“Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn” is a remixed version of the first game of the Golden Sun series. Featuring new Djinn, new Psynergy/battle abilities, and new challenges to overcome. Adjustments that tie into battle mechanics have been adjusted as well, not only to give more purpose to various methods of combat, but to encourage the use of features Dawn of Djinn specializes in. Plus this adventure takes quality of life improvements from mods like the Golden Sun Randomizer and builds off them to make travel outside of battle more enjoyable.
Combat:
New enemies make their debut and returning ones have increased stats from the original adventure. Combat overall feels closer to the challenge of a playthrough of Lost Age's “Hard Mode” than it does the original adventure. Though there are methods to make your adventure easier or harder if desired via purchase & equipment of the "Causal Key" & "Brutal Key" respectfully. All bosses and various enemies also have a new set of moves to use against you. Many scripted battles have been upgraded to mini-boss status. All boss fights have been reworked and tested by hand to better fit the new difficulty and mechanics. They're designed to feel new while still keeping charm of their original battles.
Abilities:
Though your party also has some tricks up their sleeve. While the structure of classes remains relatively unchanged, many of them grant you Psynergy that did not exist in the original adventure. They include both Psynergy that normally only exist in future games, or completely brand new. Though all this powerful Psynergy comes at a cost, as it now cost more to cast than in the original adventure. Thankfully, Dawn of Djinn introduces plenty of ways to assure a prepared Adept never runs out despite the increase cost. Not only have more items affecting Psynergy recovery been introduced, but there are new abilities that not only recover Psynergy but redistribute it to allies who need it.
In addition, adjustments to other methods of combat have been made as well. Weapons have been reworked so each group of them has distinct properties, making you consider more than just which give you the highest attack stat. For example, there are now many scenarios Axes are even stronger than swords but your speed will drop if you equip them. Or you could prefer equipping an Ankh, not just because it's your only option, but because you prefer their Psynergy recovery properties over a raw attack boost. In addition Dawn of Djinn offers two new types of weapons, Gloves and Mitts. They are no longer pieces of armor but weapons with more defensive properties and extra abilities. Gloves boost defense as well as giving you distinct unleashes and item effects. Mitts are the more magical version of the Gloves. Boosting elemental resistance, bestowing unique Psynergy for combat, and granting rare unleashes that act like Psynergy in of themselves.
Recovery items & consumable items have been adjusted and added as well. There are more types of Psynergy recovery items, in case the increase cost is too overwhelming. Recovery items as a whole also have a wider variety of effects. Each one is varied enough that even the weakest HP recovery item could have uses late game, depending on the secondary traits you desire. This makes item shops much more useful, as the items don't become completely useless by end game. Enemies also drop new items including equipment and new battle items. Every battle item that previously existed has been changed and new battle items have been added as well. While they'll may still get out-powered by late game Psynergy, they are much more interesting than in the vanilla game thanks to their secondary effects. You'll likely find these very valuable for early/mid-game bosses and may even find scenarios that they're an ideal option even later than that.
Last but not least, are the namesakes of this adventure, the Djinn. With only a couple exceptions, every Djinn in Dawn of Djinn is brand new to this adventure. Featuring a combination of abilities reworked to be more viable and brand new Djinn abilities for you to use. Their overall increase in power should help encourage their use, despite all the mechanics in the series that encourage you to keep them set. Players who find a good balance between using Psynergy, using Djinn, and summoning to get them back on “set”, will be rewarded the most by the mechanics of Dawn of Djinn.
Speaking of summons, tier 4 summons have been reduced in power. However, this isn't exactly a nerf as they trade their extra power for new secondary effects that may trigger. With Judgement haunting foes, Boreas making them slumber, Meteor sealing Psynergy, and Thor potentially stunning them. It could be a way to hinder a group of enemies in a pinch. The goal isn't to make Summons weak, as much as it is to keep them from outshining other methods of combat in the game. Granted they're still plenty powerful and there will be many scenarios where they're still the optimal form of damage. But especially late game, as your other abilities get stronger, it should help other mechanics in this adventure shine. And more importantly, force you to be more strategic with when you do it, especially with the facts enemies already hit harder making the drawbacks of setting up for them more apparent.
Djinni Charms:
In addition to the upgraded Djinn, Dawn of Djinn introduces a brand-new mechanic call the "Djinni Charms". They are essentially Djinn in a crystallized form, either because they've been weakened or have yet to fully awaken. Though not wielding their full powers, they can grant an ability to an Adept of their element if they equip them and lend their Psynergy to them. Only Adepts of the same element can equip them, so Isaac can only equip Venus Djinni Charms, Garret can only equip Mars Djinni Charms, Ivan can equip Jupiter Djinni Charms, and Mia can equip Mercury Djinni Charms. Furthermore, only one Djinni charm can be equipped to an Adept at a time, so you'll have to consider which charms will best assist you for each situation to get the most out of them.
Djinni Charms can be found throughout your adventure, though you are not the only one seeking them. Some are already in possession of monsters known as Djinni Mimics. Like normal Mimics, they first appear to be ordinary treasure chests. If you engage one, they will immediately attack you and wield the elemental powers of the Djinn they've captured. If you defeat one, you'll be granted with the Djinni they possessed in the form of a Djinni Charm.
Adjustments to Overworld Abilities/Quality of Life Updates:
While majority of updates to Dawn of Djinn tie to combat, there are a few field exclusive updates. First off, Retreat not only warps you to the start of a dungeon or town but now functions similarly to teleport when used on the world map. Using Retreat pulls up the map and you can select any town that you've previously visited to instantly return there. The linearity of Golden Sun doesn't make this as needed as other RPGs, but it does open up some options that would be unreasonable in the original game, such as Retreating back to Imil to restock on Hermes Water.
Secondly, Avoid now behaves as a random encounter toggle rather than a wear off effect. Using it once turns off 100% of random encounters, using it again turns them back on. The adventure was built and play tested around fighting all of your encounters, and there are some bugs making it hard to toggle encounters back on that can result from saving and quitting the game while you still have Avoid on. So I'd personally recommend only turning Avoid on for backtracking for a smooth, grind-less experience. Though the option is there for people who want to use it.
Building off the built in Psynergy the Randomizer provided, many utility Psynergy like Growth, Whirlwind, and even Avoid are built right into party members so they have them, regardless of your class. In addition, Psynergy not tied to battle no longer cost Psynergy to use. Though they have different names to distinguish from their battle equivalents. For example in battle Growth still cost Psynergy to use, but outside of battle it is refer to as “Sprout” but otherwise functions the same.
Psynergy items also behave differently as well. Often when you first encounter them they won't be items, but rather weapons and armor you can equip to party members to get the effect without wasting an extra item slot. When the equipment becomes out-classed, you can sell it at a shop and a more traditional Psynergy item will appear in any item shop's Artifact section. You can sell and re-buy the items as you please, freeing up inventory space if you're familiar enough with the game to know when you do and don't need them. As a fail safe, there are two new classes, Jack Adept & Toolsmith respectfully, that give you access to the majority of these Psynergy around the level/Djinn requirement you would be at when you obtain these items normally. Have some of the weakest stats of all classes, it's not ideal for battle, but it does get access to some unique Psynergy and slightly varies between which Adepts are in it.
コメント