Retronomicon 01.18.12: Golden Sun

Posted by Lee Price on 01.18.2012

This week the Retronomicon stretches the boundaries of what can be considered retro by looking at a game from the Game Boy Advance era! Join 411’s Lee Price as he examines the superb Golden Sun!

Hello one and all and welcome to yet another spectacular edition of the Retronomicon, 411's one-stop shop for all of the best in old school gaming. As ever I am your illustrious host Lee Price and I exists solely to let you know what games you should be playing if you don't fancy playing the games that are around for this generation of consoles. I've had a bit of a topsy-turvy week this week as my gaming has suffered a little bit due to tiredness and laziness. I'm still making progress through Fallout 3 but I am starting to get bored so I may just finish the game off sometime this week. Other than that I can't say I've played all that much. I did get my mother back on the Genesis though, with the brilliant Toejam and Earl 2 I might add. That right there is a future Retronomicon entry. Other than that I ingested far too much alcohol during a friend's birthday party, leading to my very first hangover. That was a bit of a shame considering I had previously thought myself immune to them. It was nothing a couple of hours sleep couldn't get rid of though. Look at me babbling. This isn't what you came here for so how about we get to the…



Comments

Alundra picked up a fairly respectable five comments last week, so let's kick things off with Ultra Gepetto;

This is actually one of my favorite games, I was surprised how dark and bleak it was storyline-wise considering how much death is in it. It was really challenging as most of the puzzles you had to figure out yourself and boss battles seemed to last forever. The soundtrack was as good as you say, one of the best on PS, my favorite track was Kline's Nightmare.

I think the rather gloomy and sinister overtone is what pushed the game over the edge for me. It's something that not a whole lot of other titles were doing at the time and really helped to make the game just a touch more immersive in my view.

Steve B follows up on the week before last;

Never played this so can't comment but in reference to your question above: no, I don't still have the mag. I think it probably got sold/thrown out when my parents dumped all my Transformers/Star Wars figures. The fools.

Ah parents, the bane of any young collector's life. Yet they still wonder why they get shipped off to the old folk's home as soon as humanly possible… (I kid).

n00b is back;

I never beat this one, only played for a couple of hours because i rented it but it was enjoyable. Perhaps a prequel or something of that sort could be made for this Gen.

I would love to see somebody try and bring the series back. Ideally it would be as a XBLA etc release though. I think Alundra loses all of its charm when it is modernized, as the sequel demonstrated. This game is one of those few that needs to stay as traditional as possible to allow the brilliant plot and mind-bending puzzles do the talking for it.

Guest#5508 chimes in;

The game is pretty fun. I'm glad it is a part of the PSOne Classics.

Indeed it is one that everybody needs to be on the lookout for as it is definitely worth a play from anybody with even a passing interest in the Action-RPG genre.

We round things off this week with the inimitable AG Awesome;

I was really happy to read the 'nom this week! I bought this game the day it came out on the PSN seeing how Action RPGs are my absolute favorite genre.... however I currently have over 300 games spread across 7 (soon to be 8) different systems that I am working on. Unfortunately it has been pushed back :-( I'm planning on making this one of the first PSN games I play on the Vita though, since the OLED screen should display it fantastically.

Also, a slight criticism of your writing this week. I used to do this to Sforcina all the time when he would say "thus" so don't take it too personal, but in school I was always taught to try and mix my language up a bit, and you said whilst ten times :(

Lots of love,

A.G. Awesome!

I reckon you have a superb plan of action there. Christen the Vita with one of the best games of the PS1 era and all should be well with the console.

As for the criticism, I don't mind at all when it is constructive, as yours was. In fact it is something that I always seem to have a bit of an issue with, as I occasionally get fixated on a word or phrase when I'm writing, especially when I write in a ‘stream of consciousness' manner as I do with the Retronomicon. It's something I will have to keep a better eye out for in the future.

I believe that pretty much covers us for the comments last week, so it's about time we got to rocking (I am listening to KISS at the moment. I'm not sure why). Strap on those rose-tinted specs because this week the Retronomicon takes a look at Golden Sun.



Music to Read Your Retro to

The GBA may have had slightly tinny speakers, but that didn't stop the Golden Sun soundtrack being a winner. Here's the first track of the entire soundtrack;



Fun Facts

• The first dungeon in the game will actually turn off random encounters if the player reaches a high enough level, in an effort to prevent early level grinding.


• A mistranslation led to a number of enemies unleashing ‘blessing' attacks, e.g. fire blessing. This was actually meant to be breath and the error was corrected in the sequel.


• Main character Isaac shows up as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros Brawl.


• There is a shout-out to Monty Python in Kolima, where one of the NPCs is singing the Lumberjack Song to himself.

The Background

The release of the Gameboy Advance back in 2001 was a bit of a watershed moment for handheld consoles. For more than ten years the traditional Gameboy had dominated the scene, with challenges from consoles like the Game Gear being seen off quite handily. A range of different handhelds had come along that offered more power, better graphics and color screens and all were seen off in short order. Even Nintendo's own Gameboy Color was little more than a marginal step up from the original Gameboy. Thus the release of a handheld that basically amounted to a handheld SNES was big news.

Camelot must have seen a lot of potential in the machine as well. Whilst the early days of the Gameboy Advance essentially boiled down to a bunch of companies re-releasing older games in a handheld format, Camelot wanted to bring a unique IP to the handheld, thus providing gamers with further reason to get their hands on it.

By this point Camelot were well known for the superb Shining Force series, which they had developed whilst working as a second party developer for SEGA. The games are still amongst the best tactical RPGs ever developed and really helped to cement the developer's reputation.

However all good things must come to an end and eventually Camelot's relationship with SEGA soured. The companies had always had a slightly turbulent relationship, as SEGA seemed averse to providing Camelot with any money whatsoever for the Shining series. So when it all went belly up between the two, Camelot was suddenly free to do whatever they wanted. It just so happened that the company wanted to develop a more traditional RPG and the advent of the GBA provided them with just the medium they needed. Thus, in November 2001, the company released Golden Sun on the masses.



The Game

Golden Sun was one of the first games to really show off the potential of Nintendo's new handheld. Other companies had shown that the console was capable of handling games that were far beyond the reach of the original Gameboy, with various conversions that included the Super Mario Advance series and conversions of titles like Final Fight and Street Fighter II: Turbo. However Camelot's game showed that there was much more to the handheld than simply being a portable SNES and, in doing so, they created one of the great RPG sagas.

The game has somewhat of a traditional plot. It takes place on the world of Weyard, which is apparently operating under the flat earth principal if word of God is to be believed. The world is dominated by the four elements that are seen throughout pretty much every RPG: Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. Each one is key to a number of magical powers and all are important in unlocking the mysterious power of alchemy.

Alchemy is described in game as the power that helped the world's civilizations build to previously unthought-of heights, before corruption and greed for power resulted in the inevitable warring that led to the collapse of such civilizations Alchemy was then sealed away using the power of four elemental stars that were then hidden in a secret location.

That location turned out to be Mount Aleph and, upon discovering the location of the stars, a pair of power hungry villains named Saturos and Menardi attempt to get their hands on them. However they are rebuffed by the puzzles and traps that have been put in place to guard the stars. Three years later a group of adventurers led by an old man named Kraden, a group that includes our main hero Isaac, makes their way to the same mountain as part of a research expedition. This visit coincides with the return of Saturos and Menardi, who eventually managed to convince Isaac to hand over three of the four elemental stars before kidnapping Kraden and Jenna, who was also part of the exploration group.

A being known as The Wise One appears and tells Isaac that he must prevent the villains, that also include new additions Felix and Alex, from activating the elemental stars and thus bringing back the power of alchemy. Thus, with motivation duly established, Isaac and company head out to save the world.

As I said it is extremely traditional fare, as could probably be expected from Camelot. However when you consider that this was 2001 and we were still near the period where many RPGs were attempting to be gritty and angst-ridden, Golden Sun marked a nice departure that allowed gamers to reminisce about yesteryear. However Golden Sun was much more than a SNES style RPG on a new handheld as it touched up the genre somewhat to ensure that it worked perfectly on the GBA.

As can be expected of the game, Golden Sun takes place on a world map that includes a host of different towns, each of which has shops to buy things from and a range of NPCs to talk to. Players will have to engage in a range of quests to progress and will gain experience throughout in order to get stronger.

The basic mechanics of Golden Sun's battle system are pretty much rooted in tradition though. Random encounters are prevalent throughout and players gain experience points and money at the end of a battle that can be used to level up and buy new items. If you die you are sent back to the nearest sanctum and hit with a monetary penalty, but otherwise are left able to continue your adventure as you left it.



Where Golden Sun really starts to differ from other RPGs is in the use of the Djinn system. Throughout the course of the adventure the player will encounter and wind up in control of a number of Djinn. The Djinn essentially acts as a summoned monster and each has a set ability that can be used during combat.

However the system gets a touch more complicated when you realize that assignment of the Djinn to a character decides that character's class. Each Djinn offers a range of different stat bonuses and changes, with much of the battle system relying on the correct assignment of Djinn for the upcoming battle. Players can choose to ‘Set' a Djinn or leave it on ‘Standby'. Once assigned a Djinn may have an effect on a player's class, thus changing the Psynergy skills that they can use. This means that, with a large number of Djinn available, the potential for a wide variety of different party set-ups is readily available and easily customizable as you progress.

The system gains an additional level of complexity during the battle process. Whilst ‘Set' a Djinn will contribute to the statistics of the player characters, however once utilized the Djinn must recharge for a while, meaning that all attributes are lost until it can be ‘Set' again. This means that an extra layer of strategy is required as players need to weigh up the pros and cons of utilizing a Djinn in a battle as using one at the wrong time could leave a character vulnerable to an attack.

Psynergy abilities essentially substitute for magic throughout the course of the game, however the game doesn't have the player simply learn the spells as in many other RPGs. Instead your Psynergy abilities are dependent entirely on which Djinn is assigned to a character, meaning that the only way to change a character's abilities is to switch your Djinn setup around. It's quite a clever system, allowing for customization whilst also forcing a level of strategy that wouldn't be possible if every character could learn everything at the same time.

The game also has a very well weighted difficulty curve, which it helps enforce in some sections by preventing players from taking part in random battles if it suspects that they are level grinding to a point that would make the game too easy. This ensures a healthy challenge throughout yet the game never gets too difficult.

Puzzles also play a large part in the game's makeup as well; with the various conundrums and problems placed in front of the player as they progress through each dungeon providing a welcome change in pace, whilst also giving the game an extra layer of depth that simply serves to make it even more enjoyable.

Graphically the game is gorgeous too. Camelot has always had a knack for creating good looking games under a traditional setting. Character sprites are well defined and easy to identify and the games many settings are varied and extremely nice to look at. Couple this with the lovely pseudo-3D effects that are used in the battle sequences and you have a game that truly stood out as one of the best looking titles released during the early days of the GBA's life.

Despite the fairly tinny speakers on the Gameboy Advance, Camelot managed to squeeze a suitable decent soundtrack into Golden Sun. Whilst it is never going to compete with the top dogs of the genre for quality, it still stands as one of the better efforts on the Gameboy Advance. Having said that, not a lot is going to be lost should the player choose to turn the volume down, which is good in some aspects considering handheld consoles are intended to be easily playable in public places.

Golden Sun was one of the games that truly showed the world that the Gameboy Advance has arrived. Once the novelty of a console with the power of a SNES had worn off, it was important that titles that proved the GBA was worth buying on its own merits started to make an appearance. Golden Sun served that purpose exceptionally well and, in doing so, provided RPG gamers with a reason to pick up a Gameboy Advance in the process.



The Aftermath

Golden Sun was roundly praised by critics, with some even going so far as the point to it as one of the best RPGs of the era. Gamers were similarly impressed and the title eventually went on to sell more than a million copies on the Gameboy Advance, proving to be one of the first genuine must-buy titles on the format.

The series itself continued on as well. The original Golden Sun finished with only half of the story told and a sequel that was released two years later eventually rounded things out. Even this was unique in that the second game allowed the player to carry over their stats from the first title before seeing them put in control of the supposedly villainous Felix to see the story from his perspective. The titles really need to be played as a collective to get the full experience as, when combined, they amount to one of the best gaming experiences on the GBA.

After that the series seemed to stagnate for a few years. A certain sub-section of gamers clamored for a new title but Camelot seemed to have placed their focus on other project, relegating the series to the backburner for a while.

This all changed in 2009 though, when Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was announced at E3. The title was eventually released on the DS in 2010 and sees the player dealing with a new threat to the world 30 years after the end of the first two titles. It is a superb game in its own right and a worthy entry into the Golden Sun series. The ambiguous ending of the title left things open for a sequel as well, so it would appear that the Golden Sun series will be around for a while yet.

Conversion Corner

Well this is nice and easy. There weren't any conversion as the title was a GBA exclusive. Move along now please.

The Guy Who Can do it Better than You

Having trouble with the final boss of the game. See how it's done right here;



Enjoy and see you next week.