The first JRPG I ever played (besides for Pokemon R/B/G/S which doesn't really count imo). In my opinion Golden Sun is a perfect introduction to the genre; it has an extremely simple skill/battle system, fast-paced battles, and all the JRPG fundamentals (in a somewhat generic form). The story, characters, and soundtrack are all good but nothing special. However what really drew me into these games were the impressive visuals they had on the GBA, the fun/creative puzzles (comparable to 2D Zelda games), and the Djinn collecting (think of Pokemon).

Overall Golden Sun 1 & 2 are some of the funnest games I've played, and I find myself replaying them often compared to most other JRPGs even if they aren't as good. Also my username came from the psynergy attack 'Odyssey' from this series :)

Golden Sun impressed people back in the day because its graphics showed the GBA was capable of being more than a glorified SNES. And with the N64 having had like 5 RPGs and the Pokemon generation having aged a few years, Golden Sun was well-timed to introduce or reintroduce Nintendo fans to the genre. As a result it gets a bit overrated because of nostalgia.

The combat and class systems are okay but the game doesn't do much interesting with them. The dungeons are heavy on puzzles and some of those are pretty neat. Solid soundtrack. Unfortunately the story is poorly paced and the characters are bland. And you can’t even just ignore these to focus on the production values and gameplay because there are very long segments of tedious dialogue. Most of it is characters reacting, rehashing the same things over and over, and outright parroting each other's lines, with very little of meaning actually being said. It's too bad this game only had one silent protagonist instead of four.

How can a game so generic be so charming? Simple, it's charmingly generic. I spent so many hours on the road with this game that it's gotten engraved in my heart. This game already felt nostalgic the second I was playing it because it was basically a homage to datedness in JRPGs but it's so cutely dated! The story that seems so generic, it's just done really well! The combat, well, it's generic, but it's done really well! It feels harsh to call it generic, when everything about this game is done, REALLY well! If it's done so well and so amazingly, how can it be disliked? Easily the best Game Boy Advance game, simply because it does things so well. Camelot, please continue to do things WELL!

Makes me want to play this game again :P
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q0pgm3LUcc[/youtube]

Nice RPG. Too generic for me to really get into, but the the addition of environmental puzzles are a nice change of pace. Plus it has some of the best graphics to appear on the system.

This game just blew my mind. Not because it's something else and something I've never seen before. No. Everything in this game felt familiar from the beginning. And that's maybe the secret of this game. It feels like a good old fashioned J-RPG from a long time ago. A game where you sit there and just smile while you play it because it feels good.