Last week I received a private message from Mr. oOgA saying that he has Shana hostage and if I don’t want Shana to be harmed I must meet his demand, which was to write him a guest post. So I panicked, I didn’t know what to do. Should I call the police and tell them that my favorite anime character has been kidnapped? Or perhaps go to Wilhelmina for help?

So I sat in front of my Shana shrine and thought for a while; I better do as he says (I am sure you would have done the same, I mean oOgA is one hell of a scary man.). Apparently the topic is on games, I never really played many games; so I guess I will go for “Golden Sun: The Broken Seal”.

Golden Sun (黄金の太陽 開かれし封印, Ōgon no Taiyō: Hirakareshi Fūin ).

Golden Sun was first released in November 2001 on the Game Boy Advance. The story is based around Isaac and his friends. In the world of Golden Sun, those who can control their “Psynergy” are known as Adepts. Basically they travel around the land of Weyard in order to prevent the destructive power of alchemy to be released, which is sealed away by four elemental light houses.

So another generic RPG with some heroes trying to save the world? Well, lets see what Golden Sun has to offer us and how it differentiate itself from all the other RPGs out there.

Well I guess a good starting point would be the graphics; it’s truly amazing (got to remember back in 2001, all the other GBA games had sucky graphics).If I had to compare that feeling with something, it was like back in the days when black and white was still the technology of the present, watching Wizard of Oz was a huge surprise since it was in colour; Orgasmic! On top of that the game play is complemented (well) by it’s sound track.

The battle system isn’t any thing special, just your usual turn based system. Attack, defend, flee and whatnot. Just like other RPGs I’ve played (which isn’t a lot >.<;) it gets rather annoying when you try to grind a few levels, since upon encounting a monster the screen will flash and go through a sequence of stuff before getting into the actually battle. The only other game I’ve played that doesn’t do that is Chrono Trigger, where the sprites just fall into place and the battle commences. So I guess you can say Golden Sun has a “classic” battle system.

Through out the game you acquire Djinns, there are 7 of each element. Of course it is not compulsory to get them all but the more you have the more powerful you are. What is interesting about them is you can switch them “on” and “off” and by doing so it will affect you character in different ways. After they’ve been switched “on” (set to a character) they are ready for summoning, depending on the number of Djinns you have switched “on” you can summon different monsters, in the first Golden Sun game (in which this review is on) you can summon monsters composed of up to 4 Djinns. What’s more interesting about Djinns are how they affect your characters. By setting different number of elemental Djinns to your character your stats, skills and class changes accordingly. There are so many permutations it’s almost endless, although I like to keep all the same elements to one character.

So, shockly good graphics, a “classic” battle system and a very broad yet interesting Djinn element. How is the actual story? Well, to be honest it does sound kind of generic….. until you find out this is only half the game! The other half you play as the “villains” in the sequel, “Golden Sun: The Lost Age”. So this game is really only the tip of the iceberg, and since the ending is a cliff hanger I am sure it would make a complete fan boy out of any one.

Personally I think this really is a game worth spending time over. If there was anything I would criticise is how easy the game is to beat. As interesting as the story may be, sometimes it feels as though the game needs a bit more challenge. The first time I beat the game was at level 35, which is very low when the maximum level is 99. Perhaps another disappointment is the PvP battle mode, because the summons are so powerful by the end of it who ever start basically wins, or at least that was the case when I battled my friend. Other than that I really did love the game, it’s not too long and draggy with plenty of optional quests. Again, definitely one worth playing. I apologise again for my lack of gaming experience, so please forgive my nooby review.

Did you say Golden Sun: The lost age? Perhaps some other time.

RunningKid

P.S – oOgA return my SHANA!