Walkthrough Wednesday: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

From past experience buying strategy guides for role-playing games (yes, I’m an old man) I know just how intimidating the genre can be without a little help. Some RPGs seem filled with secrets nearly impossible to uncover on your own. Though the latest entry in the Golden Sun series – Dark Dawn – was released at the end of November, I’m guessing many folks found it just last week under their Christmas trees. Yes, December is a slow month for new game releases, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pass over the chance to amalgamate the best tips, tricks and walkthroughs for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn so you don’t have to scour the web mid-boss battle.

If you’re unconcerned with finding every secret and just want a vanilla walkthrough, IGN features a fluid and surprisingly readable walkthrough written by Ki Hiwatari. It’s based on the original Japanese version of the game, so expect some minor name discrepancies. But it’s an RPG – who cares about the characters, right?

For gamers who need a general guide sans a rundown of important plot points, the saucily-named GameFAQs user Japanties posted a spoiler-free guide to the entire game. A caveat: the walkthrough includes character names and locations. Don’t let that dissuade you; it’s still basically just a list of steps.

GameFAQs user ben_not_benny wrote a guide for completionists who just can’t put down a game until they’ve found everything. His contribution to their obsession? A location list for every Djinn and Summon Tablet. Thanks, Benny!

Many players prefer watching videos to reading walls of text. If you’re one of them you might want to check out youtube.com user mikey11190. He’s already up to part 38 in his video guide, so you have a lot of catching up to do.