History VideoGame / GoldenSunDarkDawn

* WhatsUpKingDude: Tyrell does this to King Paithos. The latter actually encourages it.

* WakeUpCallBoss: The trio of Tuaparang Scouts that you fight shortly after the party meets Kraden for the first time. You only have three party members at this point with not too impressive psynergy or summons and healing items will most likely be just herbs. On top of this, the scouts will spam Psy Grenades to [[ManaDrain damage your PP]] and use other abilities that either stuns a party member, making them lose turns, or lower your agility so that they may attack before you can.

* FiveManBand

** TheLancer: Tyrell

** TheBigGuy: Sveta

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: [[spoiler: The entire second party.]]

** And the villains. A blue-skinned, [[AffablyEvil cheerily]] [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] swordsman, and an elegant LadyOfWar with RapunzelHair. [[spoiler: [[AndZoidberg And Alex.]]]] Their operations include kidnapping people and raising general havoc, and they pursue the activation of long-lost {{Magitek}}. Now, am I talking about [[GoldenSun Saturos and Menardi]], or Blados and Chalis?

* AllJustADream: Played with at the end of the Phantasmal Bog.

* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: The [[spoiler:Sol Blade]] is [[SwordInTheStone stuck in a stone in Apollo Sanctum]], which Matthew can use to open a few doors. [[spoiler:This is in contrast to the role of the previous games' {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s (of which the Sol Blade used to be one), which were simply found in random chests, randomly dropped, or forged.]]

* LeakedExperience: Just as in ''The Lost Age'', non-active party members recieve only half as much experience from battles.

*** Although there's a ''major'' difference there: motivation. Saturos and Menardi were out to [[WellIntentionedExtremists save their hometown/the world]]. Blados and Chalis? [[ForTheEvulz Shits and giggles.]] [[spoiler: And to betray their militaristic hometown for unknown reasons.]]

* [[spoiler: [[HijackedByGanon Hijacked By Alex]]

** One fancomic pokes fun at Garet's AI getting trigger-happy with the summons if you have Djinn on standby. Even against minor enemies.

** The Sand Prince Gem requests that you prove your strength before it will grant you its power. The Ice Queen Gem is significantly less cooperative.

** There is actually a pretty huge amount of Weyard's geography on ''Dark Dawn'''s world map with remarkable detail that is inaccessible without cheating. There's also an actual Sol Sanctum on the map.

* TheEmpire: Under Emperor Ko's rule, Sana was this. After Unan became emperor, Sana ceased being this, but Wo founded Kaocho with the intent of continuing Ko's work. Due to Kaocho's intent on ruling all of the Ei-Jei region, it ended up being this (despite not literally referring to itself as an empire due to its monarch having the title of king, which interestingly contrasts with the literal empire ceasing to be an example of this trope) when Matthew and friends visited the region. [[spoiler:Of course, when the Grave Eclipse occurs, it gets hit the hardest out of all the other parts of Ei-Jei (since Passaj and Ayuthay were protected by their Alchemy machines, Harapa is bright enough 24/7 that it repels the darkness-dwelling creatures, and Champa and Sana had parts of the country outside the eclipse, while Kaocho had none of those traits), so it's unlikely that it will have this role if there's a sequel.]]
** [[spoiler: It also doesn't help that Kaocho's army was camped outside of Ayuthay when the Eclipse hit, so there was nobody home to protect the people. Not that it helped much - Kaocho's "army" consisted of mostly conscripted farmers and the two generals, all of whom are eight kinds of boned as a result of the Grave Eclipse. You can find - and Spirit Sense - them if you return to Ayuthay for any reason.]]

*** Although there's a ''major'' difference between the duos of all three games: Saturos and Menardi were doing it [[NecessaryEvil because their home town (and by that extention, the world) was dying]]. Karst and Agatio were doing it [[YouKilledMyFather out of revenge]]...[[UnfinishedBusiness and because the world was still dying]]. Blados and Chalis' reason? [[ForTheEvulz Shits and giggles]]. [[spoiler:([[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder And to destroy their militaristic home town.]])]]

* FantasticRacism: With humans and the beastmen, though the human population of the beastmen's homeland of Morgal tends to tolerate beastmen better than the humans elsewhere (with Saha Town being populated by both and having a statue commemorating the unity of Morgal's humans and beastmen). However, a version of this combined with regular racism still occurs within Morgal towards humans who are ethnically Sanan due to the conflict with Sana in the past, with this pretty much being the reason for the imprisonment of a member of Sana's nobility (as opposed to how the son of the closest thing Champa has to a ruler was imprisoned for crimes committed in Morgal's territory; specifically, piracy).

** Also, Gondwana is a name for the southern super-continent that existed after the break up of Pangaea, one of the principle components of which was India. Gondowan, the series's equivalent of Africa, is quite obviously named after Gondwana and it broke away from Angara after the Golden Sun appeared. In addition, in ''[[GoldenSun The Lost Age]]'', Indra, the series's equivalent of India, ended up being connected to Gondowan.

* FutureBadass: Eoleo, Briggs' infant son from ''The Lost Age'', is now a [[MonkeyIsland mighty pirate]], who is older (30 years on top of whatever he was in ''The Lost Age'') than any non-Piers party member so far. Isaac has joined the fun as well, boasting both a BadassBeard and a BadassLongcoat.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Alex can seem this at times, often working with and against the heroes at the same time, throughout the entire series. However, this is more then likely just the fallout from being an amazing example of TheChessmaster.

* HiddenAgendaVillain: Arcanus, [[spoiler:AKA Alex]].

* LeakedExperience

*** The European version, which has a slightly different translation from the US version, changes this somewhat. Tyrell's dialogue during the scene basically be summed up as "Her name sounds almost as weird as Blados.'" The Emperor hears him mention Blados and instantly assumes that the party is working under his and Chalis' command and she [[ManipulativeBastard confirms it]].

** [[spoiler: But later, upon meeting Laurel and Tret, Tret specifically indicates that Amiti is somehow related to Mia. Piers is completely unrelated, but Alex is Mia's cousin. [[GenreSavvy Tret]] lampshades the possibility of "dark family secrets" at this point.]]

** One fancomic pokes fun at a player who learned the hard way that Garet's AI can get kind of trigger-happy with the summons if you have Djinn on standby. Even against minor enemies.

** "It's remarkably handy, actually."

** Himi's brother Takeru is mentioned to have departed on a journey because of a vision Himi had that [[spoiler: Felix's friend Isaac was in danger, invoking his mother's aid-in-distress promise to Felix]].

** [[spoiler: Briggs also is attacked by the immensely powerful eclipse monsters and survives long enough to be found by the heroes and die reassuring his son.]] He only disqualifies on the basis of not having any known grandkids (though with a son [[FetishFuel that good-looking]]... one never knows).

** Another hilarious example would be when entering Belinsk Castle to rescue Hou Ju and Eoleo. If you attempt to rescue Eoleo first, a random NPC will stop you and question whether or not it's customary to rescue the princess first in your culture. He will let you proceed if you answer in the negative. Then, right up the stairs, Ryu Kou stops you for the same reason. Even if you press on, he will claim that he "can't stop you" but continues to block your path every time you try to proceed.

** Talking with NPCs and filling out the encyclopedia reveals that the so-called Golden Age of Man was [[FantasticRacism not as golden]] if you were a non-Adept or a beastman.

** The party wakes [[spoiler:Himi]] from a fit of this trope later on, though it was less "fainting" and more "magically comatose".

** Chalis's intro scene includes a fairly blatant bust shot while she's asking, "Ah, so do I entice you?" (after telling the heroes where they can find a {{MacGuffin}}). [[EvilIsSexy Yes, ma'am]], [[FetishFuelStationAttendant you certainly do]]. [[ButThouMust She even forces you to say yes.]]

* HumansAreWhite: Averted. The majority of the game's plot takes place in the Asia-equivalent part of the world, so three of the player characters are from FantasyCounterpartCulture versions of ancient Siam, Vietnam, and Japan (Though other than their clothes. Karis probably counts at least by upbringing since Kalay is a fantasy version of Turkey. And then we have the ancestry WildMassGuessing and the plethora of ethnically-correct non-player characters.
** Then again, [[{{Mukokuseki}} this isn't all that visually apparent.]]

** To clarify: [[spoiler:first, the player is told that Amiti's father was a powerful Adept, and you can see that his hair is blue, which narrows it down to Piers and Alex. Camelot actually throws a curveball here in saying that the Adept helped them start the Alchemy Well, so most players would jump straight to Piers. But later, upon meeting Laurel and Tret, they sense that Amiti shares the blood of one of the original four, and the only one of the two candidates who matches that is... Alex, Mia's cousin. Also, in Tonfon, if you talk to the old man by Emperor Unan's throne after you save Hou Ju and Ryu Kou, he asks the party "Didn't you come by before? Where's your mask?". Alex had just been there. We can assume that the old man is not going senile and is actually pointing out a case of family resemblance.]]
** [[spoiler: However, take into account that Amiti's father disappeared as soon as he came, which is something that Piers is too honorable to ever do.]]
** [[spoiler: Paithos mentions that he never actually saw the man's face. So, either he was just very elusive... or he wore a mask.]]
** [[spoiler: It's also completely plausible to believe that activating the Alchemy Well has always been part of Alex's master plan. He does after all assist you in using the Apollo Lens to help undo the Grave Eclipse that he himself brought about. In fact, it's not improbable that he knew full well of the existence of his son, and manipulated the party into encountering Amiti, knowing that his talents would serve them well. As Alex's ultimate evil plan still remains rather nebulous, this all is Epileptic Trees, though.]]
** [[spoiler: Also, if you read Amiti's mind at the very end when you get control of Sveta right after the final battle, it reveals that for some reason Amiti is thinking of Alex and he doesn't know why.]] There is also a conversation (in the Tonfon palace, IIRC) that seems to imply Kraden and Karis have worked it out, and [[WeWouldHaveToldYouBut deliberately don't wish to let the kid know until after everything is resolved]]. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse It's never brought up again though.]]

* {{MacGuffin}}: The Roc Feather, needed to fix the soarwing that Isaac needs to investigate Mt. Aleph. The Magma Orb (which [[spoiler:activates the Alchemy Dynamo in Belinsk]]) and the Third Eye (which [[spoiler:awakens Himi from her slumber]]) also fulfill this function as well.
** MacGuffinGirl: [[spoiler: Himi and Amiti, for the Third Eye and Insight Glass respectively.]]

** Sveta means "light", and she's the only one who can wear the Umbra Gear that protects from the light at Apollo Sanctum.

* MissingMom: Karis and Tyrell, mothers are never even mentioned. Eoleo, whose mother, Chaucha, players met in ''The Lost Age'', is oddly absent from this installment. While Matthew's mother, [[spoiler: Jenna]], is never seen, the characters know exactly where she is: living in Kalay along with other refugees from Vale.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:TheStinger at the end. Hey, it wouldn't be a Golden Sun game without one.]]

** Granted, the SequelHook is pretty much just [[spoiler:a CallBack to what appeared to be the original plot.]]

*** [[spoiler: And if not for the player party, she very well could have outlived her ''great''-grandson, since you had to rescue him twice in Belinsk (from CruelAndUnusualDeath and then from the eclipse monsters). ]]

** This is much more apparent with Kraden, who looks '''exactly the same''' as he did in the first two games, despite already being roughly 70 back then.

* PapaWolf: Briggs, who singlehandedly tries to storm the most fortified city on Angara with a busted ship in the effort to rescue his imprisoned son. ''Twice.'' The sheer insanity of this is lampshaded.

** Later in the game, right before the final boss, Tua Warriors appear on every random encounter and drop Waters of Life and give tons of experience (i.e. five-digit amounts), making power-leveling very easy (and making it easy to level up for the post-game optional bosses). You can easily make it to level 99 within two or three hours.

*** Though summoning Tiamat now apparently involves a TronLines-filled tower, Boreas is now a literal IronHorse (a ''locomotive bigger than mountains with hooves''), and Coatlicue is still [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coatlicue a kind and loving goddess]].

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Played with in the fight with the Ogre Titans. You fight them two at a time, and each time you kill one a stronger one takes his place.

** Another appliance of Slap is banging a gong to signal a nonexistant attack on a peaceful town, sending everyone around into a panic.And place all the blame on the guard that already did it a couple times for fun.Yeah, Slap can be a pretty cruel Psynergy if used creatively.

* [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsheartAnyway]]: In the same town and brought about by the same event as the LightEmUp example above, another NPC claims to have gained the power to [[spoiler: calculate compound interest.]]

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Some of this generation's hair colors are notably different from their predecessors, and I don't just mean Karis's inexplicably green hair. Garet's was originally reddish-brown, but Tyrell's hair is unmistakably red. Mia and Alex had cyan hair, but Mia's two children have very blue hair, [[spoiler: as does another Mercury Clan descendent we encounter]].

* HumansAreWhite: Averted. The majority of the game's plot takes place in the Asia-equivalent part of the world, so three of the player characters are from FantasyCounterpartCulture versions of ancient Siam, Vietnam, and Japan. Karis probably counts at least by upbringing since Kalay is a fantasy version of Turkey. And then we have the ancestry WildMassGuessing and the plethora of ethnically-correct non-player characters.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Angara's role as Weyard's equivalent of Eurasia is more obvious than it was in the previous games; for example the eastern part is known as Ei-Jei, which sounds similar to Asia and contains Sana (equivalent to China), Champa (named after an ancient Vietnamese kingdom), and Ayuthay (based on Siamese kingdom [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_Kingdom Ayutthaya]]). Nihan is east of Angara and isn't even trying to sound different from Nihon (the Japanese name for, well, Japan). In addition, Kolima's new position on the world map makes it easier to make the connection with the RealLife Kolyma region of Russia, which is in the northeasternmost part of Siberia. Between the clothing influences, Sanan imperial occupation, and Volechek being based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altan_Tobchi Borte Chino,]] an ancestor of Genghis Khan, Morgal appears to be a mixed-basket analogue of Tibet and Mongolia.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Angara's role as Weyard's equivalent of Eurasia is more obvious than it was in the previous games; for example the eastern part is known as Ei-Jei, which sounds similar to Asia and contains Sana (equivalent to China), Champa (named after an ancient Vietnamese kingdom), and Ayuthay (based on Siamese kingdom [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_Kingdom Ayutthaya]]). Nihan is east of Angara and isn't even trying to sound different from Nihon (the Japanese name for, well, Japan). In addition, Kolima's new position on the world map makes it easier to make the connection with the RealLife Kolyma region of Russia, which is in the northeasternmost part of Siberia.