Golden Sun: Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn

“Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn” is a remixed version of the first game of the Golden Sun series. Battles are drastically different from the original between the updates to enemies and your own abilities. Plus, this adventure takes quality of life improvements from mods like the Golden Sun Randomizer and builds off them to make travel outside of battle more enjoyable. Mod also features item to adjust the difficulty of the mod via equipping to your party members, via the "causal key" & the "brutal key".

This mod features stronger enemies and bosses with new move pools, even occasionally running into brand new monsters. In return, you'll have a variety of updated and new abilities to use against them. Djinn play an even bigger role as you'll run into brand new Djinn along your adventure. You may even meet some that have yet to fully awaken in the form of Djinn Charm. Equip these to an adept, and you can wield them as Psynergy. But watch out for the Djinn Mimics, powerful enemies exclusive to Dawn of Djinn that guard some of them. In addition, weapons have been readjusted to make each type of weapon have its own pros and cons. For example, axes hit harder but slow you down and maces are more likely to crit. Play around with each type of weapon to find one that fits your playstyle. In addition, two new types of weapons have also been introduced. New healing and battle items will also be at your disposal.

Various new Psynergy are scattered through your use in various forms. They may be hiding in a new piece of equipment, in one of the updated tri-elemental classes, or the brand new "Jack Adept" line. This Quad-elemental class requires an adapt to have a Djnn to have a Djinn of each element beyond their own. They are very weak classes, but in exchange, they have special perks no other class has. This includes access to Psynergy of each element, the ability to use Utility Psynergy without items, and some battle Psynergy unique to this class. Plus, each adept has a slightly different version of this class so it's worth experimenting with this class on all party members.

Play through the adventure with more conveniences than ever. Including being able to use Retreat in the Overworld for fast travel, toggle encounters on and off with Avoid, the ability to sell and rebuy previous key items for better item management, and more.

Disclaimer: Dawn of Djinn is incompatible with save transfer to The Lost Age or any currently existing mods of it. If you do wish to play The Lost Age following Dawn of Djinn, use Bronze or Silver passwords to avoid unintended consequences to your item inventory while still keeping levels and Djinn.

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Table of Contents
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I.) Overview

II.) Combat Changes
a1 Stronger Enemies
a2 Changes to Abilites
a3 Summon Updates

II.) New Ways to Battles
b1 New Djinn
b2 New Items
b3 Djinni Charms
b4 Djinni Mimics

III.) Adjustments to Overworld Abilities/Quality of Life Updates
c1 Retreat
c2 Avoid
c3 Addressing Grinding
c4 Default Psynergy
c5 Psynergy Items
IV.) Mars Djinn (y1-y7)
V.) Jupiter (z1-z7)
VI.) Djinn Charms
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Djinn Chests
2.1 Djinni Mimics
2.2 Mercury Mimic
2.3 Mars Mimic
2.4 Venus Mimic
2.5 Jupiter Mimic
3.0 Mis Venus Charms (3.1-3.4)
4.0 Mis Mercury Charms (4.1-4.4)
5.0 Mis Mars Charms (5.1 -5.4)
6.0 Mis Jupiter Charms (6.1 -6.4)
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I.) Overview
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“Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn” is a remixed version of the first game of the Golden Sun series. Featuring new Djinn, new Psynergy/battle abilities, and new challenges to overcome. Adjustments that tie into battle mechanics have been adjusted as well, not only to give more purpose to various methods of combat, but to encourage the use of features Dawn of Djinn specializes in. Plus this adventure takes quality of life improvements from mods like the Golden Sun Randomizer and builds off them to make travel outside of battle more enjoyable.

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II.) Combat Changes
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a1 Stronger Enemies:
New enemies make their debut and returning ones have increased stats from the original adventure. Combat overall feels closer to the challenge of a playthrough of Lost Age's “Hard Mode” than it does the original adventure. Though there are methods to make your adventure easier or harder if desired via purchase & equipment of the "Causal Key" & "Brutal Key" respectfully. All bosses and various enemies also have a new set of moves to use against you. Many scripted battles have been upgraded to mini-boss status. All boss fights have been reworked and tested by hand to better fit the new difficulty and mechanics. They're designed to feel new while still keeping charm of their original battles.

a2 Changes to Abilites:
Though your party also has some tricks up their sleeve. While the structure of classes remains relatively unchanged, many of them grant you Psynergy that did not exist in the original adventure. They include both Psynergy that normally only exist in future games, or completely brand new. Though all this powerful Psynergy comes at a cost, as it now cost more to cast than in the original adventure. Thankfully, Dawn of Djinn introduces plenty of ways to assure a prepared Adept never runs out despite the increase cost. Not only have more items affecting Psynergy recovery been introduced, but there are new abilities that not only recover Psynergy but redistribute it to allies who need it.

In addition, adjustments to other methods of combat have been made as well. Weapons have been reworked so each group of them has distinct properties, making you consider more than just which give you the highest attack stat. For example, there are now many scenarios Axes are even stronger than swords but your speed will drop if you equip them. Or you could prefer equipping an Ankh, not just because it's your only option, but because you prefer their Psynergy recovery properties over a raw attack boost. In addition Dawn of Djinn offers two new types of weapons, Gloves and Mitts. They are no longer pieces of armor but weapons with more defensive properties and extra abilities. Gloves boost defense as well as giving you distinct unleashes and item effects. Mitts are the more magical version of the Gloves. Boosting elemental resistance, bestowing unique Psynergy for combat, and granting rare unleashes that act like Psynergy in of themselves.

a3 Summon Updates
Tier 4 summons have been reduced in power. However, this isn't exactly a nerf as they trade their extra power for new secondary effects that may trigger. -Judgement can haunt foes -Boreas can cause sleep -Meteor can seal Psynergy -Thor can stun foes

It could be a way to hinder a group of enemies in a pinch. The goal isn't to make Summons weak, as much as it is to keep them from outshining other methods of combat in the game. Granted, they're still plenty powerful and there will be many scenarios where they're still the optimal form of damage. But especially late game, as your other abilities get stronger, it should help other mechanics in this adventure shine. And more importantly, force you to be more strategic with when you do it, especially with the facts enemies already hit harder making the drawbacks of setting up for them more apparent.


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III.) New Ways to Battles
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b1 New Djinn
With only a couple exceptions, every Djinn in Dawn of Djinn is brand new to this adventure. Featuring a combination of abilities reworked to be more viable and brand new Djinn abilities for you to use. Their overall increase in power should help encourage their use, despite all the mechanics in the series that encourage you to keep them set. Players who find a good balance between using Psynergy, using Djinn, and summoning to get them back on “set”, will be rewarded the most by the mechanics of Dawn of Djinn.

b2 New Items:
Recovery items & consumable items have been adjusted and added as well. There are more types of Psynergy recovery items, in case the increase cost is too overwhelming. Recovery items as a whole also have a wider variety of effects. Each one is varied enough that even the weakest HP recovery item could have uses late game, depending on the secondary traits you desire. This makes item shops much more useful, as the items don't become completely useless by end game. Enemies also drop new items including equipment and new battle items. Every battle item that previously existed has been changed and new battle items have been added as well. While they'll may still get out-powered by late game Psynergy, they are much more interesting than in the vanilla game thanks to their secondary effects. You'll likely find these very valuable for early/mid-game bosses and may even find scenarios that they're an ideal option even later than that.

b3 Djinni Charms:
In addition to the upgraded Djinn, Dawn of Djinn introduces a brand-new mechanic call the "Djinni Charms". They are essentially Djinn in a crystallized form, either because they've been weakened or have yet to fully awaken. Though not wielding their full powers, they can grant an ability to an Adept of their element if they equip them and lend their Psynergy to them. Only Adepts of the same element can equip them, so Isaac can only equip Venus Djinni Charms, Garret can only equip Mars Djinni Charms, Ivan can equip Jupiter Djinni Charms, and Mia can equip Mercury Djinni Charms. Furthermore, only one Djinni charm can be equipped to an Adept at a time, so you'll have to consider which charms will best assist you for each situation to get the most out of them.

b4 Djinni Mimics
Djinni Charms can be found throughout your adventure, though you are not the only one seeking them. Some are already in possession of monsters known as Djinni Mimics. Like normal Mimics, they first appear to be ordinary treasure chests. If you engage one, they will immediately attack you and wield the elemental powers of the Djinn they've captured. If you defeat one, you'll be granted with the Djinni they possessed in the form of a Djinni Charm.

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III.) Adjustments to Overworld Abilities/Quality of Life Updates
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While majority of updates to Dawn of Djinn tie to combat, there are a few field exclusive updates.

c1 Retreat
Retreat not only warps you to the start of a dungeon or town but now functions similarly to teleport when used on the world map. Using Retreat pulls up the map and you can select any town that you've previously visited to instantly return there. The linearity of Golden Sun doesn't make this as needed as other RPGs, but it does open up some options that would be unreasonable in the original game, such as Retreating back to Imil to restock on Hermes Water.

c2 Avoid
Avoid now behaves as a random encounter toggle rather than a wear off effect. Using it once turns off 100% of random encounters, using it again turns them back on. The adventure was built and play tested around fighting all of your encounters, and there are some bugs making it hard to toggle encounters back on that can result from saving and quitting the game while you still have Avoid on. So I'd personally recommend only turning Avoid on for backtracking for a smooth, grind-less experience. Though the option is there for people who want to use it.

c3 Addressing Grinding
Speaking of grinding, the mod has been design in a way where despite the challenge, grinding shouldn't be needed anything needed to see the credits as long as Avoid is used sparingly. Main areas I felt the need to grind is for the optional dungeon of super bosses, and maybe a little with Grand Djinn. Especially if you try them as soon as you see them isntead of waiting until you've done everything else in the Venus Lighthouse first. General end-game level is around Lv. 25, level 27 if you do all the optional content such as Grand Djinn fights and everything minus the final battles of the optional super dungeon. Enemies in around the final third of the game now give more experience to make the transition to these levels more natural as the final level your party learns new abilites is Level 30.

c4 Default Psynergy
Building off the built in Psynergy the Randomizer provided, many utility Psynergy like Growth, Whirlwind, and even Avoid are built right into party members so they have them, regardless of your class. In addition, Psynergy not tied to battle no longer cost Psynergy to use. Though they have different names to distinguish from their battle equivalents. For example in battle Growth still cost Psynergy to use, but outside of battle it is refer to as “Sprout” but otherwise functions the same.

c5 Psynergy Items
Psynergy items also behave differently as well. Often when you first encounter them they won't be items, but rather weapons and armor you can equip to party members to get the effect without wasting an extra item slot. When the equipment becomes out-classed, you can sell it at a shop and a more traditional Psynergy item will appear in any item shop's Artifact section. You can sell and re-buy the items as you please, freeing up inventory space if you're familiar enough with the game to know when you do and don't need them. As a fail safe, there are two new classes, Jack Adept & Toolsmith respectfully, that give you access to the majority of these Psynergy around the level/Djinn requirement you would be at when you obtain these items normally. Have some of the weakest stats of all classes, it's not ideal for battle, but it does get access to some unique Psynergy and slightly varies between which Adepts are in it.

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IV.) Known Bugs/Issues
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Occansional visual effects when using Retreat in the overworld. I believe this is a carry over from the Golden Sun Randomizer and if so, I'm not sure if I have the ability to fix it.

I feel fairly certain that there are some visual bugs and occasional moments of lag caused the amount of extras I added into the game's "code". Though there is a chance that may just be caused by the software I use to run it and not the mod itself. I will attempt to fix it as I'm reworking "Take 2.0" as I'll be better able to opitmize the space I already have.

Certain enemy encounters may defend when intending some other action. This is most common with enemies that use more items than they normally would. I've adjusted some enemy patterns to reduce this issue, but I'm not certain if I got all of them.
NPCs aren't affected by Mind Read minus the one where mind-reading is needed for progression. I believe this is a carry-over from the dialouge disabling patch the Golden Sun Randomizer I worked off of applies, and will be fixed in Version 2.0 and up as I intend to include the dialouge by default and include a patch that disables it after the fact.

There is also a puzzle in the Venus Lighthouse that you would normally need Mind Read to solve. However, I've adjusted the puzzle so that it could be solved without it.

Avoid can be buggy with it's new implementation. If one saves and quits the game while Avoid is still toogled on, they may have problems turning it back off once they reopen the game. Most consistant soultion I've discovered to fixed this from a player's end is to toogle it on and off, transition to a new area, toogle it on and off again. If done correctly, this will make it toggle like normal. As for correcting this problem from the creator side. I'm not sure if this is possible as the Avoid changes were carried over from the Golden Sun Randomizer and I don't have access to the orginal code. Best measure of avoiding this issue is to make sure it's off before saving the game.


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V.) FAQ
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How do I install and play Dawn of Djinn?
1.) Download the patch.
2.) Have your copy of Golden Sun for the GBA ready
-Make sure you use a clean copy, patching something already patched is not recommended.
3.) Use Lunar IPS to patch it to your copy of Golden Sun

Is Dawn of Djinn hard?
Dawn of Djinn by default is harder than the orginal Golden Sun, but is not intended to be "brutally hard". For example I think it's slightly easier than Golden Sun Reloaded. -Previous experience with the Golden Sun series is recommended. Though a more casual experience of the series should be acceptable with use of the casual key.
Dawn of Djinn goes under the assumption that you have collected but the 4 "Grand Djinn" before taking on the final boss and all Djinn before taking on the super boss.
On average, monster's stats are mutiplied similarly to how they are in Lost Age's hard mode. Though movepools have been changed to make them more capable than normal, including with bosses.
However, if you find a normal playthrough of this mod to be too easy or hard, you can artificially adjust the difficulty by equipping either the "Casual Key" or the "Brutal Key" to all your party members.

How do the Brutal Key and Casual Key Affect Combat?
When equipped, the Casual Key will boost your stats similarly to how the enemies are boosted in this mod, plus gives a multiplier on your max PP to compensate for Psynergy costing more to cast in this mod. It also has an outside of battle use that will recover all of your party's Psynergy, in case you prefer RPGs where you only have to manage your stats during battle. It is completely optional to use. The Brutal Key divides your stats, making you weaker than when unequipped.

Where do I find the Brutal/Casual Key?
In Vale, the shop has been readjusted to have both these key items in their armor section for free. You'll also find the Casual Key in Vault's shop, in case you forget to backtrack.

How does equipping Djinn Charms work?
Djinn charm are elementally aligned, meaning they can only be equipped by an Adept that shares there element. Only Isaac can equip Venus Charms, Garret to Mars, Ivan to Jupiter, and Mia to Mercury. Furthermore, Djinn Charms count as a ring equipment, meaning you can only have one equipped at a time, and trying equip an actually ring item unequips the Djinn Charm.

Where's the dialogue?
For the sake of easier playtesting, I used a version of Golden Sun that had dialogue turned off for all my work with Version 1.0... Due to the nature of working off a copy of Golden Sun that already had the dialogue remove, rather than patching it out myself, I have to basically start with a fresh new patch in order to make a version with the dialogue on. So a dialogue version of the mod is planned for the 2.0 release along with all the additional updates and features planned for version 2... whenever I get around to making it.

Avoid toggles on and off but monster encounters are still gone, how do I fix this?
This is bug seems to be caused by saving and quitting the game while avoid is still toggled on. So first and foremost, getting in the habit of turning off Avoid when you don't need it can be helpful. If you do run into this bug however it is fixable with a little work. -First toggle Avoid on and off a couple times -Transition to a new screen, either by entering a town/dungeon or entering the overworld. -When you toggle Avoid off now, monsters should appear like normal.

Soo..umm..sometimes the sprites of enemies and party members disappear in battle. Is this supposed to happen?
No, but I can't fix all of them. If it happens in a random encounter, it was likely an oversight of trying to squeeze too many enemies into that fight and I can adjust it with feedback.
If it happens during a boss fight, I likely already noticed it but decided not to fix it due to it having too big of impact on the fight if I flat out removed an enemy.

How do I progress through ____?
Lack of dialogue in version 1 may make certain plot areas a little obtuse. Feel free to reference the "Event Trigger Notes" text file if you get stuck on your adventure. In addition there are other text files included in the care package that act as Cheat Sheets for Djinn, Djinn Charms, and Monster drops if you don't mind the spoilers, and I may add more in the future.

Database match: Golden Sun (USA, Europe)
Database: No-Intro: Game Boy Advance (v. 20210227-023848)
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File/ROM CRC32: E1FB68E8