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Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review for Nintendo DS (DS)

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review for Nintendo DS (DS)

Golden Sun Rises Again

Let’s clear up one thing right away: If you’re not already a fan of the Golden Sun franchise, and especially if you’re not already a fan of JRPGs in general, you should skip Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. To put it bluntly, an outsider will find this game tedious in the extreme. While the RPG genre has taken huge steps forward in the last decade or so, especially when it comes to streamlining the gameplay, the folks behind Golden Sun seem to think the format was perfected fifteen years ago.

You’ll wade through oceans of text. Not only are there lengthy conversations between every few minutes of gameplay, but the characters frequently throw around references to series lore, offering you the chance to tap the unknown word with your stylus for an encyclopedia definition. Battles start randomly, because the enemies are invisible until they attack. While there are some interesting combat mechanics (more on those in a sec), the battles are turn-based and feel pretty much the same as they did in Final Fantasy games in the early ’90s. You’ll have to run back and forth between inns to recharge your health and revive felled party members. Unless you’re the kind of person who savors these kinds of things, you will not enjoy playing this for the day or more it will take to complete the game — and we mean a full day, 24 hours, at a bare minimum.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Screenshot

But all of that was true of previous Golden Sun titles, and the franchise developed a diehard fan base nonetheless. For that fan base, Dark Dawn will prove to be a flawed but overwhelmingly enjoyable game. A must-buy, even.

The story begins thirty years after the events of the last game, and while the Golden Sun has solved many of the problems in Weyard, some new ones have come into being. In particular, Psynergy Vortexes, which drain the energy from the Adepts who are the heroes of the franchise, have spread throughout the land. The children of the heroes from the last game are tasked with ridding the world of this new menace.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Screenshot

Your first assignment is to trek across the land in search of Tyrell, a young Advent who flew a hang glider (“Soarwing,” rather) before he had the necessary skills and crashed near a cave. It’s a training mission of sorts; two of the experienced warriors from the last game (Isaac and Garet, who are your father and Tyrell’s, respectively) accompany you, and help you fight the various monsters you encounter if things go poorly. This sequence introduces you to the pattern that repeats throughout the game: You receive an assignment, work your way through puzzles that evoke those in 2-D Zelda games, fight the small enemies that attack you at random, and eventually take on a boss.

Your first assignment is to trek across the land in search of Tyrell, a young Advent who flew a hang glider (“Soarwing,” rather) before he had the necessary skills and crashed near a cave. It’s a training mission of sorts; two of the experienced warriors from the last game (Isaac and Garet, who are your father and Tyrell’s, respectively) accompany you, and help you fight the various monsters you encounter if things go poorly. This sequence introduces you to the pattern that repeats throughout the game: You receive an assignment, work your way through puzzles that evoke those in 2-D Zelda games, fight the small enemies that attack you at random, and eventually take on a boss.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Screenshot

In these first few hours, you get a pretty good sense of the game’s flaws. We advise quitting if they become unbearable, because whatever the game’s positive qualities, a few problems persist through it. In addition to the overall text-heaviness that’s mentioned above, there’s an awkward facial-expression system that plays out during the conversations. The characters on screen are too small to show much emotion, so instead, smiley, frowny, gloating, and angry faces appear above them when they need to express themselves. Sometimes, you have to choose which emotion to display yourself, but all this normally does is provoke a single-line response (“Don’t get angry with me!” or whatnot) from another character. The entire system is weird and distracting, and the game would be better without it. The conversations are burdensome enough with tons of texts and optional encyclopedia definitions (the latter of which are annoyingly easy to click by accident).

Another issue is that the battles are too easy and too frequent, and the difficulty isn’t adjustable. There really isn’t much of a challenge until maybe halfway through the game; most of the enemy groups that come after you can be clobbered to death in a few turns. Also, most of the early puzzles can be solved at the first glance, and we found it ridiculously annoying to be attacked repeatedly by small creatures while we were trying to figure out where we were supposed to go next.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Screenshot

However, the game becomes tougher in time, especially the boss fights, and you’ll have to master its fascinating and deep combat system. There are three ways to attack. Weapons and magic (here called “Psynergy”) are standard in RPGs of this type, but Golden Sun also features Djinns. Djinns are small creatures that you collect as you work your way through the game, and that you assign to characters in your party. When they’re “set” to a character, they boost that character’s stats and make him able to perform new Psynergy attacks. However, during battle, you can have a Djinn itself attack your foe — which is highly damaging, but takes away the advantage the Djinn conferred on the character.

It doesn’t end there. Once used, a Djinn becomes ready to help summon a faraway god to intervene in a fight. Each Djinn is of one of four elements (Mercury, Venus, Mars, or Jupiter), and once you’ve used enough of a given type, you can summon a god of that type to inflict some major damage in a fight. Then, the Djinn take some time to recover before being reset to the character.

This system gives players a lot to work with. They have to assign the Djinn to characters in a way that maximizes their effectiveness, decide when it’s worthwhile to have a Djinn attack, and then figure out when to summon a god to help out and get their Djinn back. We’re not aware of another game franchise that has anything quite like it. If there’s one reason for Golden Sun newcomers to give this game a shot, the Djinn system is it.

If there are two reasons, the other is the presentation. The graphics are some of the best the DS has to offer, with detailed and colorful environments, well-drawn characters (especially in battle, where the tiny sprites are replaced with full models), and amazing cutscenes whenever your Djinn summon a god to help. The music and sound effects complement the gameplay without become grating, even during long sessions. The controls are borrowed from the DS Zelda games, relying heavily on the stylus to make moving and casting spells a breeze. The text, while wordy, has been well-translated and edited. Kudos to both the Japanese developers and the Western localization team for a job well done.

If we haven’t stressed this enough, this is not a game for everyone. Its glacial pace and text-heavy gameplay will put most gamers to sleep. But those looking for a deep combat system, a complex story, and a long-awaited new entry in a beloved franchise will absolutely love the many hours they spend working through Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.8 Graphics
These are some of the best visuals we’ve seen on the DS. 4.7 Control
They’re based on the DS Zelda games, so moving around and casting spells is a breeze. 4.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The epic music and tasteful sound effects truly complement the gameplay. 4.0 Play Value
This game won’t convert non-fans, but it gives fans thirty or so hours of exactly what they want. 4.2 Overall Rating – Great
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Amazing graphics and beautifully animated summoning abilities that span both Nintendo DS screens let players experience the game like never before.
  • The story takes place thirty years after the final events of the second game, when the Golden Sun Effect occurred. The main characters are the descendents of the previous game’s heroes.
  • Intuitive touch-screen control has been implemented throughout the game, controlling character movements and the release of Psynergy – magical abilities with powerful effects over people and the environment. Touch control also streamlines battle commands and gives players a stronger tactile connection to the action on the screen.
  • Players will explore a vast and beautifully rendered world where they will find many treasures, encounter dangerous creatures, and manipulate objects blocking their path. Players will also hunt for and collect Djinn, mysterious elemental creatures used to summon powerful spirits in battle.

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