Golden Sun | |
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North American box art |
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Developer(s) | Camelot Software Planning |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Designer(s) | Hiroshi Yamauchi (executive producer) |
Composer(s) | Motoi Sakuraba |
Series | Golden Sun (series) |
Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
Release date(s) | |
Genre(s) | Console role-playing game |
Mode(s) | Single player, 2 players via Game Link Cable |
Rating(s) | |
Media | 64-megabit cartridge |
Golden Sun, released in Japan as Ōgon no Taiyō Hirakareshi Fūin (黄金の太陽 開かれし封印 , literally "Golden Sun: The Broken Seal"), is the first installment of a series of fantasy role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It was released in November 2001 for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, with a Game Boy Advance sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, in 2003. The game is notable for certain unique game elements, such as the use of special "Djinn" that empower the player and can be used against enemies.
Golden Sun's story follows a band of magic-attuned "adepts" who are sent from their home town into the wide world of Weyard to prevent the potentially destructive power of alchemy from being released as it was in the past. Along the way the adepts gain new abilities, help out the local populations, and learn more about why alchemy was sealed away. The story continues in a sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age.
Upon its release, the game was highly praised; IGN said that Golden Sun could "arguably be one of the best 2D-based Japanese RPGs created for any system."[1] The game went on to sell over one million copies in Japan and the United States alone. A second sequel, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, will be released in 2010.
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Golden Sun is a contemporary presentation of the traditional console role-playing game formula, where the player guides a cast of four characters as they journey through a fantasy-themed game world, interact with other characters, battle many monsters, acquire increasingly powerful magic spells and equipment, and take part in a building, predefined narrative.[2] While many actions the player takes are compulsory, Golden Sun often allows the player to complete certain objectives out of order, and to visit previous locations, which can advance minor story elements.
Much of the game's time spent outside of battle takes place in dungeons, caves, and other locales that feature puzzles integrated into their layout.[3] Among the various activities one must perform to make progress through the game world and story is pushing logs into rivers to cross them, shifting the track of a mine cart to allow access to new areas, and more.[3] Many of these puzzles revolve heavily around the usage of the game's resident form of magic spells, "Psynergy" ("Energy" in the Japanese version), and many specific utility Psynergy spells require the player to find and earn items that grant the spells in order to use them.[4]
Successful exploration of the game's world and conduction of the game's battles is heavily dependent on the strategic usage of the extensive pool of Psynergy spells available.[5] Whereas many other RPGs limit the usage of their forms of magic to battles as offensive and defensive measures, Psynergy spells can be used both for battle, and for solving puzzles in the game's locales.[6] A portion of the game's Psynergy can only be used in combat; conversely, many spells are only used in the game's overworld and non-battle scenarios. At the same time, there are Psynergy spells can be used in both situations; for example, the "Whirlwind" spell that can be used to damage enemies in battle is also used out of battle to clear away overgrown foliage that may block the player's path.[7] Psynergy comes in four elements: Venus (manipulation of rocks and plants), Mars (revolving around fire and heat), Jupiter (based on wind and electricity), and Mercury (concerning water and ice).[8] The player gains more Psynergy spells as the game progresses, both through leveling up and the acquisition of special Psynergy-bestowing items, and with each "utility" Psynergy spell the party gains access to more locations and secrets hidden in the game world. Players can return to previous locations in the game to finish puzzles which they could not solve earlier because of the lack of a specific Psynergy spell.[3]
Golden Sun contains both random monster encounters, featuring randomly selected enemies,[9] and compulsory battles involving set enemies, which advance the story. When a battle begins, a separate screen is brought up where the player's party and enemy party face-off on opposing sides. During a battle, the characters and the background rotate to give a pseudo-3D effect.[10]
The gameplay in relation to Golden Sun's battle mode is similar to traditional console RPGs. In each battle, the player is required to defeat each enemy by a variety of measures, including direct attacks with weapons, offensive Psynergy spells, powerful Djinni, and there is also defending, all the while keeping the player's own party alive through items and supportive Psynergy that restore life and supplement defense.[11] If the player's entire party is downed by reducing their hit points to zero, it is considered "Game Over", and the party is returned to the last Sanctum that the player visited with only Isaac alive with one hitpoint left, and suffers a monetary penalty. The successful completion of a battle yields experience points, coins, powerful psynergy, and sometimes items.[12]
In addition to the main game itself, there is also a competitive battling mode accessible from the menu screen. In this mode, players can enter their currently-developed team from their saved game files into an arena environment where they can either battle increasingly difficult CPU-controlled enemies with their full parties, or select three of their four party members to do battle against another player's three-character team. In neither case is there a reward or penalty for winning or losing.[13]
One of the most distinctive features of Golden Sun is the collecting and manipulation of magical creatures called Djinn (Singular: Djinni). Djinn, based on each of the four classical elements, can be found scattered in hiding throughout the game and are allocated to each character. The Djinn form the basis of the game's statistic enhancement, as well as the system that dictates the character's Psynergy capabilities.[14] Attaching different Djinn to different characters modifies that character's character class, subsequently modifying hit points, Psynergy points, and other statistics, as well as determining what Psynergy the character is able to perform.[15]
In Golden Sun, Djinn can either be "turned on" ("Set") or "turned off" ("On Standby"). When a Djinni is "Set" to a character, that Djinni exerts influence on that character's class[9] (and therefore, his or her statistics and Psynergy collection) relative to both the character's innate element and that of the Djinni's.[14] As there are twenty-eight Djinn encompassing the four elements that can be mixed and matched to the four characters, a large array of possible class setups for all four characters are potentially available, allowing a variety of combat options.[16]
In combat, a Djinni has several primary uses. Each Djinni has its own special ability which can be invoked during combat by the character it is attached to, which can include enhanced elemental attacks, buffing or debuffing spells, healing/restoration spells, and other effects. After a successful invoke, the Djinni shifts to "Standby" mode until it is "Set" on the character again.[17] While in standby, the Djinn do not contribute to character classes or statistics, but can be used for summon sequences, which are attacks where the player summons a powerful elemental monster to inflict damage on every enemy. This is the game's most powerful method of attack, and also the riskiest, as it requires Djinn to be on Standby and therefore not be available to bolster the statistics of whatever character the Djinn are on.[18] Once a Djinni on Standby has been used for a Summon Sequence, it must rest a number of turns before it restores itself to Set position on a character. There are sixteen Summon Sequences in Golden Sun, four for each element, and each summon sequence takes between one and four Djinn of the same element on Standby.
Golden Sun, in both background and chain of events, takes place in a fantasy setting that may be considered fairly typical of classic-style RPGs. It is the world of "Weyard", a massive earth-like environment with several major continents and many oceans. Weyard is revealed by the game's sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, to be a setting modeled on the flat Earth ideal of the world; it is a flat, vaguely circular plane whose oceans perpetually spill off the edge of the world's entire perimeter into an endless abyss.[19][20] The plot progression of Golden Sun spans the two largest continents in the world's central region: The Eurasian-themed main continent of Angara to the north and the more African and Middle Eastern-inspired continent of Gondowan to the south.
Weyard is a world governed by the fictional, ancient concept of the classical elements. All matter on Weyard consists of any combination of the four base elements: Venus (Earth), Mars (Fire), Jupiter (Air), and Mercury (Water).[21] These four building blocks of reality can be manipulated by the omnipotent force of Alchemy, which used to reign supreme in the world's ancient past. Alchemy was sealed away in the past, however, and the world in the present age has become seemingly devoid of all magic. Various individuals throughout the world, however, each demonstrate an adeptness to manipulate one of the four elements through a chi-like form of magic called Psynergy. These Adepts, as wielders of Psynergy are called, generally refrain from displaying their talents to outsiders of their various settlements.
The player controls a total of four characters of Golden Sun. Isaac is a seventeen-year-old Venus Adept from the village of Vale, who serves as the game's silent protagonist. Garet, a seventeen-year-old Mars Adept also from Vale, is big and strong but slightly oafish and unfocused; nonetheless he is Isaac's closest companion. Ivan is a fifteen-year-old Jupiter Adept who has lived with a famous merchant in the town of Kalay all his life, but whose real hometown is actually Contigo, a town on the continent of Atteka; he is a somewhat quiet, insightful boy. Mia, a seventeen-year-old Mercury Adept from the wintry town of Imil, is a gentle healer from a heritage of Mercury Adept clansmen. She joins the group during the climb of the first Lighthouse. A fifth character seen and playable in the game's exposition sequence is the 17-year-old Mars Adept Jenna, another childhood friend to Isaac, and Felix's sister, in Vale.[22]
The primary antagonists of the game are Saturos and Menardi, a pair of immensely powerful and talented Mars Adepts of a foreign race hailing from Prox, a town in the frigid north near Mars Lighthouse.[23] Their aim is to restore Alchemy to the world, and they are assisted by the powerful and mysterious Mercury Adept Alex, of the same heritage as Mia, and Jenna's older brother, the 18-year-old Venus Adept Felix, who is indebted to Saturos for the latter's saving Felix from death.[22]
The force of Alchemy was prevalent in Weyard's ancient past, allowing for the development of great civilizations, but this eventually gave way to worldwide conflict that had subsided only with the sealing away of Alchemy.[24] The keys to unlocking Alchemy, four magic jewels named the Elemental Stars, have been hidden within the mountain shrine, Mt. Aleph, which in turn has been guarded by the town of Vale at the mountain's base over the ages. Three years prior to the start of the game in the game's prologue, however, Saturos and Menardi, along with a raiding party, raid Mt. Aleph with the intent to take the Elemental Stars for themselves, but fail to solve the riddles guarding them and are driven away by the mountain's trap, a magically generated thunderstorm and rock slide.[25]
In the present, the teenaged adepts from Vale, Isaac, Garet, and Jenna, join Kraden in his research of Mt. Aleph,[26] but this coincides with a second raid of the sanctum by Saturos and Menardi, who are now assisted by the adepts Felix[27] and Alex, and they coerce Isaac into giving them three of the four stars.[28] However, before they can retrieve the final star, they are forced to escape from what is now an erupting volcano,[29] with Jenna and Kraden as their hostages.[30] The guardian of Mt. Aleph, the Wise One, appears before Isaac and Garet and commands them to prevent Saturos' group from achieving their goal of restoring Alchemy to the world with the casting of the Elemental Stars into their respective Elemental Lighthouses situated across Weyard. Alchemy, as the Wise One describes, is a power that can be catastrophic if misused by the people of Weyard, so it should be kept sealed as it is.[31]
Isaac and Garet valiantly pursue Saturos' group to the first Lighthouse, Mercury Lighthouse, and along the way they are joined by other young adepts named Ivan[32] and Mia.[33] However, in spite of their best efforts, they fail to prevent Saturos from activating Mercury Lighthouse with the Mercury Star.[34] Saturos' group immediately leaves for the next Lighthouse while Isaac's party immediately resumes its pursuit, and the lengthy chase and journey that follows eventually spans two continents, during which Isaac finds that Saturos has taken another adept hostage as well: the female Jupiter adept, Sheba.[35]
Golden Sun climaxes at Venus Lighthouse; Saturos and Menardi activate the lighthouse with the Venus Star, but are again confronted by Isaac's party.[36] Attempting to annihilate their opponents, Saturos and Menardi magically merge to form a gigantic two-headed dragon,[37] but the fierce battle ultimately ends in victory for Isaac's party as they slay Saturos and Menardi for good.[38] Their victory is a hollow one, though, as they come to the conclusion that the remnants of Saturos' group, headed by Felix and Alex, are still on its quest to light the remaining two Lighthouses, while Jenna, Sheba, and Kraden are still with them.[39] The game ends as Isaac's party boards a ship entrusted to them previously and sail out into Weyard's open seas in search of their continued objectives.[40]
Golden Sun underwent a development cycle of between twelve and eighteen months by Camelot Software Planning, which is considered a long period of time for the development of a handheld video game,[41] and was described as a "testament" to the positive results a long development cycle can bring to a game.[1] It was shown in early, playable form at the Nintendo Spaceworld Expo in Japan on August 2000.[10] North American previewers received the game a few weeks before the release, and IGN noted that the experience of developing Shining Force for Sega helped Camelot develop a gripping RPG for the handheld.[42]
Originally, Camelot planned to create a single title instead of a series, and in the extremely early stages of their project they had created a game design document for the one Golden Sun game to be on the Nintendo 64 console. When it became apparent the N64 was to be superseded by the Nintendo GameCube, Camelot shifted their focus to making a game on the handheld Game Boy Advance.[43]
As a handheld title, Golden Sun was originally going to be a single game, but due to both the hardware limitations of putting the game on a single Game Boy Advance cartridge and the developers' own desire for what they wanted to do with the game, it was expanded to become two successive games, Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Scenario writer Hiroyuki Takahashi and director Shugo Takahashi had previously designed Shining Force III, where the story involved playing through the perspectives of both the "good" side and the "bad" side of the characters. Thinking that it was an effective way of conveying the full story of a fictional game world, they incorporated elements of this storytelling methodology into the two-game setup of the Golden Sun series, having the player control the "good guys" in Golden Sun and members of the antagonistic party in The Lost Age.[44]
Reception | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Aggregator | Score |
GameRankings | 90% (50 Reviews)[45] |
Metacritic | 91% (29 Reviews)[46] |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
GameSpot | 8.6/10 |
IGN | 9.7/10 |
Thunderbolt Games | 9/10[47] |
Golden Sun met with generally strong reviews, of which many were emphatically glowing.[48][49] Many praised the game's vibrant graphics, high-quality sound, and varied, refined RPG gameplay, with particular optimism on the Djinn-based gameplay system and Battle aspect.[50] It was also praised for being graphically stunning for the limitations of the 32-bit cartridge, with Gamespot noting that "Golden Sun is a throwback to some of the SNES's best."[51] G4 TV stated "It's the best original (nonport) GBA RPG to date", while GamePro raved that Golden Sun was "A huge, fantastic, creative, and wickedly fun RPG that doesn't seem to care that it's 'just' on a GBA."[49] It was rated the 31st best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[52]
Complaints about the game generally revolved around the overuse of text dialogue in the numerous cutscenes throughout the game, especially in the prologue, causing the game to get off to a cumbersome start.[1] In addition, some faulted Golden Sun for still relying on the "wander around, get into a random battle, win battle, wander around, random battle, etc." theme in many role-playing games.[47] Golden Sun rates a 9.2/10 on MobyGames,[53] and an 8.5/10 on GameInformer.com (the main complaint being low replay value, it was still titled "GBA's Golden Child").[54] The game has a 91% ranking on Metacritic.[46]
In 2001, Golden Sun won the Nintendo Power Award for best Game Boy Advance game of the year. Golden Sun was ranked 94 on IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever.[55] In 2007, it was named 24th best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan,[56] as well as its Game of the Month for April 2003 because it had "amazing graphics and sound presentation, as well as a quest that lasts for more than thirty hours."[57] Golden Sun has sold 740,000 copies in the United States[58] and 338,000 in Japan.[59]
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