Golden Sun - Does it hold up?

[UnKillShredDur]

I played the original Golden Sun back when it came out (2001 or so), and then proceeded to play Golden Sun: The Lost Age. (Never played the third DS game) I remember having VERY fond memories about both of those games, and so after beating Majora's Mask for the first time. Thanks for convincing me to play that btw. I decided to go back to an "old favorite" And replay the entire game from the beginning...

However... so far, I am finding myself annoyed... I remember *loving* the game play, but the vast majority of this so far seems to be slow text... (even on an emulator that can get super fast) and a TON of "Yes or No" questions that ultimately mean nothing....


What I mean to say is... Is this game even worth replaying?

 

[MagneticTowels]

I played the original Golden Sun back when it came out (2001 or so), and then proceeded to play Golden Sun: The Lost Age. (Never played the third DS game) I remember having VERY fond memories about both of those games, and so after beating Majora's Mask for the first time. Thanks for convincing me to play that btw. I decided to go back to an "old favorite" And replay the entire game from the beginning...

However... so far, I am finding myself annoyed... I remember *loving* the game play, but the vast majority of this so far seems to be slow text... (even on an emulator that can get super fast) and a TON of "Yes or No" questions that ultimately mean nothing....


What I mean to say is... Is this game even worth replaying?

"Never meet your idols"

 

[LofaSofa]

I remember all my freinds talking up a big talk about the obligatory optional hidden super hard boss, but then completely wrecking his shit when I did eventually face him.

Also yeah replay it, good viyda.

 

[UnKillShredDur]

"Never meet your idols"

LMFAO... I hope you aren't meaning to say that *I* am your idol...

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I still really enjoy it. It’s got a bit of a slow start, but so do most JRPGs.

 

[UnKillShredDur]

I still really enjoy it. It’s got a bit of a slow start, but so do most JRPGs.

Not gonna lie... the *constant* stream of "yes or no" questions that mean *literally* nothing, regardless of what you choose... are what's pissing me off the most so far. Why even bother to ask my opinion about a plot point if it ultimately doesn't matter...?

 

[Professor Poopypants]

The main thing to keep in mind with the golden sun games is that for early gameboy advance rpgs, they're pretty good. Unfortunately, they aged fairly poorly, so how much you enjoy them will be dependent on how many old mechanics you can stomach

Ultimately, I'd say they're worth replaying, if only so you form a more final opinion on them.

 

[whirlydude]

Golden Sun was my favorite series as a kid/teenager. I followed the rumors about Golden Sun 3 for so many years, I knew like everything there was to know about it from interviews/etc. And then I remember screaming when they announced it at E3 2010. I remember pestering the shit out of my Gamestop because they didn't get the shipment of the game on time, I was calling them over and over and over every day in anticipation. I was a little bit obsessed.

The Takahashi brothers talked at length over those years about how they were taking their time figuring out what they wanted to do with Golden Sun 3 so that it would live up to all of the fans expectations. But it kinda...didn't, at all. I was really disappointed with it, the story felt sloppy and rushed and rest of the game kinda did too. Not only that but the story ends right when it's getting interesting, at what feels like the halfway point for the story. I figured they were doing what they did with Golden Sun 1 and 2 and splitting their story outline into two games.

But in interviews after GS3 came out they were asked about a fourth game and they said "oh...we would probably need a long time to figure out what happens next..." and this is when I realized that they were bullshitting the fans the whole time. They planned on leaving the story unfinished from the start and they had no intention of continuing it without overwhelming fan demand. (Which is definitely never gonna happen btw.) I felt like I was cucked by the Takahashi bros after being practically obsessed with Golden Sun for nearly a decade.

Even though 3 was terrible, I felt like the first two games were still pretty good. But I went back and tried to replay them a couple years ago on my Wii U and I found myself getting really...bored?? I kinda think I was just so into it because I was a kid that hadn't been exposed to better/more interesting writing in games at the time. Comparatively it's really not that great tbh. It's kind of annoying, like you said, and maybe even a little pretentious at times. I was too disinterested in it to even get far in that replay of it. It's definitely something that is much better in peoples memories than it actually was.

 

[MagneticTowels]

LMFAO... I hope you aren't meaning to say that *I* am your idol...

No, I meant to not replay the game

 

[UnKillShredDur]

No, I meant to not replay the game

I can't help but think you expressed your opinion incorrectly..

 

[Ravelord]

They are still fine, but it's better to learn how to speedrun them. Makes Sonne Temple and Mercury Lighthouse more convenient, among other things.

 

[Sable]

I remember all my freinds talking up a big talk about the obligatory optional hidden super hard boss, but then completely wrecking his shit when I did eventually face him.

.

The secret bosses in TLA are more difficult.

Deadbeard's a pussy.

 

[Spellskite]

I played the original Golden Sun back when it came out (2001 or so), and then proceeded to play Golden Sun: The Lost Age. (Never played the third DS game) I remember having VERY fond memories about both of those games, and so after beating Majora's Mask for the first time. Thanks for convincing me to play that btw. I decided to go back to an "old favorite" And replay the entire game from the beginning...

However... so far, I am finding myself annoyed... I remember *loving* the game play, but the vast majority of this so far seems to be slow text... (even on an emulator that can get super fast) and a TON of "Yes or No" questions that ultimately mean nothing....


What I mean to say is... Is this game even worth replaying?

It depends. The starts to both the original Golden Sun and TLA are very wordy. Personally I feel like the original really picks up once you get Ivan because you get more powers (Mind Reading everyone and using Reveal all over the place is pretty entertaining), and you have some freedom to tackle the next few required areas in whatever order you want. Where Golden Sun excels is the ability to customize your party a variety of ways, and in navigating some pretty entertaining dungeons thanks to Psynergy powers.

If you can forgive a few minutes of button mashing (particularly at the start and end of both games), you'll probably still have a good time. The weakest part of either game is the beginning, but I think the original suffers more from it because TLA is far more open-ended and filled with optional areas to visit.

Spoiler

Take this with a grain of salt because I didn't hate Dark Dawn.

 

[Sigma]

They're alright but they're pretty average RPGs overall. The most unique thing about them is the puzzles, and even then, the puzzles aren't anything too amazing. I guess the series only got as popular as it did was because it was an early GBA title.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I didn't know there was a Golden Sun thread.

I like the whole "flat world" thing Weyard has going on.

 

[GentlemanFaggot]

They're alright but they're pretty average RPGs overall. The most unique thing about them is the puzzles, and even then, the puzzles aren't anything too amazing. I guess the series only got as popular as it did was because it was an early GBA title.

It was early GBA and looked way better than most RPGs on handhelds. It was also right after the period when Nintendo had a bit of a JRPG dark age, starting from when Square and a lot of other developers abandoned them for the Playstation.

As a result, if you were a Nintendo household in North America during this period, this was what you finally got to drink after wandering the desert. For me though, I always felt Golden Sun was a pretty mediocre JRPG and because I had a Playstation all I kept thinking was, "This was by the makers of Beyond the Beyond...the battle graphics look like Beyond the Beyond...Beyond the Beyond was a really shitty JRPG..."

 

[UnKillShredDur]

The secret bosses in TLA are more difficult.

Deadbeard's a pussy.

I just kicked Deadbeard's ass. He was nothing.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Spoiler

What I don't really like about Dark Dawn is how it kind of "railroads" Matthew ("Mut" for some reason in the original Japanese) into certain areas, and how you can't access certain areas anymore after certain parts of the story. In the GBA games, you can always revisit.

 

[Sable]

Spoiler

What I don't really like about Dark Dawn is how it kind of "railroads" Matthew ("Mut" for some reason in the original Japanese) into certain areas, and how you can't access certain areas anymore after certain parts of the story. In the GBA games, you can always revisit.

Those points of no return are the only major problem I have with DD.

 

[jewelry investor]

I have both cartridges for the gba, I never came around to finishing them.