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finaly a good rpg game for game boy advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: October 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ive done reaserch for six moths at a japanese site and oter sites to see if this game was worth it and i found that it was rated best game of the year in japan and Ive seen the graphics of the game and they are incredible.

Best GBA rpg as of Nov 01

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: November 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is easily one of the best rpgs ever made for a handheld system. If you've played Shining Force on Genesis or SegaCD you should notice this game looks and plays very similar. The graphics are some of the best (for an rpg) for any system, I would say it is almost as good as S*ny's Legend of the Dragoon. When you talk to other characters you see little emotion bubbles over their heads like ((?)) or ((!)) This is something used in Japanese games/anime to reflect mood in the characters. I think it's cool and original to use over here in the States. The storyline is not that original but the novelty of having such a good rpg on a handheld makes up for it. If you spend your time raising levels and dont rush through the game you could get 40 hours out of it. After that it has some good replay value but nothing like a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game. The sound is good but could be better; you wont hear any good musical scores like a FF game. The battle scenes are awesome. Think Shining Force II with full animation... I enjoyed getting into battles instead of just mashing the button down and hoping it would be over. The graphics are very reminicent of Alundra, Grandia and Shining Force II.
Camelot has done an excellent job of making this game and translating it. Try to buy it before Breath of Fire and pick up Dragon Warrior 3 for Gameboy Color while you're at it :)

A Golden Opportunity

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Golden Sun was the first game I purchased for my newly acquired Game Boy Advance. As a longtime fan of role-playing games, I was very pleased. The graphics are amazing i.e. weather effects, spell casting/summons, 3-D backgrounds during battles; it easily puts any RPG on the SNES to shame as far as visual style. The controls are simple and easy to use and I really appreciate the ability to save anywhere.

The story, the key to any role-playing game, is intriguing right from the start. A catastrophe brings tragedy to your home town and sends you spiraling onto a fantastical journey. It's the stuff of traditional RPG lore but it's presented well here and still retains a fresh feel. As far as its presentation, Golden Sun is a mix somewhere between Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and The Legend of Zelda games on NES, SNES, and Game Boy.

Untraditionally, the game allows you to interact with the field map and use your spells outside of battle. There's a rock blocking your path? Cast a spell to move it out the way. This allows the developers to impliment many creative puzzles that may leave you scratching your head. None of them are too difficult, though, so you won't become frustrated at all.

The only frustrating things about the game are these: the main character is mute. If you've played other RPGs, chances are you've come across this type before (Lunar, Chronno Trigger). It's not too big of a deal, though, because the game lets you chose between "Yes" or "No" any chance that he would be expected to reply to a question, and your companions' chatter more than makes up for it. Another downfall of the game is the difficulty...or lack thereof. This game is extremely easy if you're a RPG veteran. What do I mean by RPG veteran? Well, if you've at least beaten all the Final Fantasies on the Playstation One, then this will be a cake walk for you. If you've beaten Xenogears then you could play this game in your sleep. By that defult, this makes Golden Sun an ideal game for beginning RPGers. Despite a few dark undertones, the game is suitable for all ages.

That lack of difficulty leads me to my final complaint: this game is way too short. It can easily be beaten in 17, 18 hours. That's either a short or long time to invest in a game, depending on who you ask, but most would agree that it's an incredibly short amount of time for a RPG. When games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior VII feature gameplay north of 40 hours (and in the case of DW, north of 80 hours!), 17 hours is just too little. I understand that the Game Boy game cartridges can't hold as much information as a CD or DVD but in the very least they could throw in some replay value, besides an easy Battle Areana. And to add insult to injury, the game is to be continued! That's right, we have to wait for Golden Sun: The Lost Age to finish the story. Therefore, we have no idea about the tragic past of Felix (one of the best characters in the game) or Ivan's heritage, among many other dangling plotlines...alas, Golden Sun is a great enough game that I *want* to find out the rest of the story, so I'll warrant purchasing the next game. I hope that's a subtle enough praise for this way above-average RPG.

Golden Sun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 33
Date: September 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ok. I'm not really 12. I just couldn't get the server to work. I'm actually 14, and I have never actually played the game. I have however read every peice of info I could get my hands on. So here goes!
Golden Sun (by Nintendo and Camelot) is a RPG based on a boy from a town where people use psynergy, a mysterious energy thats kinda like psycic energy, and are able to fight, and move things with their mind. The hero of the story is a boy named Isaac (Frodo in the beta version) who, with three others he meets in his adventures, has to save the Four Elemental Stones from Saturos and Menardi, who are the games main bad guys.
Moving past the story, the game features great graphics, tight game control, an epic storyline, great battle mode, and SWEET LOOKING SUMMON SPELLS! Sorry...
Golden sun appears to be the first of many great RPG's for GameBoy Advance, and one you won't want to miss!

Golden Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

A true RPG that all pokemon, zelda, FF,(and any other rpg) fans will adore. The graphics are very impressive and the sound is beautiful with sythisized orchestra and realistic slashes of swords. The gameplay was amazing and incredibly entertaining. A must for any GameBoy Advance owner.
The lowdown (out of 5)
Sound- 5
Graphics- 5
Gameplay- 5
Replay-4.5

From an EXTREMELY picky gamer...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Breath of Fire? Forget it. Lord of the Rings? Passable, but no dice. Pokemon? ... Let's just forget I said that. Final Fantasy? Never played it, but I'm planning to borrow it from a friend. Golden Sun? BINGO!!!!

Golden Sun is my absolute favorite game. From a rather run-of-the-mill start ("Isaac, wake up!") it just keeps getting better and better! It took me... wait... 2 weeks to finish, and I savored every second (In fact, I just beat it today).

Let's just get the cons aside so we can get to the good stuff. First of all, it's your average storyline: Boy wakes up, finds friends, saves the world, yaddayaddayadda. Second, the text boxes. If you don't realize it at first, at least a quarter of your time spent on this game will be reading speeches. (At one point, I found myself pressing the A button frantically and chanting," Shut up! Shut up!"). Another con is within the battles. Most of the graphics are REALLY freaking good (Ragnarok... excuse me while I wipe my drool from the floor), but a few of the enemies look quite ridiculous (For example, you're fighting a tree called Tret. He comes up as a giant disembodied head. What's up with that?) But despite all of this, it's still a great game.

Moving on to the pros... First of all, the sound. The SOUNDS! You see that bunch of holes in the lower right hand corner? That's an example of absymal excuse for a speaker. The music sounds AMAZING, but plug in headphones, and whoosh! You are bombarded by this spectacular soundtrack with so many undertones that even the battle music sounds more exciting!

Speaking of battles, that brings me to my next point. It's actually POSSIBLE you might get completely wiped out by monsters and vice-versa. (Heck, it's happened to me at least 20 times). The level/ability system has no boundries. It's hard enough to baffle the most experienced gamer, yet simple enough so the point gets across to the lowliest rookie (such as myself... I think.)

One more thing about the battle system. There are these cute little critters called Djinn scattered throughout the game. A bit like the shamans in Breath of Fire II (except Djinn are cooler and there are 28 of them), there are 3 ways you can use them. Setting them enables you to use one of their powers (Flint the Venus Djinni unleashes Swift Strike, Spritz the Mercury Djinni heals the party, etc.). If you set the Djinn and keep them set, your abilities (Powered by Psynergy/Alchemy) and class change. You have more luck, agility, strength, defence, hit points, and Psynergy points. However, when you unleash a Djinni, it goes into a mode called standby. This is the best part.. If you have 1 Djinni in standby, you can summon a level one spirit. Not bad. If you have 2 Djinn of the same type in standby, you can either summon 2 level two spirits or a level two spirit. This goes all the way up to four, the most powerful summons. The graphics for these summonings are astonishing (My personal favorite being the level 4 Venus Djinn Summon, Judgement.)

All in all, great graphics, great sounds, great game. It has my personal recommendation.

"Rays of light give birth to shadows, revealing the way"---temple plaque

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: May 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

For several months I was obsessed with this game. I logged over 40 hours of playing time and probably more like 60 counting the times I left the game w/o saving because I missed something, couldn't get passed a boss, or wanted to cheat my way at the slot machine at Tolbi Springs--and that was with the aid of a walkthrough. I can't imagine how long it would take to conquer this monster game w/o one; there are so many places to go, hidden things to uncover, and useful powers to master. Since Golden Sun was my first role-playing game, I needed all the help I could get.

I loved this game! I was disappointed that there was no conclusion to the story here (that is on the sequel Golden Sun: The Lost Age), but then I realized that I would just need to play more GS, and the more is better when it comes to a game like this. It is very complicated and, at times, incredibly challenging but, with a detailed walkthrough, even a novice like me whose previous proudest video game moment was beating Pitfall II on my Atari 2600 can become a GS master (or mistress as it were). I love that you can save the game almost anytime save for during a battle. You can even save in the middle of a puzzle so you can get tricky parts out of the way and just focus on the next. I wish all games were like that.

You start out as a kid named Isaac (you can customize the name; in fact, if you hit the select button a bunch of times at the start, you can name all the characters). Isaac lives with his mom in a town called Vale. Right away, there is danger lurking as the peaceful town will eventually be destroyed by a giant boulder. A kid named Felix will be swept away in a stream (he will be key to the sequel). You and buddy Garet meet two mysterious adepts, Saturos and Menardi, who are up to no good. They challenge you to a fight. Being just kids with no fighting psynergy, you have no chance. This defeat inspires you and Garet to build up your powers in the aftermath of the avalanche. There is a lot of dialog at the beginning which may make the game appear slow and boring but, be patient, the game will have you hooked before long.

You will use the psynergy you acquire through the game in fighting and, especially, in completing certain tasks like lifting, moving, and carrying heavy objects, turning puddles into ice, and reading minds to help you in your adventure. You also have Djinn: cute little creatures who can fight for you or protect you in battle or, if placed on stand-by, can summon the planets to give you enormous powers. By the time you face Saturos and Menardi again at the end of the game, some 40 hours of logged playing time later, you will have no trouble leveling your revenge.

The final boss isn't all that hard, even the Fusion Dragon they unleash. I defeated them twice, first try each time. The most difficult boss is Deadbeard who lives on a sunken ship at the bottom of the dungeon on Crossbone Island. It took me forever to beat this guy! The trick (and this trick can be used on other big bosses) is to alternate Djinn Flash (with Garet) and Ground (with Isaac) to limit the damage and fight only with Ivan using attack Djinn and summons while Mia is primarily used for healing. This strategy takes a long time--maybe 40 minutes--but it works!

What I like the most about this game are all the neat places you see, various tasks you complete, and all that cool music you hear. There is a different tune for almost every place you visit. I would actually like a CD of all the different GS tunes. You do not have to complete GS to play Lost Age, but I highly recommend it as I recommend getting a thorough, detailed walkthrough. You will get the most out of the game and, before long, you will have mastered both! Good luck adept!

PLEASE READ!!!!! I OWN IT!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Now many of you are thinking if this game is good or should you go get another game. Well look no further. The best RPG to date is here with not only superb eye candy graphics every grazed a system but actually quite fun. The graphics is excellent, the sound is not repetitive, each village, house,cave has its own music. Very addictive, I would strongly recommened a guide if there's one because you'll need it. It's not that hard at first but later it gets harder of where to go and what to pick up. Great characters, names, and everything is excellent! When the battle scenes come up it's a 3-d type battle and the battle rotates every time. The magic spells are so cool especially the matrix type ones!!! (...) it's from Nintendo so you can't go wrong. If your not satisfied by this game, then write a bad review but but the time you have played only 1/8 of the game, you'll be wanting more! Did I meantion it's a 40+ game, but believe me, it goes by fast that I didn't realize that I was playing for almost 7 hours!!!!

Super Nintendo Brought back to life...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This was an amazing game and I'm honored to have played the game. For those of you who liked the Super Nintendo Days, this game is like a blast from the past. From what was Final Fantasy IV to what is Super Mario RPG.

We all know that graphics don't matter, but I have to tell you that these graphics are simply amazing for the GBA! Remember the graphics on Super Mario RPG? How amazing and colorful they were? Well, guess what? They're better than SMRPG. For 16-bit the graphics are pretty cool. Its just a shame that to see

The music? I thought the orchastral music was just simply amazing! The game takes you to a whole new different world of sound. The sound effects are amazing. You can actually hear rain tapping! The effect of rain was so good that sometimes my mother would think it was actually raining outside.

Now for story...the most important thing to any RPG. Sure, its a typical story only with one thing...an ending letting in for a sequal to be made. I know to most people the story is somewhat original but it isn't always what the story is but how it is told that counts. Golden Sun does this amazingly well.

The battle system allows some strategy to it. Hey, its an extremely well done way of how the battle system is done. Those who have played games like "Lunar Silver Star Story" or "Shining Force" may recognize the battle system. However, the battle animation is beautiful. The animation for spells and that the enemies actually move and such is something that I was shocked about. The camara rotates and they have a 3-D look in battle. To me this could be the Final Fantasy of the future.

Well, compared to the GBC's line up of RPGs (lets see GBC had pokemon...pokemon and did I mention pokemon?) GBA is looking good. And with a seqaul to Golden Sun announced for 2003 we should all run out and get this game.

Anyway, this game is a good buy for the GBA and is quite possibly GBAs best game of all time so far. True RPGers may like this game. However, Veterans at the RPG genre may find this game to be somewhat easier than expected. But pick this up. They also allow us to have a multiplayer mode in this game giving it more replay value.

Incredibly enjoyable and looks awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is in my opinion by far the best original GBA game so far (I mean not conversions like Mario World).The graphics might be the best seen on GBA yet and look stunning. Every attack,landscape and character is displayed clearly with some great artwork. The game itself is damn fun to play. It will take over 15 hours if not rushed and never gets boring. The battle system is great and the quests are varied. Also the 4 characters you have control over can have different sets of moves depending on the "Djinn" you set on them. This varies the combat style and makes sure all characters don't play the same. Putting the game's qualities on a scale of 1 to 10 would look like this:(Obviously 10 being best 1 being worst..duh)

Graphics:10
Sound:9.2
Gameplay:9.6
Lastability:8.5

Overall any GBA owner should really own this and not just RPG fans. For RPG fans this game is such a necessity although it maybe a little formulaic and unoriginal plotwise to them. Very highly recommended.

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