Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn

Overview:

"Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn" is a ROM hack of GS1 that aims to create an experience where combat feels like a new Golden Sun game, while otherwise maintaining the core elements from GS1. This new "Second Mix" update aims to take this even further by expanding on new elements for players to play with from classes, to abilities, to enemies you face off against. In addition, this mod takes QOL features from the GS Randomizer, such as fast travel, while introducing new elements of its own. New NPCs and books are scattered throughout the land to ease you into changes this mod offers, provide hints, and more. The main story remains the same as the original Golden Sun, but fans may notice slight alterations in dialogue to abridge certain conversations or introduce a side plot or two.

Note: Save files of version 1 of Dawn of Djinn are not compatible with version 2 and up. It is recommended to start DoD Second Mix with a fresh save file.

Djinni Charms:

A core mechanic that makes Dawn of Djinn stand out on its own merits is a new-mechanic to the series known as "Djinni Charms". They are Djinn who have not fully awaken, taking the form of an item equipped to your ring slot.  Though not wielding their full powers, they can grant special Psynergy to Adepts when equipped. 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. You'll find them throughout your adventure, either on the field or guarded by special Djinn Mimics.

A mysterious warden is also seeking out the Djinni Charms. You may encounter her during her travels, offering advice along the way.

Adjustments to Party Characters and classes:

New to version 2, each party member has their default stats and classes changed to give them a different feel from the original game. In addition, Dawn of Djinn features an entirely new family of Djinn to collect, unlocking a new assortment of classes and Psynergy. Certain Psynergy will even upgrade as you reach stronger variations of these classes. The equipment you collect has also been readjusted, if not replaced by brand new equipment. Featuring a vary of new trats for each type of weapon. Along with two brand new types of weapons, gloves and mitts.

Casual VS Veteran mode:

When installing Dawn of Djinn, you will have the option between two patches; casual and veteran.  While it would take too long to list every little adjustment between them, the overall differences are as followed.

Causal Mode:  Enemies will have stats closer to those in the base game. In addition, certain skills and abilities will be stronger, along with costing less Psynergy to use. 

This is the recommended mode for newer Golden Sun fans or who are just more comfortable with base game difficulty. Some optional areas may still pose a bit more challenge than normal.

Veteran Mode: Enemies stats are increased and Psynergy will cost more PP to use. Certain enemies and bosses may have new attack patterns all together. The base power of high tier summons have been nerfed, and other abilities may also be weaken, compared to casual mode. Essentially the difficulty of version 1 of Dawn of Djinn, with some rebalancing, aiming to have a similar feel to the challenge offered by Lost Age's hard mode.

This is recommended for Golden Sun fans already familiar with Dawn of Djinn or who find base Golden Sun too easy.

Brutal key add-on: If you chose to use the advance set-up, there will be an add-on patch you can include called "Brutal Charm Patch". This will start you off with an optional piece of equipment for each of your party members known as the brutal charm/brutal key. This item decreases all your stats via a multiplier for as long as its equipped and does not affect your other equipment. It is highly advise to NOT use this equipment on a first playthrough. However, if you find veteran mode to not be enough of a challenge for you, this is the simplest way to add some extra challenge to your playthrough. Note this item has not been play tested in all battles yet, so its possible that some battles are impossible to beat with the brutal charm equipped.

Adjustments to Overworld Abilities/Quality of Life Updates:

While majority of updates to Dawn of Djinn tie to combat, there are a few field exclusive updates. With these features never being intended for a vanilla playthrough they do come at a cost. See the FAQ section if you are running into technical difficulties with either of these features. Even if you don't think its tied to these features, look into the FAQ section anyways as the problems may be related even if they don't seem like it.

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. However, not all of GS1 is design with fast travel in mind. So, using fast travel in certain ways may cause issues, especially if related to going too out of order. Though as long as you are completing dungeons and collecting Djinn in the same order as the vanilla game, you should not run into these issues. See the FAQ for more details.

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. Note playtesting was done under the assumption that players will take every battle they come across, so you might find yourself under leveled if you use this too often.  See the FAQ for more details if bugs come up while using this ability.

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.

---VERSION 2.0.2H--

Previous release was incorrectly patched.  This update should fix it so that the patch actually updates your game.

- Fixed the Linn Spear Psynergy line (Specifically the final two)

- Fix the item drop of Skelton. Previously dropped bones, now drops Clarity Clovers

- Updated Brutal Charm patch so that the item can't be dropped.

FAQ

Is Dawn of Djinn hard?

Veteran version is about the difficulty of Lost Age Hard Mode, while casual is around on the difficulty of base Golden Sun. Though in both scenarios, certain fights in optional areas may be harder than usual.

Avoid toggles on and off but monster encounters are still gone, how do I fix this?

- 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.

This bug most commonly happens if you save and quit while Avoid is still on. So turning Avoid off when not in use is a good way to reduce the issue.

How do I progress through ____?

While the ability to fast travel freely may allow you to access certain areas sooner than normal, certain in-game flags may result in you getting stuck if you travel too far off the beaten path. A common example of this players trying to get to Vault Cave immediately after learning Reveal. An in-game flag prevents this area from being accessible until after clearing Lamakan Desert, regardless on if you have Reveal or not. So if you find yourself stumped when going out of order, try going back to progress the plot through normal means to see if that alleviates your issue.

Where is Bilbin Barricade?

In the Golden Sun Randomizer Bilbin Barricade is removed from the game to create a fast travel point to Crossbone Isles. Since I took I crudely took the code for Fast Travel from the Randomizer to implement the feature into Dawn of Djinn, this carries over to Dawn of Djinn's equivalent as well. This cannot be changed without removing fast travel, so I do not have intentions on restoring this area back into the mod.

In regards to adventuring after beating the final boss:

Unlike base Golden Sun, you can leave town after beating the final boss to take care of any unfinished business, such as clearing optional areas. When you are ready to play the credits, go to Babi's hidden boat per usual and use the Black Orb.  Note that once you do, that is a point of no return so it is advise to make sure you reclaim any Djinn charms you may have "stored" in the artifact shop before triggering that scene.

How can I transfer my progress from Dawn of Djinn into the Lost Age?

The short answer: You can't. As of now, Dawn of Djinn is a standalone Golden Sun 1 mod. 

If you wish to play base Lost Age after words, I would advise only using either the Bronze or Silver password. As transferring items may glitch out your inventory in the process.

Going into more details...

I do intend to still make some updates to Dawn of Djinn, especially if something critical pops up. However, I currently do not want to promise a Lost Age equivalent to Dawn of Djinn. I want to focus more time with Game Development, beyond modding. While I am considering a continuation into The Lost Age, I cannot confirm it will happen at this time. I have priorities at this time, so I rather not promise anything currently. Hopefully you'll understand why I'm conflicted about confirming or denying the future of Dawn of Djinn at this time.