-playing
System: Game Boy Advance
2001

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: A group of teenagers embark on a dangerous journey to save a childhood friend from two powerful magic users, who want to restore Alchemy to the world.

Review:
Tim: I never played Golden Sun in my youth (I was 19 when it was released), so I didn't approach the game with any nostalgia at all. I found it an effective and entertaining RPG, a game that felt like a true throwback to games I did play as a kid. Although I had some issues with it, I'm still a big fan. I enjoyed the story, the twists and turns, and seeing the characters develop as the game progressed. I do think this is a stalwart RPG that every fan should play.

The story itself is interesting- it has a good deal of complexity for a game on a handheld device. I admit, I didn't get fully sucked into the world of Alchemy, Adepts, the Lighthouses, and some of the other lore. It was always interesting, but never really compelling. Some of this has to do with the writing, which is pretty terrible. It feels like there's a ton of dialogue in this game, and it's not especially well-written. I recognize I'm looking at this from a 40+ year old lens, but the dialogue could be crushingly boring and extensive. So, I enjoyed the overall story, but I never felt any emotional connection with anything happening on screen. Still, I admit there's a lot of worldbuilding, and I give the game credit for that.

I mostly liked the characters. The protagonist is Isaac, a quiet young man who feels like the prototypical RPG lead. His best friend is Garet, a tough bruiser. Along the way, they meet Ivan, a young but potentially powerful magic wielder, and Mia, who also wields magic. For much of the game, I had Isaac be my primary healer, Garet slogged through enemies with his weapons, Ivan and Mia relied on magic. As the game increased in difficulty towards the end, I did switch Mia to primary healer, with her Wish spells kept my team alive. I mostly enjoyed these characters. They did all have different personalities, although there's not a lot of depth to them. It was fun to see their story progress as you played the game. I must admit, it was more of the supporting characters that I had a harder time keeping track of. Sure, I knew Jenna, but the various antagonists, Alex and Felix- I could never quite keep those people straight. We don't spend enough time with them, so I often had to remind myself who they were and what their deal was. It's funny, for a game that throws so much dialogue, it's not good enough to really pull you into the story.

The turn-based battle system felt incredibly familiar- I've played so many games that used this exact system, so it was incredibly easy to pick up. The battles felt fun. In the game, I did occasionally do some amount of level grinding, but this was kept to a minimum. I mostly progressed the game, and only once in a while would I fight for periods to increase my strength. The one unique aspect of this game was the Djinn that you can collect. They power your magic and give the players new abilities. There's 28 total Djinn, and I collected 26 of them. One of the cool things is that the game requires you to use your Djinn powers outside of battle, too. That was one of the more interesting aspects of the game- you play through multiple dungeons and each throws a series of puzzles at you. These are often clever and entertaining to solve. I had genuine fun with them. However, several of them are incredibly challenging- mostly this is when you are required to use some Djinn power that the game never really tells you about. I admit, I mostly looked at online guides during these moments. I'm too old to do the trial-and-error thing for multiple hours. Some of the puzzles were pretty tough, but overall, they are pretty fun to do. This keeps you always somewhat engaged in the game- you toggle between the turn-based battles, and then do dungeon crawling puzzles along the way, ultimately leading to boss battles. The bosses were typically not overly challenging, and pretty fun. Deadbeard was absolutely the toughest- I had to use a weird strategy that basically had Isaac and Garet making the party's defense get raised significantly, and then attacking with Ivan and Mia. It took forever. The final boss was entertaining and I liked the challenge. Side note- I messed up the password afterwards, so I actually had to defeat the final boss twice. That was a little annoying, to redo that battle, but it felt much easier the second time. All of this, the whole game, is well designed by Camelot Software and generally fun.

The visuals for the game are solid- obviously, there were some limitations based on the Game Boy Advance graphics, but the game really leverages the power of the system for an impressive visual game. The colors, the design of the characters and the world are all well-done. This is a game that definitely feels like it pushes the boundaries of the system. That's a worthwhile note- I felt quite impressed at the length and the complexity of this game, knowing it was designed for a handheld system. Camelot really put a lot into the design of this game and it feels like a true, legitimate RPG.

The other cool thing about this game is that it's not a complete story- the game ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, perfectly setting up the sequel. I'm trying to remember if I've seen this in an RPG before- a game that isn't a complete story, but legitimately, just the first half. That might be frustrating to some, but I think it's extraordinarily cool. I'm so curious to see how the story finally ends. Now, I do need a break from this game, so it'll be some time before I play the sequel, but it's an impressive feat- one large story, split between two GBA games. Side note- the password at the end is crazy. I read you need it to carry your items and Djinn forward to the sequel, but that's why I included all those stupid pictures here- I don't want to lose that extensive password!

In the game, I got Isaac to Level 31. His Experience was 140,857. HP- 469. PP- 121. Attack- 370. Defense- 211. Agility- 219. Luck- 13. Garet was Level 31. Ivan and Mia were Level 30. I collected 6 Earth Djinn, 7 Fire, 7 Wind, and 6 Water. I ended the game with 88,190 coins.

Golden Sun is well worth playing. Sure, it has bad dialogue and other limitations based on the period in which it was released. However, it's a substantial RPG for the Game Boy Advance, and a game I enjoyed playing.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Earthbound, Legend of Mana