Both games do seem a little generic compared to a lot of games, especially if you look at those on consoles and on P Cs, but you really need to consider that these are handheld games. Not only that, but they were on a very new format, and the developers spent twelve to eighteen months developing it, and that was considered a lot of work for a Handheld game. It actually does show considering its presentation.
Even though the games may have been a tad hard to see on a standard Game Boy Advance screen due to the dark colours, the amount of detail programmed in is almost 32-bit Scenery Porn. Despite it's pixellation, they look quite detailed, especially for the time they were released in. It also helped when you got to explore so many areas in the second game, which all had their own background themes. Even if the first game seemed almost like a Standard fantasy setting plus Psychic Powers instead of Magic, it made sense when you considered that it was actually set in not even half of the whole world.
These games are not perfect, however. There exists some balance issues within them all. A lot of them are not bad, but you just might find yourself not using them that much except for clearing out mooks because summons, djinn, and physical attacks deal more damage. They are far from useless; as you get Aura and Wish. Some of the summons meanwhile also don't become very practical because of the way Djinn work and wind up crippling you while the Djinn are recharging. That is the tradeoff of using them, though, since they do have abilities that you can't use with psyenergy but you can't spam them the way you can Ragnarok.
Another flaw I feel is a part of the second game. The second game is a lot more non-linear than the first game is. While this in itself is not a bad thing, it just is a tad too easy to get lost or forget where you were going unless you have a walkthrough out and check off the stuff you finished.
The games also suffer from a couple Guide Dang It moments, which are clarified on the main page as well as the Guide Dang It article.
But that aside, they are both solid games, with perhaps the best soundtrack ever on the Game Boy Advance. It does not even sound very techno-ey, like most Game Boy Advance music did. It is a shame that more games did not take advantage of that.
Golden Sun - And The Lost Age
Both games do seem a little generic compared to a lot of games, especially if you look at those on consoles and on P Cs, but you really need to consider that these are handheld games. Not only that, but they were on a very new format, and the developers spent twelve to eighteen months developing it, and that was considered a lot of work for a Handheld game. It actually does show considering its presentation.
Even though the games may have been a tad hard to see on a standard Game Boy Advance screen due to the dark colours, the amount of detail programmed in is almost 32-bit Scenery Porn. Despite it's pixellation, they look quite detailed, especially for the time they were released in. It also helped when you got to explore so many areas in the second game, which all had their own background themes. Even if the first game seemed almost like a Standard fantasy setting plus Psychic Powers instead of Magic, it made sense when you considered that it was actually set in not even half of the whole world.
These games are not perfect, however. There exists some balance issues within them all. A lot of them are not bad, but you just might find yourself not using them that much except for clearing out mooks because summons, djinn, and physical attacks deal more damage. They are far from useless; as you get Aura and Wish. Some of the summons meanwhile also don't become very practical because of the way Djinn work and wind up crippling you while the Djinn are recharging. That is the tradeoff of using them, though, since they do have abilities that you can't use with psyenergy but you can't spam them the way you can Ragnarok.
Another flaw I feel is a part of the second game. The second game is a lot more non-linear than the first game is. While this in itself is not a bad thing, it just is a tad too easy to get lost or forget where you were going unless you have a walkthrough out and check off the stuff you finished.
The games also suffer from a couple Guide Dang It moments, which are clarified on the main page as well as the Guide Dang It article.
But that aside, they are both solid games, with perhaps the best soundtrack ever on the Game Boy Advance. It does not even sound very techno-ey, like most Game Boy Advance music did. It is a shame that more games did not take advantage of that.