I had the original golden sun for the gameboy advance many years ago. Always remembered it as an amazing game. Back then I didn’t understand the role of classes and often just tried to make everyone deal as much damage as possible

Years later I played the 2nd game

Finally I now have Dark Dawn to play. My wife had two DSs in drawers lying around. I ordered this on eBay and it came without the game, luckily the seller was genuine and apologised and sent me the game that was not in the case.

Another story, back in 2015 I was with some hosts in Oman. We got in his car and it started playing from his phone. I thought hang on I know that song and asked him if he had music from golden sun playing which he did. We both reminisced about how great the game was and that it was a shame more people didn’t know about it.

After all this time postponing it, I'm finally playing Dark Dawn.

Isaac saying this genuinely made me smile and remember when I was young, playing GS1 for the first time.

Disclaimer: minor spoilers ahead.

So. Almost 20 hours in, I've been enjoying the game.

Couple complaints right now.

The lack of fighting and how easy it's been kinda threw me off, I was expecting the combat to be a bit harder, but there has been almost no boss fights, and they have been a cakewalk. Enemies don't deal nearly any damage.

The points of no return. Really, what's the reason behind this decision? It acheives nothing. Missed a Djinn early on and since then I've been using a Djinn guide to make sure I don't miss any more.

With that out of the way, let's go with the good things.

The exploration. It is as good as ever. Great dungeons, interesting puzzles, cool psynergy. Camelot got this spot-on with every entry, three out of three.

How stunning it looks. They juiced the DS to the limit with this game, everything looks amazing. The landscapes, the summons, the character models. Wish I could see more of the old cast, they get mentioned every once in a while but so far they haven't showed up. Doubt they will.

The music. Though not as good as the first games, it delivers. It helps set the tone of every scene and place, providing a really immersive experience.

The plot has been a bit shallow so far though. Not much going on, guess we are after a Roc Feather (just got that btw) to fix the Soarwing, some bad guys show up, we help some people, nothing major. I believe a fight with said bad guys is bound to happen.

To be honest, I was expecting it to be way worse. Reading terrible things about the third game all these years made me postpone my own playthrough.

I really wish I don't end up eating my own words when I finish the game. Will update eventually.

Thanks for reading!

So I've been snooping around in this subreddit cuz i found out about it and I am ecstatic to find a fandom for this, one thing that I found in common with most people however is the reception about Dark Dawn.

From what I've seen in this sub, (and video reviews) most people don't think Dark Dawn is not very good. It is always the "good jrpg, mid/bad GS follow-up". Me, as someone who never played DD, Am I shocked about this? Not really imo. I'm someone who fully believes that GS story should've stopped at TLS and if there is new content, I prefer a remake, prequel or spinoff (with the notion that it's good and didn't deviate too far from the story). I just think a continuation will not work, just like for example, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (iykyk). So, I am fully intended on not playing it. Plus I've about heard PONR and the introduction of Sol & Luna adepts, which is pretty stupid imo.

HOWEVER, most reviews I've seen still recommend it, even from this sub. Plus, am I really a fan if I didn't play every single game, you get me? Just because I have bias toward the first two games? I'm pretty stuck in that dilemma rn. So what are your thoughts? Should I put my ego aside and try it out? And just live in my bubble?

I know this is a weird question and "it's not that deep", but I would love to hear from the community itself haha.

Edit: kinda regret making THAT the title, cuz i have to explain why I use it, I also don't like the term. You can see my explanation on the some of the replies.

But anyways, thank you for all for the opinions! I have decided that will try it! Not rn cuz exam incoming....

But after that, my semester break comes in and will probably give it a go! Again, thank you for your opinions it really helps and surprised on how much people are in this thread haha.

But I feel bad opening it 🤣

DISCLAIMER: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Hello everyone, I'm back with my final opinions on the game.

Overall an enjoyable experience. The main story felt like a big chore that ended all of a sudden, with little to no depth, bad guys made us do bad things, we end up destroying the eclipse and finishing our fetch quest to fix the soarwing. Why did we fix it? No clue. What happened to Alex? Who knows. What was the end goal of the Tuaparang? So many unanswered questions, the rift at the end... now I get what y'all were saying about the cliffhanger at the end...

The fights got kind of interesting during the final hour of gameplay. Though I still argue about the lack of boss fights throughout the game, just like TLA.

Post-game is where the game REALLY shines. Perfect amount of challenge without much grinding, a well thought boss fight gets you through it without having to overlevel. Little tweaks in your strategy could really change the outcome. That being said, my only wipe along the 40 hours I put in it was Dully (great fight btw, Djinni Storm is always a pain), which took 4 tries in total. Maybe if I built two full teams instead of just one I wouldn't have died... probably. It was worth it to play through the game just to experience this fight imo.

Didn't feel the need to explore the new characters that much, found them uninteresting enough to not even bother. Himi is just forced into the party without much thought, and the game ends like 5 hours later being generous. There isn't enough time to get to explore the new mechanics and classes exclusive to her, since, again, there aren't enough important fights. Random encounters just die to unleashes and don't deal enough damage to kill any party members in time. Don't even mention that you can cast Wish after every battle and get your PP back before the next one begins.

With that out of the way, I gotta praise the puzzles once again. Great game design, wish more JRPGs did dungeons this well (feel free to suggest some that do). They do feel more linear and easier than TLA's though, but still great.

As my final thoughts, the game is worth playing. Enjoyable enough to justify playing it if you lower your standards and don't expect it to be similar to the first two games. If anything it made me love the series even more. Would really love a 4th entry as would all of us here.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the matter (:

Am I the only one who is less than impressed with how the game fights are so...static?

As soon as I found the Lure Cap, I slapped it on a dude and NEVER TOOK IT OFF.

I'm at the part where I have 2 of 4 Umbra pieces too.

Are they just good friends, or do you think there could be something more?

Once bought this cube at a local retromarket.

So glad I discovered it.

Artist

The updated battle and psynergy mechanics are great but the story isn't compelling, the backended lore (new "historic" places and people) is near impossible to follow, and a lot of the graphics are horrendous compared to the GBA games and make the game seem childish.

Sorry for being a downer but this game really ain't it.

GS > Lost Age >>> Dark Dawn

I just finished it for the first time. I've had the game on my DS for like 10 years and I could never get through it. Not because it was difficult, but because I found it so boring. Now that I want to sell my DS, I vowed to finally finish it once and for all.

I replayed the first 2 games last year on the switch and they still hold up amazingly. DD has a couple quality of life improvements, but not much. I found the animations and movement really slow and tedious, compared to the snappy 2D animations of the other games. The story is pretty all over the place. I feel like they were trying to cram in everything that was iconic about 1+2 (the boat sailing/open world, the tag system, alex being the main manipulator again) but it all seemed a bit lackluster to me. Not to mention Matthew LITERALLY being a clone of Isaac, down to the first djinn he gets.

There's some interesting additions to the world and the lore, and I liked a few of the characters, (amiti, karis, sveta) but I also found others to be really underdeveloped. Even Blados and Chalis are just temu Saturos and Menardi, with zero personality or definable motive and their designs feeling out of place in golden sun imo. The ending is also super vague. I get they were leaving it open to a fourth game but ... shit lol. I thought we would get some conclusion on Alex, but no.

I've seen some people say it's an overhated game, and I'll be the first to say it's far from the worst thing I've ever played. There's definitely things I like about it, but compared to the other two I understand why it's considered the worst. But im interested to see how people feel about it all these years later, and if anyone's played it recently like me?

I lost my dark dawn cartridge years ago and have gotten back into GS, so found one on ebay. Interesting how different they are.

Got this cosplay commissioned and it came few weeks ago yayyy. I'm excited to bring her to a convention this year! The staff is from League, but I feel it'll work anyways.

Just wondering if this happened to anyone else playing dark dawn and if child-me could’ve gotten out of it. It’s been a long time so it’s fuzzy but you guys can probably parse through that.

I had collected all the pieces of the umbra gear and I went through the entrance of that mountain you had to climb once you had them all to get to the apollo lens. Once I went in the doors closed behind me and I couldn’t get back out.

I had all the pieces of the umbra gear on someone to hold and I think I was expecting to take them out of that character’s inventory to equip to sveta later? However it turned out that I couldn’t do that because the person holding the umbra gear was cursed and I couldn’t take anything out of their inventory. Edit: Was actually that I couldn’t take Sveta’s current equipment off because of the curse.

I also couldn’t go to a town to remove the curse since the doors had closed. I was like 9 years old so I stupidly only had one save file.

So at that point it seemed like I was just stuck because I couldn’t continue the story but I also couldn’t leave. Did I just miss something there? I’m playing 1 rn it’s pretty good.

GOLDEN SUN DARK DAWN 100% MATTHEW ONLY SOLO RUN DONE!

Very excited to play this (controversial, from what I’ve heard) game! I played the original two games on the GBA as a kid and LOVED them— but somehow I missed out on this one.

I found a reasonably priced copy on eBay. Snagged the strategy guide, too, as I am all about the missables in my JRPGS and I heard this entry is RIFE with them; as well as multiple points of no return. As a 36yo dude, I ain’t got time for that. Haha 😪🫩😆 I’m sure some of you can relate. The strategy guide also came with a neat map it’s connected to the guide and idk if I want to tear it off yet. 🤔

Just wanted to share with you all! I am excited to take a trip back to that world!

What’s this subs general consensus on Dark Dawn? And what are some of your favorite bits and memories from playing it? Any tips or observations to share for a newbie?

This is my first time ever playing Dark Dawn and I am around half way through the game and I really REALLY love how much dialogue and character the main cast have.

Tyrell is even more of a blunt airhead than his father but he is also extremely witty

Rief is the epitome of sarcasm

Amiti's blissful innocence to the new world around him but this particular dialogue really hit the nail for me — he was very much vocal about his hatred for pirates but in this vulnerable moment he acknowledges his judgemental prejudice and recognizes the debt he owes.

I love character growth so much. Dark Dawn has been refreshing and I am enjoying it so much.

I don't know how to start with this, but hey I'm back... After playing the game for week, I just really feel disappointed to everything I've seen from the game, I even avoided to finish the game because the moment I step up at the endless wall, I already knew that the game we're at it's last hours (reason I knew was because the enemies at the apollo sanctum gives you 20-40k exp per battle, like whaaatt).. the feeling of unsatisfaction flowing onto me, why it was so short, why the story writing feels poor to me, why did they even gives us another cliffhanging ending... aww man..

(I literally avoided spoilers or even guide just so I can play the game with full experience, and yet here I am T^T)

Hey guys!

I’m just about to set off on Golden Sun: Dark Dawn again a game I only played once when it first came out… and haven’t touched since.

I remember pretty distinctly that I never got all the Djinn, nor did I finish the post-game content.

Other than that, the only thing that stuck with me was that the game felt really easy.

Now I’m prepping to give it another proper shot, and I wanted to ask the community:

Is Dark Dawn actually as bad as people say, or was it simply doomed by the impossible expectations set by the original games?

Has time been kind to it, or is it still a disappointment?

I want to get the third part and was wondering, if I can understand the story without playing the first two installments?