History YMMV / GoldenSun

* NightmareFuel: While it's shown pretty simply about how the continents are shrinking during the Lemuria sequence in response to Alchemy's seal, you hardly see anything proving how dangerous the lack of Alchemy is...until you get to Mars Lighthouse and see an endless black void stretching across your screen in the north. This serves as the proof and motivation for your quest; the world is ''literally falling apart bit by bit as time goes on into this pitch black NOTHING'' and its close proximity to Prox is why Saturos, Menardi, Karst, and Agatio were sent on their quest to begin with.
** Also notice just how close this immense void is to Mars Lighthouse. While the scaling of the map, locations, and your party are a bit exaggerated, it's still not that far away, which begs a question....would Mars Lighthouse have fallen into the void if it reached it, or would the surrounding area have fallen in? Either case would result in the quest becoming a complete failure and the world doomed to die. Sweet dreams!

** Alex's status as a villain is somewhat contentious, as it isn't until after the second game ends that it is revealed that he had an ulterior motive for wanting the lighthouses lit. Which is something that Saturos and Menardi--and Felix--''were already trying to do when they met him.''
*** Is he a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] and the ultimate BigBad of the series, or just a SmugSnake BigBadWannabe who isn't nearly as clever as he thinks he is? On the one hand, he flawlessly manipulates both the heroes and the other villains into getting him unimaginable power. The only reason this fails is because of what is almost literal divine intervention from the Wise One, and even then, ''Dark Dawn'' shows he still came out ahead in the end anyway. But on the other, these factors were mostly outside his control. All he ''really'' did was take advantage of an ancient prophecy the heroes didn't know about and the Proxians either didn't know about or just didn't care to stop, and the one character with both knowledge and will to stop him thwarted his plans with trivial ease. His status as BigBad is also contested, as he is the series' sole recurring villain and he seems to be getting more and more powerful with every game, but he has never been the main antagonist or even a direct threat to the heroes at any point in the story.

--> '''NPC:''' [[LampshadeHanging Wait, if this is the Champa ship, then that must mean Piers isn't a Champa! So...why does the elder still need Briggs to clear his name?]]

* {{Adorkable}}: It doesn't show up often due to the events of the plot, but when you first control Felix there is this scene of him [[http://38.media.tumblr.com/99d90a29515ad380349515a6fd877f64/tumblr_nbqav3PUWC1rkljv1o1_400.gif checking his injuries by comically wagging his arms and legs]]. Said scene looks so awkward and out of place[[note]]Compared to his attitude in the first game[[/note]] it is rather cute.

* ThatOneAttack: Dullahan and Doom Dragon both deserve a special mention for the ability Djinn Storm, which sets all Djinn in the current party into recovery mode (removing the stat bonuses of having them equipped to a character and preventing them from being used for summons). Doom Dragon also has a very infamous attack called Cruel Ruin which hits the entire party, has a base damage of 200, and becomes more powerful depending on how much HP the party has meaning that it does MORE damage to a higher leveled party.
** What separates this from Dullahan is that there is no factor that randomly KILLS you. What made Dullahan so hard was that in combination with Djinn Storm, it has Charon that can instant kill you in tandem with just doing damage which means that it doesn't matter if you are fully healed, you are still taking a dead member 50% of the time and maybe even two or three. Then he finishes you off with [[strike: [[BlindIdiotTranslation Formina Sage]]]] Fulminous Edge. Cruel Ruin itself is not as dangerous mainly because a sufficiently strong party can stand in the face of it and still come out standing, even with no Djinn set. A level 50 party can completely raze the Doom Dragon without suffering a single death while Dullahan can KO the entire party before you even reach half HP with the same level.
** On the other hand, Dullahan can be summon-rushed. Doom Dragon is specifically geared to nerf summon-rush strategies by having separate damage calculations for each of its forms. It really depends on your play style.
** Virtually all of Dullahan's attacks are ThatOneAttack: Djinn Storm, which puts ''every active party member's'' Djinni in recovery mode; Fulminous Edge, which does huge damage to one party member; Charon, which can easily be a TotalPartyKill; Condemn, which is a potential OneHitKill; True Collide, which hits hard and restores his health; Bind, which disables one party member's Psynergy...is the BraggingRightsReward really worth it?

'''Note:''' This page lists tropes for both ''Videogame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal'' and its direct sequel ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge''.

* HilariousInHindsight: Mia's "I have failed in the one duty placed upon me..." line In other words, [[MemeticMutation You had one job, Mia! ONE JOB!]]

* MoralEventHorizon: If it were not for Felix's intervention, Agatio and Karst would have arguably crossed this by [[spoiler:killing Isaac and Ivan after they were separated from the rest of their group.]]

* FairForItsDay: The games look generic now, but consider that when ''The Broken Seal'' was originally made, the Game Boy Advance platform was merely months old. For a handheld game, it was actually considered ''very'' impressive for its time. It had a level of depth that apart from a few exceptions, was practically unheard of on handheld formats. Playing it now after the likes of other games, it comes off as quite shallow.

** The Petra+Ground lock strategy against individual enemies/bosses that can perform 1 action. Both djinns have priority and each one stops an enemy from moving. One user uses one of the djinns in Turn 1 and then sets djiin on Turn 2, and vice versa on the other user who has the other djinn. What this does is ensure that the enemy/boss cannot move at all while allowing the other 2 users to keep on attacking.
* GeniusBonus: The positions of continents in ''Golden Sun : The Lost Age'' is quite similar to where their real-life counterparts were during the Cretaceous, in particular Indra (India's counterpart) being located between Gondowan (Africa's counterpart) and Osenia (Australia's counterpart). Gondowan is even named after Gondwana, a former supercontinent that grouped Africa, South America and other southern hemisphere continents.

** The Wise One being a [[JerkassGods jerk god]] that wants to keep Alchemy out of human hands for his own selfish reasons. [[spoiler:Whether or not he did his job well is another question, since he failed/being reluctant to stop Alex [[SkewedPriorities but bothers to stall the protagonists and send a three-headed dragon to ''test'' them instead.]]]] The selfish part might have been jossed by ''Dark Dawn'', since [[spoiler:it's revealed that the Wise One is actually a man-made being and it's outright confirmed that the ancients screwed themselves over and tried to prevent Alchemy's release. However, this just raises the question of whether the ancients were outright {{Jerkass}}es when it came to ''their'' policies on Alchemy.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Kraden has a hard case of this. During the fandom's peak, people who like the series love him and demand he be playable. People who don't like it usually cite him as a primary reason.
** Alex has a case of this as well, as people either like him, liked him until a certain point (usually either him being a villain reveal or Dark Dawn) or just flat out hate him.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Expect to see half of your team as [[{{Ninja}} Masters]] and Ronin in the late game due to their versatility, high stats all around and relatively useful spells save for healing ones.

** Kraden is this, to some (almost surprising) extent - most likely due to his vibrant personality. There was even a popular meme describing how to unlock him.
** Among [[AntiVillain the Proxians]]:
*** Saturos is - as noted on the "Golden Sun Wiki" - very popular in fandom for his charismatic personality, and the revelations about Prox in the sequel made his fanbase even ''stronger''.
*** Karst, who easily has the most relatable motives and well-developed character of all the duology's antagonists. The ShipTease with [[spoiler: Felix, near the end]] doesn't hurt either, since [[spoiler: so many fanfic writers consciously choose to save her, regardless of whether they actually care that [[TheUnfavourite Agatio]] died with her]].

* IdiotPlot: Piers being held captive. Lampshaded by a [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] in Osenia Cliffs.
--> '''NPC:''' [[LampshadeHanging Wait, if this is the Champa ship, then that must mean Piers isn't a Champa! So...why does the elder still need Briggs to clear his name?]]

* ScrappyMechanic: For both games, the fact that when in combat and an enemy that is targeted by a party member is killed by another party member before the first has had their turn, the former will automatically defend when their turn comes up. This means that said party member wastes their turn allowing the other enemies on the battlefield to survive to attack thus requiring the player to carefully manage which party members attack which enemies to avoid this which is difficult to do because enemies have no visible HP bars. What makes this particularly annoying is the fact that with most other turned based [=RPGs=] simply switching to attacking another target in the same situation instead is a common thing and thus expected here.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** Yeah, the games look generic now, but consider that when the first installment was originally made, the Game Boy Advance platform was merely months old. For a handheld game, it was actually considered ''very'' impressive for its time. It had a level of depth that apart from a few exceptions, was practically unheard of on handheld formats. Playing it now after the likes of other games, it comes off as quite shallow.
** Zig-zagged with the soundtrack. while it is indeed showing its age, it still manages to hold up ''very'' well considering that the Game Boy Advance had limited sound quality.
** The story and gameplay itself suffers from this. There are plenty of people who enjoyed it when it first came out, and a lot who remember it fondly, however a lot of people who go back to play it will often find three problems with replaying it.
*** As far as battles goes, due to spells not increasing in usefulness, the best strategy is just to keep hitting attack on all your enemies and save your PP for healing. The game has some really nice looking attacks, but the best way to fight is just ignore those. That said, physical weapon unleashes are very random and [[GuideDangIt you have to go all out to find and obtain the critical-enhancing items]].
*** The story was fun and the world was very interesting, but going back a lot of people hit a brick wall where, basically put, all these deep characterizations and personalities people remember will fail to appear. Put simply, characters are really more collections of traits and don't really show any consistent personality beyond a dislike of innocent people suffering, and if there is doubt look at all the character interpretations on this very page, that all stems from the actual story never really putting forth a set motivation on the characters for their actions throughout most of it. See "MisaimedFandom" for a good example of this in action.
*** Outside of combat, the game also suffers from its age. Inventory in particular is a clutter due to using the "everything, even key items, take an inventory slot", however unlike other games that used it, namely ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', there are a ''large'' number of key items you must carry with you, from psynergy enabling items to items you need to hold for the quest, and you are never able to store anything outside of the inventory, meaning as you progress in the game you will simply lose inventory space due to the number of items you need to carry around to continue on with the plot or unique items you don't want to drop. There are other signs of its age, but that's most likely the biggest and most obtrusive of the ones that will show up on a replay.

** Kraden, especially in ''The Lost Age'', to those that don't find him to be an EnsembleDarkhorse. Karst encounters Felix's party in Madra. Wondering where her sister is (Menardi, one of the antagonists), Sheba tells Karst that Isaac killed her. Understandably upset, Karst questions why the party would want to protect Isaac from her rage. Kraden, for no reason, then asks Karst [[TemptingFate how she would know that Felix didn't kill Menardi]], right after Karst had all but said that she was planning to kill Isaac. Even if the implication was meant to protect Isaac, Sheba had already told Karst the truth and the party's behavior implicated it even further. To quote a Let's Player (who regards Kraden with [[InformedAbility very little respect]] [[ParrotExposition due to]] his actions in ''The Lost Age''):
--->'''Quovak''': [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer This is an actual line that Kraden says]], and it almost single-handedly cements Kraden's role as not just [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper an annoyance]] but [[TheLoad an absolutely suicidal liability]]. Why on earth would you say this? [[BullyingADragon Why would you possibly encourage a bloodthirsty psychopath hellbent on revenge that you might be worth killing?]] [[FridgeLogic What would be the best case scenario from bringing up this possibility?]]

** Is Felix actually [[JerkassFacade faking]] his {{jerkass}} behavior towards Isaac's party in the first game just to gain Saturos' and Menardi's trust or he actually is one and [[TookALevelInKindness becomes much nicer]] in ''The Lost Age'' as he spends his time travelling with Kraden, Sheba, Piers and his sister?

** While the battle system is heavily biased against mages Ivan and Sheba got it the worst since they are [[SquishyWizard too]] [[FragileSpeedster frail]] and difficult to be used in the late game. Some players who have difficulty using them tend to permanently bench those two despite their element is strong against the majority of enemies and bosses. At least their class options boosts the stats they frequently use.

* WhatAnIdiot: Kraden, especially in ''The Lost Age'', to those that don't find him to be an EnsembleDarkhorse. Karst encounters Felix's party in Madra. Wondering where her sister is (Menardi, one of the antagonists), Sheba tells Karst that Isaac killed her. Understandably upset, Karst questions why the party would want to protect Isaac from her rage. Kraden, for no reason, then asks Karst [[TemptingFate how she would know that Felix didn't kill Menardi]], right after Karst had all but said that she was planning to kill Isaac. Even if the implication was meant to protect Isaac, Sheba had already told Karst the truth and the party's behavior implicated it even further. To quote a Let's Player (who regards Kraden with [[InformedAbility very little respect]] [[ParrotExposition due to]] his actions in ''The Lost Age''):
-->'''Quovak''': [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer This is an actual line that Kraden says]], and it almost single-handedly cements Kraden's role as not just [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper an annoyance]] but [[TheLoad an absolutely suicidal liability]]. Why on earth would you say this? [[BullyingADragon Why would you possibly encourage a bloodthirsty psychopath hellbent on revenge that you might be worth killing?]] [[FridgeLogic What would be the best case scenario from bringing up this possibility?]]

** Pretty much ''everything'' Saturos and Menardi do in ''The Broken Seal'' qualifies for this. They never to explain their motives or try to reason or negotiate with anyone outside their party, and repeatedly resort to extreme measures to accomplish their goals while being as randomly cruel and petty as possible. It's no wonder they get beaten by Isaac's party at the end of the game.

** Pretty much ''everything'' Saturos and Menardi do in ''The Broken Seal'' qualifies for this. They never to explain their motives or try to reason or negotiate with anyone outside their party, and repeatedly to extreme measures to accomplish their goals while being as randomly cruel and petty as possible. It's no wonder they get beaten by Isaac's party at the end of the game.

** Pretty much ''everything'' Saturos and Menardi do in ''The Broken Seal" qualifies for this. They never to explain their motives or try to reason or negotiate with anyone outside their party, and repeatedly to extreme measures to accomplish their goals while being as randomly cruel and petty as possible. It's no wonder they get beaten by Isaac's party at the end of the game.

** The ''entire plot'' of ''The Broken Seal'' '''retroactively''' becomes this once you learn of Saturos and Menardi's [[spoiler: true goals.]] Yes, they're out to [[spoiler: save the world]], but the way they choose to go about is just ''incredibly'' stupid and extreme. They attempt to accomplish their mission in the most ruthless, violent and underhanded manner possible, they beat up and/or kill every innocent bystander who gets in their way, they repeatedly go out of their way to KickTheDog and hurt people who aren't even connected to their mission, they kidnap Jenna, Kraden and Sheba instead of just asking for their help, they keep trying to ''kill'' Isaac and his team instead of trying to reason with them or talk things over, and they never bother trying to explain to ''anybody'' why they're trying to restore Alchemy in the first place. Practically almost the entire game might not have happened if they'd been more open about their motives and resorted to drastic behavior and pointless cruelty. It's no wonder Isaac's party thinks they're the bad guys the whole they're chasing them.

* EarWorm: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5d1rrbNo3o A]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X5PjUUy2wE number]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87DaHXZDjDA of]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRxcoojzbQ0 songs]] are quite catchy.

*** Is he a MagnificentBastard [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] and the ultimate BigBad of the series, or just a SmugSnake BigBadWannabe who isn't nearly as clever as he thinks he is? On the one hand, he flawlessly manipulates both the heroes and the other villains into getting him unimaginable power. The only reason this fails is because of what is almost literal divine intervention from the Wise One, and even then, ''Dark Dawn'' shows he still came out ahead in the end anyway. But on the other, these factors were mostly outside his control. All he ''really'' did was take advantage of an ancient prophecy the heroes didn't know about and the Proxians either didn't know about or just didn't care to stop, and the one character with both knowledge and will to stop him thwarted his plans with trivial ease. His status as BigBad is also contested, as he is the series' sole recurring villain and he seems to be getting more and more powerful with every game, but he has never been the main antagonist or even a direct threat to the heroes at any point in the story.

* IdiotPlot: Piers being held captive.
--> '''[[NonPlayerCharacter NPC in Osenia Cliffs]]:''' [[LampshadeHanging Wait, if this is the Champa ship, then that must mean Piers isn't a Champa! So...why does the elder still need Briggs to clear his name?]]

* TierInducedScrappy:
** While the battle system is heavily biased against mages Ivan and Sheba got it the worst since they are [[SquishyWizard too]] [[FragileSpeedster frail]] and difficult to be used in the late game. Some players who have difficulty using them tend to permanently bench those two despite their element is strong against the majority of enemies and bosses. At least their class options boosts the stats they frequently use.
** For those who actually used those two, Piers gets some of this due to his class options clash horribly with his stats. He is supposed to be warrior-based, but being a Mercury Adept, most of his class options are mage-based causing his attack stat (which he mostly uses) rendered much lower if placed in most classes he had access to. The uneven djinn distribution (due to the FakeBalance of the classes) can make him worse than he already is.
** On the other end of the spectrum are Jenna and Mia. Simply put, Jenna is a MasterOfAll who hits hard, has some actually damaging spells that tear apart random encounters in an instant, and in actual boss battles, rips foes apart with her speed and strength. Tellingly, given how many levels you get in the Lost Age that you don't get in the first game, by the time you get Isaac's party, Jenna is simply a much better alternative to Isaac. It helps that, due to her speed, she can also be an impromptu healer. She even gets defense debuffs for foes. As for Mia, she happens to be fairly tankish, and her healing spells are just too good not to use. While Jenna can serve as a faster healer if the party ''really'' needs healing at the start of a turn, Mia's Wish psynergy make it unlikely this will ever be the case.

** Dullahan is just ridiculous even by BonusBoss standards. Almost all of his attacks fall under ThatOneAttack (see below).
** [[BadassNormal Briggs]] from the second game also counts as an [[EarlyGameHell early game example]], as, due to Osenia's layout, he can be fought before encountering a number of dungeons and collecting their Djinni, summons, and items. What makes him more difficult than Saturos is that you only have three party members by the time you reach him while Mia already joins Isaac's group before Saturos' boss fight. Briggs can also summon his crew [[WeHaveReserves over and over again]] to assist him, as opposed to Saturos who fights alone. to Needless to say, he's going to mop the floor with you.

** Speaking of Felix, did he know all along that [[spoiler: the seal on Alchemy was slowly destroying Weyard]], or did he only find out when the rest of his party did? The Proxians definitely knew, but it's not clear if they told him or not. Isaac even asks him when they meet up in ''The Lost Age'', but how Felix responds is up to the player. Depending on which interpretation you believe, this means Felix is either a noble AntiHero doing what has to be done even if it means coming to blows with his old friends, or a still sympathetic but somewhat more selfish character willing to risk doom on all the world for sake of a few people he personally cares about.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Kraden has a hard case of this. During the fandom's peak, people who like the series love him and demand he be playable. People who don't like it usually cite him as a primary reason.

* {{Narm}}: Boreas may be a strong summon, but that doesn't change the fact that it's basically a ''giant ice maker''. It's also the most useful summon in the entire first game. Which nets it some [[MemeticBadass Memetic Badassitude]], which is just hilarious considering yeah, it's pretty much a giant ice maker. To put it simply: One of the best summons in the first game is making snow cones over your enemies.

** Saturos from the first game (when you face him for the first time) can be quite a menace to players that are unprepared, mainly because he has spells that are more powerful than what the players are used to at the point. His second (and final) battle with him is arguably much worse though, as he brought Menardi to assist him and it's a back-to-back boss fights against their default forms and their Fusion Dragon form.

* ThatOneAttack: Dullahan and Doom Dragon both deserve a special mention for the ability Djinn Storm, which sets all Djinn in the current party into recovery mode (removing the stat bonuses of having them equipped to a character and preventing them from being used for summons). Doom Dragon also has a very infamous attack called Cruel Ruin which hits the entire party, has a base damage of 200, and becomes more powerful depending on how much HP the party has meaning that it does MORE damage to a higher leveled party.
** What separates this from Dullahan is that there is no factor that randomly KILLS you. What made Dullahan so hard was that in combination with Djinn Storm, it has Charon that can instant kill you in tandem with just doing damage which means that it doesn't matter if you are fully healed, you are still taking a dead member 50% of the time and maybe even two or three. Then he finishes you off with [[strike: [[BlindIdiotTranslation Formina Sage]]]] Fulminous Edge. Cruel Ruin itself is not as dangerous mainly because a sufficiently strong party can stand in the face of it and still come out standing, even with no Djinn set. A level 50 party can completely raze the Doom Dragon without suffering a single death while Dullahan can KO the entire party before you even reach half HP with the same level.
** On the other hand, Dullahan can be summon-rushed. Doom Dragon is specifically geared to nerf summon-rush strategies by having separate damage calculations for each of its forms. It really depends on your play style.
** Virtually all of Dullahan's attacks are ThatOneAttack: Djinn Storm, which puts ''every active party member's'' Djinni in recovery mode; Fulminous Edge, which does huge damage to one party member; Charon, which can easily be a TotalPartyKill; Condemn, which is a potential OneHitKill; True Collide, which hits hard and restores his health; Bind, which disables one party member's Psynergy...is the BraggingRightsReward really worth it?

* WhatAnIdiot: Kraden, especially in ''The Lost Age'', to those that don't find him to be an EnsembleDarkhorse. Karst encounters Felix's party in Madra. Wondering where her sister is (Menardi, one of the antagonists), Sheba tells Karst that Isaac killed her. Understandably upset, Karst questions why the party would want to protect Isaac from her rage. Kraden, for no reason, then asks Karst [[TemptingFate how she would know that Felix didn't kill Menardi]], right after Karst had all but said that she was planning to kill Isaac. Even if the implication was meant to protect Isaac, Sheba had already told Karst the truth and the party's behavior implicated it even further. To quote a Let's Player (who regards Kraden with [[InformedAbility very little respect]] [[ParrotExposition due to]] [[CaptainObvious his actions]] in ''The Lost Age''):

* AccidentalInnuendo: "Isaac got a Hard Nut!"