Golden Sun: The Lost Age Review
I certainly didn't play this trilogy in the most conventional order or timeline. I started with Dark Dawn a few years after it came out, took about a decade break, and finally got around to playing the first two. I like the other two games well enough, but I never found either of them to be masterpieces or anything too outstanding, even if they were quite solid. So, did this continue the trend, or was this the series' masterpiece? That's what I, Brighton Nelson of The Reel Ranker, will discuss today. Thanks so much for joining me, and I hope you enjoy!
Battle System - 8.5
While it is pretty dang standard traditional turn-based combat, the battle system here is done with excellence. A perfect crossroads between the depth of Dark Dawn and the much more fulfilling difficulty balancing of the first game, this battle system is easily the best of the series. Uniting the two parties in combat is so fun and is far more satisfying than the standard character-collecting of Dark Dawn or the tiny party of the first game. Overall, while not reinventing the wheel or having the most depth of the traditional turn-based combat space, the battle system here is fantastic!
Customization System - 10
This game's customization is easily the best of the series. With eight characters and 72 Djinn, summons, and unique equipment aplenty, and hundreds of Psynergy to utilize, this game's customization equals the depth of Dark Dawn. However, unlike Dark Dawn, the game isn't brain-dead easy and doesn't have any missable Djinn, making it easily the best offering of the franchise.
Story - 6.5
Golden Sun has never been a franchise with superb stories, but they've always been solid. While there's a lot of rehashed, repetitive dialogue, and there's not much character depth, there's still some good. The best part of the story here is the intriguing vignettes, particularly in Champa and Kibombo. From helping a captain fix his boat to going inside a statue to gain an ancient magic spell, there are a few moments here that are memorable, even if the overall plot is just eh. However, there isn't much to truly remember here; it's all just good enough.
Characters - 6
Just like the story, the characters here aren't going to be winning awards. The lineup is oft fun, and they have some personality, but the dialogue supremely struggles to do much right by its characters. While it is definitely an upgrade over the original since the cast has grown, the effort put into making the characters interesting is still lacking.
Locations - 10
I can't overstate how fantastic the locations were here. With some of the most well-designed, puzzle-focused dungeons of all time, this game rivals the best of the Zelda series! This game requires you to use your magic outside of battle to explore dungeons, and it's so fun. I wish so many more games did this, because every dungeon feels like such a perfectly-crafted puzzle box.
In addition, the towns are utterly unique and probably the best of the series. However, what really brings this to a perfect score is this game's ability to craft a deeply explorable, non-linear world that nearly rivals those of masterpieces such as Final Fantasy VI or Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. With a lovingly crafted world and dungeons, every minute of exploration in this game is wondrous.
Quality of Life - 6
While this game admittedly avoids much of the jank that other old RPGs have, this game isn't perfect. The lack of fast travel until the last hour of the game is pretty terrible for a game with this big of a world map that you need to travel across a multitude of times; the complete lack of signs that there are Djinn located on the world map is a little ridiculous; the lack of shortcuts for Psynergy abilities (this is a technical limitation, so I can forgive this one, but it's still annoying); the Djinn-switching necessary for using Whirlwind or Growth; and the amount of time it takes to manage the Djinn and inventory slots sometimes—all of these come to mind as rather minor issues that all come together to be annoying in a death-by-a-thousand-needles sort of way, but without the death part.
Music - 8
While not quite as memorable as many games I'd give an 8 out of 10 to, the music here is endlessly charming and fits the game incredibly well. The battle music is probably my favorite song from the game! Even better than all the music, though? The sound design. Honestly. There's not many games I can say that about, but the sound design here is so memorable: the text noises and the menu selection bloops are some of the best in any video game, and they live rent-free in my head.
Art & Graphics - 8
While it isn't graphically impressive by today's standards, Golden Sun's art style is so electrically charming that you can't help but love it. While it took a second to grow on me due to its unique nature, this is easily one of the most beautiful games on the Game Boy Advance. The game looks equally beautiful both in and out of battle, and they both have distinct, great styles. And, as I mentioned before, the animations for the summons and the Psynergy have always been incredible in this franchise. While I am a major defender of Dark Dawn's art style and truly enjoy how it looks, it simply can't be said that Dark Dawn's art style is more artistically powerful than this game's.
Sidequests - 7.5
This game boasts the best of the series's sidequests. This game has four awesome bonus dungeons to conquer, none of which are easy. While they're relatively short and not too deep, they're meaningful additions to the game that provide some extra challenge and entertainment. Outside of the dungeons, collecting Djinn is always fun, crafting new weapons is great, and going around Mind Reading every NPC is just as fun as ever.
The Verdict
Fun Factor: 9.5
Overall Score: 79%
Letter Rating: A+
The Lost Age is easily the best Golden Sun game and is a reminder of how much the RPG space has lost in not expanding this franchise further. With incredible gameplay and a wonderful atmosphere, it is one of the best retro RPGs we've ever gotten. As long as you can get past the weaker storytelling, I can't recommend it enough.
Check out my Golden Sun and Dark Dawn reviews down below!
Brighton Nelson
Brighton Nelson
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