Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Developer(s)	Camelot Software Planning
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Hiroshi Yamauchi (executive producer) Motoi Sakuraba (composer)
Released	JP June 28, 2002 NA April 14, 2003 EU September 19, 2003
Genre	Console role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Ratings	CERO: A (All Ages) ESRB: E (Everyone) PEGI: 7+
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Media	128-megabit Cartridge

Golden Sun: The Lost Age (黄金の太陽 失われし時代, Ōgon no Taiyō Uwareshi Toki^?) is the second installment of a series of role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It was released in April 2003 for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, being a sequel to the Game Boy Advance Golden Sun, released in 2001. An important feature in Golden Sun: The Lost Age is the ability to transfer character and event data influenced by a player in his or her Golden Sun game cart into the second game, either by means of Game Link Cable or a password system. Some of the game's content and secrets can be unlocked and played only with enhancement data transferred from the previous game.

Gameplay

Golden Sun: The Lost Age is similar to its predecessor in that it is a contemporary presentation of the traditional console role-playing game formula, where the player guides a cast of 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. While many actions the player takes are compulsory, Golden Sun: The Lost Age is a more non-linear game than Golden Sun that allows the player to complete many objectives out of order, and visiting previous locations to advance story elements and complete gameplay objectives is given a stronger emphasis than in the previous game. Much of the game's time spent outside of battle takes place in dungeons, caves, and other locales involving many puzzles integrated into their layout. One must push pillars to construct hoppable paths between elevated areas, climb up and rappel down cliffs, and a host of other activities in order to get from point A to point B and progress through the story and game world. Many of these puzzles revolve heavily around the usage of the game’s resident form of magic spells, “Psynergy,” requiring the player to find items that grant the bearer new forms of Psynergy in order to accomplish tasks. 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. Some types of Psynergy can only be used in combat; conversely, many spells are only used in the game's overworld and in non-battle scenarios. At the same time, Psynergy spells can also be used in both situations; for example, the “Frost” spell that can be used to damage enemies in battle is also used out of battle to transform puddles of water into elongated pillars of ice as part of a puzzle. 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). The player gains more and more Psynergy spells (of which a host of new spells are introduced in the game) as the game progresses, either through levelling up or acquiring and equipping (using) special items, and with each "utility" Psynergy spell the party gains access to more and more locations and secrets hidden within the game world. Players will be required to return to previous locations in the game to finish off puzzles which they could not solve earlier because of the lack of specific Psynergy spells.

Battle

A battle at sea in Golden Sun: The Lost Age showcases four of the main characters.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age contains both random monster encounters, featuring randomly generated enemies, and compulsory battles, which advance the story. When a battle begins, a separate screen is brought up where the enemy party is on the opposing side (the background) and the player’s party is on the battling side (in the foreground, with only the character’s backs visible). When a battle is conducted and progresses, the characters and the background swirl around and change positions in a pseudo-3D effect.

The gameplay in relation to Golden Sun: The Lost Age’s battle mode is similar to traditional console RPGs. In each battle, the player is required to defeat all the enemies by using direct attacks with weapons, offensive Psynergy spells, and other means of causing damage, all while keeping the player’s own party alive through items and supportive Psynergy that restore life and supplement defense. If all the player's characters (when the characters you use in the top 4 is downed, the characters not in the top 4 slots jump into battle) are downed by reducing their hit points to zero, it is considered “Game Over”, and the party is returned to the last village that the player visited and suffers a monetary penalty. The successful completion of a battle yields experience points, coins, and occasionally rare items. In addition to the main game itself, there is also a competitive battling mode accessible from the menu screen, where players can enter their currently-developed team from their saved game files into an arena environment where they can battle increasingly difficult CPU-controlled enemies or other players head-to-head to see which of their team setups are stronger. In both cases there are no experience points or coins to be earned.

Djinn system

One of the most important features in Golden Sun games is the collecting and manipulation of magical creatures called Djinn, and The Lost Age features a host of new Djinn. Djinn can be found scattered in hiding throughout the game, for each of the four elements and likewise for allocation 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. Attaching different djinn to different characters modifies that character's character class, modifying hit points, Psynergy points, and other stats, as well as what psynergy the character can perform. In the game, 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 (and therefore, his or her statistics and Psynergy collection) relative to both the character’s innate element and that of the Djinni’s. As there is a grand total of seventy-two Djinn encompassing (Twenty-eight from the previous game in addition to forty-four new) the four elements that can be mixed and matched to the eventual eight characters in seemingly any manner, a large array of possible class setups for all eight characters are potentially available, allowing an expanded variety of combat options.

Iris, the game's most powerful new summon sequence, is found only after collecting all seventy-two Djinn in a link-enhanced game.

In combat, a player can use a Djinni during that character's turn. Each Djinni has its own special ability which can be invoked during combat. These abilities can include (but are not limited to) 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. While on standby, the Djinn do not contribute to character classes, but can be used for Summon Sequences, where the player summons a powerful elemental monster. 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. Once a Djinni on Standby has been used for a Summon Sequence, it must take any number of turns before it restores itself to Set position on a character. There are a total of twenty-nine Summon Sequences in Golden Sun: The Lost Age; the sixteen from the previous game can be used alongside thirteen new sequences, each of which must be earned individually in the game.

Synopsis

Setting

Main article: Weyard

Golden Sun: The Lost Age takes place on the same fantasy world as its predecessor: The world of "Weyard", a massive earth-like environment modeled off the old Flat Earth idea of the world; it is a flat, vaguely circular plane whose oceans perpetually spill off the edge of the world's entire perimeter into what seems to be an endless abyss, although no one knows what is over it. ^[1][2] The plot progression of Golden Sun: The Lost Age spans many continents, islands, and oceans around the two main continents where the previous game takes place. Weyard is a world governed by its own set of physics based on magic. All matter on Weyard consists of any combination of the four base elements: Venus (Essence of rocks and plants), Mars (Heat, fire, and lava), Jupiter (Wind and electricity), and Mercury (Water and ice).^[3] 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 to prevent abuse of this power, 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.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Golden Sun

For much of the game, the player controls a total of four characters: Felix is an eighteen-year-old Venus Adept from the village of Vale, who was an anti-hero in Golden Sun but serves as the game's new silent protagonist (although he does say "..." and "!" at some point in the game). His younger sister, Jenna, a seventeen-year-old Mars Adept also from Vale, and a fourteen-year-old girl and Jupiter Adept named Sheba, as well as a sharp-witted elderly scholar named Kraden, are all hostages that Felix was forced to take with his now-deceased masters, the Mars Adept warriors Saturos and Menardi that served as the previous game's antagonists. In this game the player takes the role of Felix as he strives to complete Saturos and Menardi's original objective to restore Alchemy to the world of Weyard, and joining them early on is a Mercury Adept named Piers, a mysterious young man whose ship Felix's party uses to explore the world throughout their journey. Several groups of characters serve as Felix's antagonists in The Lost Age. He is at odds with the heroes of the original Golden Sun, led by the young Venus Adept warrior Isaac, who pursue him across Weyard to thwart his and Saturos' objective under the belief that Alchemy would potentially destroy Weyard if unleashed. One of Saturos' original companions, a powerful and enigmatic Mercury Adept named Alex, breaks off from Saturos' remaining group now headed by Felix and allies himself with a second pair of powerful and imposing Mars Adept warriors of the same race and colony as Saturos and Menardi, Karst & Agatio. They keep the pressure on Felix to ensure he proceeds with and completes his quest for them as he is supposed to. By the game's end, however, the traveling parties of both Isaac and Felix will have joined forces to form a final travelling party of eight characters.

Plot

The antagonists of the previous game, Saturos and Menardi, have been slain in battle by the game's protagonists led by Isaac, but not before the pair succeeded in activating two of four great lighthouses situated across the world of Weyard, the Elemental Lighthouses. But now Saturos' remaining travelling companion, Felix, has taken the rest of Saturos' group and now sets out on a journey of his own to complete Saturos' original objective to activate the remaining two Lighthouses, for lighting all four will achieve the restoration of the powerful force of Alchemy to Weyard. Sailing the oceans of Weyard on a ship with their soon-to-be-found companion Piers, Felix and his party embark on an epic expedition while pursued by Isaac's party. Eventually, Felix's party is able to achieve entrance into a legendary, secluded Atlantis-like society named Lemuria far out in the ocean. When they convene with Lemuria's ancient king, Hydros, they learn a shocking truth about Alchemy's true nature; it has always been the sustenance of Weyard's very life force, and its absence over the past ages has caused the world's continents to decrease in size and parts of the world to collapse into the abyss. Knowing that restoring Alchemy is what must be done to actually save the world, Felix sets out to climb and activate Jupiter Lighthouse. But when Isaac's pursuing party enters the lighthouse, they are trapped and ambused by the vengeful Mars Adept Warriors, Karst and Agatio (Menardi was Karst's sister, and Saturos was Agatio's friend), and Felix comes to assist Isaac and battle Karst and Agatio off. Felix is finally able to explain to Isaac why Alchemy's release is a necessary thing for everyone, and that Saturos and Menardi were aiming for this goal merely for the sake of the survival of their home colony of Prox to the far north, located near the Mars Lighthouse. Felix and Isaac's two traveling parties join forces to form one unified group that sets out north to activate Mars Lighthouse; however, when they reach the tower's top, the Wise One, the entity responsible for originally tasking Isaac to prevent the breaking of Alchemy's seal, confronts them. He warns them that mankind could very well destroy Weyard themselves if they had possession of such a power, and when Isaac insists on breaking the seal regardless the Wise One summons a giant, three-headed dragon for the party to battle in the final epic struggle.

The beacons of the four Lighthouses merge to form the Golden Sun above Mt.Aleph, heralding the return of Alchemy.

When the party of Adepts slay the dragon, they tragically discover that the Wise One tricked them into murdering none other than the parents of Isaac and Felix. After a session of grief, they gather the resolve to finish their objective and activate Mars Lighthouse; with all four towers across Weyard lit, the process that heralds the return of the force of Alchemy to Weyard ensues at the mountain sanctum Mt.Aleph. Alex is there, however; he took advantage of everyone else's quests so that he would gain immense magic power for himself when Alchemy is unleashed. He soon finds out he got more than he bargained for, though, as the mountain collapses with him still on it. The Adepts, in the meantime, find that their parents have actually been revived by Alchemy's return, just as the Wise One originally planned. They are able to recognize that the reason the Wise One appeared to play that cruel trick on them before was to test their resolve as Adepts, and therefore test their ability to handle a great new responsibility: To ensure that throughout the world the newly released force of Alchemy is not abused by Weyard's populace like it was in the ancient past.^[4]

Upon completion of the game, Golden Sun: The Lost Age offers new modes in which the game can be played. In addition to the "normal" mode (the default), the player can choose from "hard" and "easy" modes, which increase the difficulty of enemies and carry over character levels from the cleared file, respectively.

Reception

Golden Sun: The Lost Age generally received the same optimism as its forerunner, with most calling it both an improvement and a more hefty challenge.^[7][8] It won the 2003 Nintendo Power award for best graphics on the GBA. It was ranked 78 on IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever, higher than its predecessor Golden Sun.^[9]

Later developments

Since 2003, many fans hoped for another sequel, especially when a Camelot representative announced that "the current status of a third game ... is still up in the air",^[10] and when Camelot's Hiroyuki and Shugo Takahashi stated in a 2004 interview that the scenarios of the first two games were intended as "prologues to the real event yet to come";^[11] however, there has been no confirmed announcement for a new game's development or production. The lack of updates on any new releases following The Lost Age have perpetuated rumors across the Golden Sun fan community over the years, and there have been separate fan attempts to outright hoax a new Golden Sun game to the public. The most recent hoax occurred on July 11, 2007, where an early version of a Nintendo DS game called "Golden Sun: The Solar Soothsayer" was reportedly shown off at a small pre-E3 2007 gathering, with cell-phone images taken to prove it.^[12] After this was decried as a hoax by official sources ^[13], the story and images were ultimately proven as part of a hoax by a confession from the creator, who said in a later interview that he made it to generate more discussion about the series and prompt Camelot into making a sequel. ^[14] The Takahashi brothers commented in October 2007 that they still want to to make a third Golden Sun title, going so far as to say that they "have to", and that Nintendo themselves had asked them to make another. They claimed that they haven't thus far however, as they wish to give the title the development time it deserves.^[15]

References

External links

• The Official Nintendo Golden Sun Site
• The Official Camelot Golden Sun: The Lost Age Site
• Golden Sun Universe: The Golden Sun Wiki - A Wiki devoted to Golden Sun
• The Golden Sun Realm