Let's Play Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - My writing cannot defeat the dead.

[Kalir]

Hey everyone! Let's... oh.

Table Of Contents:

• 1 - Tyrell Steals A Soarwing
• 2 - Tyrell Crashes A Soarwing
• 3 - Tyrell Nearly Commits Repeat Arson
• 4 - A Lumberjack Strands Himself

Okay. So.

Golden Sun, as a series, was the final RPG series made by Camelot Studios, as headed by Hiroyuki Takahashi. The first two entries were GBA titles (henceforth: TBS and TLA) released back around the turn of the millenium or so, to widespread acclaim. Now, those titles were imperfect, extremely so. I still love them, to the point of writing an entire fix fic Let's Play for them. In those, I tried to realize what I felt the story the writing team tried and failed to convey was, the story that everyone playing those games thought they had when looking back through their rose-tinted glasses. This was a long, difficult project that, while I'm certainly proud of it, was not something I would recommend anyone to do for an LP, nor should I have HAD to with a properly realized story. But the framework was there! The basic story of the conflict over the lighthouses that would unleash Alchemy over Weyard, the missing information and sacrifices people had to go through to see the task done, that's a great story that I could imagine over what actually happened!

SO ARE YOU GONNA DO THIS FOR DARK DAWN?
Hell no.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was released eight years after the conclusion of the GBA titles, and is a direct continuation of the story after the lighthouses have been lit. Thirty years after the Golden Sun Phenomenon, you play as the children of the previous team of adventurers, setting out to investigate the mysterious new phenomenon of the Psynergy Vortexes. Or rather, that would be the story if it was good and I was lying. In practice, your party ends up doing a punitive errand after Garet's kid, Tyrell, breaks some very valuable research tech that the adults were using to investigate the mysterious new phenomenon of the Psynergy Vortexes the still-Alchemically-radioactive site of Mt. Aleph from a safe distance, an entire mountain range away. But don't take my word for it.

I can't rewrite the story of Dark Dawn because it is terrible. Camelot RPGs have always had rather snarled-up stories, but at the very least, the core narrative of them is usually reasonable. Dark Dawn's story is not. I replayed it several years ago, taking a journal as I did, and even a cursory glance at it will make it apparent that Dark Dawn's story is beyond saving. However, I still want to show the story to the best of my ability without just transcribing the entire text dump, anyone can go on GameFAQs and take caffeine pills to read that. No, for my part, I will be highlighting the story as we go through it, occasionally showing specific instances of the text being notably jarring, and answering any plotholes or contradictions that line up.

This first post of this thread will be primarily devoted to the most thorough text dumps I will provide you. The first of these are two of the three recaps of the first two games. Yes, Dark Dawn recaps the previous titles three separate times, and manages to get things wrong in each recap. Of the three recaps, we have a text crawl at the start of the game, an in-game history picture book series called the Sun Saga, and an amusement park that also doubles as Psynergy Training Grounds. I will reproduce the full text of both the intro text and the Sun Saga, and make annotations for where they got things wrong. This should also serve as a good example for why I'm not doing full transcriptions of the regular playthrough. Do note that I do not know Japanese nor have I researched the original Japanese script, so it is entirely possible that that has some idiosyncracies that were poorly localized; I am ignoring these. Deal with it.

Spoiler: Opening Text Crawl

Long ago, the ancients of Weyard discovered the secrets of Alchemy. They found that all life in Weyard was based on the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. They used their knowledge of Alchemy to forge a dazzling civilization from the elements. And the ancients made their wildest dreams come true. And then began the nightmare of Alchemy. Abuses of Alchemy threatened to tear apart their entire civilization. So the ancients did the unthinkable: They sealed away the power of Alchemy so no one could use it. Civilization was saved, but the physical world itself began to die a slow death. For the ancients didn't realize that Alchemy was what held Weyard together. Without the force of Alchemy, lands went barren, seas went dry, and the planet began to crumble. And civilization itself fell into the darkest of ages that came before its final, fatal extinction... The ancients had sealed away Alchemy to save civilization. But they had doomed Weyard. But while the oceans churned and life on the continents slid slowly toward oblivion over the eons... A legend was kept alive that held the key to Weyard's survival. If four Elemental Lighthouses could be ignited, their energy would trigger the Golden Sun event over Weyard. The Golden Sun would unleash the force of Alchemy—saving the world!

So, first of all: all of this happens BEFORE either of the GBA titles. That's right: Golden Sun recaps have gone even further beyond.

Second: this "legend" was not kept very well. Most civilizations that were still around in the GBA titles knew basically nothing about the lighthouses in question, ranging from "total ignorance of their properties outside of their duty to keep them from being lit" to "thinks the lighthouse is a mountain". Even in civilizations like Lemuria that absolutely should have known better, the leading assumption was that lighting all four lighthouses would destroy Weyard as we know it, and the decay of the world was poorly documented at best.

Thirty years ago, a groups of heroes did save the world with the Golden Sun. But now a shadowy threat is spreading... It has been 30 years since the Golden Sun event over Weyard. The world was saved—and changed. Eight heroes took part in the quest to light the Elemental Lighthouses. Four of these brave warriors were from the town of Vale. The Warriors of Vale, as they are now known throughout Weyard, are praised—and blamed—for their efforts. They had long lived at the foot of Mount Aleph, home to a people charged with a sacred duty from the ancients. That was to protect Sol Sanctum, where the forbidden keys to the Elemental Lighthouses were hidden.

While the duty of Vale as a town probably was to protect the Elemental Stars, in practice, Kraden led Isaac's party right to them and started taking them because they looked cool and researchable. Lighthouses that could destroy the world didn't really factor into his decision-making on that front. But, eh, moot point. This happens during the first game, which in Japan had the subtitle of The Broken Seal; for the sake of shorthand, I'll use TBS to refer to that game.

It was also home to the godlike Wise One who protected Weyard.

The Wise One did not protect Weyard so much as it served as a security measure to prevent the lighthouses from being lit. It was perfectly happy to let a boulder destroy a significant chunk of Vale and kill people, as well as turn the people the boulder didn't actually kill into a dragon so their kids could kill them all over again. If that sounds like total nonsense that would be more befitting of a cruel trickster god than a global protector, that's only because it is.

Vale kept the sanctum's secrets for generations, ever vigilant against the return of Alchemy. But the Warriors of Vale were among those who pursued the forbidden return of its power.

Half right. The Warriors of Vale consisted of two groups: Isaac's party in TBS that sought to prevent the lighthouses from being lit, and Felix's team from TLA (The Lost Age), initially pressured into lighting them by Saturos and Menardi to save their parents, and then later when they learned that actually lighting the lighthouses was a good thing. Isaac's party eventually joined with Felix's after learning that lighting them was the correct move, thus making Felix the true protagonist of both games despite being a jerk who was party to kidnapping his own sister.

Because of their courage, the world of Weyard was saved 30 years ago... But while Weyard was saved, the new dawn of Alchemy has been anything but bright. For while Alchemy brings life, it has also unleashed chaos. When the Golden Sun event happened, raw power exploded from the sky above Mount Aleph. Mount Aleph was largely destroyed by the explosion. And not a trace remains of the peaceful village of Vale. The planet itself is still caught in the violent throes of rebirth. Natural disasters continue to torment the people of Weyard. But the survivors live on, driven to new desperation. And the good people of Vale, though forced to resettle, continue their sacred vigil. They persist in their duty to Sol Sanctum at Mount Aleph. Or at least what remains of it. Two survivors live near the crater where Vale once was. The area rocks with eruptions, but still they watch Mount Aleph from the newly upheaved Goma Plateau. They're Isaac and Garet, two of the Warriors of Vale. These men, praised and blamed for the dawn of this new day, study the aftereffects of the Golden Sun carefully. And from their lookout cabin, Isaac and Garet also train their children to be powerful warriors. For this world will soon need a new generation to face the darkness of this new dawn...

The reasonable assumption would be that Isaac and Garet are a couple, living together as they do. But no. Isaac is married to Jenna, who does not appear in this game or live in this cabin, and Garet married someone else we never meet. I can only imagine how loveless their relationships are. It would also be reasonable to expect Ivan to live nearby since he developed the primary invention by which Isaac and Garet do their research, but nah, Ivan hangs out in Kalay (which is a non-trivial distance away from the Goma Plateau) and sends his daughter Karis over for martial studies with Isaac and Garet and their kids.

And that's the first recap. It's not EXTREMELY inaccurate, but it is inaccurate, either by omission or outright error. It's also an unskippable fixed speed text crawl that you must endure to reach the start of the game. I should hope that something like that would be concise and accurate, but I am not Hiroyuki Takahashi.

Spoiler: Sun Saga

Before we begin: the Sun Saga is an in-setting picture book series. Which means it has to have had an author. I've thought about this for a while, and the only named character that even comes slightly close to being a reasonable author for the series is Alex, and even that stretches disbelief a lot to fit in. It is, of course, possible that an unnamed character recorded the story secondhand, or that Camelot gave their characters another dose of situational amnesia to make the perspectives fit, but I digress.

Spoiler: Sun Saga 1

The saga of the Golden Sun begins long before the transformative event happened over Mount Aleph and the village of Vale. The relics that could release the Golden Sun were hidden within a temple known as Sol Sanctum. Then came the day that the villagers Garet, Isaac, and Jenna set out to meet the local scholar of Alchemy. They stumbled across strangers in the shadows who desired to possess the relics of the temple.

These strangers, depicted but not named, are naturally Saturos and Menardi, the primary antagonists of TBS. It's also not the first time either of them appeared: during the storm on Mt. Aleph three years prior, Saturos and Menardi were present, culpable, and beating the hell out of Isaac and Garet. The largest narrative failure in the first volume is not addressing this in any way.

They rushed to find the scholar Kraden, who said they had to find out if Sol Sanctum had been breached. Though only priests were allowed inside, Kraden and his friends dared to enter the temple to find the truth. The traps they found within the temple should have scared them away, but its mysteries lured them even deeper. But what they truly couldn't resist was the spirit of adventure. Their final destination took them to the heart of the mountain where the relics of the temple had been hidden. Their moment of wonder was interrupted by the arrival of thieving fiends! They'd duped Kraden into solving the temple's riddles for them! Their guide was Felix, none other than Jenna's brother, who was thought drowned during a storm in Vale three years earlier.

Curiously, the only named antagonist here is Felix. Which makes sense to give him priority as a person if written from a fresh perspective of Isaac and Garet onsite in the day, but as a retrospective feels unusual to not address Saturos and Menardi at a minimum, given the whole "caused the storm that killed your parents and was thought to have killed Felix" thing. Alex is also depicted but not mentioned here, of course.

The thieves stole Jenna and Kraden away... and then stole the legendary relics from Sol Sanctum...the Elemental Stars. Isaac and Garet were left to fend for themselves inside the relic chamber. Their exit was cut off. They couldn't leave the chamber! The mountain began to shake angrily, awoken by the loss of the elemental relics. Magma began to bubble and gush. Mount Aleph was, in truth, a slumbering volcano! Isaac and Garet were trapped! Just then, the protector of Sol Sanctum appeared! The godlike Wise One had come to their rescue! The Wise One explained that a nightmare had been put into motion by the theft of the Elemental Stars. Four lighthouses, which had sealed away the apocalyptic power of Alchemy, could now be powered back up! The lighthouses could be reignited with their matching Elemental Stars... unleashing Alchemy upon the world. After telling of ancient catastrophes averted...and a new one soon to begin... the Wise One teleported Isaac and Garet safely out of the mountain, back up to the temple entrance.

Inaccurate. The Wise One merely warped Isaac and Garet out of the secret chamber, not out of the temple itself. This isn't a huge deal in practice given that Isaac has Retreat at all times, but it is weird that Retreat specifically doesn't work there. Oh well. It's a minor inaccuracy that passes as a retcon, it's fine.

They were saved from the volcanic wrath of Mount Aleph.

Spoiler: Sun Saga 2

The day after Mount Aleph erupted, Isaac and Garet left Vale. They began their quest to get the Elemental Stars back. And, of course, to rescue the kidnapped Jenna and Kraden from their captors. Jenna's brother, Felix, who had turned traitor on Vale, had to be stopped.

Felix is the only one mentioned here. Not Saturos, Menardi, or Alex, who strike me as far more culpable. In fact, even back in Sol Sanctum, Felix was already chafing at the decision by Alex to take the two hostage, but was too outranked for his protests to be worth anything.

As they traveled across the continent, the two heroes met others who joined their party. The Wind Adept known as Ivan was next to join. Along with his power over the skies, he could read people's minds.

This is the full extent of info we get about Ivan joining. Nothing about being adopted by Hammet, nothing about the Shaman's Rod, nothing about his secret Anemos heritage. Oh well.

The three Adepts journeyed onward... enduring trials of their heroism throughout the continent... until they finally arrived in Imil, where they found the first Elemental Lighthouse. Here they met Mia, who had devoted her life to caring for the sick and elderly of Imil. Mia was also one of the few members of her family still alive to look after the lighthouse, the one devoted to the water element.

Mia, on the other hand, gets a decent amount of elaboration on who she is or what she's doing. "Her family" is a little inaccurate though; as stated, she's definitely a member of the Mercury Clan who descended from the Adepts of old, but that's not exactly like being a Belmont or the like, is it? Depending on how long ago the ancient Adepts existed, that could include well on everyone in Imil.

Unfortunately, by the time Mia and the heroes entered the lighthouse, they found its beacon already lit. Someone had beaten them there, someone who'd helped reignite its fire. The intruder was Mia's cousin, Alex. As another surviving member of her family, Alex was a Water Adept, like Mia. His betrayal of his people meant failure for the heroes as well. They could not stop the beacon from being lit. Isaac and the party traveled so far, yet their journey had been in vain. Mia was bound by duty to join Isaac and his friends. She knew that her cousin would stop at nothing to ignite all of the lighthouses. Together, they could perhaps stop Felix and Alex, the two fiends who had the same mad ambition.

I hate that line so, so, so much. Like, yes, you could very much call Alex a fiend with a mad ambition. He's intending to use this entire event as a shortcut to get himself immortality and power. Felix, on the other hand, is being pressured into this by Saturos and Menardi and clearly takes issue with how they do things, but isn't strong enough to push back against them. And if you know how this all ends (which, if you're playing Dark Dawn, you do), you know that all this venom towards Felix is entirely pointless. But nah let's call the actual protagonist of the series a fiend with a mad ambition why not.

The party was now four strong! The Adepts renewed the chase!

The other thing I'm adding to this is the Encyclopedia. This is one of many design elements in Dark Dawn that looks like a novel and creative idea at first, but which is fumbled hard in the execution. See, having a quick shorthand for what all you've encountered in the story is great, especially if it gets needlessly complex. So, you can always use the DS touchscreen to poke any word you want to learn more of, and it will be elaborated upon with the top screen, and then saved to your Encyclopedia to review later. It's great, except that the animation for adding new Encyclopedia entries is needlessly long... and you can't add them if you don't literally encounter the word in question... and that constantly clicking links breaks up the flow of the already text-heavy basic conversations... and also that the entries themselves might be incorrect. Y'know.

There are around two hundred Encyclopedia entries and I will endeavor to add all of them during my playthrough, but I'll just add them to this first post right here. The Encyclopedia is illustrated with a few entries, but I won't be bothering to include those, this is a text-only shindig. I'm not adding two hundred images to the first post for the sake of completionism and you can't make me. Some entries can also update as we play, and a lot of them involve things that appear maybe once in the game and aren't even relevant when they do, but they sure do get Encyclopedia entries!

Spoiler: Encyclopedia

This sucker is sorted alphabetically, except for people, who get their own section. I'll make notes after each for clarification if needed. Have fun.

Spoiler: ABC

Those who can use Psynergy are known as Adepts. Adepts are the rare descendants of an ancient culture that has long since passed. Wind Adepts are especially rare.

The reason Jupiter Adepts are so rare is because there's only one widely known culture of them, the Anemos, who went to the moon well before the games began. The other three elements have at least two or three cultures apiece.

The force of the four elemental powers and the study of how they combine to create reality is known as Alchemy. The ancients sealed away the force of Alchemy, and the Warriors of Vale went on their Golden Sun quest to restore Alchemy.

This tribe of Wind Adepts is said to have raised its ancient city into the sky, where its underside is still visible as the moon. All modern Wind Adepts are thought to be descended from the Anemos.

Strictly speaking, there is another culture of Jupiter Adepts, that being Garoh in Osenia. The Anemos culture was found in Atteka. And there are people in Belinsk with Jupiter Psynergy as well, albeit not many. Point being, I don't think the Anemos are the only Jupiter Adept lineage in Weyard.

This continent is in upper Weyard. It is divided by long mountain ranges that make travel between its regions difficult. The northern side of Angara is cold, while the southern part is very dry. Mount Aleph and the Goma Plateau are in the west.

Angara is where TBS was largely set, barring a brief excursion into northern Gondowan. Dark Dawn is similar, but instead of Gondowan, our tail end will take place on the Eastern Sea more than anything else. Due to the Golden Sun event, we won't be able to explore anything west of the Goma Plateau; Vale was destroyed, and they don't have anything to say about Vault or Lunpa, so I'd assume they also got destroyed.

Once a small town, Bilibin has grown since the time of the Golden Sun to the point that it's now a country. While supposedly governed by the McCoy men, it's rumored that the queen actually is ruling the realm.

Lady McCoy, back in TBS, was the impetus behind the curse of Kolima Forest, as she insisted that the lumberjacks cut down Tret to build a second palace for herself. Tret responded quite reasonably by cursing an entire town into the form of trees. Lady McCoy learned nothing from this.

This town is the major crossing point between Morgal and Bilibin.

This lumberjack camp stands at one end of a valley that leads through the Goma Mountains to Bilibin and the rest of the continent beyond.
Update after arrival: This camp stands at one end of a valley that leads through the Goma Mountains to the continent beyond. But its bridge to Bilibin has been destroyed.

Spoiler: DEF

A Djinni is a creature of pure elemental energy. Adepts use Djinn to enhance their own powers and summon spirits. Djinn fall into four elemental categories: Mars (fire), Mercury (water), Venus (earth), and Jupiter (wind).

Djinn is the plural, Djinni the singular. It's a romanization of an Arabic word, so it doesn't follow English's rules for pluralization. Djinn also let us play with the class change and summon mechanics by mixing and matching elements.

There are four of these towers that sent their beams of elemental energy over Mount Aleph to cause the Golden Sun event. This released the force of Alchemy, which had been sealed away by the ancients, back into the world of Weyard.

These four crystals, the keys to starting the Elemental Lighthouse, were once sealed up in Sol Sanctum by the ancients. Thirty years ago, the crystals were taken from the sanctum and used in the quest to cause the Golden Sun event.

This fire-based Psynergy focuses heat energy into a ball of flame that the user can throw to incinerate a target.

This old standby from the Soldier class line has now graduated into a field Psynergy, which works exactly how you think it does. Needless to say, Tyrell has this available at all times no matter his class set.

Spoiler: GHI

This huge statue was revered by a village in central Gondowan. The statue was the entrance to a vast clockwork labyrinth that was powered by Psynergy.

The people of Kibombo revered the god the statue depicted, not the statue itself, you blithering dingus. Said god was also apparently real and could bestow dark magic to the heroes if they cleared its trials. That will be examined precisely never.

This powerful explosion happened above Mount Aleph 30 years ago, releasing elemental energy throughout Weyard. Though the Golden Sun event brought the dying world back to life, the magnitude of the power released has caused disasters.

The Golden Sun event also supercharged the lifespans of everyone present at the lighthouses, and created the Stone of Sages atop Mt. Aleph. Notably, Alex was there at the time and got superbig powers, but was also subsequently thrashed by the Wise One, so who knows what happened to him? (Me. I know.)

This range divides the Vale refugees from the rest of Angara. Isaac's cabin is on a plateau that is part of the new highlands raised up by the Golden Sun.

This vast continent is south of Angara. The Warriors of Vale famously traveled to Gondowan to light the Venus Lighthouse. This continent, once joined by land to Angara, has since split away due to the seismic effects of the Golden Sun.

Isaac's party only touched the northern edge of Gondowan to reach the Venus Lighthouse. Felix's team in TLA went into the heart of it to retrieve Piers' Black Orb from the Kibombo, but didn't explore much else.

This earth-based Psynergy can grasp faraway objects and bring them close. It can also carry the user across some gaps.

This earth-based Psynergy causes plants to rapidly grow, sometimes creating climbable vines to new locations.

Matthew begins play with Move and Growth on deck and has access to both at all times; gone are the days of hotswapping Djinn to traverse. Furthermore, Growth can now create vines that drop down off of ledges, allowing vertical exploration in both directions.

This continent was where the Warriors of Vale found the ship that allowed them to sail around the world. Indra was once east of Gondowan, but the seismic effects of the Golden Sun have pushed it far from that continent.

Spoiler: JKL

This lighthouse provided the wind energy that combined with the other three elements to power the force of Alchemy. This tower is now in western Gondowan's Atteka region and was one of the four that were lit to trigger the Golden Sun event.

Nope. Atteka was a full continent of its own, not part of Gondowan in the slightest. Jupiter Lighthouse, for its part, is near the settlement of Contigo, all that remains of the Anemos people outside of the moon.

This vast inland sea once was a vital crossing between Angara and Gondowan. After the two continents were split from each other by the Golden Sun, the Karagol Sea became joined to the ocean.

The Karagol was also home to Crossbone Isle, a pirate's den full of monsters and a postgame area. Crossbone Isle has since drifted out to the southeastern part of the Eastern Sea and is now a postgame area for Dark Dawn as well.

This mysterious forest is in northeastern Angara. Isaac's old friend, Tret, can be found somewhere among its trees.

These ruins are thought to have been a major center where ancient Adepts could share ideas with visitors. Little else is known about this mysterious location, which only came to light after the Golden Sun.

Already been stripped of its gold plating. It had gold plating everywhere, apparently.

This giant squid plagued the Karagol Sea, capsizing all ships that fell into its grip. While sailing across the Karagol, the Warriors of Vale slew the vicious squid.

This legendary island city is home to an advanced civilization isolated from the world by surrounding and ever-present mists. Time passes slowly for its citizens, who sometimes travel the world in powerful ships of distinctive design.

Finding Lemuria for immortality was Babi's goal in TBS. He died before he could achieve this. Get wrecked, nerd.

Spoiler: MNO

This lighthouse provided the fire energy that combined with the other three elements to power the force of Alchemy. This tower is now in the lands north of Angara and was one of the four that were lit to trigger the Golden Sun event.

The closest settlement to Mars Lighthouse is Prox, the hometown of the four major antagonists from the GBA titles. Before either game started, they briefly lit (or attempted to light) Mars Lighthouse, only for it to be extinguished again. This particular bit of info is so well-hidden in TLA that frankly I'm not even sure I got it right.

This lighthouse provided the water energy that combined with the other three elements to power the force of Alchemy. This tower is in the Imil region of Angara and was one of the four that were lit to trigger the Golden Sun event.

This country occupies the northeastern part of Angara, with the capital city of Belinsk at the center. Morgal is home to many wonders, from the tree village of Kolima to the ancient dock facilities of Port Rago.

Since we're still cribbing major civilizations from existing Earth ones: it's Russia.

The mountain, home to Sol Sanctum, was mostly destroyed when the Golden Sun effect exploded above it. The mountain once stood over the town of Vale, which was obliterated by that cataclysmic event 30 years ago.

Still technically standing, just Alchemically irradiated and wholly inhospitable.

These gigantic birds are so rarely seen that they're beyond legendary. A single feather can provide enough material to help craft a soarwing.

The mountain roc's habitat is on the eastern edge of Angara, in the mountains beyond the Kolima Forest.

This immense Psynergy Vortex once unleashed unimaginable destruction in the center of Angara. The misery it caused was so widespread it became known as the Mourning Moon.

The Mourning Moon event occurred about a decade before the start of Dark Dawn. We don't get any info on what happened with it, but its clearly not an immediate issue as of the time this game starts.

This earth-based Psynergy allows the user to move objects along the ground. Objects far too heavy for human hands can be moved with little effort.

Matthew begins play with Move and Growth on deck and has access to both at all times. Move, like most field Psynergy in Dark Dawn, has significantly extended range, but still has to target something on your same level.

This large continent is far to the south, across the ocean from Angara. The Warriors of Vale crossed its desert expanse and scaled its immense Air's Rock plateau using wind-based Psynergy.

Other highlights of Osenia include ten hours of boat fixing, a town of werewolves and werewolves lore, and the blacksmith Sunshine who turned your materials into cool new weapons.

Spoiler: PQR

This general store serves up just about everything refugees from Vale might need to survive. A small settlement is huddled around the store.

The closest landmark from the GBA games to Patcher's Place would probably be Vault, so I expect it had some refugees from there and Lunpa, too.

This sea god stood in the way of all those who tried to sail past him. The Warriors of Vale had to acquire the Trident of Ankohl in order to breach Poseidon's invulnerability.

The Warriors of Vale also had to guess that more or less blind, because it was NOT hinted at in the game in a manner anyone would consider reasonable. Poseidon specifically blocked the way to Lemuria, by the way.

Controlling the elements with the mind is known as using Psynergy. Those who use Psynergy are called Adepts—masters over earth, wind, fire, and water. Many effects are possible through the use of Psynergy.

In addition to being hereditary, Psynergy can be gained by exposure to Psynergy Stones or other wellsprings of Alchemical power.

This is a Psynergy-rich mineral that forms over many years as elemental power slowly crystallizes. Adepts can regain Psynergy Points by touching a stone, which then shatters.

Especially developed Psynergy Stones, like the one in Vale's plaza, do not shatter and can be reused indefinitely. They also respawn when you exit the area but shhh.

These are distortions in space that suck the elemental energy out of the world—and from Adepts. They're thought to be an aftereffect caused by the Golden Sun event.

Spoiler: STUV

This remarkable invention allows its wearer to glide upon the winds. Soarwings are hard to make and so are quite rare.
Update after Tanglewood: The feather of a Mountain Roc is what gives this invention its gliding power. If trained, Adepts can use a soarwing to fly with high precision.

Adepts must be either sufficiently skilled or simply a Jupiter Adept, so they can Whirlwind it aloft.

This ancient temple hidden in Mount Aleph was said to be the birthplace of Alchemy and the repository for the Elemental Stars. After the stars were used to start the Elemental Lighthouses, creating the Golden Sun, the resulting havoc ruined the temple.

This forest is said to transform at night, changing into a wood that ensnares those brave-or foolish-enough to enter it after dark.

Located at the northeastern foot of the Goma Plateau. No relation to Kolima Forest.

This is an old friend of Isaac's who lives in Kolima Forest. Apparently he has useful information about Mountain Rocs.

Ain't don't know why Tret isn't listed in the People section. Probably because he's a tree. In TBS, Tret's anger at being attacked by Kolima's lumberjacks was amplified by Psynergy Stones, giving him the power to curse humans into the form of trees. Isaac's team both quelled his anger by fighting its avatar, and then healed Tret of the damage the lumberjacks did.

This village lay at the foot of Mount Aleph until the Golden Sun event, when Aleph exploded, devastating the area. The people of Vale have settled elsewhere, with most making their home around the new Goma Plateau and the Goma Mountains.

Among the other locations where Vale's refugees have gone to are Kalay and Bilibin. Vault and Lunpa were too close to be considered safe.

This lighthouse provided the earth energy that combined with the other three elements to power the force of Alchemy. This tower is in Gondowan and was one of the four that were lit to trigger the Golden Sun event.

Specifically, it's near Lalivero, Sheba's hometown on the northeast corner of Gondowan. It was also an objective of Babi's to climb it, the failure of which drove him to capture Sheba and force the people of Lalivero to build a lighthouse in their city so he could climb THAT one. Sheba fell off it in the aftermath, provoking Felix into diving off the side to try to save her. (Don't worry, they teched it.)

Spoiler: WXYZ

This group of Adepts saved the world by unsealing the force of Alchemy and causing the Golden Sun event 30 years ago. But because that event also brought mass destruction, the Warriors of Vale are widely seen as a controversial group.

Despite only four of 'em coming from Vale, the Warriors of Vale includes all members of both Isaac and Felix's respective parties. It's fine, really, it's a convenient enough shorthand.

The world of Weyard is a flat, disklike planet composed of four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. The elemental forces of Alchemy, once sealed away, have returned to Weyard, bringing new life—but also destruction.

Weyard and its continents are loosely based on a flat-earth rep of Earth, but you already knew that probably.

This wind-based Psynergy summons a small tornado. Light objects may be blown away by the wind. The whirlwind also pushes the user back slightly.

Karis always has Whirlwind at a minimum no matter her class, and it's gotten a LOT better as a utility. It's our first projectile field Psynergy, and can strike multiple things in a line if needed. The knockback thing isn't actually a thing by default, but it can be used in that way to sail on rafts when we find 'em.

This absolute being looks like a floating boulder with one central eye. He watches over Weyard and hold unimaginable power. The Wise One is now known to be what the ancients called a Philosopher's Stone, a creature they forged through Alchemy.

Note that a Philosopher's Stone is not the same thing as the purported Stone of Sages that Alex claimed immortality with. Note also that the Wise One is really bad at watching over Weyard, as per the events of the previous titles.

Spoiler: People

This young man is a promising Earth Adept, just like his father was when he started his adventures 30 years ago. And just like Isaac, who led the famous Warriors of Vale, Matthew is a person of few words but strong convictions.

Matthew is a silent protagonist in this game, but that doesn't mean he doesn't talk. He's still basically saying whatever the writers want him to, just really quietly, and to hell with your ability to self-insert over him. This is doubly funny because Isaac is one of the most verbose characters early on.

This young Wind Adept has long known Matthew and Tyrell, often visiting them at their Goma Plateau cabin. Her father, Ivan, was a Warrior of Vale. She has inherited her father's indomitable spirit and powers of observation.

Two problems. First, "indomitable" is not the word I would use to describe Ivan the Apologetic (although it does apply to Karis). Second, Karis has terrible powers of observation, purely because she has to be the one to decode our choices in the emotions menu, and she has a terrible hit rate on that front.

This young man is a Fire Adept, following in the footsteps of his father, Garet. He has a reputation for being a troublemaker, but Matthew is still proud to call him his best friend.
Update after Tanglewood: He has lived up to his reputation for being a troublemaker by crashing the soarwing—the event which has propelled the heroes into action.

What redeeming factors does Tyrell have that make him a friend that Matthew would follow to the literal ends of the earth for? Let me know when you find them.

The Earth Adept left his hometown of Vale over 30 years ago—and returned to find it destroyed by the Golden Sun event. He lives in a cabin that looks upon distant Mount Aleph, where he trains his son, Matthew, in the use of Psynergy.

This old friend of Isaac's fought alongside him as a Warrior of Vale in the events leading to the Golden Sun phenomenon. He is Tyrell's father and a Fire Adept just like his son. He lives near Mount Aleph, helping Isaac monitor the area.

Garet was known for being appropriately hot-headed and an act-before-he-thinks sort. Getting further into adulthood has mellowed him out a little, but he still has a temper on him.

This Warrior of Vale traveled with Isaac during their quest 30 years ago. He now lives in the nearby land of Kalay. He and his daughter, Karis, are Wind Adepts, descendants of the Anemos, an old civilization thought long gone.

Apparently Ivan's moved from training in merchantry to tinkering, since he developed the soarwing. Good job, buddy!

Another one of Vale's Earth Adepts led a second party that joined up with Isaac's group in the days before the Golden Sun. Felix's sister, Jenna, and the scholar Kraden were others from Vale in his party. He left his homeland—and has not been seen since.

No, Isaac's group joined with Felix's. Because Felix's group was actually trying to light the lighthouses from square one, even if their methods were immoral. Incidentally, Felix doesn't show up in Dark Dawn, nor does any member of his party except Kraden.

This Vale refugee has built a large general store and inn for fellow survivors of the Golden Sun event. Though not exactly a mayor, Patcher is the closest thing to a leader this outpost has.
Update after arriving at Patcher's Place: This Vale refugee has built a large general store and inn for fellow survivors of the Golden Sun aftermath. This unofficial leader of this area welcomes all who visit, except Tyrell, who once nearly burned down his place.

This old scholar is one of Weyard's foremost authorities on Alchemy, Psynergy, and ancient cultures. He traveled with the Warriors of Vale, and he now conducts his research with two young apprentices.

Note that Kraden himself is not an Adept, despite indirect exposure to the Golden Sun. His students are Rief and Nowell, Mia's kids.

This leader of the lumberjack camp is known as Carver, though as an old Vale refugee, it's unknown whether he's always been called that—or just loves his job. He never shies away from a task at hand, which sometimes worries his men.

This ruler of Bilibin got his start as the mayor of a small town. Over the years, it has grown into a full-fledged kingdom. While Lord McCoy is the ruler of his domain, there are widespread rumors that his wife plans to put her son on the throne.

Back in TBS, Lord McCoy forbade Isaac's team from progressing to Kolima to protect them from the curse, but he changed his tune and was very grateful when they eventually broke it. He was also the only guy with any kind of accent (Scottish, obv) in either game.

This Water Adept from the remote civilization of Lemuria joined Felix's party in his quest to ignite the lighthouses. He now sails the world in his ancient ship, investigating mysterious phenomena.

Well, now that we have a proper sense of looming dread, let's play Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

 

[Kalir]

As always, we begin our tale by getting an option to rename our protagonist. As always, I will not be doing this, sticking with the default name of Matthew. I don't think there's a debug code to rename the other eventual party members, not that I care.

We get a big massive text dump I've already summarized in the above post that covers not only the broad outline of the first two Golden Sun titles, but also their backstory. It's unskippable, because how dare you not want to read these things you already know. They do take the time during it to at least include some flashy animations of natural disasters in the background.

Halfway through (around the time of the "shadowy threat" they mention), this shows up. Some big high-tech airship drops a pod onto a mountaintop somewhere, okay! I don't know WHICH mountain it is, though. Probably not Mt. Aleph anyway, for reasons.

The first text crawl concluded, we are now treated to a panning shot over the Lookout Cabin that Isaac and Garet use to observe Mt. Aleph. Note the top screen that I'm adding for this: that is a whole lot of screen space devoted to a screen saver, yesiree. The stat blocks are not worth having up there either since we can just as easily access them with a button press like in the old days, but for now I just have to deal with it. I will, this time, trim out the irrelevant half of the screenshots for your viewing pleasure, but just know that's up there.

Eventually, we have our protagonist Matthew and his dad Isaac returning from their day's work.

That's him! I'd tell you more about Isaac here, in case you forgor, but fortunately for you (and unfortunately for me) I don't have to. Just go to the first post and look in the Encyclopedia.

If you're wondering what the Encyclopedia links look like pre-clicked, well, here you go. I will be skipping mountains of text through this game, so for now, Isaac is basically just setting the scene of "Mt. Aleph done became an elephant's foot and we're doing analysis from way the hell over in the Goma Plateau". He also touches on the whole "Alchemy's resurgence and the ensuing natural upheaval has heightened tensions across the land as would-be kings vie for control" thing. Y'know? Y'know.

Isaac also appears to revere the Wise One as some kind of god now? This is not only... really inconsistent behaviour given the last time they saw each other, the Wise One was turning Isaac's dead dad Kyle into a dragon to fight him, but also because of the Encyclopedia entry revealing that the Wise One isn't a god, just an ancient construct. But hey, since when has the Golden Sun series been known for consistency?

Hey Garet. I like the dadstache! It suits you.

The combo of cool mustache and willingness to call Isaac out on his inexplicable and misplaced piety makes Garet a far better character than he ever was in TBS.

Hey look! It's our main plot hook! Or rather, that's what I'd LIKE to say. Like, freestanding, spontaneously generating black holes? That's pretty bad! The biggest one yet, the Mourning Moon, appeared in the middle of Angara once a decade or so ago (i.e. between TLA's ending and this) and did some serious damage, so they're definitely worth learning about.

And they even need specialized equipment to survey it, too! This is some good groundwork for a proper adventure!

The pipe dream for Isaac and Garet is to get back to Sol Sanctum to get some answers, which feels... dangerous at best. But hey, it's their soarwing. What am I gonna do about it?

Nothing, the plot's gonna do it for me.

There's our two next party members, one of which is also the main antagonist of the game.

I don't mean that in terms of being a subversive double-agent who will backstab us (he lacks the skill) or in terms of being a radical with good intentions but bad methods (he only has the second one). But don't take my word for it! Let's see how this plays out so you can get an idea of what I mean.

But first: this thing.

The emotion menu is Camelot's compromise between "silent protagonist" and making Matthew a self-insert analogue who still has their own character, like Mass Effect's Commander Shepard or the DS Fire Emblem's avatar characters. Every so often, especially early on, we get a prompt from four emotion buttons for how we feel about the last thing someone said. We can choose one for Matthew to display that emoji, prompting other characters to react to what he just said really quietly.

Problem is, Camelot has not gotten any better at intuiting what the player might feel about the current situation since they made Air's Rock. So a good half the time, any given choice that was not the one they explicitly expected you to pick will just have the characters yell at Matthew for being emotionally incorrect. And because this is a fun new toy, they throw this all over the place, especially early on, constantly forcing a disconnect between the player and the characters in the game.

So, for my own amusement if nothing else, I will be trying to use EVERY instance of the emotion menu as a way to describe what I think Matthew, specifically, might be feeling about what was just said, given the following choices. Here, for example, we have Tyrell deciding that he wants to go on a joyride with a very expensive piece of research equipment, and his dad getting upset about it. Were I to make this into a dialogue screen, it might look like this:

• That's not too big of a deal, right?
• Hah, that's so Tyrell. What a troublemaker!
• Oh, not again with his shenanigans.
• You talk about your kid that way?

The anger one is kinda "eh", but in my experience it feels like a lot of the time, you are directing the emotion in question directly at whoever just spoke, which feels like A: an awkward limitation, and B: one they circumvent roughly whenever they feel like it without telling you. I'll always screenshot these such that you can see which one I end up picking, but I'll try to do the little writing thing here each time if I can. (I probably can't. But we'll try anyway.)

If you pick the absolute softball choices the game... still usually messes up the response here, but Garet and I are at least on the same page re: Tyrell.

With this, we are finally afforded control of our character and the ability to access menus. Nice of them to give us this screen to know we can stop zoning out and mashing A, at least. Incidentally, yes, this game can be controlled with the touchscreen, pretty capably! I won't be doing that though.

For my first trick: showing off an actually useful property of the Encyclopedia. Any field Psynergy you can use have their full effects documented here, complete with illustration. Moreover, field Psynergy in Dark Dawn is... good. Almost everything else about this game aside from the visuals I can only give mixed praise for at best, but straight up, field Psynergy and its usage in traversal and puzzles is way the hell better in Dark Dawn.

Furthermore, the menus all make use of the top screen where relevant, usually for more details like the Atlas here or your equipment stats.

Seriously, this UI is dang nice. We still make all selections from the bottom, but a nice topside view of all field Psynergy we have access to is greatly appreciated. And returning players will be happy to know that Matthew ALWAYS has both Move and Growth available, with the rest of the party having similar benefits for their preferred field Psynergy.

When not in menus, the top screen is devoted to a fairly detailed minimap that updates with Djinn and treasure locations. But we can't play with it just yet, we have to go up a ladder.

Right, let's get this over with.

Since three people yelling at Tyrell about how he's a fool and causing problems on purpose did nothing to stop him, they decide that having the quietest person in the vicinity should now take point on doing this. How might you feel about this, reader? Would it perhaps be one of the following?

• I can try, sure.
• Leave it to me!
• What if I screw up, though?
• Hey, don't rush me!

I regret to inform you that the party of Dark Dawn is better characterized than in the GBA titles. I can completely believe that Karis, forced to watch an unsupervised Tyrell, would be at her limit.

So, this is Tyrell. He is written as a significant troublemaker, and in that regard, he is very well-written. He is also among my least favorite characters in all of video games. He starts off Dark Dawn by taking the soarwing, against the cautionings of his dad, his dad's good friend, and his friend who just so happens to be the daughter of the soarwing's designer. Their cited reasoning is simple and ironclad: you need to either be an experienced Adept or a Jupiter Adept to even think of flying it, of which Tyrell, a fledgling Mars Adept, is neither. His counterargument is that "all you have to do is jump in the air and act like a bird".

Before we can even hit an emotion menu, or before Garet can attempt to destroy the soarwing (hell of a drastic idea, that), Tyrell takes off.

It takes all of seven seconds for Tyrell to realize that maybe listening to everyone yelling at him to not try to paraglide without training may have been a good idea.

With Tyrell on the descent over the wilderness, our options are few. Four, to be specific. I chose this option halfway for seeing how they could possibly spin it and halfway for "I think it's good that he died!" reasons, but let's do our due diligence.

• It can't be that bad.
• Just stay out of the forest, then!
• We have to hurry!
• He's so reckless!

The only problem with this line of thought is that it implies that the forest is the only dangerous part of the wilderness. Y'know, despite it being an Alchemically-active mountain range, and mountains not exactly being known as hospitable regions in the best of times. Tyrell could land on a hoodoo only to have it crumble under him and go into freefall, for example. Isaac is at least correct that the forest is the more dangerous of the two, but not for normal reasons.

But whatever. There's a peak at the far side of the forest with a cave inside that Tyrell can use as shelter until we get to him. So, we'll throw along our best words of advice...

• Stay safe over there!
• You've got this, Tyrell!
• Please be careful!
• You're going to be in so much trouble once we get to you!

Oh, is my temper not helping? Funny how that works!

They really want you to play with this mechanic, huh.

• He'll be fine.
• Of course he can!
• I hope he doesn't fall in...
• Frankly he should just walk back home.

The problem isn't the mechanic itself. It's fine. It's two things. First, this is still Takahashi von Camelot writing, which means they can't possibly guess what a player might be thinking when they choose an emotion. Second, they love to put this response into the most banal spots imaginable, where there really isn't a point to Matthew actually saying anything because the statement isn't enough to warrant player input.

In any case, Isaac and Garet start setting out, but Matthew and Karis really want to come along and join the fun of search-and-rescue ops!

Hey, OG Golden Sun players. Is this the kind of voice you gave to Isaac? Genuinely curious.

Anyway, we go into the cabin to suit up, and Karis gives us an unskippable tutorial on both equipping items and saving the game. Dark Dawn has a staggering amount of tutorials for a game that expects you to have played two other full length JRPGs before, and not a single one of them is skippable. It is a wholly baffling design decision, but this isn't even the worst possible instance of it. More on that later.

You also CAN'T save until this tutorial. They flat won't let you. I do at least like the summary at the top that indicates what the most recent thing is. It's not that uncommon a feature for the era, but it's especially nice for a handheld JRPG.

Anyway, we get ourselves a short sword in here. Equipment in Dark Dawn functions about the same as in the GBA titles, with one specific difference.

Weapon unleashes have been significantly reworked. Now, you have to increase your skill with a weapon to unlock any given unleash, and all weapons have at least one unleash (folding in pre-existing basic crits), up to a max of four. There is some mechanic or another that allows your party to have some initial skill in a new weapon, but it works off of deep magick I don't understand. Furthermore, unleashes are no longer limited to a single target. The practical upshot of this is that you'll still equip the same cool artifact weapons as soon as you find them, they just won't be as immediately cracked as they otherwise would be.

Remember when this was our plothook? Good times. I miss those twenty minutes of dialogue ago.

Here we go.

The Sun Saga, as mentioned in the first post, is the second of the third recaps of the GBA games, this time represented as a colorful picture book series. It's definitely cute, don't get me wrong, but it's also wrong about a lot of things. While you can find it normally by checking bookshelves as you play, if you miss any they do eventually show up in item stores, so they aren't permanently missable. And, of course, you can always just find a video link oh whoops how did that get there.

For real though, the artwork is absolutely darling. Lookit!

Anyway, that's everything in the house.

The telescope gives us a clear shot of what remains of Mt. Aleph. Cooool. I hope I don't suffer ocular degeneration as a result!

Outside or something whatever let's just go.

Now might be a good time to discuss our party.

Matthew is almost exactly the same kind of character Isaac was in TBS, from his equipment set to his Psynergy list. The only significant change is gaining Growth as a field Psynergy: his default Knight line and all other classes he can access are just what you're used to. He's the strongest character in the game and will be a fixture of the party for some time.

Incidentally, look at that character model! This is a DS game! Not 3DS, regular DS. That's downright beautiful for the era. And fully animated in fights, no less!

Karis, meanwhile, inherits Ivan's Mage line and caster proclivities, including being bad at everything relative to a martial Adept. She has a few more differences to her, though. First and most importantly: Mind Read is out. We get a similar ability on another Adept much later, but Karis doesn't have it. Second: she is one of the few characters capable of equipping, in addition to the expected staffs and light blades, the new bow class of weapon. This doesn't really have much practical impact, mind you, it's still backed by caster stats including a complete lack of a Psynergy potency stat. Third: as of like level 5, she picks up an area heal Psynergy, the new Fresh Breeze line unique to her Mage line. That's the thing about Dark Dawn: for 99% of the game, combat is easy as hell. XP gain has been spiked, new Psynergy is available to you faster, and monsters trend weaker. The GBA games were already pretty easy, but Dark Dawn legitimately is "mash A to win".

Moving on, Isaac and Garet are still going over the plan. Garet, to his credit, isn't too excited about trying to make this a training experience for the kids considering his son just got stranded in the wilderness.

Oh do they? That's a thing Venus Adepts can do? Funny, you'd think wide-scale tremorsense would have come up prior to this point in the series since every protagonist we've been was a Venus Adept. I'd love to have that capability, honestly.

Remember those times when, in the GBA games, the characters would randomly become Marvel level jokesters, like Mia sarcastically asking the dying man if there was a pharmacy in the sublevels of an evil cave?

That's how Dark Dawn's writing likes to go. A lot.

Oh no my dads are keeping secrets from me. Secrets that completely line up with what Isaac was openly stating atop the house earlier. Well, I've established a precedent now, so...

• It's fine, honestly.
• Oh, I love surprises!
• Oh, I hate surprises...
• What, you don't trust us?!

We have no idea if Ivan keeps secrets or not, honestly. Maybe he does. You wouldn't know, right?

After reaffirming that yes, Isaac intends to let us take point and do the tutorial mission, he asks this. Uh...

• If you would, please.
• We get to lead the mission? Cool!
• That's so much pressure...
• Get to the point!

Further evidence that they're just throwing the emotion menu in willy-nilly without a thought as to what Matthew might actually have to say or whether they can meaningfully follow up on it: the full roster of responses from Isaac here.

• All right, then. I believe this is a great opportunity for you two to grow a little.
• OK, OK! I'll tell you. I just think this is a great opportunity for you two to prove your skill.
• Don't worry. It's just that I think this is a good opportunity for you two to prove yourselves.
• Don't worry! It's just that I think this is a timely opportunity for you two to prove yourselves.

The Golden Sun series has always had good graphical design as a strong point, and Dark Dawn is no exception. They didn't have to angle the shot just for the bridge to see the sun on the horizon, but they did and that's cool.

Sure, dad. East to the base of Goma Plateau, south to the world map we're not going to yet.

No sooner do we set foot inside the caves than does the screen flash white and Isaac has to tell us about random battles. You know you can just let us do things with a hands-off approach like you spent an entire scene saying you would, right? I literally did it in this screenshot, I don't need to explain how maps work a second time.

We just established this. Yes.

• We'll be fine.
• I'm gonna beat 'em all!
• I know, but it's still scary.
• Just let me handle this!

Do YOU remember why we're here, Garet? It's because we have a time-sensitive rescue operation to do! And talking. Takes. Time.

Here we go. Finally, a proper fight.

As mentioned, all of your team is fully modeled and animated during the fight, and special effects will be slung back and forth with abandon as you huck Psynergy and summons and unleashes around. The top screen updates with the commands you input to your team, so a quick glance can remind you if you get lost in the menu sauce trying to pull a brain genius maneuver.

Unfortunately, all of those cool UI elements and animations do little to mask how trivial combats are in this game. Not only do two regular attacks from both party members drop that Slime, but... do you remember how in the GBA games, if a target for your action had died before it came up, you'd cancel the action into a defend rather than retargeting? Yeah, that was a frustrating bit of game design, but it was also one of the few friction points the series had. Dark Dawn fixed it so you'll just pick a new target if applicable, and objectively that's good, but it was also one of the few obstacles in the way of just mashing A to win. If Dark Dawn was harder, I wouldn't even bat an eye at this, but still.

Similarly, the Slime lacks any real hitting power of its own. Oh, and if you're curious, the top screen is only used for especially absurd attacks, like summons. It just displays healthbars and Djinn states otherwise.

After finishing a nonthreatening battle, Isaac and Garet take this time to tell us that you can use Psynergy in fights in case mashing A doesn't do anything. And yes, field Psynergy exists, thanks for the reminder Garet.

Moving on. All the old shorthand of terrain still applies: these slopes are one-way descents.

And stone pillars like these are prime targets for Move!

What?

Are you for real right now? Are you?

Garet interrupts us before the Move Psynergy actually goes off so that the adults can run over and tell us how smart we are, in what is, again, a highly time sensitive mission.

• It's not hard to figure out.
• It was really easy!
• Do we have the time for this?
• I'm trying to take Tyrell's predicament seriously!

Yes, I have! Because I've played Golden Sun 1 and 2, in which I naturally figured out that Move was a thing by seeing it done elsewhere and then implementing it in practice! And this is another one of your responses that doesn't actually change depending on what I choose, because you are even more adamant about having the last word than Garet.

My son's in danger? No time for that! We need to set up a test, interrupt them solving the test, tell them they're doing the test wrong, then do it for them.

The really messed up part is that if you, for some reason, played Dark Dawn before either of the GBA titles and then didn't deduce that Move would work here, the tutorial would make perfect sense, and they in fact have branching dialogue for whether you cast Move or not. If you simply walk away, then they bring up that you have Move and it would be useful. And if you just cast Move because you already know, this happens. Even if you wanted to have branching dialogue for whether the player knows how to play the game or not, y'know what would be good on the chance they do? Skipping the tutorial.

Karis, attempting to hold her tenuous lead as voice of reason, argues that setting up an obstacle like this at all during our search-and-rescue operation is a terrible idea. I agree, especially since Garet wasn't even in agreement originally that there SHOULD be a test in the first place.

• We solved it anyway, so who cares?
• If this is what their tests are like, it's no problem!
• Please don't put obstacles in our way for no reason.
• Do you care if Tyrell lives or dies?!

I can only be the world's #2 Tyrell hater of all time because its clear that Camelot hates him more.

Anyway here's an automated tutorial for the thing I just tried to do.

Here's some actually useful info. In Dark Dawn, activating a field Psynergy generates a ring around you indicating the range it can affect. It also automatically targets the nearest thing in that radius (although you can switch with L/R if you want) and indicates what kind of actions you can take with it. It is SO much better than the GBA titles it's ridiculous. Even the humble Move Psynergy has its range extended by one tile and has full capability to aim diagonally now.

And, yes, Psynergy is still represented by ghost hands. At least that is still right and proper.

Cool, a Psynergy Stone I couldn't see prior to you pointing it out but which I would probably see while moving and attempt to investigate myself. That definitely needs highlighting.

Sun's setting. We've literally burnt our daylight.

Three enemies? Nuh-uh, die outta my way.

This looks better in motion, but it still is good ol' Whirlwind. And it still kills everything in the encounter with one cast wait no that's entirely new. It never did that. Dark Dawn moment.

And that's the base of the Goma Plateau. Just the forest ahead!

Spoaky.

Field Psynergy has improved in a lot of ways, but it still requires even altitude to use. For Move, that's within reason, but this applies even to projectile field Psynergy like Whirlwind. No aiming up or down. Pay no attention to the sticky trap on the ceiling.

Oh, did you? You thought that stopping us every ten feet to explain things we already knew was the fastest way to pursue Tyrell, despite knowing that A: we have no idea if he's okay, and B: he's on the far side of a forest that, in your own words, is...

Especially dangerous after night, which it now is? If only this could have been avoided somehow.

Well, it ain't gettin' any more traversed.

Yeah? And? Do you have an actual plan or are you simply that anxious to be out from under the curse of the silent protagonist?

• Well, it can't be helped.
• It's been easy so far, I'm not worried!
• Are we going to be safe?
• This is your fault for wasting so much time!

We can't, no, but it's frustrating that our obstacle here wasn't "evil cursed forest" until it was literally in line of sight. The forest would not have been an issue if Isaac and Garet, rather than faffing about with needless tests they weren't in agreement on, simply dropped the pretense and let us get here as soon as possible. They were fully prepared for Matthew and Karis to be capable to handle things in a sunset forest, after all. (What about the return trip? Listen, I can only handle so much bad writing at once.)

And that difference clearly matters enough that we can't lead anymore because we'd be "easier prey" if left isolated.

• It's okay, Dad and Mr. Garet can protect us.
• They won't find me easy prey, that's for sure!
• We're all going to die...
• Tyrell's going to die because they screwed up!

Don't worry kids, running will be useless!

Okay, now this is getting a little interesting. Starting us off with a brief power trip of a bunch of Djinn is a cool way to introduce the system, really sets the stakes for how dangerous things are, and serves as a natural playground tutorial as we mess around with them to do whatever!

Here's the problem, though. This question, to which I answer yes, is very clearly indicated as a marker for whether you, the player, have used Djinn before in the previous Golden Sun titles.

It is also completely irrelevant. We are still getting an unskippable tutorial on Djinn.

Like, the other forced tutorials were clunky, sure, but they didn't pretend like we had agency for them. This time, they specifically dangle that question in front of us, only to say "no, you are too much of a dumb baby, you have to have the tutorial for this mechanic in the third game of the series."

They just really want you to see this full animation!

This, right here, is where for a lot of players, the rose-colored glasses well and truly broke. The Golden Sun of their childhood memories was dead, and its corpse made to dance. It doesn't matter what you want, we're going to tell you what you want, and screw you for thinking otherwise.

Said loving animation will also smash cut to automated, slow-paced combat tutorials about how to use Djinn, just like in the first game.

The only, ONLY bit of "new" info is a slapdash justification for why you have to evenly distribute Djinn across the party. Which didn't need explaining anyway, it was A: something that was enforced through game mechanics already, and B: a naturally good idea considering your party should all in theory be capable of holding their own in a fight.

At least the summons are really, really pretty time this go around! In fact, have another link to all of them in the game! Because you can watch that while I watch Flint explain things I already know and then play the game for me. The linebreak is a little weird, but remember that this initially was on the DS, so it was trying to make the screens line up as one fluid animation across the both. Doesn't quite come across when grouped cleanly together like this.

Yes, I remember this, because it was less than five minutes ago. Why are you LIKE THIS.

• Of course I do.
• Of course I do!
• Of course I do...
• OF COURSE I DO!

No, I should think not, after I was forced to enroll in Djinn 101!

Oh is he? Is that a concern? Is time a factor? Do we need to speed it up? Are we going too slow? Should we have factored in expediency a little more?

They can't even be arsed to give us three of the same element to each character, mandating that we have to futz with them. Thanks, beloved returning characters.

At this point I'm sticking to displaying every needless instance of the emotion menu for this update in particular. Later ones I might skip. But this needs to be documented. We need to perform the autopsy. We need to see why Golden Sun died.

• More Djinn means more power, so it's fine.
• Heck, we could handle twelve!
• I don't think that's that important right now...
• Do you want me to have the Djinn or not?!

I wish you couldn't say words.

Time is of the essence? Nope. We now have to rehash the argument of who should lead the expedition. Again.

This is the only mention of Felix outside of Sun Saga in Dark Dawn. Because who cares what last game's protagonist is up to now? Talk Clippy to me some more, Isaac.

There's some genuine wit buried in here, like Garet saying this as a follow-up to being able to read Isaac like a book. It's just so... so sparse, and so acerbic, and my patience for it has already withered after the fifth forced tutorial and the I don't even know how manyth pointless emotion menu.

The entire point of this is that now Isaac and Garet will participate in fights under Matthew's orders. Now, you might thing, this is to justify why they're taking direct commands in fights from a clearly inferior combatant. But nope! Isaac and Garet cannot be controlled and barely act anyway! This question and the diversion that brought it up is literally pointless!

• I don't see why not.
• Hah! Now I'm the dad here!
• I'm sure you can handle yourselves...
• First order: stop talking and start walking!

Karis maintains her tenuous hold on the title of "best character".

It's the first update. This is where my patience is at. I'm still doing the backlog for this one, because I'm gonna need it. But someone has to do this and no one else will.

Next Time: hey can u go to the dmv to renew my license. no not that dmv. were crossing state borders for this one

 

[aturtledoesbite]

kalir no don't do this to yourself

 

[aturtledoesbite]

okay now that i have actually read the update:



kalir no don't do this to yourself

 

[Asema]

This is what video games are truly all about!!!

 

[Mogri]

It looks like there's a good game buried here, crushed under a load of bad decisions.

 

[Kalir]

Adult Isaac jumpscare.

Anyway, for the fights in the Tanglewood, Isaac and Garet will be on the battlefield but only do things very infrequently. The top screen will also have Isaac yell at you to try using Djinn or summons, which is wholly irrelevant because Karis is going to win this encounter with a single Whirlwind.

I SURGE WITH POWAH!!!

Anyway. Barrages of heavyhanded unskippable tutorials aside, the Tanglewood is still a perfectly adequate intro dungeon for the game.

The treasure is very skippable, but hey, it's there, why not get it, right?

Much of our route is blocked off by these glowing reddish vines. I'm sure that flower has nothing to do with it.

I just really like this shot of the new Rat Soldier design facing off against Garet, even if Isaac's sword is photobombing.

Yeah Matthew and Karis start off desynced in levels. Not, uh... not entirely sure why.

Hm, dead end. Must be missing something.

Ah, well, I'm sure you'll teach us in a sec.

More critter designs!

Speaking of critters, alongside the Encyclopedia is the Djinn Guide, listing all the little guys you've seen and where you met them. One nice touch is that Djinn actually have slightly different designs between members of the same species. The default designs you've come to know and love correlate to Flint, Fever, Chill and Gust respectively, but you can clearly see Sap looks a little different. I'll showcase the Djinn we find on our adventures as we get them, but since the ones we got from Isaac and Garet are loaners, you'll just have to look 'em up yourself.

Right, here we go.

The path ahead is blocked because that's just what the Tanglewood does. So our gameplan is...

Burn our way through specific trees, apparently.

Garet raises a very salient point in that using Fireball in what is presumably a rather dry forest would be an extremely bad idea, but hey, if you're going to actually let us use fire in the field as a puzzle solving tool, I'm willing to ignore that!

• I'm sure my dad has a plan.
• We'll be fine!
• So what do we do?
• So can you not do it, then?

Not, uh, not the specific concern I wished to take issue with.

Anyway, Garet revs up a Fireball and handily demonstrates its range (it's very good), but after a bit of targeting...

Because Isaac refused to actually explain his plan beyond "use Fireball to burn the dark roots" despite there being a very obvious target, the two adults in the room spend a little more time bickering about it.

Yeah I feel safe why do you ask.

Finally, Garet hits the flower, which spreads the fire almost instantly through its roots while leaving the rest of the forest entirely untouched.

He was right about it but also refused to actually tell you anything about anything. I agree, Garet, he IS infuriating.

And Isaac uses this as an opportunity to teach us that things that live in cold dark places hate fire. Great cool awesome.

Sure, have fun.

Anyway, in order for us to use Fireball, we have to set some Mars Djinn to Matthew, turning his class to the Berserker line. It's a little annoying, but we only have to do it for this dungeon, since Tyrell will be joining us after and he has Fireball on tap at all times.

And they make sure you understand before proceeding, but since it's organic enough I really don't mind.

Now it's time for the biggest secret of Dark Dawn:

Navigation puzzles are actually good in this game.

Like, the concept introduced in the GBA titles was fine, but the actual design was kinda weak. Lots of the puzzles basically amounted to mazes that punished you for not going the right way first, barring a few pillar-pushers here or there. Here, though, the 3D environment allows for better views of the field, which combines with the better utility on field Psynergy to really make the puzzles feel engaging. They're certainly not much harder, but they FEEL better, y'know?

Granite and Flash are in this game, but they will be staying with Isaac and Garet, specifically because screw you and your cheese strat.

Anyway, this puzzle is simple enough. Navigate to the upper levels of the vines to get access to the plant down here, which you can hit with Growth with nary a tutorial to bar your path.

Growth also has excellent range, so you can even hit plants through walls with it. Not that we need to do that here, mind, but it is true.

Again, the chief limitation of Psynergy is that you have to be on the same Y coordinate. No aiming up or down.

No need to exclusively use Move for pillars, either. Just as pushable by hand as ever.

Item graphics are about the same as ever, just taking more advantage of the higher pixel count.

Mmmmm thats some good design scope expansion!

Okay, so surely Tyrell ought to be close by, right?

Well, what's left of the soarwing is here. So he's probably taking shelter in the cave. Sensible enough.

Sure thing, dad.

Oh hey a mine. This must have been how Isaac knew about the cave.

CHECKPOINT!

I'd suggest Tyrell should have probably stayed close to the mine entrance, but he clearly doesn't have good sense.

Only route we can go through is this lower level. Note the burnt-out Psynergy Stone here: if I had remembered to try using it, it would have simply crumbled to dust without any effect.

Anyway, Tyrell is somewhere in here, but not responding to our calls.

Yeah visibility's a little shot.

A few more flowers incinerated later...

And... wait. Hold on.

Oh hey, a Psynergy Vortex! We got there in the end!

Good to have a sense of scale on these things, I suppose. This sucker's about as big as a person.

And leave it to Tyrell to walk right next to the thing and pass out from Psynergy deprivation. At least we know where he is now.

Knowing him, probably.

Isaac takes some time to get into the theory behind Psynergy Vortexes but we don't really need the theory of their origin to, y'know, get Tyrell out of here.

We have to get close enough to hit the flower with a Fireball. Yes this means standing right by the Psynergy Vortex. No this won't have any gameplay effect.

Tag the plant with Growth before going up the stairs to make a ladder. Cool!

This plant is a little more fireproof and murderous than the rest, but not by much. Area boss...

GO!

The Tangle Bloom isn't a very hard boss at all. It is basically just a slightly bigger enemy that retains a heavy weakness to fiery death.

Even Psynergy that doesn't hit its weakness is chunky enough, and Fireball hits for at least a solid 50 per.

It can inflict Sleep and Delude with status effects, sometimes, probably.

Doesn't matter, as Isaac unleashes Salt literally the action after the Delude connects to clear it. Does it count as input reading if it's the CPU doing it to itself?

Furthermore, Isaac and Garet's Djinn still count towards standby totals for summons. We literally get Tiamat on tap for free here.

Thanks I guess.

And then we won the fight.

And we already get a psy crystal for winning.

Chat I think Dark Dawn might be an easy game.

Burning down the Tangle Bloom not only gets rid of its roots, but also shrinks the Psynergy Vortex. Huh!

Don't worry, we can fix this pretty easy. We have two people with access to Potent Cure and Revive on deck.

Zwoosh!

Nothin' to it!

Oh Tyrell. How I haven't missed you in the least.

Yeah, sick with worry. That's why we dragged out the rescue operation as long as possible with needless explanations.

• Glad you're okay.
• I knew you'd be safe!
• Karis is right, you really worried us!
• Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused us?

I can believe that, because I assume you have no greater impetus beyond any actions you do other than your immediate desires.

Now for some consequences.

The bulk of the soarwing can be repaired on-site, but without this key component, it still won't be good enough. And since Tyrell was the brain genius who wrecked the thing, guess who's on retrieval duty?

Incidentally, don't just Retreat out once you get Tyrell. You can't actually go back up the route through the Goma Plateau for some reason. Instead, you have to go get the remains of the soarwing from the cliffside.

This is the guy we just spent an update and a half rescuing, who Matthew is "proud to call his best friend". Tyrell Dark Dawn, everyone.

In related news.

Tyrell's punishment for breaking the soarwing is to cross from western inland Angara across multiple disputed territories to the eastern coast to hunt a rare bird for its feather. Matthew is forced to accompany him because reasons.

See, Isaac and Garet have to stay and burn their eyes out on Mt. Aleph some more. Can't be bothered to escort Tyrell. But sending Tyrell across the entire continent with no aid is too much to ask, so they're also making Matthew do it.

This is our grand quest we're setting out for, by the way. Not "our friends have been kidnapped by villains bent on destroying the world". Not "everything we thought we knew was wrong and now we have to find a way through a foreign environment without aid". Not "mysterious life-threatening anomalies are appearing across the world and we need to figure out why and how to stop them". It's "your worst friend wrecked our science gear and now you have to go with him across Asia to fix it".

But it's okay we're practically brothers. This was demonstrated earlier, when he also refused to listen to us and crashed the soarwing against the advice of us as well as everyone else present.

I wish this was an emotion menu too purely so I could pick angry.

Realizing at the last second that sending his son and his best friend's son on a cross-country voyage without aid might not be a good idea, Isaac decides that contacting Kraden to offer aid might be a good idea. Which is not a bad idea in the slightest. Probably should have thought of that before going "you need to leave immediately now now now" but screw it.

Tyrell isn't familiar with such alien concepts as "respect" or "memory".

Incidentally, Kraden is still alive. Isaac and Garet have definitely aged more than a day, but they, Kraden, and the other Warriors of Vale do age significantly more slowly than everyone else, thanks to direct exposure to the Golden Sun.

Kinda, yeah.

I mean, props for the support Karis, but this isn't really something we're doing for fun. This is still a punitive errand that the dads are trying to dress up as a big quest.

Guys I think Isaac might be a bad parent.

Fine, we get an immediate close-range destination. I can live with that.

You were also forced to adventure out there by kidnappers and worldwide calamities. We're going on our fetch quest because Tyrell doesn't listen to people and you think emulating the same conditions will build character. It's not the same.

• As ready as I can be.
• I'm ready to see the world!
• This is all too much to deal with...
• I hate everything about this.

Yeah that's definitely why I picked angry.

What?

Garet sees us to the bridge across the plateau to say goodbye.

A few emotions play across Matthew's face, none of them positive.

Karis notes his discomfort and points out the likeliest cause, which... also prompts an emotion menu? Why though? We clearly just saw that Matthew, as a character, feels dejected that his dad didn't see him off on his quest. Why are you immediately prompting that we the player overwrite the emotions he clearly has? Do you know how silent protagonists work? (No.)

• Thanks for noticing, Karis, but it's okay.
• That's just how he is. I'm fine!
• Will he even miss me?
• So what? If he doesn't care, why should we?

At least Karis' responses are okay here? I guess?

Don't remind me.

• Oh, you worry too much.
• I'll whip 'em into shape!
• Why do I have to be the leader?
• Great. Just great.

No.

Patcher's Place would be the intermediary stop between the cabin and Carver's Camp. It's a trading post that got built up into something of a highway town by refugees.

Oh, because Tyrell wasn't enough of a liability by forcing us to go on this quest yet! Oh goodie.

Well, nothing for it. Off we go!

Isaac was busy writing his message to Kraden and attaching it to a carrier pigeon.

And there it go.

The pigeon flies past both Garet...

And Matthew's party.

Speaking of Matthew's party, here's Tyrell.

Like Matthew, Tyrell himself is basically a carbon copy of Garet mechanics-wise. The Soldier class line trades away the Fireball line of Psynergy (which is fine, Tyrell has Fireball all the time anyway) in exchange for the Nova line (with the first Blast Psynergy now renamed to Starburst to differentiate it from the already-existing Blast line). He also doesn't have Move, but that's fine.

Leaving the Lookout Cabin takes us to the world map.

Look how world and map it is!

Note also that the world map has changed shape a little since the days of TLA. Mt. Aleph, for example, is now almost directly north of the Goma Plateau, as opposed to a fair distance to the west. This leaves... not a lot of space for the existing west Angara civilizations like Vault or Lunpa, which we will not be visiting, but they would have probably been destroyed after the Golden Sun, so whatevs. Patcher's Place is a short jaunt southwest, and our ideal route would go through the pass in the east mountains, to Bilibin's Border Town.

Look out, aliens!

Oh, no, it's just Flint, everyone's least favorite Venus Djinni.

Isaac sent Flint along with this message in lieu of an actual goodbye. Thanks, dad.

I do. I complain frequently. Anyway Flint is our first real Djinni and works exactly how they do in the previous titles. A lot of Djinn are the same as they used to be, but we do have some new friends.

Overworld encounters are a little tougher: it now takes attacks from all three characters to one-round them. Waow.

Anyway, that's enough for now. We've set out on our journey, and I know we still have lots to go.

Next Time: no shoes, no self-control, no service

 

[Kalir]

Welcome to Patcher's Place, your one-stop shop for surviving in the post-Golden-Sun world!

Remind me never to look in barrels or vases ever again. This is an insult.

Anyway, we need to go through the main man's establishment no matter what, but the details of the town are simple and will be summarized here, as I tend to do.

• Patcher's Place has built up a small community of Vale refugees, so Psynergy isn't new to them. However, outside of the immediate area, the sudden resurgence of Alchemy has got a lot of would-be conquerors licking their chops about how best to use this new and unfamiliar power.
• The Warriors of Vale are more celebrated here than anywhere else, with the north part of the outpost dedicated to Psynergy Training Grounds that double as an interactive museum for the exploits of the Warriors of Vale.
• If nothing else, lighting the lighthouses did reverse the erosion from Gaia Falls. The world has been gradually expanding since the Golden Sun event.
• Notable spots nearby are the lumberjack Carver's Camp, and the newly discovered Konpa Ruins. Access to the ruins is gated off, but a gate pass can be won at the Psynergy Training Grounds, so we'll knock that out before leaving.
• There's also talk of a Psynergy Vortex inside Konpa Ruins, so we better watch out for that.

The store is cozy and well stocked.

You know you could just wait outside, right, Tyrell?

You forgot the one bit of advice Garet had about this place when we entered? Awesome.

• I'm sure it'll be fine.
• His loss. Tyrell's fun!
• I hope we don't get kicked out.
• You disrespect my friend, you disrespect me!

Yes, but consider: I hate Tyrell and everything he does. Surely Patcher and I can bond over that.

I am blaming you, Tyrell. Every bad thing we have yet encountered has been your fault and I don't see that changing any time soon.

There's the guy! With a very moai-shaped head for some reason!

Now would be an excellent time to discreetly leave, Tyrell.

To Matthew and Karis, Patcher is your standard affable salesman, nothing out of the ordinary.

But as soon as he sees Tyrell...

What did you even DO, Tyrell? Try to burn down the store?

...Yes. Yes he did.

Under the circumstances, Patcher is being pretty reasonable here. He'd have plenty of cause to have us all chucked out.

Patcher storms off, and Tyrell... starts getting mad and almost burns down the store again.

This is who Matthew is proud to call his best friend.

• Hey, it'll be okay. We'll pay for you.
• Yeah, show him who's boss!
• Please don't cause more trouble.
• Stop that right now or I'll stop you!

No matter which option you choose, Karis tells you that it's the wrong way to calm him down. Okay, Karis, what's your gameplan?

Ah, of course. Yelling at him, and THEN shoving him onto the ground. A timeless method of calming people down and something I should have considered first.

I don't dislike Karis dunking on Tyrell, but I DO dislike that she told us we weren't dunking on him hard enough without letting us even try.

And then she starts crying and berating him about how Psynergy has to be used for good or something, because she was starting to be too likable of a character.

Unsurprisingly, this doesn't actually help Tyrell's mood any, but at least he's not lighting fires now.

Anyway, Karis makes Tyrell promise not to use Psynergy in front of strangers (we will of course be breaking this promise almost constantly both in and out of the narrative).

I mean that's fine. We weren't necessarily here for information, more his goods. And he did say he'd sell to Matthew and Karis, albeit reluctantly.

Good question. Let's see...

• Just leave the shopping to us, Tyrell.
• We still can meet Kraden for info!
• We should apologize for causing trouble.
• Screw this, let's just go.

If Tyrell can muster an honest apology, it might work! How about it?

You don't.

L-l-lucky!

Oh hey it's this stupid thing. Adding it to the first post.

Okay, done faffing about. Let's actually buy things.

Patcher was not out of line, but he still makes the first move to be conciliatory, because he is a good person.

He still gives us a forced tutorial on how shops work, because that's just how Golden Sun NPCs work. The signs at the counter indicate his services, Hinopio Cinder Toad style. House to stay at the inn, shield for armor, sword for weapons, plant for consumables. Nothing you ain't already know back to front.

The shop UI makes use of the top screen here, letting you see whatever might be available for each option. Patcher's stock is about the same as any other starter town in Golden Sun (complete with useless mace and stick), but there is one exception worth noting...

Bows! This is a new weapon class that only Karis and one other Adept in this game can equip. They're not super strong or anything, and neither Karis nor the other wielder boast notable physical stats, but they are another option.

For the sake of being thorough about equip classes here: Matthew and Tyrell can both equip long blades, axes, and maces. Karis can equip bows and staffs (but not ankhs). All three can use short blades. And for the sake of being doubly thorough: the Long Sword here has two unleashes: the regular Critical Strike, and a Spin Strike that does splash damage.

Djinni! And its position is tracked on the minimap! That rules!

There, now we can skip going through the shop on return trips.

Okay, so there's some of our route to the Djinni. We'll grab them real quick.

Growth can work downwards as well as upwards, hell yeag.

Oh by the way you can climb trees now. Did you know this? Now you know this.

Let's use this forbidden knowledge to go get a guy!

You can also jump to treetops and climb down them!

Good ol' reliable Forge. I dig the horns!

It's around this time that I remember where Isaac actually is. He's standing on a ledge, brooding.

I don't think it does, actually!

Oh?

This is the only place this is ever mentioned ever, by the way. Isaac says that for some reason they don't know, this particular person has an undying hatred of the Wise One. Now, who do we know that might fit the bill? Is it, perhaps, the primary antagonist of both GBA games? Yes. Is this information going to have any kind of payoff whatsoever? No.

Anyway, back to the world map.

Get shot, twice!

Okay, let's do this. This is definitely the highlight of Dark Dawn's earlygame.

This is our third recap of the series thus far, alongside a text crawl intro and the Sun Saga.

It is also the best one hands down. Rather than being a long-winded and inaccurate textdump, it's an obstacle course, mimicking the plot of the first two games! And that's AWESOME. If this was the only recap of the first two games I wouldn't even mind if it got things wrong.

Complete with simulating battles by having targets for us to shoot Fireball at.

That is an adorable way to do it.

If you get stuck or bored, the red circles are how you give up.

This billboard brought to you by the Royal Family of Bilibin.

Get cooked, nurd.

One quick pressure puzzle to ascend Mercury Lighthouse...

And a faceoff against the still-unnamed Saturos. I really think they captured his face well here, don't you?

You do have to time your shot a little since he is on a conveyor rope a capable swordsman that can dodge your shots with ease.

BOOM, HEADSHOT.

I know what I'm doing, buddy.

Incidentally, this is the retcon for why stuff like the statues in Altin happened. Rather than just going "Mt. Aleph did it" again, they wanted to imply that lighting the Mercury Lighthouse caused as many problems as it solved. I'm fine with this retcon, myself.

Anyway, to change the tracks this go around, we need to use Whirlwind.

Whirlwind works like Fireball does, firing a projectile rather than creating an effect directly in front of you. In some cases, Whirlwind can hit multiple targets in a line!

Sadly, this minecart is much slower than the ones from Altin. I miss those breakneck speeds.

They know what boss shuttered most new players.

The Kraken is composed of three targets; both of its tentacles guard the head, and you gotta shoot 'em all.

And then we did it!

Climbing the Venus Lighthouse only needs Growth.

Don't worry, they skip the Fusion Dragon here. Menardi still doesn't get named though.

Huzzahs and jubilations!

No explanation for the fact that we're now completely ditching Isaac's perspective for Felix's. Don't worry about it.

It covered a hell of a lot more than that, but if we stopped to include every bit of faffing about doing unrelated things from TLA here, this section would be as big as all three others combined.

We're revisiting the caricature god from the Not-African tribe, huh? Stay classy, Camelot.

Well, they made this mess and now we have to deal with it.

Back to the cool obstacle course already in progress.

Way more clearly specified than in TLA.

THESE BOXES MOVE SO SLOWLY

We assemble the trident pieces by uncovering them with Move.

Blue!

With the trident acquired, the waterspouts recede, allowing us to shoot Poseidon in the hands and face.

You do have to hit all three, mind.

Hi, Karst and Agatio! For your heroism, you have been immortalized as punching bags in a training camp for kids!

We did it we did it!

Oh wow, a dragon? You don't say! Care to elaborate on why there's a dragon guarding the lighthouse? Perhaps mention that it's made out of three of the Warriors of Vale's parents? No? Okay.

Nah. I mean yes, the boat DID get cool wings courtesy of Contigo, but that wasn't the obstacle to reaching Prox. That would be the ice sheets that required a magma orb powered cannon to blast through.

Anyway, to nobody's surprise, we can melt down the ice columns with Fireball.

Cool dragon face.

Gimme dem stairs!

THIS IS NOT A SAFE ATTRACTION FOR CHILDREN UNDER AGE 8. OR ANYONE ELSE.

They didn't bring back the tightrope physics from TLA. It's a little sad.

For this, you have to time your Growth Psynergy such that the plant survives long enough for you to climb past.

No mention of how Karst and Agatio were at this point A: our allies, and B: turned into dragons. Don't worry about it.

Moving on to the final trial of the Psynergy Training Grounds...

The Dim Dragon!

Contextual omissions and lack of difficulty aside, I really like this encounter as a way to cap off the Psynergy Training Grounds. It's a cute way to revisit the final boss of TLA.

BONK.

The Dim Dragon has a few lightweight breath weapons like Pebble Breath, Sizzle Breath (that can lower defense) and Gasping Breath (the latter of which can inflict Haunt) as well as this way of inflicting curse, but it's not a hard fight no matter how you go about it.

After a few turns of damage, the Dim Dragon goes "out of order" and loses the ability to act for a bit.

It doesn't get back in order before we finish it off.

Congrats, you loser.

With the Dim Dragon vanquished, we can choose one of two treasures to claim. I'm taking the left one, but for your first run, I think it will always award...

This thing! Now we can access Konpa Ruins.

Moving on to Carver's Camp to meet with Kraden.

Two routes here, but we can't take the east one because reasons. We'll cover the camp route next time.

Next Time: like i need the things i crash to have wheels

 

[Mogri]

That is charming as all get-out.

 

[aturtledoesbite]

I think criticizing the Psynergy Training Grounds for accuracy is kind of missing the point. It's designed to be fun (as in, for the characters in-universe) over being truly accurate, and also because it's designed for kids (again, in-game kids), the glossing over the more 'controversial', 'boring', and 'traumatic' parts of the story makes sense.

 

[Kalir]

Yeah I'm just in a critical state of mind when playing Dark Dawn in general. The Psynergy Training Grounds are still great.

 

[BEAT]

This game looks awful to play but the recap training camp is the best idea ever.

 

[Beowulf]

I keep meaning to replay the Golden Sun series because I remember really enjoying the puzzle sections.

 

[Kalir]

The Goma Highlands leading to Carver's Camp are known for the high winds that hit every so often.

It's also known for the Wind Blossoms that float in the air when launched by winds, especially Whirlwind.

And there's a Djinni playing on them, demonstrating that Wind Flowers are sturdy enough to stand on while in flight!

The highlands are a favorite logging site of Carver's lumberjacks, with the main man himself leaving words of advice scattered on signs throughout.

There's also some gondolas set up here and there. Operation of 'em is simple enough.

Before I get to that, a random encounter bumps Karis up to level 6, giving her the Fresh Breeze Psynergy. It's a party heal.

Dark Dawn really wants you to win fights.

Anyway, get in the gondola and ignite it with a Fireball to go.

A mint already, huh?

Dark Dawn REALLY wants you to win fights.

How dare you make me enter this room from the other side to solve the puzzle and get treasures. You monsters. (I did not think to simply push the rightmost log over one space, because I may have brain problems.)

Carver would probably be a hit on your miniposting sites of today.

Whirlwind can hit multiple Wind Blossoms in a line, which is necessary to platform over. The actual spacing for this is a little finicky, we're currently too far back to hit the third one and thus have wasted some time.

Now, how do we get to you?

Dang, already up to fighting apes, huh?

Also, capturing screenshots in fights is hard because they blur EVERYTHING. I hate it and it sucks and I want it to stop. It looks fine in motion, it just makes combat screenshots look like whole ass. If you want to see the Psynergy in motion, I suggest you go look that up yourself.

We'll come back for that Djinni. The screen reset will do me some good, and we need to see what Carver's Camp has going on right now.

Oh no, a bridge collapse!

The dad calls for a Jupiter Adept, and we oblige.

The Wind Blossom gently deposits the kid on the side of the bridge, rather than the equally likely possibility of dumping him into the ravine. Good shot, Karis!

The two were on their way to Bilibin, and the kid is, fortunately enough, on the short side. Dad has to detour through Konpa Ruins like we now have to do as well. Not a big problem, we still have to go around the edge of Carver's Camp either way.

The dad also gives us some info about Kraden. We were supposed to meet here, but ancient ruins are like catnip for the guy, and with the bridge out we'd need an alternate route anyway (how long did you leave that kid hanging, Kraden?) so just go to Konpa Ruins like we were already gonna do. Okay, yay~

Hey Carver what's good.

Not that, for starters. That vortex probably was to blame for the bridge collapsing, and it's right in the gondola route, too.

It's about as bad as the one in the Tanglewood, which was enough to give Isaac and Garet pause.

The other lumberjacks start getting suspicious of us for no specific reason, only for Carver to instantly defuse the situation. Great?

Well, with that tension raiser ever so elegantly out of the way, what about another?

For reasons unknown, the vortex starts collapsing a little bit! Still around, just less so.

Whenever a big shocking event happens, Dark Dawn loves loves LOVES making everyone comment on it, no matter how banal or silent the comment is.

Worth a shot with it shrunk down.

There are currently two gondola lines here.

There is currently one gondola line here.

These are the only two gondolas in disrepair in the entire camp. Anything we ride on will not collapse in any way.

Carver never lets things like "serious risk of injury or death" get in the way of his job.

This sounds like the kind of thing that could get someone fired. Grip, incidentally, is basically a telekinetic version of a Hookshot: intense pull that can bring either the caster closer to their target if sufficiently anchored, or vice versa otherwise.

Incredibly dangerous to everyone involved? That gets the Tyrell stamp of approval.

The lumberjacks both Grip the gondola...

And then, they... ram the gondola hard enough to smash it to pieces and launch Carver across the gap? I think???

Well... that's the story of Carver. I guess.

He sure did. Now, whether he survived or not? Who cares!

Route through Konpa Ruins. We've been over this.

But just to confirm, the lumberjacks give us the full story, because our party was presumably zoned the hell out during all the other times we learned Bilibin is accessible through Konpa Ruins.

Well. That happened. Here, have the news from Carver's Camp.

• Following the Golden Sun event, Djinn used to be a pretty common sight around the Goma Highlands. The rise of Psynergy Vortexes seems to have coincided with their increased rarity, for the obvious reason.
• The Konpa Ruins nearby were only recently discovered after the Golden Sun event, and it's said they were covered in gold plating before the modern era. Tacky.
• The gondolas used by the lumberjacks were also excavated from nearby ruins. No wonder they're falling apart. And today's Adepts have no idea how to repair them, either.
• Despite the bridge going out, most of the people at the camp aren't too concerned about losing contact with Bilibin. Apparently, recent leadership shifts over there make it a rather unwelcoming place.

Here, let's go get some prizes before we move on.

Get over here, you!

This gets us across to the upper ledge on the other side of the camp, which naturally leads to...

Fighting this thing!

It is not meaningfully challenging.

Finally, we can go get the box.

Just send these things in the air, and...

The return of an old friend.

The vast bulk of weapons in Dark Dawn are returning artifacts from the GBA titles, and that's not necessarily bad, but it is a little disappointing. (It does make unique new toys stand out a little more though.)

Themis' Axe is pretty standard stuff: Power Charge can lower defense, and Stone Justice is the same as ever but the animation is rizzless.

Back to the shop. Carver's Camp sells, in addition to the same stuff Patcher does, a Magic Rod and a Battle Axe, plus minor incremental armor upgrades. The Magic Rod is expensive enough that I simply never bother with it relative to where it is in the game.

Y'know? Y'know.

The people in this house have barricaded themselves in, believing the Psynergy Vortex to be a herald of the end times or some nonsense. You have to go in through the chimney.

Dignity is, as ever, optional.

Eh.

Last bit to do in Carver's Camp is...

Get this thing!

Now, this DOES throw off our Djinn totals enough that we either have to have someone equip a redundant Djinni and thus mess with their class, OR leave Chill on standby so that isn't ever an issue. Just like in TLA.

Fortunately, our next Mercury Adept isn't very far off, so we don't have nearly the same time period of jank that we did in TLA. However, this just means Dark Dawn gets CREATIVE with how it messes with that.

And to think, if the bridge hadn't gone out, we'd basically be in Bilibin. Oh well. Surely this won't be too much of a detour, right?

Slightly new encounters beyond here. Still not anywhere near threatening.

This side area serves two purposes. The first...

Is a gondola shortcut back to the area nearest to Patcher's Place, in case you didn't do the Psynergy Training Grounds at the earliest opportunity.

It also has some minor items in the field under the Wind Blossoms, if you care. You probably don't though.

The other thing is this puzzle area.

It's not too complex. Use the Wind Blossoms here to get to the left side, first.

Then, uncover these Wind Blossoms by pushing the one log in any position to move.

This lets us reach the Zagan summon tablet, if that's your cup of tea. Disregard the map saying it's 1F, this is not a multilevel dungeon. It might have been intended as such in development but it's not now.

The animation's about the same here, as it is for collecting the Djinn. Don't worry about it.

Yeah yeah yeayeah whatever don't care.

Hey, do you remember how random encounter Djinn are a thing and that sucks?

Here's one right in the middle of the route ahead.

It's nice to alert players to this early on, but also this is a terrible idea don't do this.

It might seem as though we're getting to relatively high Djinn density in this game compared to the GBA titles. And you're right, we are. We have to get enough Djinn to outfit everyone in a full 9 Djinn class by endgame dontchaknow.

I just want to highlight whatever the hell is going on down below there. Any ideas? Because I sure don't have 'em.

The gate to Konpa Ruins is a pretty decent distance off, but it's hardly insurmountable.

Gate!

The dad from before is just ahead of us, ringing the bell to enter.

The game then goes through a very slow sequence of the elderly gatekeeper hearing the bell...

Asking the guy for his card...

Fiddling with the machine...

And the gate itself opening up and letting him through.

And then, hear me out...

We do it but again.

As we get closer, the Djinni hides under the Wind Blossoms.

I don't do critical thinking because crits are chance based and RNG is cringe.

New little guy just dropped!

Konpa Ruins, dead ahead. That'll be it for today, though.

Next Time: at long last, my 30 year ban has come to an end. now the world will once again know my bad takes