After 7 years the wait is over and Golden Sun returns with a solid sequel to some of the best GBA rpgs.
It all starts after 30 years after the first 2 games but theres nothing to worry about not understanding the story as there is an encyclopedia with everything you will need to know to catch up and every time you encounter special red keywords you can read exactly what that term means. Even when you start the game there is a quick recap of what has happened so it can be said that the story is very well explained. It also can be said that the story is quite good and will keep you coming back for more just to know where it will lead you next.
The only little problem is the amount of talking involved which may annoy some players but after the early in the game the talking will be less. It is true that the previous GS games had plenty of reading segments but DD has even more probably but it only gets annoying at the begining. You also can show some emotions during this conversations though it wont affect the story itself in any way other than some different responses.
When it comes to gameplay itself GS is a mixture of battles and puzzle solving segments. Each character has certain abilities that will be needed to solve each puzzle and each puzzle can be quite inventive. Battles play out in standard rpg fasion with commands like attack, psyenergy(magic), summons, items and the like. As you progress you will have to find djins, which are quite helpful inside battles and useful to customize your characters skills and stats. Inside of battle you can use djins to attack so that they can become on standby and ready to be summoned. Combat and puzzle solving are very enjoyable though compared to the first two, both of them are quite easy. Puzzles are pretty straight forward and battles are very easy, even boss fights are a breeze. 1 time I beated a boss in 1 turn and yes it is a little bit dissappointing. Only near the end of the game the difficulty ramps up. And yes there are random battles but they are not annoying as the encounter rate is quite low except when you are running in the map but there are items that help lower the rate if you get annoyed but battle are so good you will like to battle most of the time.
GSDD has to be the most flashy rpg ever in a very good way. Psyenergy attacks, summons and even normal attack look incredible even on the little ds hardware. 3D models look also pretty good but only in battle you will see the ds pushed to its limits. The ingame music is also great though all of the story sequences are limited to only text.
In the end GSDD is a worthy sequel to the gba games with as rich story, great battles and a 30 hour adventure. There are some issues compared to the first two games but they pale in comparison to its strenghts. Lets hope that the next one will continue to make us rpg lovers happy and yes there is a next one coming but you will have to finish this one to know why.