AND THEN WE GOT THE INSIGHT GLASS

-because Golden Sun has to explain everything except when it matters, the Insight Glass is the Hint Goggles, but as a special secret relic that chose Amiti to be its bearer. I don't know. a ghost did it
-"Don't you feel like its fate that Amiti was to join us?" no I think the devs had a quota, explicit or otherwise, that we get two of each element of Adept in this game
-Amiti's mechanical purpose for much of the midgame is to wreck Djinn totals, as Piers did before him
-welcome to the party Amiti, put a dang shirt on
-TIME FOR A TUTORIAL ON SWAPPING CHARACTERS
-this is where the devs really started playing with equipment selections for characters. Amiti has a really weird set involving much of the same things Karis can equip, like light blades and bows. despite assumptions, neither can equip ankhs or certain staffs, while Rief can
-anyway, the only way out of Ayuthay is right into Kaocho guard patrols. I "love" it when I can only advance in a really stupid way

TIME TO FIGHT TWO NOT-CHINESE BUFFOONS WIELDING HALBERDS AND STUFF

-these guys have explosives as consumables, the fireworks force our Djinn into standby. this is apparently a weakness for us
-the hell you mean I can't haunt them THEY WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT EVIL SPIRITS THE WHOLE TIME YOU'D THINK HAUNT WOULD BE A SURE THING
-oh right, the Arid Heat thing we got from the Sand Prince sealed in a stone (I don't know either) grants all three tiers of the Arid Heat line at once to the wielder (i.e. Tyrell). this is overpowered in a way that makes the current OP strat (normal attacks) seem weak, but it's extremely costly on PP. in other words, Camelot screwed up and did something right
-anyway if I want everyone in dual-element classes, Amiti's presence ruins everything, so he gets to stay as an Aqua Knight for now
-back into Kaocho then, and in turn...

BACK INTO THE OUROBOROS

-aw man, I miss the old crab-mimic design. these new ones are lame jack-in-the-boxes again
-also I have no idea what governs starting mastery or mastery gain rate for new weapons. I know there's different weapon classes everyone can equip but past that its a mystery
-when I notice my Djinn totals are about to go severely out of whack I backtrack into Kaocho and use the Hint Goggles on the lazy roadblock asshole, learning that he will move if I get him a dumpling. CUTTING EDGE PUZZLE DESIGN AS INSPIRED BY PRINCESS TOMATO IN THE SALAD KINGDOM
-Matthew holds our fifth Jupiter Djinni because he has the space and it doesn't ruin his class. this will undoubtedly change as things become stupid
-the Ouroboros has the same design as the Alchemy Forge and Alchemy Well, except it's wind aligned. expect this to be touched on precisely never
-and in activating it we get the Sol Mask. good for us, now we can finally leave
-this kicks both Alchemy devices that count into high gear, reactivating the facilities of Passaj and Ayuthay, and Harapa while we're at it. backtracking, ho!

WHOOPS HARAPA RUINS IS A FULL DUNGEON

-and the Ice Queen or whatever is here and she thinks we're covetous of her beauty. since progression appears dependent on us being morally bankrupt, amnesiac, or just flat stupid, I think we'll do that, sure
-oh wait, we were supposed to do this. im surprised by this, guys. (the actual justification is we'd need to reverse the Forge like we did the Well. meh)
-anyway we defeat her and return her to gem form. this predated Steven Universe by several years, FYI
-meanwhile this breaks the seal on Nyunpa, who's still alive and only communicates via telepathy now because thats how he rolls. apparently the Ice Queen reverse engineered his psychic stuff and turned him into her slave
-this gives us not-Frost
-it's night in Harapa now so the town is walled off, forcing us to stay at the inn. near as I can tell this accomplished nothing but wasting our time. really hope there wasn't a missable Djinni in that hullabaloo
-turns out no, but I will need to return with Pound to access a hidden doodad
-going back to Passaj and freezing the Alchemy Forge puts it in reverse, which gives us better cloud density for crossing Craggy Peak. we're just gonna gloss over this potentially ruining Passaj's newfound prosperity

POINT OF DJINN CHECK

-I'm fairly sure this isn't a full point of no return, but better safe than sorry
-there is one listed as in Passaj, but it says that its way later down the list, so I'm gonna assume that's after wacky shit. mollified, then!
-I can't really check Sun Sagas there but I think we're good on that front too
-this takes us to the clouds above Passaj, which have a ton of zol floating around. honestly really cool region
-now we're on Craggy Peak, which has a Zodiac thingy and a Luna/Sol thingy. its okay, I'm not an Alchemy scholar, I can get away with this terminology
-guess I gotta clear all 12 Zodiac rooms. Aquarius and Leo are open to start, I randomly choose Leo, and feeding it a fireball unlocks Gemini. assume everything else works similarly
-once we finish that we move to the next town where we find someone as abrasive as Tyrell to instantly greet us. good
-his companion, an old tiny guy, punches him unconscious and we're free to move on. I like this Kou Zen guy
-also Amiti's Hint Goggles are really nice for some of these NPC-dependent puzzles
-a shadowy Sveta runs into the village, sees us, and runs off. how mysterious and I will do nothing about this
-why does Amiti start with half proficiency in the Frost Wand? THIS MAKES NO SENSE?

RYU KOU IS AN ASSHOLE AND I LIKE HIM TOO

-like that conversation lays out in no uncertain terms where to go next (although we're bottlenecked anyway) and both Ryu Kou and Kou Zen cut to the chase and just say the things that matter. Ryu Kou even does it while clearly hating us, even if we're not really enemies. well, I guess even Camelot can write decently sometimes
-furthermore, the shadowy visage of Sveta's been roaming around, giving us even more questions to answer
-even if this area is just as meaningless as the rest it's kind of neat. also Camelot turned me nihilist
-"Whoa! She's a kitty-dog!" thank you tyrell for the daily reminder that I hate your dumb ass so much
-"Yes, Tyrell. This is where she just volunteers that she's a spy." even Rief is sick of your shit tyrell
-anyway once we return a bag or something Sveta can join us here. would be better to cut out the backtracking if you ask me, but they didn't ask me. THEY SHOULD HAVE
-back there it's revealed that Morgal and Sana are on really bad terms, to the point where people can't even travel from one region to another without being attacked. guess that's why the drawbridge at Kolima existed (??????????????)
-Slap Psynergy. okay. yeah that sounds fine. sure.
-and once we clear the ruins we find out that Morgal is just making enemies all over and the Mountain Roc is their state bird so plucking its feathers could start a war. DAMN you, tyrell. we're done for now. screw y'all