Golden Sun's Total Eclipse - Dark Dawn | KBash Game Reviews
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Apotheosis, absolution.
Golden Sun is a series near and dear to my heart. I've often heard that you shouldn't ironically like things, or shouldn't say you like "bad things" because if you like something you think is bad, it's actually good. It's rather that a lot of nostalgia and pathos are wrapped up in how I think about the series and the universe. I think it's flawed to the core, but I love what it could be. Now I'm just finishing what I started.
Early in my "career" I reviewed the Golden Sun games, and did the whole angry gamer, scathing criticism, good thing actually bad thing bit, and the focus was on the writing. If anything that's the one hill I'll die on - the writing in these games is abysmal, just disgusting, but that doesn't mean the aesthetic components or other parts are low quality. I just have a problem with everything but the music and visuals, nbd.
Anyway, from the original, to the Lost Age, to the cliffhanger that is Dark Dawn, let's put this thing to bed.
#goldensun #kbash #jrpg
Wouldn't it be great if we made some Djinni permanently missable?
No, but we're gonna do it anyway.
I ONLY MISSED ONE. (I'm still salty)
Yeah, sounds great. It'll totally increase replay value and won't just tick off players!
Making sidequest in an RPG permanently missable? Annoying but sure, they're side quest, you only do them if you want or if you know it'll unlock some random ass super dungeon.
Making stat bossing, main story items/equips/whatever the fuck permanently missable? Why????
@@ubermaster1 ikr
This is what happens when you love a game series so much you eventually find flaws, plot holes and soon you start talking about it in so much depth and fluency that you start to question yourself as to why you love the game...
All that said, I love the video and I will always love Golden Sun regardless of how flawed and sometimes tedious it is.
I rate this video a solid "laughed my ass off"/10. Thanks, K-Bash.
Same I love the game Period point blank
Same thing happened to me with the persona and final fantasy series...
It's such a shame that these games didn't hit the heights they clearly could have. But no matter what, the music is absolutely fucking phenomenal in all three games.
I agree.
I applaud you for choking down that disgusting concoction in the beginning for the sake of a single fleeting visual gag, that’s commitment right there
Heh visual "gag"
I'd drink it
He's well accustomed to choking down disgusting things....
@@Spiral81C1 what that mean
@@Spiral81C1 yeah, he-
Wait what?
13:30 that woman is Jill from the first game. The girl who turned into a tree and Isaac saved her from drowning in the river. At the Kolima Barricade.
If Trials of Mana can get a remake, why not Golden Sun?
Also, ever hear of a franchise called Glory of Heracles?
Kraden in 4k. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I HAVE IT!!!
Where did I put it?!?!?
We need a sequel
Your sitting on your bed tired and knowing summer's coming to end when you see a notification in your subscribe box, Kbash uploading a video, you look at it and notice two words Dark dawn, a string of memory's flowing back from the past of one summer 5 years ago, going to a small electronics shop, you try to recall what it was called but all you can recall was they sold Ds games, Ds games, you go to check them out despite none of them being for the 3ds you pick one out golden sun dark dawn, you manage to pull out some scraps from your pocket just about enough money to purchase the game you don't have much of a clue about what the games actually about you just recall looking in the old super smash bros brawl trophy room and seeing Isaac and at the bottom of the screen two words "golden sun"
You boot up the game slowly on the car ride back, at least that's how you remember it going you start playing and there he is in a small box, you question why on earth his names Matthew so you change it to Issac, but as you hit confirm it states you can't use that name, confused you just accept that you can't name him Issac and do your normal RPG name, able.
a couple seconds in and your walking with someone it turns out to be Issac...
and then the memory's stop, you can't recall much of what happened after that just some things about djinns and cool summons that stick in your head, and how the opening was way too long... also that there was a werewolf girl who you thought was cute...
and then you start to recall you never finished it, I wonder how I'll feel watching something like this after not being able to find that game for so long.
Turns out I was at the end, just never beat the boss, screw me.
You just reminded me that I never died or had a game over until I reached the final boss
Another excellent review! I personally liked the ending of the lost age and thought they would continue on with dark dawn. But sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. The most interesting character in the series is "The Wise One". And I don't think it really shows up in the game.
wasn't that just slang / an alias for kraden?
K bash those golden videos are what got me into your channel I'm so happy you never quit.
Wow…Kbash just made me realized that Golden Sun was like that ex that made you think there was love in the relationship before everything went to shit…but in reality…there was never any love at all. It was…the perfect illusion 😳
you ever gonna do a video on the summon knight swordcraft story games?
yeah I know the third one is japanese only but I really liked these games
YOOOOOOOOOOO... a summon knight FAN. I LOVE YOU.
They restarted translation.
@@aquanaridllcl970 for real? then there's still hope
@@ashdust9832 Yea Im in the discord. The 3rd is gonna be finally translated, and when it finishes I can replay all three again. My favorite GBA games next to Boktai's and Golden Suns and Aria of Sorrow of course and the Battlenet games before they got ruined with the dumb FPS style combat they changed to in the last (I WONDER WHY) installments.
SUMMON KNIGHT FANDOM UNITE
Yessss! I've watched the original videos four times at least, I've been waiting for this for so long
One of my fav games of all time❤️
So emotional and a wonderful story 🙏🏼
It is so damn sad that there are no more Golden Sun's Games...
Golden sun needs a remaster, such an underrated series
A remaster? KBash argued for a re-DOING. With how basic a lot of it is and the wealth of squandered ideas, I agree.
It's like using the finest sourced Italian clay for a 2nd grade art project. Except mom still uses that damn thing because you're still her precious little boy.
hey personally I love your new and your old way of doing things and think that you have one of the best channels on youtube. Honestly way better than more popular channels in my dumbass opinion
Dude I'm glad you didn't quit. I came in watching your Riviera review just randomly on my way to work, and I've stayed ever since. Keep grinding dude!!!!
I remember wanting a sequel solely so I could have a boss fight against Alex he is like Wesker in that respect. Yeah Dark Dawn is very lacking I remember steamrolling the game its no wonder Camelot has not made another rpg in a long time. Perhaps instead of another Golden Sun I’m kinda hoping for a whole new original rpg from them that would be the best direction to take in the long run.
I still don't think Camelot deserved to be stuck making Mario sports games forever. RPGs were where they got their start, and even in their Mario sports games you can see their RPG trademarks. (partiualrly he RPG modes in the Game Boy games)
Check out beyond the beyond it's the first rpg game camelot made its for the ps one
Man I was love If you made a video on the breath of fire series (although it would be pretty similar to the mana ones) keep up the good work
Tbh I always loved this game but by the time I got to it I had played so many JRPGs I was just used to the dialogue and the systems. I still think the Djinn system is awesome, and also, beating the secret bosses at only lv40 or so was *amazing* because it really forced me to learn exactly how all the battles work and how to survive
When I was 8 I got this game without knowing it was a trilogy. Needless to say I was confused what was happening 24/7.
Also I was a illiterate kid back then and I had no idea what was happening, I even have the guidebook and I still didn't know what was happening.
One hospital visit later?
You mean to tell me they actually let you in? :-)
I like these games but you basically said all my main issues better than I ever could. The main one for me is how easy they are and how you can spam the exact same strategy against everything.
Found you not to long ago and the heart you put into your content hooked me. Keep up the good work
I'm having a dumb brain moment. I know the outro/patron readoff song so well I hum it all the time, but I can't place where it's from because I'm a huge idiot.
First time?
I think it's Okami? Not sure.
I was wondering where I knew this channel from, it all makes sense now.
The day of reckoning has come.
I found out about you on your original Golden Sun video. I have followed you since. The circle has become complete. God bless you Kbash.
This channel needs more love, Kbash is such a jem 🖤🖤
This caused me depression, but i'm still going to subscribe.
I really enjoyed the writing and delivery in this review. Laughed a lot. Good job!
Yikes, I mean dark sun was like the 3rd ds game I ever played, I loved it as a kid, and trying it recently it doesn't feel like it was as bad as you made it sound, it does a pretty good job of being a game for a 12 year old kid of the time.
Oh man the last Golden sun video got intense
- Cheetos are not of the flaming hot variety
- No mountain dew, though I respect the monster
I remain unconvinced
edit: I forgot (1) of either doritos and/or takis
Largest Golden Sun collector & fan greenmanaman here wanting to share a fun fact I've never seen mentioned before. You can actually level up to lvl 99 in about 40 minutes right before the final boss battling the grunts alone. It destroyed the super boss lvl grind I loved about TLA.
I have a personal challenge where I play a new file after a while to see how much I can remember on Djinn, Summon locations and such
I really hope the golden sun series gets remade and brought to the switch *fingers crossed*
I won't lie, I've watched you Golden sun videos like 15 times
Try 100
Even when I played this game when it first came out I already saw the repetitiveness early on because like you said if you played tons of JRPGs then you'll know something is not right with dark dawn
The reason why Sveta isn't hypnotised by the song is that she is an adept and her psynergy protects her in times where needed, like when she gets critical hits during combat.
I just watched a dude roasting one of my favourite games.. But it was so funny that I lought most of the time so.. thumps up
KBash I love you and I love seeing you do Golden Sun again 💖
And this is why Xenoblade Chronicles has effectively replaced Golden Sun as Nintendo's premiere hardcore JRPG series.
Miss the series, even if DD didn't lived to my expectations I still appreciated the game.
People want a Golden Sun 3, I mean, I kind of do too. But I'd prefer a remake of one and two that fixes the plot and adds a bit more to the world building. And a total redo on Dark Dawn. I enjoyed Dark Dawn, but the plot needs some serious help. I'm not sure that it has anywhere to go. I'm convinced that not even the creators do either. And that's why there hasn't been a 3.
Well, that and releasing it for the DS with the 3DS right around the corner and almost zero advertising.
Funny is, when I played the first game I went to Imil before kolima forest and in this one I just did the training grounds before I got out of that town
Nothing about the games are perfect, but i didn't mind the simple ways they did things with combat and the plot. I enjoy playing it, even though it's quite flawed and pretty simple. The game system is fun, ive played a lot of different types of rpgs. I find it charming and enjoyable
This is the best golden sun game. I know blasphemy but I liked it best
One thing about Golden Sun that very few people realize is that the characters make a sound when you talk to them and the text box is drawn. They're actually talking, and while the things they say do follow the english text, the voices (if you can call it that) are often quite vulgar and hilarious!
11:40
Well, I was so shocked by hearing that even the app glitched out!
WUT!
For some reason I really liked the game as a kid. When I grew up I discovered it's because I didn't know english and could just mash A through it
Walked down the same road as Star Wars.
I’d love to see a video on the Xbox classic:
Blue Dragon 👻🐉
This game series was my Final Fantasy as a kid
I really think that what golden sun is best at is being an introductory rpg. It's very basic, but just interesting enough to capture the imaginations of younger audiences looking to get into rpgs or enjoy a fantasy setting. It feels like they took this concept to an extreme here and just made everything handholdy and clunky, as if to capture that young audience while totally alienating and ignoring the older fans of the series or anyone who cares about decent story or solid game mechanics, and just waters itself down to the most brainless, nonsensical, and tedious thing possible in this game while keeping returning fans engaged only through the use of blatant nostalgia bait.
honestly, the end of the this video made dark dawn much easier to enjoy.... the combat is really flash and the customization is pretty awesome.... the talking is a sloooooooooog and the gameplay isn't really good enough to justify it but still a good looking game. Great combat animations.
I honestly want to see a review of the pokemon games in this attitude
He bacc
DUDE. PLAY LOCK'S QUEST. FOR THE DS
I legit beat the game by spamming A and using my slowest character to heal the whole party.... Except maybe for the 2nd to last boss and the last boss. When I lost half my team, I started taking it a bit more "seriously" and didn't have any issues. I was basically underlevelled and pissed off I beat a beyond easy game I expected too much of...
*inserts vortexes*
*spends 4/5 of the game not talking about vortexes*
*ends the game with vortexes*
I’d very much like to hear you talk about JRPGs you do like.
(Also, I agree. Golden Sun is mediocre.)
If you want a WAY better version of this game on ds, check out Dragon Quest 9. This game just comes off a clone of that game
The only thing even slightly similar is the art style, other than that they're completely different games
Now this is pod-racing!
My favorite thing about gs games was the sprite art and the battle animations used i thot it was rly good looking i never get super into story in games ik fuck me but it seems this games 3d art style took alot of the charm away from the prior installments nit everything needsa be 3d lol
I really adore the GS franchise, but there is a reason I never replayed GS:DD after 100%ing the game the first time unlike the other games i play regularly
I don't really care for the story in this game much at all as I much more enjoyed the ideas behind messing around with the mechanics and trying to build classes out of the different roles djinni can serve... which brings me to my own complaint.
This game doesn't tell you shit. I went in semi-blind (followed a djinn guide to get everything after I missed one in a dungeon and had to backtrack 2 hours) After not touching the game for... oh, 5 years? I completely forgot everything in it except for the beginning, which I tend to play over and over and over in RPG games because I always leave my old save behind too much and have to have a fresh start to feel fulfilled and not totally lost. That's a personal thing.
The main crux of my complaint is that the mechanics are not user-friendly at all. You have the building blocks, but no blueprints. You have to muck about with djinn combos over and over and over, with 72 different djinn that all have to be evenly distributed and it SUCKS. There is no class-building system integrated into djinn rearrangement, so you have to spend half an hour switching everything up and arranging it in a nice line for it to fit your specific setup. The fact that they don't even have a system to set templates or look up all the different class lines to see their psynergy and which djinn you need is infuriating. The wiki is bad with this too.
On top of that, the game's story is horrible at leading you even with how linear it is. I have had points where I accidentally did small sequence-breaks in the game to the point where cutscene dialogue will contradict what I'd already done, like they didn't prepare for people to do things out of order. There are sections of the game where you aren't even given instructions; after the activation of the Eclipse Tower, I was completely lost and ended up flailing about the seas not knowing if I'd landed in the right town, and after that was another stage of not knowing where the old man and the emperor's annoying nephew were and getting all but one of the Umbra Gear pieces early sans map. I could have completely missed them... if they weren't a requirement to progress later on. I was so lost on where they went that I tried to get back to Te Rya through the zol clouds in Passaj and ended up finding an optional cutscene explaining to me that I can't do that because the monsters were being kept out by the forge somehow... even though the city is fully operational while the flow is reversed...
Initially, I thought the combat mechanics had depth... but when I think on it, it's more that it's wide than deep. I have to lay myself down into the pool in order to be immersed in the mechanics; I could just slap djinni wherever and use Psynergy all the time because it practically never runs out. I would have liked it if the djinn system was set up as some secondary class: each element of djinn specializes in a certain type of damage, defense, and support... but alas. I instead have to mishmash djinn roles in order to get the main class I want. It's a pile of mechanics that doesn't step on each others' toes... until you try to balance and intermingle them like you're smart or something.
I pack a sledgehammer just in case
Still one of my favorite ds games
Dude, please don't quit.
Oh man, my long-time-KBash-fan bias is showing.
I remember being 8 and absolutely loving this game. I didn’t play any other ones but I loved the class system it had
So. I am again at the same point I was after watching a 2 hour analysis of the show RWBY. "Please stop, being sometimes good so I get my hopes up."
Yesss another video!!
So what your saying is final fantasy 8is garbage?
I really do like this series. The simple mechanics and overly verbose characters never bothered me, but Dark Dawn was really plodding and meandering. It felt like the bigger plot was being set up behind the scenes for a more grandiose game that never came. Such a shame really
Dark dawn was the best and strongest of all 3
@@novustalks7525 ???
@@zerosorigin8387 what
Yes because it's missing the SEQUEL that Nintendo refuses to do because of fans who b*etched about DD!
@@novustalks7525 I'm replaying Dark Dawn now, and I had to shut it off. Unskippable dialogue passes twice as slowly, tutorials that ask if you know them and still force you through them if you confirm, tutorials that you can not fast forward through since it's all in a timer that takes control from the player, immediately nonsense logic (Isaac saying he can sense the kid miles away but can't sense the two kids four feet behind him in the same scene), an almost entire first act of tutorials when previous games never held the hand to this degree, and will not carve its own identity to forward the story. It does actually feel like fanfic that doesn't learn a thing from previous entries. It's painfully embarrassing. No clue what they were thinking.
Personally I think it should be considered a war crime for UA-cam to not give me a notification for this video until 18 minutes after it was uploaded
Yeah I get loving flawed games, hell I still pick up custom robo arena every once in awhile.
I wanted that game so bad
I wish I still HAD CR:A...also, your comment hurts me on a spiritual level...
I guess it comes down to preference. I loved Custom Robo on gamecube and I know it's not that good, but I will love it forever. Same with the Golden Sun games, I will fight you for them. These type of games are not made anymore so, yeah, give them some love.
yeah i replayed that game so many times
What exactly wrong with custom robo?..... For what it's trying to do it holds up. I just been playing it on dolphin recently.
About the Beastmen empire, we actually do have IRL examples of kingdoms rising that fast. Shaka Zulu's African empire and Genghis Khan had such a meteoric rise. Plus, do not forget that the Beastmen are already controlling psynergy at the start of TLA, while humans around (like the gagomba tribe) had to use crutches to do so. When you have a spear and they have a WMD, how could you stop them?
Bruh the beast men used basic psynergy. The average person wasn’t throwing around 16 hurricanes or volcano’s before getting too tired.
Thing is they were werewolves that weren’t actually cursed, but suddenly now there’s hedgehog men, squirrel men, and it’s no long an at night thing.
The fact they were apparently enslaved (by whom though tbh I can’t remember them saying? Pretty weird thing to gloss over if it wasn’t in the first two games…) a few decades ago and rose up to a full kingdom?
Dumb kid me loved the first 2 but I coulnt pin down why i dropped this an hour in when i bought it. After your reviews it made me realize how much nostalgia blinded me on a critical level.
I think the original Golden Sun game is the best in the series, and that's only because of the sheer amount of goodwill that Camelot Software got after they split from SEGA initially. Well, that and the hilarious decline of the Shining series after Shining Force. Golden Sun (1) was a lot like the Shining Force games, so it was good. But, it is a very good game even WITHOUT all that baggage.
The Lost Age and Dark Dawn are terrible games, though.
@@HeavyMetalBeliever The soundtrack of the first two games was baller, though.
But yeah, I couldn't finish the 2nd game without an extensive walkthough guide. :D Absolute madness.
@@Hanfgurkenhasser The soundtrack/sound design was the best thing about the first two games, arguably. I think people needed to 100% the first game and transfer the save data across to The Lost Age using another GBA and a link cable or put in an ordinately long password to actually complete it (The Lost Age). Which was crazy.
@@HeavyMetalBeliever Oh god, don't remind me of that fucking password. :D
I think I had to write the symbols/combination down on a piece of paper (only had one GameBoy) and then type it in for the 2nd game.
Whoever designed this deserves a slap across the face.
Steel4 I put in the gold password yearly, it’s not hard if you’re not stupid. And TLA is easily better than GS1, GS1 is only a 20 hour game to 100% it. The games don’t have the best story, but what it does have is puzzles. And TLA is the star of the show when it comes to puzzles. If you don’t like them, then of course you won’t like TLA. Golden Sun is mainly a puzzle game, and TLA is the best representation of that.
Edit: Also funny, you find the biggest circle jerk hating TLA on this losers channel. No surprise though, since he hates TLA.
UA-cam never gave me a notification.
The golden sun videos are what made me a fan of the series.
I'm honestly proud of you.
You are a great youtuber and seeing you like This is nice.
Man it's been awhile since then i played this game's like 5 years ago
"things are not the same as they were 5 years ago." Fucking genius over here, guys.
After i found out there were djinn i permanently missed, i used an action replay to just walk through the mountains blocking my way to get them normally.
Never knew this ended on a cliffhanger. A shame.
STILL ANGRY ABOUT IT
This is why I hated cliffhangers, At least with other games that got discontinued, The story most likely are already wrapped up nicely. But, With cliffhanger endings, If the series got discontinued, That cliffhanger will haunt you for life
@@randominternetuser5872 Will they ever make it? Will they stop making that boring Mario tennis game and make a golden Sun game even though they could be horrible at it by now?
@@TheHeavieKiwie I don't care if it's bad, Or if it isn't a game and just a big sun saga covering what happened after Dark dawn, Just at least end the story in a nice way (I'm looking at you Shenmue III)
@@randominternetuser5872 Exactly exactly. I do really care about the story more. I'd be happy if we get to know it at least.
According to them what happened in Lost Age was the beginning of what's actually gonna happen.
I don't really need the whole game itself if knowing the story is at least possible even without the game.
Man oh man, I've been waiting for this video for a good long while. Glad it's finally out.
Wall of text incoming. Dark Dawn was an eye-opening experience for me. I had absolutely adored the first two games when I was a kid, mostly because it was one of the first games I had on the GBA that I played to completion that left me wanting more after beating the first one. I took a good chunk of things on a surface level and didn't really feel the need to dig into the narrative or character interactions, and had I done so early on, I probably would have had a much different experience. I remember beating TLA and talking with my circle of friends in elementary school how cool it would be if we got a third game. That seven year wait was absolutely crushing, and I remembered how absolutely ecstatic I was when Dark Dawn was finally announced. I was finishing up my junior year in high school and had a firmer grasp on what good storytelling was, and if not that, at least what it wasn't, and when I finally got my hands on my copy, me and the friends I had back then were sorely disappointed.
There was just so much pulp in the game. Your comment about the fluff is spot on and as much as I liked Himi's design, her whole entire existence felt tacked on for the sake of keeping with the tradition with TLA. I couldn't agree more with your video because it felt like there was so much potential that was there in Dark Dawn's world, yet never fully realized. I went back and played through the other two games afterwards, trying to find that old magic again and pin down what made me like the first two chapters so much, and I couldn't find it again. I think at that point, I realized and just had to accept that what thought was good in the first games was a byproduct of being an 9 year-old who was easily distracted by shiny lights and good tunes. I waited seven long years only to get the realization that behind that initial light show was a SLEW of problems that I couldn't overlook now that I was older. I needed more than just simple flair.
If there was something Dark Dawn could have done -right- over that seven year period, it could have at least tried to grow, either by being more mechanically refined or telling a story that could have respected its audience's intellect (unlike what they did by giving us a pretty awful-ass response system in this game that we got). So many game developers do postmortems to analyze their own development process, observe the final product, and see how it resonates with audiences, and it never felt to me like they did this with the first two games after a repeat playthrough. Maybe they felt it resonated with players well enough, given the review scores online through game critic sites, but I don't think I'll ever feel the same about the franchise ever again, and from what data I can find, Dark Dawn performed poorly in sales. Chances are, we'll never see a Golden Sun 4 unless it's picked up for a reboot. It's been almost ten years with no sign of a follow-up, and after the first near-decade of hyping myself up for a mediocre sequel, I'd be damned if I did so again.
Your videos on the first two game really puts into perspective as to why the first two games were middling at best and outright drudgery at worst. Your opinion on the franchise has been interesting to mull over, and really solidified my own perspective on the series as a whole. I love your videos and hope you find more success with these reviews in the future.
That said, I'd be curious to hear your opinions on another DS sequel: ever play through Final Fantasy Tactics A2? Can't wait for your next video.
It's saying something when the first two games are on the Wii U Virtual Console but not Dark Dawn.
We’re there any 3DS games (or even DS games for that matter) on the Wii U Virtual Console? Without bothering to look, I’m gonna bet that there weren’t, cus you can’t really take the dual screen mechanic and put it onto the Wii U effectively. Correct me if I’m wrong though.
@@TheBatmanMan1 there are a decent amount of DS Games on the Wii U, like a lot of Wii U VC, it's not handled the best but it's not handled the worst
@@TheBatmanMan1 Literally the only DS game I ever looked for was Explorers of Time, which they had, so even if 1 isn't exactly a great sample size odds are the DS had coverage.
I remember playing this a long time ago and really, REALLY loved the game... Though, I think I was stuck with a limited choice of game at the time, so I was fully invested in the game and I didn't really care to nitpick into the details on the story and characters. But wow, seeing you breaking it down like that kinda makes me infuriate at quite a few things, too (such as the extra characters' roles and uses of the Djinns)! But I guess my fuzzy memory of the game and nostalgia will preserve it in a better light. XD
BUT! The hate for being able to miss Djinns was real, though. I was so pissed that I couldn't return to town to get the Djinn I meant to get later because of the story progression. I was decently-equipped, so it's not like I desperately needed it, but knowing I missed something in plain sight is just the worst.
In any case, the game at least has super cool summon attacks. Man, how I wish they would remake the Golden Sun games for a modern console, just so that I could see all the summons in glorious, next-gen graphics!
This was actually my first Golden Sun game. As flawed as it was, it motivated me to play the other two on an emulator.
Funny thing is, I didn't even buy Dark Dawn. My dad just found it on the ground while out running errands. Given the game's many problems, I can kinda see why now.
What is it with dads and this game? I’ve never had any of the golden sun games before or paid attention to them until my dad randomly bought me dark dawn years back lmao.
@@ranger4758 Well my dad grabbed it because he's a massive hoarder and it was a shiny thing on the ground.
He didn't buy it, someone discarded it in like a park.
The “Obaba stans rise up” bit had me laughing
I started the series with Dark Dawn, got the game on a whim back in 2012. I was new to RPGs so I accepted a lot of the issues, namely the constant repetition of dialog and info and dumb means of plot progression, as genre tropes. The game did charm me with its presentation and that was enough to get me to deal with the bulk of walking 2 feet before each random encounter, though I did drop the game for about a month after realizing about that one Djini in the city with the magic bordered gate you only get in the lategame if you set up in advance, not knowing you'll be locked out of the city later on and need that path set up beforehand.
Despite the flaws I still fondly remember the game. Several things do stick out to me that I always look forward to in other games. One being gear you equip on characters showing up on their ingame model in battles, Dark Dawn was the first game I saw that did that. Second are the trigger skills, I genuinely loved that feature. It insentivised finding more Artifacts by exploring or scrounging up money to buy them and maxing out those skills since they ended 95% of random encounters in the first turn, making grinding less of a chore. Lastly is gear optimization, since a lot of the special gear you get later synergises well with each other. I recall one set involving the Solar Ring and the Ninja Sandals to drastically boost your crit rate to the point that you proc a Artifact skill every attack, it really makes you feel powerful.
Dark Dawn is a very flawed game and Golden Sun is a very flawed series but despite that I still love it. Besides, had I never played it I never would've gotten into RPGs to begin with or eventually play Dragon Quest 9, which not only is one of the best RPGs on the DS but does everything I loved Dark Dawn for but better.
HE ACTUALLY FREAKING DID IT
There's a mod for Golden Sun 1 and 2 called Reloaded that I think fixes a lot of your problems with the combat. Maybe give it a try?
God, I played this when it first released and I can't remember a damn thing about it other than "there's light and dark synergy now lel." And I like Golden Sun, so this game was incredibly forgettable.
So, not that I'm saying the following because it degrades your opinion, but as someone who clicked on this video for giggles, I'm curious what your standards are for a -good- JRPG. I looked through your videos and didn't really find anything that indicated that, so it's just curiosity, because mindless combat is pretty much the staple of most games in this genre. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are hands down the most popular series, but unless it's a boss fight I've never had much reason to do more than just spam attack (and cast haste once I got it), which to me is just as brain-dead as Golden Sun.
Again, not really defending Golden Sun here, I'm just curious if you'd be willing to spread this complaint to other popular games in the genre. It's my favourite genre, but I think turn-based combat is massively under-explored because the aforementioned titans have set a standard that few devs in an already niche genre are willing to branch out from.
All turn based games are mindless if you grind enough. Fire emblem isn’t a standard jrpg, but it does turn based combat very well.
Pokémon, one of the easiest games I can think of, CAN be made engaging only if the player handicaps themself and doesn’t do any more grinding than necessary.
@@bensosnowski1128 I don't believe either myself nor the video made mention of grinding. In fact, I rarely ever grind in JRPGs because I think it's boring, and if a fight can't be won by re-evaluating my strategy rather than running in circles for an hour, I'd rather not play that game.
I mean more in terms of something like SMT or Radiant Historia, where both games incentivise the player to do more than simply use basic attacks or spam their strongest spells. In the case of SMT, you are rewarded with extra turns by hitting enemy weaknesses. In the case of Radiant Historia, smashing enemies together on the grid allows for attacks to damage multiple targets. Both have the potential to turn regular encounters into engaging puzzles as you try to figure out the most efficient means of dispatching a group of enemies.
Also Fire Emblem is a TRPG/SRPG, which are a separate genre unto themselves, including the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Disgaea, and several others, and imo should be judged on their own, separate merit.
I've noticed from a few videos, he really places emphasis on character building and team (p)synergizing as the things he values in RPG combat, and yeah, I feel that. It can be really thrilling and rewarding to meticulously plan out the role each member of a team plays, and when a game gives you that level of customization without any kind of payoff (for example, the combat is just way too easy to justify using anything more than basic attacks), it's frustrating af. I think the best FF and DQ games generally provide that payoff if you're playing without being overleveled, in which case you can just faceroll and win.
I'd like to see more games that approach character building like DnD and Pathfinder, with such limitless possibility for customization. The job systems from DQ9 and FF5 are some of my favorites in that regard, and the combat of those games is certainly challenging enough to justify investing in the systems and really building a team full of characters that compliment each other in battle.
I think ultimately a good JRPG has to have battles that are rewarding enough to want to play, or at least be engaged in. Sometimes that's with flashy moves, sometimes it's puzzle-y mechanics, sometimes it's payoff for strategizing well, and sometimes it's just a fun factor that you can't quite pin.
Dragon Quest is my favorite rpg series. The combat isn't often demanding, but in most games it happens pretty quickly, and the monster animations and designs are great. Often the stories and characters are pretty good.
In short for me, I love that most aspects of the game are really good, so even if the gameplay isn't amazing it's still good and doesn't get in the way of fun. The Golden Sun only really succeeds at visuals, and some songs.
I will say Dragon Quest 7 wasn't much fun to me due to it's weak overall story and characters that you're going through for 80+ hours
Golden sun dark dawn had better character fleshing out than both previous games but man they are bad at villains and execution.
I have been waiting for this review since I found your channel through your Golden Sun videos. I've had the displeasure of spending this year playing games I missed out on thanks to free time offered by covid and amongst those were the Golden Sun games which... yeah...
I really liked this video and your writing style has definitely improved since then.
I like the first two golden sun games the simplicity is often welcomed when most jrpgs have complicated mechanics and systems you need to memorize guess I have short memory for stuff like these.
This game was such a disappointment. It infuriated me when I was younger as well, that they gave a cameo to characters like Nyunpa, yet we only ever got to see Isaac and Garet. The remaining og cast just being mentioned and never seen was super lame, just like points of no return and deus ex machinas!
Dad has blessed us with another gift.
My main takeaway from this video is that a RPG that takes all the elements from its element system from the Periodic Table sounds like it'd kick ass.
I'm going to be honest, I really enjoyed the GS series and still do, it's very near and dear to my heart but yeah there's definitely some flaws and stuff, especially in Dark Dawn.
The OG cast (except for Isaac, Garet, Alex and Kraden) are only mentioned but we got to see four side characters from the first two games? I kind of hoped that they'd be a sequel and we'd see the og cast but it's probably never going to happen.