History YMMV / GoldenSunDarkDawn

** The European version makes a few pragmatic changes from the US one, from minor things like changing "mom" to "mum", but it's most noticeable during the finale. The American release mentions that "Arcanus" sounds like the most important card in the tarot deck, but no such card exists. The line makes more sense in Japanese where Ace really ''is'' one of the most important cards in the deck. The European version changes the dialogue completely to imply that [[spoiler: Alex]] chose the name "Arcanus" because it refers to ''the entire deck''. Karis theorises that he'd chosen the name because "(he's) holding all the cards". They took out the SymbolSwearing though. WHYYYYYYYYY??!

* DifficultySpike: The final boss is ''much'' harder than the rest of the game, and that's not even considering the {{Bonus Boss}}es...

%%* EvilIsSexy: Chalis.

* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: Isaac, when he joins your party for a while in Tanglewood, will very frequently tell you use Djinn and summons to get an advantage over your enemies. While this can be helpful for players new to the Golden Sun series, veteran players or people who are playing through the game again will find Isaac's constant nagging on what to do in battle annoying since almost every enemy at that point can be killed in a few hits with weapons or Psynergy.

* HoYay: Isaac and Garet now live in the mountains together, no women in sight, and act LikeAnOldMarriedCouple. The {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s had a ''field day'' with this.

* NightmareFuel: In the third quarter of the game, [[spoiler:after you trigger the Grave Eclipse]], you start seeing dead bodies in plain sight. This is especially jarring when you visit [[spoiler:Kaocho]] and [[spoiler:Champa]], where the bodies are ''decaying'', especially in the former where you visited it in the past even talked to several of the now-dead people. To make matters worse, Spirit Sense can be used to '''read the minds of these corpses''', so you can see what their last thoughts were before they died.

*** If you head to [[spoiler: the top of Luna Tower during the escape sequence]], you can obtain a summon known as Eclipse.

*** [[spoiler: Dullahan now has the Crucible technique used by Valukar in ''The Lost Age''. Crucible is the power to use ''your'' Djinn to launch ''your'' summons into your face. Dullahan also gets the Charon summon for free, and his attack pattern means that he usually follows that with Djinn Storm, which is its own ThatOneAttack.]]

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Much like the GBA games, ''Dark Dawn'' goes all out with battle effects, particularly the summons, which are even more flashy and over-the-top than ever.
** Remember [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome Catastrophe]]? It looks cooler and you should [[NightmareFuel check out what's]] [[NightmareFetishist under his cape]]! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LnrO36JSQk#t=0m21s Here ya go!]]
* {{Woolseyism}}: The European version makes a few pragmatic changes from the US one, from minor things like changing "mom" to "mum", but it's most noticeable during the finale. The American release mentions that "Arcanus" sounds like the most important card in the tarot deck, but no such card exists. The line makes more sense in Japanese where Ace really ''is'' one of the most important cards in the deck. The European version changes the dialogue completely to imply that [[spoiler: Alex]] chose the name "Arcanus" because it refers to ''the entire deck''. Karis theorises that he'd chosen the name because "(he's) holding all the cards". They took out the SymbolSwearing though. WHYYYYYYYYY??!

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: {{Invoked}}, bizarrely, during the very ''creation'' of the game itself. [[http://goldensunwiki.net/Takahashi_Brothers According to the Golden Sun Wiki]], Hiroyuki Takahashi only came up with the idea of making a new ''Golden Sun'' after "having been liquored and eaten a lot of nori".

* BreatherBoss: As far as a BonusBoss goes, the Ogre Titans are pathetic. They are weak to Mars, the element of the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Sol Blade]] needed to ''unlock'' the place, start the battle slowly to give you ample buff time, no annoying gimmick and only use physical attacks (easily reduced to minimal damage with a defense buff). Thanks to the game's system of resetting a buff's expiration based on the last cast (even if the cast did nothing because you already hit the increase cap), the battle is largely one sided (though long, as they have a massive HP pool between the 5 of them).

** Kraden's badass status has apparently [[AscendedMeme leaked into canon]], according to some characters. Rief and Karis remark that if Kraden has to get somewhere, he will make it there, [[{{Determinator}} no matter what is in his way]]. Considering the RandomEncounters and puzzles/traps in the game franchise...
*** Almost, nothing, he travels through the apparent ''war zone'' between Bilibin and Morgal to join you.
** [[BonusBoss Dullahan]], who is ''even harder'' in ''Dark Dawn'' than in ''The Lost Age''.

** Karis's cheap multiheal, the Fresh Breeze series, is often seen this way because it doesn't require any set Djinn and only a relatively small amount of PP to cast. To the point of making Rief, a pure healer, [[TierInducedScrappy basically useless]].

** Nothing has changed in the battle system, mages still suffer in the attacking department, the classes are still unbalanced (Mercury adepts gets this the worst) while warriors are broken and Jupiter is still on the top of the elemental tier no matter what the game tried to convince you-which leads to a severe case of TierInducedScrappy below.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** The high-tier end has Sveta, who is a tremendously powerful LightningBruiser and is the highest in the elemental tier. She has access to Sol Blade-tier weapons way earlier than Matthew and her generally high luck stat ensures constant spam of [[GameBreaker weapon unleashes]], even without the unleash rate-boosting items.
** On the low-tier end, Rief is [[CripplingOverspecialization too overspecialized]] into his mother's healing role, while Karis can also heal and assigned to other support tasks and Amiti has better physical options. In a game where [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome weapon unleashes reign supreme]] Rief has it the worst since his high-tier options (Atropos' Rod, Lachesis' Rule and Vajra Mace) are either rare drops or [[BraggingRightsReward post-game content]] or both. To make matters worse the RNG method in the GBA games cannot be applied in Dark Dawn, making rare drops ''almost impossible,'' even with the DarkPanther method. [[labelnote:Note]] If you defeat an enemy with an Attack Djinn of the element they are weak to, the chance of an item drop increases 4X, and the experience and gold they drop increases substantially as well. [[/labelnote]]
** Himi has the worst attack stat in her base class, associated with the least effective element in-game and [[EleventhHourRanger too much of a latecomer]] to be used easily. Though she doesn't had it so bad since she has access to Ninja, Apprentice and Crusader class series which gives her a high attack boost. It also helps that Himi has access to powerful light blades before the post-game.
** It should be noted that these can be somewhat mitigated by taking some time to play with the ClassAndLevelSystem, but the alternate class options for Himi and Rief mostly sucked (Himi has it better but Matthew and Sveta are generally more useful). Low-tiers also tend to get saddled with all the unwanted Djinn, making them even more scrappy when you ''do'' have to call on them to save everybody's behind.

* CompleteMonster: [[CardCarryingVillain Blados]] and [[TheVamp Chalis]] are agents of the military country Tuaparang, who partake in a scheme to activate the [[TheNightThatNeverEnds Grave Eclipse]], shrouding most of the continent in darkness and unleashing dark beasts on the innocent populace, leading to the death of thousands. [[TheStarscream Betraying]] Alex to seize the [[FantasticNuke Apollo Lens]] for themselves, Blados and Chalis proceed to turn Volechek, the brother of heroine Sveta, into a horrific beast and attempt to use him to fire the Apollo Lens on their own allies, killing Volechek in the process. Cunning, manipulative, and seeing the deaths of thousands as a mere side effect of their plan, Blados and Chalis are the most vile villains ''Golden Sun'' has.

* CompleteMonster: Though ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has a villainous roster comprised by mostly [[AntiVillain villains with redeeming qualities]], this cannot be said for ''Dark Dawn's'' Blados and Chalis. Agents of the military country Tuaparang, Blados starts by [[WouldHurtAChild kidnapping a child]] and isolating him from his master, while Chalis secretly manipulates Kaocho's king from behind the scenes. The two partake in a scheme to activate the [[TheNightThatNeverEnds Grave Eclipse]], shrouding most of the continent in darkness and unleashing dark beasts on the innocent populace, leading to the death of thousands. Once at the [[FantasticNuke Apollo Lens]], Blados and Chalis waste no time in [[TheStarscream betraying]] the other BigBad, Alex, and seizing the Apollo Lens for themselves. They proceed to turn Volechek (the brother of playable character Sveta) into a horrific beast and attempt to use him to fire the Apollo Lens on their own allies, killing Volechek in the process. Both are nasty in their own right, with {{Bl|oodKnight}}ados doing it [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], and Chalis seeking [[ItsAllAboutMe more personal motives]], up to [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betraying her own partner]]. Cunning, manipulative, and seeing the deaths of thousands as a mere side-effect of the plan, Blados and Chalis are two of the worst villains ''Golden Sun'' has.

** [[BonusBoss Dullahan]], who is ''[[UpToEleven even harder]]'' in ''Dark Dawn'' than in ''The Lost Age''.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Much like the GBA games, ''Dark Dawn'' goes all out with battle effects, particularly the summons, which are [[UpToEleven even more flashy and over-the-top]] than ever.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: The summon Flora's new design and attack sequence [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl66zCm1dxE must be seen to be believed]]. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Some players even hate her for this, wanting her old design back.]]