Let's Play: Golden Sun

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Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » April 19th, 2012, 4:37 pm

So then, my first let's play.

Golden Sun was released by Camelot in 2001 for the Gameboy Advance. A traditional turn based RPG, it also featured several inovative gameplay features (such as the elemental Djinn) and an engaging storyline. It saw a sequel (Golden Sun: The Lost Age) in 2003 and another one for the DS (Golden Sun: Dark Dawn) in 2010.

I love these games. I burned away hours playing the first two when I was a teenager and I cheered with fanboyish glee when Dark Dawn was announced and I'm eagerly awaiting a further game in the series so I can keep following the still un-concluded storyline Not that any of this will stop me ridiculing the crazy parts of the storyline. This is because I'm aware that there's not much (that is to say, none at all) room in a let's play of this game for forum participation (you have no control over how the storyline unfolds; a fact that the two sequels lampshade), so I'll do my best to be as entertaining as possible.
Spoiler: show
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‘Good Morning Chrono!’

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‘Ugh, you’d better have a damn good reason for trying to get me up this early.’

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‘Ha, I’m not falling for that one again.’

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‘Wait, you’re serious? What about the time when I was nine and you said that the boulder would fall if I didn’t do my homework?’

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To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this had just been an elaborate prank. Dora won’t exactly distinguish herself as a fantastic mother in the short time she’s relevant to the plot.

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Care to elaborate?


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This is ‘Psynergy’; the setting’s magic. It’s a portmanteau of psychic and energy, but I wouldn’t bother committing that fact to memory. That’s because Psynergy is actually ‘elemental energy’. I won’t elaborate further right now, because the game will do that in spades as the plot moves forward. Anyway, here we see Dora drawing power from the very earth itself in order the grab her son’s tunic off a hook. Something she could have done by hand if she’d bothered to walk five feet. I might sound overly critical here, but I want you to remember this moment. It will have consequences.
EPIC FORESHADOWING!!!

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I might get crushed to death and it’s raining? Worst day ever.

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‘Well now you mention it, if the house might get crushed, I should probably grab a few personal effects. Now where did I put my DS?’

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‘But… then why did you bother asking me?’

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Downstairs, we meet Isaac’s dad. And he’s got a character portrait and everything. Clearly we’ll be seeing a lot of this guy.

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Explain to me again why the village has done nothing to sort out the looming boulder that’s apparently been around long enough to be named? I’m picturing the village council insisting that they don’t have the budget this fiscal year for something like that.

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‘Weren’t we in a hurry? If we’ve got the time to stand here and provide exposition, can I go back and grab my DS?’



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Does anyone else sense a massive family tragedy approaching?

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‘Well, I get the feeling he’s not going to be talked out of it. Come on mum; let’s get out of the path of the massive boulder. The plaza, wasn’t it?’

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‘… I’m sure you need help more than our fourteen year old son does!’

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‘Listen to the man, I’m only level 1, a stiff breeze could knock me over.’

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‘Hello? Am I a part of this conversation? God, I hate being a silent protagonist. I swear I’ll start talking in the sequel.’

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‘As I still don’t have my DS, I take it that my opinion doesn’t count for much. Fine, but if I develop abandonment issues and turn out to be an awful parent myself, thirty three years from now, I’m blaming you.’

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It is at this point, that Isaac realises that his mother never really wanted a child in the first place.

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Right then, now that the adults responsible for us have wiped their hands of us, let’s briefly return to the house for some backstory.

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‘I know dad keeps his playboys hidden behind these books…’

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‘Or I suppose there’s this…’

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That took an entire book? Must be one of those big print editions. Okay, what were we doing? Oh right, the massive boulder that’s going to kill us.

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So yeah, I wasn’t kidding when I said that a stiff breeze could take Isaac down.

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Also, in addition to sleeping in his bed fully dressed, Isaac apparently had a dagger and three healing herbs in his pocket. Handy!

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More backstory (I swear we’ll take steps toward safety in a minute).

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Someone made a movie that was very loosely based on this book. They changed the title to ‘Being John Malkovich’ though.

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A real page turner this one…

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Right, time to beat feet. The direct path south was blocked by a falling boulder that I forgot to get a screen cap of. Not the massive one we’ve been worrying about, but a smaller, more generic type of boulder that we’ll be seeing a lot of in the immediate future. That’s right; apparently there are multiple boulders further up the mountain that the village of people with magical powers decided to do nothing about.

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Like this one. This game isn’t very subtle with its railroading.

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I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘new party member’.

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This is Garret; a friend of Isaac and grandson of the mayor.

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‘Oh, so you were allowed to grab some of your stuff? What’s it like having parents who love you?’

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‘If you can’t fit that case into your inventory, I’m guessing it’s not going to budge.’

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‘The thought had crossed my mind…’

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Garret has many faults, but he’s refreshingly easy to reason with.

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Woot!

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Our protagonists continue heading further up the mountain towards the deadly boulder because they lack an adult with Psynergy to clear the boulders that keep landing in their path.

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Garret will put his foot down if you actually try to head to the boulder. Don’t expect this common sense to rear its head too often.

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Fantasy villages must be a health and safety nightmare…

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Uh, oh, maybe we shouldn’t have wasted all that time reading those books after all…

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Oh, it’s not quite the end yet; those nice villagers are holding the boulder back with their Psynergy.

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They will, of course, die horrible deaths the moment they exhaust their Psynergy. Why do I get the feeling that these four weren’t particularly well liked by the mayor?

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You brave men; your sacrifices will definitely will not be in vain.

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We’ve been spotted…

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And by ‘a little further’ he means all the way down the mountain, but I have to agree with the sentiment of his first sentence. Let’s move.

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I just said that!

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Lightning may not strike twice, but we’re up to three times and counting for boulders.

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Heading west, we find this poor man lying injured. Or possibly he’s just narcoleptic. Either way, we should probably try talking to him.

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If a picket fence was holding them back, I take it these monsters aren’t too fearsome.

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Take a good look at one of only two times that your choice of response changes anything other than the next line of dialogue. The other occasion has you choosing continuing with the game or getting a non-standard game over, so it’s really an example of Hobson’s choice. I love this game, but don’t kid yourself that you have any control over how the plot unfolds.
Anyway, if we answer yes to this man’s question;

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He’ll take the medical advice of two fourteen year olds and just lie there repeating this line of dialogue whenever you talk to him. If we decide not to be a dick and tell him that he’ll be fine;

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He’ll realize that he doesn’t actually have a scratch on him.

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And then rush off, leaving the two kids to fend for themselves. Swell.

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As Isaac and Garret are deciding that all adults are useless, they have their first encounter with the aforementioned monsters. I won’t go into an explanation of the combat mechanics until we have more options than ‘attack’, ‘defend’ and ‘run away’.

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Suffice to say, we won’t be doing any power levelling during the prologue…

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I bet this is a nice place to live when giant boulders and ineffectual monsters are absent.

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Huh, at this rate we might actually make it to the plaza without any further problems.

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Damn it, spoke too soon.

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I bet this river-side property seemed liked a great idea when they bought it. Let the buyer beware indeed.
Anyway, a couple of significant characters are here. The purple haired girl is Jenna; she’ll be a guest party member in this game before being promoted to full time party member status in the sequel.
The kid in the water is Felix and… well, just wait and see.

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Great, Kyle, he’d have never thought of that by himself.

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I notice Dora isn’t volunteering any specifics as to how they’re going to save him. Maybe Isaac was better off heading to the plaza by himself after all.

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As the four adults stand around spouting obvious advice and blind optimism, Felix vanishes below the surface of the water.

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Chibi Jenna’s character portrait is adorable.

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And then Felix pops up again in exactly the same place. I can only assume Felix deliberately faked being swept away in an attempt to motivate the adults into doing anything productive.

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So they’ll use their powers for menial chores at the drop of a hat, but when someone’s in danger of drowning, their first reaction is to try a rope?

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‘If I had any left, don’t you think I’d have just used it instead of asking you? No wonder you don’t have a character portrait.’

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Dora would have a little bit left, but she wasted it on a trivial task in the middle of a major crisis.

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While this is an obvious attempt to change the subject before anyone can ask her what she used up her Psynergy on; Dora nevertheless makes the first productive suggestion in this whole sequence.

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He’s been hanging on the whole time you’ve been squatting by the river side shouting generic advice. Unless you have a better idea, I’d suggest taking the option that involves making an actual attempt to save the drowning teenager.

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Again, I just said that!

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Is Kyle reading from a 4KIDS dub of the script? What’s with all the painfully obvious advice?

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‘We’ll need you to look for help in the plaza, where everyone is gathered, while Dora heads to the already evacuated northern part of the village.’

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Unheard over the raging torrents, Felix shouts ‘Finally!’

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‘Yup.’

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‘As Felix will definitely drown if his fate is left in your hands; yes.’

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‘I see the whole; “Our son needs to get to safety” thing has been completely forgotten. Come on Garret, apparently we’re part of the search and rescue team now.’

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‘Hey Felix.’
‘Hi, Isaac.’
‘How long have you been clinging to that?’
‘About twenty minutes. It took them ten minutes to work out that I wasn’t doing it for fun.’

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To the rescue!

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*Sigh*

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Isaac can procrastinate, and he’ll still be back with help before Dora returns empty handed.

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Need permission to leave the village and don’t share secrets with filthy outsiders. Clearly this village is a just utopia.

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*Cough* Foreshadowing *Cough*

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And finally, we’re at the plaza. Right, time to enlist some help.

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Finally!!

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Those guys were the elders? What does that make him?

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I see Jenna’s not having much luck either.

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‘Is it just me, or are the adults completely useless?’
‘Don’t worry Jenna, it’s not just you.’

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‘Actually, we came to ask for permission to hold a renaissance fair this sum- YES; of course that’s why we’re here!!’

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Psynergy stones will feature throughout the game both as a gameplay feature and a minor plot device. But in any case, we’re finally ready to save Felix.

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Running time!

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Aww shucks.

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Feel free to imagine the travelling music of your choice.

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And Felix is still hanging in there! Limpets have nothing on him.

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Called it.

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And with that, the day was saved!
Wait… why do I get the feeling we’ve forgotten about something important?

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*RUMBLE!!!*

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Oh, right. That.

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This has not been a good night…

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‘Scatter!!’

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Looks like it’ll just miss them!

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Never mind…

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*Scenes of graphic gore censored*

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That could have gone better…

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Drown? How? Still, going for help isn’t a bad idea.

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Deeply traumatised, unsurprisingly. They should probably just wait there while someone else goes.

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‘Good man. My dad just got mowed down by a giant boulder. Glad to know I can count on you in this time of crisis.’

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‘How are you even injured? If the boulder hit you you’d be dead, so it clearly wasn’t that. Fine, the traumatised fourteen year old will go for help.’

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*Grumble*

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Take a good look at this moment. Its stuff like this that makes me like Garret in spite of what’s about to happen.

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Huh?

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I’m guessing that this guy isn’t supposed to be here.

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Or her.

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Wait, what?

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‘In hindsight, maybe pulling a switch without knowing what it did wasn’t the best idea.’

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I’m going to hazard a guess that we’ve just stumbled across the villains of the game.

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There’s going to be a next time? Once they’ve gone, we’d better warn people.

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Oh great…

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*Insert obligatory Solid Snake reference*

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‘Umm… hi.’

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‘Eavesdropping on what? I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about!’

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‘Please be quiet Garret.’

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‘Definitely! No problem I’ll forget all abou- GOOD GOD is that a scythe you’re carrying?’

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‘No really, that’s fine-‘

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‘Damn it.’
So here we find ourselves at the end of the prologue with our first boss battle. It won’t end well.

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And there’s no running from it either.

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Hey, a critical hit on the first attack! Maybe we can win this after all!

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Never mind.

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See the red line stretching across most of Garret’s health meter? That’s how much of it was depleted by a single none critical hit.

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Just one fireball? That’s not too bad, we can probably dodge it.

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That spell name isn’t plural, I feel lied to.

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Will our heroes be able to withstand the fearsome fireball assault?

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Nope.


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So, yeah…
Tune in next time for a three year time skip.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby MEKristian » April 19th, 2012, 7:54 pm

How interesting; I wish you luck on your endeavor, good sir!

Though if by "sequel" you mean "the second half of the plot", then yes, Lost Age is the best one there ever was. :V
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby ewuvi » April 19th, 2012, 10:10 pm

Man, I loved this game as a little one. Thanks for doing this!
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby DIT_grue » April 23rd, 2012, 7:39 pm

Everything I know about this game is from this thread, but still... obvious explanation seems obvious. The 'Mt Aleph Boulder' has a name, ergo it is a tourist attraction. Since these people are apparently keeping their powers secret, they can't solve the problem that way (too much scrutiny). And the Tourism Board (or whatever) won't let them use a mundane solution - a balancing boulder is a lot less impressive if it's anchored by a web of cables; it hasn't fallen yet, so obviously it never will; even if it did fall, no one important would be hurt. Of course, as you noted, their powers are like HP magic in that they use the section of the brain most of us waste on 'common sense'.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby doc.exe » April 24th, 2012, 2:09 pm

I remember this one. Quite amusing.

I love old JRPG's, but if you think about the story and plot from a logical perspective... well, most of them don't really make that much sense, do they? :lol:
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Farmer_10 » April 26th, 2012, 9:30 pm

This is fun. And I am also a big fan of this game.
Sweet lady fate, why dost thou piss on me so?!
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » April 27th, 2012, 3:02 am

*squees*
I LOVE THIS GAME! You, sir, are awesome!
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
“Ancell: respecting personal boundaries to the detriment of his friends since 1993.” ~bookworm702
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Greybane » April 29th, 2012, 2:32 am

Absolutely FANTASTIC game. I salute you sir!
Odd that. It actually worked.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » April 29th, 2012, 12:41 pm

UPDATE 2-MAN CITY 0

Thanks for the support everyone; it's good for my ego to hear.

Spoiler: show
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So let’s just skip over all the reconstructive surgery and therapy and pick things up a while later.

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Oh hey, it’s Jenna; and she’s exchanging a pleasant nod with a passer-by rather than sticking up her middle finger. So I take it the counselling sessions went well.

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She passes Dora armchair commanding Isaac’s repair work of their roof. Can you actually stand on a thatched roof? I would have thought you’d just fall straight through.

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Continuing on, she comes across Garet training. Or maybe he just saw her coming and is giving her a really enthusiastic greeting.

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Garet’s staring competition with the training stone enters the fourteenth hour…

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His eyes start to itch, drastic action is needed.

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Unfortunately, psyching the stone out with sudden noises doesn’t work. Garet only has one chance now…

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Loophole abuse! The rules said no contact; they didn’t say anything about Psynergy.

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No one takes staring competitions more seriously than Garet.


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‘Well, the training stone was getting on my nerves, so I challenged it to a staring contest-‘

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Given the competency level of some of the people in the village, it’s probably a good idea to learn to take care of themselves.
Just putting it out there.

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‘Forget about saving anyone else in a future disaster; my family’s dead, stop trying.’

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In an alternate timeline, Jenna put together a costume and protected Vale as Bat-Girl.

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You’re the one who brought it up…

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It’s never really explained, but Isaac and Garet appear to have repressed the memories of just prior to having been thrashed. It’s the only explanation that makes sense, as no one in the village seems to be aware that someone tried to raid Sol Sanctum three years ago.

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Skipping over a few more lines of teen drama, Jenna decides to change the subject.

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Garet, meanwhile, has been distracted by all the fan fiction writers being inspired by this scene to ship him and Jenna, only to be proven entirely wrong by ‘Dark Dawn’.

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This is Jenna’s way of letting Garet know he’s in the friend zone.

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Meanwhile, on ‘Sixty Minute Makeover’…

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Actually, to be honest, I find that show entirely obnoxious.

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You leave your house for an hour and then get back to find a so called friend has let a film crew in and redecorated a room without asking permission; I’d be furious!

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Huh? Oh, right and Isaac has finished repairing the roof.

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Seriously, is it really safe to be waltzing around a thatched roof like that?

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‘That means you can get off your hands and knees by the way.’

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As a rule of thumb, if you’re a JRPG protagonist and people suddenly all start referencing a previous disaster all at the same time (for no apparent reason), you should probably brace yourself.


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‘If we’d been able to use Psynergy, we could have rescued Felix then and there and been well clear of the boulder when it fell. As it was, we had to rely on a string of adults of varying ineptitude.’

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Great, Dora, just go ahead and let your son know that you derived no comfort from his presence.

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A bit late to try and backpedal now…

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Isaac and his mother share a tender moment…

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That is interrupted by Jenna leaping onto the roof and yelling at the top of her voice.

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‘Do you mind not startling me like that by the way? I almost fell off the roof.’

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Four people are now standing on a thatched roof.

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Kraden.
I may poke fun at the characters of this game, but Kraden is the only one I legitimately dislike. We won’t have to put up with him much in this game, thankfully, but we’ll be stuck with him for the entirety of ‘The Lost Age’. To be fair, I grew to like him in ‘Dark Dawn’, but that’s two entire games away.

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Something about the way she says this, makes Jenna realise that Dora knows what she and Isaac got up to when she was out at her bingo night.

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So she hurries to change the subject.

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Since playing Mass Effect 2, I haven’t been able to read this line without imagining Dora doing air quotes when she says ‘Alchemy’.

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‘True or False?’

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What? How does that even work? Is Everest the greatest source of Physics?

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Given that it can potentially bestow god-like power upon a person, I’d say it’s a lot of use, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

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‘Dad was a happy, ordinary man and he ended up getting a boulder dropped on his head.’

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Dora demonstrates why she was never on a debating team.

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He was stubborn? Really? I seem to recall Dora getting her way twice during the prologue.

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And this is why you shouldn’t hold meetings on a slanted, thatched roof.

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*Cue laughter track*

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For all the flak I give her, Dora apologises when she does something wrong. Kraden… won’t.

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‘That’s our Garet!’
*Laughter Track*

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Kewl.

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And with that, we leave the sitcom scenes behind for a while.

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Right, let’s see what shape our party members are in.

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Isaac starts out with Cure, Move and retreat; the latter of which will return us to the entrance of any dungeon we’re in. He’s still level one, but his HP and PP have improved a bit.

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Garet also has move and that’s it for now. Unlike Isaac, he already has a combat Psynergy spell, but we’ll get to that.

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Jenna has diddly squat in terms of non-battle Psynergy; a big clue as to her guest party member status for this game.

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Oh, look at that, they’ve just left Jenna’s old house a ruin for three years. That’s either gruesome or lazy, I can’t decide. Don’t want to pull it down or repair it?

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And Jenna is living with her grandparents within full view of her gutted former home.

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I’m picturing her grandparents pressing her face against the westward facing window every morning and shouting ‘They’re dead! The sooner you get over it, the better!’ until she stopped crying.

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Directly to the west of Isaac’s house, we find our path blocked, not by boulders this time, but by puppies. You cannot defy the power of cute!

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Hell yes.

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Visitors, eh? That sounds like plot bait to me. Let’s see if Garet’s Granddad knows anything.

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‘Aren’t we guardians of ancient secrets or something like that? If an unknown group are skulking around the village, is a breach of etiquette really our biggest concern?’

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‘Apparently not.’

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‘How old are you exactly? Go play with a ball or something.’

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Ignoring weird little kids, the shops are open, so let’s use what cash we have for upgrades.

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There are no artefacts for sale yet and we wouldn’t be able to afford them if there were.

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We’ve got enough money to buy long swords for Isaac and Garet to replace their short swords.

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And travel vests for them as well.
Right, now that we’re broke, let’s check out the inn.

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‘… and I in no way find this suspicious.’

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‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go give a man my life savings for some magic beans.’

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There he is, let’s see what he has to say for himself.

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I love how he’s trying to sound all serious wearing something like that.

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That’s just rude, there’s no call for that.

Tune in next time for our first meeting with Kraden and an objective lesson in how being a self-centred idiot can have consequences.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby MEKristian » May 3rd, 2012, 10:45 am

I'm sure you'll be able to silence that rude, mask-wearing Char kid in due time.

Though I'm wondering about the "Man City 0" thing...
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » May 6th, 2012, 10:11 pm

Though I'm wondering about the "Man City 0" thing...
That was me attempting a pun; think of it in the manner of the results of a football/soccer match. Clearly epic failure on my part. :roll:

Update 3: The pun stops here!

This update is quite a big one. Usually they won't be quite this meaty, but we wade through a lot of plot in this one and I didn't want to break it up.
Spoiler: show
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So, since we’ve had our feelings hurt, we might as well stop keeping Kraden waiting. Who knows, maybe he’s stopped being a moron (he hasn’t).

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Whoa, déjà vu!

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The three of them wonder why the mystery speaker is bellowing at the top of his voice.

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This is meant to make the elders sound like ignorant fools who have no idea what they’re guarding. As we’ll shortly find out, it was actually a very good idea to keep Kraden out.

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Knowledgeable? Sure. Stubborn? Oh, yes.
Cunning? As the rest of this update will prove; definitely not.

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Their sinister (and very loud) musings come to a halt as they realize they have eavesdroppers.

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‘Pretty hard not to. Word to the wise, if someone can hear you twenty feet away and round a corner; then you’re talking loudly.

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‘Spying? Try lowering your voice.’

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You tell them Garet!

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‘We live here. You, on the other hand, look like an extra from a Castlevania game.’

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Being told to clear off because he was going to go mountain climbing with three teenagers did not sit well with them.

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The mystery man’s attitude suddenly does a complete 180. I’m sure that’s perfectly innocent.

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‘Wink, wink.’

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They proceed to stand silently and stare at our heroes as they walk out of sight.

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The next party member we’ll pick up has the power to read minds. Until then, everyone will kindly oblige us by musing out loud at volumes audible at distances of twenty feet and greater.

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Given that the Elders have enforced a policy of ‘don’t go near it’ for generations, that’s not a difficult threshold to cross.

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Is ‘cunning beyond measure’ Kraden not considering the possibility that they’re just making it up then?

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‘Hi, there!’

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‘The whole pacing up and down and debating at the top of your voice was something of a give away.’

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It’s just occurred to me; Kraden was pacing up and down, debating at the top of his voice, while Saturos and Menardi were doing the exact same thing twenty feet away; how did he not know that they were still there?

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‘Forbidden area, no one allowed up there. Yes, haven’t forgotten thanks, it’s only been drilled into me for my entire life.’

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Time to form a lynch mob.

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‘Don’t give us the whole “barbaric practises” speech again outsider.’

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Can you see where this is going?

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‘Well lynch mobs are only fun where you’re the one doing the lynching.’

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‘What the hell, it was a slow day anyway.’

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In a few hour's time, Garet’s going to feel really stupid.

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Her too.

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‘Unless you make a decision I don’t like, in which case, I’ll throw a massive temper tantrum.’

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To prepare for their mission to see whether thieves have been to Sol Sanctum, Kraden grabs some sacks from his house. Does anyone else see an incongruity there?

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‘I thought I was the leader.’

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Off to break the law!

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Nothing to worry about, this is Vale, they probably don’t have anyone on guard.

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Oh no! A ninja monk, even deadlier than regular monks!

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Leg it!

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‘No, I’m… just going to the newsagents nearby. It’s the only place that stocks ‘Psynergy Today’, honest!’

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‘Oh, what? You’re not going to address your complaint to the adult of the group? How come I’ve got to take the flak?’

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Ha, his ninja powers were weak.

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Turns out that breaking into a forbidden sanctum is easier than it sounds.

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So far, I’m not impressed.

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As the first dungeon of the game, don’t expect Sol Sanctum’s puzzles to be too formidable.

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It is, however, a good place to do a bit of grinding and get a bit further into the battle mechanics.

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Isaac is a Venus (earth) adept, but he currently doesn’t currently have any combat spells.
Don’t worry Isaac, I’m sure you’re just a late bloomer.

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Garet is a Mars (fire) adept and starts off with the combat spell flare.

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Same for Jenna, except this is the only spell she’ll use in this game as she won’t get her own actual moveset until she becomes fully playable in the sequel. To that end, the random encounters in Sol Sanctum will cease once you reach level 3. You can get around this by KOing Jenna, but I’m not in a hurry to grind too much just yet.

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The epic battle between the adventurers and the small blue rodent and two bats rages on.

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There we go!
As you can see here, each character has a ‘class’. Isaac is currently a squire, Garet a guard and Jenna a flame user. Their class depends on how many, and what types, of djinn they have equipped. As we currently have none, it’s really a moot point right now.

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It’s funny because it kills them…

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Very atmospheric; nice to see the ancients used a good colour scheme.

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If you look closely, you’ll see that it’s eye is glowing. Dead giveaway ancients.

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So the ancients removed a crucial part from a mechanism and hid it somewhere. Searching the entire world for an object that size will be impossible. Well played ancients.

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Or it could be in a chest in a nearby room.

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I wonder what Isaac would look like in a fedora…

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Oh look, it’s one of those giant chess sets.

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Weren’t the elders refusing to let Kraden into Sol Sanctum? Is he admitting to breaking in here before?

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Narnia?!

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‘As there’s no point in going back until we’ve proved that those two broke in here…’

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Clearly Garet is remembering when the Scooby Gang broke in here a few years ago and were never heard from again.

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Isaac takes note of the odd markings on the floor that the esteemed sage Kraden apparently repeatedly missed.

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Huh, let's try the other side…

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There’s only so much you can do to make screenshots of walking through corridors interesting…

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Zzz… wha- Are we there yet?

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Time to grab the pitchforks and torches; we’ve got mob justice to deal out!

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Oh, man, I have a bad feeling about this…

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LISTEN TO HIM (he’s not going to listen to him)

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‘NO. Don’t you think it’s a little bit odd that these ‘thieves’ just waltzed up to you, told you everything they knew and than wandered off giggling? Do you think maybe they were trying to trick you into doing something for them?’

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Here we have it ladies and gentlemen; a scholar in his seventies throwing a tantrum like an infant because he wants to get his way.
In any case, let’s punch him in the stomach and carry him ba-

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‘Jenna! Stop being an enabler!’

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‘E tu, Garet?’

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‘So I’m only the leader when ninja monks are telling us off?’

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*Grumble*

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Night and day connected? You sir, are mad! The scholarly community will laugh at you.

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‘This all going to end in tears, mark my words.’

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So the renowed scholar who just threw a tantrum to get his way and to continue exploring has suddenly decided to stand here and stare at the wall.
He must have been absolutely unbearable as a teenager.

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Well in the absence of anyone with a formal education, let’s try moving statues…

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Down below…

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…bad stuff begins to happen.

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‘Ugh, first he sends us ahead to do all the work, now he’s telling us that we’re doing it wrong.’

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…said Kraden, completely ignoring Jenna’s question.

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‘Key to alchemy itself? Please do.’

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I hate this guy…

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‘Keep messing about with mechanisms that could unleash a localized apocalypse. I’ll take my highly relevant education elsewhere and do nothing.’

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JUST GO.

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Stupid Kraden…

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How did he live to be so old? Surely someone should have killed him by now…

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There! Trap disarmed!

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Let’s go see the old fart and tell him we’ve done everything for him.

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No thanks to you…

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You don’t change the ancient’s interior decoration unless you prove yourself worthy.

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Have you noticed how, in fiction, people never just shrug their shoulders and say ‘Guess it was just a legend after all’ ?

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Kraden himself said that night and day were connected, but when luna changed to sol, he didn’t bother to walk ten feet and check the other room.

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Is anyone else getting a ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ vibe from this? Anyway, I guess we should try touching it…

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Holy cow, a magic portal!

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Your intuition is unparalled, Kraden.
Damn it, why hasn’t anyone invented a sarcasm font yet?

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‘Me first, right?’

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*Portal noises*

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‘Ha! It’s not the moon! Pay up Garet!’

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Apparently, travelling through random, untested portals carries the risk of a slight temporal distortion; we’re hearing what Kraden says, before he arrives.

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‘…And me without my bathing costume.’

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‘I’ve heard of a really terrible dub of Dragonball Z by that name, but I assume you’re not talking about that.’

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We’ll see the ‘ocean at the end of the world’ in the sequel and he’s not exagerating; it’s literally spilling endlessly over the edge of the world.

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But right now, we have more pressing matters at hand. You see; the three teenagers from the isolationistic and slightly xenophobic village and the infantile senior citizen have just stumbled across Weyard’s four cosmic keystones.

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‘Yes, the rather implausible theory that all matter is made from the combination of a thermal reaction, sediment, oxygen rich gas and H20 is indeed how things roll here in Weyard.’

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Our esteemed scholar has decided that these distant objects are indeed the gems of legend. Apparently running tests to confirm unfounded theories is a crutch for lesser academics.

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Imagine Kraden striking a dramatic pose as he announces each stone.

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‘Okay, okay, we’re impressed!’

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*Sigh* ‘Yes, repeatedly.’

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No one thinks any less of you Garet.

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…but how did they know it existed in the first-
You know what? Forget it, I’m thinking too hard about this.

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ALL LEGENDS ARE TRUE!!!!

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And after all his dramatic posturing, Kraden admits he has no evidence to back up any of the wild claims he’s spent the last few hours making.

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Actually he’s been searching for them to make a tyrant immortal, but Kraden doesn’t like to talk about who funds his research.

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Kraden’s just being a wimp. Over the following trilogy, we’ll be leaping between more narrow platforms than you can shake an absurdly oversized sword at. At one point we’ll literally leap off the edge of the world onto a narrow, water soaked platform and back again. At no point will we so much as skid.

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‘They belong in a museum!’

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This will backfire badly on her in about five minutes time.

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Kraden finds pretending to care about others to be hard work.

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Isaac is smart enough to know this means ‘You’re not getting any for a month if you don’t’.

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When Tolkien invented it, Mythril was used for swords and armour, the way you’d expect metal to be used. Apparently those clever dwarves learned how to make sack-like bags out of it…

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See? Nothing to it.

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Got it under control thanks.

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‘I wonder if collecting all four will let me transform into ‘Super Isaac’ or something…’

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We didn’t need the last prompt and we certainly didn’t need this one!

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‘Three down...’

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GAWD!!! We’re doing it alrea-

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Huh?

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‘Hey Jenna, did he have a heart attack or-‘

‘Damn it, I knew we should have gone back when we had the chance…’

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‘Perhaps we should have made a token effort to hide after all…’

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Burn! Wow, that was worth the whole trip.

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Great Kraden, you’re doing a superb job of comforting the frightened teenager.

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The mysterious masked man of mysterious mystery appears!

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Saturos and Menardi will make several promises to the masked man over the course of the game. They won’t keep a single one.
He will repeatedly fail to spot a pattern.

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You’ve got to admire how they negotiate; stand in front of the only exit and hold your friends hostage using a scythe.

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‘They wouldn’t be in danger of getting them at all if it wasn’t for you! You make things worse, that’s your thing! Just shut up and let me handle this!’

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‘He said it not me! Ignore the man behind the grey beard!’

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One threat, and Kraden’s firm opposition to the idea weakens considerably.

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*Gasp* But if the mysterious masked man of mysterious mystery removes his mystery mask, his mysterious mystery will mysteriously vanish!

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Felix!? How is that possible? We know he died, the screen whited out just before the boulder hit- Oh, I see how that works!

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‘I know, shocker, huh?’

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‘Well I thought we did, but we were a little busy running for our lives at the time.’

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*Gasp*

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Stop stalling and do it already.

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Oh man, this is going to make the holidays akward…

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‘…and to be honest, my associates are only going to keep adding to your stress.’

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‘We’d just finished beating some other kids around his age to within an inch of their lives. This one, however, looked gulible enough to use, so we took him with us.’

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‘Where they live, the Twilight series is very popular. It’s been… a difficult three years.’

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Back in the village, Jenna’s grandparents suddenly feel forgotten and unloved and have no idea why.

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‘…I was essentially kidnapped; it’s not like I went on a road trip.’

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Oh yeah, that whole ‘plot’ thing. What’s happening with that?

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‘Granted, he’d be killed instantly if he tried to stop us, but let’s just skate over that.’

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‘Don’t make me repeat myself.’

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Admire this awesome teleporting Psynergy that we’ll never have.

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Meet Alex; a powerful Mercury (water) adept who gleefully trolls just about everyone in the series of any plot importance. He’s also notable as he’s the only villain introduced in the first two games who survives to appear in the third game, thirty years from now. Think of him as the Wesker of the Golden Sun series; only not lame.

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Garet hands over the fundemental expressions of the building blocks of all reality to some rather dubious characters, and all he’s thinking about is how a morning’s work has gone to waste.

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Who didn’t see this coming?

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Garet, apparently.

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Garet apparently isn’t bothered if they don’t release Kraden.
I like the cut of his jib.

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‘I am altering the deal; pray I don’t alter it any further.’

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‘At least he was polite.’
‘Yeah, unlike Felix.’

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Even with his friends in mortal peril, Isaac won’t skip his ‘item collected’ pose.

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Indiana Jones logic kicks in again…

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To be honest, at this distance, the difference is pretty much academic.

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What’s wha- HOLY COW!

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Take a good look at the pseudo deity of the series. Yes, it is a large boulder with an eye in.

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Yes, actually, not that it makes it any less of a drug induced design decision on the part of the developers.

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Isn’t the purpose of a guardian to appear before the ancient relics are in the bags marked ‘swag’?

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So Felix is cool with leaving two of his childhood friends in the suddenly active volcano with the presumably angry, godlike guardian.

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‘The day we figure out how to safely extract it from an exploding volcano.’

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Nice to know someone cares.

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The Wise One sure is slow about starting to fling his god-like power around. I must admit, I’m a pretty slow starter in the mornings as well.

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‘Yes, get used to it.’

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He will; he won’t start developing the power to back up his ineffectual whinging until the next game.

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This is a token protest; bold defiance on Kraden’s part will completely fail to materialize.

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Jenna realises that her wimp of an older brother is about to cave like soggy cardboard.

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This is the second most anxious we’ll ever see Alex.

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Leaving two of his friends to a death his ‘allies’ manipulated them into gets bland indifference, but pushing his sister? You fiend!

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‘He’s always been a whining push over, why aren’t you used to it already?’

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Kraden obediently scampers towards the exit without so much as an apology for being directly responsible for Isaac and Garet being left to die in a volcanic eruption.

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Jenna: apparently the only person present who cares if Isaac and Garet live or die.

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No backward glance from Felix.

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Bye Alex.

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‘For future reference Garet; next time Kraden and I have a disagreement, this is why you should side with me.’
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby MEKristian » May 6th, 2012, 11:13 pm

Running tally of dicks we have we met this chapter: 4

This doesn't include Kraden; he's not a dick (at least yet), just really, really, really stupid.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » May 7th, 2012, 2:38 am

Kraden's irresponsibility always did annoy me. Seriously man, did it never occur to you that going to the sanctum is forbidden for a reason?
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Farmer_10 » May 7th, 2012, 5:00 am

I'm loving how this all seems to be a combination MST3K and actually giving Isaac a voice.
Sweet lady fate, why dost thou piss on me so?!
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby ShonenHero » May 7th, 2012, 10:18 pm

Kraden reminds me of those self-indulgent old people who've ceased to care about anything that doesn't operate within their tunnel vision, and I can empathize on not being fond of him.

Anyway, that was entertaining as always Joe! I can't wait for the next update. :)
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » June 9th, 2012, 12:07 pm

This update should have been up a while ago, but a mixture of work, studying and a certain amount of bone idleness got in the way..


UPDATE 4: EXPOSITION AVENUE
Spoiler: show
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‘Well, we’re about to die but at least we’ve had fulfilling lives. Remember the time that massive boulder fell? And that time your foot went through my roof? Good times.’

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‘Dibs on punching Kraden when we meet him in the afterlife. He’s old; it won’t take him long to join us.’

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‘Not really; what will be miraculous is if our ‘survival’ ends up being a long term thing.’

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‘Short term memory still working thanks.’

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Isaac, unlike Kraden, knows when to lie.

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‘Yeah, that Felix, he’s… really something.’

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‘Roger, captain optimism.’


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Garet really wants to make sure they’re both on the same page.

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Garet just failed a spot check.

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‘TURN AROUND.’

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‘Remain perfectly still Garet; its vision is based on movement.’

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‘Rats.’

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Garet doesn’t like people stealing his role as captain obvious.

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Garet likes taunting Eldritch abominations.

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Oh, that’s right; the erupting volcano. We really should stop forgetting about stuff like that.
In any case, the wise one uses his awesome power to halt the eruption…

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…it doesn’t take.

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We’ll start catching them all shortly.

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Isaac decides not to co-operate with the floating rock.

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Turns out that it didn’t need him to.

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This is like that bit in ‘Goblet of Fire’ where Dumbledore gets that look of triumph in his eyes; it sets up a hugely significant plot point that won’t pay off for a long time.

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‘…and if I had fingers to point, they’d pointing squarely at you idiots.’

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OKAY. We’ve established that the volcano is going to erupt; can we please move on?

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Really? It must have been used for some really terrible things to be sealed away. Like... inventing Disco or something.

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Damn it, forgot again.

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‘Yeah, if you want to use your godlike power to fix the platforms or-

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‘Wait, what you- HOLY CR- AAHHH-’

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‘-HHH!!!’ :puke:

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Isaac manages to fight back dry heaves long enough to answer in the afirmative.

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‘O-okay. I think I’m alright…

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Time for a dramatic dash out of the self destructing sanctu… wait.

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Oh right, that thing Isaac can do.

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Remember Isaac; Destination, Determination and Deliberation.

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I wonder if anyone back at the village has noticed anything yet…

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Oh man, busted.

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‘…and I’d just broken ground on my new condo too.’

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Uhh…

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And no one stopped them? These guys are the worst guardians ever!

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*Sigh*

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Poor Isaac and Garet; they escape death by magma only get caught red handed by an angry mob keen to deflect blame for their own ineptitude onto them.

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Just to clarify; Garet would rather re-enter an active volcano than own up to wrong doing.

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‘…someone fetch my ‘questioning’ blunt object.’

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‘The newsagents; I told the ninja monk before…. Are you buying this? Can look up now?’

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How do you start telling a story like this? ‘Well there was a moron and then some stuff happened…’

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It’s really not; just really, really stupid.

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‘…It’s the only building in the village with a stone roof, so it’s the only place safe from the falling rock that’s probably on its way.’

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Via the medium of interperative dance, Isaac and Garet explain just how stupid things got up on mount Aelph.

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‘I literally just finished explaining that.’

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‘Sure, why not?’

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‘I’m sure he’ll try.’

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He is still breathing isn’t he?

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‘…usually after heavy indulgence of illegal substances.’

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He is very old; are we sure he’s not senile?

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Explain to me again why we’re humoring this guy?

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‘No, that was us, remember?’

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Not in this game anyway…

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Not a new Twilight book?

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Must everyone in this series make at least one cryptic comment before they explain?

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Well, for a very loose definition of ‘guarding’.

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‘…be exposed to the threat of alchemy once again.’ (sorry, forgot to screencap the second part of his dialouge).

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Oh my goodness no; you people are the most inept idiots I have seen.

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Actually, inaction on the part of Vale’s villagers can only be a good thing.

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So by ‘save ourselves’ you mean send two teenagers to do it. I know they’re the only two competent people left in Vale now that Jenna has been kidnapped, but the sentiment is still pretty awful.

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Compared to ‘I’ll go to look for help in the evacuated part of the village’ Dora?

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Theological debate is something of a contradiction in terms at times like this.

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‘So our god has spoken…but we can ignore him if we want?’

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‘Well, the world ending is something I probably can’t sleep through so yeah, we’ll do it.
(I mentioned this part earlier; this is the second and last part where your choice of response makes any difference. Here you have the choice between continuing the game and getting a non standard game over. I won’t bother to show you that because all you get a screen with a bit of text on it saying that the world headed towards destruction.)

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Where was this stern resovle and backbone when the group of strangers was sneaking around the village?

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‘GET ON WITH IT! THAT’S MY COMMAND IDIOT’

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Well, Isaac is brave; Garet’s participation is a bit more reluctant.

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Yes, he is pretty stupid looking.

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I-what? Did you fail to hear what the floating rock with an eye said?

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I’m sensing a flub by the localisation department, as it didn’t say that. Nevertheless, the foreshadowing in this screenshot is accurate. Like most of the foreshadowing so far, however, it won’t come into play until late into the next game.

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The Great Healer alludes to tracking properties that the Mars star in no way possesses.

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Hah.

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True dat.

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Perhaps they should stop taking world saving advice from a man who appears to be a combination of a doctor and a priest?

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‘Time for my medication.’

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Those guys are the worst ninja monks ever…

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Par for the course for Vale really.

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And this, boys and girls, is what's known as a bad end to a bad day.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Flux_Blade » June 9th, 2012, 1:10 pm

I'm quite enjoying Joe, thanks for the update. So what did the original Japanese say for the "flub"?
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » June 13th, 2012, 5:56 am

I'm quite enjoying Joe, thanks for the update. So what did the original Japanese say for the "flub"?
I don't know what the original Japanese exchange was, but that scene has always seemed clumsy to me since the first time I played it. They see the wise one appear, he says his piece and dissappears. Dora confirms that everyone could see him and then the ninja monk asks what he said. Then the healer drops the piece of foreshadowing that the wise one didn't say.

I get the feeling that the wise one was supposed to say the bit about Felix and then the healer was meant to say something else.

I could be wrong though.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Wittgen » June 13th, 2012, 6:00 am

Find me a copy of the Japanese Golden Sun script and I'd be happy to check that hunch for you.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » July 7th, 2012, 1:05 pm

Find me a copy of the Japanese Golden Sun script and I'd be happy to check that hunch for you.
Thanks; I'm looking for the script. If I find it I hand it over to you.

UPDATE 5: THE CASE OF THE MISSING ROD
Spoiler: show
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These kids ought to be a little less carefree; if Isaac and Garet fail, the villagers will probably send them next.

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It’s been weeks since the last update, but for the player it was an immediate transition. Nevertheless, we’re treated to a recap.

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Garet dies a little inside.

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It’s lovely that everyone sees fit to crush Garet’s self esteem before sending him to save the world.


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Dora hasn’t shown up because she’s upset at her son leaving for a dangerous adventure after she’s already lost her husband. Never mind that her son might feel more than a little down in the dumps about her absence. However, I’m not inclined to be sympathetic to Isaac because he does exactly the same thing to his own son thirty years from now, with even less justification.

Anyway, the catch beads are the first of many psynergy bestowing items we’ll be picking up throughout the course of our madcap adventures. Catch psynergy allows us to grab objects from a distance.


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‘Songs of Praise’ starts in ten minutes, so the mayor is keen to get these young whippersnappers gone.

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‘Come to the overworld; feel like a giant!’


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Wait, what’s that?


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‘Holy sh**! It talked!’


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‘The gypsy was right, this is how I die!’


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‘Wh-where does it show?’


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‘…Go on.’


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So yes, the first of the many djinn we’ll be gathering together throughout our journey. I should point out that not all of them will be as cooperative as Flint here. Some, we’ll have to beat into submission and some will be met as a random encounter in obscure parts of the overworld map. The way they work-


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Oh, right, the unskippable tutorial. *Sigh* This’ll take a while; why don’t you all go make a sandwhich or something and we’ll pick up later.





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Fun fact; if you’re hammering buttons to try and speed through a mandatory tutorial you may select NO by accident and have to sit through the tutorial again.


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Flint, as all djinn do, hides himself on our person somehow. To be honest, I don’t like to think about the mechanics of that process too much. Anyway, to summarise what djinn will do for us;
Each djinn is assigned to a party member, boosting their stats and changing their class. If you assign a djinn to a person with a different elemental affinity, they gain all kinds of crazy new powers. We won’t be doing this; we’ll be doing the more boring, but more reliable, strategy of assigning the same element djinn to the same element party members. This will pay off, because doing so boosts the character’s stats much more than the alternative.

Besides which, each djinn has a unique ability that can be unleashed in battle.

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Like so. Doing so will put the djinn into stand by mode, which means we loose the stat benefits it gives, but it can be used for summoning.

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Like so. The more djinn you have on standby the more powerful a summon you call. You need four djinn of one element to summon that element’s most powerful summon. Once they’ve been used to summon, they go into recovery mode for a few turns before they’re ready to use again.
‘Thanks, now we know!’

And knowing is half the battle.


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Having got the illicit business of game mechanics out the way for now, let’s get back to our quest to SAVE THE WORLD ™
Travelling south, we find ourselves approaching the lovely town of Vault. Now, as we’re travelling with the vague guide lines of ‘the cosmic keystone you have might do something at some point’ we don’t really know if we’re even heading in the right direction. Still, Saturos and Menardi don’t exactly blend into a crowd; it won’t take us long to find out of they passed through here.


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As they head towards the town, a group of wagons led by a man with a passing resemblance to a walrus exit the town in a hurry.


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And off to Kalay they-


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Huh, sound really carries on this continent.


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‘No! Without the bridge, we’ll never be able to cross the river that I’m taller than is wide!’


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I don’t why we’re still listening; I’m sure none of this will be relevant in about five minutes time.


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Lovely; Weyard really is a sink or swim world isn’t it?

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He can do the table cloth trick without fail. Well, nine times out of ten. Everyone has off days right?


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Mount Aelph, wanting to show that it can do a trick too, tries to hit a walrus shaped merchant with volcanic rock at a distance of several miles. It misses and Hammet is not impressed.

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Hammet decides that the best course of action would be to head closer to the erupting volcano. That’s not the only questionable element of his plan either.

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There will be no further falling rocks from Mount Aleph. Hammet’s decision to head towards Lunpa, on the other hand,will result in an entire late game sidequest.

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Well that was an interesting diversion.

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I couldn’t think of a witty caption or interesting comment for this screenshot. Blame the ice cream van in the distance that kept playing the Benny Hill theme tune on loop while I was writing this.

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‘See them? One of their wagons ran over my foot!’

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Well, that was easy. The logical next step would be to ask this woman which way they went and set off in hot pursuit. Of course, anyone who has ever played an RPG knows that we won’t get very far with an approach like that.

So putting the plight of our friend (plus Kraden) and the fate of the world to one side for now; let’s investigate the case of ‘Ivan and the missing rod’.

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Wait, it only burned a specific section of the thatched roof? How does that wo-
No, one mystery at a time; let’s find this Ivan guy.

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She seems remarkably blasé about it. I’m guessing none of her stuff went missing.

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Let’s go see the mayor about these thefts.

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So Ivan is banished from his home until he can find a rod that may or may not even still be in the town? Lloyd Irving had to accidently cause his home town to be attacked before he was banished.
MEKristian? You might want to add Hammet to that tally of dicks you were keeping.

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He’s not really trying too hard to help Ivan, is he? He hasn’t even got out of his seat.

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So this is Ivan huh? Wait, what’s he doing? Does he really ha-

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Huh, that was… weird. We need to talk to this guy more than ever now. After all we ha-

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That’s getting creepy. Okay, so he can use psy-

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Did you do this to Hammet too? I’m starting to understand why he was looking for an excuse to leave you behind.

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‘We can both juggle, I feel I can trust you with my bank details.’

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I can’t quite see how doing this will help us towards our goal of saving the world, but I feel confident that I will be vindicated in time.

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‘Don’t you da-‘

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‘Frightens? No. Annoys? Big fat tick in the yes column.’

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See above comment.

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So many slash fics were born from this moment.

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Either Ivan’s mind reading only picks up surface thoughts, or Garet’s mind is a quiet place.

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A remarkable deduction given that these are the first people with powers like him he’s ever met. Then again, Ivan is the smart guy of the party, so it fits with his character I guess.

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‘All I learned was that you wanted me to stop reading your mind. Your privacy hasn’t exactly been violated.’

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‘Hey, hold on, save it for the slash fics…’

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*Sigh* ‘Fine, I admit it, I did have that fantasy about Jenna and your older sister. Don’t judge me.’

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All detectives should be mind readers.

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Ivan is a Jupiter adept, which grants him the mighty powers of wind and lightning. Also, this allows him to read minds. Not quite sure how that last one fits in with the first two, but I’m not going to question it. That would be like holding a winning lottery ticket and complaining that the odds against it are so high that you shouldn’t have won.


Anyhoo; let’s get on with the job of violating people’s minds for the sake of thwarting petty theft.

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Moving right along…

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I wonder…

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Who in these screenshots could possibly be a bad guy?

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Villains; colour coded for your convenience.

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‘I only said hello, but yes, I was working up to that.’

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I’m from Vale; we prefer mob justice to new fangled concepts like ‘proof’.

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Gotcha!
Wait, he said ‘we’, so where are the others?

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Jessica Fletcher would not approve.

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‘Hi Guys!’

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This isn’t suspicious at all.

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They don’t know he can read their mind, so why are they so creeped out by him?

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Get back here!

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Well this is embarrassing; we can channel the power of the very elements themselves and we can’t catch the fantasy equivalent of two hoodies.

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Careful Ivan, Garet doesn’t like other people taking over his captain obvious duties.

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‘Direct your question to the actual mind reader.’

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‘So keep doing what I’ve been doing?’

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Okay, it’s time for… more of the same really. Where did I put that intermission video?



Yikes! Definitely the wrong video. Anyway, back to the action;


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Powerful stuff; you’d have to be made of stone not to be moved by it.

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Isn’t the whole point of mind reading to find out what they’re thinking instead of just the cliff notes version? *sigh*

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I mean, talk about a needle in a haysta…
Haystack.
…Wait a second.

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Let’s have a looksie.

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Let’s see what’s behind crate number one…

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I see. We’ll just ignore the plot hole of no one noticing three outsiders to the town climbing onto the roof of the inn and climbing through a hole on several occasions.

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Boss battle sense tingling…

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Being allowed to go home; that’s what’s in it for him.

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Yes, like ten minutes ago, does Twitter exist in Weyard or something?

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The whole noble/gentleman thief idea always annoyed me. I really enjoyed it in ‘Going Postal’ when Pratchett deconstructed the idea by having Mr. Pump calculate how many people ‘loveable rougue’ Moist Von Lipwig had indirectly killed by ruining their livelihoods with his cons.

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Don’t you just hate those ‘evil’ thieves? They’re almost as bad as those ‘evil’ murderers.

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What? No! That’s like saying ‘Hitler was a genocidal mass murderer, so you should let me off for arson.’

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‘But you’re not going to return the stuff are you?

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Oh, this is going to be precious.

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Say hello to the first winnable boss battle of the game. Our opponents are non psynergy using humans, which means there is something very important to note about them.

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Different monsters are weak against different types of psynergy. You’ll note the triple exclamation marks on the listed amount of damage. This indicates super effective attacks. Non psynergy using humans are weak against all types of psynergy.

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So this fight is no problem? Almost correct, but they do have a couple of tricks up their sleeves. For a start they will occasionally use items like herbs and smoke bombs. The leader of the group, the bandit (the one in the middle) has something going for him as well.

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Namely, that his weapon is an artifact which basically a one of a kind weapon which deals more damage. Each artifact also has its own indivdual special attack; in this case, ‘Slice’.

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But ultimately, they go down fairly quickly.

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Which also earns us the aforementioned artifact. Some thoughtless people might claim this makes us no better than them, but there’s a key difference between this and what they did. Namely, that we beat them within an inch of their lives first.

This isn’t the ideal stopping point for this update, but once again, it’s getting stupidly long, so we’ll pick things up again next update.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby MEKristian » July 7th, 2012, 2:27 pm

Eh... leaving a child alone in a village when he can't leave it isn't nearly as dick-ish as what we'll see from the previous four characters. But, tentatively:

Dick Count: 5
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Farmer_10 » July 7th, 2012, 3:45 pm

We didn't steal that sword. We forcefully comandeered it in the name of a higher purpose.
Sweet lady fate, why dost thou piss on me so?!
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby DIT_grue » July 7th, 2012, 7:31 pm

Nonsense, you can tell it's alright for us to be doing this because we're wearing white ha-

Hang on, who forgot to pack the hats? (Let's blame Garet.)

Or possibly we should be looking for a hat thief as well... :jest: :bighat :dupe: :police :halo ... no, obviously if there was anyone like that around here, these good people would have been affected.



( :wink: )
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Wittgen » July 9th, 2012, 7:36 pm

If someone attacks you, it's OK to take their weapons after beating them up in self-defense. I mean, you can't just let people who were trying to murder you keep their weapons.
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Re: Let's Play: Golden Sun

Unread postby Joe » October 5th, 2012, 2:23 pm

August and September were very busy, but now I'm hopefully back to semi regular updates. I'm sure you're all beside yourselves with joy.


UPDATE 6:TEAM SPIRIT
Spoiler: show
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I don’t think his arm is supposed to bend that way.

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Garet; champion of justice.

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‘I’m going to say…Comic-Con.’

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‘We’ll probably find them at Comic-Con; or at least some people cosplaying them.’

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‘STOP THAT!’

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Ivan’s curiously understated response to the sheer wackiness of the events at Sol Sanctum is interrupted by the arrival of the angry mob.

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They really won’t forget it; in fact they’ll go to quite absurd lengths for revenge. But I’m getting massively ahead of myself.

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He does actually give us something quite nice.

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What? How… how can you not know what’s been stolen?

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‘It belongs in a museum!’
Wait, did I already do that joke?

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All two of them; epic crime wave ladies and gents.

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And they all lived happily ever after!

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Oh, right, that thing that everyone somehow knows about already.
I must admit that, falling rocks or not, the fact that EVERYONE knows that a rich merchant shouldn’t go near Lunpa makes Hammet something of a moron.

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I like how no one’s waiting for a ransom demand as confirmation or anything. I’m picturing a massive ransom showing up in Lunpa to general puzzlement.

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Translation: Late game subplot.

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I imagine Garet saying his line in quite a catty tone. It must be quite galling that people always remember the name of your mute friend, but not yours.

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The guy who rode past an entire city of criminals… after abandoning you. You still want to rescue him.

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We weren’t going to offer to help you.

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‘You know you can’t rescue what’s his name. Why not help us, you know, save the world?’

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‘Wait, that’s not what I-‘

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‘No, I meant you-‘

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‘Twerp.’

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Thank you, it’s nice to receive a gesture of support from someone. Granted, I’m not sure how much that support will actually amount to given that two missing objects amounts to a crime wave here; but the sentiment is certainly welcome.
Anyway, you know that sword we got from the bandit?

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Turns out that the game designers didn’t anticipate players upgrading their weaponry in Vale. The only advantage it has over our current swords is its special attack, which occurs randomly based on the character’s luck stat. So there’s really only one thing to do with it;

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Pawn it; cha-ching!

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I like how the town prison is directly beneath the mayor’s house. I guess if he feels like punishing wrong-doers, he just stomps on the floor at two in the morning.

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Hmm, looks very secure, I’m sure this is the last we’ll hear of these guys.
Anyway, enough fooling around, world to save and all that. Let’s stop by the mayor’s house and then hit the road.

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Wo-hoo! Directions and drugs that defy death! I take it back; Vault is an awesome place to have on your side!

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GODZILLA!!!

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Right, let’s do this.

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Who puts these things here?

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You don’t even need psynergy to get past it. I suspect they designed this puzzle ten minutes before the end of the work day.

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With the awesome power of psynergy, no obstacle can block our way!

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Nghh!! COME…ON!!!

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Psynergy really is turning out to be an over-rated power isn’t it?

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Don’t tell me he got lost on the way to Lunpa...

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Ivan gives no explanation as to his presence; just marches in and gets on with it. I should be annoyed but that’s enough of a Sam Vimes approach, I can’t help but respect it.

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‘Well, we tried using supernatural powers but the vegetation defeated them…’

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‘Okay, okay, geez I didn’t know you’d been standing watching for that long!’

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Come to think about it, couldn’t Garet have just burned the ivy away?

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*Sigh* When removing Ivy from a stump counts as a major victory, it’s a good sign that you’re not ready to save the world yet…

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This should be good.

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Okay, I know I’ve ripped on how everyone seemed to know Hammet went to Lunpa and got captured within minutes of it happening (and how it all somehow happened in the time it took Isaac and co to track down a trio of inept thieves), but Ivan’s claim deserves special dissection.

He is claiming that, in the time it took Isaac and Garet to travel to the Goma cave entrance (not even the cave proper, the entrance), he travelled all the way north to Lunpa, made a serious effort to find a way into the city and then made his way all the way from Lunpa to Goma cave.

A more realistic explanation is that he left Vault, got cold feet, and decided to go with Isaac after all.

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A very stirring line of reasoning indeed. Of course, an equally acceptable reason for wanting to help save the world would be ‘I live there’, but you know kids and their drama.

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‘Nice to know we were your second choice. We need that kind of commitment.’

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For real this time.

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Tune in next time for cave based japery, our first Mars Djinn and the ruler of a town of lumberjacks who inexplicably has a Scottish accent.
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