Golden Sun

released on Aug 01, 2001

RPG from the makers of Shining Force, featuring an adventure filled with tried-and-true overhead-wandering, random-battle gameplay that looks absolutely sweet on the Game Boy Advance small screen...in fact, this game arguably rivals most of the classic RPGs that have ended up on the console systems, like Dragon Warrior or the aforementioned Final Fantasy series, for example. You play Isaac, a young swordsman and resident of the town of Vale, and at the beginning of the adventure a storm is brewing outside that forces Isaac to flee to safety. But every virtual adventurer knows that it's never as simple as that, and eventually you're thrust into the role of the world's savior, befriending other skilled adventurers that will join your crusade...there's strength in numbers, as the phrase goes.


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Muy entretenido, la música es top tier.

This one took time to grow on me. If someone played this like a standard rpg, I think they may be bored to tears. The main cast mostly has nothing going on. Like there's enough there to distinguish them, but outside of that they're more like lightly toasted white bread. What makes it for me is the sense of world. It feels like this place has stuff going on. Little rivalries and discussions amongst the towns and cities. The characters acknowledge you when you come back home and they respond to changes in the world. The puzzles seem like they're working towards something more. Feels like they're figuring it out, but I like how psynergy is grounded in interactions with the environment. Like the fact that you can read everyone's mind is fantastic.

Outside of that the combat initially felt very standard rpg, but when the tough battles came the djinn really shined. You need to balance the stat drops it takes to use them while prepping summons, while also making sure you don't take too many that important psynergies drop off. When it works, it really works, but unfortunately it was just for a handful of good bosses. Outside of that it's the general standard rpg encounter affairs. This didn't grate on me though, mostly because I'm playing it the way it was originally intended, while commuting to work and on my lunch breaks. When taken in small chunks, it's a very cozy game. I can't remember, but someone said something similar of DQ11. This is one of those that should be taken piecemeal and casually. I'm very excited to finally give Lost Age a shot. According to everyone that's where this series really shines and if it's anything like this, it should be great.

The game overall had a really beautiful story with great character development. The only thing that I thought was a bit of a drawback was that one to two bosses were really difficult to conquer and the characters needed nearly 10 levels more to conquer them.

This review contains spoilers

Overall, I really enjoyed my journey in the first part. The use of puzzle elements and graphics is really exceptional for its time. The battle theme is now living rent free in my head^^ In my opinion, the Colosseum was the best arc. The use of Psynergy to find a way to win the tournament was really engaging and fun. I finished the optional Dungeon for the first time to beat the tough pirate boss. The only gripes I have is the slow beginning and the Djinn structure in comparison to the sequel. I really liked the revisit of the hometown to see the comments of some family members on the party's progression.

I appreciate what it's going for, the idea of the elements and having Psynergy that manifests in puzzles outside of battle. Combat was rough, luckily I had a turbo mode button...
The final boss took me over a year to beat, as you can see. I even used tons of save states, but he was just so tanky