THE LOST AGE
The Lost Age was released in Japan on June 28th, 2002, less than a year after the first Golden Sun. The NA version was released the following year, on April 14th. It functions as a direct sequel to the first game's story, and the majority of its gameplay mechanics function the same as in Golden Sun. In fact, you can even transfer your save data over!
The second game's story picks up right where the first game left off-- but from a different perspective. Instead of continuing to play as Isaac, The Lost Age's protagonist is Felix, one of the villains of the previous game. After spending the first game playing as a party of heroes trying desperately to stop the apocalyptic Golden Sun Event, the second game instead follows Felix and his party's quest to bring about the end of the world as they know it.
PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
Click each sprite to learn about the characters of The Lost Age!
Felix
Venus Adept
Hails from
Vale
Venus Adept 
Jenna
Mars Adept
Hails from
Vale
Mars Adept 
Sheba
Jupiter Adept
Hails from Lalivero
Jupiter Adept 
Piers
Mercury Adept
Hails from Lemuria
Mercury Adept Our new silent protagonist, despite speaking in the first game. Three years prior, he and his parents were lost during a terrible storm, and presumed dead by the rest of Vale. In actuality, they were kidnapped by Saturos and Menardi, who forced Felix to help them bring about the Golden Sun Event.
Despite the death of his captors, he remains committed to carrying out their quest, as his parents remain trapped in the far-off village of Prox...
Felix's sister, and Isaac and Garet's childhood friend. Although she was originally kidnapped and forced to travel to the Elemental Lighthouses, she's since decided to willingly side with her brother...even if it places her at odds with her friends.
Jenna is quick to anger and often impatient, but cares deeply about her friends and family. She also has a bit of a crush on Isaac. After being a damsel in distress for most of the last game, it's awesome to see her take a central role in the story!
As an infant, Sheba fell from the sky above Lalivero, miraculously arriving on the ground unharmed. Adopted by the village leader, she was revered by the townspeople as a "child of the gods", due to both her miraculous origins, and her innate psychic abilities.
Outspoken and self-confident, Sheba demands to join Felix's party in order to fulfill her "destiny"...but secretly she hopes to find answers about where she truly comes from. Probably my favorite GBA party member. I love her attitude.
Piers is the only party member who does not appear in the first game, and also the last to join Felix's group. Shipwrecked and stranded on the continent of Indra, he eventually accepts the party's help in order to retrieve his ship.
Hailing from a lost island of immortals, Piers is far older than his appearance would suggest. Equal parts arrogant and honorable, he does his best to keep his temper in check...most of the time. He's also known for baffling a lot of fans, due to his questionable fashion choices and ridiculous localized name.
"I don't need you or anyone to rescue me, Isaac!"
"I miss them... Isaac... Felix..."
"I can be every bit as heroic as some guy!"
"Let us set sail, Felix! To my ship! And the Eastern Sea!"
MORE VILLAINS
In order to fill the void left by last game's pair of evil dragonborn warriors, The Lost Age introduces two new evil dragonborn warriors, named Karst and Agatio. Karst is actually Menardi's sister, who, after learning of her death, becomes determined to kill Isaac in revenge. This is pretty interesting, at least in terms of Golden Sun character writing. Especially since Menardi was the final boss of the last game, so the one who killed her is really you, the player!
If it wasn't clear already, I've always really really liked Karst. Why, exactly, I'm not sure, but she's definitely extremely cool. She's a pink dragongirl, she fights with a scythe, she's motivated mainly by grief, and despite everything she's done, you can still hold her hand while she dies... :-(
Alex also reappears in this game, and continues to work with the antagonists in order to further his own mysterious agenda. Yet again, he refuses to either join the party or battle them, but he sure is there to make cryptic comments.
MORE HEROES
Later in the game, Isaac and Felix work things out, and the four original party members of Golden Sun join your new team to form a final party of 8! Now you can customize your party lineup however you like: the battle music even changes depending on whether certain characters are in the active party! Finally you can listen to the best battle theme again, after only having access to it for a couple fights at the very beginning of the game...
You can still only have four active characters in battle, but you can swap in your inactive party members during combat! This is a cool feature, and did not prepare me at all for the harsh reality of most other JRPGs...
Oh, and Kraden is also traveling with the party for the entire game. He's not playable due to being a grandpa without any magic powers, but he loves being along for the ride. Or at least, he usually does: if you answer "no" to enough yes/no questions he gets really mad.
SAILING THE WORLD
The Lost Age is much more more nonlinear than its predecessor, and has a lot more optional content as well. The party gains access to a ship fairly early in the game, and are then free to explore the entirety of the Eastern Sea, which is roughly equivalent to the real-world Pacific Ocean. At this point, there are quite a few available dungeons and towns, which can be visited in any order! I have such fond memories of exploring Weyard, discovering new places, gaining new abilities, and piecing together clues to progress Felix's quest...
Exploring the world is truly a joy, because there are so many beautiful and diverse locations in this game! Here are just a few of them (images pulled from the Golden Sun Syndicate's TLA Walkthrough, which has full maps of every area!):
SIDEQUESTS AND SAVE DATA
On top of the main story, there is also lots of optional content to discover along the way. This game introduces more djinn, as well as new multi-elemental summons that can be found by exploring hidden dungeons. Many of the game's towns, while not hidden, are still completely optional-- even some that have their own cutscenes and dialogue (did you know you actually don't have to visit Garoh?!), or contain major hints for progressing the story (my first playthrough, I somehow completely missed Yallam for a lot of the game, so stumbling upon it later was really cool)! This game also introduces class-changing items, which can be equipped to unlock unique classes.
One optional dungeon is unlocked via the Animal Trading Quest. By exchanging with animals across the world, you can trade your way up from a stone to a baby turtle! The "Li'l Turtle" can then be given to the lonely turtle on the Sea of Time Islet. What a cute sidequest!
There are also a few things that can only be accessed by transferring save data from the first game! While the main story plays out the same regardless, it's cool how your choices in Golden Sun are still acknowledged (and rewarded; most of these events give you equipment drops):
- If Isaac won the Colosso tournament, you can encounter and battle the other Colosso competitors.
- If Hsu was rescued by Isaac's party, Feizhi will appear in Champa, looking for Isaac.
- If Isaac's party cleared the secret Crossbone Isle dungeon and defeated Deadbeard, the pirates in Alhafra will discuss searching for the new "king of pirates".
- If you returned to Vault in the first game and learned that the thieves have escaped from prison, Felix's party will be attacked by them.
- If the sidequest to rescue Hammet from Lunpa was completed, you can get an extra scene with Hamma.
- The Anemos Sanctum dungeon can only be unlocked by collecting all 72 djinn across both games.