Antidote

An Antidote is a consumable item in the Golden Sun series. Like most consumable items, each party member can hold up to 30 antidotes in a single inventory slot. When used, an antidote removes poison or venom from a single party member. Antidotes can be bought for 20 coins and sold for 15 coins.

Analysis
Unlike most status conditions, poison does not fade after battle. Fortunately, antidotes can also be used outside of battle. When fighting weak enemies, it may be better to leave poison untreated and heal after the battle ends. However, against stronger opponents or when dealing with venom (a variation of poison that inflicts more damage), the damage dealt by poison will gradually build up. In these situations, poison should be treated as soon as possible. This is one of the cases where it is advantageous to have antidotes on hand, as it allows any party member to remove the poison while an Adept with healing Psynergy tends to the party's wounds.

Antidotes are both common and cheap, so players will have no problem maintaining a large supply of antidotes later in a game. In earlier stages, however, money is at a premium and poison is not the most common of status conditions, so it isn't advised to carry more than a couple of antidotes per party member. As the player progresses, monetary rewards will increase, allowing players to invest in larger quantities of antidotes. Even then, only a small handful be needed in most situations.

Alternatives
Although poison is dangerous if left untreated, the actual practicality of antidotes depends largely on a player's preferred style of combat. The Cure Poison Psynergy is obtained early on and has a very low PP cost, and some Djinn (such as Salt and Tonic) can purge all status conditions from the entire party. Because of this, many players may find antidotes to be a waste of inventory space that could be put to better use. On the other hand, antidotes have the added advantage of being usable by any party member, and can still be used if the character's Psynergy is sealed or completely depleted.