Sol Sanctum in Mt Aleph is a source of a powerful energy known as Psynergy which can be used by certain people known as Adepts. The Sanctum is disturbed by nefarious Adepts Menardi and Saturos which results in a storm, causing rocks to fall on the mountain town of Vale. A young boy Felix falls in the river and is thought to be lost, along with other dead villagers including Isaac's father.
Three years later, Isaac and his friend Garet want to learn about Psynergy and become more proficient as they feel guilty about not been able to save the day during the events of the storm.
Alongside elderly scholar, Kraden, They venture into Mt Aleph and find the four elemental stones. Menardi and Saturos await to pounce with the help of another team member Alex, and assisted by Felix! (An early twist). They manage to steal 3 out of the 4 stones and kidnap Jenna and Kraden. The Wise One (a rock with an eye) tells them that if the 4 stones are placed in the four lighthouses, this will seal the fate of the world. It is then up to Isaac and Garet to save the world. So begins the usual RPG tale of a group of youngsters save the world.
Despite the great set-up, the story never really progresses from there. The group venture from one city to the next, solving problems here and there in order to proceed the quest. Only two lighthouses are visited since the story is split over two games (Golden Sun: The Lost Age).
The first thing you notice about the game is how amazing it looks. Developers Camelot really got the best out of the system. The main world looks great, but the battle system is where I was most impressed. Your characters are shown holding the weapon you have equipped, each attack is well animated, and the camera pans around the battle to emphasise the attacks.
In each battle, you can attack with your weapon, use Psynergy (magic attacks), use Djinn which provide different magic attacks (The Djinn are the most distinct part of the game, so is worth explaining in detail in the next section) or Defend. If a monster is defeated and you have issued an attack to that monster with another character, then they will automatically defend instead of choosing another target. I actually liked this aspect of the battles, since it makes you consider your attacks (strength and target), rather than mashing buttons to blindly attack.
Djinn are little creatures that are found as you play (28 in total). Some are basically mandatory, others require solving a puzzle and others are found via exploration. There are four types representing the different elements; Mercury (Water), Mars (Fire), and Venus (Earth), Jupiter (Wind). Each of your characters has one of these alignments, but you can equip the Djinn to anyone you want, and switch them freely. When possessing a Djinn, this changes the characters base stats and can change the Psynergy available to them. In battle, you can basically use the Djinn to cause an effect (each Djinn is different, they may boost stats, heal, attack (possibly cause a status effect etc.). Once used, they go to their 'standby' state. These can then be summoned for a powerful attack (a Final Fantasy-style summon when using two or more). After a few turns, they return to their 'Set' state, ready to be used once more.
It's an interesting feature because you have to remember that Djinn boost your stats when equipped, so using them causes them to temporarily be unequipped, but with the trade-off that they can be summoned for the powerful attack.
Outside of battle, you will be required to solve puzzles using your Psynergy. You will be using Move to push statues, Frost to freeze puddles into pillars you can use as platforms, Grow to increase the height of vines to use as ladders, Lift to raise heavy boulders and more.
I played this game when I was young and I seem to remember thinking the puzzles were really clever, but they are pretty simplistic and fairly obvious.
Another negative of the game is that the map is very linear. The over-world map has lots of branching paths but they lead to dead ends. There are only two optional side-quests towards the end of the game but they are basically secrets because you aren't explicitly told to do them.
Isaac is a silent protagonist that responds by nodding or shaking his head. It's more of an illusion of choice to the dialogue though, although can be humorous to try and lie or give the NPCs a disheartening response.
Upon completion, you are given a password you can use to transfer your progress into the new game (stats, levels, Djinn and equipment etc.).
Overall, Golden Sun is one of the best games on the Game Boy Advance, although isn't quite as good as I remember.