Dark Cloud (PS2)

Dark Cloud is a very intresting game, since it mixes adventure with strategic construction of cities, but the best part of this game for me was the ability to gain weapons for Toan, and his fellow companions, and upgrade to other weapons that are more powerful. Also, Fishing finds itself being a good additional feature to the game, as you can get Special Items in exchange for Fishing Points (FP). You can even get Top of the range weapons, if you manage to catch rare fish. The Dungeons are great fun @ first, but unfortunately it does tend to delve into boredom, after about the 10th level of each Dungeon. But in most cases, the bosses @ the end more than make up for boredom factor. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves RPG's in general, although this is not for the casual gamer, who just wants to pick up and play, as the game can take as long as 50 hours (which for me is not much, compared to the likes of FF7 and FF8, which have as much as 100+ hours of gameplay).Overall a 4 out of 5, worth splashing your cash for.

Okay, to start off this review, Dark Cloud is NOT a bad game, however it is understandable to see why people would dislike it due to there being just as many negatives as there are positives.

The premise, without giving anything away of course is this:
You play as a young lad named Toan (or whatever you decide to name him) from a fantasy world known as Terra.
Terra is under attack by dark magic from an evil genie and his master (Even though the Genie seems to be the one in the driver's seat) and naturally, it is up to you to save it, meeting tons of allies along the way and rebuilding the civilizations that were destroyed.

It's story line is far from original, but it does have a certain charm to it that will keep you playing along.
While it is an RPG, the game is completely real time, which I count as a plus, I just find that turn based RPGs can be extremely frustrating in the third dimension.
The weapon system is fun and I do love collecting all the rare items and gems to power up my weapons, rebuilding the cities is also rather fun.

Though the game has it's faults, mostly down to the excessive amounts of pointless dialogue you have to sit through which is neither plot-driven or relevant. The dungeons have this habit of randomly generating the layouts of each floor (Also a rather dated idea) I wouldn't normally have a problem with this but all the floors are all so similar to one another and believe me there are far too many floors until you get to the rather offensively easy bosses, it can get very repetitive so patience is definitely needed in order to get far on this game.
You'll spend a lot of time grinding in the first couple of dungeons in order to even consider entering the later additions.

Had they made the game in a more Zelda-esque style, with more puzzles, unique but consistent dungeons, a few minigames and subquests, I think the game would have been much more enjoyable.

Dark Cloud is, a heart, a fairly basic RPG. Combat is hack-and-slash, similar to The Legend of Zelda on N64. Exploration is limited to walking around corridors pressing 'Action' next to a chest. The story is minimal and only really serves as a backdrop for the gameplay. The one thing that lifts this game from being a mediocre adventure to a very good role playing game, is the 'diorama' system.

Your goal is to collect pieces of various towns and villages, along with the inhabitants of said town/village, and then reconstruct them. You can do it anyway you wish - but the only way to complete the game proper and open up your next objectives is to listen to the villager's needs. Someone migth want to live next to the pond as they fish; another might want to live next to the bakery; another might want to face the ocean. Its a simple concept, but one that becomes hugely engrossing, especially as the game progresses and the towns become more complex. Even better, you can then return to game mode and walk round the town you have just constructed, askng people how well you've done.

Unfortunately, the dungeons and combat get repetitive and as the difficulty level rises, frustrating. The game takes around 40 hours to complete - the first 20 whizz by, but after half way things feel a little stale. Its such a shame, as there are so many wonderful touches to the game; great graphics, town construction and varied playable characters.

Dark Cloud shows great potential; its an excellent concept not quite as perfect as it should be. Thankfully, Sony are already at work on Dark Cloud 2....