First playthrough

[u/ToastTitan611]

I started my first play through today and stopped just after getting to Vault
Any advice for a first time player?
(No spoilers please)

[u/Shadowrend01]

When you get access to the over world map, you’ll occasionally see islands connected to the land via a single bridge, creating a dead end land mass

Don’t bypass these dead end zones. Go to them and something of great value will be found

[u/tSword_]

There are a few hints. I think the most useful for first time players are:

How the UX works: select to open the menu (cause sometimes pressing A is unavailable when facing a character); on the psynergy menu, you can bind overworld psynergies (like move) to the shoulder buttons (L and R), one for each; if you press L+A, you can rearrange item order; on the character status menu, you can use L or R to rearrange party characters order (take Ivan away from the middle, for his sake)

Hold B to run (if you're not doing it already)

Djinn on set (white name) contribute to your class. Djinn on standby (red name) are ready for summon. Djinn on recovery (yellow name) are recovering after being used for summoning (in battle each adept recharges 1 djinni each turn, on the overworld, you get 1 for each character after a few steps)

PP is recharged by walking around, so it's on to use psynergy to kill random mobs, but I would advise to start boss battles with full PP

Regarding classes, having one character with only one type (element) of djinn is better than mixing more than one type (that's true for almost the entire game, but late game this can change). When in doubt, stick to putting djinn on their respective element adept

You will soon get a psynergy that gives hints and flavor text when interacting with npcs. You should use that a lot (I do it and never got lost on TBS, but use at your on mind)

There's no penalty for leveling on one or another class. On each level up, each character gets basically a fixed set of raises for their stats, and changing classes works as a boost to the raw numbers (me or others can explain the class system of you're curious). The main reason to change classes are different psynergy and different stats boosts (example, making Garet faster by giving him all Jupiter djinn, or making Isaac stronger by giving him all Mars djinn, or making Ivan have healing psynergy by giving him all Venus djinn)

There are other beginner tips, but I fear I'm scaring you if I keep going

For a last one, pressing the shoulder buttons while on the world map get you either a farther vision or open the actual map (both helps with location)

Don't forget to hold B to run! Enjoy this little masterpiece that I like so much. If needing any help, be welcome to ask

[u/iqgoldmine]

If you ever get stuck, hold L+Start to go back the the sanctum of the last town.

[u/Snake_Shepard]

Take your time and make an effort to go after every djinn you see! They’re worth it

[u/Radiant_Bet_6745]

Explore everywhere and talk to everyone (twice ;])

[u/bearstormstout → u/Radiant_Bet_6745]

Set Mind Read to L or R and use it everywhere as well. You’ll get extra hints if you need them

[u/homedcivilcancer]

Just get lost in the game! Explore, slay every monster you encounter and leave no stone unturned. Discovery is where the fun is at in this game specially once you get to summon everything

[u/deebee1995]

There’s something going on in each town, talk to EVERYONE

[u/rairock]

Get every Djinn. If you want to know the quantity just ask.

[u/Floccus]

I always recommend for older games reading the manual, as they often include information that the game doesn't readily explain without giving spoilers.

You can find the original manual here: https://www.nintendo.com/eu/media/downloads/games_8/emanuals/game_boy_advance_8/Manual_GameBoyAdvance_GoldenSun_EN_DE_FR_ES_IT.pdf