MORE JOURNAL

-Isaac and Garet aren't fighting, but Isaac sends us a text box on the top screen suggesting what to do. his suggestions universally involve Djinn or summons, largely unnecessary because of the fact that a single physical attack kills most things here
-Tyrell crash-landed the Soarwing because he is a dumbass
-inside the Psynergy Stone Mine, there are crystals a-plenty, but most of them are drained of their power, because Psynergy Vortexes
-Tyrell went into the cave and decided standing right next to the magic-eating black hole was a good idea, because he is a dumbass. its like they felt Garet wasn't stupid enough to be a sidekick in the first game and had to overcompensate
-the group chews out Isaac for sending him into a cave with Psynergy Vortexes. he attempts to save face by saying that they've never been in here for years but I'm too busy seeing this smug asshole put in his place
-have I mentioned field Psynergy is way easier and much more involved in this game? you can basically use it in a radius around you, dependent on the Psynergy. no longer must you face the pillar you want to push!
-the level design is also better. its still easy of course, but now it's got actual puzzle elements to it, kind of

WHAT UP, A BOSS FIGHT

-Isaac and Garet still aren't fighting. cool
-boss is a big-ass flower, which makes it as susceptible to fireballs as every other flower in the dungeon
-wait no, Isaac and Garet are unleashing support Djinn. I immediately steal them for summons, which are as OP here as they ever were
-killing Lesser Flowey caused the Psynergy Vortex to shrink, so thats cool
-anyway, as punishment for breaking the soarwing, Tyrell (who recovered via Potent Cure spam from the adults) must journey across the continent to harvest feathers from a Mountain Roc to repair it
-they live in Morgal, a country that basically covers, among other things, Kolima Forest. East Europe, gotcha
-naturally, Matthew is forced to join him, because reasons
-this deserves multiple bullet points, by the way. our grand quest is not "solve the problem of the Psynergy Vortexes" as one would expect, but "trek across the continent to fix a hang-glider your dumbass friend broke despite multiple warnings, including some from yourself"
-the justification is that it's necessary to observe Mt. Aleph which is still Alchemically radioactive, and without it we can't do any real research. this would be far more compelling if we met with Ivan and had him say "we need this component to build this glider prototype I'm working on" rather than "your dumbass friend broke it"
-and Isaac and Garet can't go because they have to observe Mt. Aleph themselves. I can understand sending Tyrell as punishment, and I hate him anyway so thats fine, but why does Matthew have to go too? this is like Persona 4 all over again and we have Extra Stupid Yosuke to blame for everything
-"Sorry you got dragged into all of this, Matthew. Are you looking forward to setting off with Tyrell?" this one's a yes/no prompt, but I wish it was an emotion one so I could go with LIVID FURY AT THIS DUMBASS

I HATE TYRELL SO MUCH

-anyway the direct exposure to the Golden Sun event drastically slowed the aging of anyone near there, which means all 9 of the original crew counting Kraden, the parents that composed the Doom Dragon, and probably Alex too
-so they said Kraden might come by to help? that'll be neat I guess
-Karis is unwilling to let me get killed by Tyrell on accident and comes with. thank you Karis
-"When I left Vale, I was just 17. My life was never the same. Think you're all ready for this?" MATTHEW IS NOT READY AND HE HATES EVERYTHING THAT IS OCCURRING
-Tyrell interprets our rage as indignation at being asked if we're ready because of course we are. this is, of course, not what my intent was at all. Tyrell is an idiot
-everyone is talking about this as though it's an exciting adventure, but what I'd find exciting is researching these Psynergy Vortexes and finding out what their deal is, not going over half of Angara just to get a feather for something our dumbass broke
-anyway Garet goes to see us off. Isaac does not, because he is a responsible dad
-going back to the cottage, Isaac hints that someone has a vendetta against the Wise One, and Isaac is determined to stop them. THIS SEEMS LIKE RELEVANT INFORMATION FOR US TO HAVE WHY IS IT OPTIONAL AND EASILY MISSED oh right Sheba existed in the first game didnt she
-by the way they totally mean Alex there but you already knew that
-anyway we have to go to Patcher's Place, a general store that serves Vale refugees. Patcher and Tyrell are on bad terms because Tyrell wasn't enough of a hindrance yet
-at least the character definition is "better"

TIME TO STOCK UP

-"Don't blame me. I didn't want to come out here." I AM BLAMING THE FUCK OUT OF YOU TYRELL
-anyway here we are at Patcher's. he's friendly to Matthew at least
-at least up until he notices Tyrell in with us, who he accuses of nearly burning down his store. last I checked Garet never accidentally committed arson in the first game
-in a blind fury, he almost burns down the store again. Matthew gets angry and yells, which Karis admonishes him for because we need to calm him down
-she then not only yells at Tyrell, but shoves him face first into the floor, because Karis is good at calming people down
-follows it up with a spiel about how we must show non-Adepts that Psynergy is helpful rather than harmful, but so far most forms of Psynergy take the form of extremely pretty tactical nukes so thats a bit of a miss
-"You guys are pretty helpful to me. I'm not sure I deserve such good friends." YOU DON'T
-anyway Patcher apologizes to non-Tyrell and starts selling us stuff, giving us a tutorial on shop types in the process, but honestly it's short and inoffensive so whatever
-weapon shop now stocks bows, so I buy one for Karis, the only party member able to equip one
-they still sell useless maces this early. why
-a lot of the NPCs mention Bilibin, and how Lord McCoy rules the realm with an iron fist. the encyclopedia mentions that his wife might be the real power behind the throne and the real cause of his power-hungry nature. none of this factors into the game's plot in the slightest, but it's kind of neat to tell the player there's still things going on in the world around them
-this is, again, slightly undercut by our quest being to fix the soarwing our dumbass broke

PSYNERGY TRAINING GROUNDS

-here we go. the tutorial we always wanted from a Golden Sun game, which would've been way better than the fifty-kajillion tutorials before it
-its mandatory because clearing it gives a keycard to pass Konpa Ruins, but it'd be more efficient to start the game off with this, and then go visit Ivan and have him say "we need components for a soarwing"
-but I don't intend to complain about this because I recall it being genuinely cute and a good way to recap the first game
-basic premise is that its an obstacle course that recaps the first game. you use Fireball to destroy enemies as targets (we're gonna shoot Tret first) and it's just great and adorable
-mercury lighthouse has a Saturos on a conveyor pulley, I think they captured his face pretty well
-you have a time limit for each area, but its very generous. apparently speed-completing it gets you more rewards and I could think of worse things to do with your time
-the next segment implies that Altin's flooding was due to Mercury Lighthouse specifically, which makes sense to me but wasn't ever indicated whatsoever in the first game. eh
-they're taking the time to include setpieces like the minecarts and the Kraken fight, mostly because that space of time had dick-all
-hooray, we slew Saturos and Menardi!
-next area, or "that period where nothing happened all game". they play up the tectonic hecticness and Poseidon as the big threats, which should've been done more in the first place!
-there isn't any mention of boats at all. I'm disappointed
-we still shoot Karst and Agatio at the top there, despite the fact we were effectively working towards the same goal and it doesnt matter who wins or loses there. but the winners write the history books. nice erasure you got there Isaac
-HOLY SHIT FLAME JETS THIS IS A KIDS ATTRACTION RIGHT
-gone are the bobbing tightropes of TLA, these things stand stock still
-we shoot Karst and Agatio in the faces again despite them being dragons and possibly friends at the time, and then

DIM DRAGON

-I just noticed but Tyrell is holding his longsword like a baseball bat, because he is an idiot
-Dim Dragon exhales Pebble Breath!
-after taking enough Mars damage, the Dim Dragon "is out of order"
-it then performs repairs, self-healing and getting to a working state once more. cool!
-Gasping Breath can actually Haunt its targets! that's definitely not kid safe
-anyway we kick its ass and then get to choose the left or right treasure chest for our reward. either one holds the gate card I'm pretty sure
-outside I notice the area map, which displays Djinni locations! there were so many gameplay improvements in Dark Dawn! why did they let the story fall down and die
-like party members no longer default to defending if you tell them to attack!
-anyway I forgot where to go but I saw a Djinni so I'm chasing it
-Themis' Axe returns!
-oh apparently this was the right way to go? I guess? anyway I saved a kid from a collapsed bridge
-Psynergy Vortex totaled the bridge. i wonder if we're going to fix it (no) but we ARE gonna learn they occur once every decade
-this one shrinks too, for some reason
-and then a bunch of stuff of no consequence happens involving a lumberjack who crashes a gondola. is this just the Weyard style? just crash everything you own?
-oh hey a zagan tablet in the lumberjack's camp. thats new