Golden Sun: The Lost Age/Condensed Walkthrough

This page is a condensed and spoiler-free walkthrough for Golden Sun: The Lost Age that is less focused on providing step-by-step instructions and more on orienting the player's course through the game using generalized directions. Players may use this to make sure that they collect all important items and complete all worthwhile tasks before proceeding to the next stage of the game.

Also see the Condensed Walkthrough for Golden Sun.

Also see the Condensed Walkthrough for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Considerations when Starting

 * While beginning a new game file, you are given the choice of "enhancing" it with data "transferred" over from the first Golden Sun title. Instructions on achieving this without a Game Link Cable are not presented in either of the games themselves and are only printed in the manual packed with The Lost Age. To extract a password from a Clear Data File in the first game, go to that game's starting menu and bring up the hidden "Send" option by holding the R shoulder button and the left direction on the D-pad while pressing either B or Start. Choose one of three "medal tiers" and replicate its password for the corresponding tier in The Lost Age. After a password is accepted, the game will first let you rename Isaac, and selecting "END" will then show you the effects your password has on the stats and inventory of the original game's party when they eventually figure into events later in this game. Once you push B to exit out of this screen, the game will return you to Isaac's rename screen again, and selecting "END" again will start the game. (Do not mistake this process for the game somehow having "canceled" your hard work inputting the password.)
 * If no password is used, only the first 20 of the game's original 28 Djinn will end up being available to this game's party, and only four of those missing will be available as "make-up Djinn"; without any Password, only 67 of the total 72 Djinn between the games can be collected (since one of the new Djinn also depends on a password in which the Orb of Force was acquired in the first game). This, in turn, locks the player out of an extra-hard bonus dungeon at the end of the game.
 * When a simple Bronze Password is used as the basis for data transfer between games, the features of the chosen Clear Data File that are applied to the second game's quest include the following: each original party member's level and changed name; how many of the original 28 Djinn were collected and thus available in this game file; whether each of the first game's non-essential utility Psynergy items were collected and thus available here; and which optional story events were completed in the first game, which unlock bonus events and rewards in the second.
 * Using a Silver Password additionally adjusts each character's stats to precisely match their values at the end of Golden Sun, which is primarily meant to preserve the effects of any consumable items that permanently boost stats that were applied to the first game's party throughout that game.
 * Using a Gold Password additionally fills up each original party member's inventory with all the same items they had by the end of the first game, and it also makes them just as wealthy. The Game Link Cable version additionally transfers Pause menu settings, all non-Cursed equipment equipped exactly as they were, and all the Djinn arranged as they were, without being shuffled around.
 * Whether or not Clear Data is transferred at this point in the game, the option to do so remains available for a game in progress via the "Update" feature that appears on the menu screen. It becomes possible to apply different passwords to an ongoing game at different times, though there is the possibility that doing so after the party of this game has passed certain thresholds without triggering the bonus events will not allow the events to be retroactively enabled. Late enough in the game, there will come a point where saving will make the file appear as "Post-Reunion Data" in the Update interface and no longer be able to have new Passwords applied to them.

The Search for a Ship
Roughly 30% of the game takes place on a series of three continents brushing up against each other before the party acquires the ship that lets them take to the open seas.

Traveling Through Indra

 * When you first take control of the party, it will consist entirely of Jenna at level 5, and she will begin in the "one-way exit out" portion of Venus Lighthouse, which appears and functions exactly as it did in the previous game. While you can get to a chest that will contain an Herb instead of the equipment it used to for Isaac's party, your aim is simply to get out of the entrance to the south. Follow along with the cutscenes west into Suhalla Gate and through a cave, taking out each Ruffian and Punch Ant you come across with Fume one at a time, and cutscenes will take over for a while. The next time you regain control, it will be as Felix at level 5, and departing for the northwest exit will ensure that Jenna and Sheba will be part of your party regardless of whether you interact with them beforehand. You will enter the overworld at the north edge of the continent of Indra.


 * The first town you pass through is Daila, though the only point of value here for the time being is that you can buy defensive gear for your three Adepts. As a general rule of thumb, unlike what was the case in the previous game, purchasing weapons of any sort is rarely worthwhile because weapons discovered in dungeons as artifacts are consistently superior. As soon as you take Daila's south exit, you immediately gain the first Venus Djinni, Echo, who gives a similar seminar on Djinn usage as the starting Djinni did early in the previous game. From Daila, head southwest and wind back northeast to reach the temple geographically south of Daila's position.


 * To get into Kandorean Temple, head left around the wall and cast Whirlwind on the bush that Kraden points out, and climb into the courtyard from underneath. Enter the cavernous area after the short cutscene to deal with the game's first dungeon, which establishes that dungeons in this game are noticeably larger and more complex than in the last game. A puzzle involving water spouts has two solutions, where riding the left spout up leads you to a chest with the Mysterious Card — the first of three equippable items that completely override the character's class with an exclusive class series. (The Pierrot class series, like the other two item-based class series coming up, only levels up as the Adept equipped with the item Sets Djinn of every element except the one they are innate at.) At the end of the dungeon is the boss battle with three Chestbeater monsters, and Master Poi grants you the Lash Pebble utility Psynergy item that bestows the Lash Psynergy while equipped; its only purpose throughout the game is to interact with coiled ropes.
 * Backtrack to a point shortly before the room with the bosses and use Lash to reach the first Mercury Djinni, Fog, which battles you; if it runs away, exit and reenter the screen the make it reappear. Cast Felix's Retreat Psynergy to save time leaving Kandorean Temple from this spot.
 * Return to Daila and travel to the cave dungeon icon east of it, which brings you into a limited portion of a future dungeon called the Shrine of the Sea God. Casting Lash on this rope opens up a puzzle area where you can chase down and entrap your first Jupiter Djinni, Breath. An optional cutscene that is arguably important for establishing the game's cast can now trigger if you enter the mayor's house in Daila.


 * Southeast of Daila lies Dehkan Plateau, a "dungeon" themed as a rugged and winding mountain trail with crumbling tiles on the ground that you explicitly want to fall through in some cases. Each of the first three outdoor screens in this area let you respectively claim the Full Metal Vest, the first Mint, and the Themis' Axe. Your progress is both inhibited and enabled by a Mars Djinni that leads you on a chase throughout the entire location. At one point, you will land right on top of the Djinni and obtain the Pound Cube item from it, which grants the equipped Adept the Pound Psynergy needed to drive stakes into the ground. At another point, driving one such stake to the ground is what allows you to entrap and challenge this Djinni to a battle, letting you earn the first Mars Djinni, Cannon. When you eventually reach the dungeon's exit, you will reappear at the center-east area of Indra.
 * Right next to Dehkan Plateau's exit is a certain ship representing the location East Indra Shore, but there is nothing of value that can be done here. The same is currently true of Gondowan Cliffs at the far southwest edge of Indra. Your next important destination lies in the continent's southeast region.
 * The cave icon west of this ship on the overworld, however, leads to the small Indra Cavern, which contains a short puzzle that rewards you with Zagan, one of the game's thirteen Summon tablets (a set of all-new summon sequences that take On Standby Djinn of multiple elements to cast and feature additional effects).
 * Any of the forests lying along the bottom quarter of Indra are capable of bringing you into a random battle with the second Venus Djinni, Iron.


 * Once you enter the front gate at the town of Madra and trigger a cutscene in so doing, you can visit the southwest jail for another cutscene that will open up the way to the continent to the east. Before leaving, there are several significant points to consider:
 * At the shops, opening up the weapon shopkeeper's Artifacts menu adds the Magic Rod to the artifacts list shared between all of the games' shopkeepers; selling this back after buying this will add it back to the artifact list, and so will dropping it. This is also the first of only two villages to sell the common Leather Boots, which will remain on each party member for seemingly most of the game because of the rarity of Boot-class items.
 * A chest reached by walking across the shop tents' roofs gives the Nurse's Cap, which will keep giving its useful defense bonus to the female Adept wearing it even if it has randomly "broken" from being Used to cast a free equivalent to the Cure Psynergy.
 * Currently, there are two holes with ladders leading down into the Madra Catacombs "side-dungeon," but only the eastern one outside the boundaries of the town walls currently lets you get into the catacombs' northern reaches. There, you can collect the Tremor Bit utility Psynergy item, which gives the Tremor Psynergy — which is only useful for completing side-objectives that are not mandatory for the main quest.


 * While traversing Osenia Cliffs from Indra's southeastern edge to reach the continent to the east, a chest that can be reached contains the Pirate's Sword artifact.

Exploring Osenia

 * At the moment, the only part of the world's southeastern continent, Osenia, that cannot be explored is its eastern third, leading to several opportunities for non-linear progression. In fact, the only mandatory tasks to complete here are the large desert "dungeon-style area" that is entered by heading a short way southeast from Osenia Cliffs and turning northeast, and the town that is reached by going through the desert's northeast exit. While it is recommended to complete the desert first because it includes a Psynergy useful for the side-content in Osenia, it is also recommended to hold off on a challenging boss battle that takes place in the village soon after until said side-content is complete.


 * The only viable entrance into Yampi Desert is the one on its west end, though it branches into two exits at its east and northeast edges. The first screen contains the Guardian Ring, the only ring in either GBA game to bestow straightforward statistical increases while equipped. The screens east of the gathering of NPCs require liberal use of the Pound Psynergy, which is needed to reach and fight the second Jupiter Djinni, Blitz, as well as the eventual boss of the desert, King Scorpion. This rewards you with the Scoop Gem, letting you dig up a hole back at the screen with the NPCs that leads to the rest of the desert. As you progress further east through the desert, a cavernous area with rushing sand rivers contains the first Hard Nut and the Blow Mace artifact, and the wide outdoor screen at the end of the area contains a chest with the Trainer's Whip, the second of the three class-changing items (providing the Tamer class series in this case). This screen has two exits at its northeast and southeast edges, and while the northeast leads to the next town, a sign near the southeast exit accurately describes it as a one-way exit out into the center of Osenia.


 * The town of Alhafra contains only the next "tier" of shopkeepers despite the boss battle that is already available here presuming that the player will have acquired the powerful treasures and other Djinn from locations across Osenia first. After watching a group of people head to the mayor's manor, you can trigger an optional meeting in the second floor of the Inn, and the first Apple is in the water pot in this room. The battle can be triggered by heading inside the broken ship and getting close to the opening where the pirates are meeting, but this walkthrough will presume that you leave Alhafra and return to Osenia via Yampi Desert's one-way-exit at its southeast end. (Refer to the bottom of this subsection if you wish to complete Alhafra now and avoid going through Yampi Desert again to return to the town.)


 * In preparation for the other dungeon of note on this continent, the following side-content can be completed:
 * Go to the village of Mikasalla far to the southwest and consider the few very expensive but powerful items they have on sale, including the Blessed Ankh that gets added to the artifact list; this village's shop is two tiers above Alhafra. The barrel at the end of the Inn has the first Lucky Pepper. Most importantly, cast Scoop in the center of the southwest "livestock farm" to reach the second Mars Djinni, Spark.
 * Northeast of Mikasalla, there is a secluded cave icon representing Osenia Cavern, where a Scoop-based puzzle lets you get the Megaera summon tablet.
 * South of Osenia Cavern, fight random battles a fair distance above the bend of the "U"-shaped river until you fight and earn the second Mercury Djinni, Sour. This is technically available as soon as Osenia is first entered.


 * There is little point in entering the southeast village in explorable Osenia before you enter Air's Rock in the east desert. This dungeon is outright infamous for amounting to the longest stretch of uninterrupted dungeon-style gameplay in any game in the Golden Sun series by an enormous margin, despite how early it appears in this game. It is divided into a massive exterior segment that lasts roughly as long as the final dungeon from the first game, and the interior segment is essentially two more dungeons worth of content that intertwine; it is typical for a player to require roughly two hours to finish overall. Though it is possible to put this dungeon off until you have recruited the fourth party member and developed higher PP reserves for Sheba, doing so would force you to fight the boss battle in Alhafra with more of a disadvantage.
 * It begins with a maze that requires heavy use of the Whirlwind Psynergy, and you can fight a Mimic for a Lucky Medal and find the first Cookie here (the Cookie being the reward for the one part of the maze where you have to cast Whirlwind on the same Wind Stone twice in a row). Be sure to blow a whirlwind left at the northeast corner of the maze before beginning to climb the mountain itself, so that you can climb back down into that corner to get the Storm Brand. As you climb up the mountain's many screens, there will come a point where you can clear away fog blocking you from climbing up meaningfully, then climb directly up to the summit and open the way into the interior portion of the dungeon. The chest visible at the summit's southeast corner contains the Fujin Shield, which is a strong defensive item for Felix, but some players may decide to ignore it on purpose because it would require two more lengthy backtracks to get to it and then come back from it.
 * When entering the top room of Air's Rock from above, the Psynergy Stone here regenerates whenever you take the stairs near it, and the Retreat Psynergy deposits you here. When you reach a branch between the left "blue" side and the right "red" side, play all the way through the path that the red side leads into, and you will eventually reach the bottom of the gigantic interior chamber; ride a whirlwind all the way back up to the top floor and use Whirlwind to turn on all small moai heads that were previously defunct. Back at the branch, if you want the Flora summon tablet, you would have to go through the "red side path" again and go one floor down to solve a new puzzle that has appeared in that room, and then Retreat. Regardless, completing the left "blue" side, which contains the Clarity Circlet along the way, leads to the ultimate objective of the dungeon: the Reveal Psynergy for Sheba.


 * Once you have acquired the Reveal Psynergy, travel south to Garoh and use it to follow the talking werewolf into his cavernous home. After the first cutscene with him deposits you at the Inn, return to him for another cutscene, which gives you the third Jupiter Djinni, Ether. The Reveal Psynergy also lets you hop across an indoor circle of pillars to get to the elevated chest containing the Hypnos' Sword artifact. Finally, the armor shop adds the Safety Boots artifact. This settlement's shops, incidentally, occupy the "tier" between Alhafra and Mikasalla.
 * The Reveal Psynergy can also expose a Lucky Medal in Yampi Desert's last big outdoor screen, where there are square arrangements of stones.


 * Now that you have acquired a sizeable amount of power development and useful inventory from completing the rest of Osenia, return to Alhafra by traversing Yampi Desert from its west end to its northeast end once again. Enter the broken ship and fight Briggs and his Sea Fighters for a long cutscene. Then, clear as much debris off the broken ship mast as possible until Jenna tells you that there is nothing that can be done about the large, cracked rock currently pinning it down. After seeing an optional cutscene at Alhafra's jail, leave the town, use Yampi Desert's southeast exit to get back into the mainland of Osenia, and make the trip all the way back west through Osenia Cliffs to return to Madra.
 * Before leaving Alhafra, find the ship's storage room behind a tall crate south of the pirates' meeting room and cast Tremor to pick up a Large Bread. In the main town area, which incidentally has a Lucky Medal that can be picked up from a jar placed between the two destroyed houses, give the Large Bread to the boy southwest of those ruined houses. Then, at the northwest corner of the town, the man at the colorful trees will let you explore the small Alhafran Cave dungeon; at the moment, you can grab three chests, including the Ixion Mail and a Lucky Medal.

Southern Gondowan

 * Back at Madra, another cutscene at the gate explains that your next destination is the continent brushing up against Indra's west shore: the lower half of Gondowan. Before heading off west, head back into Madra Catacombs through the hole inside the town this time (the other hole is being permanently sealed up, but this does not matter in any way). The Reveal Psynergy lets you open the catacombs' southern gate and explore for a Lucky Medal and the second Apple.


 * All of Gondowan Cliffs consists of a single, gigantic screen, which the Scoop Psynergy allows you to start progressing through. Along the way, there is a red collectible on the ground called the Laughing Fungus, but it is only worth selling for 525 coins, and ignore its green counterpart for now. Before crossing the tightrope west, climb the nearby vines above to the right to reach and battle the third Mars Djinni, Kindle.


 * At the village of Naribwe, the Psynergy Rod is added as an artifact, a Unicorn Ring is in a hidden chest among the ring of totem poles, and the Thorn Crown is in the lower-right corner of the town. This town is the site of a Fortune Teller with a rather unique potential for relevance to the player; if you present items to him, he will give you cryptic hints that are dynamically determined based on the item's category and your own progress. Giving him a weapon tells you the next boss, giving him a piece of armor tells you the location of a Djinni, giving him a Utility Psynergy item tells you the next "quest item," and giving him anything else tells you your next destination.
 * Southwest of Naribwe is a bridge leading down Gondowan's entire bottom-left stretch of land, and near the bottom, your third Mercury Djinni, Chill, can be encountered and won through battle.


 * North of Naribwe is a dungeon-style location named the Kibombo Mountains, which requires some stealthy movements in order to pass without being caught and tossed out by patrolling guards. Along the way, you can gain the Disk Axe, the first Power Bread, and a Tear Stone — an example of forgeable material that can be randomly converted into a strong artifact later. One tricky segment in which a patrolling dog will likely catch you can be deprived of all risk by standing left of a crate with a bone on it and casting Tremor right at it, removing the dog from the equation. Ignore the Jupiter Djinni as you go toward the western exit.


 * When you reach Kibombo, use the lower-left coiled rope to begin hopping across the pillars and roof so that you can meet Piers off the northwestern edge of the screen, and he will soon permanently join your party as the series' first Mercury Adept "warrior." He will bring with him your fourth and fifth Mercury Djinn, Spring and Shade. Go to the area behind the giant statue for an optional cutscene, and cast Scoop on the marked spot southeast of that to enter the next dungeon.


 * The Gabomba Statue is a dungeon that operates on you riding and jumping across cogs and gears to get to the places they seemingly block off at first. Early on, you can both fight a Mimic for the second Hard Nut and find the Bone Armlet in a chest in the same room. You eventually have to reverse the directions of all gears in the dungeon by Pounding two stakes next to a flashing gear, and you have to "ride" the left of two parallel pink gears in an upper floor into a pit to land next to and fight the third Venus Djinni, Steel. At the top of the statue is a room where you need to use Pound to connect the circuits so that both blue and red sparks reach the statue in the center. Following along with the subsequent cutscenes will get you the Black Crystal Important Item and complete the dungeon; you cannot productively delve into the Gabomba Catacombs yet.
 *  Rare Drop:  If a Red Demon is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Staff of Anubis is quadrupled to 1/16.


 * Back at Kibombo, the shops have opened, selling Nuts for the first time and adding the Frost Wand to the artifact menu. Grab the second Lucky Pepper in the blue jar at the west end of town, and grab a Lucky Medal from a blue jar in the northwest two-room residence. From here, start making a long trip back to Madra, which features several useful collectibles along the way:
 * When you reenter Kibombo Mountains from its northwest exit, use Piers' Frost Psynergy on the puddle that becomes visible to you to reach and battle the fourth Jupiter Djinni, Waft. The rest of the locale can be walked through without the need to consider stealth mechanics.
 * As you pass back through Gondowan Cliffs, climb the vines up and right like you did for the previous Mars Djinni so that you can use Frost on a puddle to help you get to the green Healing Fungus. When you are back in Madra, give it to the old couple in the two-story building in the center to get the fourth Mars Djinni, Coal.
 * Madra Catacombs can be reentered one more time, and this time, the Frost Psynergy will let you loot everything else inside it; this includes a rare Mist Potion, the Ruin Key that you have to shake a chest off a bookshelf with Tremor to get, and the Moloch summon tablet that the Ruin Key unlocks the door to.


 * In Madra, while most players will immediately go to the mayor's house to proceed with the main game, an optional cutscene will play if you head back to Piers' ship at East Indra Shore first. Either way, a significant cutscene that triggers after visiting and leaving the mayor's family will grant you the Cyclone Chip Utility Psynergy item that bestows the Cyclone Psynergy.
 * A bonus event will take place as you leave Madra if this is a password-enhanced game file in which the mayor of Vault was spoken to later on in the previous game; an easy encounter with the Bandit and Thieves triggers, and you will gain the Golden Boots when you win. These are a directly superior version of the already useful Quick Boots that will only be available late in this game.
 * It is technically possible with Cyclone to go all the way back to the Gabomba Statue and play through the Gabomba Catacombs to collect its Venus Djinni, among other things, though most players wait until after they have gained the ability to sail, which will happen shortly and will allow you to revisit Kibombo by sea much more quickly.


 * Once you return to East Indra Shore, be sure to use Frost left of the ship to collect the second Cookie in an elevated crate; unlike most other collectibles in the game, this can be permanently missed if the party finishes the dungeon-like segment encompassed within the ship first. At any rate, enter the Lemurian Ship, slay every Aqua Jelly you come across, and cast Frost on their puddles to proceed through the ship. Eventually, six of them will merge into the tough Aqua Hydra boss, and defeating this will allow you to go down to the lower level where you can insert the Black Crystal into a pedestal, granting you control over the ship and initiating the start of the game's most wide-open and non-linear segment.

The Eastern Sea
The game all but explodes with content that can be approached in a non-linear fashion as soon as you gain access to the ship. A large number of major dungeons, settlements, and minor locations become reachable all at once, and the capacity to progress through the ones that are currently blocked off in some way is unlocked in stages with each utility Psynergy you acquire. This segment of the game spans roughly 40% of the game's play time, and the "ultimate goal" is to collect three prongs and have them reforged into a repeatedly usable item called the Trident, which will allow the party to get past an otherwise invincible boss at the end of the fog-shrouded Sea of Time in the center of the Eastern Sea. It will then become possible to sail the ship between Indra and Gondowan and past Gondowan Cliffs to reach the Western Sea.

Despite what is presented as enormous freedom that lets you touch down even on the landmasses of the continents featured in the first Golden Sun game, it is impossible to visit any of the previous game's individual locations because the landscape comprehensively blocks off all parts of the first game's traversable overworld.

Described in the most basic terms, completing the Aqua Rock and Gaia Rock dungeons grants you utility Psynergy that respectively allows you to complete Tundaria Tower and Ankohl Ruins, which themselves contain two of the three prongs. Meanwhile, the third prong lies in a newly accessible deeper portion of the Shrine of the Sea God. Another utility Psynergy that is earned at Tundaria Tower also lets you trigger an event at Alhafra that continues at the village of Champa, after which the Trident can be reforged there.

Preliminary Duties

 * Four settlements become accessible all at once:
 * Champa lies at the bottom coast of Angara. When you first enter, if this game file was enhanced with a password in which Isaac's party helped out at Alpine Crossing in the first game, you will be granted the Golden Ring; this lets any Adept cast the Resist Psynergy for free. A Viking Helm can be Revealed in the ring of graves nearby. The shops here sell useful Plate Mails and the Blessed Robe (as well as the far less useful Demonic Staff). Up in the third floor of the cliffs, a jar outside contains a Lucky Medal. When you exit Champa for the first time, a very significant cutscene takes place.
 * Izumo is located at the island northeast of the Sea of Time. Its shop adds a Psy Crystal, Shamshir, and Ninja Blade to the artifacts menu, but easily the most beneficial artifact is the War Gloves. The Festival Coat is picked up for free in the large crate in the southeast building. Casting Cyclone on the five northwest weeds exposes a Lucky Medal, and navigating your way up the hidden trail behind the inn leads to a jar with a Water of Life.
 * At the Apojii Islands at the east edge of the world, their Artifacts menu adds the Dragon Axe, Angelic Ankh, and a Water of Life. Casting Cyclone at the lower-right weeds in the main village area exposes the second Mint. The Aqua Rock dungeon on the island southwest of this village, which is one of the earliest main dungeons in this segment of the game, can only be opened by casting Douse on the giant teardrop-shaped "Aqua Stone" in the center of the village.
 * Yallam, located at the formerly inaccessible eastern third of Osenia's landmass, will be the party's primary source of exotic artifacts for the rest of the game and will be where the party spends the majority of its coins. This is because it is home to the blacksmith, Sunshine, who randomly converts each forgeable item you give him into one of several possible artifacts exclusive to that material. For example, handing him a Tear Stone, entering and exiting the town's Sanctum, and returning to his building will let you buy one of the following artifacts chosen at random with the following probabilities: Clear Bracelet (30%), Cloud Wand (25%), Pure Circlet (25%), and Spirit Ring (20%). (None of the localized versions of the game will tell you in advance what the chosen item costs, however, but this is not the case in the Japanese version.) Of these four items, the Spirit Ring is easily the best because it lets any Adept cast the Wish Well Psynergy for free.
 * An optional "song and dance" sequence that can be triggered in eastern Yallam is intended to clue you into how it is possible to sail through the maze of whirlpools and bypass the rushing rivers in the Sea of Time. Technically, it is already possible to reach the end by circling each volcano multiple times so that you can cross the rushing streams while they are paused, but you will fail at the invincible boss battle at the end if you do not bring the completed Trident first. You can trigger an optional cutscene by letting a water current push you back out of the Sea of Time.
 * At any rate, southeast of the Sea of Time is a small, shallow spot of water, and pressing A on top of it should get you a Rusty Axe (it may take several tries at different parts of the spot for it to register). This is the first of several Rusty items found throughout the game that can also be reforged into exclusive artifacts at Sunshine's service, and this will become the Captain's Axe. Another shallow spot that holds an item lies east of Treasure Isle, the island near the northeast corner of the world map, and it is a Rusty Mace that will get reforged into the Hagbone Mace.
 * The relatively enclosed area of forested inland just northeast of Kibombo on the world map, as well as the overworld portion of the island at the northeastern corner of the map, Treasure Isle, feature the stronger overworld monsters that will be fought throughout the Western Sea. The monsters inside the island are at least as strong, and the island itself cannot be meaningfully explored yet beyond taking a Lucky Medal in an open room, but there are two early opportunities for rare equipment drops:
 *  Rare Drops:  If an Earth Golem is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Giant Axe is quadrupled to 1/32. If a Turtle Dragon is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Blessed Mace is quadrupled to 1/32.
 * Return to Kibombo and take the ladder at the end of the Gabomba Statue to enter and play through the Gabomba Catacombs. Use Cyclone on the northeast clump of weeds to sink through a hidden "cyclone portal" that drops you next to the fourth Venus Djinni, Mud. Then do the same for the northwest clump of weeds to progress. The next area includes the third Mint under a broad clump of weeds, and near the end of the dungeon is a set of weeds hiding the first Mad Plant, a line of stand-alone Mimic-like enemies that similarly drop worthwhile things. At the end, you are given the Tomegathericon, the final class-changing item and the one that produces the Dark Mage class series.
 * The sanctum back at Daila contains a rare item called the Sea God's Tear, which can now be reached by freezing the puddles inside. (There is also a buried Psy Crystal in town you can get through Reveal and Scoop.) The Frost Psynergy lets you enter the deeper portions of the Shrine of the Sea God; maintain Avoid to prevent encounters with extremely weak enemies, and use the Tear at the statue at the end to bring yourself to the Right Prong. A room filled with rushing rivers contains a chest holding a Rusty Staff that will become the Glower Staff once reforged.
 * Take Yallam's north exit out and head counterclockwise throughout the land until you reach Taopo Swamp. Early in the outdoor area is a chest containing the third Cookie. The cave behind the northwest bushes leads to a Tear Stone that needs to be extracted with Scoop. The cave behind the bush at the right edge, near the sapling, leads to an average-sized cave network that contains another half-buried Tear Stone, a Mad Plant battle that drops a Lucky Medal, and a puzzle leading to the fifth Venus Djinni, Flower (slide down the second slide to its right once you've blown it off). The biggest part of the dungeon lies behind the bush reached with the sapling you use Growth on; once you go downstairs to the lava floor, use Douse on flaming rocks to be able to Move them. Tremor is needed to proceed further and eventually reach a rocky room where the first Star Dust can be scooped out of the ground; this forgeable material results in an Astral Circlet (20%), Comet Mace (20%), Luna Shield (20%), Planet Armor (20%), or Stardust Ring (20%).

Progression Through the Eastern Sea

 * Assuming you had cast Douse on the Aqua Stone in the village at Apojii Islands, you may begin playing through Aqua Rock southwest of it, which is somewhat less time-consuming than Air's Rock. The Douse and Frost Psynergies will be used a great deal when navigating both the exterior and interior portions of this dungeon, and the Mist Sabre artifact lies at the north end of the top screen of the exterior, reached via ice pillars.
 * In the interior portion, the screen after the one where you can pick up a Tear Stone branches in multiple directions and features two differently colored kinds of ponds; go up the northwest branch first. In one puzzle room where you have to fill up a moai to your left with water to fill up the room with water, the chest further to the left contains a Water of Life. When you turn on a pair of glowing paths by dousing the Aqua Stone south of the purple room, the third Lucky Pepper is in a chest off to the left, and either path can be used to collect the Aquarius Stone on the central structure. Then use the right path to go south and return to the aforementioned room with the differently colored ponds, and use the Aquarius Stone on the pedestal north of it; this leads to Piers permanently learning the Parch Psynergy.
 * Before leaving Aqua Rock, go back down and use Parch to evaporate the pond containing the submerged chest; this contains a Rusty Sword that becomes the rather weak Robber's Blade at Yallam. Take the room's northeast branch out and then go southeast, and you can use Parch on top of a moai to cut off the water that was blocking you from getting to your sixth Mercury Djinni, Steam.


 * Head down to the snowy island at the world map's southeast corner and enter E Tundaria Islet. Find a Lucky Medal in the blue jar in the house, then push the penguin in pink to the yellow penguin using the log as a pathway across the water; you will get the Pretty Stone Rare item for your trouble. Now make the long trek west across the world's bottom continent, Tundaria; before entering the tower, head all the way to the southwest and fight battles in the space relatively enclosed within the mountains until you come across your fifth Jupiter Djinni, Wheeze.


 * In Tundaria Tower, which is somewhat short in comparison to dungeons like the Elemental Rocks, open up the dungeon by casting Parch on the two ponds, and head upstairs past the right door; from there, go south to collect the fourth Mint from the sliding ice puzzle, then go north to approach the same puzzle from the other end. When presented with three stairwells, the left brings you to the third Hard Nut; the bottom brings you to your fifth Mars Djinni, Reflux; and the right eventually leads to the Burst Brooch Utility Psynergy item at the "end" of the dungeon. As soon as you use the Burst Psynergy to go back indoors, cast Retreat and Burst open the Center Prong near the dungeon entrance. Burst also lets you claim the four chests beyond the left pond you had parched, which include the Lightning Sword, a Lucky Medal, and the first Sylph Feather; this forgeable material results in an Aerial Gloves (25%), Faery Vest (25%), Floating Hat (25%), or Sylph Rapier (25%).
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Magicore is felled by an attack delivered by a Mercury Djinni, its chance to drop Aura Gloves is quadrupled to 1/32. If a Minotaurus is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Tartarus Axe is quadrupled to 1/16.


 * Return to Alhafra by disembarking at the beach west of it, and use Burst to remove the rock that has pinned down the ship's broken mast. After cutscenes take over, return to the harbor for another cutscene. Following this, you may now explore the remainder of Alhafran Cave for three more minor treasures, and you can use the cave to enter the prison's holding cell from behind and find the second Power Bread in the right jar. Incidentally, a bonus cutscene will take place in the second floor of Alhafra's inn if this game file was enhanced with a password in which Isaac's party defeated Deadbeard in the first game.


 * Completing the above story step at Alhafra will have enacted a change at Champa, so you can now head into the top chamber of the cliff for a cutscene in which picking "No" will initiate a boss battle with the Avimander. After defeating the boss, the chamber unlocks its functionality as the place where you can convert the three prongs into the Trident; until then, you can interact with Obaba multiple times to give each of your currently collected prongs to her for safekeeping, which can be useful for freeing up inventory space.


 * Southeast of Izumo on the same island is the dungeon Gaia Rock, which is arguably trickier than Aqua Rock even though it also can be completed as soon as you gain the ship. It is relatively easy to get into the final room in the immediately accessible interior, casting Growth on the plants in the repeating rooms to point you in the right direction (and getting the Rusty Mace that will be reforged into the Demon Mace along the way). However, while there is an optional cutscene involving the Serpent boss that will trigger the first time you enter that room, it will be impossible to beat it until the rest of the dungeon is solved.
 * The true "dungeon" of Gaia's Rock actually begins by climbing up the wall left of its large, black entrance outside. As you climb up the exterior of the mountain, use Whirlwind to swing across the pits with the vines dangling over them. At the summit of the mountain, hop across the earth pillar for the third Apple before moving it all the way down so that you can hop across it for the Dancing Idol, which must be Revealed on its pedestal. Cast Retreat and go back inside Gaia Rock, and use the idol on the white pedestal to shift open the two statues; go into the right doorway first to use Cyclone on the weeds, then Retreat and go into the left doorway to take the newly created moving platforms north into the part of the dungeon where you must make four lights shine into the Serpent's chamber. Once all four lights are shining, Retreat again and head to the Serpent's chamber to engage it in a boss battle. After Felix permanently learns the Sand Psynergy, use Sand to reach and inspect the liquid behind the Serpent for the Cloud Brand (the one weapon in the game with a specialized Unleash effect that is superior against "dragonlike" monsters).
 *  Rare Drop:  If a Dread Hound is felled by an attack delivered by a Mercury Djinni, its chance to drop a Prophet's Hat is quadrupled to 1/16.
 * Return to Izumo and partake in a cutscene with Lady Uzume, then use the Dancing Idol in front of her to gain your sixth Mars Djinni, Coal. At the town's northeast quadrant, move the leftmost pillar to the right so that the entrance to the optional dungeon, Izumo Ruins, can be made visible with Reveal. The Sand and Parch Psynergies are both needed to reach the Ulysses summon tablet at the end, and you can also gain the Phantasmal Mail along the way.
 *  Rare Drop:  If a Gressil is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop an Otafuku Mask is quadrupled to 1/16.


 * The Sand Psynergy unlocks every remaining secret in the Eastern Sea, so it is worth collecting everything else before proceeding further:
 * Back at the village at Apojii Islands, use Sand on the beach beneath the town to slide past the rocks to the right, and fall off the edge of the water in the next screen to access your sixth Jupiter Djinni, Haze.
 * Go to SE Angara Islet north of the Sea of Time, collect the Lucky Medal, and get to and Mind Read a bird to give it the Pretty Stone; it will give you the Red Cloth.
 * Go to N Osenia Islet southwest of the Sea of Time, collect the Lucky Medal, use Sand to reach a cow, and Mind Read it to give it the Red Cloth in exchange for the Milk.
 * Go to West Indra Islet, the island between Indra and Gondowan, and get a Lucky Medal. Mind Read the dog here to give it the Milk, and it will give you the Li'l Turtle.
 * Finally, go to the Sea of Time Islet southeast of the Sea of Time, collect a Lucky Medal, and Mind Read the turtle to give it the Li'l Turtle. With this done, every time you Mind Read the turtle, you may choose to have it take you to the secret Islet Cave dungeon. The small segment of it that can be explored for the time being lets you get the Turtle Boots, a Rusty Staff that will become the Dracomace when reforged at Yallam, and your sixth Venus Djinni, Meld.
 * The Sand Psynergy allows you to reach the hidden entrance into the optional endgame dungeon Yampi Desert Cave in the northwestern corner of the final outdoor screen of Yampi Desert, though you can only get a Water of Life at present.


 * Likewise, the Sand Psynergy allows you to complete Ankohl Ruins, located east of Champa. In this especially complex maze of a dungeon, from the "main hall" of stone faces, go down into the "left wing" first; take the stairs at the southwest corner so that you collect the Thanatos Mace and complete a stone head, then go back downstairs and go up stairs hidden behind a bush against a wall. Once you go up the stairs northeast of where you find the third Power Bread in a chest, take the south fork and head eastward until you eventually slide down a small hole; push the two objects into their designated spots, head through the door above you, and remotely push an earth pillar onto the designated spot to its right to open a "Sand intersection." To save time, cast Retreat.
 * Now head into the right wing from the main hall; go upstairs and remove a bush to find the Muni Robe behind it, then continue along north until you get to the aforementioned "Sand intersection" from below. A Sylph Feather lies above the first bush to the right of that, and the route further east eventually leads to where you complete a stone head to make its eyes turn green. Retreat again and retrace your steps through the right wing until you can use Sand to get past that particular stone face as it rushes you. Reveal will help you bring a face piece to another stone face downstairs that creates a sandfall once completed. Retreat once more and head through the stone face with the missing central piece in the main hall to eventually make use of the new sandfall and get to the Left Prong.
 * Once you bring the Left Prong to Obaba in Champa, use Reveal to claim the Trident; this unique and infinitely Usable implement deals an enhanced "weapon attack" that always ignores the defense of any of the game's "fish-like" enemies.

Into the Sea of Time

 * Armed with the Trident, enter the Sea of Time from the south end, and make it to the end of the maze by circling the ship around each volcano you come across and then immediately crossing the adjacent water stream during the brief moment it is turned off. After making it up off the northwest corner of the screen, the challenging Poseidon boss battle will ensue; whoever has the Trident in their inventory needs to Use it in order to allow all subsequent attempts at attacking the boss to deal the damage expected of them. When the battle is over, depart for Lemuria.


 * Enter the island nation of Lemuria and disembark, and casting Move on a statue triggers a cutscene that will eventually admit you into the city itself. Follow along with the cutscenes by going north to the main palace, then talking with the NPC in the house northwest of the fountain, then using Lash to get into the house far to the right (the game will compensate if you had given the Lash Pebble to Piers previously), then heading into the main palace. Eventually, you will gain the Grindstone, a Utility Psynergy item that can only be equipped by Felix and will grant him the Grind Psynergy. With this in hand, boarding your ship will automatically bring you out of Lemuria.
 * While there are no shopkeepers or Sanctums in Lemuria, this is The Lost Age 's equivalent to the previous game's Tolbi as the settlement that hosts a Lucky Medal Fountain, where redeeming all of your Lucky Medals on it gets you a lot of powerful exclusive artifacts. On top of valuable equipment like Crown of Glory and Aegis Shield, you will assuredly get the Eclipse summon tablet the first time you land the medal into the center. Unlike the previous game's Lucky Medal Fountain, however, this one also lets the party restore its HP and PP, essentially functioning as Lemuria's equivalent to an Inn. Note that there are no infinite sources of Lucky Medals in this game, compared to the previous title.
 * There are a lot of other valuable collectibles at Lemuria; casting Scoop at the butterfly's position south of the far eastern house unearths a Rusty Sword, which will become the rather weak Corsair's Edge when reforged at Yallam. South of that, past the vine you need to cast Growth on, are some weeds concealing the fourth Hard Nut, which you need Cyclone to expose. Scoop also unearths a Star Dust at the butterfly left of the main palace, and it unearths a Lucky Medal at the butterfly southeast of the fountain. Another Lucky Medal is in the rightmost barrel inside the palace.
 * While the Lemurian Ship is docked at Lemuria, it actually becomes possible to revisit its interior for the first time since the Aqua Hydra boss battle, and the chest submerged in that room can now be reached by casting Parch on the standing water; it contains a Mist Potion. Cast Parch from the upper left for the most convenient results.
 * The Grind Psynergy removes a giant rock formation in the waterways leading up to Lemuria to the west, leading to a side-location called Ancient Lemuria. The only weed worth blowing away with Cyclone is the one on the other side of the far-left wall. Then, cast Tremor on the shaking blue statue to gain your seventh Mercury Djinni, Rime.
 * As you return to the Sea of Time, use Grind to exit out from the left. This hidden "side route" amounts to a shortcut between Lemuria and the outside world. You can now sail down to Gondowan Cliffs via the watery route between Indra and Gondowan and use Grind to permanently open the way south into the Western Sea segment of the game.


 * At present, the Grind Psynergy enables the party to partially explore Treasure Isle up to the northeast. A lone chest in one watery room contains the Jester's Armlet, and all six of the treasure chests visible early on can now be reached; they contain the fourth Cookie, a Star Dust, a Sylph Feather, and a Rusty Axe that becomes the Viking Axe when reforged. Furthermore, a Mimic fought near the stairs to the blocked-off lower depths of Treasure Isle drops the fourth Power Bread.

The Western Sea
Though the Western Sea portion of the game and the path to the final dungeon are significantly shorter than the time spent in the Eastern Sea, several optional and extra-hard dungeons that open up while proceeding through the final dungeon result in this segment of the game counting as roughly the last 30% of the game's run time overall.

Hesperia and Jupiter Lighthouse

 * The moment you gain access to the Western Sea, its own selection of collectibles and worthwhile secrets becomes available within and around the island continents of Hesperia to the north and Atteka to the south, so there is a similar set of "preliminary duties" that should be completed first:
 * The shallow spot southwest of Osenia and northeast of Tundaria contains a Rusty Sword that will be reforged into the Pirate's Sabre, and the shallow spot north of Hesperia and very closely bordering the edge of the world contains a Rusty Staff that will be reforged into the Goblin's Rod.
 * Disembark at Atteka's southwest coast and head east into the forest in the center of the landmass, and fight until you encounter and earn your seventh Mars Djinni, Core. Disembark at Hesperia's southwest beach to find Hesperia Settlement, and solve a quick puzzle for your eighth Mars Djinni, Tinder. Then sail into Hesperia's northwest river and fight near the bottom of the forest flanked by a "V-shaped" arrangement of rivers, southeast of the continent's long and narrow desert, to fight and earn your seventh Venus Djinni, Petra. At the snowy Kalt Island north of Hesperia, pick up the eighth Mercury Djinni, Gel, and ignore the dangling Apple for now.
 * While you can sail into the foggy area at the north end of the Western Sea, you do not yet have the means to progress north, but the enemies encountered here include the first member of the Phoenix enemy line; every monster in this line bestows enormous quantities of experience, and using Mercury Djinn to slay a Phoenix yields 4,875 EXP and a 1/16 chance to drop a Water of Life.
 * At the southwest edge of the world is SW Atteka Islet, which contains a chest containing a Dragon Skin, a forgeable material that will result in either a Dragon Helm (25%), Dragon Shield (25%), Dragon Mail (20%), Dragon Robe (15%), or Dragon Boots (15%). Of all these items, the Dragon Boots easily have the most relevance to a late-game party because they are by far the premier option for a survivability-oriented Boot-class item.
 * If you sail north along the thick river in southern Gondowan, northwest of the eventual Magma Rock dungeon is Gondowan Settlement, a minor location that contains a Lucky Medal and Star Dust.
 * Loho, a village that normally figures later into the game, is located on Angara's southwestern coast just northwest of the inland sea between Angara and Gondowan (the previous game's Karagol Sea). Its shop is the first in the Golden Sun series that sells Vials as common items, and it also adds the Spirit Armlet to the artifact menu.
 * At the moment, you can explore Atteka in advance of when the main course of the game will eventually require you to be here. Sail through the twisting river network connected to Atteka's southeast corner so that you can eventually reach Atteka Inlet within the continent's enclosed southwestern coast, and travel northeast to the sole village on the continent, Contigo. Your collection of artifacts will most likely outclass the many artifacts that get added to the artifact menu: The Swift Sword, the Righteous Mace, the Jeweled Crown, the Mirrored Shield, a Water of Life, and a Mist Potion.
 * Contigo contains a duplicate of the Lucky Wheels mini-game from the first game, meaning this town is where you go to redeem all of your Game Tickets to try to earn valuable supplementary equipment like Mythril Shirt, Running Shirt, Hyper Boots, and Quick Boots. The fifth and final Power Bread, meanwhile, lies in the main town screen's northeast barrel. While there is a mass of weeds off to the right of Contigo's exit, rather than use Cyclone, you are supposed to use Scoop on the empty spot in the center to gain your eighth Venus Djinni, Salt. Finally, use Reveal to enter a very limited portion of Anemos Inner Sanctum in the neighboring screen to find a chest with another Dragon Skin.


 * The first mandatory point of interest in the Western Sea is Shaman Village Cave, which lies just above Hesperia's prominent blue lake. You do not have the Psynergy yet to collect the Mercury Djinni here, so use the cave to gain access to Shaman Village on the other side. Currently, only the Inn and Sanctum services work, and the Inn's second-floor exit leads to a chest with the Spirit Gloves. Go to Moapa's residence at the northwest corner of the village and present him the Shaman's Rod, then follow along until you can initiate the Trial Road segment by stepping onto one of the white lap lines. Before choosing a path, grab the Hard Nut from the nearby chest.
 * Trial Road is a mini-game that largely resembles the Colosso Finals sequence that was forced on the party in the previous game, where the aim is technically as simple as winning a boss battle after traversing four screens worth of puzzles. However, at the end of each "puzzle room," you must deposit one of your party members' currently equipped pieces of "mainline" gear into a chest in order to progress to the next room. If you reach the end of the room slowly enough that Moapa is ahead of you in his respective course, you will have to put two items into the chests, and the boss battle with him and his two Knights will feature improved Defense statistics at the end. Moapa's movements pause while any kind of menu screen is up, so take the time to study each new room and consider which pieces of gear should be temporarily deposited. Though it is still feasible to win the battle even if you fall behind, you may quit mid-run and make as many repeat attempts as you need. Your reward at the end will be the Hover Jade, which bestows the Hover Psynergy.
 * Following Trial Road, the shop at Shaman Village opens up, and it adds the Silver Blade, Crystal Rod, Magical Cassock, and a Psy Crystal to the artifact menu. A jar in the fortuneteller's hut contains the fourth Lucky Pepper, the two-story building at the right edge of the town screen has a Lucky Medal in the pot next to a stack of logs on the balcony, and it is possible to use both this building and then Moapa's own building to reach your seventh Jupiter Djinni, Aroma. It is not currently possible to make use of the area that the "Hover pattern" near the site of the battle with Moapa will lead to. You can also spend as much time as you want clearing out all eight puzzle rooms in Trial Road for their restorative items.
 *  Rare Drop:  In Shaman Village Cave, if a Wild Gryphon is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Feathered Robe is quadrupled to 1/32; this is still one of the best pieces of gear for caster Adepts to equip, even considering best-in-slot gear as of the end of this game.


 * The Hover Psynergy allows you to enter and complete Jupiter Lighthouse in the continent of Atteka, so sail back into Atteka Inlet and proceed northwest of Contigo. Before using the "Cyclone portal" just outside the main structure, cast Cyclone on the weeds southeast of that to expose the fifth Mint. At the south end of the underground cave network are some weeds that expose a Mad Plant that drops the sixth and final Mint. Hover is intended to be cast on purple circular tiles throughout the dungeon.
 * In the "main lobby," go through the northwest door; as you work your way up, find the Erinyes Tunic, Move a yellow-tipped pillar near a dangling chain to set up part of the eventual "final shortcut", ignore the "angel-flanked Cyclone portal" as you pass southwest of it, get the Meditation Rod from a room with a hopping puzzle, and eventually use Hover to "show the power of Anemos." Use the newly reactivated hover-tile network to get the Red Key nearby, then head downstairs and grab a Psy Crystal right of a reactivated set of hover tiles, and backtrack until you take the "angel-flanked Cyclone portal" up to the red door. Use the Red Key to access the "west sub-structure."
 * Play through the west sub-structure, getting a chest with a Mist Potion to the left along the way, until you get the archer statue at the top to fire an arrow. Then, drop back down — but immediately go back upstairs to the room filled with the cracked floor tiles and fall through the lone, dark floor tile underneath them; this will let you fall through the sub-structure to get the Blue Key at its base.
 * Now cast the Retreat Psynergy and return to the main lobby, and elevate and make use of the gray block just past the northwest door in order to fit a conduit block into a hole in the ground, permanently unlocking access to the lobby's northeastern Cyclone portal and the ability to ride the central energy beam up. Use the Cyclone portal first, move a yellow-tipped pillar left near a chain to complete the "final shortcut," and move a spire into a hole outside to activate a Hover tile. Then, go back down and ride the energy beam up to the Blue Door. Past this, the newly activated Hover tile brings you to the "east sub-structure."
 * In the east sub-structure, solve the puzzle to get to your eighth Jupiter Djinni, Whorl, and the same southwestern Hover tile lets you get upstairs just as easily. The next puzzle room with the network of gray blocks and Hover tiles features a chest in the southeast corner containing a Water of Life. At a room full of Hover tiles, grab the Phaeton's Blade from the upper left, and getting to the upper-right stairwell genuinely takes split-second timing hovering above the cracked tiles to the right. Have the eastern archer statue fire its arrow.
 * To get back to the main structure's aerie, you can either Retreat to the main lobby and take its northwestern door to go up the floors, or you can descend back through the east sub-structure and make use of the "final shortcut" to swing west across chains with Whirlwind. Either way, once you go southwest of the "angel-flanked Cyclone portal" again, cutscenes take over, and follow along until you engage in a boss battle that, unlike every other boss battle in the GBA duology, you can lose and still be allowed to proceed with the rest of the game. Winning this boss battle, however, gets you your first Dark Matter, a forgeable material that results in a Stealth Armor (30%), Terra Shield (25%), Fear Helm (20%), Demon Circlet (15%), or Darksword (10%), the last of which happens to have the highest attack rating among all weapons. Once you are done, leave Jupiter Lighthouse.
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Wyvern is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop an Aeolian Cassock is quadrupled to 1/16. If a Blue Dragon is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Rising Mace is quadrupled to 1/16; this is an excellent weapon for Sheba at the moment.


 * Return to Contigo and enter the northwestern house to trigger a cutscene that will result in the entire party from the original Golden Sun getting added to your party roster. The levels, statistics, Djinn collections, and inventories of Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia, along with the coins they will bring with them, will all be determined by whether a password was used to match how the party ended up by the end of the first game. The Update feature will no longer be able to apply to this game file because it will display in the menu as "Post-Reunion Data."
 * Presuming at least a Bronze-level password had been applied to this file to make sure that Isaac's party brings along the Orb of Force from the first game, cast Force on the tree stump at the left edge of the village to drive out your ninth Mars Djinni, Shine. Then head to Atteka Inlet and cast the Lift Psynergy provided by the first party's Lifting Gem to unearth your ninth Venus Djinni, Geode, underneath a weed. Board your now-modified ship and hold the B button to clear the shallow rocks and trigger a cutscene; you can then return to Contigo to trigger an optional cutscene at the northwestern house where the Reunion took place.
 * As you board your ship, if this game file was enhanced with a password in which Isaac's party helped rescue Master Hammet in the first game, you will be granted your first Orihalcon; this is the game's strongest forgeable item, and it can produce a Xylion Armor (20%), Millenium Helm (20%), Big Bang Gloves (15%), Cosmos Shield (15%), Nebula Wand (10%), Stellar Axe (10%), or Excalibur (5%). Many of these items are among the best in the game; the Excalibur, in particular, causes an Unleash effect that potentially triples the resulting damage.

Prox and Mars Lighthouse

 * One more round of comprehensive secret-gathering can be pursued as a result of the party having gained multiple "new" Psynergies and the ability to make the Lemurian Ship hover across grasslands and rivers:
 * The Catch Psynergy bestowed by the original party's Catch Beads now lets you get the fourth Apple dangling at Kalt Island.
 * By carefully flying the ship from Atteka's southeast coast all the way over the rivers and grasslands leading south to the continent's tip, Atteka Cavern can be entered, and Parch can be used to gain access to the summon tablet for Coatlicue, the game's only restorative summon.
 * The cave accessible from the beach north of Loho, Angara Cavern, can now be solved with the Carry Psynergy bestowed by the first game's Carry Stone, and it rewards the summon tablet for Haures.
 * If Isaac's party did not bring all seven of the original game's Jupiter Djinn, the Lift Psynergy can be used to acquire a "make-up" Jupiter Djinni back at SW Atteka Islet at the southwest edge of the world.
 * The shallow spot directly north of SW Atteka Islet is enclosed in a ring of rocks that can now be passed, letting the ship pick up the strongest of the game's rusty weapons, the Soul Brand.
 * The next time you go into the bottom screen of Shaman Village Cave, if this game file was enhanced with a password in which Isaac's party won the Colosso Finals in the first game, a bonus event will take place that puts your party through an easy battle against the Colosso Gladiators. You will be awarded the Golden Shirt, which is a strictly superior version of the Mythril Shirt. At any rate, the Lift Psynergy can now be used to clear the puzzle that lets you acquire the ninth Mercury Djinni, Eddy.
 * The Hover tile at the end of Trial Road can now be used to reach a boulder that can be gotten past with Lift, opening up a hidden area with random encounters where you can fight Nightmares that can drop Healing Rings, a Mad Plant that drops the fifth and final Lucky Pepper, and the ninth Jupiter Djinni, Gasp.
 * The other critical function of the Orb of Force lies in its ability to grant you access to the chest visible to your left whenever you go to Sunshine in Yallam for his blacksmithing services. It contains the Masamune, one of the game's best weapons because it features an Unleash effect that potentially doubles the resulting damage.


 * The next mainline dungeon that must be played through is Magma Rock, located north of the thick river leading up through southern Gondowan; it features more of the Phoenix enemies fought in the Northern Reaches, allowing for one of your two parties to quickly level up to the other. Before climbing the exterior, the Mimic behind the small ground-level entrance drops the fifth Apple. Use Burst on the moai heads, and change classes as necessary to use Growth on the saplings, to climb through the exterior. When you reach the screen with the visible mountainscape, climb back down at the far lower right to reach a Salamander Tail, a forgeable material that results in an Ardagh Robe (25%), a Flame Shield (25%), a Salamander Rod (20%), an Apollo's Axe (15%), or a Burning Sword (15%). Eventually, you will blow up the entrance into the top floor of the interior.
 * Three large floors await inside Magma Rock, and they are dependent on firing Burst shots at giant moai heads to fill up the lava level and stepping on floor switches to open lava dams that empty the lava out. A chest containing a Lucky Medal lies on the highest floor, and if Isaac's party did not bring all seven of the original game's Mars Djinn, a "make-up" Mars Djinni will be standing near the lava dam. The second floor's most prominent collectible is your tenth Mars Djinni, Fury, and it also contains a Mist Potion. The third of the floors contains chests providing both a second Salamander Tail and your first Golem Core, a foregeable material that results in a Chronos Mail (30%), Titan Gloves (25%), Gaia's Axe (15%), Huge Sword (15%), or Tungsten Mace (15%). At the bottom floor of Magma Rock, once Jenna permanently learns the Blaze Psynergy, use it on the southwest flame in the room that erupted to reach the flaming rock from behind, and interact with it to get the Magma Ball.
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Little Death is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Hiotoko Mask is quadrupled to 1/16. If a Lesser Demon is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Rune Blade is quadrupled to 1/32.


 * With the Magma Ball in your inventory, travel to Loho at Angara's southwestern coast and use it on the cannon pointed at the wall. It will end up being installed onto your ship. Meanwhile, you can Scoop two Golem Cores and reach your tenth Jupiter Djinni, Lull, in the now-open area, and using Reveal at the southwest part of town shows you where you can scoop up your first Mythril Silver. This forgeable item can be turned into a good deal of high-quality equipment: a Mythril Armlet (20%), a Mythril Blade (20%), Mythril Clothes (20%), a Mythril Helm (15%), a Psychic Circlet (15%), or a Levatine (10%).


 * The cannon allows your ship to finally make the trip into the Northern Reaches and reach the village of Prox, the final settlement in the game. Its store sells Mist Potions as "common" items despite counting as artifacts when sold, and it adds the extremely powerful Mysterious Robe to the artifacts list alongside a Water of Life and Psy Crystal. The fifth Cookie can be found in the southwest jar underneath the Inn; Lift can be used to get to a half-buried Dark Matter; and walking up the snowed-in river lets you bump into and Scoop up your tenth Venus Djinni, Mold. Furthermore, if Isaac's party did not bring all seven of the original game's Mercury Djinn, a "make-up" Mercury Djinni will be standing inside the lone house in the upper screen. After a cutscene takes place at the north end of Prox, you are clear to proceed north to Mars Lighthouse.


 * Mars Lighthouse is the final mandatory dungeon of the game. Even before going indoors, find the sixth and final Apple in a chest off to the upper left. In the main lobby, fight the Mimic at the southeast corner for the sixth and final Cookie. Cast Grind when you get to a large shaft of ice near a Mars Djinni, then retreat and use Burst on the crack that was created. While exploring the dungeon beyond, you should find an Orihalcon, move a dragon statue to get to your tenth Mercury Djinni, Balm, and find the final Utility Psynergy item, the Teleport Lapis; the Teleport Psynergy it bestows lets you use large circle pads. Go back into the dungeon beyond and find and use a hidden Teleport pad in one room. Later, before initiating the "race" against a wall-mounted flamethrower traveling left, claim the Valkyrie Mail from the far-west end. A final chest in a room with hoppable platforms contains the strongest weapon in the game, the Sol Blade, which only Isaac or Felix can equip and which will always deal triple damage with each Unleash. Finally, initiate the boss against two Flame Dragons, and pick up and make use of the Mars Star on the dragon-head sculpture in the room to "heat up" Mars Lighthouse.
 * Retreat back to the main lobby and blow open the northeast ice to collect your eleventh and final Mars Djinni, Fugue. Now go up the lobby's central stairs and use the Mars Star at the dragon-head sculpture to unlock four "minor dungeons" that correspond to elemental themes, using Blaze on the flames at the end of each segment. As you travel through these areas, Fire Birds start appearing, which give 7,589 EXP whenever slain by a Mercury Djinni. The Alastor's Hood is hidden just outside the tower-like structure containing the fire-themed minor dungeon in particular. Once all four minor dungeons are complete, a Teleport pad will be created that will lead to the final boss of the game. Since your access to the Teleport Psynergy allows you to complete several other extra-hard optional dungeons, however, you should retreat from Mars Lighthouse at this time. The Teleport Psynergy can be used on the world map to instantly bring you to any of the primary settlements you visited throughout the game, and your ship will appear at the nearest beach in every case.
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Minos Warrior is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Clotho's Distaff is quadrupled to 1/16. If an Aka Manah is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Gloria Helm is quadrupled to 1/32.

Extra-Hard Content and Endgame

 * Unlike the other three "optional super-dungeons" in the game, the inner reaches of Treasure Isle technically opened up as soon as Isaac's party joined and brought the Lift Psynergy, but the enemy difficulty in this area roughly matches those other dungeons' bestiaries. After retracing your steps through Treasure Isle's upper floor (a bug unfortunately does not retain the position of an earth pillar that would have let you get to the lower levels faster), collect the Iris Robe and proceed to a puzzle room similar to the one in Shaman Village Cave. Lifting only the lower central boulder lets you collect both the Fire Brand and the your eleventh and final Jupiter Djinni, Gale, but you need to perform a puzzle reset to lift a different configuration of the boulders to make it past the room. If Isaac's party did not bring all seven of the original game's Venus Djinn, a "make-up" Venus Djinni will be standing right before the boss' chamber. The optional boss here, Star Magician, is far trickier to contend with than the next two bosses on account of the various Ball minions he can summon with every action. Defeating him will reward you with the Azul summon tablet.
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Gillman Lord is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Tear Stone is quadrupled to 1/16; if a Great Seagull is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Sylph Feather is quadrupled to 1/16; and if a Pyrodra is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Salamander Tail quadruples to 1/16. These monsters end up being the game's only renewable sources of each of these forgeable materials in particular. Furthermore, if an Ocean Dragon is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Triton's Ward quadruples to 1/32.


 * Teleport to Alhafra and enter Yampi Desert, and use Sand to reach the hidden cave at the large outdoor screen's northwest corner, where a Teleport pad will bring you into Yampi Desert Cave. Scoop up a Mythril Silver near the north part of the top floor before going downstairs and picking up a Dark Matter from a chest. After passing a puzzle with rolling pillars on top of sandy spots, take the north fork to remotely push an earth pillar left onto its spot, then take the south fork and get an Orihalcon. After going back upstairs, take the northwestern stairs down through that now-open spot and Scoop up your eleventh and final Venus Djinni, Crystal, then move another earth pillar onto its spot. Retreat and go down the stairs at the north end of the top floor again, and you should make it to the optional boss Valukar; he is nowhere near as challenging as his health and power statistics might suggest because his efforts to put your own Djinn on standby and use your own summons against you can easily be turned back against him by using high-Agility party members to pull off those summons first. Defeat him for the Daedalus summon tablet, the only summon that "queues" an extra attack at the end of the next turn.
 *  Rare Drops:  Every type of enemy that appears in this area potentially drops something uniquely significant, including three monsters that amount to being the only renewable sources of three of the game's forgeable materials. If Sand Scorpion is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Star Dust is quadrupled to 1/16. If a Winged Lizard is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Dragon Skin is quadrupled to 1/16. If a Soul Army is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Mythril Silver is quadrupled to 1/32. If a Fire Dragon is felled by an attack delivered by a Mercury Djinni, its chance to drop an Atropos' Rod is quadrupled to 1/32. Finally, if a Minos Knight is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop Riot Gloves is quadrupled to 1/32; this is easily one of the best items in the game.


 * Return to the Sea of Time Islet and ride the turtle back to Islet Cave, and use the Teleport pad to access a long chain of straight hallways where much stronger enemies reside. The random monsters include the final member of the Phoenix series of monsters, the Wonder Bird, which yields an astonishing 8,622 EXP per kill and will give 11,208 EXP whenever slain by a Mercury Djinni. This makes Islet Cave the ideal spot for endgame parties to level-grind at; if the Lure Cap was transferred from the previous game, the process of farming Wonder Birds becomes all the faster. Casting Tremor on the shaking statue along the way gets you your eleventh and final Mercury Djinni, Serac. At the final room lies the optional boss Sentinel, which has the quirk of being completely immune to all of your Psynergy; however, both your physical attacks and Summons work as normal, which arguably makes him not much more dangerous than Valukar. Defeating him gives you the Catastrophe summon tablet.
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Wonder Bird is felled by an attack delivered by a Mercury Djinni, its chance to drop a Dark Matter is quadrupled to 1/32, making this the only renewable source of that forgeable material. If a Druj is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Berserker Band is quadrupled to 1/32. Most significantly, if a Cruel Dragon is felled by an attack delivered by a Mars Djinni, its chance to drop a Tisiphone Edge is quadrupled to 1/64; this is one of the best weapons in the game because its Unleash has a chance to either double or triple the resulting damage.


 * If you have amassed all 72 Djinn across both games in the GBA duology, you can now use the Teleport pad in the middle of Contigo to open the door to the "ultimate" bonus dungeon, Anemos Inner Sanctum. You are immediately granted the penultimate summon sequence, Charon. As you proceed through the dungeon, both a Dark Matter and an Orihalcon are found at chests in rooms that you can be sent to if you fall through broken tiles. At the dungeon's final room, assembling the bird pattern and casting Hover on it will initiate the optional boss battle with Dullahan, an enemy so overwhelming that strategy largely boils down to hoping that you can unleash loads of summons with the first party before they fall, then doing the same with the reserve party before they fall. The reward for beating Dullahan, which is a "bragging rights" reward to an extent, is the Iris summon tablet.
 *  Rare Drops:  If a Bombander is felled by an attack delivered by a Mercury Djinni, its chance to drop a Golem Core is quadrupled to 1/16, and if a Sky Dragon is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop an Orihalcon is quadrupled to 1/32. These monsters are the game's only renewable sources of these forgeable materials, and Orihalcon is the material responsible for producing some of the game's best equipment in general. Furthermore, if a Mad Demon is felled by an attack delivered by a Jupiter Djinni, its chance to drop a Lachesis' Rule is quadrupled to 1/64.


 * To initiate the game's final boss battle, use the warp pad that was created in the upper reaches of Mars Lighthouse, then approach the aerie of the building. What results is essentially three boss battles in a row, with no breaks in between whenever you clear a stage; since there is no gameplay after this fight, and there is no method of transferring any items outside this game file, feel free to spread items like Waters of Life, Psy Crystals, and Mist Potions across all your Adepts and use them up when necessary. Be warned that the second stage uses a very powerful summon sequence against the party, and that the third stage can cripple the party by putting all of their Djinn into recovery. Once the boss has fallen, the remainder of the game is a matter of following along with the cutscenes and departing for the south exit.
 * Following the epilogue screen, you will be asked to save a Clear Data File much like at the end of the original game. Rather than it being useful for any sort of data transfer, it carries two purposes relevant to The Lost Age itself: It unlocks all of both games' music tracks in the Battle Mode's hidden music feature, and it enables you to start a "replay" file. You can choose between Easy Mode, in which all characters start off at the levels they ended the previous game at, or Hard Mode, which is a version of the normal game in which all enemies sport 50% increased HP and 25% increased Attack and Defense statistics. There are no extra rewards or unlocks for completing either mode.