It's got the dungeon and puzzle stuff down. But while the story was never great before, it's even more overly verbose now. If it's cheap, try it. But it definitely doesn't hit in the same way
The main issues with Dark Dawn are that it relies far too heavily on previous plot points from Golden Sun 1 and 2, the cast of GS1 + 2 is extremely important to the story but you only ever see Isaac, Garet, Kraden, and
Alex
in person while the rest are relegated to encyclopedia entries, and the world has changed so much in so little time that not much is recognizable, and it feels a little jarring coming off of the ending of GS2. It also acts a lot like GS1 in that the entire game feels like it's building up to something instead of having something actually happen, but there's a lot less "oomph" to the story and it's harder to care about the plot and characters. It's not a bad game, but it's not nearly the gem its predecessors were.
I also don't know what the deal was with Felix getting totally shafted. His encyclopedia entry say that he went somewhere and was never seen again... I hope that leads up to something in GS4, if it ever gets made. Everyone else seems to have at least a residual presence in the game, but Felix just went completely AWOL. Isaac is also considered the leader of the Heroes of Vale, while Felix is considered his companion... didn't we play as Felix during the more important game?
I absolutely loved, loved, loved GS1 & 2 on the GBA back in the day. Like the Zelda Oracle games, the password/link cable transfer system was innovative and enriched the overall experience in an appreciable way. Besides being a weaker product in general, Dark Dawn suffered from launching about 5 years too late and for abandoning the linked game concept.
I loved this game so much. Probably the first JRPG I actually beat. I never played Lost Age because I couldn't get the freakin' carry-over password to work :/ oh and Dark Dawn was a piece of garbage and made my soul hurt.
The main issues with Dark Dawn are that it relies far too heavily on previous plot points from Golden Sun 1 and 2, the cast of GS1 + 2 is extremely important to the story but you only ever see Isaac, Garet, Kraden, and
Alex
in person while the rest are relegated to encyclopedia entries, and the world has changed so much in so little time that not much is recognizable, and it feels a little jarring coming off of the ending of GS2. It also acts a lot like GS1 in that the entire game feels like it's building up to something instead of having something actually happen, but there's a lot less "oomph" to the story and it's harder to care about the plot and characters. It's not a bad game, but it's not nearly the gem its predecessors were.
I also don't know what the deal was with Felix getting totally shafted. His encyclopedia entry say that he went somewhere and was never seen again... I hope that leads up to something in GS4, if it ever gets made. Everyone else seems to have at least a residual presence in the game, but Felix just went completely AWOL. Isaac is also considered the leader of the Heroes of Vale, while Felix is considered his companion... didn't we play as Felix during the more important game?
GS1 and GS2 were originally one full game but due to cartridge space were split. I would say both are equally important. As for Felix's whereabouts it is disconcerting but with Dark Dawn the game did feel more restrictive. Not as much places to go for one.
The Golden Sun duology is amazing. Holy shit. I love it to death.
I remember finally playing the first game after not finding it all that interesting. I was bored in the prologue section and also had the dubious honor of being among those who were lost in that same section. I stick it out though at the insistence of a friend. So I finally get Ivan and pass through that Northern cave or whatever (where the water puddles are), and things start to pick up, then I get Mia and more Djinn and I'm traveling to the north to get to the Mercury Lighthouse.
I had this moment of epiphany while fighting Saturos, where I was just like "this game gives me reason to live." ARRGH. So good. From that point, I played it obsessively and beat it in about a week.
And then I bought The Lost Age and it was even better. For me, GS2 > GS1. Or something like GS2 >>>>> GS1
I actually typed in the entire Gold level or whatever it was password. I screwed it up the first time, too.
This game has far, far too much useless dialog. Here is an example of what you will see in this game:
<wizard> Oh, these are the powerful jewels. Do you want me to tell you more about them?
Yes/No?
<you> Yes.
<wizard> There's no time for that. Let's go.
Another example:
<wizard> These are the powerful jewels. Have I ever told you about them?
Yes/No?
<you> Yes. (attempting to skip the full explanation)
<some other party member> WAIT, YOU NEVER TOLD MEEEE!
Wizard proceeds with full explanation...
There are probably two dozen Y/N questions in the game within just a few hours of play, and not a single one ultimately affects the outcome or dialog tree. Hell, you get one within the first ten seconds of the game. The mother asks Isaac if he has everything he needs (Yes/No?), but if you select "no", she basically says "too bad, let's go".
Golden Sun's graphics are holding up better than I expected, to be honest. Even on a 50 inch TV it still looks surprisingly decent all things considered. It's definitely easier to play it on the GamePad, though, despite that annoying manual button being on the screen the whole time.
Golden Sun's graphics are holding up better than I expected, to be honest. Even on a 50 inch TV it still looks surprisingly decent all things considered. It's definitely easier to play it on the GamePad, though, despite that annoying manual button being on the screen the whole time.
Wow. I just spent a good 10 minutes being very confused about where to go in the first area before I realized that staircases are incredibly hard to see on the TV. I looked down at the gamepad and finally realized they were there.
For Europeans, despite the original releases coming out in German, French, Italian and Spanish (as separate carts) this VC release is in English only (this is contrary to how they handle the rest of the VC where everyone gets shitty 50Hz if a non-English ROM exists). I'd love to know why but not being an affected country leaves me incapable of asking but just something to bare in mind if you really liked those localisations (or maybe something to be joyful about if they were bad..).
Wow. I just spent a good 10 minutes being very confused about where to go in the first area before I realized that staircases are incredibly hard to see on the TV. I looked down at the gamepad and finally realized they were there.
I'm not upgrading my armor on my first playthrough. I need some challenge. I did the Tret dungeon so all I need is to complete Mercury Lighthouse and get some water.
Oh and... ISAAC FOR SMASH BROS!
Grief said:
I will be on a plane today so I will be able to get some screenshots and playtime in.
I couldn't get into Lost Age. Massive disappointment. It was by far my most anticipated game in 2003 too. I couldn't sleep the day before I could play it. The original (this game) is one of my most favorite game of all time.
So yeah, I don't miss Lost Age, but I'll get it when it comes out.
He's playing along on his micro, like I am on my GBA. I'm up to infiltrating Sol Sanctum. Damn this nostalgia can't be good for my heart, especially this music.
Such fun little games. The only flaw is really the drawn-out dialogue and all the "...", but it's not a big deal really. Fun, dynamic battles, lots of exploration and kick-ass puzzles, good music, what more does a jRPG need? Well, the story could be more interesting, but at least it's serviceable and there aren't any actual "bad" moments.
I still need to beat part 2... >_> Gonna be a while with Dark Souls 2 using up all my time, though.
I'd say the main issues with Dark Dawn are that the difficulty jumps into the kiddy pool about 2 hours in and stays there the entire game, that just as the game opens up the overworld exploration it ends abruptly (and with a ridiculously lame boss fight), that the dialog is both terrible and copious, making GS 1 and 2 look like Shakespeare, and finally that the story is uninteresting and features an ending that makes no sense. On the plus side, it got the dungeon/town puzzle design of the GS series right.
Dark Dawn feels like a game pushed out halfway through its design cycle to meet a holiday release. That the last boss feels like the traditional "first big mid-game boss" supports this, along with the sloppy difficulty curve.
Golden Sun games are amazing. I have the first two here, and I still need to complete the second. Stopped at the air rock dungeon thing because of reasons. Want to play Dark Dawn eventually.
Hopefully this just means that Isaac is in Brawl as a playable character.
Dark Dawn feels like a game pushed out halfway through its design cycle to meet a holiday release. That the last boss feels like the traditional "first big mid-game boss" supports this, along with the sloppy difficulty curve.
The thing is we know that this can't be the case, because iirc it was in development for quite awhile. I remember the first E3 where they had a little demo and then didn't talk or show anything about the game at all until E3 the next year.
i think that its easy to understand me when i say that we have had many patience with nintendo and the eshop over the years, especially in europe with 50hz and more but...
if, in spain, the original golden sun on the game boy advance was in spanish...
WHY IS GOLDEN SUN ON THE ESHOP ONLY IN ENGLISH??.... nintendo, really...
(i just read that it was in english on a review)
EDIT: i can play a videogame in english like if it was in spanish, but not everyone can. I know that, depending on the quality of the spanish translation, its better to play the english translation if that one is better, but we are not even talking about that. When the game was released it was in spanish. Nintendo always releases its games in spanish, so i dont know what happened...
Also, what about the rest of europe?? Is the game in english there too, or can you play it in your language??