Golden Sun: The Lost Age - Retroview

Review Breakdown
Battle System	4
Interaction	3
Originality	2
Story	1
Music & Sound	4
Visuals	4
Challenge	Easy to Medium
Completion Time	25-35 Hours
Overall
The perils of playing with fireworks

   In 2001, Camelot Software Planning, responsible for many Shining games and the utterly forgettable Beyond the Beyond, released the RPG Golden Sun, being among the Gameboy Advance’s first original titles of the genre. The next year saw the Japanese release of its first sequel, which came to America the year afterward as Golden Sun: The Lost Age. At heart, The Lost Age is your basic cut-and-paste RPG sequel, with only a minimal amount of new features and heavy recycling of the original’s elements.

   Note that upon starting a new game, you can start from scratch, import data from the original Golden Sun via another Gameboy Advance, or input a long password received by completing the first game.

   Going on to the game, combat essentially remains unchanged, but with some new features. Aside from the quickness of normal battles in comparison to most other turn-based RPGs, the sequel introduces multi-elemental summon spells in addition to the single-elemental ones of the original (which are cut-and-paste, I should mention), and liberal use of magic, as with before, isn’t a bad idea, since Psynergy Points gradually recover as players wander around the field. Moreover, many more stat-affecting Djinni now populate the world, fresh for the taking and with some useful effects, and the player can switch one character with another currently not in the party before a round begins, though such changes are irrevocable until the next round. Finally, as usual in most turn-based RPGs, turn order is unpredictable, always a hassle when you need to heal. Still, combat is just as enjoyable as it was in the original Golden Sun.

   Interaction mostly remains unchanged, at that, primarily with the always-welcome feature of being able to save anywhere. Inventory space, though, is still limited, shopping’s still a pain, and navigating the world, which will require a lot of going back and forth between towns, is tedious until you get the Teleport spell way too late into the game. As with before, moreover, dungeons heavily emphasize puzzle solving. Additionally, the translation, like before, is spotless yet bland, and in the end, interaction is still average.

   As I’ve affirmed, The Lost Age is essentially a cut-and-paste sequel, recycling many elements such as the battle system, graphics, and even some music, although the player does get to explore a completely different world than that in the original, and the multi-elemental nature of summon spells is definitely unique.

   The story, as with before, is the game’s low point, taking place immediately after the events in the original Golden Sun yet now following Felix and his companions as they attempt to pay visits to the remaining two elemental lighthouses while encountering endless diversions along the way. Once again, the long, boring conversations do little to disguise the story’s shallow disposition, with characters constantly stating the obvious, redundantly repeating things, and, of course, behaving like complete idiots upon seeing another person with Psynergy power; no character throughout the game is remotely interesting. The communist question system returns, with all choices leading to the same outcome, as do unthreatening villains, and a rather disappointing, silly ending concludes everything.

"Press" Your Luck

   Motoi Sakuraba wields his musical talents again in the sequel, with some familiar tunes and some new ones, many fitting the ethnic nature of some towns Felix and company visit. Normal battle music has some diversity, as well, although the sound effects are highly repetitive and largely unfitting. Still, nice aurals.

   The graphics, virtually identical to those in the original, are nice, as well. Environments have pleasant color schemes, and all sprites, though somewhat simplistic, flesh out their character designs; moreover, I liked how some sprites occasionally followed Felix’s movement across the field. The world map is highly pixilated, however, as are the battles at times, though they still demonstrate heavy camera shifting and impressive effects. Mainly, the visuals, as with before, are eye candy.

   Finally, the second Golden Sun is a little harder than the first, yet moderately easy overall, and is longer, at that, taking anywhere from twenty-five to thirty-five hours to finish.

   While your basic cut-and-paste sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age is still an acceptable title overall, with decent gameplay largely canceling out a soporific storyline, and if you enjoyed the original, or other RPGs such as Lufia II and Wild ARMs, you’ll be right at home.