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»Golden Sun
"Does well on reviving the menu-based RPG."
In the early Middle Ages, mastery of alchemy
was often sought after as a quick means to an end. The most common of
these goals included wealth, well-being, and the creation of human
life. Many moons ago, it was written off as mendacity and those who
practiced alchemy were condemned as heretics and burned at the stake.
If you are taking any of this as historical fact and using the material
to study for an exam, do not expect to score much higher than a 16%.
In
late 2001, alchemy made a second splash on the world of man in the form
of Camelot’s Golden Sun. In Golden Sun, alchemy simply takes the place
of magic. At one point, the use of alchemy was commonplace and everyone
could wield it. During a period of unparalleled bliss, the world was
ravaged, alchemy fell into disuse, and now only Adepts are able to
utilize psynergy (a synonym of alchemy). The story starts out with you
taking over the role of Isaac, a young Earth Adept from the village of
Vale, waking up during the middle of the night in a storm. A little bit
of foreboding never hurt anyone. Much to everyone’s dismay, a boulder
from Mt. Aleph is threatening to crush the village. Several of the more
prominent Adepts in the village are holding it up, but cannot last long
as it’s a multi-ton hunk of destruction. From here, it falls, and
several of the main characters’ family members are swept away in the
raging river. That is quite a twist on the ‘Oh, my poor peasant village
has been destroyed’ cliché, eh?
Times passes, people rebuild,
and some strangers come back to visit Vale. You soon find out that
these are the game’s main protagonists. Their mission is to recover the
Elemental Stones, sounding much like something passed through the
kidney, and prevent the return of alchemy to the world. You will meet
allies and fast friends, enemies and subplots, and the cute,
Pokemon-like Djinn.
The first thing you will notice about GS is
the graphics. For a GBA title, they are pretty snazzy to look at.
Colors are vibrant and rich, character sprites are nice and detailed
(if a tad small), landscape is quite varied, and some of the background
even looks as if it is hand drawn rather than pixilated (this changes
once you enter battle). For the most part, the entire game is rather
bright and well thought out, with no major gripes to be found.
Furthermore, the summon spells are hands-down some of the coolest
sights to see on the GBA as they are extremely detailed and epic.
The
game is a traditional, turn-based RPG, similar to many Square-Enix
titles. Your team dukes it out with opposing monsters in menu-based
combat. You have your magic, attack, items, and other standard options.
Then there are the Djinn. They exist in two states: active and resting.
When active, they add stats to your characters, and may be used to
create various individual effects, or the can be combined for combos.
While
the Djinn create magical effects that are similar to those of psynergy,
magic cannot be completely discounted from the game. The offensive
magic leaves a bit to be desired in terms of effectiveness. Compared to
the Djinn, damage spells outright suck. The only truly useful spells
are those in the healing and support realm.
The sound in GS is
fairly intricate and pleasant to the ear. It is nicely varied and fits
the mood of each particular scene, be it town, battle, overworld, etc.
It even sounds nice over the mono speak of the GBA SP. Sound effects
are likewise effective in providing depth to the game and don’t get too
annoying or used too often, such as different monsters having the same
battle cry.
Typically, you wouldn't find much replay in an RPG.
Sure, you could go through and look for unlockables, but only if you're
into that sort of thing. This game actually gives you a reason to
replay it: a better group of characters later on in the sequel. Yes,
your group can transfer over to the sequel via a password system (long
and drawn out), or linking it with another GBA (the easier method).
Either way, the end result is the same and adds much-needed substance
to replay value that is usually a once-through for RPGs.
Golden
Sun does much to revive the dying art of menu-based RPGs. This is what
many older gamers grew up on during the early days of gaming, and has
somewhat diminished with the popularization of action and tactical
RPGs. It is a fun game, with about 20 to 25 hours of gameplay under its
hood (I think I clocked in at about 22). Not too shabby for something
you can fit in your pocket.
Article by: getahl
Posted on: Nov. 12th, 2005 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Traditional menu based system in an age where action/tactical RPGs roam the land |
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Graphics |
| For a GBA title, the graphics are nice and crisp. |
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Sound |
| Pretty damn good sound. Fits the situation in which each track plays |
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Replay Value |
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One actually exists in this RPG! The more powerful your group in GS1 gets, the more powerful they become in GS2! |
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