Golden Sun: This game kinda sucks

For ages, I have been hearing non-stop to why this game is the best game ever. So, with very high hopes, I finally obtained a copy of the first two games, only to be very disapointed. Boring is what it is really. I never finished the first one.

Anyone else feel the same way?

its for the hardcore rpg fans, not for the type of people who think graphics make the best game. Im not saying you're one of those people..but id say you're not a jrpg fan and had no business playing the Sun in the first place.

Personally, I didn't like Golden Sun much either, and I 1) am a JRPG fan and 2) played it back when it first came out. Just nothing appealing about it.

Blasphemy. This thread is blasphemy.

Why? it has no redeeming qualities to it.

I've heard nothing but good about this game as well.. never got to play it though

usually people will give some kind of explanation as to why they didnt like something.. so, care to share?

Originally posted by Kosmic King
Why? it has no redeeming qualities to it.

It's a classic case of a young gamer not receiving the culture until its time has passed. Its pretty sad, actually.

Dude you have to get into the game brooo. Personally I think that game is badass and I'm gonna start a forum on why Golden Sun is the shit! 🙂

Originally posted by LLLLLink
It's a classic case of a young gamer not receiving the culture until its time has passed. Its pretty sad, actually.

And how old are you, exactly? Probably not old enough to make claims like that, I'm sure.

I played the game when it came out, and wasn't hugely impressed. I grew up on JRPGs, though, and it just didn't stand out. The djinn system was pretty neat but otherwise it was quite generic.

Didn't help that there were points where if you got stuck there, there was no way of progressing (nor any way of backtracking). That's just bad game design.

Originally posted by Peach
And how old are you, exactly? Probably not old enough to make claims like that, I'm sure.

I played the game when it came out, and wasn't hugely impressed. I grew up on JRPGs, though, and it just didn't stand out. The djinn system was pretty neat but otherwise it was quite generic.

Didn't help that there were points where if you got stuck there, there was no way of progressing (nor any way of backtracking). That's just bad game design.

About the same age as you. So, unless you consider yourself to be in the "not old enough" boat, then I believe you are mistaken.

I disagree about it being so generic. Just the fact that levelling up meant something was enough to set it apart from something like Final Fantasy. Plus, it was a handheld, which made it all the better.

I think the charm of Golden Sun depends entirely on how much experience you had with JRPGs when you played it. I had barely seen the genre at all when I played it, so I didn't see it as generic, and the djinn system and music were enthralling at the time. The first two games' pseudo-3D battle screens and highly-detailed sprites (for a GBA game) were also attractive points.

Originally posted by LLLLLink
About the same age as you. So, unless you consider yourself to be in the "not old enough" boat, then I believe you are mistaken.

I disagree about it being so generic. Just the fact that levelling up meant something was enough to set it apart from something like Final Fantasy. Plus, it was a handheld, which made it all the better.

Considering that I remember you talking about your first semester of college, I'm pretty sure you are significantly younger than I am. I was nearly 16 when Golden Sun came out (my brother had gotten it for Christmas that year), and had been playing JRPGs for over a decade by then. Just about everything in it I had seen elsewhere already. The djinn system really was the only thing that stood out as being different.

(also, FFVIII is the only Final Fantasy where leveling didn't matter, because monsters leveled with you and the draw system set your stats more than anything else)

Also, it being a handheld game doesn't automatically make it good or better than something else.

I'm not saying it's a bad game, but I think it's rather like FFVII - how good you think it is depends on how much experience with the genre you had before initially playing it, and it's got nostalgia working for it for those who did like it.

I'll just chime in and say that I very much enjoyed Golden Sun and it's sequel (loved the porting over of data) a lot back in the day. And I believe Kaliero and Peach are onto something when it comes to the players previous exposure to JRPGs. At the time of playing Golden Sun I had only played the Pokémon games and Breath of Fire II.

I have however later gotten to play more JRPGs, Lost Odyssey and Final Fantasy VII, and I still think GS still holds up.

Originally posted by Peach
And how old are you, exactly? Probably not old enough to make claims like that, I'm sure.

I played the game when it came out, and wasn't hugely impressed. I grew up on JRPGs, though, and it just didn't stand out. The djinn system was pretty neat but otherwise it was quite generic.

Didn't help that there were points where if you got stuck there, there was no way of progressing (nor any way of backtracking). That's just bad game design.

Felix had a psyenergy power called retreat which would teleport you back to the beginning of any dungeon or place you were in. Isaac had it in the first game I believe.

Originally posted by narutoisthebest
Felix had a psyenergy power called retreat which would teleport you back to the beginning of any dungeon or place you were in. Isaac had it in the first game I believe.

Originally posted by narutoisthebest
Felix had a psyenergy power called retreat which would teleport you back to the beginning of any dungeon or place you were in. Isaac had it in the first game I believe.

As GK said, that wouldn't help you everywhere.

The fact that you can get stuck and unable to progress in the game (and unable to backtrack at all) is just really poor design.

Tell me one place you got stuck at and I'll help you with that. I don't understand how you got stuck anywhere while playing that game. It was a pretty simple game for me to pass and for thousands of others.

Well, I haven't touched the game in years, and don't own a GBA any longer. It's nothing to do with the difficulty, simply how the game was set up.

However, there was a boss battle while you're on a ship. If you can't beat that boss, you can't continue on. Also, if you can't beat the boss, you can't go back to level up further, as you're on a ship. If you get stuck there, you have no choice but to restart the game. And as it was several hours in, the fact that you have to restart is very frustrating.

I understand that the new one also has things that you can permanently miss, requiring you to start over if you want them.

That is just poor design.

Originally posted by Peach
Well, I haven't touched the game in years, and don't own a GBA any longer. It's nothing to do with the difficulty, simply how the game was set up.

However, there was a boss battle while you're on a ship. If you can't beat that boss, you can't continue on. Also, if you can't beat the boss, you can't go back to level up further, as you're on a ship. If you get stuck there, you have no choice but to restart the game. And as it was several hours in, the fact that you have to restart is very frustrating.

I understand that the new one also has things that you can permanently miss, requiring you to start over if you want them.

That is just poor design.

If you lose to a boss in Golden Sun you're automatically transferred to one of those reviving huts in a nearby town. So that means you can just leave the town, level up, and go back to whup the bosses ass 😄

Originally posted by narutoisthebest
If you lose to a boss in Golden Sun you're automatically transferred to one of those reviving huts in a nearby town. So that means you can just leave the town, level up, and go back to whup the bosses ass 😄

...except that wasn't the case with that fight at all - losing the fight was an automatic game over and option to reload your save. And the last save point before it was after a point where you can backtrack to level up further.