Golden Sun: Dark Dawn/Condensed Walkthrough

The following is a miniature, spoiler-free walkthrough for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn that is for players who don't want to be led by the hand throughout the entire game, but want to make sure that they're not missing anything important or valuable from the previous dungeon before moving on to the next town or dungeon.

Also see the quick, spoiler-free walkthroughs for Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Western Angara

 * When starting the game, a very lengthy procession of cutscenes rather strictly guides you along; all terms that are highlighted in red within the dialogue are terms that automatically add themselves to your Encyclopedia menu function, and while the dialogue remains on screen, you can either tap the term with the stylus or press the shoulder buttons to see its Encyclopedia page on the top screen. The first time you take control, as a party comprised entirely of a level 1 Matthew, the "Onward!" message displays on screen, as it will every time you come out of a cutscene. Simply walk up to the roof of the Lookout Cabin to resume the cutscene. Later, after Karis demonstrates the equipment scheme by equipping a Leather Cap on you in the cabin basement, open the chest nearby to get a Short Sword, and open the chest in the small attic to get Padded Gloves; you will need both of these equipped in order for Karis to let you out and join your party. Furthermore, in the cabin's main room, investigate at the area where green books lie on top of a bookcase to gain Sun Saga 1, the first of a series of collectible items that, when used, recap the story of the two GBA games in movie form. These items are Artifacts, so they can be safely sold off.


 * You will be rigidly guided along through the Goma Plateau, the mountain trail between Lookout Cabin and the overworld that branches off into a cave trail, which is where you are going through. Your first battles and first usages of Psynergy as utility effects occur inside here. After emerging out through the other side, the next screen is the first screen of the Tanglewood sub-dungeon. More lengthy cutscenes grant you several temporary Djinn, as well as add Isaac and Garet as computer-controlled "guest" characters to your party in battles, and also demonstrate that progressing through the area requires using the Fireball Psynergy on large flowers to burn up the roots they are connected to. Utility Psynergy, both old like Growth and new like Fireball, have a wider range in Dark Dawn than previous games, but it is more that you and your target to be at the same elevation for it to work. You are eventually guided through the Abandoned Mine, at the end of which is the boss encounter with the Tangle Bloom, which shouldn't be losable because of how powerful Isaac and Garet are. Following the boss battle and resultant cutscene, follow the remaining path back outside.


 * You will eventually be returned to the Lookout Cabin, and will be instructed and made to leave for the world map and head for Patcher's Place to the southwest, with Tyrell now part of your party. You will automatically acquire your first actual Djinni, the Venus Djinni Flint, along the way. Enter the main building, and after another long cutscene, you will be able to buy from the game's first vendors and innkeeper, as well as go around the counter to grab a Power Bread from a chest. The town's lowest-left residence has Sun Saga 2 in its upper-left cupboard. To get the first Mars Djinni, Forge, climb up to the screen above the main town, arrange the three earth pillars so that they can be hopped across from the center tree to the east end of the screen, cast Growth at the screen's bottom right, and climb down it.


 * Beyond the area above the town portion of Patcher's Place is the Psynergy Training Grounds, a series of four large, puzzle-filled screens that have to be completed in a row and on their own ten-minute timers. This is mandatory. In this area, the Adepts' PP meters will refill much faster while running around, which will be useful because throughout each area you will have to cast Fireball to burn billboards representing past games' characters and bosses. Once the two billboards at the top of the fourth area are burned, the boss battle with the Dim Dragon ensues, after which you can open one of two chests for the Gate Card and automatically leave the grounds. It will be the Gate Card whichever chest you choose, but if you go through the Psynergy Training Grounds again to open the other chest, you will get a Water of Life.


 * Leave the south exit of Patcher's Place, and proceed southeast to two wooded locations. The one to the right, Carver's Lumberyard, is a dead-end, so proceed through the location to the top, Goma Highlands Road, where a Jupiter Djinni will run away. The pink flowers can temporarily be set up as elevated hoppable platforms by casting Whirlwind through them, and after using them to get to the gondola at the lower right of the first screen, sit in it and cast Fireball to get to a Mint. In the second screen, rolling the leftmost log a fair distance right puts you on your way to getting your first weapon artifact, the powerful Themis' Axe. The Jupiter Djinni you see in this screen cannot be gotten right away, so proceed right into town.


 * A cutscene that starts as soon as you enter Carver's Camp allows you to Whirlwind a pink flower from across a broken bridge to save a boy. Once you're allowed to explore as normal, climb down the ladder below the bridge and use Growth to find your first Mercury Djinni, Chill. Roll the vertical log left of the shop so that you can drop down the chimney into the locked house on the lower left, and find a Lucky Pepper in its barrels. Walk counterclockwise behind the upper left house, then use Move to remotely move the earth pillar at the left entrance of town two spaces right so you can return to the previous screen in Goma Highlands Road on an elevated trail; there, shoot a fireball into a distant Gondola into the lower left so that you can ride it, and travel clockwise across the screen to fight and earn your first Jupiter Djinni, Gust.


 * Leave the south exit of Carver's Camp. Stop in the wooded overworld location shortly southwest of it to get into the right half of the Carver's Lumberyard; in this screen, you can solve a puzzle to get your first Summon Tablet, Zagan. The gondola here takes you to the earlier left half, where you can get to a field of flowers that can be whirlwinded to uncover a Hard Nut. Take the gondola back and proceed down the overworld; along the dirt road down, you should engage in a random battle with your second Mars Djinni, Fever. Follow the path to the Konpa Gate, and interact with the hanging gold bell so that you can make use of your Gate Card and open the gate up so you can progress. Past the gate, you can get to the Venus Djinni in the flower field, and when it hides under a flower, Whirlwind it to get your second Venus Djinni, Flower. Proceed past Konpa Gate until you get to Konpa Ruins.


 * In the Konpa Ruins dungeon, you see the first of a type of flashing, black Glyph tablet that will be present throughout the ruins. These tablets are present throughout most dungeons in Dark Dawn, and when read, they either give vital hints on how to solve puzzles or sometimes cause important effects to occur in the dungeons themselves. The ability to read their text will be unlocked once you obtain the dungeon's "main" treasure, the Glyph Book. One puzzle room involving glowing light-blue tiles that elevate when Whirlwinded includes a chest containing the extremely useful Elven Shirt. When you get to the roof, you can get the Grip Crystal, which bestows the important Grip Psynergy that either lets you grab remote objects and bring them to you, or propel yourself toward remote spires. Use Grip to trounce the Jupiter Djinni on the top of the roof to fight and earn your second Jupiter Djinni, Jolt. Climb down ivy from the roof to the outdoor entrance to find a chest with a Psy Crystal. Late in the dungeon, in the cave-like basement, a Grip-based puzzle leads to a chest containing the powerful Elven Rapier.


 * When you reach the dungeon's end in its cave-like basement level, a procession of cutscenes will include perhaps the single most dangerous boss battle in the game in terms of being strong in relation to your party's current levels, the three Stealthy Scouts. Following the cutscenes after the bosses, when you follow the path down to the cave's southern exit, you will cross the game's first point-of-no-return - all important things that you may have missed up until this point will no longer be acquirable for the rest of the game. You will eventually gain Rief as a permanent party member, and he comes with the second Mercury Djinni, Sleet. Before leaving for the overworld map, get to the chest containing a Cookie.

The Ei-Jei Region

 * From Konpa Cave's exit, walk south and west in a "J" shape to get to the minor location Konpa Shrine, where casting Rief's Douse Psynergy on fire lets you ge to your second Summon tablet, Megaera. Proceed east to the settlement of Harapa, where you can shop and safely sell off your Gate Card. Get some Khiren Water from the white jar in the lower center-left residence, and get an Apple from a barrel on the roof of the building immediately southwest of the sanctum. The ruins north of town cannot be entered at this time, but by entering the town sanctum, you can climb onto the right wall of that screen and earn your third Mars Djinni, Cinder. Leave Harapa's southeast exit.


 * Beyond Harapa, much of the area around the continent's south coast can be explored, and you have access to three new settlements: Passaj, northeast of Harapa and at the base of the continent's central mountains; Ayuthay to the south; and Kaocho east of Passaj. Left of Kaocho is an area of forest where you should be able to fight and earn your third Jupiter Djinni, Ether. Your logical first destination is Passaj, but unlike the other two you have to go through the dungeon-like Passaj Mountain Climb to get to it. This area is the first appearance of zol, green cube-like objects that float across chasms when pushed and are temporarily elevated to serve as hoppable platforms when Whirlwinded. Gain the Blow Mace from a chest along the way, and fight and your third Venus Djinni, Bark. The optional area titled "Passage Mountain Climb 4F" cannot be solved until much later, and you cannot get the Mars Djinni you see as you enter the town.


 * When you enter Passaj, a cutscene eventually leaves you at the Passaj Cloud Platform at its north end. While exploring, enter the inn, follow the hall leading behind it into a room at the top left, and check the barrel next to two bookcases for a Power Bread. Enter the sanctum, and enter the door behind it to get to a room where a giant zol block can be moved, so you can get to to a chest containing a Quality Zol. The forgeable-material system of The Lost Age returns in Dark Dawn, and this is the only new type of forgeable material introduced in the game. However, the ability to forge items out of materials is only unlocked late in the game, so unless you use the game's vendors as "storage" by selling the Quality Zol and buying it back later as an item Artifact, be prepared to carry this for essentially the entire game. To progress, enter the main building, and during the cutscenes move around the giant zol blocks to reconnect the conduits and cast fireball to start the machine. After the long cutscene, go to the mayor's place at the top end of town, check the right bookcase for Sun Saga 3, start another cutscene by going into the room to the left, and talk to Baghi to get the Tree Flute. Leave Passaj; you can now travel between Passaj and the overworld quickly by using a newly opened shortcut connected to the town's large stairwell to the lower right, which is a zol elevator that takes you down to and up from the first screen of the Passaj mountain climb.


 * If you go to Ayuthay, you will be turned back, so you will need to go to Kaocho. In this town, get the Sanan Dress from the chest near the entrance, and find a Mint in an oven in the lower left of the residences at the upper left part of town. In the house above that, accept a grandmother's favor to take the Grandmother's Gift and deliver it to another town late in the game; this will be something you will be carrying for a while. At the front gate to the palace north of town, use Grip on the left flagpole from either the stairs themselves or the area around the right flagpole, so that you can get to the Venus Djinni in the town area, your fourth Venus Djinni, Steel. To progress, enter the palace above town, and in the next cutscene you will obtain Wo's Letter and eventually be deposited in a limited part of the Ouroboros dungeon. Leave the dungeon and Kaocho itself, and go to Ayuthay.


 * In Ayuthay, use Wo's Letter to gain admittance, and use Whirlwind while standing on the various rafts in the area to propel yourself away from the direction you whirlwinded toward in order to get to the other side. The small island to the left of the lake's center has a tall, climbable palm tree that will automatically give you an Apple when you get to its top, and the chest at the left end of the lake contains a Cookie. In the palace, explore until you get to an inner courtyard with a tree that has a face, and use the Tree Flute to trigger more cutscenes that brings you into the actual town area of Ayuthay. These lead to a long cutscene at the throne chamber, only after which you may explore the underground town area and shop. Go into the building above the fountain, then after a cutscene go into the upper right door beyond that, and use the Tree Flute at the roc to trigger the boss battle with the Sand Prince. At the end of the battle, you earn the Sand Prince Stone, which you equip on Tyrell to grant him the Arid Heat Psynergy series, a full Mars-aligned series whose first stage is a Utility effect that can remove small puddles of water.


 * Use the Arid Heat Psynergy on the small water-filled bowl in the previous room to trigger another large cutscene and lower Ayuthay's water level. This opens several areas in and around Ayuthay's palace; for example, go into the door to the immediate lower left of the door to the inn to open the chest next to the innkeeper for Power Bread, and go into the crate-filled room at the upper left of Ayuthay for a Vial. From the main town area, go down the lower-left stairwell and move a pillar into its appropriate slot in the ground so that you can get an elevated chest next time the water level is raised. And when you step out into the lake, the rafts allow you to get the chests that were submerged, including one that contains the Glittering Tiara for Karis, as well as get to a Jupiter Djinni on a lily pad outside the palace, the fourth Jupiter Djinni, Breath. Most importantly, you can reach your next dungeon in the center of the depleted lake, Barai Temple.


 * The Arid Heat Psynergy is the main Psynergy to use throughout Barai Temple; using it on bowls filled with water will lower the water level, and filling those bowls back up with Douse will raise the water level back up. Along the way, you can get the Storm Brand and the Kimono, and if you don't fight and get the third Mercury Djinni, Surge, by shooting fireball at it before the dungeon's end, you will be shown how to do so in an extra cutscene later. At the end of the dungeon, once the elephant statue is made to spout water so that it empties into the center of a pool, simply step onto where the water ride starts to ride the flowing water into the last room, where you can watch a cutscene. If you have the Mercury Djinni Surge, you don't even need to cast Whirlwind to return one room above; just cast Retreat to leave the temple.


 * Return to Ayuthay's palace for more cutscenes, during which Ayuthay's water level is raised back up. From the main town area, go through the leftmost doorway to the room where you had earlier moved a pillar into its appropriate slot, so that you can get the chest containing the Dragon Shield. As you leave Ayuthay palace, you permanently gain Amiti as a party member, who comes with his own three Djinn, the fourth, fifth, and sixth Mercury Djinn: Mist, Mellow, and Claw. He comes with the Insight Psynergy, which shows you what objects on-screen can interact with what Psynergy. As soon as you attempt to leave the palace, you will be forced into a boss battle with Ku-Tsung and Ku-Embra. Win it, and you are allowed to leave Ayuthay with ease.


 * Return to Kaocho, enter the now-open dumpling shop, get a Lucky Pepper from its open jar at the upper left, and puchase a Kaocho Dumpling. Talk to the lone man at the lower left of town and give him the Kaocho Dumpling so that he can move and you can get the fourth Mars Djinni, Lava. Now go up the exit to the town area's upper right, enter the cave you previously exited out of when you were previously in the Ouroboros, and use Arid Heat on the water bowl so that you can reach a wall that will reveal itself to be a door when you use the Tree Flute. You now play through the real Ouroboros labyrinth, along the way collecting the Ixion Mail, the Vulcan Axe, and the fifth Jupiter Djinni, Vortex. At the end of the dungeon, obtain the important item Sol Mask. Retreat and leave the Ouroboros and Kaocho.


 * Return to Passaj by using the zol elevator shortcut, and use the Sol Mask on the machine to trigger a long cutscene in which Passaj' perimeter is transformed. Step onto the Passaj Cloud Platform to trigger another important cutscene. Go to the out-of-business weapon and armor shop and complete a conduit puzzle to open the shop up and obtain one of the items you would normally randomly get from having Quality Zol forged late in the game, a Zol Ring, which has the unbelievably large benefit of multiplying the equipped Adept's Agility by 1.8. Now climb onto the new wall of Passaj and use it to get to the Mars Djinni in the screen below Passaj. It is the fifth Mars Djinni, Brand. And the chests in the vault at the northeast of town may now be opened, giving you a Hard Nut and the Prophet's Hat. Once again, use the zol elevator shortcut to leave Passaj.


 * Return to Harapa, and enter the now-open ruins north of town. Harapa Ruins is a short ice-based dungeon which contains a Lucky Pepper, the Bone Armlet, the Viking Helm, and the seventh Mercury Djinni to fight and earn, Serac. When you encounter disembodied dialogue at the goal of the dungeon, first answer No, then answer Yes, to trigger the boss fight with the Ice Queen. Defeat her, and in a long cutscene, gain the Ice Queen Stone, which bestows the full Cold Snap Psynergy series to whichever Mercury Adept it is equipped on. Cold Snap is usable as a utility Psynergy effect to freeze small puddles of water into ice pillars just like the old games' Frost, and it is usable to both leave the dungeon and get the Mystery Blade along the way.


 * Back at Harapa, you cannot leave until you spend one night at the inn. The next morning, Cold Snap a puddle at the west end of town, then exit just out the southeast gate without actually going into the overworld, Growth a plant to the lower left, and follow the path until you get to the previously inaccessible west building and claim the fifth Venus Djinni, Brick. Leave Harapa.


 * Once more, return to Passaj using the zol elevator shortcut. From Passaj, go back down the Passaj Mountain Climb two screens and get to Passaj Mountain Climb 4f; with both Passaj transformed and the Cold Snap (and Fireball) Psynergy, you can solve the puzzle here for your third Summon tablet, Flora. Go to the town's machine, use Cold Snap on the two puddles, and after a short cutscene, you are allowed to go to the Passaj Cloud Platform. When you select yes when prompted whether to go forward, the next point-of-no-return takes place, in which you will leave Passaj and the Ei-Jei region in general.


 * You will first end up in the Clouds of Passaj, a series of maze-like screens where greenish clouds can be propelled forward with Whirlwind just like the rafts in Ayuthay. The only difference this time is that dark, electric sphere-like objects are harmful to collide into and will make you start over. Then, you will reach the large dungeon Craggy Peak, which you ultimately enter by using the Grip Psynergy to rotate an orange-and-purple display on the ground - Grip being used for rotating happens many times in this dungeon. At the core of this dungeon is a large, circular chamber with twelve separate small dungeon paths styled after each of the twelve signs of the zodiac, and as you complete the few that are initially open, more open up. Over the course of the dungeon, you get Spiked Armor, Grievous Mace, Lure Cap, and the sixth Jupiter Djinni, Doldrum. To solve the Aries (ram) room, cast Fireball on the middle spot, then on the spot right of that, then on the spot right of that (the rightmost spot), then one more on the middle spot. The Scorpio (scorpion) room takes a lot of moving around. The solution to the Capricorn (goat) room is given to you if you use Insight. After solving the last room of Sagittarius (centaur archer), return outside and use Grip on the arrow that has appeared through the pendulum, opening the path back to the overworld, in the enclosed glacial area of the continent's mountains.