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By Osei Tyson on April 25th, 2003
Genre: RPG
Developer: Camelot Software Planning
Publisher: Nintendo
Released On: April 14, 2003
# of Players: 1-Player
Memory: N/A
ERSB: Everyone
Supports: GBA Link
MSRP: $29.99
Also On: None
Website: GoldenSun.com
Only Competition: The future Final Fantasy games.
The original Golden Sun did not have a conclusion, as it was part of a larger story. The Lost Age is as Camelot puts it, "book two" of the story. As such, it is recommended that you do not play The Lost Age until you have completed the first Golden Sun. It would be like opening up a novel and starting on chapter two. The Lost Age allows you to load a clear file (basically a save game created at the end of the first) by way of password or link cable, for reasons which I will not spoil for you. This is another incentive to have played Golden Sun, as it may unlock certain special events in The Lost Age. The Lost Age is not for everyone though. For those of you who played through Golden Sun and hated the backtracking to get the chests that were inaccessible early on, Lost Age has more of that. MUCH more.
If the non-combat psynergy puzzles annoyed you, again, much more of that in Lost Age. In fact, many of the dungeons (some optional some required) in Lost Age are magnitudes more complex than the ones in the first Golden Sun, with many more branches. If you like solving puzzles, collecting psynergies, and playing RPGs to there completion, Lost Age is that in spades. Despite being the same game engine (which is not necessarily a bad thing, since the first had the best ever graphics for a 2D RPG), there are subtle little changes which enhance the gameplay depth. For example, without doing any plot spoiling, there are now combination djinn summons. For example, a certain summon may require two fire and one wind standby djinns, and so forth. Another interesting addition is that of class-changing items. These items, once equipped, instantly change your character to a predefined class (same on all adepts, will not change with level increase). Un-equipping restores the character to their previous class. Hopefully that paints a better picture for what Lost Age is and what it is not. To recap, it is NOT an evolution of GS, it is NOT a revamped engine. It IS a direct continuation of GS’s storyline. Graphics are about as good as it gets. In fact, the best seen in a GBA RPG, and probably better than any game so far. The field map and characters are standard 2D, the world map makes the illusion of 3D and the battles, Oh the battles are a sight to behold. The camera turns with the action and the magic effects and summons are spell-binding. Beautiful and detailed, just like a next generation RPG should be. Something Game Freak should keep in mind when making the next Pokemon games. As for the Audio department. Beautiful enchanting scores. That basically sums it up. Music works perfectly in each scenario and even enhances the mood. The sound is top-rate also. The magic attacks aren’t cheap, digitized blast. They actually sound crisp and 32 bit. Really takes advantage of the GBA sound chip. Very solid stuff. 10 steps above all GBA games besides Sonic Advance 2. Conclusion
Either you love Golden Sun or you hate it. Its as simple as that. But I really can’t see anyone in their right mind not liking this game. It would have to be someone who hates handheld games, hate RPG’s, & most of all hate quality games. Because Golden Sun: The Lost Age is all three. Most GBA RPG’s are still playing catch up to the first Golden Sun. And the sequel in even better. Until Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Crystal Chronicle hit’s the GBA there will be no handheld RPG’s to rival the excellence of the Golden Sun series. Buy this one and pray the third chapter is on GameCube. ~ditto~ The Good
+ Top notch Visuals & Audio
+ Excellent gameplay engine
+ Bad ass summons monsters
+ memorable storyline The Bad
- Gameplay hasn’t evolved much from the last (is that bad?)
- Lots of backtracking The Stupid
? Nothing I can think of
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