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Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Friday 10 December, 2004 // I stopped playing this game on: Wednesday 23 February, 2005
Current opinion of this game
Meh. Too easy, long, and not enough depth.
February 23, 2005 01:55:24 PM
It's over. At last! I can now breathe freely again, my gamer honor remains untarnished and I can move on to better games. And yet, I wonder how this game got such good reviews? Is it just me? Weird final note, when the game ends (after all the credits roll and whatnot) you are given the option to save. However, it is a saved game you can't play. You're not allowed to load it up again! (you are given this warning while saving). How bizarre! Why would they do something like that? I know there is a link-battle mode for which it might be useful..but still. The completist in me (I know of a few dungeons and places that I did not finish) wants to get all the Djinn, items, etc. Why should I have to do it all right before the final battle? Anyways, for the record, my playtime was a little over 46 hrs. and my characters made it to level 37 (plus or minus 1 level). Pretty good, I think.
February 22, 2005 09:45:19 PM
45 hrs. I've reached the top of the last lighthouse and have fought (and lost!) the final battle twice already. Gasp! Yup. This one last fight is definitely a lot harder than all the rest. The final enemy has some REALLY nasty attacks that can totally destroy a well-planned strategy. I guess I'll have to do some optimization at this moment...sigh. Actually, the suckiest part of all is that right before the final fight there is a really long, unskippable cut scene. It drags on, and on, and on. I can't save after the cut-scene so I've been forced to watch it twice already (and I'm really dreading the next time). Sigh.
February 18, 2005 04:17:17 PM
43 hrs. I'm excited only because I'm at the end of the game. I'm currently standing outside the last lighthouse. I suppose that once I clear it, it'll be game over. I really hope so. Really. Please, can this game end soon?
February 14, 2005 04:20:59 PM
40 hrs. I just finished a major long dungeon. (not hard, just long...) I've lit one of the lighthouses, which is a really important thing (in the story). A semi-cool thing that happened is that my party of 4 has increased by 4! Basically, there is another group of adventurers wandering about (I think they are the ones you play with in the first game?) who have all these relationships with the characters I'm controlling. It is kind of confusing because I think I missed a lot of the story due to not playing Golden Sun 1. Anyways. They've joined my party so I've spent massive amounts of time buying new equipment and stuff. Sigh.
February 10, 2005 03:36:46 PM
34 hrs. I could swear I am really close to the end. However, the other side of the continent I'm currently on is annoyingly full of random encounters. Sigh. I've spent a lot of time traveling all over the map in hopes of figuring out what to do and where to go next. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found the "starting point" even if I have linked up all the other things I have to do later. (I think). I'm really itching to get started on the next Metroid game for GBA, but I'll be strong!
February 3, 2005 03:59:20 PM
Yay! I've defeated the boss and made some decent progress. I've reached Lemuria. This is nice because it is one of the few "standout" places on the map that was clearly an important goal to reach. It is an island that is shrouded by mist and requires you to solve a weird maze to reach. Time also seems to pass by more slowly in Lemuria and there are lots of story developments. (in other words, lots of unskippable dialogue). Anyways, it seems that some sort of end is in sight. Saved game is at a wee bit over 33 hrs.
February 2, 2005 12:50:40 AM
I'm on the verge of a major boss fight. Contrary to the rest of the game, some boss fights are actually challenging. I'm kind of looking forward to this next one since I don't think I'll be able to beat it on my first try. At this point in time I'm kind of endeared to this game. Call me crazy, but I'm kind of starting to like it in a non-rational kind of way. (it's definitely not that the game has gotten any better). Weird, huh?
January 28, 2005 01:25:03 PM
Saved game is at 30+ hours. Woohoo?! Anyways, I had spent a little too much time wandering around aimlessly and was curious about some items in my inventory. So, I logged on to gamefaqs.com to find out. Well, to my surprise, I had been to a "secret" area that was not covered in the two FAQs I checked! Wow! Am I cool or what? Basically, there are a series of items you can obtain by talking (mind reading, actually) to different animals. Each animal keeps an item and gives you another..which you give to another animal..and so on. As far as I can remember I got a red bandanna somewhere (a penguin?) which I later gave to a cow, who gave me some milk. The milk was enjoyed by a dog who gave me a little turtle. The little turtle was given to a large turtle who, not having an item for me, took me to his "secret place". This turned out to be an island with goodies and a Djinni! Cool!
January 25, 2005 01:30:44 PM
I've reached 27 hours on the saved game and I'm still plodding along. One of the improvements I've noticed is that there are less random encounters. I HATE random encounters (especially the unavoidable ones) so this is a real improvement in my eyes. (also, given that the fights are real cakewalks, it feels like I'm wasting a lot less time). In any case, I'm getting pretty anxious about finishing this game by now, and the worst part is I've only explored about half of the world! (I can see a map of the whole thing...) Sigh.
January 21, 2005 05:03:46 PM
You'd be surprised to know that, given that I've played more than 22 hours of this game, it isn't really that good. I'm in it just to see the ending. (and so as not to lose face over an unfinished game...) The summary thus far (lost forever thanks to the DB destruction) is: a) The game is too easy. i) This makes the whole combat/djinn system rather pointless. Why bother to min/max when you pretty much win anyways? b) It looks really nice. c) It can't make up its mind about being an RPG or an action/puzzler like the Zelda games. d) I don't know what all the hype was about.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA)