Golden Sun

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Golden Sun
Golden sun logo.jpg
Original title 黄金 の 太陽
transcription Ōgon no Taiyō
developer Camelot Software Planning
Publisher Nintendo
First title Golden Sun (2001)
Last title Golden Sun: The Dark Dawn (2010)
Platform (s) Game Boy Advance
Virtual Console ( Wii U )
Nintendo DS
Genre (s) role playing game
information Fantasy , alchemy , adventure
Golden Sun: Die dunkle Dämmerung Golden Sun: Die vergessene Epoche Golden Sun

Golden Sun ( Japanese 黄金 の 太陽 , Ōgon no Taiyō , literally: "Golden Sun") is an RPG series by Japanese developer Camelot for Nintendo's handheld consoles . The first two parts were developed for Game Boy Advance . A third part was released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS .

The series is about the world of Weynard and the magical power "alchemy". The eponymous "Golden Sun", which gives strong powers, rises when the light from four lighthouses of the elements meets over the volcano Aleph Mountain .

Golden Sun

Golden Sun ( Japanese 黄金 の 太陽 開 か れ し 封印 , Ōgon no Taiyō Hirakareshi Fūin , literally: "Golden Sun: The Broken Seal") is a role-playing game developed by Camelot for the Game Boy Advance and published by Nintendo . It was released in 2001 in the US (November 11th) and Japan (August 1st), making it one of the first role-playing games published for the GBA. The following year it was also released in Europe on February 22, 2002.

It was established in April 2014 for the Virtual Console of Wii U in Nintendo eShop republished. Its successor, Golden Sun: The Forgotten Era , was also released for the Virtual Console in August 2015.

Action and gameplay

In this game, the player controls a group of up to four players through the world of Weyard, which is wandered through in an isometric view. The group composition is not freely selectable, but is dictated by the game and the current stage of development of the story. The aim of the game is to prevent access to alchemy (here: direct control over the elements) from being restored . These forces were sealed with the help of four jewels (the elemental stars) long ago because, despite their usefulness in the development of the civilization of Weyard, a flat world with two main continents that are in a certain competitive position , they also lead to major disputes and Led to destruction. Various forces are currently trying to release the force trapped in the elemental stars with the help of elemental lighthouses, and thus bring back alchemy to the world, which would probably lead to its destruction. The plot largely follows a linear sequence, but you also have the opportunity, to a small extent, to complete tasks and explore areas independently and independently of the main plot.

During the normal course of the game, the group mostly moves through small areas separated from one another by territorial boundaries, as were typical for late SNES role-playing games. In addition to the necessary path-finding in the often confused environment, an additional focus is placed on puzzles (here normally represented by obstacles or special features of the environment). To solve this one has to resort to the help of magical abilities (called psynergy in this game, which can only be used by adepts ), which are made available by found jinns and which often have both a combative and a general quality that can be used for peaceful purposes. Since there are a large number of different Djinns, it is not uncommon to return to previously explored places in order to use the new skills to cope with old, previously unsolvable puzzles.

Fights are triggered almost completely randomly and are not previously visible in the environment while exploring the environment, only the end bosses are fixed. It is a turn-based confrontation between the group of heroes controlled by the player and the opponents, which is shown in a slightly oblique view with the point of view behind the group of players. Both the representation at the beginning of the fight and the use of magic show strong influences from Playstation role-playing games, a pseudo-rotation of the environment is shown and very extensive effects are shown during the fight. In addition to the usual close combat options, you can use magic and conjurations in combat, whereby the conjurations are optically very complex and extensive.

Both the magic and the class system in this game are linked to the Djinns that you collect during the game and that were once created as the guardians of the elemental stars. The basic magic system, the psynergy, are simple abilities of element manipulation, the remnants of alchemy, which can only be practiced by adepts. A distinction is made according to the four main elements (fire, water, earth, wind; for each element there is a corresponding name from the Roman history of the gods), both in the proverbs themselves and in the adept affiliation. The Djinns, in turn, can be assigned to the individual characters and thus influence the character's class and skills. There are 28 different Djinns (seven per element), and the combination of different elements results in the different classes with their basic properties, with each figure having almost a dozen classes of its own. In the fight itself, each Djinn also has a special property (often a damage or healing spell) that can be triggered. If a Djinn is not bound to a player, or is in a standby state after using the Djinn ability, it can be used for a Summon. Up to four Djinns are used for this, so that each element has four different incantations, which are correspondingly more powerful than the psynergy.

In addition to the normal game, a simple VS mode is also offered, in which the player and his current group can compete against various computer-controlled monsters or groups of other players (via the link cable). However, this mode has no effect on the game itself.

reception

The first part of the series received extremely positive reviews and achieved an aggregate critic rating of 91% on Metacritic .

Golden Sun: The Forgotten Era

Golden Sun The Lost Age (Logo) .png

On June 28, 2002, Ōgon no Taiyō: Ushinawareshi Toki ( Japanese. 黄金 の 太陽 失 わ れ し 時代 , literally: "Golden Sun: The Lost Age") was published in Japan and appeared one year later, on April 14, 2003 also in in the US as Golden Sun: The Lost Age and on September 19 in Europe. In Germany it was published under the title Golden Sun: The Forgotten Epoch .

Action and gameplay

Since the two parts were originally planned as a single game, but at that time the Game Boy Advance game modules failed to meet their capacity limits, it was decided to split the game and make it into a small, two-part series. Each part shows its own view of history: the first from the view of those who want to prevent the resurrection of alchemy, the second the view of the opposing party who wants to bring alchemy back into the world. The development of a good and a bad side is cleverly prevented by just getting to know the background story by playing both parts and understanding the motivations of the other group.

In order to allow the continuity of the series between the two games, it is possible (and also necessary for activating certain game content in this game) to import all or part of its original group. This is done either via a link cable and two GBAs or via a multi-level password system. This enables the transfer of basic data from the old group to the new game. How extensive the data transfer is depends on the password length, which is between 16 and 260 characters. It is also possible to play without a previous group, but this means that part of the game remains inaccessible without permanently restricting the game content.

The game itself is very similar to its predecessor in terms of content, all basic game mechanics and display modes have been retained. However, the main story of the game is driven less rigorously, which allows for greater opportunity for non-linear play. In the battles there is now a larger selection of possible summons, as there are new, individually to be played variants by combining Djinns of different elements. Otherwise, no significant changes have been made to the game itself.

reception

Also Golden Sun: The Forgotten Era collected very good ratings. At Metacritic, a score of 86 out of 100 points was aggregated.

Golden Sun: The dark twilight

Golden Sun The dark twilight (logo) .jpg

Golden Sun: The Dark Twilight was officially announced as the Golden Sun DS at E3 2009 in Los Angeles . At E3 2010, new information appeared in a second trailer. The main characters are named Matthew, Kiara, Tyrell and Rief.

The Japanese title is Ōgon no Taiyō: Shikkoku naru Yoake ( 黄金 の 太陽 漆 黒 な る 夜 明 け , literally: "Golden Sun: The pitch blackened dawn"). The game was released in Japan on October 28, 2010. It was released on November 29th in North America, on December 2nd in Australia and finally on December 10th, 2010 in Europe.

Action and gameplay

The action takes place 30 years after the events of the previous games.

The game contains the same elements as the already released titles, i. H. there are jinns again (72 of them in number) and the use of psynergy is used inside and outside of combat

The battles are turn-based again using psynergy and items.

In the story, Matthew and his friends must avert a new threat arising from the events of the first two parts.

reviews

For the third part, Golden Sun: The Dark Twilight, the website Metacritic calculated an average rating of 79% based on 63 reviews.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Golden Sun for Game Boy Advance Reviews. Based on 29 reviews. In: Metacritic . Retrieved September 7, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Golden Sun Tests Spieletipps.de
  3. ↑ Golden Sun: The Lost Age for Game Boy Advance Reviews. Based on 29 reviews. In: Metacritic . Retrieved September 7, 2019 .
  4. ↑ gamepro.de ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gamepro.de
  5. ↑ Article DSi-Fans.de
  6. ↑ Golden Sun Zone
  7. ↑ Golden Sun: Dark Dawn for DS Reviews. In: Metacritic. Retrieved September 7, 2019 .
  8. ↑ gamepro.de