Squall

From Golden Sun Universe
Squall
DjinniSquallBattle.png

Squall being unleashed in the original Golden Sun

Element Star jupiter.gif Jupiter
Battle Effect An elemental physical attack 40% stronger than a normal physical attack; may inflict Stun
Set Bonuses
HP + 10
Attack + 5
Locations
Golden Sun * Altmiller Cave (battled)
This Djinni appears as an enemy that can be battled.

Jupiter djinn.gif Squall (エレキ Elec) is a Jupiter Djinni found in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Squall is the sixth Jupiter Djinni in the original Golden Sun, and can also be acquired in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Although it is not the party's sixth Jupiter Djinni in The Lost Age, Squall is still ordered as the sixth Jupiter Djinni when equipped to characters. Because it is not available until after most other Jupiter Djinn can be found, however, the separate Djinn list viewable with the Select button from the status screen lists Squall and all other Jupiter Djinn from Golden Sun after all of the Djinn introduced in The Lost Age. According to this order, Squall is the seventeenth Jupiter Djinni in The Lost Age rather than the sixth, but this order has no influence elsewhere in the game.

Basic description

"Paralyze a foe with a storm."

When Set, Squall increases its Adept's base HP by 10 and base Attack by 5.

When Squall is unleashed in battle, the user attacks the target with a Jupiter-based attack equal in power to the user's normal physical attack multiplied by x1.4. There is then a chance that the target will be afflicted with Stun.

In Golden Sun and The Lost Age, Squall's unleash animation visually resembles the user rushing forward to deal a normal attack, but before the point of impact the user stops on a dime and purple energy orbs gather into the user's position while a transparent image of a Jupiter Djinni is visible above the user. Then the Djinni disappears into the user's strike, and purple lightning shocks the user in tandem, similar to the Unleash animation of the Witch's Wand.

Damage calculation example

Elemental physical attacks such as Squall use the damage dealt by the attacker's standard physical attack as the base damage to be later modified. The total amount of damage dealt by a normal physical attack is half the difference between the attacker's Attack statistic and the target's Defense statistic, as this equation shows:

base damage = (Attacker's Attack - Target's Defense) / 2

Squall's attack then takes this base damage value and uses it in the following equation:

final damage = (base damage * 1.4) * (1 + (Attacker's Jupiter Power - Target's Jupiter Resistance) / 400)

To word this in prose, Squall takes the base damage of the user's normal physical attack, multiplies it by 1.4, and then this result is modified by how much higher or lower the user's Jupiter Power is than the target's Jupiter Resistance. The difference between the user's Jupiter Power and the target's Jupiter Resistance is divided by 400, then 1 is added to this, resulting in what can be called the "elemental damage multiplier". This number is what Squall's damage is multiplied by.

For example, if an Adept with an Attack rating of 200 and a Jupiter Power of 140 unleashes Squall on a monster with a defense of 80 and a Jupiter Resistance of 100:

  • damage = ((Attack - Defense) / 2 * 1.4) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 400)
  • damage = ((200 - 80) / 2 * 1.4) * (1 + (140 - 100) / 400)
  • damage = (120 / 2 * 1.4) * (1 + 40 / 400)
  • damage = (60 * 1.4) * (1 + 0.1)
  • damage = 72 * 1.1
  • damage = 79

Therefore, if Squall were to be unleashed under these circumstances it would deal approximately 79 points of damage.

Locations

Squall at the end of a puzzle in Altmiller Cave.

Golden Sun: Squall is located in a lower floor in Altmiller Cave, visible behind a puzzle in one room that is properly lit up. After climbing up the stairs below it, roll the vertical pillar right, roll the lower horizontal pillar up, cast Frost on the puddle, roll the lower horizontal pillar back down, go around to the right side of the vertical pillar and roll it left, and go up above the upper horizontal pillar and push it down. The Djinni now reachable nearby must be battled to be obtained. See here for enemy statistics.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age: If players don't transfer data from Golden Sun to The Lost Age, Squall will not be among the Djinn Isaac's party has with them when they join forces with Felix's party late in the game. In this case, Squall may be found as the "make-up" Jupiter Djinni at SW Atteka Islet.

Analysis

General: Squall is the only Jupiter Djinni in the GBA games with a damage bonus that comes in the form of a multiplier, though this multiplier is a somewhat modest x1.4, compared to the x1.5 multiplier of some Mercury Djinn - Sour and Gel, namely. As a Djinni to try to knock out enemies for increased rewards with, it isn't necessarily bad and increases in usefulness the higher the user's Attack rating becomes, though it certainly falters as an offense when compared to the Quick Strike Psynergy, which is a Jupiter-based elemental physical attack with a x1.8 damage multiplier. In Dark Dawn, the Jupiter Djinni Bolt is Squall's identical equivalent.

By game

Golden Sun: Squall is a Jupiter-based offense with a reliable and somewhat sufficient damage multiplier, and depending on how high the user's base attack is, Squall will score higher bonus damage than even Smog and its additional 60 damage points. If you're using all Adepts in their respective mono-elemental classes, though, that probably will not happen with Ivan, whose attack will likely be low enough that Smog will do more resultant damage by quite a fair margin. Providing more attack to Ivan for the sake of Squall can be one reason why equipping the Kikuichimonji would be desirable on him. But like with the Mars Djinni Scorch, the Stun effect Squall has a chance to apply is excellent and certainly outperforms Smog's Delusion effect.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age: When Isaac's party joins Felix's party along with their returning Djinn (granted that Password data transfer is in effect), Squall remains the only Jupiter Djinni with a damage multiplier, and with the much higher attack ratings plausible in that game's endgame party thanks to better weapons, class upgrades, and higher levels, Squall can become the best Jupiter attack Djinni. To compare, a much earlier Jupiter Djinni, Blitz, has the same Stunning secondary effect, but only adds 30 damage points.

Name Origin

A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed which is usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow.

Djinn in Golden Sun and The Lost Age (Master List)
Venus Mercury Mars Jupiter
Golden Sun FlintGraniteQuartzVineSapGroundBane FizzSleetMistSpritzHailTonicDew ForgeFeverCoronaScorchEmberFlashTorch GustBreezeZephyrSmogKiteSquallLuff
The Lost Age * EchoIronSteelMudFlowerMeldPetraSaltGeodeMoldCrystal FogSourSpringShadeChillSteamRimeGelEddyBalmSerac CannonSparkKindleCharCoalRefluxCoreTinderShineFuryFugue BreathBlitzEtherWaftHazeWheezeAromaWhorlGaspLullGale