Golden Sun 3! Dark Dawn

Name: Golden Sun, Dark Dawn

Devoloper: Camelot

Year: 2010
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG


Another RPG. Hmmm maybe I should blog about another genre next time. Aherm. Anyays, this weeks review is about the third installment of Golden Sun. The subtitle is Dark Dawn. A little strange since normally it gets light at dawn. Nice alliteration though.

The characters might look a bit familiar. That is because they are the childeren of the heroes from the last 2 games. Like their parent they are adepts. People with the power to control the elements trough the use of psyenergy. Every adept has his/her own element. Venus adepts can move the earth and are the defensive type. Mars adepts are masters of offensive fire. Mercury adepts control water and are good at healing. Jupiter adapts control the air and are quite fast.
After the events of Golden Sun 2 they carry the burden of being the childeren of " the warriors of Vale". Fame isn't always a good thing so they live mostly in solitude. The adventure starts with a small accident by the son of Garet, who is a clumsy as his dad once was. In order to fix the mistake they have to travel to another village. Yet underway they are drawn in by the enemy who reveals that they are the key to a certain doom. In order to stop them our heroes have to travel the world like their parents did, training their adept powers on the way and gathering new allies.

Although it is a DS game it works almost the same as the previous title. The stylus is only used to navigate your character across the world map and town. You can also use it to select attack or items in a menu but you can also just use the D pad for that.
Golden Sun DD uses random battles as encounter method. This can either be on a world map or in a dungeon. Town's are safe area's though.
In battle you can utilize several method's to win the battle. You can just use the attack option to attack with an equipped weapon. You can also defend, minimizing the damage you receive that turn. Next to that our adepts can of course use magic. Each character learns psypowers that fit with their elements. At lvl 5 our hero can only trow a rock. But at lvl 50 you summon the powers of mother earth herself to damage an enemy.

Speaking about summons. One of the most notable things in Golden Sun are the Djinns. Just like there are 4 type's of adepts there are 4 types of Djinn's. Although each character learns specific psypowers that fit his/her class, Djinn's can manipulate that magic. For instance, equipping a earth Djinn to the main character inproves his earth psypower. Giving him a water Djinn though combines his earth psypower with water. Now out main character can use plant psyenergy!

There are 72 Djinn's in total. 18 for every element. Combine them and equip them on your characters and see what kind of psypower he learns trough this. You can also USE a Djinn. Some just have a strong attack power. Others increase stats or cause ailments on the enemies.
Last but not least. You can also save up the Djinns and use them together to release a summon. At first you can only combine the same element. But if you sidetrack during the game you can also find summons who combine Djinn's for devasting attacks. The strongest Summons of the game are combined ones.

If you aren't battling, you are dungeoning. And like the previous instalments the puzzles in this game are quite nice. In the beginning you are given a slight tutorial on how to move objects with your psyenergy. It is one of the basic moves that almost every adept has. Later on you get new powers that you can also sometimes use in battle. These powers can include a force blast, seeing hidden objects / doorways / spirits or freeze water to traverse over it. Over the course of the game you have to use every power to complete a dungeon. It does, however, cost as much mp as the moves would do in battle, so think before you act.

For a Nintendo DS game I think the graphics are not that great to be honest. Although the battles look better than in Golden Sun 1/2. The rest of the game is a bit disappointing. The overworld still has the same graphics as part 1 and 2. Towns are a bit better but a real difference isn't seen. The concept of the towns also hasn't changed but that's alright since I kinda liked the designs. And the summoning sequences are also AMAZING

As you might hear in the summoning video, the music is the same as the last 2 games. Although it has some new music it still keeps the catchy old battle music. Of course it is a bit tweaked but generally I like it. As soon is the battle music starts to get repetitive you are thrown into a new area where the battle music changed.

I was a real fan of Golden Sun 1 and 2. When I heard a part 3 was coming I was real excited. Unfortunately it just doesn't live up to the expectations. Most reviewers gave it a bad mark because of this, which is really unfair cause this game is one of the best RPG on the Nintendo DS imo. If you are a fan of Golden Sun and you heard about this game. Still play it. It is really worth it.

Fun Facts about this game:
- This game takes place a whopping 30 years after Golden Sun 2
- Kraden, the old scholar from the previous instalments is still alive. He is a 100 years old now
- The new hero is the mute now. Isaac finally TALKS!
- This game is considered to be the 1st in the developers eyes. Golden Sun 1&2 are prequels in his         opinion.
- There are 8 playable characters. The first 4 are childeren of the warriors of Vale. The other 4 are all       royal childeren.