Finally Beat Golden Sun 1
Not a bad game. I particularly liked the summoning / gimmicky attack system. Camelot, I think, found a compelling balance between the two by making one compulsory to use the other.
At times, when collecting all the Djinn, I felt like I was playing Pokémon. (Gotta catch'um all.) Add to it that the rivals were male and female, and only ever showed up at critical plot events, might as well tack on Team Rocket.
The puzzles were excellent, on par if not greater then what you get in the Zelda series. I think I preferred them to dungeon crawling. (♥ Particularly on Deadbeard Island)
The first weak point was the class system. Everyone has single target and multi target attacks, the only defining aspects of either being attack power and element. Essentially "I'm special, just like everyone else". Sometimes adding healing or buff/debuff spells, but there was nothing that really made me favor Isaac over Garret or whoever.
The second weak point was the plot/characterization. It's typical in RPGs to go on quests to random locations, but they didn't really feel like any one quest tied into the greater plot. Characterization took a hit when Garret was reduced to the voice of reason, Ivan and Mia to the voice of morals, and Isaac to the Mute protagonist (Although I have less against him understandably). But no one with a single exception in Ivan had any plot or unique drive outside of their joining chapters. Right now I'd rate Final Fantasy 3 DS as having greater characterization, and that was quite weak.
That's not to say the game didn't have it's highlights. The colosseum and the boat were a lot of fun. I can't think of any game where you can get away with a gratuitous amount of cheating. The boat was just plain hysterical. It was the vacation from hell. A late boat, a superstitious captain, passengers getting strong armed into the crew, monsters attacking the ship, and hiring a bunch of teens who decide the best way to 'save' the ship, is to summon oversized meteors and cause massive earthquakes that should've otherwise sank the ship without help from the invading monsters. Top it off with being stranded at your destination and well.... I can now think of at least one occasion where keel hauling the crew would be justifiable.
I also have to think about Jenna being as smart as she thinks. Most people take boats on cruses to islands on vacation. Jenna and co are taking a island on a cruse to a boat. Hehehe
The music, there were two tracks that really caught my ear. The Tourist Boat, and the Final Dungeon.
All in all, a decent game. And I'm now looking forward to what innovations the DS game can bring. Although, I must admit that I'm worried about the transition into 3D. Golden Sun had the best 2D graphics of any game I've played to date. I'm currently worried that, especially in combat, Golden Sun DS will look very typical and not stand out. A lot of the 2D tricks and effects they used on the GBA are redundant simply by adding 3D. I'm not expecting it to be bad by any means, but I am expecting to be much less unique/impressive.
How does the plot/characterization/puzzles etc fair in Golden Sun 2? I'm currently unsure if I'm interested in getting the sequel. Playing GS was a great introduction to the series. But I fear without something to advance the series, like actual battle tactics, a better story/characterization or even some sort of gimmick, it's going to feel like getting stuck in mid-game of the prequel. Deadbeard I felt was the strongest boss in the game, and even then, I beat him entering at half heath with half of my MP gone, not realizing I was entering the boss battle. Ivan died a few times, But it was one of the limited times in this game that I used Revive or the MP Star items. If that's the best that Golden Sun 2 can give me, then I'm a bit afraid that the novelty will have worn out. With the DS version, I'm expecting at bare minimum the puzzle system to be rewritten with the touch screen in mind, so I'm confident at base the game will have a different air to it.
At times, when collecting all the Djinn, I felt like I was playing Pokémon. (Gotta catch'um all.) Add to it that the rivals were male and female, and only ever showed up at critical plot events, might as well tack on Team Rocket.
The puzzles were excellent, on par if not greater then what you get in the Zelda series. I think I preferred them to dungeon crawling. (♥ Particularly on Deadbeard Island)
The first weak point was the class system. Everyone has single target and multi target attacks, the only defining aspects of either being attack power and element. Essentially "I'm special, just like everyone else". Sometimes adding healing or buff/debuff spells, but there was nothing that really made me favor Isaac over Garret or whoever.
The second weak point was the plot/characterization. It's typical in RPGs to go on quests to random locations, but they didn't really feel like any one quest tied into the greater plot. Characterization took a hit when Garret was reduced to the voice of reason, Ivan and Mia to the voice of morals, and Isaac to the Mute protagonist (Although I have less against him understandably). But no one with a single exception in Ivan had any plot or unique drive outside of their joining chapters. Right now I'd rate Final Fantasy 3 DS as having greater characterization, and that was quite weak.
That's not to say the game didn't have it's highlights. The colosseum and the boat were a lot of fun. I can't think of any game where you can get away with a gratuitous amount of cheating. The boat was just plain hysterical. It was the vacation from hell. A late boat, a superstitious captain, passengers getting strong armed into the crew, monsters attacking the ship, and hiring a bunch of teens who decide the best way to 'save' the ship, is to summon oversized meteors and cause massive earthquakes that should've otherwise sank the ship without help from the invading monsters. Top it off with being stranded at your destination and well.... I can now think of at least one occasion where keel hauling the crew would be justifiable.
I also have to think about Jenna being as smart as she thinks. Most people take boats on cruses to islands on vacation. Jenna and co are taking a island on a cruse to a boat. Hehehe
The music, there were two tracks that really caught my ear. The Tourist Boat, and the Final Dungeon.
All in all, a decent game. And I'm now looking forward to what innovations the DS game can bring. Although, I must admit that I'm worried about the transition into 3D. Golden Sun had the best 2D graphics of any game I've played to date. I'm currently worried that, especially in combat, Golden Sun DS will look very typical and not stand out. A lot of the 2D tricks and effects they used on the GBA are redundant simply by adding 3D. I'm not expecting it to be bad by any means, but I am expecting to be much less unique/impressive.
How does the plot/characterization/puzzles etc fair in Golden Sun 2? I'm currently unsure if I'm interested in getting the sequel. Playing GS was a great introduction to the series. But I fear without something to advance the series, like actual battle tactics, a better story/characterization or even some sort of gimmick, it's going to feel like getting stuck in mid-game of the prequel. Deadbeard I felt was the strongest boss in the game, and even then, I beat him entering at half heath with half of my MP gone, not realizing I was entering the boss battle. Ivan died a few times, But it was one of the limited times in this game that I used Revive or the MP Star items. If that's the best that Golden Sun 2 can give me, then I'm a bit afraid that the novelty will have worn out. With the DS version, I'm expecting at bare minimum the puzzle system to be rewritten with the touch screen in mind, so I'm confident at base the game will have a different air to it.