I beat Dark Dawn the day after it came out lol I have all 3 games and Lost Age is the best imo. GS1 is classic though ^_^ Dark Dawn is a new beginning. It's been 7yrs since Lost Age and this is geared more towards the younger generation I think but it's pretty dark. I mean General Brothers were decapitated by the Eclipse monsters as well as a few other things that happened during the Eclipse. Blados and Chalis were disappointing bosses and the Chaos Chimera was a joke compared to Doom Dragon and even Fusion Dragon. Hell Deadbeard was better.lol But they did upgrade Dullahan! Fuluminious Edge is godly lol After the Eclipse they spoon feed you Exp so lv 99 is attainable without a password haha. The puzzles were annoying rather than difficult because of how long it took to complete them (note I said complete not figure out lol) I do like the upgraded graphics and what they did with the summons. I'd have liked some more new ones. Crystallux was cool though. I wanted to see some Dark Psyenergy and Alex is an enigma as usual. I could have sworn he was evil. I'm sure he is but they need to stop playing mind games haha. I was also disappointed that the Tua Warriors gave you water of life and a shitload of exp after every battle. They could at least be mini bosses with some cool moves or something. I must admit I was expecting a lot more from Dark Dawn. But as a Golden Sun fan I enjoyed it despite of it's short comings. Sorry for the long rant. It'd be longer but I must show restraint haha Nice to see a fellow Golden Sun fan!
Yeah, it took me about a week to finish Dark Dawn, but only because I kept forcing myself not to play it too much, I didn't want to have to wait another 7 years for the next installment. In retrospect that makes no sense because 1 week makes no difference
It really did feel more 'child-friendly' than the GBA counterparts, something Nintendo is 'infamous' for. The puzzles were exceptionally easy, and sometimes the dialogue dragged on a little too long to explain simple things to people who might not 'pick them up' so easily. I can kind of understand why though, it's been so long since The Lost Age was released, and a lot of people will just be hearing about GS through Dark Dawn, so they had to cater to those who don't know the game. That being said, it was incredibly frustrating to be spoon fed for the entire game
Blados and Chalis were a massive disappointment for me, too. They had nothing on Saturos/Menardi or Agatio/Karst (my favorite boss' [I still occasionally play battle mode on TLA just to play against them]). I wasn't sure if it was just because of my awareness of classes and whatnot, but the bosses all felt incredibly easy compared to TLA. I remember struggling to take down the Doom Dragon on GS2 at lv45 the first time I played through. I didn't struggle at all against Blados / Chalis and the Chaos Chimera.
I didn't take any notice of summons. Summon rushing always feels so cheap so I never really utilize them. I used them all once or twice just to see how they looked, but that was pretty much it. Plus, they pretty much used the exact same summons as the previous games, I really hope they mix it up next time.
Psynergy was as usual a disappointment, it seems its only use is to buff (high impact / pure wish / weapon grace). I hope they nerf unleashes a little bit in the next installment, and buff attack psynergy. The only spell worthwhile was Himi's dragon psynergy; but even then you're better off equipping her with a Tisiphone Edge, weapon gracing yourself and hoping for a 3x unleash....Similar to The Lost Age, by end game it's just buff, unleash, repeat; and heal when necessary.
Dullahan was a bit of a challenge, though I farmed Tisiphone Edge's etc. before facing him, by the time I had decent equipment, everyone was mid 50s and even after being Djinn Stormed I was able to stay alive and take him down.
Svetta's beast form was overpowered, too. Her HP would skyrocket and so too would her defense. Her dealing over 1k damage with just attacking was a bit too much as well. By endgame even the Chaos Chimera couldn't do any adequate damage to her.
I really like Alex as a character, but I think in terms of 'the good guys' versus 'the bad guys', he is neither. At the end of TLA when it revealed his intention to become all powerful by absorbing the energy from the Golden Sun atop Mt.Aleph, it removed a lot of his mystery for me. His using Agatio/Karst was very much mirrored with Blados/Chalis also, so I think despite him having a new plan; again, he is certainly doing it to benefit himself more than anybody else.
Yeah, the experience the Tua Warriors gave was excessive. If by the off chance someone was having trouble with the Chaos Chimera (I have no idea how that would be possible), they could spend 5 minutes grinding and gain 5+ levels.
I was really impressed by the puzzles at the end of the Apollo Ascent, though. Particularly to open up that last gate. Not because they were difficult, but I thought they were really creatively done and I actually found myself saying 'wow' at one point.
I too was a little let down by Dark Dawn, but I still enjoyed it. I liked how it started from a small side quest and deviated into much more. I found that just as I had completely forgotten about the psynergy vortexes, one would appear and it would remind me that there's 'another story' to focus on, and it kept me waiting to see what they were all about. Though admittedly, I was disappointed when I never really got much information about them even when the game ended. It gives me more to look forward to, I suppose; much like dark psynergy. I'm really hoping they don't let me down with that.
Wow, long rant, sorry
but I've never spoken to a fellow Golden Sun fan before
What do you think of Dark Dawn so far?! (what part are you up to?!) I thought it was okay, definitely not as enjoyable as The Lost Age (probably my favorite game ever, most certainly my favorite RPG) -- Have you played GS1 and/or 2?
