I usually give Sol Blade to Isaac (Ninja-class series), Darksword to Garet (Samurai-class series, sometimes Quick strike is useful) and Masamune to Ivan (Tomegathericon, call Dullahan). Isaac has the greatest attack, augmented many times in both games.

Hard mode was absolutely dissapointing. 125% of attack is not a serious gain... The only problems were with monsters in Osenia and Poseidon, but at the end only Dullahan was a real challenge - as always.
A little biography needed, heh? My first Golden Sun was in 2001, when I was 7. Father brought cartridge from...ghm, black market ("bazar") and said "it's a good game". I loved it from the very beginning, since when Saturos and Menardi first appeared and knocked down main heroes with deafening power. I still remember first impression - actually, it was a pure awe, mystical fear, music theme and villains' conception together totally impressed me. Sounds foolish, but I was just a child with corresponding psychology. Ha! Shamefully, my knowledge of English was very poor then, thus I didn't understand most of dialogues, yet tried to. Thanks to Golden Sun (!) and dictionary, my English skills progressed very fast and soon I far outrunned everyone in my class.