Golden Sun Dark Dawn Review
You know, my first introduction to Camelot Software's games began when I was a young boy. There was a storm going on in the old house, I think it was a thunderstorm... yeah, yeah it was. Anyways, the power was out and we had the radios out to see what's going on and entertain us. And there were two Gameboy Advance games together. Golden Sun and Golden Sun The Lost Age.
And needless to say... I was hooked. The world, the characters, the music, the entire experience was incredible. Golden Sun was originally supposed to be one huge game, but due to the hardware limitations on the Gameboy Advance back then, it wasn't possible. So they made a two parter.
Part one, Golden Sun focused on Isaac, Garet, Ivan and Mia chasing after two mysterious warriors named Saturos and Menardi, who kidnapped Jenna, Isaac's love interested and childhood along with Garet, and Kraden, the friendly scholar who has knowledge of alchemy and psynergy. Along with a strange man named Alex.
After that's done and the group escape, we focus on Felix, who was with them to keep Jenna and Kraden safe, along with a new addition named Sheba. It's now revealed what Saturos and Menardi's agenda was and that they were the good guys who were desperate. Anyways, long rambling aside, the games were great.
And it concluded the saga nicely with the Golden Sun rising once more. But people have wondered... would there be a sequel? What would it focus on? Would Alex come back? How would the world of Weyard change now that alchemy and magic is flourishing in the world once more?
Well... uhm... it was somewhere in 2009 where we would get our answer on the Nintendo DS called Golden Sun Dark Dawn.
... I was disappointed, and legitimately angry.
So, let's go and explore Weyard once more and see why Golden Sun Dark Dawn is such a huge disappointment, shall we? Oh, and as for what Adepts and Psynergy are? Adepts are psychic magic users, but normal people can't see the magic. And Psynergy is, well, magic. Used to solve puzzles, attack and heal. Anyways, let's begin shall we?
STORY
Our story begins 30 years later after the Golden Sun Incident, the world has been reformed and Alchemy is restored after the Elemental Lighthouses have been relit. However, a new phenomenon has appeared called Psynergy Vortexes... Vortersies? Whatever, they appeared and anyone who get's near them, especially an Adept, will have their energy drained until they die.
Including a large Psynergy Vortex called the Mourning Moon that appears every 10 years. And since 30 years have passed, this will be its third appearance as it grows bigger and bigger. Isaac and the rest who have grown up, have decided to investigate this strange occurrence and find out how to stop it. But that would be interesting, so nope. That's not the plot.
We see the next generation where we see Matthew who is a literal Isaac clone, and Tyrell who is a Garret clone. They are the sons of Isaac and Garet along with Karis who is the daughter of Ivan. Tyrell, like a dumbass and I'll be noticing this a lot, fiddles around with a Soarwing, basically a technologically advanced hand glider used to get to Sol Sanctum.
He messes it up and now they have to get a Roc's Feather to repair it to get to the Wise One, the protector of Weyard. So this whole plot happened because of Tyrell. Way to go, dipshit. Anyways, they go and save his ass with the longest tutorial in the world, and go on their adventure. Along the way, they meet these two mysterious figures named Blados and Chalis, or Heart and Spade in the Japanese version, and it's shown they have these devices to create Psynergy Vortexes.
But it's immediately dropped and forgotten. I'm dead serious. We also have this masked figure who knows Kraden. Gee. I wonder who this could be. So we have Rief, our replacement Kraden and Mercury Adept, and we have Amiti who seems to have the same aura as Mia for some reason. Turns out, and Camelot did spoil it themselves, that Amiti is Alex's son.
... Yeah. Apparently, he saved Ayuthay from destruction and got hitched with Veriti, Amiti's mother. He then left to continue his plans and after Veriti gave birth to Amiti, she passed away and it's been kept secret ever since. It's never addressed in game by the way. Blah, blah, blah. Much fluff happens and we see Chalis talking to the Emperor of a town called Kaocho about a coup or whatever.
This never happens and it's dropped. We also meet another Jupiter Adept named Sveta who is a beastwoman. Hey, we encountered beast people in Golden Sun The Lost Age! She is the younger sister of the ruler of Belinsk, named Volechek, the ruler of all beastmen. She might as well be the main character since she actually saw Blados, Chalis and the masked man named Arcanus.
But I digress, they explore Belinsk and see a tower that seems similar to that of the Elemental Lighthouses, they also encounter Kraden and he joins up, making Rief useless. They enter and find out it's actually a doomsday device that houses an apocalyptic event called the Grave Eclipse, and of course, like dumbasses, they release it to escape after fighting off Blados and Chalis.
The Grave Eclipse is released and blankets part of the continent in darkness where dark demonic creatures now roam the lands and kill anyone they see. The only way to ward them off is light and fire.
Need I remind you, this is all because we were sent on an errand to get a bird's feather. I am dead fucking serious.
I hate this game.
So, they recruit Eoleo, the baby who was the son of Briggs and his wife. Oh, and the monster killed Briggs. You fucking bastards... So they recruit ANOTHER person, Jesus Christ game, slow the hell down! They recruit a girl who's on death's door named Himi and they get a sacred rock to bring her back and she basically has the personality of one.
Anyways, with all 8 Adepts gathered, they have to make their way to the Endless Wall and enter the Apollo Sanctum to destroy the Grave Eclipse. The Endless wall looks like... The Great Wall of China and isn't endless. False advertising. They perform some tests and encounter Blados, Chalis and Arcanus again, and Arcanus, who's really Alex, reveals everything so far and why the two generals are still alive.
Turns out, some of the soldiers of a kingdom called Tuaparang are members of the Umbra Clan, a group of Dark Adepts, and Blados and Chalis are also members, explaining why the monsters left them alone. And once again, you never fight Alex. You fight the generals again and they fuse into the Chaos Chimera. After a long fight, Blados and Chalis are dying and the monster they recruited earlier once Matthew arrived, turned out to be Volechek who got turned into a literal beast and used by the group.
Matthew and Sveta go to the Apollo Lens, a giant cannon that emits pure light and try to destroy the Grave Eclipse before it spreads. However, Volechek interferes and sacrifices himself and activates it, destroying the darkness and also gifting beastmen the power of Light Psynegry, or Sol, or whatever.
Yay! We almost called the apocalypse and people died! Let's celebrate! :)
I HATE THIS GAME.
So the characters part ways and head back home, but when Matthew, Tyrell and Karis arrived, the Mourning Moon is there waiting. Oh yeah! The Psynergy Vortex plot! Well, too late. Game over. I'm dead serious. It even ends with a: "The End...?".
You can't end it there! It has to continue! And that was Golden Sun Dark Dawn. ... What a complete fucking waste of time.
GAMEPLAY
It plays the same as Golden Sun and the Lost Age. You have Djinni to collect again... for some reason, and use Psynergy in the field. But let's get this out of the way, the game is too fucking easy! I never had to use Summons, Djinni or attack Psynergy once. I never even had to use Inns either. Why? Because your PP recovers too quickly and you find Wise One Statues in some areas that recover you to full health!
Plus, you level up like crazy. I started at level one, and when I left the tutorial area, I was level seven. I jumped six levels! What the fuck? The puzzles are very simplistic and not very creative unlike the last two games. Dying is pretty much impossible unless you fight the secret bosses, but that's pretty much it.
Like the last two games, it's very dialogue heavy but they constantly repeat the same things and conversations over and over again. This is fake padding at its worst. Also, no new summons. Just one. Wow. I remember none of these characters and I had to actually look up a Wiki just to remember them. THAT bad.
Plus, the 3D models look... ugghh... it looks bad. I like my sprites back thank you. Also, we are introduced with the... *sighs* Emoticon system. Matthew has a choice of certain emotions that he sometimes says certain things in the story. But the problem is I have no idea what the hell they mean! There's no text underneath the choices. Why do this? What was wrong with Yes or No? Fucking pointless.
MUSIC
The music is done by Motoi Sakuraba and it's clear he has no idea what the fuck the theme in this game is. Some sound so generic and blah, that I can't remember them. The battle theme's are good and the final areas are where it starts to get good. Overall, a very forgettable soundtrack which is a damn shame.
SOUNDS
More annoying I find. There's so much noise and stupid shit that I can't even.
FUN FACTOR
Eh... it's split 50/50 in my opinion. But whatever. It's very short and I can't see many people coming back here since there's literally no strategy.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND SCORE
Golden Sun Dark Dawn is a huge disappointment and a slap in the face. It's painfully short, has no substance and the world is somehow boring and uninteresting. Plus, we only see three characters from the past two games returning. The rest are off-screen.
Overall, my final score is...
1/10
There is some good music here, mainly the boss and battle themes. And the final areas of the game. But everything from the characters, story, pacing and writing is absolute ass. This game sucks. Go and play Golden Sun and Golden Sun The Lost Age. Much better games than this piece of shit.
REWRITE
First things first, make the Psynergy Vortexes important to the story and the main focus. And Blados and Chalis actually use Dark Psynergy when you fight them again. Honestly, I don't see how this can be rewritten. The pacing's shit, the conversation constantly repeats and they pull civilizations and cultures we've never heard of before.
Also, can we meet some of the old characters again? Please? Isaac, Garet and Kraden aren't enough.
Oh, and fighting Alex. Just once. Please.
Anyways, that's it. This was a huge disappointment and made me legitimately angry. I expected something much more than this. But no. Will there be a Golden Sun 4? God only knows.
