Golden Sun: Dark Dawn sent out early?
So, I got Golden Sun: Dark Dawn the day it became available. And I beat it in around two days. There are plenty of points, good and bad, about this game. Overall, I liked it. But one of my biggest complaints is how short the game was.
However, as I've played the game through a second time, some of the suspicions I developed the first time around have bloomed into something bigger. I really do think that the game was meant to go on longer, and that somebody, perhaps Nintendo, told them to cut it off early.
The evidence I have is this:
After the Apollo Lens were fired, the party went back to Belinsk and there was a timeskip like there was in the game. However, after said timeskip, the party accompanies Matthew, Tyrell and Karis on their way back. On the way, they pass through Bilibin (assuming Border Town is open in the aftermath of the Grave Eclipse), and do whatever subplots revolve around the McCoy family. Then the party arrives back at Lookout Cabin, and finds the giant Psynergy Vortex that is shown in TheStinger of the game. Upon realizing that there are still problems, the party gets new instructions and a new objective, and their journey (and the game) continues.
For the above reasons, I really do think that Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was meant to be longer. There's too much focus and effort in locations that we never got access to for it to really be feasible. The only thing that makes sense is that we WERE originally meant to go there, but had to be cut off early.
As for the game itself... I loved it, despite its flaws. It was visually stunning, the plot was both predictable yet unexpected... the characters had a little more depth than in previous games...
But yeah. That's my thoughts on the matter.
They're going to have to make a sequel. There's no way they're going to leave us like that. Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age are two halves of the same game. And frankly, Dark Dawn and the next Golden Sun game are going to be the same way as well, I suspect.
However, as I've played the game through a second time, some of the suspicions I developed the first time around have bloomed into something bigger. I really do think that the game was meant to go on longer, and that somebody, perhaps Nintendo, told them to cut it off early.
The evidence I have is this:
- Overall pacing - this game is, plotwise, much shorter than The Lost Age, perhaps even than Golden Sun itself. I know that DS cards don't have impressive amounts of memory, but they still have good enough memory that I've seen Nintendo 64 games ported to the DS. I really do think they had more room. When I compare this game to Tales of the Abyss.... it feels like the game ended right after Luke cut his hair (I say this for multiple reasons - I think of the Grave Eclipse as on par with Akzeriuth)
- Relating to the pacing - why do you get a majority of your second party one to two missions away from the end of the game? Himi especially - after you get her, you literally have nothing but the Umbra Gear and the Apollo Lens left, unless you decide to go for the BonusBosses.
- All the information you receive about Bilibin at the beginning of the game. Why would the go to all that work of establishing all this information about the country and its rulers unless they actually MEANT for you to go to that country at some point? And yet we didn't.
- At Border Town in general. The map is complete, both sides of it, though the doors are only visible on your side. Meanwhile, you can look through the telescope and see the other side of Border Town. This by itself isn't all that notable, except for the fact that when you do, you see a vine, the kind of vine you'd use Growth on, plus a cave on the ledge beneath it (as in, clearly designed for you to use growth on the vine then climb down the ledge to the cave). But there is NO WAY to get over there. Why go to all that effort to make that side of the town if they never meant for us to go over there? Edit: Partially busted - the cave and the vine come into play with getting the Huares Summon. You use a dream leaf in the inn at Border Town, and while there dream of the border being open, go over to the other side and the summon is in the cave. It could just be an easy way to get away with having made half the town but not used it. Oh well.
- After you fire off the Apollo Lens, and you're in the PlayableEpilogue, you can still buy items from shops. Either they decided to do a hell of a job faking us out, or they actually meant for us to continue.
- Also in the PlayableEpilogue, one of the people down at the pier talks about a guy in Yamata City who you should go talk to, because he knows the way to some BonusDungeon, except you can't go anywhere - I found out that this was a bit shakier though, because if you save in the epilogue or after the credits roll, you get sent back to the Tonfon sanctum next time you load, which would leave you free to do as the guy suggested.
- As TvTropes put it, "don't even try to keep track of all the hanging plot threads" - Amiti's father, the fact that Briggs's ship was suddenly replaced with what is undoubtedly a Lemurian ship, Piers and Nowell, Alex is STILL unfought and is STILL playing both sides to his own ends, Isaac inheriting part of the power of the Golden Sun (the part Alex didn't get), those dang Psynergy Vortexes, WHERE THE HELL FELIX IS... and so on and so forth.
After the Apollo Lens were fired, the party went back to Belinsk and there was a timeskip like there was in the game. However, after said timeskip, the party accompanies Matthew, Tyrell and Karis on their way back. On the way, they pass through Bilibin (assuming Border Town is open in the aftermath of the Grave Eclipse), and do whatever subplots revolve around the McCoy family. Then the party arrives back at Lookout Cabin, and finds the giant Psynergy Vortex that is shown in TheStinger of the game. Upon realizing that there are still problems, the party gets new instructions and a new objective, and their journey (and the game) continues.
For the above reasons, I really do think that Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was meant to be longer. There's too much focus and effort in locations that we never got access to for it to really be feasible. The only thing that makes sense is that we WERE originally meant to go there, but had to be cut off early.
As for the game itself... I loved it, despite its flaws. It was visually stunning, the plot was both predictable yet unexpected... the characters had a little more depth than in previous games...
But yeah. That's my thoughts on the matter.
They're going to have to make a sequel. There's no way they're going to leave us like that. Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age are two halves of the same game. And frankly, Dark Dawn and the next Golden Sun game are going to be the same way as well, I suspect.