The prologue does a good job showing what good friends Isaac and Garet are. While Garet is trying to save his belongings, Isaac is able to talk him out of it and come to safety with him. If you run right by Garet, he'll drop everything and come along with Isaac anyway because he doesn't want Isaac to run off alone. Finally, after Isaac's father and Jenna's whole family are seemingly killed by the Mt. Aleph boulder, the only other person who isn't injured or shell shocked to the point of inaction is Garet, who runs off to help Isaac find help because he doesn't want to leave him alone.
Even after spending time with Saturos and Menardi, Felix never once stopped caring about his sister Jenna. Anytime the two of them threaten her he immediately goes into Big Brother Instinct. Even Isaac and Garet agree that Jenna and Kraden will be safe under Saturos and Menardi if only because Felix is with them.
When Isaac and co. visit Bilibin, they can talk with McCoy and try to convince him to give them the key to the makeshift barricade the city put up to keep people out of Kolima Forest. However once he sees that Isaac and his friends are just teenagers, he refuses because he doesn't want to send a bunch of kids to their doom. Despite giving the appearance of a stereotypical Adipose Rex, McCoy is actually pretty reasonable and regretful of what's happened to his people. It helps that it's implied his wife forced him to cut into the forest for her own gains.
If you bothered to save the person who was getting washed away while turned into a tree due to Tret's curse, she will remember you when she is returned to human later and give you a gift in thanks.
If you return to Vale about halfway through the game and visit Garet's family they'll all be practically driven to tears to see him safe. Even though he hasn't finished his quest yet and wasn't supposed to return until he did, Garet's family tells him to go ahead and stay for awhile and rest. Even Garet's sister who was angry at him for crushing her flowers at the beginning of the game will be sad to learn that Garet hasn't come home for good yet and tells him to be careful.
The way the guards at Kalay are so thrilled to see Ivan makes you realize how Master Hammet and his staff truly see the boy as family. This is reassuring after how the people of Vault, while not mistreating him, thought he was a bit weird and kept their distance.
In a weird, anti-heroic way, the fact that Isaac's friends will help him cheat at Colosso using Psynergy while watching him from the sidelines. It makes you wonder if he asked them to do that or if they just decided on it without his knowledge.
After Isaac passes out from exhaustion from fighting in Colosso, he's in bed for days. Everyone was concerned, but the group's healer, Mia, was worried sick about their leader.
Ivan finally saving Hammet after not being able to help him for the entire game. The conversation before the fight with Dodonpa's monster also reveals that Hammet never gave up on knowing that Ivan would save him.
Felix jumping off of the top of the lighthouse to save Sheba. Both this and Moment of Awesome.
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
After beating Briggs and his pirates and turning them over to the authorities, Briggs' wife Chaucha and son Eoleo come in to defend him. Briggs assures everyone that they have absolutely nothing to do with Brigg's piracy and to leave them alone, to which the main party and the Mayor agree. You find out later that Briggs was totally lying and that Chaucha is the brains behind Briggs' operations and even helps him escape, but the fact that the man loves his family so much that he would go to jail in their stead shows that he's not a totally heartless brigand.
Also heartwarming on the other side - Eoleo is central to his dad's escape, and Chaucha masterminds the whole thing. Chaucha can get on Briggs' case a bit sometimes, but there's no doubt that there's genuine love between them, especially considering how Chaucha had an easy out and could have lived her life in Alhafra or escaped the city altogether, but she stuck around out of dedication to her husband.
After infiltrating Kibombo to help Piers get his ship's Black Crystal back so he can try to get home, the group helps Akafubu complete his ritual to become the village's new Witch Doctor/Leader by repairing the broken circuit inside the giant statue, something that was disrupting his ritual. Initially outraged at finding intruders in the statue, Akafubu calms down when it's explained what happened and then agrees to retrieve Piers' crystal without even being asked. Turns out actually kind of a nice guy if only a bit hot headed. Doesn't really excuse sacking Madra for the orb though...
After defeating the Serpent at Gaia's Rock and returning to Izumo, everyone thanks Felix and the others for essentially saving Kushinada's life now that she no longer needs to be sacrificed. However when Susa returns alive, the group then goes on to say that they never would have been able to defeat the Serpent if Susa hadn't weakened it with Dragonsbane and then finished it off with the Cloudbrand. This is only partially true, and the only person who tries to object is Susa himself but the Adepts won't have it. They are all perfectly fine with Susa being hailed as the hero of the village and the one responsible for saving the love of his life.
Alex stops Felix before he rescues Isaac and heals him, since he knows Felix would never forgive himself if he let Isaac die. If you read his mind, he comments that even now, he wants to rush to Mia's side and aid her even if they're enemies.
Felix and company step in to stop Agatio and Karst from killing Isaac and Ivan. Even though Isaac's group currently opposes Felix's mission, he's not about to let his former friends and his sister's love interest be murdered. Jenna and Sheba even stay behind to heal Isaac and Ivan while Kraden says he'll help save Garet and Mia.
Piers refusing to let his friend Felix meet with Karst and Agatio alone, knowing that they're unhinged and dangerous enough to try something. He's absolutely right.
If you lose the fight with Agatio and Karst, Alex will stop the two from finishing Felix and his party off. This and his healing of Felix and the others early really helps add to the ambiguity of who's side Alex is really on since he clearly cares for Felix, Mia, and those with them while still wanting to use them to gain ultimate power.
After the battle with Agatio and Karst, the groups decide that they finally need to sit down and talk about what's happening. You can either agree or refuse. If you choose the former, Isaac will put his faith in you despite all that's happened and say he'll wait for you in Contigo. If you refuse, Jenna will butt in and say that they need to have that talk and asks if Isaac still trusts her, to which he'll respond that he never stopped. Even if you try to head back to your ship, Jenna won't let you. She's sick of running away from her friends.
Isaac and Felix finally meeting and discussing why Felix and his party are trying to light the lighthouses and the motives behind it and Isaac comes to understand why and agrees to help Felix.
Everyone comforting Sheba after she reveals why she wanted to go with Felix on the journey.
Ivan finding out that Hama is his sister. While he is Happily Adopted with Layana and Hammet, he's overjoyed to finally meet someone from his past who shows that he's not all alone.
When you arrive in Prox, the villagers are both surprised to see Felix but also happy to see him safe. Even though the party's only exposure to Proxians have been in the form of villains, it turns out that everyone else in the village is pretty reasonable and friendly. Felix had been well taken care of those three years while being held there.
The village elder of Prox decides that he can no longer keep Felix's parents and Isaac's father hostage as Gaia Falls moves closer to engulf their town, so he orders to have them set free. It's clear that he regrets what he has done for the past three years and takes full responsibility for it. Unfortunately, his captives mysteriously disappear before he can set them free...
The Proxian warriors who looked up to Saturos and Menardi meet Isaac, their killer, and after hearing about how the two of them went too far realize that Isaac had no choice and don't blame him for killing them. Despite the fact that Isaac could have potentially doomed their hometown, and to a greater extent the world, the warriors forgive him.
The ending, mixed with Tear Jerker. To clarify: It turns out that the Doom Dragon was actually Isaac's dad Kyle and Felix and Jenna's parents and the party just inflicted mortal injuries on them, which causes Jenna to have a massive breakdown as Piers and Mia try their best to save them but are unable to. If you talk to the party members outside of Isaac and Jenna, they offer sympathy and Kraden promises he'll keep you safe as you grieve.
Luckily due to the special affinity between Mars and Venus, the Mars Lightouse revives their parents and they survive and head home to Vale. But it turns out that Vale was destroyed and the party thinks that this means the people who lived there are dead now, including Isaac's mother Dora and Garet's entire family. It turns out that The Wise One warned them of the danger ahead of time and they all evacuated safely and for the first time in three years, Isaac, Kyle and Dora are reunited and the game ends on a happy note.
Alternative Title(s):Golden Sun The Lost Age, Golden Sun The Broken Seal
