Golden Sun/Gameplay

Character development
As standard in most RPG games, characters are developed through the process of leveling up. Characters level up after gaining experience in combat; after obtaining a certain amount of experience, a character will progress to his or her next level. Each time a character levels up, he or she gains health points, Psynergy (the game's equivalent of magic) points, attack, defense, and agility. A character may also learn a new Psynergy technique after leveling up. The level-up process is not interactive; the player cannot choose any aspects of it.

Experience is earned at the end of a combat session (assuming the player's party was victorious). The party earns a certain number of experience points depending on the difficulty of the opponents faced. Each character in the party receives the same amount of experience from each fight, regardless of that character's participation in it.

Character development is affected extensively by Djinn.

Djinn
The Djinn are creatures of magic found throughout the world. Each Djinni is associated with one of the four elements in the game. Djinn are a major part of Golden Sun and help separate it from other RPGs. Djinn are attached to characters and have extensive influence on character development and play a vital role in combat.

Effect on characters
Equipping a Djinni to a character immediately affects that character's statistics, Psynergy, and class. Some of the character's stats will be increased, while others will be decreased. The character will gain access to a new set of Psynergy techniques and may forget old ones. The character's class type will also change. Each of the four types of Djinn will react with a given character in a certain way (a character has a unique set of Psynergy techniques for each type of Djinni). A character may be equipped multiple Djinn.

Djinn can be traded among characters to experiment with different effects, allowing the player to customize each character to a degree.

Standby and Set
A Djinni attached to a character may be set in one of two modes, Standby or Set. In Standby mode, the Djinni may be used to call a summon, but does not affect the character's stats (it does still affect the character's psynergy and class). In Set mode, the Djinni boosts the character's stats and can be "unleashed" to activate a power specific to that Djinni.

Unleashing Djinn
Each Djinni has a specific ability which can be activated in combat. Activating this ability is referred to as "Unleashing" the Djinni. An Unleashed ability may affect party or enemy stats, launch an attack, or have other effects. After being Unleashed, a Djinni's status is changed to Standby.

Summoning with Djinn
If some Djinn in the player's party are in the Standby position, Summons will become available. Summons are powerful attacks launched by Djinn. Multiple levels of Summon for each type of Djinn are available. The more Djinn of a certain element in the Standby position, the higher the level of Summon available (for example, if three Fire Djinn are in Standby, a level three Fire summon can be executed). Summons affect multiple enemies and often are more powerful than standard attacks. After a Summon is called, the Djinn used to call that Summon will be placed into a "recovery" phase for one turn, and on the next turn will automatically be Set. Summoning is discussed in more detail in the Combat section below.

Combat
Combat in Golden Sun is turned based. After the player has selected his actions for each party member, characters involved in a battle (both members of the player's party and opponents) take turns attacking based on their agility rating. Characters attack in order from highest to lowest agility.

At the beginning of each turn, the player can choose to fight, flee, or check his or her party's status. If the character chooses to flee and the attempt is successful, the combat will end. If not, the player will be forced to endure the enemy's attacks.

If the player chooses to fight, a battle will commence. When it is a party member's turn to attack, up to six options will become available: Attack, Psynergy, Djinn, Summon, Item, and Defend. Please see below.

Attack
The character selects and attacks a single target with his or her weapon. Damage is based on the character's attack rating and enemy's defense, but may be higher if the player scores a critical hit or a weapon's special power is activated.

Psynergy
Opens a list of the character's Psynergy powers. The player can choose to use a power or return to the previous screen. Some Psynergy powers affect multiple targets, and some Psynergy attacks are more powerful than standard attacks. Using a Psynergy power costs Psynergy points.

Djinn
If the character has one or more Djinni attached, the player can choose this option to open a list of that character's Djinn. The player can Set a Standby Djinni, Unleash a Set Djinni, or return to the previous screen.

Summon
If any character has any Djinn in Standby mode, the player can choose this menu to view the list of possible summons. Any character can execute a summon, even with another character's Djinni. Summons are usually very powerful and affect all enemies. After a summon is carried out, the character that called the summon will have the stat associated with the element of the summon temporarily boosted (in other words, calling a Fire summon will boost that character's Fire power temporarily, and so on). The player can also choose to return to the previous screen.

Item
From this menu, the player can select an item to use or equip, or return to the previous screen.

Defend
The character does not take any action; however, damage to this character is reduced during the round of combat.