Golden Sun Kicks Ass
 

So, I don't really remember seeing a thread for Dark Dawn when it came out, but apparently there ARE actually people around here who know about this under-appreciated series.

Anybody have fond memories of playing the first games on GBA? Anybody beaten the DS one yet? I've been on a huge Golden Sun kick recently, and there are like 2 people on my MSN contact list who have even played it.

I still have both GBA games, I wanted to get he DS one around January but, there wasn't a single copy in various shops so, I got DK: Returns instead. I really love the GBA games and I'll eventually get the DS one, as soon as I get some extra money.

The first thing I loved about the GBA versions was changing the windows' color using RGB sliders instead of preset colors. I think I only have those 2 games (and Mario vs DK) left from my GBA collection, and I?ll never get rid of them ^_^.

I fucking loved the GBA games, but unfortunately haven't gotten to replay them in ages. I was really pretty goddamn pumped to hear about the third game, which everyone has been wanting for god knows how long. This game has pretty much everything we loved from the last games.

It also has the game's biggest failing: piss-poor dialogue. Maybe it was because when I was younger I didn't mind the GBA games so much, but this time around I really groaned every time we got to a cutscene because I knew we were gonna hear something boring and stupid. When the first 75% of your game is a fetchquest, it really makes you wonder why you're getting all up in the politics of like five different nations in your way.

That being said, the graphics are great, the Djinn system still rocks, and the puzzles are creative but not too complex. Once I stopped paying attention to what anyone actually said, it was a lot of fun.

Yeah, the dialog kind of sucks. There isn't a whole lot of characterization in most places either, so by the end you'd have Tyrell for example whose whole personality was basically "Kind of an asshole sometimes", which doesn't make him that great to have on the team. The game's lack of difficulty also got on my nerves a lot of the time. The very first time I died was at the last boss, and then when I faced him again I used a different strategy that meant I took no casualties whatsoever.

I know it's aimed toward a bit of a younger crowd too but even so, there was a little bit of discord with the tone of the game. It's like, okay, 30 years ago the world got basically torn to bits by a magical cataclysm, killing thousands of people and sort of reshaping the world in its entirety. But everybody's happy! Nobody is bothered or anything by their lost loved ones, nobody minds having to re-draw every map in existence... except wait, what's that? The Eclipse ? Now everybody's sad again. It's like the NPCs have the memory span of a goldfish.

But I like pretty much everything else about the game. I can't help but think that if they made a spinoff or reboot with... well, I hesitate to say a more MATURE tone, but there you go... then it'd be much better. They'd be forced to write better dialog, they'd have to take into account all the aftereffects of the Golden Sun Event, and they'd be free to make it a little more challenging.

Pyros feels that the opening exposition was too heavy handed and TOOK FOREVER. And the fact that one of the new features is even MORE exposition in the form of a noun encyclopedia. I spent the first 30 minutes going: Shit, I KNOW THIS! You don't need to tell me! The average joe probably played the first game and if not, they checked wikipedia first!

Pyros also feels bad he never got around to finishing that darned LP!

Man, I could go on forever about how bad The Eclipse and everyone's reactions to it pissed me off, but I'll reel it in because I've yakked my friends ears off on that little thing drove me nuts. A large part of it is WHY THE HELL WERE WE EVEN BOTHERING TO HELP RYU KOU, THAT OBNOXIOUS LITTLE IDIOT

To be perfectly honest, I could spend a really long time complaining about the faults of this game. It does have a lot of them. But it's a fun game, all the same. Maybe something that people should hold back on a little, wait until they can buy a copy for a little less.

Love Dark Dawn, even though I've missed a couple of Djinn (D: ). Still playing. Is the scale model of Venus lighthouse the lava tower thing? We should try and make all of the lighthouses through appropriate-looking materials.

ALSO: FUCK THAT GUY

Because Sveta wanted to, and you know Matthew totally wants some of that action.

Re: Eltargrim, Venus Lighthouse in Fifth's minecraft server is the massive stone structure visible from spawn. It is Venus Lighthouse not because it is built out of earthy materials but because it is fucking identical to Venus Lighthouse.

I didn't want to bother making the underground Babi's Lighthouse tunnel system, though.

Now I want to get into Fifth's server O.O. Also, I remember reading the minds of every single human, animal, tree or pretty much anything in both GBA games :3