Golden Sun - Beginner's Guide

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Beginner's Guide - Introduction

First time playing Golden Sun? Lost your game manual? Well, nevertheless, Golden Sun's controls and options are easy to learn, so you'll be commanding your party to do the best choices from your personal view. There is no right or wrong way of playing, games are for fun aren't they!

So, hopefully these sections will help out a beginning player. I'll tell you the things that are obvious to the average Golden Sun player once they get the hang of playing.

The Story

The Four Elements

Battle Actions

Stat Attributes

Healing

Defending

Status Effects - Negative Debuffs

Status Effects - Positive Buffs

Shopping

The Story

From the Golden Sun instruction book:

The Four Elements

Hmm.. yes! In Golden Sun there are four elements: earth, fire, wind, and water. These can also be called respectfully: venus, mars, jupiter, and mercury. Sometimes you'll hear water, sometimes you'll hear mercury, but just remember that they're generally the same thing.

In either game, you will always have an earth, fire, wind, and water adept. One of each. So your party is fairly balaced when you start out, although you don't get all four at the same time. You should also take special care of those who can replenish HP or raise others. Anyone can use items, but it's sometimes best to rely on magic to, let's say, revive because items like Water of Life are rare and are generally unbuyable in stores. You'll earn them through doing good deeds or sometimes they'll pop in artifact shops in the weapon and armor shops. They shouldn't really be used unless it's a huge emergency.

Each element does have their weaknesses, and this is usually expressed in the endings of battle sentences. For example, let's say that Jenna casted an elemental spell against a human. All human enemies (usually non-adepts) are weak against any elemental attacks. You'll see at the bottom something like this:

Okay, notice the ending after the word "damage". Because it was a super effective attack, the sentence recieves three exclamation marks (!!!). You be careful when the enemy does this to you and keep repeating if you do this to the enemy. Either raise defense or resistance if this does become a huge problem to you.

Next is a normal damage. It's pretty neutral so it's not too life threatening. You'll know that the attack done by you or the enemy looks something like this:

This time damage is expressed with a single exclamation mark.

Next is resistance. You will see this often if you constantly use an element that's not strong against the enemy's element. Examples include venus psynergy on an earth monster, water on a mercury monster, etc. You'll see a sentence at the bottom that looks something like this:

So, it's good if you're going to be resisting a lot of attacks, but it's not good if the enemy is resisting. This kind of attack has a single period at the end.

Battle Actions

   So, once you experience a random monster encounter, you have in front of you your characters, the enemy, your health and psynergy bars, and the following actions that you can take. Each of your characters can do one of each per turn, and the order depends on their agility stats. Of course, your agility stats and the monsters' agility stats clash. If the monsters do ever attack right before your character does, your character won't be interrupted unless it was an attack that killed the member. Some Djinn however, have special properties, allowing its action to take place first thing in the turn. This basically keeps going until the monster's party goes down (hopefully).

  

Icon	Action	What it Does
	Fight	This opens up a menu where you can choose to attack the enemy
	Flee	Choose to flee from battle and return to the place you were before the monster encounter
	Status	Check on everything about your character's stats
	Attack	Commands your character to do a normal attack upon an enemy
	Psynergy	Attack enemies using your Psynergy magic
	Djinn	Select a Djinni to unleash or set
	Summon	Only if you have Standby Djinni, call upon a monster to attack
	Items	Use an item the character currently holds
	Defend	Defend to reduce damage for one turn

Stat Attributes

When you go to your Status screen, you will find out that each character has their different strengths and weaknesses. In this example, Jenna is just starting out in the Lost Age.

Jenna Lv. 5

- This is the name of the character and the level they are in.

Exp 297 - This is how much experience points a character has recieved while battling. The number can rack up to a super high amount at the end of the game, but it just calculates how much exp the character has ever recieved.

HP 65/65

- The amount of Hit Points a character has. The first number is how much Jenna has and the second number is the max hit points she has.

PP 43/43

- This is Psynergy Points. In the development version of the game, you will see EP instead of PP. EP simply means Energy Points, but it was changed to Psynergy Points. This is like your mana and you can't perform spells without them.

Flame User

- The current "job" or "class" of a character. This can change the psynergy you possess and all of your stats you have.

Normal

- The current status. Character may be poisoned or cursed, etc. More of this is covered at a later section.

Attack 33

- The amount of physical damage Jenna can inflict with her weapon. The higher the amount the more she can do.

Defense 18

- The amount of physical damage Jenna can withstand with her armor. The higher the amount, the less damage she'll take.

Agility 31

- This determines the order characters and monsters attack in a battle. The higher the amount, the more likely the character will strike first in a turn.

Luck 3

- This can aid in monster drops.

Power/Resist

- Using this chart, you can see the power and resistant a character has for that element. You can see here that Jenna is clearly a "Flame User".

Healing

Hit Points Restoration

For a small price, you may stay at an Inn to replenish everybody's HP and PP very quickly. There is an Inn in every town.

Make use of the curing psyenergy you possess. At an early level, Isaac learnes Cure which makes him very useful. He can do a bit of everything; cure, revive, attack, and defend very well. Felix similarily follows this pattern. At a later point in the game, Mia becomes one of your primary healers. Piers can also be a healer as well, but in the Lost Age, Jenna can save the party by using the Aura psynergy, which can cure all the members of the party.

Curing psynergy can be used in and out of battle. Make sure you heal up very well before a tough battle!!

Herbs and Nuts can be bought at most shops. Herbs heal for about 50 HP while Nuts can heal about 200 HP. These inexpensive items may save you psynergy to perform powerful psynergy moves.

Some Djinn, such as Fizz, Spritz, Steel, Sap, Breath, and Spring heal HP without the use of items or PP.

Breath is a special Djinn that can activate first thing in a turn no matter what.

Reviving

It's very expensive to go to a sanctum to revive. It may be inexpensive at first, but the price racks up at the end. At the beginning you may have to rely on some Djinn to revive party members. These Djinn include Quartz, Dew, Tinder, and Balm.

Water of Life items are very rare (considered artifacts) but can revive party members. Use these only in emergencies! I hardly got any of these while playing the game.

At a later level, Earth adepts and Water adepts have the Revive ability to revive party members for the cost of some PP. Isaac learns this as early as level 15.

The great summon Iris can also restore everything (and I mean everything!!) on all the party members when summoned!

Psynergy Restoration

Some of you may notice that while you walk around, no matter where you are, you are recovering a little bit of PP each time. This can be useful as there aren't too many ways to replenish PP without the use of an Inn.

Some Djinn may also restore a little bit of PP for the cost of summoning them. These include Fugue, Ether, Aroma, and Ember.

Defending

  Defend Action Button

In every battle, you will have the option to Defend. This increases your defense for one turn, in the cost of one turn. It's hardly used by players but the option is there, and you'll never know when you may need it!

  Psynergy Magic

There are lots of psynergy that allows you to increase any of your stats, whether it be attack or defense. These are very useful and you'll see a great defense when you fight tougher enemies. You may also increase your elemental resistance which becomes very helpful in later parts of the game! These kind of spells are commonly known as buffs.

Enfeebling psynergy can also suffice if you're in a jam. These decrease a monster or its party's stats making it easier to inflict more damage.

  Djinn Abilities

There are many Djinn that act as supporters for your party. Shade, Granite, and Torch are special because they can turn damage inflicted upon your party down to mere single digit numbers for a couple of turns. They are the key to most battles.

Status Effects - Negative Debuffs

First off, "debuffs" are status changes that make you weaker to the enemy party. These include a drop in defense, getting nailed by venom, and more. Monsters will have the ability to inflict status disorders such as sleep, poison, and even curse. You will come across Poison early in the game. Monsters can also lower your stats to render you weak. But, never fear! There will always be a cure for them. Also, if you feel like you want to play dirty, you can give the monsters a taste of their own medicine!

 

Defense Down
	In this picture Sheba took a hit that caused her to have her defense dropped. This can be pretty deadly to a delicate mage like her (mages usually have low defense). This status effect usually wears off after about 3 turns, more or less. With Sheba's defense lowered, she is more vulnerable to many enemy attacks. You can immediately raise her defense right back up by casting a spell such as Guard, as stated in the picture. After battle this status effect wears off immediately.
Attack Down
	Like defense drop, attack drop means that your attack rating is lower. Your attacks will be cut down and it'll become difficult to deal more damage. A level 1 psynergy called Impact that can be learned at an early level can be used to fix it back up if you wish to restore the stat immediately, but it will disappear after a few turns just like defense drop. After battle this status effect wears off immediately.
Resistance Down
	When your resistance is lowered, your resistance to elemental attacks from the enemy party is lowered temporarily. This leaves you or your party open for powerful attacks. They act the same way as defense or attack drop and can be cured immediately by the end of the battle or by using Ward.
Agility Down
	Agility determines what order your characters and the enemy party make their moves. If your agility was lowered, it's possible that that character won't be initiating his/her move until everyone else did their stuff. See the above 3 for descriptions about how these effects act. There is a wind djinni that can boost up your agility, which will hopefully be enough to remove this status effect immediately.
Curse
	You'll be cursed the instant you equip a cursed item and will be unable to remove that piece of equipment until go to a Sanctum and pay a fee. Sanctums are found in any town or village. Refer to the weapon guide to find out which items are cursed. Some are overlooked, but the weapon description clearly states whether the item is cursed or not. While cursed, you may have turns when your character is immobolized and cannot move. This could prove to be frusterating during a tedious battle. Unfortunately there aren't any psynergy recovery spells that can remove this. You can also equip the rare artifact ring called the Cleric's Ring to counter the effects of curse. This status is constant on or off the battlefield until it is cured.
Poison
	Poison could really hurt at the early levels. Regular poison is about the third last most common debuff out there. Thankfully there are many ways to remove poison from one's body. You can either cast Mia or Piers' Cure Poison to rid it right away or use antidotes that can be bought in any store. While inflicted with poison, the character loses a bit of HP after he/she initiates an attack. Poison carries on even after battle.
Venom
	Venom is the greater and more powerful version of poison. Only the toughest of bosses carry an attack that inflicts venom. With venom, you should shield your character cautiously because after each attack or move, the character loses a high percentage of HP. At level 72, according to this image, Felix can lose about 220 HP per turn (and it rises after each passing turn) as long as venom is in his body. Like poison however, it can be removed easily with the use of an antidote or the Cure Poison psynergy. Venom carries on after battle.
Grim Reaper
	When a character is inflicted with the doom status (a.k.a. Grim Reaper), a countdown begins. A row of flames appear above the character's head. After each turn, one flame disappears. When all the flames vanish, the character will fall. Cure with the Restore psynergy if you so desire. Some players just finish the battle quickly or wait until the character falls, then use a revival spell to bring them back up, good as new! (Or you can just pop an Elixer into their system to shoo Grim Reaper away)
Haunt
	Being haunted is a fairly uncommon status effect. Only the last few strongest bosses in the game cast a haunting spell on you or your party many times. It'd be rare to find a regular monster who'd haunt you successfully. While haunted, the character can suffer damage or a hault in their movements or even both in turns. It's even worse than being cursed, in my opinion. Like curse, you can remove haunt by paying a fee at a sanctum, but there are no psynergy or item that can remove it immediately. You should be very cautious about this effect. It is constant even after battle.
Stun
	Stun may be fairly common. This is another way of saying that your character is paralyzed. This could stall your movements, whether it be attacking or using a simple item. Thankfully it wears off after a few turns. You can also cast the Restore spell or use an Elixer to remove it quickly.
Sleep
	Every turn-based RPG (I think?) has to have the sleep status! Like the name implies, sleep is when.. your character is sleeping. So it may be a bad time for a character to take a snooze during a critical battle, but he's tired! If the monster attacks a sleeping person right after he/she has been put to sleep, sleep will wear off immediately. However, if that character is left alone sleeping, he/she will sleep a random amount of turns. It could be 1, or 3, or even 5 or more until it wears off or he/she gets damaged by an attack. Hey, you'd wake up too if you were suddenly clawed by a talon, wouldn't you? Sleep can be cured by damage, time, the Restore psynergy, Elixer, or the end of the battle.
Delusion
	Delusion is another word for being blinded. Being deluded can really change the course of a battle. If both parties were deluded, everyone would be missing left to right. It's possible to just wait out until it wears off, or you can use the Restore spell or an Elixer to get rid of it early. Delusion is one status effect that is easily overlooked! It doesn't carry on after battle.
Psynergy Seal
	Psynergy seal, when compared to Final Fantasy games, is the same as being silenced. While you have the seal on you, you are unable to cast any spells until it wears off or use an Elixer. It usually takes quite a few turns until it finally wears off, it really depends. You have to resort to using physical attacks for a while. Djinni are not considered psynergy, therefore can be used even with the seal placed on you.
Down
	You've fallen. This downed status means that your HP is down to 0 and the character is unable to do -anything- until he/she has been revived. The Revive psynergy is a guarenteed spell to raise fallen members, while djinni that revive aren't always 100%. I'd probably say around 80%. I would resort to using djinni if none of the members can use Revive (perhaps there were some class changes that removed it) or during an emergency. And in an even larger emergency, use Water of Life if there are no psynergy or djinni that can revive at a dire situation. Don't use Water of Life recklessly, because it's a super duper rare item. Your downed status will stay even after battle. You can also go to a sanctum to revive although they tend to make you pay hefty prices to revive some members. If all of your members have this fallen status, the game is over and you have the option to start at the last sanctum you've been to with three fallen members and one member barely living, only having 1 HP.

Status Effects - Positive Buffs

  Under Construction~

Shopping

  Under Construction~