Ok, one more quick review before I go back to Pokemon (I’ve been playing it all day). Golden Sun is a fantastic series and you should play it. No wait, I hate when people say that, it’s obnoxious. “I love Golden Sun.” Better.

Played the first two, loved them. So good. Unfortunately, they were stolen. This was a pretty big event in my gaming life. While on a family trip to America, our rental car was broken into and bags stolen, containing our whole Magic card collection and our Game Boys and all games. All we had left were a few at home and insurance money to buy new ones, which we did. But this left us bereft of some of our most cherished, memorable games. Anyway, I had the chance to play this sequel when I borrowed it from my brother this year.

Actually I started playing last year, at a family get-together. But now I’ve finally finished, I can say I was a little bit disappointed. Maybe it’s my rose-coloured memories, but the scope, length, and plot seemed lesser than my recollection of the first two. In terms of gameplay though, DD is streamlined and improved in all sorts of little ways.

There were plenty of callbacks to the GBA games, with returning characters (and some, oddly, repeatedly mentioned but never seen), concepts renewed, and many of the same items (weapons have more special attacks here though, which is a good thing). The return of the same weapons though raises an interesting implied narrative. In the 30 year gap, is it possible the Warriors of Vale travelled the new world, seeding appropriate items in different places according to the strength of monsters there? Hehehe, now that could make an interesting game…

What’s different though is the look. Changing from sprites to polygons is common in the GBA->DS transition, as indeed in the SNES->N64. I feel that the areas have a similar feel though, Camelot has done a good job of capturing the tone of the previous installments, with their varied environments, distinct cultures, fantastical monsters with little relevance to imagery in the game (except bosses). Also, all the Djinn look different now! It’s awesome!

The new characters are pretty cool, I especially liked Sveta and being able to control Eoleo, the pirate’s baby from The Lost Age. The villains were totally boring though. Not as mysterious as Saturos and Menardi or as well-developed as Karst and Agatio, Blados and Chalis (while very similar in style) just show up, drop cryptic statements and leave. Snore. They don’t even get a proper fleshing out later on, just more hints. The whole game feels inconclusive, like it’s just setting up a sequel that will really explore things properly, a game which hasn’t happened yet. And we all got it was Alex under that mask, give us some more!

As a sequel it was simultaneously gratifying and disappointing. It continues from the previous in a great way, and sets up some very cool things, but being such an obvious interlude it lets you down hard in the end and little is resolved. And only letting you explore 1/3—1/4 of the world makes it feel small, even if it is quite large. I suppose it’s a realistic depiction of life in an era of limited communication and travel options, and it made you feel part of the world with events happening offscreen. This is a good thing.

As its own game, it gets a lot of things right and has some inventive ways of filling in backstory for new players. It does a good job with providing vague direction but letting you wander, which is refreshing to me. It looks great and controls very well, with easy-to-use menus and smooth events. Cut-scenes can be a bit jarring and tend to drag at times, though. Smaller and more often, I say.

I played all the Final Fantasy Advance games, so coming from that Golden Sun is a nice change of pace. As RPGs go, the series is a fine example with a very well-developed world that doesn’t get too crazy. The world-building really is a highlight, as is the Djinn system of pet/class customising/summons/special attacks. I can’t call it unique, because of the vastness of RPGs I haven’t played, but in my experience it’s one of my favourites. I had a very good time with this one, too. Until next time: it’s wise to keep one’s mind and body strong.