Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (黄金の太陽 漆黒なる夜明け Ōgon no Taiyō: Shikkokunaru Yoake / Golden Sun: Dark Dawn in Japanese), announced on June 2nd, 2009 at E3 2009, is the third game in the Golden Sun series. Originally shown as "Golden Sun DS," the game was revealed to have the subtitle "Dark Dawn" at E3 2010 on June 15th, 2010. This subtitle is described by the Takahashi Brothers as "core to the story" and will become relevant and understandable as the story goes on, but they say that because "Dark" and "Dawn" are essentially opposites, it can be considered as "darkness and light, destruction and revival." 

The announcement of this title came over five years after the release of The Lost Age in 2003, something the game director Shugo Takahashi expresses "more than a fair bit of regret about." . Producer Hiroyuki Takahashi says in an interview in the Japanese-language famitsu magazine that unlike the two Game Boy Advance Golden Sun games, Dark Dawn is a stand-alone title. However, as he says, they will "try to bring [the player] the enjoyment of imagining what the world will be like after the story ends." He also says "the first two games are prologues of this series. From this game on, it's the main story." How this statement is worded and whether it implies that there may be further material after Dark Dawn is up for debate.

An August 30th, 2010 press release describes the premise like so: "Taking place 30 years after the events of Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for the Game Boy™ Advance system, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn introduces a new generation of heroes that are struggling to survive in a radically changed world. What begins as a simple journey to rescue a lost friend turns into a dramatic quest to save the land from catastrophe as players are drawn into a world full of magical energy."

For information about hoaxes and fan speculation prior to this game's confirmation, see Golden Sun 3 Prerelease Speculation.

Plot and Setting
The initial playable cast that were the first characters to be revealed for Dark Dawn by E3 trailers and demo footage are Matthew, a Venus Adept who is the son of the previous games' Isaac; Tyrell, a Mars Adept and son of the previous games' Garet; and Karis, daughter of the previous games' Ivan. In addition, an August 2010 trailer released in Japan introduced as the fourth playable character a Mercury Adept later named Rief, the son of the previous games' Mia. A later scan revealed that Eoleo, now an adult and his father's successor as prince of Champa and scourge of the Eastern Sea, is a playable Mars Adept as well. Rounding out the playable cast are Sveta, a were-beast Jupiter Adept that fights physically; Amiti, a young Mercury Adept prince; and Himi, daughter of the previous game's Susa and Kushinada and a Venus Adept girl with the hidden powers of a seer.

Nintendo's press release at E3 2010 was the first source to indicate that Dark Dawn takes place thirty years after Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Major characters from the old games have been confirmed to make return appearances in far older forms: Isaac is now an adult, and he is depicted with facial hair and a blue trench coat. His biography states that following The Lost Age, Isaac built a cottage within the Goma area east of where his hometown of Vale used to be, and the survivors of Vale have since relocated and founded a new settlement around the cabin. From here, Isaac has watched the remains of Mt. Aleph from afar using his cottage's telescope, observing for strange occurrences. Adult Isaac is shown with speaking roles. Kraden is another returning character, revealed to still be alive even thirty years after the previous game.

The first hint of the plot was provided within teaser text shown at E3 2009. What follows is what is known of that text:


 * ...of a disaster the likes of which had never been seen before.
 * The heavens stormed. The lands quaked. The seas raged. Across the land, people prepared for the end of the world.
 * The tale spread that this calamity was caused by some unknown soul who had released a forbidden power upon the world.

From the extended trailer at E3 2010 and other material released to the public prior to the game itself, much more of the plot and premise has been revealed. A series of taglines indicates that something "went wrong" with the Golden Sun during its return to the world of Weyard, thus causing the state of relative peace across Weyard to be thrown into discord at the start of the game:


 * "A generation has passed since the Golden Sun rose above Weyard..."
 * "The world has been reborn."
 * "The Golden Sun was supposed to bring life back to the world. But something has gone wrong."
 * "A new generation must rise to the challenge."
 * "And they must do everything in their power to drive back evil."

As shown in the trailer, the embodiment and/or result of whatever it was that "has gone wrong" is the appearance of dark spheres across Weyard that may be akin to black holes, such as near one town that Matthew and his friends are seen watching along with some townspeople. These are described by Nintendo's E3 press release as Psynergy Vortexes that suck in all Psynergy from both Adepts and the land itself, and the plot initially concerns the main characters being drawn into the mystery behind these phenomena.

This video from the floor demo at E3 2010 granted the opportunity to explore the game's beginning town that is the spiritual successor to Vale (its background music is an arrangement of the Vale theme), and this later four-page article that appeared in a Japanese-language July Famitsu article when translated, gives a more thorough understanding of the outset. The suppressed elemental powers that were released into the world at the end of The Lost Age were so great that they effectively aroused a recreation of heaven and earth. Natural disasters proceeded to transpire all across the world, and Weyard's equivalent to the Earth's crust became displaced, causing the continents themselves to be quite different in size, shape, and physical state 30 years later by the time Dark Dawn takes place.

Peace has more-or-less returned to these lands after healing from the wounds created by the Golden Sun, and the world's people now dwell in towns and villages amongst natural backdrops that have become more vivid than before. For example, what was once the Goma Range, a mountain range that walled off sections of the continent, is now a crevice-filled highland, and this is where the village that is the "new Vale" has been settled. This village is therefore in close proximity to Bilibin, which now owns a much larger area of land. Lord McCoy, however, has stepped down from his position as lord of Bilibin. Various trailers have shown that there seems to be far more demi-humans inhabiting Weyard now, of which Sveta is a representative, and Sveta's biography states that man-beasts mutated in response to the Golden Sun's appearance.

But because of the chaos that Alchemy's release had caused, people across the world have differing opinions on the ones who released it, the previous games' protagonists, also known as the "Warriors of Vale." Confirmed NPC gossip says that Sol Sanctum, formerly hidden from world knowledge three decades beforehand, became widely known about after the Golden Sun's appearance. Some recognize that the Adepts from Vale saved the world, but others would go so far as to think they are the ones who destroyed it. The Adepts' children would carry this burden both before and during Dark Dawn, having grown up respected by some and despised by others. In regard to whether the now-adult characters from the previous games beyond Isaac and Kraden will make appearances in this game, Shugo Takahashi simply says that while Camelot can't divulge this quite yet, there will be surprises in regards to this. The next generation of protagonists, in the meantime, will be exploring catacombs representing ancient civilizations as a main part of their journey.

Subsequently released information here (translation) introduces a mysterious country named Tsaparang that figures in the game's events, and two of its commanders, the warlike Blados and the bewitching Chalis, are set up as antagonists. Tsaparang excels in the sciences and in military power, and conducts secret maneuvers. For a currently unknown reason, its commander contacts Matthew and his friends, and Blados and Chalice encounter them repeatedly throughout the game. It is stated that it is as though they are using Matthew's group. Another member of Blados and Chalis' circle, Arcanus, bears extreme resemblance to Alex from thirty years earlier, and his actions and those of Matthew's group will together have a great effect upon the fate of Weyard.

The game features an encyclopedia system designed to bring up to speed players that may have played the previous games or not, and explain plot and character elements occurring in the present. As characters talk, specific text will highlight with hyperlinks, and if the player taps on the text with the stylus, that term's page from the encyclopedia will open up on the upper screen to fill players in on the details. If the page has already been read beforehand, the hyperlink will remain, but in a darkened color. 

Gameplay
The game features a world with 3D environments and entirely 3D battles, and it will feature an optional touch-screen stylus control. Stylus control will appear as an additional way of controlling the functions that can otherwise be handled by the base control scheme from previous games, with touchable icons on screen that quickly and easily select and use Psynergy shortcuts. The ability to handle the controls without the stylus is affirmed by the game's producer in a 1up.com developer interview. Videos of E3 show this to be the case with Psynergy like Move and a new "Fireball" Psynergy that can burn objects on the field from a distance. Translation of a French-language report on the game at E3 indicates that the battle camera may be manually rotated during combat using the stylus.

Attendees to E3 2009 reported that the demo of the game that was available on the show floor consisted entirely of a short playable segment where the protagonist could be controlled, but do little else than cross a bridge. As soon as the end of the area is reached, the demo fades into the 2009 gameplay trailer. The trailer itself shows Matthew the protagonist walking through various cavernous and rocky locations in 3D, and shows several battles in 3D as well, featuring completed models of the three first-known playable characters and models of various monsters.

Summon sequences are the aspect of the battles most emphasized in both trailers and hands-on demos on both E3 conventions. Discernible from one video of the hands-on 2009 trailer is a feature where the top screen of the DS shows the party's Djinn walking around in 2D while the battle takes place in 3D below. When a summon sequence is used, Djinn from the upper screen visibly disappear, as though that is how the game represents Djinn On Standby being used up for summons. Summons shown amongst the various videos of E3 material and screenshots are Ramses, Atalanta, Eclipse, Neptune, Kirin, perhaps Megaera and Procne (but both seemingly darker as though "corrupted"), confirmed redesigns of Boreas (seemingly attached to a steam locomotive), and Azul (now with arms), and what appears to be a water-based summon resembling a woman on a Hippocamp riding in and calling forth a tidal wave to wash over the enemy monsters. Portions of the fan community say this is a redesign of Nereid, particularly because two Mercury Djinn on the top disappear when she is summoned, which was the same amount and element of Djinn needed to summon Nereid in the previous two games. This and other aspects of the game remain unconfirmed, though.

Familiar Psynergy make a 3D reappearance as well, such as the Move Psynergy being used to shift statues around, Matthew apparently using a Psynergy of the Thorn Psynergy series, Tyrell using a Psynergy of the Fire Psynergy series, and Karis using Plasma. It is also confirmed that there will be at least a maximum of four playable characters in a given battle like in previous games, with some shots showing a blond-haired adult in a blue trench coat and a character similar to Tyrell but having darker brown hair and a brown leather jacket as part of the party.

An August 30th press release claims that there are "more than 70 unique Djinn," lending credence to the hypothesis that all of the same 72 Djinn from The Lost Age will be returning and that there won't be any new Djinn. (All of the Djinn are released from Mt. Aleph into the world at the start of Golden Sun, and can all be collected at the end of The Lost Age.) Various videos, screenshots, and magazine scans also suggest that while all the Djinn are the returning individuals from previous game, each Djinni might get its own design that makes it look different from all the other Djinn of the same element.

E3 2010 Floor Demo material
More recently posted videos by GameTrailers.com in its "E3 All-Access Gameplay" series as well as other videos showcase portions of the game's floor demo, which is all presented in American English. Part 1, as well as this extended-length video, show the demo's "Adventure Mode" that emphasizes puzzle-solving with Psynergy. The player guides Matthew into an outdoor, fenced-in area that NPCs name the "Psynergy Training Grounds," where Matthew will "learn how to wield the powers of a Warrior of Vale." He goes around helping Djinn that have problems and instruct him on how to use his utility Psynergy to help them. Self-referential series humor exists in this level; along the way, Matthew is to use Fireball to destroy posters emblazoned with the likenesses of a red monster resembling a Slime Beast, Tret, and Saturos.

First, Matthew comes across a Mars Djinni attempting to use the Fireball utility Psynergy to burn the Slime Beast poster remotely, but it keeps missing, so Matthew burns it himself. Burning, the poster drops down a bridge that leads him to a classic log-rolling puzzle and he uses Move to shift an earth pillar off the tail of a Venus Djinni. Beyond the log-rolling puzzle, a Jupiter Djinni partially hidden in a tree claims that it is stuck within its branches, so Matthew climbs up the tree to free it. While standing on top of the tree, he uses Fireball to burn off an elevated poster of Tret's angry face, showing a smiling Tret poster underneath and dropping another bridge to the final area. A Mercury Djinni on a tall platform cannot get down, so Matthew Moves a pair of pillars onto two of three water spouts in front of the platform so that he can ride the third up to it. The Djinni moves down to the ground, and Matthew uses Fireball to burn a moving poster of Saturos. The screen shifts to a congratulation message from a Venus Djinni, who then tells the player to try a dungeon.

In the dungeon portion of the Adventure Mode demo, Matthew first goes through a winding hall past a locked door and reaches a room where a message suddenly intones, "When the great Earth gem moves, its power will open the way forward." Matthew goes onto an altar and uses Move to shift the gem into the empty tile below its position, which lights up the display behind it and activates the door from earlier. Matthew goes to the door, opens it up by stepping on the now-glowing floor switch in front of it, and proceeds to the room with many hoppable pillars scattered across an abyss. By Moving various statues onto glowing floor tiles, Matthew makes more platforms rise out of the abyss, and eventually he reaches the room's exit, where the Adventure Mode demo ends.

Part 2 from GameTrailers, as well as a NintendoWorldReport video, an RPGamer video, and a hands-on report post by a member at the fansite Golden Sun Realm, show and describe the battle system that is featured in the "Battle Mode" portion of the demo. This demo confirms many battling features from the GBA Golden Sun games returning for Dark Dawn, including weapons like Witch's Wand and Broad Axe, weapons "howling" to deal critical strikes as though they are dealing Unleashes. (Though, the Broad Axe did not have an Unleash in previous games.) Set Djinn can be Unleashed in battle, and different Djinn now have different outward appearances, currency is still called Coins, there are both new and old Psynergy series, and the familiar Summon system returns - similar in every way except for the apparent removal of the single-Djinn summons named after the elements themselves.

The actual footage shows what an in-game Venus Djinni calls the battle demo, "where you'll fight through three rounds of combat that get harder as you go!" The first round is against two each of weak "Flutter Seed" and "Rat Skulk" enemies, the second is against a Skeleton and a Dread Hound which now has three heads, and the final fight is against a durable "Ogre Titan," which looks and behaves exactly like a Troll. Viewers noticed one particular gameplay aspect that had been changed since the GBA Golden Sun games: if multiple Adepts are set to attack the same individual monster, but the monster is felled by an earlier Adept, the later Adepts will redirect their attack to one of the other monsters instead of defaulting to the Defend command. (Defend remains a selectable battle command, however.) It was also in these videos where American English differences from the Japanese version were more apparent, such as PP (meaning "Psynergy Points") instead of EP, (meaning "Energy Points," the Japanese equivalent) and the Mars Adept party member's name being Tyrell instead of "Terrell."

This video shows that in the battle demo, the three playable Adepts have Psynergy series similar to Adepts in previous games and are at a somewhat intermediate level, and the select Djinn Set on each Adept are Djinn returning from previous games as well. Matthew, the Venus Adept, has the Venus Djinn Flint and Steel Set onto him, and his Psynergy consists of Ragnarok, Quake and Earthquake, Spire, Cure and Cure Well, and Growth. Tyrell, the Mars Adept, has the Mars Djinn Fever and Torch, and his Psynergy consists of Heat Wave, Flare and Flare Wall, "Starburst" (formerly Blast) and Nova, Volcano, and Fireball. Karis, the Jupiter Adept, has the Jupiter Djinn Gust and Waft Set onto her, and her Psynergy consists of the all-new Fresh Breeze and Healthy Wind, Plasma, Whirlwind, Impact, and Sleep. The Kirin summon sequence returns in the game, and it resembles the humanoid on the flaming animal merging together into a rushing flame before barreling through enemies.

E3 2010 Press Release
The official press release contains the following text:

Release
October 28, 2010 marks the Japanese releases of both Dark Dawn and a supplementary, promotional package titled Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Adept's Navigation Guide, billed as a "magazine book". It features the following information:
 * Character analysis files
 * Introductions to locations via setting design showcases
 * Story explanation of past and present events
 * Game system explanations, such as Psynergy, Djinn, and Summon
 * A map-based walkthrough of the full game, with marked chest, Djinn, and Summon locations
 * Lots of data concerning Items, Classes, Djinn, Summons, etc.

Also packaged with the book are two bonus products: An OST soundtrack CD of Dark Dawn music, and a special Dark Dawn manga appearing in V-Jump December 2010, illustrated by Higashimoto Kazuki. It depicts the main characters setting off on their journey and engaging in heated battles with adversaries. Includes a signed autograph on colored paper. Coming to North America on November 29.

Extended Gallery

Trivia

 * The August 2009 issue of the U.K.-circulated Official Nintendo Magazine made the erroneous claim that the main playable character seen in the E3 trailer, later known as Matthew, was Isaac himself, rather than a descendant of Isaac as confirmed by the E3 press release. Nintendo Power reported him to be Isaac's son beforehand.
 * Humorously, as of October 21, 2010, the Amazon.com product page for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn listed the following information about the game in its Product Features section:
 * Precision Cutting System
 * Ultra Thin Heads
 * Shaves Hair With Different Lengths
 * Triple Track Shaving Heads - three Tracks Per Shaving Head Offer 50 percent more shaving surface
 * Lift & Cut Technology - Dual Blade System Gently Lifts Hair To Cut Below Skin Level
 * Also on November 2 2010, the same Amazon page listed these following product features the game supposedly possesed:
 * Built-in high performance protective circuitry to recharge the battery pack safely
 * Rechargeable battery pack included (can be recharged for more than 500 times)
 * Built-in charging status indicator with illuminating LED
 * Innovative folding stand design

Magazine article compendium

 * 9/30/2010 Jump Magazine scan introducing adult Eoleo and antagonists Spade and Heart. Translation here.
 * September Famitsu scan, with translated version (9/9/10)
 * V-Jump scans with translation (8/23/10)
 * Further scans (8/7/10)
 * Scans from Shonen Jump magazine, with translation. (8/05/10)
 * Two scans of Japanese-language Famitsu with translation, and an accompanying 1up developer interview with the Takahashi brothers. (7/21/10)
 * Weekly Jump scan and translation (7/14/10)

Golden Sun DS