Name: Golden Sun
Platform: Gameboy Advance/SP/Lite
Pros: The story is wonderful, summons are beautiful, and the sidequests are fun without being too tedious. The bosses are hard (especially the hidden optional boss, OMG) but not too hard if you have a properly leveled and equipped team. One funny thing is that you can do two dungeons out of order, because other wise you'd have to go through dungeon 1, fight the boss, up to dungeon 2, fight through that, beat the boss, get a special item, back to Boss 1, heal him, and then proceed. I always do it Dungeon 2 with lots of leveling with high-level monsters, then down to Dungeon 1 (with bonus final party character I picked up, making it a little easier!), fight the boss, heal him, and move on from there, making less back and forth. The colors are vivid, and the story is rich and deep.
Cons: None. Just kidding, haha. It's an old game, and the sprite animation is a little blocky, but sometimes I need a guide to find the Djinn I need (important for the sequel!!) even though I've played it at least four times.
Name: Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Platform: Gameboy Advance/SP/Lite
Pros: You play as the "enemy" in this game, meeting up with the first party about 2/3 of the way through the game. There are bonus items you get if you can transfer data from the first game if you did certain optional sidequests along the way. This game introduces cross-elemental summons, but you have to go looking for them! The hardest boss in the series, Dullahan, is hidden deep in a temple, and he is soooo hard unless you're properly leveled, and even then, it took me a good TWO HOURS to fight him! But the Iris summon is so worth it! Massive damage and full party heal/revive! The banter is funny in this one two, and you get sweet little old man Kraden and my poor, confused baby, Peirs. So much more worldbuilding. Puzzles are harder, but much mroe rewarding.Also, you get Briggs the cranky pirate, his wife who is wonderful and also made of sass, his grandma, Obaba, who is an ancient blacksmith, and his little son Eoleo, who is a baby, and the cutest.
Cons: Dullahan took me TWO WHOLE HOURS to fight. Also, if you missed more than one Djinn of any element in the first game, you're in trouble, because you can't unlock the temple he's in. You need ALL 72 (18 per element, 9 per character) to open it, and the second game only gives you one make-up freebie if you skipped any. Also, SO MUCH BACK AND FORTH travelling. It would be okay towards the end, but until you get the wings for your ship, sailing is SOOOO slow. All of these are worth it though.
Name: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Platform: Nintendo DS
Pros: Closure for long-time fans who wondered how things went. It's beautifully animated, and you get to meet the children of most of the previous games' parties. You also get to see Eoleo again, but instead of being a baby, he's a pirate like his dad, and a 30-something helping these 17-20 year olds travel the world because none of them have a ship, and he has some avenging to do anyway. The puzzles are much easier for the most part. They also introduced weapon proficiency. The more you use a weapon with its melee attack, the better you get with it, and the more often you can do special attacks. The color schemes are beautiful, summons are reanimated and gorgeous, and there are still the sidequests you've come to know and love.
Cons:THIS SEQUEL TOOK TEN YEARS. Also, for a long time player, the drastically reduced difficulty is a little disappointing, but it's still worth it. Also ends on a cliffhanger, and it looks like they're not making a new one, given that there's been no news.
