Reviews from

in the past


Monster catching mechanics, elemental spells, and traditional fantasy elements make a pretty appealing JRPG separately, but combined is truly something special. The battle scenes are also perfect on the GBA. Still cool to watch over 20 years later

What if the mario golf guys created a jrpg?

Golden sun

I wasn't too interested in the story, but as an RPG, this is very good. There seems to be a whole shit ton of depth here that I wasn't really interacting with, like the different classes from the different djinni load-outs, but I'm fine with how I played through it. Going through dungeons and Lighthouses were very fun.

7/10

This review contains spoilers

Lo mejor del juego es el sistema de combate, el diseño de las mazmorras y los gráficos pixel art son muy buenos y cuentan con buenas animaciones
Lo que no me ha gustado del juego es la historia, los personajes (tanto protagonistas y villanos) y la poca dificultad de los combates

El sistema de combate es más dinámico que los típicos juegos con combates por turnos, ya que puedes hacer invocaciones que no gastan puntos mágicos y los ataques mágicos también son útiles y lo bueno es que recuperas bastantes puntos mágicos caminando, y los ataques normales no gastan mana, pero hacen un daño respetable. Así que uno puede avanzar por el juego tranquilamente sin tener que estar pendiente de ir a la posada para recuperarse.
Lo que me hubiera gustado es más profundidad en el combate, ya que los personajes solo tienen 6 estadísticas salud, puntos de magia, ataque, defensa, velocidad y suerte, no hay cosas como separación entre defensas físicas y mágicas, o debilidades o resistencias a disitintos elementos. Puedes cambiar las habilidades mágicas que tienen los protagonistas alternando entre distintas combinaciones de Djin (son las criaturas que sirven para poder hacer invocaciones) pero el juego se me hizo tan fácil que no tuve que cambiar mi estrategia en ningún momento. Lo bueno es que no hay subidas bruscas de nivel que hagan falta farmear.

El diseño de las mazmorras se siente muy interactivo ya que en muchos hay puzles y muchos de esos puzles se resuelven con la magia que desbloqueas poco a poco conforme avanzas en la aventura. Porque muchos otros juegos las mazmorras son solo laberintos que tienes que llegar al fondo para pasarla, pero en este juego no son largas, y suelen contar con diferentes mecánicas en muchas mazmorras y con los puzles no se hacen aburridas.

Los gráficos me han sorprendido porque a pesar de ser un juego de game boy advance cuenta con un pixel art realmente bueno, detallado y colorido, y las animaciones sobre todo para las invocaciones de nivel 3 o 4 y algunos ataques mágicos son muy vistosos y espectaculares

Sobre la historia me ha decepcionado, porque el juego empieza bien con un día bastante trágico que viven los protagonistas y un time skip donde se ve que han estado entrenando para fortalecerse. Pero desde el primer santuario empieza a empeorar bastante como que los villanos huyan despavoridos por miedo de un guardián que es buena gente y solo tiene intenciones de ayudar, así que los villanos desde allí ya dejan de dar respeto y miedo, y solo ves a los villanos dos veces mas en el juego, la siguiente vez los derrotas sin complicaciones y tienen que huir, y la ultima ya es justo al final del juego (aquí hacen algo bien porque en las dos ciudades que hay antes de eso ves como los villanos han estado atacando a guardias, que en el resto del juego no ves ninguna cosa que han hecho los malos mientras les sigues) que los vuelves a derrotar y se vuelven a escapar. Y el final del juego no es auto conclusivo, si quieres ver como termina esta aventura tienes que jugar a la secuela, por eso los villanos se escapan al final.
Pero mi mayor problema con la historia es el desarrollo de la misma, porque los protagonistas saben desde un principio que su misión es ir a los 4 faros para detener a los malos y rescatar a su amiga y al señor mayor que han sido secuestrados, pero como no saben dónde están los faros, lo que hacen durante todo el juego es ir de pueblo en pueblo ayudando a la gente (incluso cuando les dicen que no les ayuden) y por casualidad se encuentran con el primer faro, ya que van a un pueblo donde hay un montón de personas enfermas, encuentran la curandera que utiliza psicoenergía y los protas la siguen para preguntarle como sabe y terminan llegando al primer faro y por casualidad pasa todo lo que ocurre en el juego. Da igual que hables con todos los npcs nadie va a decirte que cerca hay un faro o que han visto a un grupo de personas sospechosas como al que estas siguiendo. Los objetos que consigues en los pueblos para que te ayuden a avanzar son por salvarlos, pero no porque hay un bloqueo en el camino y ellos se tienen que desviar para conseguir algo que les permita superar ese bloqueo. El desarrollo del juego me ha parecido el siguiente, vas a un pueblo, ayudas a alguien, consigues un objeto que te sirve para la siguiente zona y a repetir. Como ya he dicho antes solo ves el caos que están causando los villanos en las dos ultimas ciudades, que es justo al final del juego, durante todo el juego parece que no existen. Por ejemplo hay un dialogo entre los protas justo después de derrotar al jefe final que es el siguiente:
-Iván: ¿Qué podemos hacer ahora?
- Mia: ¿Qué pasa con Nadia?
- Garret: ¡Es verdad! Me había olvidado completamente de Nadia
En el juego te pasas más rato haciendo turismo y ayudando a la gente que pensando en tu misión de rescatar a Nadia y salvar el mundo.
Los protagonistas no son nada carismáticos, el más carismático es Garret y es porque es el tonto del grupo, los otros son personas educadas que siempre ayudan a los demás, me he pasado el juego y no sé que como describirlos porque no han mostrado prácticamente nada de su personalidad. Luego tampoco es que se relacionen entre ellos, por ejemplo cuando se une Iván al grupo tiene sentido que no haya diálogos de Hans o Garret explicándole que misión tienen o como se conocieron porque Iván puede leer la mente y se las lee, pero cuando se une Mia no hay ni un solo dialogo explicándole esas cosas, además de que resulta de que en el grupo de los villanos hay una persona que resulta ser el hermano de Mia, y eso es lo único que se de esa persona porque del mismo modo que Mia no pregunta que quien es Nadia y porque siguen a los malos, Mia no explica que cuando fue la ultima vez que vio a Alex o porque cree que esta ayudando a los malos. Pero no es porque el juego no quiera soltar esos rollos porque por ejemplo cuando rescatas a Hammet te sueltan un rollo sobre Dodonpa y luego sobre un mercader que había ido a esa ciudad porque noseque consejo de su maestro, noseque de una carretilla y noseque excusa estúpida de que no puedo ir por el camino secreto. Lo mismo sobre Babi soltando sermones o sobre el padre de Sore que lo poco que aparece habla mas que las conversaciones que tienen los protagonistas. Y sobre Sore resulta que pasa a ser un npc que esta escondida en el castillo de Babi, que si no exploras todo el castillo no la ves, a un personaje muy importante porque tiene poderes y esta toda una ciudad preocupada de ella. Hay cosas que me han dado mucha pereza en este juego.

Como conclusión diría que este juego es una mezcla entre los primeros final fantasy por su sistema de combate y exploración, y los juegos de zeldas por tener mazmorras con puzles. Si te gustan los juegos con un sistema de combates con turnos entretenidos y mazmorras con puzles puede que te guste, aunque su historia a mi no me haya gustado.


Great game, one of the best RPGs on the GBA. Didn't manage to get past the final boss and have lost the cartridge. May replay it in the future.


A lightning strike. A scared town. A friend in peril. A mysterious duo. A tragedy.

Golden Sun quite literally opens up with a bang in the prolouge I've just summarized. It's also an interesting way to give you a bit of time to see what the basic gameplay is like such as inventory management, moving around, combat and the like.

GAMEPLAY

GS is an RPG meaning it follows a lot of gameplay tropes such as; a large overworld map, dungeouns and settlements being explorable and generally being a road trip kind of story. However, what it does do to stand out from the rest is relying on puzzles as a major component of the gameplay. During even the most simple of caves, you'll find a puzzle you can solve and these usually have 3 types. One is just progression, getting from point A to a new room. Second is creating a shortcut for easier traversal later on (these 2 are usually linked or the latter being optional). Third is accessing hidden treasures and other goodies. This is also where the majority of the replay value and general sense of completion comes from. I highly encourage new players to complete as many dungeouns as they can find, not just for completion purposes but also because that's where the best gear in the game is, and also finding hidden Djinn to aid you. You must be wondering what Djinn are I assume.

DJINN AND CLASS SYSTEM

Once you leave your hometown of Vale to set out on an epic journey, the first thing you'll encounter is an odd looking creature. This cute little fella is named Flint and is a Venus Djinni. Djinn are essentially the embodiment of the four main elemental energies in the world; Venus (earth), Mercury (water and ice), Mars (fire), and Jupiter (wind and electricity).
Once you acquire a certain number of Djinn you'll gain access to new or more powerful versions of your current abilities. For example you can have Diamond Dust turn into Diamond Berg or Ragnarok turn into Odyssey. Setting them and putting them on standby also affects your stats with their own trade offs. Once you acquire all 4 party members, you're most likely gonna put corresponding Djinn type to their user; Jupiter adepts are gonna have Jupiter Djinn i.e. Now while that is a solid strategy that still lets you experiment with Psynergy, the true depth lies with mixing and matching them. For example Isaac has the Slayer class when he has all Venus Djinn set, but you can also make him Swordsman if you put 1 Venus and the rest Mercury Djinn or a Ninja with 4 Mars and 5 Jupiter Djinn. The point is you're free to experiment however you like, you can have the party all be half-healers half-attackers or make every member specialized, a healer, an enfeebler, a tank etc. And one extra thing to note is that, every Djinn comes with an inherent ability of their own; Flint is a good attack Djinni, Flash reduces damage you take etc. Once you use them you can either set them to regain your stats or you can use for summoning.

SUMMONING

Once you use a Djinni, you'll see a new tab in the battle UI. This is called summoning which gives you a secondary use for Djinn once you've used them. And just like classes, they get more powerful the more Djinn you have. Ranging from just 1 Djinni which is just pure elemental attack all the way to 4 Djinn which allows you to call upon the might of gods like Boreas (god of the north wind) and Judgment (the might of the apocalypse). These are not only the most powerful moves in the game, but they also give you a buff for that
corresponding element you used; wind based summons will make your wind psynergy stronger i.e. Your Djinn will be in recovery mode after this however, rendering them unusable and unable to give you any stat buffs, so be wary of when exactly you want to use them.

WORLBUILDING AND LORE

The continent of Angara is filled to the brim with towns, villages and other structures you can explore and discover interesting tidbits about. Every town has a small backstory to it and a current event taking place in it. Mount Aleph has been the home of Elemental Stars, Imil has a healing water spring, Lamakan Desert is an infamously hot desert that has mirages you have to brave through etc.
My favorite part about the world as a whole is how connected and alive it feels, no two places are alike and yet they none of them feel alien. This feeling is further emphasized by how the story is essentialy a road trip with some anime vibes sprinkled on it.

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, is pure goodness, with variety in theming and instruments. Some of my favorite tracks being Elemental Stars, Isaac/Saturos' Battle, Hopelesness, The Angarian Journey, The First Book, and the best one of them all, Venus Lighthouse. It has tracks for every kind of mood you can imagine; happy tunes, adventurous, imposing and mysterious. Highly recommend trying out these tracks, great and catchy melodies.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I've been trying to get into the RPG genre for the longest time, but to little success which led me to having this as my least favorite genre. After playing Golden Sun however, I can confidently say it changed my view completely. This game is, as quite a few people said including myself, the perfect introductory game. It covers the familiar tropes while also having original takes on it's own. Whether you've been wanting to get into the genre or are a seasoned RPG veteran, this will be a great journey to experience. And with that, I give this game an 8.5 out of 10.

I need more people to play this....

Few quirks aside, this is classic 2001 JRPG gaming that holds up two decades later. Cannot wait to dive into the next games in the series.

The most nothing RPG ever created. It's like if a group of demigods got together and pooled together their creation powers with one goal in mind: creating the most pointless RPG of all time

Golden Sun was such a huge part of my childhood, and after not touching it for many years, I'm really happy I was able to come back and still really enjoy it.

Golden Sun's class and Djinn system is easily the game's greatest strength. There's so many different builds to experiment with for each playable character, and since it is so easy to swap classes, you have basically the entire game to experiment and find a style you like. Even once you've picked a class, you need to think about whether to use the Djinn in battle since their abilities are very powerful but come at the cost of your character's stats. Golden Sun isn't very difficult, so just about everything is viable and it's up to the player to decide what they enjoy most.

I wish there wasn't as much backtracking, and I wish the cast of characters were more interesting and memorable. I also found the dialogue to be pretty jank at times, especially since Isaac can only ever react with a 'yes' or 'no'. Overall, Golden Sun is a flawed but great JRPG and I'm really glad I can still enjoy it today. Onto The Lost Age!

This review contains spoilers

There's just something about Camelot games for me. It's probably mostly Sakuraba's music, but the characters and story of Golden Sun totally won me over as a child, and the combat + class mechanics centered around Djinn were so refreshing and interesting. I wanted to know every little secret about Golden Sun, and spent many hours just roaming around the map to make sure I had found them all. I convinced my entire friend group to get the game, and finishing the Deadbeard fight with my friends looking on is one of my fondest gaming memories.

I can't leave this review without mentioning one of the most effective cliffhangers of all time. Seeing that "To Be Continued" made my heart drop, and the wait for The Lost Age to come out was a LONG one.

Cosas de las que no te das cuenta cuando eres pequeño: Tolbi es un estado fascista y pocas cosas me cabrean tanto como que tengamos que ayudar al puto Babi a prolongar su dictadura otros 150 años solo porque nos regala un barco.

First part of the duology, Golden Sun takes everything Camelot did in previous years and takes it to the extreme, before they had been relegated to mario sports games.

Golden Sun is a wonderfully presented game; visuals are phenomenal, with charming and colorful sprites filling the rich world of Weyard. The music by Sakuraba is at time soothing, at times imposing, at times inspiring, always perfect for the occasion. The Lost Age will come up next, taking everything the first Golden Sun did and cranking it up to eleven.

Just use a guide for the djinn, I honestly had no idea where half of them were. Puzzles are fun and so is character building, but I will not leave one of those critters behind.

This was such a good game. I think about it frequently.

Golden Sun (2001): Es imposible ver con buenos ojos un juego que es casi el 50 % relleno. Por lo demás, aunque el combate es agradable (sin ser ninguna revolución), la historia es insulsa, con unos personajes completamente olvidables. No es espantoso, pero esperaba más (5,95)

Gbakino at its finest. I love the class system being so in depth and pointless because the game is so easy going monoelemental is still extremely viable. The story here is nice and simple, no bullshit. The gameplay is amazing, “what if everyone was the mage” is such a good idea. The battle scenes are absolutely kino, and i only wish the overworld reflected how good this game can look.

good bye mother i have touched the elemental stars

Tenho um carinho especial por Golden Sun por ter sido o meu primeiro jrpg que zerei

Great pixelart, great use of Djiini for magic and classes, decent pacing, optional things not made very obvious. The game ends with a huge cliffhanger tying directly into the sequel, and the ability to carry over items and stats with save data is a cool feature.

on my replay, it is still my favorite combat system of any rpg i’ve played. finally going to start lost age now, and i’m really excited. i adore golden sun i couldn’t recommend it more.

ごく普通のRPGでストレスもないけど、日本語の会話ダイアログに違和感ある。

Solid and compact RPG experience and a good recommendation title for a first-timer looking to explore the genre.

Pros: Combat, Class system, Mixing and matching Djinn, Atmosphere, Set pieces (i.e. Colosso Tournament), Overall level of exploration, Mind read

Cons: On the easier side, Story, Bland party members

Pretty stellar RPG with unique mechanics using the djinn through the game. Much of the issues around this game that I had were some late game grinding required for the final boss. Other than that, fantastic game for any GBA collection.

I like this game a decent amount. I like the gameplay somewhat, the look of the game and the music. However, sometimes the battles can be a bit frustrating because there are a lot of moves the enemies can use that are one-hit. I also don't like the way it does magic. It's a fun game overall, though.

The first of the original Duology, Golden Sun pushes the GBA to its limits. Everything in the game moves very fluidly, and Motoi Sakuraba makes the GBA create sounds I didn't even know were possible with his progressive rock-inspired soundtrack. The Djinn class system can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get a handle on it it is easily one of my favorite overall combat systems in a turn-based RPG.

The primary thing that holds Golden Sun back is its writing. The plot overall is alright (and keep in mind this is only half of it), but the dialogue is very long-winded, often repeats itself, and just generally slows the game to a crawl. I have a relatively high tolerance for this type of thing--especially since it is not voice acted--but if constant, drawn-out cutscenes are a dealbreaker for you, you may want to look elsewhere.


One of the best JRPGS ever :) Hard af tho :D

Une belle aventure, des graphismes très cool pour de la GBA, de très bonnes animations, une histoire bien amenée, et CETTE BANDE SON 😍

Toutefois un "défaut" (mais c'est ma faute) : je cherchais très souvent quoi faire/où aller...

mais le jeu était top

Favorite RPG on the Gameboy Advance.

It’s almost impressive how these games manage to have 5x the amount of dialogue of other games and yet have absolutely none of it be interesting in any way.