Golden Sun: The Lost Age Review

Golden Sun: The Lost Age Review

Back in 2003 GBA fans all over were graced with one of the Gameboy Advance's greatest RPGs. Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the sequel to 2001's Golden sun, Continued the tried and true formula while expanding its scope. It took the best of old school Final Fantasy and incorporated a great class structure and battle system. Let me break the game down for you.

Story:
The story continues where the first game left off. A group of magic users (adepts) left their hometown to stop a group bent on unleashing chaos on the world. The group of villains, led by Alex, stole the elemental stars from the adepts village of Vail. The villains, who captured a childhood a few childhood friends of the heroes and turned one of them to the bad side, use the stars to light the 4 elemental lighthouses. The Lost Age picks up right as the second one is lit. The player assumes the role as Felix, the boy from vail that joined Alex. He travels along side of his sister Jenna and Sheba, a shy wind adept. During their journey the get to travel the world and see how life has changed due to the lit lighthouses. Felix wants to continue lighting the towers while the heroes of the first game try to stop him.

Ultimately both groups clash together late in the game and join forces as the head for the finale.

Gameplay:
This game is HUGE. The battles are EPIC. Now that i have simply explained the two sides of gameplay to you let me expound upon them. The world that you will explore in this game is massive. The amount of territory to explore in this game is equal to any 2 or 3 early Final Fantasy games combined. The player will go from snow covered mountains to lost cities surrounded by a huge sea. The first play through could easily take you 55+ hours, and that is just the story. The locals switch up constantly keeping everything fresh, but not so often they feel inserted for the heck of it.

Battles on the other hand are a love it or hate it affair. Anyone who loves the old-school turn based Final Fantasy formula will love it. When a battle begins you are presented with your characters and the enemies in a pseudo-3d view. The player is then given the option to fight flee or check stats. Upon selecting attack the player is given further options of: attack, psyenergy (magic), items, Djinn (summons), items, or defend. Attack is your basic affair. Your character attacks and damage is based upon their strength plus the weapons strength and attributes. Psyenergy is where the game shines. Scratch that, its what the game is built upon. Psyenergy is the magic used for puzzles out of battle and everything else in battles. Characters selection is based upon their class. This is based upon what Djinn they have equipped. Djinn are elemental creatures that were let loose upon the stealing of the elemental stars. Characters can mix and match their Djinn to change stats and class. Every class has specific psyenergy that it can use. A combination of pure earth Djinn will result in attacks like Earthquake and Spire, while water Djinn will result in Cure and Blizzard.

Aesthetic:
For a GBA game this game is beautiful. Screenshots look amazing, but still do not do the game justice. The world map is massive and is brightly colored. The battles pseudo-3d art style is just gorgeous for a 2003 handheld game. The summons are worth looking up on youtube if you don't plan on playing the game. The music for the game is equally as beautiful. It might only be MIDI, but it will still evoke emotion.

Final Thoughts:
Play this game. Nough said. You will not be disappointed.
Story 8/10
Gameplay 9.5/10
Aesthetic 10/10 (for GBA)
Overall 9.5/10

Posted by jmontygman at 5:48 PM