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Review by: Jake
Delfeir
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Reviewers Score:
9 / 10
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Posted: November 25, 2005
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Golden Sun
System: GBA
Genre: RPG
Difficulty: Easy
Score: 9/10
Golden Sun, coupled with Mario Kart, is the reason a lot of people
bought the GBA on day one. A completely fresh and new RPG from Camelot,
with pretty impressive looking graphics and solid gameplay? That was an
instant winner for many gamers. It certainly lived up to its reputation
as well, and is still one of my favourite RPGs along with its sequel.
Here's my verdict.
Graphics (10/10)
There aren't many games which really attempt to make use of the full
power that a GBA can provide. From the outset, however, Golden Sun was
using quite a bit. The backgrounds and settings are very beautiful,
using all aspects of the colour spectrum to create a master piece. The
character sprites are nice looking, and while they're not proportioned
according to real life and thus don't have facial expressions, they
display a variety of emotions which do the job very nicely. In battle,
the monsters aren't too special, but the battle animations are extremely
vivid and nicely done so that's a big boost. The graphics are certainly
eye candy.
Sound (10/10)
One of the only games in my repertoire where I don't like to turn off
the music, Golden Sun sports a very nice and varied soundtrack from none
other than Motoi Sakuraba. The battles sound suitable, the music always
seems to match the area where it's located, and some of the bigger
encounters sounds truly epic at times. There aren't too many different
sound effects, unfortunately, but those that are there all suit the
situation (sometimes with a slightly cartoon-like feel). Much like the
graphics, the sound section is pretty much perfect.
Storyline (9/10)
I'd love to give Golden Sun's story a perfect 10, but the only problem
is that the story really doesn't properly unfold until the second
game... so until then, parts are left unexplained for the casual player
and thus can't be called perfect. Not yet, anyway. Nonetheless, it is
pretty good, though seemingly cliched. The game starts with a prologue -
it's a dark and stormy night, and the main character (name of Isaac) is
woken by his mother, who claims that something called the Mount Aleph
boulder is about to fall. This apparently isn't a good thing, since it's
calling for a big evacuation. You'll have to guide Isaac to safety, as
well as run an errand or two and save the life of your best friend Garet.
However, a tragedy strikes - another of your friends, Felix, has fallen
into the river and is clinging to a pole there for dear life. As you run
to get help, the boulder then falls... and takes out Felix, along with
both his parents and Isaac's dad. Jenna, the now-orphaned sister of
Felix and another friend of Isaac and Garet, is completely broken. So
Isaac runs off for help again, only to get his rear handed to him by two
complete strangers who mutter a few random things about the power of
Alchemy. Fast forward three years.
Now Isaac, Garet, and Jenna are to accompany their mentor, an old guy
called Kraden, to the top of Mount Aleph to a place called Sol Sanctum.
That's apparently the source of Alchemy, which is what the secluded town
of Vale guards. Everyone who is from there has a touch of it, too, and
can use special techniques called Psynergy. That's the magic of this
game - more on that in a moment. But once again, while they're up there,
disaster strikes. The two strangers who beat Isaac senseless three years
back are here, and they've brought back-up. And they make off with the
hidden source of power in Sol Sanctum, with which they intend to use to
revive Alchemy across the world with. And they also kidnap Kraden and
Jenna to make sure that it's personal, so now Isaac and Garet are
endorsed to hunt them down and save the world. Pretty standard stuff as
far as it goes - you'll be after the bad guys and their hostages for the
entire game, honing your Psynergy to beat them up and halt the
resurrection of the power. Which isn't a good thing. There are a fair
twists and depth to the overall plot, so you won't really be bored, but
the full potential of Golden Sun won't show up until you get to the
second game. But it's well worth it, nonetheless. The only real downside
is that the two later characters you'll get have very little apparently
backstory, and have pretty stupid motives. Especially Mia. That improves
during the second game, but not entirely.
Gameplay (9/10)
Standard RPG fare here, ladies and gents, but with a particularly
creative and in-depth magic system that'll really make it shine. Like
all good RPGs, you'll set off with a little money, some poor equipment,
and extremely low levels and magic. A standard experience system is in
place, so beating monsters nets you experience points, and that's it.
Nothing special here. The innovative features here are the Djinn -
they're little creatures that you find along the way. Some can be gained
through side quests, or hidden areas, or even encountered in battle in
specific areas. They're not like Pokemon, per se, but they do have an
important part. You'll get four characters in the game, and each one has
a base element - Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. There are seven Djinn of
each of those elements as well. Each Djinn can be given to a specific
character, and they'll bestow stat bonuses on them. But the various
Djinn combinations can also alter a character's class, and therefore
their various Psynergy. This means that there are a whole lot of various
combinations to make, and lots of different ways to approach a battle.
It creates for an interesting system, and it only gets better in the
second game.
The Djinn serve other functions, too - each one also has an in-battle
effect. Using is puts it into Standby mode, which means that it no
longer confers stat bonuses on the character. This can also hamper a
good class, since all the Djinn must be on Set mode to make specific
classes. But some of the effects can be very helpful or devastating. And
once a certain amount of Djinn of a specific type are on Standby mode,
you open up another ability - the Summon. Using Summons makes for some
very powerful attacks, and they can be saved up for huge damage dealers
or quick, cheap offensive weapons. The game can be won easily by
utilising any combination of Summoning, Psynergy and so on, but there's
a whole lot of variety, so it makes for a good system.
Aside from the many ways to approach battle, Golden Sun also has the
obligatory dungeon crawl. Most dungeons aren't all that long, but their
length is extended somewhat due to the puzzles. Golden Sun is a little
like Lufia 2 in that puzzles are prevalent, so you'll be doing a fair
few of them. Some can be quite challenging, and many players may see the
need to bow to the strategy guide for them, but the majority just
require a bit of thought. Psynergy also takes a place here, as well -
some Psynergy are required to manipulate certain aspects of the puzzles.
Isaac starts the game with the Move Psynergy, which can push pillars or
boulders around into specific spots. A lot of extra abilities will be
granted as the game goes on, some by equipable accessories or some just
by finishing certain aspects of the game.
The game is pretty good for an RPG, but there are a few slight flaws.
The big thing is that during battle, each enemy must be targeted well.
If the selected enemy is already dead when the character's turn rolls
around, they'll just sit there and do nothing. The system would have
been near-perfect if not for that, though it does help somewhat on the
strategy side of things, making you think your moves through. And some
of the Djinn can be tricky to locate, making for some annoyance and
frustration on the part of the less curious players. The flaws are
vastly outnumbered by the excellent points about this game, however, so
don't let it stop you.
Replayability (4/10)
Not good, I'm afraid. Like most RPGs, it's all over once you finish, so
you won't be coming back for long. Nothing is really unlocked, and while
there is a link battle feature, it's not that interesting and can
stretch on for insanely long periods of time. Perhaps the only thing
that'll make you play again is the good story, and the fact that your
data gets transferred over to the second game, meaning that you'll want
to have some high stats. And I've personally played through this game
more times than any other GBA RPG, which is saying something.
Overall (9/10)
Great game, one of the better RPGs I've ever played. Despite a lot of
people saying they aren't that good, this game holds a special place in
my gaming folder and will continue to do so for a long time. A great
battle system, the precursor to an excellent story, and some very
impressive effects make this a game not to be missed. |
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