Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS)

 

So, when will we save the planet?

Played through the third game in the series again. A bit later after the original games, and the reason being that there is no pull to play through this. At the time it has been 15 years and still no sign of an eventual continuation from the cliffhanger ending they left us in. On the other hand I have reconsidered my hate for Tyrell, so I actually find him rather agreeable somewhere like a quarter to half of the game length. Still a POS in the beginning since he needs to be to start the plot. 

Overall the plot works out for me, the graphics are a bit dated and I actually believe the 3d hampers it. Like many other games, it's the need for rotating 3d cameras and such instead of a quick action taking place. Which reflects that every attack takes a bit longer than in the GBA games. Interestingly it also gives them a bit more heft as you almost feel the heaviness of the weapons as our heroes swing them on the enemies. 

No, the worst part with this game is still the points of no return. Even with a guide at my side I still missed a djinn in one of the areas I couldn't go back to. And this reflect something that the game isn't as polished as the first games. You get mind read super late in the game which took away one of the most intriguing method of puzzle solving or finding information to progress or just lore of the world. And then by locking out several areas you diminish the workload even more. And that is what it feels like. Less passion in the game. They did put in the effort to show how for example Kraden's group could traverse the first temple, like they did in The Lost Age with Piers looking for his control gem for his ship. But there you could use your own psynergy to follow that path, here it gets locked behind the Point of No Return. It shrinks the world.

A fun thing is that I actually did the game for the first time as intended after leaving Belinsk on the ship, almost. You're supposed to go to Warrior hill to get the third eye, and from their to Izumo to use it in order to get Himi and then head toward Tonfon in order to get the Echo Gem to look for the Umbra Gear map. I usually find the map and the people carrying it before going to Tonfon and then wondering what the Echo Gem is doing in the item store. A pity that due to constantly creating points of no return I'm more inclined to go off the beaten path pushing me away from the narrative cause who knows what the game will lock out for you.

And the last part with the game was that since I forgot one djinn and realised it after doing everything you can do before fighting the final boss I switched file to the one where I had grinded to level 99 and gotten everything. Here I changed djinn around since the guide didn't have a class list and due to the very different structure of finding djinn meaning the carefully chosen class might be hampered due to the djinn you find since at times you will have a lot of a single element. 

At the end of things, it's a working game but their is a lot of missed potential and it just doesn't hit the highs of the older game. Not even the music compare really. It sounds like it should, but there is only two tracks from this game that really stand out and that is the Apollo Ascent and one of the outside dungeons track with the bells and bass. But there is no song like Elemental Stars that just sucks you in the mystery of the world. So it becomes a disappointment. 

So in a remake after they have to make it before going through the next part the only thing I would like is getting rid of the Point of No Return and why in the world is Crossbone Island set behind finishing the game? That is just irritating.