Let's Play: Golden Sun (Chapter 20: The Two Towe- I mean, Lighthouses) (NSF56k)

Terrendos

Golden Sun is a Game Boy Advance game made by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It was released in 2001 as one of the first major RPGs for the then-new system. It boasted amazing graphics...



A brilliant mix of puzzle-based and combat-based styles...



A deep, rich world...



And a lot of dialogue. A lot of dialogue.



It's not as bad in the first game, but the second and third games are worse. I recall spending an hour or so just clicking through one of the more important cutscenes in the sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

It also had a very colorful cast:



I say colorful because they are color coded for your convenience! How so? Well...

The tale of Golden Sun takes place in the land known as Weyard, where long ago, an ancient power known as Alchemy granted people the power to control the four elements: Air, Water, Fire, and Earth, sometimes known as Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Venus, respectively. This ancient power turned the world against itself, and brutally violent wars raged due to the greed of man. To save Weyard from being completely destroyed by the power of Alchemy, it was sealed away. At the time of the game, the study of Alchemy is restricted to people known as "Adepts" who live in insular communities, while the remainder of the world remains ignorant of its existence. The world lives in a quiet, peaceful slumber. But this is about to change.

Anyway, the reason I say they're color coded is because you can make a pretty solid guess as to each one's respective "element" based on the color of their clothes.

So, enough about that, let's get started! This will be a hybrid Let's Play, meaning that I'll be mostly using pictures, but I'll also add videos of important parts. For the sake of you guys, I'm also going to cut out some of the "tutorial" bits and pieces and explain the unclear mechanics myself. Also I probably won't be posting every conversation with every NPC because holy crap that would take forever.

Cast of Characters

Team Isaac:

Spoiler:

Issac

Isaac is the game's protagonist, aka The Hero. His personality is essentially nonexistent, except for the little bit that's conveyed in the answers you give to the Yes/No questions throughout the game. If you answer mostly Yes, then Isaac is a brave, honest, and idealistic fellow, but occasionally a reckless and not necessarily very smart. If you tend to answer No, then Isaac is a bit less brave, much more realistic, and much more cautious young man. Note that that's just a generalization of the results from any question, as it's occasionally reversed.

In terms of combat mechanics, he's The Mario. His stats aren't the best among anyone in the group, but his average total stats are very good. He's easily the best party member. He has single-target healing, which is handy in a pinch, and he also learns the Revive Psynergy late in the game, which can bring a dead character back to live. His attack Psynergy is also pretty good, and he'll consistently be the best or second-best damage dealer in Golden Sun.



Garet

Garet is Isaac's best friend. In terms of the Five Man Band, Garet is the resident Big Guy. Even when Isaac and Garet are carrying identical weapons, his will look bigger. His personality in the beginning tends to fill a much wider range, but that's mostly because he's the only other character we've got at first, and thus he needs to fulfill a few more roles. He'll settle himself down into standard Big Guy tendencies after the game gets going. He is pretty much the dumbest person on the team at any given time. In fact, his stupidity is only rivaled by the antagonists.

Speaking in terms of combat, Garet is The Brick Wall. He's slow as molasses, almost guaranteed to go last unless you fiddle with his Djinn. He hits a bit less hard than Isaac, but he's got more HP and Defense by far. His PP will be the lowest in the group, however, and his Psynergy attacks aren't as good as Isaac's. He also lacks healing Psynergy. Because he can absorb hits so easily, he's handy for carrying the healing items and the Water of Life items (to raise downed allies) and for straight up attacking.



Ivan

Ivan is the young ward of Master Hammet, ruler of Kalay. Encountered in Vault where we helped him recover his master's rod, he fills the group's role of The Smart Guy. He's the youngest member of the group, and yet in many ways the most mature. He's also kind of a buzzkill. Generally, he'll be the member of the group deducing things and talking a lot. He still wants to save Hammet from the clutches of Dodonpa, but that won't be happening for a while.

Combat-wise, Ivan is The Squishy Wizard. He's got the most powerful Psynergy most of the time, but his melee attacks are usually terrible and he bruises like a banana. He's got all the PP he needs to never have to worry about physically attacking if you don't want to. He does have really high Luck, which means that he's very likely to trigger special weapon attacks, so at least he's not a total melee washout.



Mia

Mia is the eldest remaining disciple of the Mercury Clan, a group of healers who live in Imil and defend Mercury Lighthouse. We find her in the midst of a terrible outbreak of the flu, and work with her to try to stop Team Jerkface from lighting Mercury Lighthouse. When we ultimately fail, she joins the group as our resident female. Occasionally, she picks up some of Ivan's Smart Guy slack, which I find utterly insulting as she, like Ivan, knows nothing about her particular power until we meet her, whereas Isaac and Garet have known all about Psynergy for years. But I digress. She seems to either be related to Alex, the most fabulous member of Team Jerkface, or to have been intimate with him at some point. Point is, they were close.

In terms of battling, she's pretty much (you guessed it) The Staff Chick and The Medic. She's about as squishy as Ivan (maybe a bit less) but with a little more HP to play around with. Instead of Ivan's powerful offensive spells, however, she's packing the most potent healing the group has. Her physical attacks are a little better than Ivan's in their default classes, but she's still a distant third to Isaac and Garet. She's there to heal, and that's about it.

Team Jerkface:

Spoiler:

Saturos

Saturos is one of two leaders of Team Jerkface. He hails from the Mars Clan, a bunch of kooks who live way up North. He acts polite, but he's got a serious egocentricity problem and he likes to get violent. Basically, he's Canadian. Between him and his partner Menardi, he gets physical with a sword. Like all of Team Jerkface, his goal is to light the four Elemental Lighthouses and unleash the threat of Alchemy on the world. He's largely symbolic in his leadership, but at least he's usually pretty nice to the party. Pro: Blue Hair. Con: Listens to Menardi occasionally.


Menardi

Menardi is the other leader of Team Jerkface. Another member of the Mars Clan, who apparently have weird growths on their bodies occasionally, she's the sorceress buddy to Saturos's swordplay. She's a bit more representative of what you think of when you think "fire personality," being brash, rude, reckless, and, well... really dumb. In a lot of ways, she's the Garet of Team Jerkface. Except for her magic, which is actually pretty potent. Pro: Very chic. Con: Hates us.


Felix

Felix is the third member of Team Jerkface. He's Jenna's brother, and keeps her safe for the majority of the time we see the two interacting. He seems pretty sad about having to do all the bad things that Team Jerkface has been pulling, maybe it's guilt. Still a jerk, though, and he seems to think quite a lot of himself. Like Isaac, he's very quiet, and an Earth Adept; in fact, those two may be related. In Team Jerkface, he's the closest thing to The Dragon to Saturos's Big Bad Evil Guy. He's the one who most frequently disobeys orders and does things his own way. Pro: Doesn't monologue, sweet cape. Con: Knows all our dirty secrets.


Alex

Alex is Team Jerkface's most fabulous member. If anyone in Team Jerkface personifies the word "jerk" it's him. In this game, technically his role is that of The Evil Genius of the team, but it's a little bit fluid. He's Mia's cousin, and a member of the Mercury Clan, which means he splashes around with water like she does. He seems to have more potent Psynergy than her, though, and in fact he's armed with a whole slew of mysterious powers that nobody's ever seen before and nobody knows from whence they came. He's also a good bit of The Chessmaster although it doesn't show up as much until the sequel.

Team Afterthought:

Spoiler:

Jenna

Jenna is Isaac and Garet's childhood friend and implied girlfriend of Isaac. Her parents were killed by the Mt Aleph Boulder, leaving her orphaned. Now she's a damsel in distress, kidnapped by Team Jerkface and being held ransom in exchange for the Mars Star.


Kraden

Kraden is a scholar who moved to Vale years ago, and studies Alchemy. He's the one who convinced Team Isaac to explore Sol Sanctum and thereby began our adventure. If he weren't another hostage, he'd likely end up as our mentor. Talk about dodging a bullet.


Sheba

Sheba is a latecomer to Team Afterthought. She's a mysterious girl said to have fallen from the sky as an infant, and is worshiped in her hometown of Lalivero. She got held hostage by Babi until the Laliverans help him build his lighthouse. She gets kidnapped during her return home and brought in tow with Team Jerkface. Considering she only has a couple of lines in the game, I don't feel obligated to put a bunch of TVTropes links here describing her (unknown until the sequel) personality.

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20

Spoit

Do a nuzlocke run. With charmander.

Dhalphir

I would love to see an LP of Pokemon Yellow.

Shady3011

Urban Yeti

Kuribo's Shoe

Ninja Five-0.

Malechai

As good as the capcom zeldas were, I'd say golden sun is hands down the best out of that list. My question is as someone who could never get his hands on part 2 is will you do the full game?

Spoiler:

Also would the continuation of the story be a total let down.

Daris

Golden Sun hands down.

Jintor

Golden Sun

Terrendos

Malechai wrote:

As good as the capcom zeldas were, I'd say golden sun is hands down the best out of that list. My question is as someone who could never get his hands on part 2 is will you do the full game?

Spoiler:

Also would the continuation of the story be a total let down.

The Lost Age is actually the better of the two games (IMO). However it's also a whole lot longer and a whole lot more dialogue-heavy. I'm concerned about my drive to be able to get all the way through both of them, so I'd only commit to doing Golden Sun 1.

Zombiemambo

You should play Klonoa. That game was excellent.

Terrendos

I've gotten a couple of PMs wanting one of the first gen Pokemon games, so I'm inclined to lean in that direction. I'll hold my final decision for another few days though.

Terrendos

I've decided on Golden Sun. OP is updated.

Chen

Isaac: Cloud
Garet: Crass
Ivan: Lucas
Mia: Class
Felix: Squal
Jenna: Hitit
Sheba: Glass
Piers: Fanny

Spoiler:

Question: How will you record videos and capture images? Might be tempted to do a Let's Play of a GBA game myself.

Syphyre

My vote would be to keep all the names their original, since they're actually mostly decent names. Also make sure you get alllllll the djinnlings!

Emerlmaster999

Yeah, keep the original names.

Man, I really need to unearth my old GBA and replay these excellent games.

MechMantis

Hahahahaha

Pretty nicely timed; I just finished the base work on a Pathfinder system semi-inspired by Golden Sun a few days ago.

Thirding keeping the original names.

Daypigeon

Terr, you should clearly rename everybody after forumers in a hopeless attempt to win internet friends and keep people reading during the boring parts

I feel as if this is acceptable operating procedure.

Terrendos

Chapter 0 (Prologue): It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Spoiler:

A slumbering protagonist... another classic trope of JRPGs.

Why yes, when I happen to spot tropes, I'll be linking to them. For those unaware of the website TVTropes, just... ignore those hyperlinks. Trust me. You don't want to know.





And we see our silent protagonist, Isaac. Except... he looks a bit young, even for a JRPG, huh?

: Come on, Isaac! We have to go now!





This image doesn't really capture it all that well, but a ghostly hand reaches out from Isaac's mother and grabs something from the wall. This is our first clue that something's strange in the land of Vale. Apparently Isaac's Momma is a telekinetic?



Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Mom.



Welcome to the only real "choice" system in the game. This is the first instance, and you'll notice I put the word choice in quotes. That's because these are almost always situations where your answer has no relevance to the actual plot. Either one of the other characters will step in and say "Don't be silly, he means X!" or they'll just keep asking until you pick the right answer. There's one notable exception I can recall and it comes up pretty early in the game too, so I'll point it out, but for the most part I'm not going to try and fight Fate very much.



N.B. Apparently Photobucket doesn't like it when you upload a couple hundred images at once, and it likes to reorganize them for you. You'll notice that this is image021 when it should be image011. I'll have to see about making sure Photobucket doesn't do that again.

We head downstairs, when suddenly...



She spots her husband, Isaac's father!



He's evidently concerned for us or something. Also his in-game sprite has these massive sideburns that don't show up on the portrait at all. I found this terribly disappointing; it's like he was starting things off with a lie.

Exeunt all, and we see the first glimpse of Vale that's not in our stupid house.



Apparently there's a Boulder? I suppose it probably looks like this:



That seems bad. I wonder if it's voiced by Mick Foley too?







: I need to help evacuate the other villagers.

: Let me help you, Kyle!







Hells yeah I can! I am all about heading to the plaza! That's a thing that I can totally do! Don't worry, I won't get sidetracked by an adventure or anything!



And they leave to go somewhere. Which means I'm finally alone!

Now then, I need to head south....



I prepare to take the first step on my Hero's Journey when...



A boulder from stage right just happens to land itself directly in my path. Guess I'm taking the scenic route!

I head North for about a screen's worth of distance until...



I think that's Goku with red hair. So that makes him, like, a Super Saiyan 5 or something, right? Seriously though, that's Isaac's best friend, Garet! And he appears to be struggling with something.



Oh, Garet. Your materialism is to be your downfall, just like all classic Greek tragic heroes. Like... umm... Pyramus and Thisbe were flood survivors right? Something like that? So I guess Isaac is Pyramus and Garet is the rest of humanity. It's even storming too!



Then again, I'm a Hero. Where would Isaac be without the plucky comic relief character?







Huzzah! We have our first party member! Err... our second party member, I guess. Our first slave who will obey our every combat command. There we go.



If my memory is correct, Garet and Isaac are both 14 right now. Based on that, I'm guessing that box is filled with nudie mags, a slingshot, a couple arrowheads, a few M-80s, and some candy. He should probably do some weight lifting if he can't drag all that with him.

I try to go North, but Garet stops me.





So instead we head across the bridge to the West. As soon as we cross, however...





The camera pans North and we see four chumps surrounded my magic light stuff, and a Boulder that's being held back by it.





Serves you idiots right for building your town right in the path of a falling Boulder, amirite?



Looks like the magic light is called Psynergy. I'm pretty sure we use that in my office, but it doesn't lift Boulders. Mostly it just makes me sit in meetings.





Looks like one of them spotted us.



Oh yeah, now Garet is all about taking charge and hurrying. Where were you two minutes ago? That's right, dragging your porn stash! Make up your mind!

I try to head South, but once again...



The Boulder is not amused.



If I could have given Garet a name longer than 5 letters, it would have been "Captain Obvious."

Since we can't get around this boulder either, we have to take a detour to the West again. This one is a bit more dangerous.



There's boulders left and right. Eventually we happen upon this fellow:



Apparently he got hit by a boulder.





This choice actually has an effect on the plot, however minimal.





If you say "no," then he just lays there, and I'm pretty sure he dies. You can come back here later on in the game, and he'll still be here and give you a really unnecessary hint. Regardless, I'm a nice guy, so I said he'd make it.



Anyway, he warns us about monsters and then runs off.



Isaac and Garet don't have time for these kinds of shenanigans.

We walk South and East until we come upon the first of many (many, many) random battles!



This is a Vermin. It's not much of a challenge, which is good because 14 year old Isaac and Garet can't put up much of a fight.



That means we get a free turn. In fact, the first battle after every time you cold reset (except boss battles I think) will give you this free turn.



This is the battle screen. From left to right, we can Attack, Psynergy (which we don't have), Item, or Defend. The only Items we have are Herbs for healing, so our only offensive option is Attack.





The duo each Attacks once and the Vermin croaks.

Let's take this opportunity to check out the Menu!



These icons look pretty similar to the ones in battle! That's because you can use Psynergy in and out of battle. Still, we don't have any, so that one's useless. Let's check our items instead.



Did your Mom trust you with a machete at 14? Because wow, I know mine didn't.



Looks like Garet's got the same situation. If it's not obvious, the little green "E" next to an item means it's equipped.

Terrendos

(cont'd)

Spoiler:

Back to the game!



Uh oh, it's a Bat. This is kind of depressing.



Isaac crits it for a OHKO. Though frankly, all I need to OHKO a bat is a tennis racket so....

Anyway, we finish the detour and finally make it to this big ol' stairway next to the waterfall. We're about to walk down when...



Sounds like your classic D.I.D. (damsel in distress). Or at least, maybe her brother is. Regardless, our prepubescent hormones are screaming at us to leap to her aid! Also she's their friend. But mostly it's the hormones.



Uh oh, that's Isaac's Dad! And this little dock thing they're standing on is right in the path of the Boulder!



And Momma is there too! We'd better warn them to get off that thing! I don't have a whole lot of faith in pictureless peons to hold that thing at bay. Anyway, Felix is the kid clutching the little wood pole out in the river.



He disappears underwater, and the sister is understandably upset.



"Help, help! I'm going down for the third time!" Okay maybe that's a little insensitive.





: I'm drained from helping the other villagers.

: We'll have to get help!



Nice one, Debbie Downer.



: Then go get help, but be as quick as possible!



Apparently the little girl's name is Jenna. Unlike her family, she has a portrait, so she must be important.





They enter the house and leave through the front door.





Dora nods, and Jenna heads south while she runs into Isaac and Garet.



One of my favorite things about this game are the little bubbles. They do a great job of conveying relevant emotions on otherwise tiny sprites. Remember that these pictures are all at 200% size, and normally this would be played on a non-backlit 2x3 inch screen. Unfortunately, they're pretty tough to capture because they go by pretty fast. But they'll have entire conversations with these emotes.

: Isaac!



(Yes)



(Yes)





Sucks to be you, buddy. Bet you wish you had some Water Psynergy right now, huh?

We head across the bridge to the south and then East, which leads to the Plaza.



On the way, we walk by some pots and crates which I check out.





I don't find anything. You gotta be real obsessive to check each and every last one of these things in the game, and you don't even really get that much for it anyway so it's not a big deal.



I walk down those stairs and I'm in the plaza. If you look on the rock face, you'll see some oddly-colored leavy stuff. Those are vines, and they'll be important later.



Thank you little girl. If only I could tell what direction you were pointing.



"Hey, you got any Psynergy?"



"I guess that's a 'no.'"



Oh good! Alright, kid, you're coming with me! There's a teenager to save and a Boulder to-





I hate you.



Oh look, there's Jenna and a couple of strange men!



That's the old guy with white hair talking by the way. He's actually the mayor of Vale, and he's Garet's grandfather. Lucky us, we've got an in with the municipal government.





Wait! There's a kid on your way! Just use your magic to pick him up and bring him along! He's got brown hair, and he's clinging to a wood pole in the middle of the river, you can't miss him!





*stretching* Yeah, well, I do what I do what I do....





We... we don't have to carry the guy to the river, do we? Can't he just walk? Really I don't understand how this requires so many people.



Suddenly, some jerk jumps off the big crystal in the middle of the pond. That's a Psynergy Stone, by the way. If you've got Psynergy, you can touch it to restore all your Psynergy Points, or PP. I think they show up in this form in a couple other places, but you can also pick up little ones occasionally that will restore your PP and then disappear. They're kind enough to reappear if you leave and come back though, so it's basically a free heal.









Yeah but... Jenna just came the exact same way! Shouldn't she know? Are you implying that she's bad with directions? Wow, Garet's Grandpa, you're pretty sexist.



Welp, at least I'm gonna get me some when this is all over.

On our way back, we stop to talk to this chump.





Apparently that's made him so physically tired that he can't be asked to move so that we can pass by. What a jerk.





: Is that you, Jenna?

: Yes, ma'am.



: How did you do?

The guy in the back moves around so Dora can see him.





You know, while we're sitting here chatting, those jerks up at the Boulder are probably getting kind of tired.





We all hurry across the bridge and down the stairs, when suddenly...



The screen starts shaking like we're watching Star Trek.



What could that possibly be?



Uh oh.



That's not good.


These are actually all stills, so it's quite easy for me to capture. Hooray!





I think I caught the tail end of this one, which is why it looks like it's fading out a bit.

Regardless, the Boulder moves on past us, and we return to Isaac:



First we'll check on Mr. Psynergy dude since he's on the ground.





Man up!



Well yeah, I mean if the GIANT BOULDER SMUSHING THEM didn't finish the job, they might drown.



Poor Jenna. Aside from losing her brother, the rest of her family was on that pier. Then again, they're the ones who decided to live next to the Boulder River, so....



Turns out Isaac's Dad got caught by the Boulder too. Now Isaac will never see those manly sideburns again.

Welp, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. We better head back to the Plaza and... uhh... I guess get help for Mr. Psynergy dude? We head back alone, and as we leave...







I'm earnestly impressed by Garet's actions. Sure, his excuse is terrible, but it's actually pretty astute to recognize that a 14 year old who just watched his Dad get killed by a giant Boulder shouldn't be left alone. Even his Mom doesn't know that one.

Garet runs to catch up, while Isaac happens upon some strangers and a mysterious conversation:



That's Isaac underneath the portrait of the blue guy.



And that's the blue guy on the cliff to the North.



Some chick in red and yellow walks down to meet him. Must be fugitives from the circus. They were in Vale last week.





This is getting good!



Sounds like something out of Indiana Jones. We've even got the big rolling Boulder to prove it. Maybe they switched out the idol for the fake weight too slowly.



Alchemy? That's what people from Vale study!



Okay, I know this one. Sol Sanctum... Sol means "sun"... so they're talking about some sort of sacred place for the sun! Maybe they're talking about where it goes at night?





Curse you, Garet! We almost heard some important plot details!



...And now we've been spotted. That's it, Garet, we're not friends anymore!



(No) Momma always taught me, you don't mess with Carnies.



Carnies often do.





Done. We'll just be going now....



Uh oh... this sounds a lot like... a hopeless boss fight!



Isaac gets an attack, surprisingly...



And then the Mystery Woman gets to go.



Uh oh.



It's Super Effective!



The small children defeated, the two mysterious carnies leave.







Just so you know, that second to last shot is supposed to be lens flare. But screen caps don't show it right because they flicker it really fast so it looks like it's semi-transparent. That's likely to happen quite a bit, so I thought I'd give you all a heads up.

Regardless, that's the title screen, so that means the Prologue is over! Next time, we'll meet our heroes and get into the real plot of the game!

MechMantis

Goddamnit that last image. Now I've got the title theme stuck in my head.

Camelot's music is always excellent. I've never been able to get Shining Force or Golden Sun music out of my head.

it just... remains there. Just waiting to flood my head. Belruel had a sig/avvie combination for Shining Force 2 awhile ago that put the title theme in my head every. single. damn. time.

Daypigeon

why would you keep linking to tvtropes?!?

you monster

babypp2

funny

Chen

MechMantis wrote:

Camelot's music is always excellent. I've never been able to get Shining Force or Golden Sun music out of my head.

This is an excellent point. I suggest adding a youtuberepeat link for some of the fantastic places you're going to visit and the awesome boss battles you're going to encounter to increase the immersion. Sol Sanctum, The Elemental Stars, Venus Lighthouse, why so good, Motoi Sakuraba?

Syphyre

I agree, music linking would be good in some places. Excellent start good sir!

Terrendos

I will attempt to include songs that I like during their relevant points in the game. I'm out of town this weekend, but I'll see if I can get another chapter out before then, and once the plot is in full swing I'll start posting character descriptions.

Emerlmaster999

I think we should get a say in what classes you use.

Syphyre

Man don't do that, I'll be analyzing all the classes and go back to my class masterness like when I was playing

Emerlmaster999

I never really did that in the first since you were limited to just 7 Djinn of each element, but since I never used Ivan, Sheba, Piers, or Garet in Lost Age, I was free to dish out Djinn amongst the 4 that were actually fighting to my liking.

Think I used Isaac as a Ninja, Felix as a Ronin, Jenna as a Paladin, and Mia as a Pure Mage.

Chen

My line of thought was always which class suited who best, resulting IIRC in Protector (Isaac) Ronin (Felix), Chaos Lord (Garret), War Adept (Jenna), Wizard (Ivan), Necromage (Sheba), Pure Mage (Mia) and Piers gets the rest as he's a bit of a tosser. I usually had lots of Jupiter djinns in my team, since summoning Catastrophe is AWSUM. Never got tired of watching that reel. Doubly useful as it boosts Excalibur's unleash to ridiculous numbers.

All this talk makes me wish Camelot would make a fourth entry in the series...

Syphyre

Yeah, the Isaac/Felix/Jenna/Mia combo is what I used as well.

And I'm just happy they made a third entry Can't wait for a fourth. I'm also glad they made some more unique classes in DD for the elements. What I -wish- DD had was a hard mode.

Back to the LP, I think the very first Djinn should go on Garet *nods sagely*

Terrendos

Chapter 1: Wherein Terrendos Realizes the Exact Depths of the Hole He Dug Himself

Spoiler:

In case that title is a little unclear, I should explain. Remember when I said this game had a lot of dialogue?



Yeah, right there.

Well, this chapter covers basically three conversations. My original capture had as many photos as the last chapter. The real problem is that, due to the size of the screen, the characters can't say more than 10 words at a time, which means a long sentence gets split up into 3-5 screens. Anyway, let's get into it. When last we left our heroes, Isaac and Garet were unconscious after being attacked by vagabonds in clown makeup, Jenna just lost her entire family, and Indy and Short Round had escaped the Temple of Doom.



That's right, folks, it's a time skip! Our heroes are now well within Standard JRPG Hero Age! Now that it's not apocalypsing anymore, there's some music. Let's hear it:





The scene opens with Jenna walking up to Isaac's house. Probably a booty call.



Dora is supervising Isaac, who is repairing the roof.



I'm fairly sure that Isaac never says a single word throughout Golden Sun, making this photo I have of him for commentary unnecessary:



All you need to know is, that's what he looks like now.



Jenna decides to walk on past and check to see how Garet is doing.





: Hyaaaa!



Looks like Garet has been studying this Psynergy stuff too. He managed to push that wood column like 3 whole feet!









"Well, Barbara wanted to try Jägermeister and we got pretty wasted, so we ducked out early and went back to my place."



: I appreciate your concern, but... my family's never coming back. And neither is Isaac's father.... I just want to forget that day. I wish everyone would...



: What, Garet? Huh, you were about to say something, weren't you?

Well no, technically he started saying something, but you wouldn't clam up so the rest of us could hear!



: Whatever....



: I don't want to talk about it.

That's exactly what Isaac and Garet said after the Carnie Incident, but it's been three years and you won't shut up about it.

: Come on!!! (Ed. note: The three exclamation points are there only because they are there in the script and I don't want to purposely mis-convey the exact words of the characters. I am fervently against such blatant misuse of punctuation in any situation.)

: Huh?

: Isaac's waiting for us.

No, no he isn't. He's fixing the roof. He will have made zero progress by the time you come back, too.









They walk back to Isaac's house to see that I am indeed correct: no progress has been made in patching the roof.



It's a bit tough to show here, but Isaac is lifting up chunks of hay with Psynergy and putting them in place over those holes in the roof. This is roughly akin to me gaining magic powers and using them to carry out the garbage so I don't get my hands dirty, except garbage is also sort of heavy.



Isaac patches all three holes while Jenna and Garet (and us) watch. Dora walks up the ladder to check his work.



: All right , you're all done. You're very reliable, Isaac... just like your father was.



(Yes)







(Yes) Didn't we just have this conversation between Garet and Jenna? Is everybody stuck three years in the past?



: I was devastated when Kyle died... I felt all alone... it's taken some time, but I'm better now. I still have you, Isaac.



: You're almost seventeen. You're so much like Kyle when he was young. I'm looking forward to seeing where life takes you.



Jenna, as frustrated as I am with the length of this cutscene, intervenes.









: Where do you all plan to go today?

: We're going to Mt. Aleph with Kraden.

That was the place the Boulder came from, right? I remember because they kept saying it was the Aleph Boulder.



: Kids and their games....

: No! It's part of our studies!

: Ah yes... Alchemy. Alchemy is the foundation of all Psynergy... And you all know Mt. Aleph is the greatest source of Alchemy. They say Kraden is the best teacher around. Alchemy... I wonder what use it all is?

You were the one using the crazy magic to grab Isaac's tunic three years ago, lady. Mundane utility?



Apparently an "ordinary man" in this crazy world has magic powers, so... done!



(Yes) How else am I going to repair your roof? With my bare hands? Get your head in the game, Dora!







Dora falls backwards but catches herself before falling off the roof, so Garet jumps forward to try to help her.



"She needs to learn that making a cutscene last this long has consequences."



Garet falls through one of the holes that Isaac just finished patching up. Nice one, Captain Oblivious.



Don't worry, Dora is unharmed. Can't have any excitement here.

: I'm sorry I scared you like that.











Seriously? If I didn't have magic powers to fix those holes again, I'd be pretty pissed.



: But you'd better get going... *Beat* This old house will fall apart if you stay much longer. I'll get this fixed up. You don't have to hang around here.





I think that's the first mention of Isaac's Mom's name.







And we have our first two teammates. I'll give more in depth information in a later update, but for now all you need to know is that Jenna and Garet are both Mars Adepts, which means they both manipulate Fire. Well, now that that long and boring conversation is over...



Let's start another one!



Just kidding.



We head back to Garet's Training Spot AKA Garet's Backyard, which looks like an episode of Law and Order: Psynergy Victims Unit.



Uh oh, we committed the classic blunder of returning to the scene of the crime!



"The wood block appears to have been moved 3 feet to the left. Clearly this is indicative of murderous intent. Quick, check for blood and semen."





Wait, is that all? It serves you right for planting your flowers in the little dotted line pattern that shows the limits of where you can move things.



Yeah, yeah, shut up, Garet's Older Sister Whose Name I Didn't Bother Looking Up for This Chapter. Team Isaac walks over to chat with this little girl.





Being mayor of a small town is all well and good on its own, but you gotta remember the constant stress, the media frenzy at your poorly-informed decisions, and the corruption down at City Hall. It's more trouble than it's worth.



(Yes) Turns out we walked right by Kraden's cottage in the Prologue, we just couldn't get there because there was a boulder in the way. Convenient how they all seemed to fall right next to stairways.



We continue on our path over the river and through the woods until...







Uh oh, it's the circus folk again.



: Hmm... his knowledge is no meager thing... we can use him.

: But he's more stubborn than we expected....

: And cunning too... cunning beyond measure.

N.B. This "cunning" does not extend to being at all genre savvy, which is half of the reason the plot is set in motion. In fact, Kraden has several opportunities to end Isaac's quest at various points in the game, but does nothing. This doesn't become obvious until the sequel, however.





We've been spotted. Quick, turn into a rock!



I guess they're not that good at Psynergy yet.





(No) These jerks just keep standing in our way and talking loudly. It's not our fault.





Shut up, Garet. These are the jerks who killed us three years ago.



: So Kraden's engagement was with you....



(Yup)



: Go....





: Are you sure, Saturos?

: Menardi, we have no reason to delay these children further.

So now we know the clown's names. The Blue Man Group refugee is Saturos, and the Kabuki hooker is named Menardi.



I decide to push our luck a bit.





Turns out they don't want to talk any more either.

This is the place where we found the unharmed guy lying down next to a boulder.



(No) Our epic prank is to make the kid think he's schizophrenic.

Terrendos

(cont'd)

Spoiler:

We walk up the stairs and....



Meet Kraden. He's an old dude with glasses and a high opinion of his own intellect. Add in a "good news, everyone!" or two and he's Professor Farnsworth.



Let's listen in as he makes a terrible decision.



: And what were they saying about the elements? The elements of Alchemy: earth, water, fire, and wind... they plan to set them into motion? And the four Elemental Stars are the key? These are things even I, a trained Alchemy sage, do not know.

Let's go talk to the guy! But first...



We rob him. Elixirs get rid of status effects. Since status effects go away after battle anyway (except for a couple), they're pretty rare, they can also be cured via Psynergy, and end-game inventory space is a premium, they are basically worthless. I wait until I collect a couple dozen and sell them all at once for ~200 coins, which is even less money than it sounds.

Onward!



"I see you found that Elixir I was hiding over there. I ran out of inventory space and threw it in the barrel."



"I saw you rooting through my trash, wouldn't you be bothered too?"











: Seems to be?

: Mt. Aleph and Sol Sanctum... They spoke as if they'd seen them with their own eyes.



(No) Unlike Captain Oblivious, I still remember them from three years ago.







Depends on what they were going to do with what they found inside...



I know, two Indiana Jones references in a single chapter, I'm sorry.



For once, Garet has a decent idea. Let's watch as it is immediately shut down.

: Wait, everyone!



: We can do nothing until we confirm what they told me.

If I had a big, red, flashing light, I'd be turning it on right now.





*ominous organ music indicating trouble ahead*



: Isn't that impossible?

: Why would it be?



(Yes)





If you're so sure it would be acceptable, then we should ask permission anyway, right? And don't give me that stupid "it's better to ask forgiveness than ask permission" nonsense.



(Yes) As long as we don't care about karmic repercussions.





(Yes) If I'm gonna take the karmic hit anyway, might as well not broadcast it everywhere. I just want to say that it's surprisingly easy for Kraden to convince a couple of kids to violate the sacred laws of their village. Kraden isn't even a native to the village.

: Then it's decided!



(Yes) I refuse to let Garet take on anything resembling a management position.



: But you can handle it, right Isaac?



Jenna, tellin' it like it is.



Kraden hurries back into his hovel for a minute.



He picks up the gray bags on the table and leaves.




: All right, let's go!

But first...

: This is the game just mocking me.

We head back through the woods, back over the river bridge, and head north. We happen by the Vale Sanctum:



This is where you go if one of your characters gets one of the more advanced status effects: cursed, haunted, or dead. The only one we're likely to be using this game is the revive, and then only until we have the capacity to do it ourselves. Regardless, the entrance to Mt. Aleph is to the northwest of this building. We head that way, but we get stopped once we pass the tree.



(No)





Yeah, I'm sure the elders won't mind if we go confirm what the clowns said about Sol Sanctum. We walk right by him.





And we reach Sol Sanctum.

Next time on Let's Play Golden Sun, we enter the Sanctum. And we talk some more.

Arteen

I actually like the talky bits in the first two games, but Dark Dawn takes inane wordiness to a whole other level.

curly haired boy

oh man, sub-fucking-scribed so hard

the golden sun series remains one of my absolute favorites ever.

Emerlmaster999

Yeah, most of Dark Dawn's dialouge was just, "We're gonna be the new Warriors of Vale, yay." At least GS and TLA's were actual story-related, even if they drew out actual explanations.

Never made much sense how the Adepts of Vale say that you can't let anyone see your magic powers, yet they just let Kraden waltz on in even though he can't cast spells.

Daris

The boulder feels he makes a fine addition to the story. It was wrong of them to write him out so early!

BTW- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender?from=Main.ptitlemxi508a6

Terrendos

Chapter 2: No Indiana Jones References

Spoiler:

Welcome back to Let's Play: Golden Sun. When last we left our heroes, we were about to violate the sacred laws of our village by desecrating a temple of great religious value. Let's go!

But first, I'll set the tone:





(No) I've played this game before, after all.





This "puzzle" makes the player aware of the fact that you can jump in this game. Your character can jump over one square's worth of movement. Several puzzles throughout the two games hinge on remembering this even in areas where it's not obvious that you should be able to jump between two places.



Anywho, we leap into a battle. With a bunch of mushrooms. At least this time we have Psynergy.



Jenna and Garet, both Fire Adepts, have the Flare spell to use in combat. Isaac doesn't have any offensive Psynergy yet.



Turns out Flare is pretty good against mushrooms. We cross the room and happen upon a relief of a minotaur.





Obviously some clever craftsman decided to make a winking minotaur.



In another room, we find this treasure chest.





Woohoo, hittin' the jackpot! Let's take a look!



Eye-shaped, huh? Looks like a circle to me.





Put the jewel back in the minotaur relief, a door opens.



We get into another battle, after which Isaac is the first of the party to level up! It says he's a Squire, which I'll discuss later. He also learned Quake, which is an offensive Psynergy. I didn't get a picture of Quake in action, suffice it to say it's functionally the same as Flare, but Earth based. Isaac's an Earth Adept, after all.



Hmm... Garet looks hurt. We should do something about that.



Isaac has the Cure Psynergy, which lets him heal himself or an ally for ~70 HP.



With Garet healed, we can continue. As for the other two, we'll see Move in a minute. Retreat is used to escape from a dungeon without having to walk all the way out. It's quite handy, but not right now.

We reach the inside of the sanctum, and the party splits apart.





There's a pan across the room. Long story short, there's a bunch of statues.



: Hmm....



: I've come here many times, and I've always thought it looked... strange. I had always imagined Sol Sanctum would look different, somehow.





: There ought to be something here to reflect that. I was always puzzled why there wasn't. If there is a hidden passage, then maybe it leads to... Well! Let's see if we can find it!



(No) I'm already going to be grounded as it is, I don't want Dora taking away my Nintendo 64.



Jenna, ten minutes ago you were happy that I was so careful. What happened?



See, Isaac doesn't understand either.



Garet cites Never Split the Party for why we shouldn't abandon him. I say all we fought were some stupid mushrooms, the old man can handle those on his own, Psynergy or no.



Two of the statues have these little rings of tiny stones around them, just like Garet's Training Stone. This is the game's internal clue that you can move something around in that area. You'd think the dozens (hundreds?) of scholars and other learned people who studied this place, or even Kraden, would have noticed something this obvious and shoved the statues aside.



Ladies and gentlemen, I present Exhibit A of why Kraden is not... how did Saturos put it?



Well, everything's relative. But still, I'd measure his cunning as approximately 1 Garet. Garet being the standard unit of cunning in Vale, approximately equal to 1.3 milliSpocks.



Another battle, and Garet becomes a level 2 Guard.



...and Jenna becomes a level 2 Flame User. Flame User. Someone in localization better have been fired for that one. I'd have gone with something like Pyrokinetic.



Another small jewel. I guess that means there's another winking minotaur somewhere.



We enter this hallway, and there's a bunch more statues. Unfortunately, since they're blocking our landing area, we can't jump across to move them the old fashioned way.



Thank you, Kraden.





Isaac and Garet actually both have the Move Psynergy, which does basically what its name implies.



It summons a giant magical hand that moves things for us.



Got another minotaur behind this one, so we give it some depth perception.



Another battle, this time with an Amaze. <insert terrible pun> It has a Psynergy-like attack called Rumble; these are actually pretty common amongst the not-so-miniony of the enemies we'll fight. They typically do pretty substantial damage and sometimes inflict status effects.



This one only hits one target, but it's for a much higher number than usual. As you can see, Jenna lost quite a bit of HP from that attack.



We get an Herb. Herbs heal something like 50 HP. Since Psynergy is free and automatically restores itself and you'll have Cure for the rest of the game, they're also pretty much worthless. The only time they'd come in handy is if your healers are completely tapped. On the plus side, they're not exactly expensive or difficult to find.



Well this certainly looks different.



Okay, let's go tell the others.







: They were thieves! They came to rob the sanctum!







: Close? Close to what?









At least I'm not the only one who's concerned here.

: Sol Sanctum holds the origins of Alchemy. It would be a waste to...



(No)



What a jerk.



Garet once again returns to the stubborn idiot we all know and love after his brief stint as Unlikely Voice of Reason.





I thought I was the leader.

The room has a big picture of a Sun on it. Okay. To the right we can see another room.



Umm... you could probably see it from where you were standing back when you were acting like a bratty 8 year old. It was just a few feet away.





Sigh.



(Yes) They're connected by the little hallway. You can see it right there!



I wasn't aware that pagan temples often held secrets.





(Yes)





Heading South from Luna Room, we see some stairs going up, and we take them.



One way leads to this room, with this Psynergy Stone.





Yup. If we leave and come back, it'll be there again. The other path leads directly above the last room:



Luna Room.



Sol Room.

Lots of statues. Let's push some!





You can't see it here, but the ground starts rumbling and such.









: This is a most interesting mechanism you've found, Isaac. But this is clearly... some sort of trap.



: Go look in the Luna room and you'll understand. You've done well. Finding this means you're looking in the right place. But if you just move one statue, you'll be caught in the sanctum's trap.

The obvious answer is to then push all four statues in this room at the same time. If only I could control when Garet, Jenna, and Kraden leaped from my body to do things, then the whole thing would be so much simpler.









(Yes) Finally, we're going to get some real answers!



I hate you, Kraden.





: I'll continue checking the Luna room. You continue exploring the sanctum. My intuition tells me... that light must be the key to this secret. ...We should test it.





Well, if the statues in the Luna room don't like being moved, and since there's nowhere else to go....



We push the two statues surrounded by the helpful pebble lines towards their respective switches.







A hole appears where the two lights shine. Odd. Now, what can we do with that hole?



Well, we've already vandalized the minotaurs, what's a bit more property damage?



With that done, we return to the Luna room and start pushing statues again.





The image on the floor turned into a sun in the corner where we pushed the statue.







And now we proceed to explain everything we did to Kraden.



: When Isaac moved those statues, two beams of light shot out from them, and then this hole appeared in the floor.



: Hmm... Good work, everyone! So the statue puzzle was the trap... and the other statue was here to... disarm the trap. And now that you've disarmed it, we should be all right. I'll observe from the Luna room, where it's safe. You handle the rest!



More statue pushing.



When we're done, we return to the Luna room to speak to Kraden again.



Yeah, I know. I was the one who did it.

: But other than that, nothing looks different. That's strange... they went to the trouble of putting a trap here... And this is all that happens? Somewhere, something else must have changed. We must find it.

We walk ten feet over to the old Sol room.





Umm... okay?



Huh, look at this little light...



Oh, it's just a magic portal. Oh well, let's keep looking.











Well that's different.

Terrendos

(cont'd)

Spoiler:

Oh, Garet. Oh poor, sweet, simple, stupid Garet.

: The ocean is a thing of endless water at the end of the world. You would not understand... someday, I'll show it to you myself.

Technically, Gaia Falls is the end of the world, but that won't come up until The Lost Age.



Kraden spots something.



: They really exist! The Elemental Stars exist!



Jenna is spot on. We're mostly hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, with a smattering of phosphorus and dozens of other elements.



Four elements? Garet, is that the highest you can count?



(No) There's like 118 and counting.



Stupid backwards magic.

: As I have told you many times, the elements are the source of all matter. Earth, water, fire, and wind- these are the four elements. Legend holds that the four Elemental Stars contain the purified essence of each element. And now, these legendary stones are before us!



We do a pan around the room to show four different statues, each glowing a different color.















(Yes) I believe we've had this conversation 3 or 4 times now.







: This stone dominates everything... It can transmute crude matter into gold, even thwart death itself!



(Yes)







That was all you needed to say. "Hey look, some magic rocks that make you powerful!"

: Now, perhaps, you begin to understand.





: Who can say what the truth is? That's why I've been searching for the Elemental Stars. I seek to learn the truth about these stones.

Kraden leaps across to a pillar to the South.









Sounds like someone shoulda brought a telescope.



Screw you, Jenna.





(Yes) Not really, but I'm absolutely certain that she'll just keep asking if I say no.





: You brought those from your cottage, right, Kraden?







: Now, go fetch the Elemental Stars and put them in these bags.









Okay, we're going. Leave us alone. Stupid Kraden. What a jerk.

Next time, we gather the Elemental Stars, and the game ends!

SLyM

Oh shieeeetttt.

I love golden sun, though I agree dark dawn was something of a dissapointment. When I first joined the forums my avatar was a Venus dinjin for a while.

Malechai

Well here I was about to complain that your images were broken and it's just taking forever for them to load. Forgot just how pretty this game is. I may have to hit up amazon see if I can get the second two games for less than my first born.

MechMantis

YOU FORGOT SOMETHING!



This music starts the moment you enter the Elemental Star chamber place thing.