I just beat Golden Sun for the Gameboy Advance - what a great game!  Great story, lengthy quest, awesome music, excellent graphics for the equivalent of a handheld Super Nintendo, and tried and true gameplay.  What more could you want?  I've only played a couple of RPGs in my lifetime.  And if there are awesome games like Golden Sun out there I might just become an RPG fanboy....

I remember when I was younger, I went to my cousin's house and watched him as he played the greats - FF7, FF8, Xenogears, Breath of Fire series, Vagrant Story, etc.  I always thought the games he played were cool, but they just weren't for me.  I was used to platformers like Mario or random action/adventure stuff.  I didn't get what was so fun about going through bunches of menus (the guy was lightening fast!) and selecting attack and heal and whatnot! 

I understood that they were supposed to be epic stories but I just couldn't see the fun in hours upon hours of gameplay in a dark room.  I just sat quietly and admired the stunning graphics not really knowing the appeal of a grand quest. 

Years later (almost 10), for some reason I'll never know, I developed a bit of curiosity for RPGs.  And one day, I decided that my lack of appreciation for the genre was unwarranted since I never gave it a try.  I took it upon myself and picked up a friend's copy of FF1 and FF2 for the GBA.  My cousin said to give it an hour of gameplay and if I still didn't like it to give it another.  And if after that I still did not see the appeal, then it just wasn't my cup of tea. 

After I got the mechanics down, I was enjoying my first RPG experience with the game that most RPG gamers started with.  The original Final Fantasy.  I loved it!  I promptly beat the next one.  Thus began a lifetime of getting lost in massive quests to save the world - otherwise known as fantasy.

So as of this posting, I am now also in love with the Golden Sun universe and am highly looking forward to its sequel - The Lost Age.  If you have the slightest interest in handheld RPGs, I strongly recommend the Golden Sun series.  You can get them both used for less than $10 each at Gamestop.