Kraken

The boss of the series of events on the Tolbi-bound Ship.

The Kraken (クラーケン) is a monster that is fought as a mandatory boss encounter in Golden Sun. This impressively sized squid-like monster is fought as the last of the four separate scripted enemy encounters that occur during the voyage on the Tolbi-bound Ship as it sails across the Karagol Sea between Kalay Docks and Tolbi Docks.

In Golden Sun

The Kraken, as previously stated, is fought as the last and most noteworthy of the four separate scripted monster encounters that occur during the episode on the Tolbi-bound Ship in Golden Sun. Its level is 25.

For those who do not favor Summon-rushing as a method of winning boss battles, a solid strategy is to have Garet attack with Heat Wave each turn, which can do around 130 damage, and have Mia use Wish every turn as well, while Ivan empties out his PP meter on Storm Ray and Resist and Isaac attacks with Ragnarok. If you have the Vulcan Axe from Lamakan Desert, an alternative to Ragnarok is to equip Isaac with this weapon for this battle, because this weapon's Unleash effect and even its normal attacks are of the Mars element, which capitalizes on the Kraken's low Mars resistance. Isaac unleashing its Barrage effect and Garet using Heat Wave each turn is a solid and effective damage plan to use for the whole battle. Another method which is popular is exchanging Venus and Mars Djinn between Isaac and Garet so that they are both in the swift and hard-hitting Savage class, and having both of them use the Mars-based Planet Diver Psynergy-enhanced attack. Another setup is Cavalier/Enchanter/Ascetic/Shaman with Isaac using the Vulcan Axe. This enables 3 Mars-based attackers and plentiful support.

Note that the Kraken's Luck rating is not high enough to protect it from status conditions, so you may afflict status conditions like Stun (from the Frost Wand unleash) and potentially make the battle much easier.

The Kraken is especially likely to be affected by Resistance-lowering and Sleep-inducing effects. Its statistics are as follows:

Name	HP	PP	Attack	Defense	Agility	Luck
Kraken	2400	46	216	60	80	21
Elemental Resistances and Levels			Exp	Coins	Item Dropped	Drop Rate
175 (Lv 4)   100 (Lv 2)   100 (Lv 2)   25 (Lv 0)			711	5200	Water of Life	1/1

The Kraken acts twice per turn and uses the following battle commands with moderate intelligence:

Command	Chance to use	Elem. Stats used with *	Description
Dark Blessing	53/256 (20.7%)	95 Power Level 2	Enemy ability where the user generates a thick inky breath at the party of Adepts. Deals a Venus-aligned attack with 70 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with low damage distribution, and each hit Adept has a chance to be afflicted with Delusion.
Spinning Beat	47/256 (18.4%)	115 Power Level 4	Enemy ability where the user slaps a single Adept with a purple tentacle. Deals a Mercury-aligned standard physical attack with 40 damage points added to the end result, and there is a chance the attack will ignore 50% of the target's defense while carrying out.
Water Blessing	41/256 (16%)	115 Power	Enemy ability where the user generates a blue mass of watery yet gaseous matter at the party of Adepts. Deals a Mercury-aligned attack with 100 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with low damage distribution.
Poison Beat	35/256 (13.7%)	115 Power Level 4	Enemy ability where the user slaps a single Adept with a green tentacle. Deals a Mercury-aligned standard physical attack with 20 damage points added to the end result, and it has a chance to inflict Poison.
Ply	29/256 (11.3%)	115 Power	Psynergy costing 4 PP that restores around 100 HP — effectively 115 because of the Kraken's Mercury elemental power rating — to itself.
Drench	23/256 (9%)	115 Power	Psynergy costing 10 PP that rains an array of watery spheres onto the party. Deals a Mercury-aligned attack with 60 base damage that is spread out across 3 enemies with high damage distribution.
Froth Sphere	17/256 (6.6%)	115 Power	Psynergy costing 12 PP that summons an array of watery spheres that assault the party of Adepts. Deals a Mercury-aligned attack with 65 base damage that is spread out across 5 enemies with high damage distribution.
Attack	11/256 (4.3%)	--	Standard physical attack.

Story relevance

Spoiler warning: The following section(s) contain plot details that some people may not wish to learn before reaching this point in the game on their own.

The Kraken is chief among the monsters that emerge within the Karagol Sea after the eruption of Mt. Aleph and the activation of Mercury Lighthouse, and these monsters have until that point never been sighted in the Karagol before. Prior to Isaac's wild ride on the Tolbi-bound Ship (but apparently after the ferry service transports Saturos' group of Adepts and hostages across the sea to Tolbi), the Kraken and other lesser sea monsters terrorize the ferry service between Kalay and Tolbi Ports on either end of the Karagol Sea, even going so far as to sink and destroy one of the vessels and claim its unfortunate passengers. This effectively grounds the entire ferry service, to the chagrin of many a tourist because this is occurring during the season when the annual Colosso tournament is held at Tolbi.

The Kraken invades the Tolbi-bound Ship and knocks out Sean and Ouranos before meeting Isaac's challenge.

When Isaac's party of Adepts, in their pursuit of Saturos, is able to elicit a voyage on the Tolbi-bound Ship by agreeing to protect the ship from sea monsters as warriors, the turbulent ride that follows sees the ship attacked three separate times by minor sea monsters and knocking out three of the ship's oarsmen. Close to the end of the voyage, the Kraken climbs onto the front of the ship and attacks the ship itself, knocking aside the warriors Sean and Ouranos, (somehow) injuring a fourth oarsman, and keeping Kaja at bay. Isaac's group emerges from belowdecks to engage in an intense battle with the beast, eventually slaying it. With this, they save the lives of everyone on board and the ship arrives at its intended destination (or Crossbone Isle, depending on which four rowers Isaac chooses throughout the episode), but the ship has been stalled for a long enough time that none of the warriors on the ship make it in time to register for the Colosso competitions (though Isaac's party is able to enter through other unique circumstances). Afterwards, even though the Kraken is gone, when Colosso is over none of the tourists from Kalay can return there because Kaja and the Tolbi-bound Ship captain are too wary of the Karagol's dangers.

30 years later, the battle against the Kraken has become infamous as part of the exploits of the Warriors of Vale. The battle is retold as part of a theme park known as the Psynergy Training Grounds, which details the adventures of the Warriors of Vale. The battle is represented in the Venus sub-area, which covers the journey to Venus Lighthouse. The Kraken is presented as a set of three wooden panels that occur as an obstacle which Matthew's party must defeat using Fireball. Burning the three wooden panels opens the pathway, allowing the Adepts to continue through the course.

Spoilers end here.Those who did not want the plot ruined for them may now continue reading as normal.

Culutural References

Origin: Greenland

Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland. The legend may have originated from sightings of giant squid that are estimated to grow to 13–15 m (40–50 ft) in length, including the tentacles. The sheer size and fearsome appearance attributed to the kraken have made it a common ocean-dwelling monster in various fictional works.