Three crystals, named the Elemental Stars, have been stolen in a sacred cave from two villains known as Saturos and Menardi. A fourth and last elemental crystal that was situated in the cave was not possible to be obtained from them, as taking the three caused an eruption to occur in the cave. The duo thus escaped the collapsing place with the elemental gems.
Isaac and his childhood friend Garet, who were in the cave and were being threatened to give the last Elemental Star to the pair, manage to move out of the place from the help of a deity that appeared, known as the Wise One. This ancient-looking, circular stone possessing one eye used its power to halt the destroying cave and let Isaac and Garet leave the place. They left with the star they didn’t end up giving to the thiefs.
Long ago the four Elemental Stars of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind were sealed away in a cave known as Sol Sanctum. They were placed there so that evil would never again use its unbelievable powers combined, known as Alchemy, to take over Wayard (the name of the game’s world).
Now that three of the stars are in the villians’ hands, the two enemies seek to reach all four lighthouses in Wayard and use the Elemental Stars in each to awaken Alchemy. Not only that, but they also have Isaac and Garet’s friends held captive. They wish to use the two childhood friends’ powers to achieve their goals, along with a professor of Psynergy, also held captive, that might prove useful to them.
Thus Isaac and Garet depart from their hometown on their quest to stop Saturos and Menardi’s opposing plans, and start their traveling away from their village.
And from then on, the game opens itself up to a big world, expressed from the developers I assume, to be a vast wide world, beauty where the eyes can see, the dream of adventures it gives the idea to the player traveling in its planes, the possibilities of all sorts of adventures to encounter and embrace.
Soon after Isaac and Garet’s setting off from their hometown to go on their journey, in a small village away from their hometown the two would meet a boy named Ivan, who resides in the place. The three would later becomes friends with each other along with Ivan deciding to want to help them in their pursuit to stop Alchemy from being awakened, after having been helped from them retrieving his father’s stolen magic rod.
The three after a journey in the great land enter another town new to them. Here in this town they learn citizens from another town known as Kolima have been turned into trees by the magic of a tree that resides in a forest away from the place.
They enter the castle in the town they’re in now and speak with its king to offer their investigation and their services to stop the threat.
The king, despite seeing their courage on their faces, doesn’t see how young warriors their age can save the people of the village, says the path to Kolima is off-limits, and says they are forbidden to pass through it.
Isaac, Garet and Ivan all decide nevertheless to go to the village to help the people of Kolima.
The three warriors again stroll their way through the large land to go to the place preventing anyone from going to the town.
They slide their way through the barricade blocking their route, by Isaac using his Psynergy to move aside a rectangular box that was guarding their road.
Within Kolima the three find its whole population has been turned into trees. Shortly after, they find themselves falling asleep to a power descending from the sky. Though a little later, they become protected by an unknown dome of light. Eventually they wake up and find themselves unharmed, and discover that their Psynergy can be used subconsciously.
The kids began to hear mysterious voices talk. The voices both belong to two trees of different personalities from each other. One calm and peaceful speaks wondering who the children who are immune to the spell are, and asks if they intend to help the village with their powers. And saids the other tree and herself are on the verge of dying, and that Kolima will wither and die too once the two are dead, along with revealing that Tret, the other tree, was once a kindly forest king. He says that Tret has become angry and wrathful, and has lost his kindness since the people of Kolima have axed the trees of their forest. He says to the kids if they wish to save the people, they must reawaken Tret’s gentle side. If they can’t, Tret and herself will not live.
Isaac, Garet and Ivan head to the forest away from the village. They fight monsters and complete puzzles blocking their way along with venturing within the forest.
They then find the two great trees themselves, and decide to explore within the tree Tret himself. Together the three adventure back and forth between inside the tree and outside the tree on its many branches in an ascending progression, while trying to figure out how to get to the core, the root of Tret, to bring out his gentleness.
Eventually they reach the core of Tret, and find a wooden face on a wall inside the trunk, depicting what looks to be an aggressive representation of him. The face, after a revengeful speech, begins to float surrounded by blue flames, and engages in a fight against the warriors.
The three manage to defeat him and destroy the angry and wraithful side of the character. Tret finds out he turned the people of Kolima into trees, which he was not aware of before. He also finds he is unable to change the people of Kolima back to their original selfs, and is too weak to use his power to do so. Despite this bad news and knowing Tret and Laurel, the other tree, will soon not be able to live, Isaac, Garet and Ivan believe they must not let Tret and eventually the people of Kolima die. The three then depart away from the forest and head off back to the land to restore Tret, his neighboring tree, and the people.
The next chapter in the three warriors’ story is to take an adventure in the big land to Mercury Lighthouse.
At a snowy village not long away from the lighthouse, they feel an earthquake shaking and see a blast of light release from the tower.
A concern to them all, they along with Mia, a guardian of the tower the three met at the snowy town, run to go to the outside of Mercury Lighthouse.
Mia removes the lock to the door of the tower with her Psynergy, and the four procede inside the lighthouse and travel within it as they progress their way upwards.
They go through a series of puzzles, and beautiful architect, alongside vibrant water flowing on the surface and cascading on walls.
They finally reach the top of the lighthouse, and the lighthouse has already been lit. Soon after their arrival they see Kraden, Jenna and Felix in a distance somewhere on the tower, accompanied by Menardi on a platform near a tower wall. Isaac and Garret are stunned to find them. Though not long after their surprise, Saturos arrives at the center of the lighthouse. Saturos says he’s surprised Isaac and co. have endured the eruption at Sol Sanctum and ask if they really want to, “throw your lives away”.
He offers to Menardi to battle the four kids and stop their plans, and suggests for her to continue holding Isaac’s friends as hostages. Menardi agrees to his plan. Menardi departs with Kraden, Jenna and Felix downwards on a descending platform, and Kraden shouts to Isaac and co. as he departs, “Isaac! Garet! Don’t die!”
Saturos claims to Isaac and co. if they wish to save their friends, they must defeat him in a battle. Saturos, a much stronger and seasoned Adept in the power of Psynergy than the warrior Adepts before him, must be stopped, to Isaac and gang, in achieving his goal to awaken Alchemy.
The four children question each other if they can even defeat Saturos himself. Suddenly, Saturos feels something unusual about him. He notices his powers weakening. Without a moment of thought about it, he quickly engages in battle with the four kids.
The battle is one with the four children trying to hanging on while together trying to surpass Saturos’ strength. Though in the end, the four manage to defeat him. Isaac and co. are tired after the battle and are surprised to have beaten Saturos himself.
Soon after the fight, Alex, one of the people part of Saturos and Menardi’s plans to awaken Alchemy, arrives at the center of the lighthouse. He explains to the kids that Saturos’ powers were weakened because he was a Fire Adept on the tower that was flowing with Water elemental energy. Alex takes Saturos and moves away from the lighthouse.
Mia decides to join Isaac and co. on their journey to prevent Alchemy from being released and the four return to the forest where Tret and Laurel were situated. They manage to achieve the goal of hearing the two of them. Healed using the water the four kids took from the magic spring near Mercury Lighthouse.
After that accomplishment, they go back to the town where they first learned of the people that have turned into trees in Kolima, and meet with the king in his castle. Despite their neglect about going to Kolima, the king nevertheless wasn’t expecting a group of kids such as them to save the town of Kolima, and appreciated their willingness to help the people of the town.
Later on in the warriors’ quest, their adventures take them to a voyage on the sea, where the four take on courage to hang on in the ride, by battling threatening monsters arriving on ship from the water. (Worth noting, as stated in the story, the sea route they are taking is not actually thought as the ocean, but as an expansive sea route surrounded by land far away from them.)
The adventurous and joyous orchestral music playing outside of the battling of the monsters, alongside the grand sailing ship, the clear, bright exciting skies and vibrant waters, better gave a sense of the children’s perseverance of strength, and sense of bravery in carrying out their duties for the voyage.
Later they would have to fight a giant-sized octopus with numerous arms that would arrive on board. Isaac and gang would have to fight a tough foe such as that to, again, protect the ship, people on it, and to get to their next destination on far land.
Eventually far enough into their quest, Isaac and co. would learn of a miraculous girl with strange powers, and a back story: The back story goes that one day out of nowhere the girl came falling from the sky. A family found her and decided to take her under their wings and raise the child. No one or herself would know afterwards where she came from.
This girl, a teen if I had to guess her age, was known as Sheba. And it became known by the heroes that visited her hometown that she was kidnapped by Saturos and Menardi themselves.
They eventually reach the lighthouse, walk around a little within it, but find they don’t know how to move further into the tower itself. From a riddle in the tower, and another in the distance from this one, they manage to figure out how to go to the cave beneath Venus Lighthouse and enter into the lighthouse and traverse where they weren’t able to go before.
Upon entering Venus Lighthouse, the four heroes venture forth to solve the puzzles of the tower, fight opposing monsters blocking their way, and clear whatever else preventing their progression to reach the apex of the lighthouse.
Adding the soundtrack that played during the four’s explorations, gave a feeling of them venturing like heroes to want to accomplish their tasks to stop the villains' opposite goals of unleashing Alchemy upon the world. Another example of music inspiring players to have a goal and feel a certain way towards that goal while traveling in environments in games.
They make it to the top of the lighthouse. They find Felix talking to Saturos and Menardi about wanting to take Sheba, who’s with them, back to her family and the duo talking back to Felix saying he’s disobeying their orders. Saturos and Menardi then want to battle Felix to stop him from wanting to take back the girl.
Isaac and co. step in to save Felix from the duo, request to set Sheba free and to stop them from lighting the second lighthouse. And the four warriors no longer question if rather or not they can defeat the opposing villains before them. Fast forwarding the conversations between characters, Saturos and Menardi get into a battle with Isaac and his allies.
In the end Isaac and company come out as the victors and the opposing pair becomes too worn out to stop the team’s pursuit. However it is not over for the pair just yet, as Saturos throws the Venus Star, the stone needed to light up the Venus Lighthouse, into a pit in the center of the lighthouse. The lighthouse afterwards unleashes a mighty pillar of light that greatly brightens the area and everything around it. The power unleashed from the tower is enough to get back Saturos and Menardi’s energy to the four warriors’ surprise. One of the duo says it’s because earth shares a symbiotic relationship with fire. And it's already been said in the game that Saturos and Menardi are fire Adepts.
Saturos tells Felix to take Sheba and go and that Menardi and he won’t be able to hold onto Sheba anymore after battling Isaac and gang with their new power generating from the lighthouse. Felix was not expecting him to say that. Felix, who cares about his friend Isaac, but doesn’t always get around with him, wants to stick around to fight him alongside the duo. Though Menardi’s twisted messaging says to him, “Wouldn’t you be just a little sad to see your childhood friend perish?” This and a similar intentional statement from Saturos angers Felix and ultimately makes him decide to go away and do as the two requested of him.
Soon after the fire Adept pair themselves turn into a mighty two-headed dragon towering over Isaac and gang. As is clear enough to see, the four warriors together fighting the great monster is like what last overwhelming challenges heroes must prevail on their adventures of trials to accomplish their goals. And the battle itself goes on for a long time, with the great monster itself letting out every ultimate like moves and strategies upon its opposing challengers. The four continue to clash back. They always manage to find a way to survive and respond back to the dragon’s power and abilities with plans of their own to be smart, and utilize and build up their powers the best way they can to unleash towards the enemy.
Eventually the monster is beaten by the four kids. Saturos and Menardi then reverted back into their normal selves, became exhausted from their fight and use of transformed powers, and from their fatigue, fell into the center hole of the lighthouse.
Felix comes to the area in the middle of the tower with Sheba, where Isaac and co. are. Felix says he can’t get over they defeated Saturos and Menardi. He says he’s going to find the rest of the elemental towers and light up their peaks. The four kids are shocked after hearing this news and Felix tells them after seeing their battle he must become stronger in order to fulfill his desire. He also doesn’t tell them the purpose of his goal and says they wouldn’t understand if he did tell them.
Suddenly, an earthquake occurs from the seemingly aftermath of the Venus Lighthouse shining. A fissure opens up in the middle of the area, separating Felix and Sheba from Isaac and his friends, and making the two companies unable to reach each other.
Note from the writer to better comprehend upcoming story details: Felix, as a character, is supposed to be a flawed hero. He cares a lot for people and wants to do whatever he can to help them, like his sister, but has imperfections that come out of his personality, like his recklessness.
The magnitude itself sent Sheba hanging onto the edge of the tower. Felix, who has been trying to get Sheba back to her family and made a promise to her he would do so, tries to help her get back onto the tower. However she says she can’t hold onto the end of the tower any longer and says thank you to Felix for all he has done for her. And after having said that, she falls from the top of the lighthouse. Felix is shocked and crushed to see the person he cared about helping, from beginning to end, fall away from him, and exclaims, “Sheba!!! No! I won’t let you die!” Thus Felix actually makes the decision to dive away from the lighthouse, and falls to where Sheba is descending: Towards the sea near the elemental tower.
Isaac and co., who were laying on the floor after the quake hit them, wake up soon before the disappearances of the two fallers, and are sad to learn of the news of their departures. They get up, and one of them even says Isaac will have to bring up the bad news to his childhood friend, Jenna, who was Felix’s sister.
Soon after their little communications with each other about the loss of their friend Felix, the Venus Lighthouse, for whatever reason, moves its split proportions back into place, now looking like the tower they first entered. The four warriors then make their way out of the lighthouse.
The game states afterwards Isaac and co. had a long and tired search for Jenna, but weren't able to find her. Then the game shows Isaac and co. visiting Sheba’s fathery guidant, Faran, in his house residing in Lalivero. Faran is also with a man, named Iodem, who’s a right hand man for a lordship he serves.
The four say to Faran they weren’t able to find Jenna, Sheba and Kraden after their search. He says in reply he believes Sheba is still alive, says the girl has survived events where one would think it would be over for her, and thinks nothing should be ordinary when it comes to the girl herself. He says not to worry about Sheba and for the four to continue trying to find Jenna. He also says Iodem and himself will continue their pursuits to search for Sheba’s whereabouts.
Iodem decides to grant Isaac and co. a great ship to sail, and make their search for Jenna through the vast ocean easier. Isaac and his friends accept it to resume their traveling to find their friend.
The ship itself was said to have belonged to Iodem’s lordship. The lordship himself found it in a mysterious clouded-veiled land known as Lemuria, and used it to escape an incident that took place in the land back in the day it occurred.
Isaac and his friends go to the house where the ship is docked. They go to the plank that’s above the water where the great ship is beneath. Isaac then uses a crystal given from Iodem to ascend the ship on the watery surface. The great navigator rises from the use of Isaac’s orb and reveals its grand and majestic presents to the four heroes.
There’s dialogue between the four warriors. Listing all of their dialogue would be too long here, but I’ll write out a few of their thoughts in the game:
"It looks like it's finally time to leave Gondowan." (the region they're in,) says Garet.
Ivan says, "It's so strange... We've been traveling for so long, and yet it feels like we've only just begun."
After a few comments from the four characters past Ivan then states, "At any rate, this will be our first time on the ocean."
"So this is the ocean Kraden wanted me to see." says Garet in wonder.
"The seas are very rough. Do you think we will be okay?" questioned Mia.
Isaac ensures the three and himself will be safe, and Mia responds saying, "This is a Lemurian ship. We'll be fine."
Garet then says to the three heroes, "Well... Shall we, then?"
"To sea..." responds Ivan.
"Jenna is waiting for us!" says Mia optimistically.
And so, the four kids aboard the ship. The ship then sails away with the enthusiasm and eagerness of the children to want to witness lands and beyond having awe, stories to take them through amazing adventures, cheers, and unforgettable experiences.
After the credits of the game have rolled, we then see a continent in the game drifting in the ocean. This was a continent part of a land that became separated by the earthquake from Venus Lighthouse. In the drifting continent itself we see Jenna and Kraden lying on the land. They communicate their displeasure of living on the continent, and Jenna also says she misses Isaac and Felix.
Soon after she says that, Alex comes to reveal he has something to show Jenna and Kraden. Alex walks away from them, and then the others get up and follow him. The girl and the professor find to their surprise Felix and Sheba on the shore unconscious. Kraden then says to Alex, “What is this? Alex, what happened?” The game then shifts to a black screen with a brief orchestrated, exciting score, and words on the corner of the screen that read, “To be continued”.
And that concludes what I would write about Golden Sun. There’s the sequel after the former I would like to write about as well. Though because of how busy I am these day and that I took too long writing this article, I would have to see if it would be possible to make an article of what I think is great about the next game: Can I write about the sequel while condensing information and giving enough details that describe my personal opinions of that entry?
Even if not, how about picking up the sequel, if you haven’t played Golden Sun or have just played the first game, and exploring the journey of the follower up and see it unfold before you?
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