I am now halfway through my second day in my second semester of community college, and so far I have learned one thing: how to count in binary. LOOK AT ME GO 0 1 10 11 100 101 110 111 1000 1001 1010 OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH. I'm sure you have better things to do than watch me count to ten.
In other news, I've been playing Golden Sun more than I ought to. This is mostly due to the fact that every ten minutes of actual gameplay is complemented by twenty minutes of taaaaaaalking. I believe that the problem comes from the fact that the game is directed towards kids, and so all the more complicated puzzles need to be explained before you attempt them. Nothing is more frustrating than staring at a psynergy puzzle, realizing that you have to put the fires out, and then approaching the fires only to be interrupted by little miss know-it-all Karis to tell you to put the fires out. I'm all for direction in games, but when you tell me the solutions, it loses its grandeur.
Another problem I have with this game is that there are many summons and Djinn that are optional. This would be fine, until you pair that with the fact that there are "points of no return" that you reach every couple hours of play. This means that if you missed that hard-to-reach Djinni or obscure summon and then pass the PoNR, you don't get it. At all. Ever. With the amount of extensive programming available to developers today, there should never be anything in a game that you only get one chance at (I'm looking at you, Zodiac Spear). There should always be a redemption point.
Other than those minor complaints, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a solid RPG. It has a compelling battle system that, in the case of boss encounters, really makes you feel like you earned victory. The puzzles are challenging when you're not being told how to solve them, and the built-in encyclopedia (looks like more companies are taking hints from Bioware) makes the world more interesting for lore-lovers like myself.
Overall, I give this game an 8.
And since this is my first review, here's my scoring system!
10 - Not perfect, but a pinnacle of its genre. Game developers strive to be this awesome.
9 - Has minor flaws, but nothing that really detracts from the experience.
8 - Probably has one or two flaws that stand out, but overall it is very enjoyable.
7 - The pros outweigh the cons for this above-average game.
6 - Lackluster story, graphics, or soundtrack distract you from solid gameplay more often than they should.
5 - An average game. Try before you buy.
4 - This game has serious flaws. Only play it if you absolutely love the series.
3 - Not even worth considering.
2 - People will reference this game for years to come when comparing other games' shittiness.
1 - This is not a game. It is an abomination.
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