The Dark Dawn is here

And no one noticed. How disappointing.

I'm really liking it so far. While it does have a few issues, it still nonetheless captures most of what I like about the original Golden Sun games. And it just seems to get more and more interesting as I go.

The new Weapon Skill system is interesting, and it is nice that it is giving expanded use to weapon attacks, including the non-artifact ones.

Party members and Djinn are joining far more regularly than they did in the original games, which is a nice thing, as it makes progression smoother. Hunting down Djinn and summons is just as fun as always.

Not sure how far I am in the game yet. It feels like I'm not that far in (despite 15 hours on the game clock), but the rate at which some of the things are increasing (especially the Encyclopedia entries, which I have read over half of) are somewhat worrying. I hope this game isn't too short.

There are also certain harbingers of ill tidings that may indicate that this game is not going to be the end of the saga, but that we may get a continuation, much as the original continued into The Lost Age. I'll have to figure that out either.

The characters and locations are just awesome though. A lot has changed in 30 short years, and it is hard to believe that all of the places I've been so far are in southeast Angara, but it is so much fun exploring, talking (no mind reading, unfortunately :(), and fighting that I can forgive the extremely rapid changes.

I've been waiting for this game. Considering I never finished The Lost Age, I need to let my appetite for traditional RPGs whet again at some point before I dig in and find myself too bored with the old fashioned feel. It would be unfair to the game

That was a quiet release, I thought something as awesome as Golden Sun would get a little more publicity.

This is the only game I've been putting Djinn of different elements on Adepts. PUtting mostly water and a bit of Fire on Tyrel, my Fire Adept, has basically turned him into a Paladin with some decent dark magic. He's got Guard and Protect, Ply and Wish Well, Some Fire Magic from his natural Adept class and the Arid Heat Gem as well as Deluge, a beefy water spell. My main is the only one with a straight element of Djinn, Earth, while everyone else is a bit of a mix, and no usefulness is lost amongst my allies. It's a beautiful thing. Also, I've got eight characters now. :cool:

How's using psynergy with the touch screen? It seemed a little wonky when I played the demo.

As for the ending you're worried about, (SPOILER)apparently you're right, it's another Golden Sun 1-style cliffhanger. That's what the reviews are saying. I don't know what actually happens in the ending, but yeah. Get ready for Golden Sun: Light Dusk, I guess.

L and R can 'lock on' to targets within range that you can manipulate. Even with the stylus there is a little bit of auto-aiming going on.

The stylus works, though I'm just sticking with classic controls.

Yes, you can use Psynergy with just the buttons if you want, and it has very nice targeting. Psynergy will auto-aim to valid targets (and, if there is nothing in range that can be affected, will cancel without spending your PP), and you can cycle through them with L and R. Then you can use the D-Pad to choose direction (for something like move) or just A to confirm for things like Growth or Cold Snap (the new Frost Psynergy).

Most Psynergies now have much more functionality. Growth is a default Psynergy for Matthew, and is used throughout the game fairly regularly, and plant ladders are very common (and, once you make them, they are permanent, a welcome change). Arid Heat (what was once Piers's vastly underused Parch Psynergy) is used in many more places, and has combat uses as well (as well as higher level versions once you equip the gem). Whirlwind has more uses and is used more often. They just really expanded some of the limited functionality Psynergies, and it works great.