Support NeoGAF

[RPG_Fanatic]

Got this game for Christmas, and I've put a few hours in. Still the same old Golden Sun I love. I like the new emotion system, since we get more reactions now.

Taking a break while my DS charges.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

I'm liking this game. Most of the stuff I enjoy about Golden Sun so for now I'm good.

Got the game, been playing for a bit. Totally disapointed at the moment. The whole begining sequence was one of the worst I've seen. Tyrell is a douche, Isaac is a douche, Garet is a douche, and I bet if Matthew could speak, he'd be a douche.

Battles are easy peasy, and puzzles are alright at the moment, I'm sure they'll get good in a bit. But god damn is the story lame as shit.

The first hour or two is pretty damn horrible. I don't remember either of the first two having pacing this bad, but it's been a while since I've played either so eh. One of the worst things was when they were about to explain something (think it was Djinn?) and asked if I already knew about it, to which I said yes, and they did the whole damn explanation anyway. I got so pissed off. :lol

If it's because it's been like six years since The Lost Age and they think hardly anyone remembers how GS works, then I really hope they're faster about getting out a sequel to this (assuming it needs one, no idea yet).

 

[btkadams]

im getting this game either tomorrow or later this coming week. i know there is points you reach where specific djinn become unavailable. would it be worth it to pick up the official strategy guide in store? its like 17 on amazon and prob not much more in stores. i'm going on a trip next sat so i won't be able to order online without paying way more for shipping fast.

 

[CoolS]

I'm raging right now. I missed ONE FUCKING Djinn, and while the game did tell me I might not be able to return, in my guide it wasn't marked as a point of no return. Good god, I'm 16 hours in and feel like starting over again just because of that one Djinn. But I'd probably never finish the game if I start over .

Just to make sure, can I go back to Harapa even though I already made it over that cloud passage thing?

Absolutely sure, I've tried The worst thing is the game doesn't really warn you either, once you've unwittingly triggered an event that's it, there's so going back. Funny thing is the one time the game does warn you, it's for a point you can actually go back to later on :lol Well, most of said area anyway.

Please tell me you are talking about the cloud part

 

[vodka-bull]

I'm raging right now. I missed ONE FUCKING Djinn, and while the game did tell me I might not be able to return, in my guide it wasn't marked as a point of no return. Good god, I'm 16 hours in and feel like starting over again just because of that one Djinn. But I'd probably never finish the game if I start over .

Just to make sure, can I go back to Harapa even though I already made it over that cloud passage thing?

Yes you can, but it will take a while. But there's one venus djinn you can't get later though, and that's the one in Harapa.

I also missed a summon before the first point of no return. That's the only thing that's bugging me, those damn points of no return. Apart from that everything's perfect with dark dawn.

 

[CoolS]

Yes you can, but it will take a while. But there's one venus djinn you can't get later though, and that's the one in Harapa.

I also missed a summon before the first point of no return. That's the only thing that's bugging me, those damn points of no return. Apart from that everything's perfect with dark dawn.

So I can go back to harapa but not get the Djinn? How can I go back?

 

[kobashi100]

I am currently at Barai Temple. Just gone through the waterfall and need to get to the door in the north. I can move the blocks directly beneath the door but how do I get on the blocks so I can walk through?

 

[vodka-bull]

So I can go back to harapa but not get the Djinn? How can I go back?

Later in the game you'll

Spoiler

get a ship

 

[Ricker]

I don`t mind missing Djinn`s,I know of 2 as of now that where staring me right in the face but I couldn`t figure out how to get them, so I moved on :lol ...especially the one in Harappa I think,that`s on a little ledge outside a house,with little streams of water and those nenuphars on the water(green leaves),there`s a guy sitting in front of one of those leaves you could jump on to go pick him up but he doesn`t want to move...I thought using Douse,making it rain over his head,would move him but no dice so far...

 

[vodka-bull]

I don`t mind missing Djinn`s,I know of 2 as of now that where staring me right in the face but I couldn`t figure out how to get them, so I moved on :lol ...especially the one in Harappa I think,that`s on a little ledge outside a house,with little streams of water and those nenuphars on the water(green leaves),there`s a guy sitting in front of one of those leaves you could jump on to go pick him up but he doesn`t want to move...I thought using Douse,making it rain over his head,would move him but no dice so far...

You'll get a psynergy to uncover the thoughts he's thinking, as soon as you have it a shop will open in which you can buy cheap meals. Buy the right one and he'll leave the next time you're talking with him.

 

[mandiller]

I'm still playing Dark Dawn on and off. very slight spoilers:

Spoiler

I finished the game a week ago or so and now I'm doing some of the postgame stuff.

I got beaten by one of the postgame bosses so I decided to level up my characters some more, so I went back to the final area of the game to level up. I'm at level 99 for my main four characters and around 75 for my other four. This certainly took a lot less time to reach level 99 than the Lost Age (that one took me ages).

Still having fun, but now that all the fuss is over about the game I can't help thinking that the original two were a lot better. Kind of disappointing. Dark Dawn has some good moments and a great game engine/visuals. It just has a shit story stringing it together. Will probably play though it again in a few years, but I will keep coming back to Golden Sun 1 & 2 over the years.

 

[sammy]

Depends if you count all the pointless dialogue as contributing to the overall pacing.

hah, yea you're right about that. I didn't mind since I remember all the GS games being chatty, but this one got me out into the overworld quickly with a handful of abilities.

I'm 6 hours in at a modest pace, not going to obsess about collecting all the Djinn this time around just as long as I get to see most of the summons.

 

[Boney]

It's gotten better, but still nothing really exciting. Plot is so dull, on the first one, we already had people die, and we were off to save the world. Now we need to find a stupid bird. But I'm still enjoying myself thanks to the map design. Psynergy is always fun.

 

[slaughterking]

I kinda didn't want buy any more games this year, but seeing how crammed the DS' lineup is early 2011 (and how I actually already bought tons of Steam games anyway) I pretty much have to play it now or never. :0

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I have just reached the second mountain range, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the game. It's so nice to get a NORMAL, turn-based RPG these days, with minimal dumbing down or "streamlining."

My only complaint is that the story so far is just awful. One of the best characteristics that I recall about the original two games is how good their stories were. This time around, however, a band of kids of the first game's heros are randomly sent out on a fetch quest in order to most likely get to the point where the real story starts, but are, what do you know, side-tracked from their side-tracks (plural). Oh, and why did the fetch quest happen? Because an apparently imbecilic 17 year-old decided to randomly jump off the roof with an extremely expensive piece of equipment.

Wait, what?

Not to mention the well-documented way that the dialog tends to repeat itself. People are mentioning this in their reviews, but how bad it is really doesn't hit you until you start playing the game and characters parrot each other three or four times in a row.

"So it seems we need to cross the mountains."
"You think we have to cross the mountains?"
"The only way to go north is to cross the mountains."
"Then I guess we should try to cross the mountains."

You would think that Nintendo would have attempted to fix some of this dialog during the localization. I really don't know how you could miss this problem when you're going through the script.

Luckily, the puzzles and gameplay is very good, outside of the easy battles that require no strategy (but maybe this will change later on). My only two minor annoyances are the stupid "Onward" notice that flashes and chimes whenever you can move your character again after a scene (think Windows Vista User-Access Control) and the way the game sometimes SHOWS you exactly what to do next during a puzzle. (Think Metroid: Zero Mission's Chozo's or the DS Zelda's Dungeon Door Opening Sequences).

Oh, and the other thing that sort of frustrates me is Capcom's choice of graphical style. They essentially chose a style that hasn't aged well as soon as the game has hit the shelf, let alone a couple of years from now.

By the way, the soundtrack is totally Star Ocean City, Utah. After so many years of lack-luster Tales game music (outside of a couple of gems, of course), I was so surprised to hear this style of Sakuraba, and even more surprised that he still had this amount of musical range (that he is still capable of such a contrasting style compared to his Tales works). The music is very Star Ocean I and II-ish.

Very glad that I bought the game and I'm looking forward to things getting a little more intense in the second half of the game.

 

[Boney]

Puzzles are getting better, but every town you visit is so boring.

And fuck Rief, what a shitty character, I wanna kill him.

 

[slaughterking]

About five hours into the game and once again very pleased with how Golden Sun hits all the right notes to make an all around enjoyable, little RPG. Very fast, rewarding battles with skippable animations and a cozy difficulty, great presentation with detailed graphics, good camera angles and, well, okay-ish music, a save system that let's you save anywhere and anytime and just lots of personality. I'm glad I bought it before the DS high season early 2011.

 

[goldlion054]

Puzzles are getting better, but every town you visit is so boring.

And fuck Rief, what a shitty character, I wanna kill him.

I know =( I want Mia back. But Amiti is ok, i suppose.....

on a side note, i just

Spoiler

ran through the mountain roc at level 29. This was alot easier than i anticipated. I thought this was meant to be a climactic boss after all the build up. I hardly took any damage at all. I hit him with Thor on the first round while i buffed with other character djinn (like brick) and then summoned those on the next round. Killed him on the next turn. Sort of disappointed

Otherwise, its the Golden sun i know and love

 

[Wilsongt]

Beat the game yesterday. Loved it. Bring on Golden Sun 4.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

My only complaint is that the story so far is just awful. One of the best characteristics that I recall about the original two games is how good their stories were. This time around, however, a band of kids of the first game's heros are randomly sent out on a fetch quest in order to most likely get to the point where the real story starts, but are, what do you know, side-tracked from their side-tracks (plural). Oh, and why did the fetch quest happen? Because an apparently imbecilic 17 year-old decided to randomly jump off the roof with an extremely expensive piece of equipment.

I'm not done yet, but so far the game's story feels like one big interactive encyclopedia that's setting up for Golden Sun 4 (and 5?). There's a whole lot of explanations about stuff, but some of it doesn't feel relevant, and hardly anything actually gets done.

In comparison to the the first GS, which actually felt like the first half of the story, this feels like it's only part one of a story meant to stretch across three or four games.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I'm not done yet, but so far the game's story feels like one big interactive encyclopedia that's setting up for Golden Sun 4 (and 5?). There's a whole lot of explanations about stuff, but some of it doesn't feel relevant, and hardly anything actually gets done.

In comparison to the the first GS, which actually felt like the first half of the story, this feels like it's only part one of a story meant to stretch across three or four games.

But are we going to get a Golden Sun 4? Is there a pretty big cliff hanger, for those who have finished? What's more, how did this game sell? There seems to be hardly any discussion on NeoGAF and the other forum I frequent.

The one thing that is making me wish I replayed the original Golden Sun (which I no longer own) before playing Dark Dawn is that I can't remember which places I've visited before, and which ones are completely new. I'd also like to know this for the fact of whether I should be noticing town layouts that have progressed and changed in the 30 years since the first game, and so on.

 

[Peff]

But are we going to get a Golden Sun 4?

Hopefully.

Is there a pretty big cliff hanger, for those who have finished?

Oh, yes. Yes.

What's more, how did this game sell? There seems to be hardly any discussion on NeoGAF and the other forum I frequent.

Sadly, it looks like it bombed spectacularly, at least in Europe, where if I remember correctly it didn't even chart in most places. In Japan it sold so-so, around 70.000 I think. Comparatively, The Lost Age had a better first week than that and ended up around 250.000 units sold. We'll know about the US soon, so maybe it'll be better there.

 

[daakusedo]

I will now enter the forest, 18 hours, Golden sun is always great.The nightmare part was surprising. Some characters tell you about past protagonists and that make me get I didn't pay attention to the fact that we only see the hero's father,(don't know the name for U.S.) at the beginning,so when I learn about the mother...
There are puzzles for everything like the other games, so when you want to stop there's always that new place you discover and want to finish for a djinn or something.
And the music of course,beautiful.

 

[Boney]

The Golden Sun changing the terrain is one of the most lamest excuses ever. Sigh. there's so much to love, but so much to hate.

 

[ITA84]

Sadly, it looks like it bombed spectacularly, at least in Europe, where if I remember correctly it didn't even chart in most places.

I'm pretty sure there wasn't much supply to begin with. I only got my hands on the game yesterday.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I'm pretty sure there wasn't much supply to begin with. I only got my hands on the game yesterday.

Yeah, that's the thing. Nintendo wisely didn't print a lot of copies, but the game was sold out in most places for a lot of the holiday season, too, so sales are going to be hurting from that as well.

 

[Chauncy Talon]

I have two hours log into the game. Nothing have really wow me. I am loving the traditional turn-based RPG elements. It seem like the Nintendo DS is the only system that is sticking with those games. The Djinns battle system is unqie. I think this is what going to make me love/hate Dark Dawn. I have played the original Golden Sun, but failed to complete it. Since no big console release until January 18, imo, then I'll have something to do.

 

[Wilsongt]

If this were a Sega IP, I would say we wouldn't get Golden Sun 4. But, since this is a Nintendo IP, I bet it's coming.

 

[Dark Oni]

been playing this recently

It's so nice to get a NORMAL, turn-based RPG these days, with minimal dumbing down or "streamlining."

exactly

 

[Regulus Tera]

I stopped playing when I started the Umbra Armour quest or whatever. It is pretty fun, but this lack of direction at the moment makes it hard for me to pick it up at random for a few minutes of gameplay. I think I will make more meaningful advancements as soon as I get a full day off.

The Golden Sun changing the terrain is one of the most lamest excuses ever. Sigh. there's so much to love, but so much to hate.

Lamest? I mean it's a bit ridiculous, but it's not like we haven't been expecting this since the first game. It's a plot element that has been like, the central hinge of the series' lore. That you are complaining about it just now makes me scratch my head.

 

[timnich]

I stopped playing when I started the Umbra Armour quest or whatever. It is pretty fun, but this lack of direction at the moment makes it hard for me to pick it up at random for a few minutes of gameplay. I think I will make more meaningful advancements as soon as I get a full day off.



Lamest? I mean it's a bit ridiculous, but it's not like we haven't been expecting this since the first game. It's a plot element that has been like, the central hinge of the series' lore. That you are complaining about it just now makes me scratch my head.

You can get a map that tells you the general location of the gear. To get the map, ring the gong on the west side of the palace in Tonfan(sp?). Then just follow the next few events which should lead you to the map. It made the fetch quest a bit more tolerable.

Finally finished the game. While a great game, it definitively felt like it was rushed in production. Some of the later "dungeons" were lacking in content and difficulty, and just seemed lazy in design, especially in the later towns. There is one point where you can mind read a certain towns folks only to find that they all had an identical message. Kinda disappointing in that regard...

 

[Regulus Tera]

I did like how, if you visit a certain someone in a really out-of-place town and mind read him, he says something like "how considerate of him to come and visit!".

Fuck you, I just came to Djinn-hunt.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Oh good. I was just saying this game needed furries.

(That was actually my thought a couple of days ago.) Last night, I just got the ship.

Not sure how I feel about this game. The story is such a mess, and I'm just starting to get to the point where I'm not able to pound A to get through battles.

Now if only there was some order to the Psynergy so that I knew which ones are powerful.

So let me see if I've got this right: The Golden Sun completely changed the landscape of the world. This caused a bunch of ancient ruins to become exposed? And they didn't get damaged in all the land-shifting earthquakes that occurred?

What's more, every single group of people relocated to live on top of ancient ruins?

 

[Mael]

Oh good. I was just saying this game needed furries.

(That was actually my thought a couple of days ago.) Last night, I just got the ship.

Not sure how I feel about this game. The story is such a mess, and I'm just starting to get to the point where I'm not able to pound A to get through battles.

Now if only there was some order to the Psynergy so that I knew which ones are powerful.

So let me see if I've got this right: The Golden Sun completely changed the landscape of the world. This caused a bunch of ancient ruins to become exposed? And they didn't get damaged in all the land-shifting earthquakes that occurred?

What's more, every single group of people relocated to live on top of ancient ruins?

Well WTF were people doing on in Lalivero to begin with?
I mean it's basically a giant nexus of land shifting thingy and there's a town just at the foot of it....
Come to think of it there's a town near every lighthouse....Even the temple of Val that got nuked to oblivion...

And unless there's some massive world shifting event the no return points are REAL no return points.
Which is really a first in the series!
In the other games you could always go back to the other places and get stuffs you missed....not this time I guess :lol

Spoiler

especially after the eclispe nuked half the continent into darkness:lol

 

[Teknoman]

Liking the game so far, just got to the part where you have to find the

Spoiler

Sol Mask

. My only complaints about the game are, the characters seem to repeat themselves alot/restate the same details in a different way, and sometimes the main characters seem to forget why they decided to something in a certain way. Example: When you have to find a way to get into

Spoiler

Ouroburos to get the Sol Mask

. King

Spoiler

Wo has the perfect situation set up for you to get in, get the mask, get out and move on with what you set out to do...

yet they seem to almost blow their cover by acting all heroic/just, several times during the conversation.

I do like Camelot's old school main enemy designs that seem to be a throwback to classic Shining Force/Ys/Lords of Thunder era antagonists

Spoiler

Like Chalis and her curved horns

.

Also when they say use certain weapons to get stronger with that weapon, does it mean a permanent skill boost with weapons of the same type? Or is it just for unlocking techniques with that specific weapon? About Psynergy, are there certain monsters weaker to certain types of Psynergy? Say...obvious stuff like flying enemies being weak to wind?

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

WTF at this game's story?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

No, seriously. I beat the game today. What the fuck where they thinking when they wrote this game's story.

Thinking about it, this game is a solid 8, in that a 7 implies that the game is bad, and an 8.5 would imply that the game is actually kind of good.

How about this game in general? The game's battle system was so easy that it was essentially a none gameplay element. Eventually you realize you can just cast Avoid and hammer A through EVERY single battle (outside of three or four "Boss" battles) throughout the entire game.

Not to mention the game is way too wordy in the beginning of the game repeating itself multiple times about the Warriors of Vale, and then in the second half of the game when the story, you know, should be starting to get heavy and the character development should be taking off, the game clams up and keeps dialog almost at a minimum.

I mean, when you get Himi, the plot (oh, and also the entirety of her character development) goes no further than saying that this King's daughter is really sick. The queen shrieks from the other room, apparently sick too. You go talk to the girl, oh this magic ball you found earlier cures her and gives her ESP powers and the King says that's it, you should accompany them.

That's all.

...What the fuck.

Oh, and by the way, if the game pulls any more of that "I know the enemy really is but I'm not going to tell you right now because it just isn't the time" (By the way, it's never the fucking time) I'm going to go crazy.

Fact of the matter is, we can't be in denial and pretend this isn't a game aimed at preteens and tweens. The pointlessly easy difficulty and simple, even bad for generic anime story combine for a game experience that is not meant for adults, as disappointing as that may be for fans of the first two games.

In the end, Dark Dawn was a fun game who's constantly jogging pace made for an addicting time sink perfect for my winter break. It's hard, however, to not come away disappointed as to what I spent my only free time for gaming on.

Now I must decide whether to sell the game, or if I should keep it for any use of the clear data in GS4. Thing is, I'm not exactly attached to either my characters or equipment because of the bad story and battle system, respectively.

 

[Boney]

Lamest? I mean it's a bit ridiculous, but it's not like we haven't been expecting this since the first game. It's a plot element that has been like, the central hinge of the series' lore. That you are complaining about it just now makes me scratch my head.

I mean being able so see Trent in a place he isn't supposed to be. Have entirely new towns that don't really feel a part of the Golden Sun world. Having them being made between these 30 years is awful if you're supposed to go as a similar adventure with the next generation of heroes. No town and problem feel memorable at all. Plot points are dropped throughout the story all the time and there's just nothing interesting about it except for psynergy puzzles. Which aren't even that good compared to The Lost Age.

I'm not sure I want a Golden Sun 4 now. This game isn't interesting at all so far.

 

[bubnbob]

How would you use any data for GS4? You cant exactly transfer a save, and I don't know if it gives you a clear code since I havent finished it yet.

 

[Chet Rippo]

This is my first Golden Sun, and I find it pretty good. But I can't compare it to the older ones since I've never played them.
Though I got to say the battle system is really easy. Only one time did one of my characters died and it was from an instant death move, and by that time everyone had a reviving move/djinn. Still a lot of fun. I like the reference to the original Golden Sun commercial. :lol

 

[Oxx]

I finally plucked-up the courage to prise DQIX out of my DS to start this. About ten minutes in and it appears that the characters are as chatty as ever...

 

[JaMarco]

Does this game use the Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks engine?

 

[Regulus Tera]

Pretty sure it's an original engine by Camelot.

 

[slaughterking]

I'm trying my best to finish this game before I get my hands on Ghost Trick, but I think I wont make it. I didn't really make much progress the last two hours or so, because I'm just aimlessly revisiting old locations after I got the ship. :I

 

[Oxx]

I can't do it. After so much DQ, having to start from scratch in a new game is pretty tough. I'm going to have to grit my teeth and try and power through the painfully ponderous opening some other time.

 

[Salsa]

Man i havent touched this in weeks.

I was about 9 hours in..

I'll get around to finish it eventually, but the game was a disappointment really :/

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Holy fuck, I dont know if its been adressed but they put a tribute in the game about the european golden sun commercial :lol

Spoiler

in the opera house of Belinski, theres a big chandelier that has the same form, and the NPCs there talk about having life and being a dragon.
The european Golden Sun commercial, that sold a shit tons of games here, even if it didnt correspond to anything in the game, and it didnt show anything (maybe a 3 seconds footage of a battle in the spanish version if I rember correctly). I know people now watching the ad and saying is shit because it doesnt had anything about the game, well, fuck them, it was awesome, it sold really well the game here AND NOW ITS PART OF THE SAGA.

Who ever had that idea while making the game, you are awesome :lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvwdVp8Fvo&feature=related

 

[Lindsay]

Would anyone happen to know if a soundtrack cd(s) has been released for this game yet and if so a good place to pick it up from? I regret missing out getting ones for GS/TLA an don't want that to happen again!

 

[Chauncy Talon]

Man i havent touched this in weeks.

I was about 9 hours in..

I'll get around to finish it eventually, but the game was a disappointment really :/

I can see why you said that. The story is not the best and the gameplay is nothing unique. I just like the game because it the typical JRPG. I know my grammar is not the best, but I spot a bunch of grammacal errors. I always wonder why companies don't hire somebody with an English major to read the manuals and dialog in the game. It can help a lot of imported games to be localized.


Beside that note, I'm loving it. It what I use to play, JRPGs. I don't care for the story. I have not had my "WOW" moment yet, but I'm only 7 hours into the game. I just love to level grind in the traditional turnbased JRPG.

 

[Chauncy Talon]

deleted

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Holy fuck, I dont know if its been adressed but they put a tribute in the game about the european golden sun commercial :lol

Spoiler

in the opera house of Belinski, theres a big chandelier that has the same form, and the NPCs there talk about having life and being a dragon.
The european Golden Sun commercial, that sold a shit tons of games here, even if it didnt correspond to anything in the game, and it didnt show anything (maybe a 3 seconds footage of a battle in the spanish version if I rember correctly). I know people now watching the ad and saying is shit because it doesnt had anything about the game, well, fuck them, it was awesome, it sold really well the game here AND NOW ITS PART OF THE SAGA.

Who ever had that idea while making the game, you are awesome :lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvwdVp8Fvo&feature=related

Holy shit. That commercial is awesome. No wonder so many people bought the game.