Where was this golden sun?

I've delayed as long as I could, so let's scale the final dungeon!

We enter Babi Lighthouse and walk past the upset workers. They think this is corporate overreach. In the next screen are wounded soldiers who were attacked by Saturos and Menardi. The lighthouse proper is pretty straightforward. We have to get up to get down, but there are no major gimmicks here. There are only a few floors, and you'll need to fall down the top "jump down" thingy. You'll fall into the room behind the closed door, which'll mysteriously open after Issac breaks his legs.

Down here is Iodem's liaison, Faran. Faran is glad to see Iodem, but he's more concerned with finding Sheba. When told we're the ones who'll find her, he gets upset. Like so many others, "hOw CaN kIdS sAvE uS." Ioden tries to explain Psyenergy, but it's easier to show. They can't get passed a door, but using Reveal will let us open it. Garet says there's no time to explain, so Ioden starts to walk through the door. It closes. Only adepts may pass, so we're on our own. A few screens later, we'll come to the Tunnel Ruins.

I don't remember how this place went... I think it's because I'm confusing it with the next dungeon. I believe this area changes based on how you interacted with that giant goddess statue in the Venus Lighthouse. I remember getting lost here, though... I took the center path and found a great armor I gave to Garet. Anyway, here's the Venus Lighthouse!

As the Mercury Lighthouse did to Mia, Issac gets his MP reoccurred every round. Also, as in the previous Lighthouse, we'll need to climb through sand falls and make our way up. This is one of the more innovative dungeons in the game, and it's a lot of fun. You'll end up vastly changing the layout of the area because of all the switches and new sand falls you trigger. It's a lengthy dungeon, but it's still probably the third longest. The random battles ate against tanky dudes, but they lack real pop. There's nothing new in their tactics, so I held down the speed boost. There's a fair bit of treasure, so make sure to get the Gaia Blade. You'll be at the top when you find the Psy Stone. Heal before grabbing it because the end is near!

There's dissension in the ranks. Felix isn't happy that Sheba is here. She's totally innocent in this and not needed. He believes she should be with Jenna and Kraden on their boat somewhere. Saturos and Menardi don't care. We'll learn Sheba was kidnapped because they need a wind adept to open the Jupiter Lighthouse when they get there. This argument gets to where each side prepares to battle each other. Garet suggests using this as a sneak attack. We join in on the conversation, though... Felix is vague and secretive, but Saturos and Menardi eventually attack us!

Both of our opponents are fire adepts, so bring water magic. Menards spends most of the battle buffing the two of them. Apparently, she can one shot a character if she attacks. Saturos only uses fire magic or physical attacks. Summons chunk the two of them, and I've read you can end this in one round if you understand how summons work. I finished this at max health with plenty of MP left, so I had no problems here.

Felix is shocked that we won and realizes he never stood a chance against us. It seems there's some childhood rivalry going on between them, which drives our villain. Before anything of value is said, our two dead adepts begin to move. They vow vengeance against us and tell Felix to take Sheba away from here. We don't think highly of them, but they suddenly throw the Venus Star into the beacon. I forgot about these rocks... The two hype themselves up because of some mumbo jumbo about a relationship between fire and earth. I don't get it, but they fuse into one being, the final boss, Chaos Dragon!

Now, this guy is hard. He goes twice a round and likes to hit the whole party both times. He can inflict haunted status on the team, as well as poison. It's got 5000 HP and seems weak to water. Summons do nearly 1000 damage, but be careful. You'll need to be using Wish Well every turn. I had to use it twice several times, in fact. I nearly got wiped multiple times in this fight, so I don't trust my strategy. Issac's Gaia Blade did 200 damage, and Garet's Ashura Strike wasn't too shabby either. Ivan sucked. Sorry. Good luck because Chaos Dragon is worthy of a final boss.

The tower we're on suddenly splits in two. Felix and Sheba are still around, but it's not going well. Sheba is about to fall to her death, but Felix is trying to save her. He fails, and she falls, and he jumps down after her. We wake up and make our next plan. Saturos and Menardi are gone, but Jenna and Kraden are still missing. After a weirdly happy celebration, where the tower fixes itself, we return to town. Some days have passed, and no one we're looking for has been found. Ioden wants us to look for Lemuria, which we, apparently, saw while on the lighthouse. He gives us Babi's submarine boat, and we all head out to sea. Meanwhile, the camera cuts to Jenna and Kraden on a moving island, complaining about hunger. Alex, who I forgot about, takes them to Felix and Sheba, who just washed ashore.

The credits role as we see the cool battle backgrounds. We're asked to save and the words "to be continued" appear on the screen.

Golden Sun is a two part game. In order to get the full story, you need to play the sequel. As of right now, I have no plans to play that. There was nothing that made me want to continue the plot, and Felix being shady didn't help. I'm not saying never, but I'm glad to be done. I've heard good things about the franchise, but I'm not wowed. The characters were boring, the villains were forgettable, and the plot was shallow. I can go either way on the djinn system. My final classes didn't seem to fit with characters' innate backstory skills, so I felt a big disconnect. I won't write a full review or even a small one. Golden Sun 1 (alone) gets a 32/50. 6.4 out of 10.