At least, the original duology. I haven't gotten around to Dark Dawn but I think I might do this year, at the rate things are going.
So they added Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age to GBA Online recently, and I decided I'd take 'em for a spin. Replaying a childhood favorite could be a nice way to wind down in the evening, I thought. So I did a little homework beforehand to make a checklist of all the djinn and some other transferable collectibles and set out. I ended up absolutely ripping through it and I'm hungry for more. Last night I wrapped up the final boss and transferred a fully-loaded gold password over to The Lost Age.
I mean, yeah, all the complaints still hold. The plot scenes could get their point across and be much punchier with half as many lines; the lack of a fast travel system makes grabbing things you missed a pain (which is why I made sure not to miss them); the generally low difficulty isn't always what you're looking for. But this is the sort of thing where hindsight really helps you adopt a good mindset for it. You know that, no matter how big the little viewscreen makes them feel, that none of the dungeons are too big, and the end of them is never far away. You know that, no matter how many lines they spend on it, they're going to leave a lot of the details and emotion of the story unstated, and there's no turning point where it becomes drastically more intense and focused. There's nothing in here worth getting impatient over.
With the perspective of knowing what I was in for - a long, smooth, consistent adventure with a very old-school heart - I was able to appreciate how well it does what it does well. I'm picking up on the themes of the story (though I won't say more on that until I'm done), the ethos of the systems design, the implicit characterization, the way the secrets are hidden.
I was 12 and 13 when I played Golden Sun repeatedly. I was 14 when I played The Lost Age, but not so obsessively; I had more to choose from by then, and it was all less novel. One thing I am noticing myself feeling is that I have detailed memories of the original game, but only vague impressions of its sequel, because of the attention that I was more willing to give it during that formative age. So it's practically brand new to me, but with the benefit of still remembering the general shape of things.
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the third game in the series, came out during a time in my life when I was hungering for very specific things from games, which it simply didn't provide, even though for some reason I thought it might. I wasn't able to approach it with this more laid-back and accepting mindset. I was unfair to it, and the disappointment that this unfairness fostered in me spread to its predecessors. My memories became focused on their drawbacks, their inconveniences, the things they chose not to say and do. I was wrong. These games are gems, plain and simple.
In conclusion, dense environments with intricate little navigational puzzles fuckin own and more RPGs should be based on this idea.
So they added Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age to GBA Online recently, and I decided I'd take 'em for a spin. Replaying a childhood favorite could be a nice way to wind down in the evening, I thought. So I did a little homework beforehand to make a checklist of all the djinn and some other transferable collectibles and set out. I ended up absolutely ripping through it and I'm hungry for more. Last night I wrapped up the final boss and transferred a fully-loaded gold password over to The Lost Age.
I mean, yeah, all the complaints still hold. The plot scenes could get their point across and be much punchier with half as many lines; the lack of a fast travel system makes grabbing things you missed a pain (which is why I made sure not to miss them); the generally low difficulty isn't always what you're looking for. But this is the sort of thing where hindsight really helps you adopt a good mindset for it. You know that, no matter how big the little viewscreen makes them feel, that none of the dungeons are too big, and the end of them is never far away. You know that, no matter how many lines they spend on it, they're going to leave a lot of the details and emotion of the story unstated, and there's no turning point where it becomes drastically more intense and focused. There's nothing in here worth getting impatient over.
With the perspective of knowing what I was in for - a long, smooth, consistent adventure with a very old-school heart - I was able to appreciate how well it does what it does well. I'm picking up on the themes of the story (though I won't say more on that until I'm done), the ethos of the systems design, the implicit characterization, the way the secrets are hidden.
I was 12 and 13 when I played Golden Sun repeatedly. I was 14 when I played The Lost Age, but not so obsessively; I had more to choose from by then, and it was all less novel. One thing I am noticing myself feeling is that I have detailed memories of the original game, but only vague impressions of its sequel, because of the attention that I was more willing to give it during that formative age. So it's practically brand new to me, but with the benefit of still remembering the general shape of things.
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the third game in the series, came out during a time in my life when I was hungering for very specific things from games, which it simply didn't provide, even though for some reason I thought it might. I wasn't able to approach it with this more laid-back and accepting mindset. I was unfair to it, and the disappointment that this unfairness fostered in me spread to its predecessors. My memories became focused on their drawbacks, their inconveniences, the things they chose not to say and do. I was wrong. These games are gems, plain and simple.
In conclusion, dense environments with intricate little navigational puzzles fuckin own and more RPGs should be based on this idea.
