Fugue


 * This Djinni appears as an enemy that can be battled.

Fugue (サンバ　Samba) is a Mars Djinni found in Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Fugue is the eleventh and final Mars Djinni in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The separate Djinn list viewable with the Select button from the status screen lists Fugue and all other Mars Djinn introduced in The Lost Age before the seven Mars Djinn from the original Golden Sun, most likely because all the Djinn from the original game can be acquired all at once late in The Lost Age. However, the original Djinn are ordered before all of the Djinn introduced in The Lost Age in the Djinn inventory screen while they are allocated to characters. By this order, Fugue is the eighteenth and final Mars Djinni in the GBA series, rather than the eleventh.

Fugue is the fifteenth Mars Djinni in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Basic description
When Set, Fugue increases its Adept's base HP by 11, base Psynergy Points by 4, and base Defense by 2.

When Fugue is unleashed in battle, all enemies flinch as though they are hit by an elemental power move, such as a Psynergy, with a power rating of 18. However, it is not the affected targets' HP meters that take the damage, but their PP meters. All enemies take the full PP damage of the attack - there is no damage reduction for enemies off to the side of the designated target. Mars Power and Resistance ratings apply. In the GBA games' Battle Mode however, it has a secondary effect of draining a random Djinni from a party member in the linked arena.

In The Lost Age, Fugue's unleash animation visually resembles the user summoning the glowing red image of a Mars Djinni above the party, and the Djinni projects an array of large, glowing-red musical note symbols that zigzag through the enemy's half of the screen. A brief fanfare musical piece plays when this happens. This resembles the Djinnfest monster skill that Karst uses. In Dark Dawn, the 3D model of Fugue is summoned, and it somersaults and dances in midair while letting loose medium-sized orange musical notes that flutter around over and through the enemy party. The ordinarily white number that appears at the enemy's position to indicate how much HP damage it took is instead a purple number that indicates how much PP damage it took.

Locations
Golden Sun: The Lost Age: Fugue is located in Mars Lighthouse, and can only be reached after Mars Lighthouse has been "turned on" and made hotter. From the "main lobby", enter the rightmost door, and you are led to Fugue pretty quickly. It must be defeated in battle in order to be acquired. You may have to approach it from the bottom in order for it to react to you. See here for enemy statistics.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Fugue is found in Champa Camp. First, go up to the weapon shop tent, but stand directly behind it and face the tree that Fugue is on. Fugue will be hanging onto a yellow fruit swinging at the tree and projecting cheery face icons at a regular rate. Cast the Slap Psynergy to knock Fugue down and cause it to faceplant into the ground. Then, go into the thin, partially-obscured trail of water between the canoe and the elevated land, south of the Inn tent, and follow the shallow water counterclockwise around Champa Camp to where Fugue is. Despite the treatment you gave it, it will add itself to your Djinn inventory without any apparent hard feelings.

Analysis
General: Fugue has perhaps the least usable battle effect of any Djinni in the entire series. A paltry 20-plus Psynergy Points will be deducted from all enemies or bosses that have PP meters, and that is it. There is barely any conceivable case where an enemy or boss' threat can be lowered by Fugue. Enemies with PP typically do not lower in threat level due to having the source of their Psynergy abilities depleted faster, because in most cases they have monster skills to use against the party as well. Bosses are barely impeded because they often have very high PP ratings that they can frankly deplete faster on their own, and Fugue is completely useless on any boss that automatically regenerates PP at the end of every turn. Even if there are some obscure conceptual uses for lowering PP meters, Fugue simply lowers PP meters by far, far too small an amount to meet those purposes. Djinn that Seal any enemy or boss's ability to use Psynergy temporarily is far superior both in concept and in practice.

By game
Golden Sun: The Lost Age: Fugue simply has no appeal as a Djinni to Unleash in battle, so it is collected strictly for the important Class-affecting effects that all Djinn share. The Psynergy-Sealing Djinn available in the game to use in place of Fugue are the Mercury Djinni Rime, found in Ancient Lemuria, and the Jupiter Djinni Luff that Isaac's party may bring with them in a password-enhanced game. It will have a value on linked arena in Battle Mode however, as it has the Djinni-draining effect in addition of reducing PP to enemy party, making it the only Djinni to do so.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: What can be said of Fugue in the last game can be said in this game as well, especially since the Battle Mode has been removed. Fugue is collected strictly for the important Class-affecting effects that all Djinn share, though this time it can be acquired more easily - Champa Camp can be visited, and Fugue collected, as soon as you begin the exploration of the Great Eastern Sea on the sailing ship. The Psynergy-Sealing Djinn available in this game to use in place of Fugue are the Mars Djinni Brand, found south of Passaj in Passaj Mountain Climb after the town has reformed, and the returning Mercury Djinni Rime, found in Iceberg Outpost.

Name Origin
In music, a fugue is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred to as "voices". This is why the this Djinni lets loose musical notes.

Samba is the most iconic dance and musical genre of Brazil and is widely used in festivals and for general enjoyment.

Trivia

 * Fugue also shares a secondary effect with the enemy skill Djinnfest, but this is never seen in normal gameplay because enemies do not carry Djinn. This potentially makes Fugue more useful in the link arena.
 * Samba's Japanese description mentions its fatigue is caused by making the enemy dance, furthering its musical theme.