Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn [Version 1 Released]

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[JackitK]

Golden Sun Dawn of Djinn is a mod of Golden Sun Broken Seal/first Golden Sun that remixes various elements of the original into a new, but familiar adventure. I have a trailer below that gives you a general preview of some things to expect in this mod.


  Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn Trailer  

Download to the patch and guides (Like detail Djinn/Djinni Charms location and battle combat along with a FAQ) is available on the github I've set up for this mod.....
https://github.com/JackitK/goldensun-dawn-of-djinn

Summery:
“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.


Combat:

Spoiler for Hidden:

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 the readjusted move pools and occasional liberates with the Hard Mode rules, certain battles may be harder than your average Lost Age Hard Mode playthrough.  Especially late game and in the optional areas.

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.

Updates to Psynergy:

Spoiler for Hidden:

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. Currently you'll need to experiment with different classes and items to experience all the new abilities this mod offers, however if there is interest, I could include a write-up of each class learn-set in a future update.

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. Also there's been minor tweeks tying to pre-existing Psynergy and who can learn them.

Updates to Classes:

Spoiler for Hidden:

With some exceptions, classes retain their core identity though majority, if not all of them learn at least one new Psynergy.  Most drastic changes are with tri-elemental classes.  Especially the Ninja and Samauri classes.  Samauri has been completely replaced with a new class called "Ka Bushi".  Its stats remain the same and still retrains it's supportive use, but it now has a lot larger focus on weilding the undead and trades it wide range attacks for a more single target combat style.

The Ninja class has a slight nerf in power in exchange for more speed, not because it really need more speed, but because I wanted to make the Ninja class a more supportive class than the offense power house it was previously known for.  To name just a few adjustments to the Ninja's move pool.  It has a lot Psynergy with status secondary effects and it gets access to abilities to boost the speed of party members. Shuriken has also been nerfed in power in exchange for more range and you can learn 3 new special alternations of Shuriken that have their own secondary effects.

Last but not least is the brand new "quad elemental class" family.  The Jack/Toolsmith classes are fairly unique as they have the worst overall stats of any class in the game and mostly intended to have easier access to utility Psynergy after obtaining them.  However, they do have a unique spread of Psynergy via level up.  A Jack Adept can wield all four elements of Psynergy at once and usually have a couple spells reserved for equipment. Plus each party member has a slightly different version of the Jack Adept/Toolsmith class.  Having more powerful spells of a particular pair of elements, and learn a powerful Psynergy once max out in level.  It's up to you to decide if these powerful spells are worth the poor stats. Even if you can't make use out of them in combat, they could have potential in reducing clutter in your inventory.

Updated Weapon System

Spoiler for Hidden:

Weapons are now more useful has there is now a system of pros & cons between each type of weapon.  For example, Axes are the strongest weapons in the game but have a distinct drawback of dropping speed. Maces still tend to be weak weapons but they now have a high crit/unleash rate. See below for a full break down....

Axes:  

• Generally, the strongest type of weapons in the game.
• Axes have even higher attack now then they did in the original game.
• However, they all have the drawback of lowering speed when equipped.

Long Sword:  

• Generally, the second strongest type of weapons in the game.
• No major drawback but no perk beyond strength.
• Relatively unchanged.

Short Sword:  

• An all round weapon.  
• Stronger than weapons like staffs & gloves, but no secondary boost.  
• Weaker than axes but no speed drawback.  
• New this this mod, Mia can equip short swords as well.

Mace:  

• Weakest "physical" weapon.
• In exchange for lower attack, they have higher crit rates than other weapons.
• If the mace has an unleash, the odds of that unleash triggering will be higher instead.

Staff/Ankh:  

• As weak if not weaker than maces.
• Come with a perk relating to Psynergy Points depending on if it's a Staff or Ankh (see new weapons for more details)
• Though rare, certain staffs/ankh may have unleashes that do base damage instead of attack focused damage

Gloves/Mitts (new):  

• Tend to be weak compared to other weapons but come with a defensive boost.
• Gloves boost defense, Mitts boost elemental resistance
• All Gloves can be used like an item in battle for a secondary effect
• All Mitts bestow Psynergy when equipped, many featuring unique, rare, and/or brand new Psynergy
• All Gloves have unleashes
• All Mitts have a special type of unleash.
• Most unleashes are based on physical attack, but the unleashes used by Mitts have their own base attack.
• While this means their power gets obsolete quicker, it does make them a good fit for characters that already have a low attack stat, like mages (and Ivan as a whole).

New Weapon Types

Spoiler for Hidden:

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.
With a couple exceptions, Gloves and Mitts are weapons exclusive to   Isaac and   Ivan.

In addition, Staff and Ankh weapons have been divided into subcategories in a way similar to Long Sword and Short Sword weapons in the original game.
They both are exclusive to Ivan and   Mia.  However, Staffs boost max PP when equipped while Ankhs recover PP every turn when equipped.

Update to Battle Items:

Spoiler for Hidden:

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.

Djinn Updates:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Last but not least, are the namesakes of this adventure, the 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.

 

Slight update to Summons:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Speaking of summons, 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. With Judgement haunting foes, Boreas making them slumber, Meteor sealing Psynergy, and Thor potentially stunning them.  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.

Though as I get a better idea of just how powerful summons are, I am considering a complete rework of them in a future version. I just didn't want to implement that right away as it would mean having to completely rework all enemies and bosses accordingly.

Djinni Charms:

Spoiler for Hidden:

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.


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.

Grand Djinni

Spoiler for Hidden:

In this world there are exceptionally strong Djinni known as the "Grand Djinni", like similar Djinni you may encounter if you approach them they will engage you in battle.  However, unlike a normal Djinni, these "Grand Djinni" have strength and abilities that rival even many of the bosses throughout the game.  

However, if you can beat them, they are the best Djinni in the game, having powerful abilities that will give you a strong edge in battle. There is one for each element, so keep that in mind throughout your adventure.

Adjustments to Overworld Abilities/Quality of Life Updates:

Spoiler for Hidden:

While majority of updates to Dawn of Djinn tie to combat, there are a few field exclusive updates.  First off, 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.  


Secondly, 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.


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.


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.

And I'll also include a playlist I've made specifically of these videos...
Dawn of Djinn Video Playlist

[JackitK]

FAQ:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Is Dawn of Djinn hard?
Dawn of Djinn by default is harder than the original Golden Sun, but is not intended to be "brutally hard".
Previous experience with the Golden Sun series is recommended before jumping in.

On average, monster's stats are multiplied similarly to how they are in Lost Age's hard mode. Though move pools
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.  This dialogue version of the mod is planned
to be made for either a 1.5 or 2.0 release, but I figured since everything else is set to share already that I would release my dialogueless 1.0 version while I'm reworking a dialogue version, hopefully taking advantage of starting from scratch to clean up some "code" that
I probably made a mess of putting 1.0 together.  No set release date for the dialogue version yet,
but it shouldn't take nearly as long as it has for me to make version 1 in the first place.  I apologize in advance to everyone who was
looking forward to enjoying the full experience of Golden Sun's story while playing this mod.

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.

[JackitK]

Lots of work has been going on behind the scenes and things feel closer than ever to a final release (at least of the dialogues version).

Long story short lots of new items, including new Djinni Charms; updated Djinn, new moves, and a rework of all the major fights to adjust for all these new features.  I've done a few videos here and there showcasing my current progress including a stream showcasing a few areas with boss fights included...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaY5k5SGEYI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJStnIf-gis

Here's a link to the Discord if you're curious on a source of updates more frequently then this...
https://discord.gg/bWR3KWyZdW

I'll try to come back here every now and then to give an update though, especially once a patch is released.

Not quite ready to give a date, but I'd be surprised if I didn't have a patch to share in a couple months.  Right now a lot of my focus has actually been on secondary material I want to include with the adventure.  Including but not limited to text files of a Djinn Guide, a Djinni Charm Guide, and a list of monster drops so players don't have to worry about missing out on any new items.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the playlist in the OP post for all the videos of this mod I currently have release and enjoy a few screenshots from my Discord I revived just to have an quick easy way to share mini updates.



Spoilers to one of the newer Djinni Charms and end game area...

Spoiler for Hidden:

[JackitK]

Major update.  Everything is ready for the release of version 1.0 of Dawn of Djinn and I've updated a couple posts in the main page to better reflect the more recent update of content.

Plan is to release to make the Github page for Dawn of Djinn public once I air the trailer on my Youtube channel, sometime tomorrow.  On the off chance I don't get back on the site by then, the Github page is listed below...
https://github.com/JackitK/goldensun-dawn-of-djinn

...also have plans to have a Google Drive back-up for the patch and am also considering getting it uploaded to more mod specific servers...

Edit: Also updated the title of this thread because I realize it doesn't reflect the new title of the mod, despite me finally settling on a name awhile back. 

[JackitK]

Thanks to some feedback I've already gotten elsewhere, I was able to fix the issue I was having making Isaac (and apparently Mia) take more Djinn than the others to get into their quad-elemental classes.  I've also fixed some text and made a small update to the movepool to these classes while I was messing around with all that.  So if you've already started version 1.0, I'd recommend downloading the newest patch and updating so you don't miss out on these updates.
https://github.com/JackitK/goldensun-dawn-of-djinn

[Plexa]

01, June, 2022, 07:12:04 AM

Plexa: We're almost there Daddy Poi, ACE in TLA any day now :)

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

01, September, 2021, 02:55:35 PM

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas: At least for warps.

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

01, September, 2021, 02:55:01 PM

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas: To think that events are not done via a tilemap in GS3 is interesting, and they'd just be cubes in the size of a tile (I think)... with given coords.

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

29, May, 2021, 02:16:09 AM

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHpJRidNrJE&ab_channel=NBCNews = Coolio!

[Salanewt]

28, March, 2021, 06:10:33 PM

Salanewt: Tiny announcement down here that a new animation pack is now available for download! The Animation Overhaul is required; see the downloads page for more details.

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

03, March, 2021, 03:16:30 AM

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas: I'm happy ACE is possible and easy in GS1. :D Thank you Tret. Now if we can get GS2 Air's Rock to do ACE, wouldn't that be something.

[Salanewt]

18, February, 2021, 03:25:26 PM

Salanewt: The one here has everything: http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=132

[VardenSalad]

18, February, 2021, 02:03:20 PM

VardenSalad: It looks like Atrius' editor download is broken again. The only thing in the .zip is the background image

[MaxiPower]

13, February, 2021, 03:15:41 PM

MaxiPower: Welcom back Charon. been a long time.

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

11, February, 2021, 09:40:04 PM

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas: So how long is this site going to be "This website is still under construction, please excuse the mess." :D

[charon the ferryman]

04, February, 2021, 12:56:21 AM

charon the ferryman: LMAO i love 2010 tech

[charon the ferryman]

04, February, 2021, 12:56:07 AM

charon the ferryman: release me from my discord prison meme mortals

[Salanewt]

15, November, 2020, 03:45:26 PM

Salanewt: We're more alive than the board implies; most discussion takes place over on the Discord server.

[Salanewt]

15, November, 2020, 03:45:06 PM

Salanewt: Haha, heya!

[Frog]

15, November, 2020, 02:07:50 PM

Frog: Nice to see this place is still alive...ish anyway xD

[Salanewt]

30, October, 2020, 11:10:23 PM

Salanewt: ... Actually, it's almost time for me to post an update on the forum. It's been coming along really nicely overall, and it was only a couple months or so ago that I added some new status effects to the game.

[Salanewt]

30, October, 2020, 11:08:41 PM

Salanewt: I need to get it done to start making progress on the parts of the AI Overhaul I want to start working on.

[Salanewt]

30, October, 2020, 11:08:14 PM

Salanewt: It's going well! I wanted to get more of my djinn reform done this week but I've been busy with other things sadly.

[KyleRunner]

30, October, 2020, 09:58:14 PM

KyleRunner: Hi guys! How are you doing?

[MaxiPower]

13, October, 2020, 11:19:21 AM

MaxiPower: first chapter of my golden sun inspired webtoon is now live. be cool if yas could check it out. https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/legacy-of-the-lost-dragoon/the-northern-reaches/viewer?title_no=508487&episode_no=6

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

31, August, 2020, 08:40:32 AM

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas: Being able to convert IPS files to text files to also supporting commenting, and convert back to IPS after changes.... sounds like a fun strategy? 

[Salanewt]

27, August, 2020, 10:37:30 PM

Salanewt: Hey, thanks! 

[Foreclosure]

25, August, 2020, 12:59:22 AM

Foreclosure: Yo! Looking forward for this AI OVerhaul patch when it's finished :) :) 

[Salanewt]

19, August, 2020, 07:00:17 PM

Salanewt: That's awesome! I'm pretty good; been working on an AI Overhaul project and have made some nice progress in the past couple weeks; the goal for tonight is to add Deadbeard to GS2 and then I can move onto something new.

[Awec]

19, August, 2020, 01:14:56 PM

Awec: Ye not bad, just checked back in for updates on GS Reloaded really. Although now I'm looking back through some of my old forum posts, which is fun :D how are you?

[Salanewt]

19, August, 2020, 01:43:07 AM

Salanewt: It sure is! How have you been?

[Awec]

16, August, 2020, 09:40:57 AM

Awec: Yo nice to see this forum is still going

[Salanewt]

14, August, 2020, 09:06:44 PM

Salanewt: Hey! How goes it?

[KyleRunner]

01, August, 2020, 01:31:53 PM

KyleRunner: Hello, people!

[Salanewt]

08, July, 2020, 08:57:11 PM

Salanewt: That awkward feeling when almost a quarter of a year goes by without anyone posting a message in this chatbox.

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