Anyone into the Golden sun series? (or even played one)

[CrazyT]

So yeah, my avatar and the little description under it kind of explains how I feel about this new installment of the franchise. Golden sun: Dark dawn on the DS is a master piece, just like it's predecessors.

It's made by camelot. The team that SEGA lost during the SEGA saturn era, which did the shining series in that same era. A big loss if you ask me.

Golden sun is basically an JRPG done right in every way. It's a turn based RPG. The battles don't occur frequently but at the same time don't take long but still require your attention and strategy. They hit the nail with this style. I really think the biggest problem with JRPG's today is how battles occur too much and take too long

On the field you are constantly solving puzzles kind of in the style of zelda. Dungeons filled with puzzles testing your puzzlingskills. Really great combination of gameplay.

I wondered if anyone played the games and what you guys think about them.

GBA golden sun 1


GBA golden sun 2


Golden sun: dark dawn (DS)
[youtube:94gbepcb]q2ZiUsUt7Hc[/youtube:94gbepcb]

[MadeManG74]

I thought it was meant to be an SRPG for some reason? Either way, I think I might get this, I've heard nothing but good things. It would also be a nice excuse to dust off the old DS.

[Aki-at]

I enjoyed the first two on the Gameboy Advance, however lacking a DS, I won't be able to play the third one and not looking at getting a DS anytime soon either. Still, I do really like some of the music from the first and especially the second one.

It's a shame though that the third one was a pretty major let down saleswise for Nintendo, I would have like to see the franchise carry on, but unless Nintendo are feeling charitable, that won't be the case.

[CrazyT]

In the ds's case I really think it's piracy that holds back the sales. The thing with popular franchises like mario and zelda is that they are known by everyone which also brings a great amount of people who actually buy their games(mainly young and old). In golden sun's case the amount of people who know the games are mainly around their 16/20 who might have allready figured out flashcards.

It only gets worse with time when words get spread and DS flashing is the easiest piracy ever. Now the ds life cycle is almost over with 3ds coming out next year, I think a great large amount of people have found the flashcard method.

Sadly the golden sun series might only be bought by those who still didn't figure out flash cards or die hard fans, which isn't a large amount and maybe kind of explains it's failure in sales.

I personally had a flashcard too, but the Antipiracy security in games became pretty drastic and I stopped using mine a year ago. The thing is that new flashcards bypass the securities, but I was never bothered to get a new one.

I bought my golden sun, but I would have still bought it even if I could obtain it by downloading the game. Good games are worth to be bought and I love owning the cases from such special games.

Anyway, Just a little bit of info about the game you'd might like to hear. In this new installment you play with the sons and daughters of the main characters of golden sun 1. All the characters from golden sun 1 are now your parents lol. The script is really nice written and even though the characters from GS1 have gotten old, they still have the same characteristics. Isaac the main character from GS1 now talks and seems to be very knowledgable in this game while garet is more silly than ever lol. Garet for instance, from golden sun 1, is really clunky and hardheaded. But his son is even worse lol. I highly recommend this game to anyone who like JRPG's. Personally I think this game tops most of the console JRPG's.

[SOUP]

I'm really interested in checking it out.
A friend of mine had the first one on GBA and it looked pretty interesting.  I've got a few RPGs to play through before it though, so I might pick it up next year.
Would I be totally lost if I hadn't played the earlier titles?

[CrazyT]

Not at all. The game seems to explain itself pretty well. The intro gives a pretty long explenation of what happened, though I do say that it's a lot of information but throughout the game there will be a lot of references to the previous installments. Also at herb shops they will be selling books that you can use after buying them. When using them you'll get a beautifully painted cutscenes of what happened during the last 2 installments.

I allready got 2 books and if the intro wasn't enough, the books will be much more of a use.

I myself kind of forgot what happened in the first game so for me, from a nostalgic perspective it was a really nice addition. The way these little (book)cutscenes have been executed is really well done. The painting is done like children picturebooks.

So yeah, protip: If you want to know more about what happened in the previous games. At any town go to a herb/medicinal shop and pick artifacts (which stands next to buy and sell). There you will find "Sun saga" books eventually. I found this out later so I don't know from where they start being sold. Use them from your inventory and enjoy the little cutscenes.

The Golden sun series are really treated with a lot of love and care. Respect to camelot as developers.

[SOUP]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to pick it up.

[Sega Uranus]

Shining used to be my second favorite game series so yeah, I was really into Golden Sun for awhile. I might play through them again some time in the future, but it will have to be through an emulator this time. No DS either so I will have to sit this one out for now.

Like Aki said, worried Nintendo might just stop caring and not allow further games to be released.

Fire Emblem can eat shit for all I care, Golden Sun needs to take it's place. I do not think my heart can take another Mario Golf game by Camelot...

[segaismysavior]

Loved the first one, but gave up on the second after getting lost too often. I really should check out the new one.

[CrazyT]

I just finished the game yesterday. Took me around total 28 hours with doing a lot of exploration and collecting (got all the djinns). Anyway....

It was a great game from beginning to end. For me the previous 2 feel like if they were a little better but it may just be a nostalgia thing maybe. It also wasn't that hard. Battles used to be harder in the first two, puzzles were more challenging and needed more thought in the previous 2. I don't mind it overall, it's a lot more accesable this way so for people that get frustrated quick it'll be less of a chore. I also expected Dark Dawn to be much BIGGER AND GREATER than the previous 2. I don't wanna spoil that much in that department because it's always nice to experience games as new so everything comes as a surprise.

Just for example. In final fantasy titles you start small, than you get a boat, than you get a flying boat/plane whatever and than you start traveling to other dimensions. I sorta expected something like that in the 3d installment. Other than that, I was enjoying every part of the game and again, I don't want to spoil that much but the ending kind of hinted to a sequal... which is awesome!!

I recommend this game to anyone who loves JRPG's overall. I don't finish JRPG's that quick most of the times, but this one had me hooked. It has an interesting storyline that gets explained by lots of good script writing with a little bit of humor here and  there.