Dark Cloud Review by Link584
"Dark Cloud is a role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) video game console. It was developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2000 and 2001 in Japan and American/PAL regions respectively. The gameplay of Dark Cloud combines action role-playing with elements of city-building games. A sequel to the game, Dark Cloud 2 (or Dark Chronicle), was released two years later." - Wikipedia
Story
The storyline is simple and hardly complex. You play as the main character Toan, and you are living in a peaceful town until one day a man resurrects the Dark Genie that once nearly destroyed the world. The world is once again thrown into chaos and your little town is no exception, very much like in Zelda Ocarina of Time. You are saved by an old man known as the Fairy King and he reveals what you must do to save the world, and gives you a stone with magical properties that will help you on your quest.
The storyline is simple and hardly complex. You play as the main character Toan, and you are living in a peaceful town until one day a man resurrects the Dark Genie that once nearly destroyed the world. The world is once again thrown into chaos and your little town is no exception, very much like in Zelda Ocarina of Time. You are saved by an old man known as the Fairy King and he reveals what you must do to save the world, and gives you a stone with magical properties that will help you on your quest.
Design
The game came out during the second year of the Playstation 2s launch. The game presents itself as a simple world with several different sections of the world that are uniquely different from one another such as a forest town, desert town, etc. Each place is not super detailed or anything, but that is because on your adventures you have to piece them back together by finding pieces of each village in their respective towns dungeons. The Fairy King saved the towns by placing their people and houses and items inside capsules you find in those dungeons, sorta like finding treasure chests. As you restore the towns piece by piece, it regains it’s detail and feeling of life again. It’s an interesting design feature, and it is completely optional. Rewards come to those who take the time to do these tasks though, and even put the towns together better then they originally were.
Gameplay / Controls
The combat in this game is not to difficult to master, but upgrading your weapons becomes a big help throughout the game. Those who take the time to find new weapons and upgrade them with special gems of over 20 different classifications and then melt down their weapons into a new gem of their own to put into an even better sword, becomes a slightly confusing but fun experience that really adds a level of depth that I wish some games featured today. The battling itself though like I said isn’t terribly hard except for the boss battles a little bit, as you take sword in hand and mostly just go up to enemies and swing your sword at them, back away to dodge, and time your hits accordingly.
The biggest thing that makes this game hard though is the fact you have teammates you gain at each new location. Eventually you are forced to use them all at random intervals and so you must take the effort to level up your fellow companions which can be fun for some, but I personally miss using my main character Toan during these periods as your weapon isn’t transferable to them so you are forced to use their classed weapon of choice. The way this ever happens though is each dungeon has “floors” to it, and each level has a “key” to get to the next floor. One random enemy has the key so you might have to kill every single monster on that floor to advance, and on a random floor you might have to use your weakest character. Put two and two together, and it can drag on and eat up your healing items.
The combat in this game is not to difficult to master, but upgrading your weapons becomes a big help throughout the game. Those who take the time to find new weapons and upgrade them with special gems of over 20 different classifications and then melt down their weapons into a new gem of their own to put into an even better sword, becomes a slightly confusing but fun experience that really adds a level of depth that I wish some games featured today. The battling itself though like I said isn’t terribly hard except for the boss battles a little bit, as you take sword in hand and mostly just go up to enemies and swing your sword at them, back away to dodge, and time your hits accordingly.
The biggest thing that makes this game hard though is the fact you have teammates you gain at each new location. Eventually you are forced to use them all at random intervals and so you must take the effort to level up your fellow companions which can be fun for some, but I personally miss using my main character Toan during these periods as your weapon isn’t transferable to them so you are forced to use their classed weapon of choice. The way this ever happens though is each dungeon has “floors” to it, and each level has a “key” to get to the next floor. One random enemy has the key so you might have to kill every single monster on that floor to advance, and on a random floor you might have to use your weakest character. Put two and two together, and it can drag on and eat up your healing items.
Music
The music is pretty nice and fit’s the tune of each place, but sadly it gets repetitive. It’s a real shame too because of how nice some of the songs can be, but after an hour of listening to the same thing, you get tired. That’s all I can really say about the matter.
The music is pretty nice and fit’s the tune of each place, but sadly it gets repetitive. It’s a real shame too because of how nice some of the songs can be, but after an hour of listening to the same thing, you get tired. That’s all I can really say about the matter.
Presentation
This game definitely needs more attention as it was well put together, and can be a lot of fun. I feel as though it could have grown into a great series with an even better combat system and amazing new locations. This game had a lot more potential to be great, but that doesn’t hurt it too much. The music is nice, the mini stories are interesting, but I only wish it was developed for maybe another solid year.
This game definitely needs more attention as it was well put together, and can be a lot of fun. I feel as though it could have grown into a great series with an even better combat system and amazing new locations. This game had a lot more potential to be great, but that doesn’t hurt it too much. The music is nice, the mini stories are interesting, but I only wish it was developed for maybe another solid year.
Conclusion
If you have never played this game before, it’s worth a try and won’t put you back too much money on eBay. I say treat yourself to exploring this game cause you will get your monies worth and get some fun new memories. Have a kid? This would be perfect for a new gamer to try as well as there is no blood or bad things in this game to affect a child. This game doesn’t need those things, just like the Zelda series. If anything else, Toan even has a green hat and a Fairy King. What else says fun for Zelda fans?
If you have never played this game before, it’s worth a try and won’t put you back too much money on eBay. I say treat yourself to exploring this game cause you will get your monies worth and get some fun new memories. Have a kid? This would be perfect for a new gamer to try as well as there is no blood or bad things in this game to affect a child. This game doesn’t need those things, just like the Zelda series. If anything else, Toan even has a green hat and a Fairy King. What else says fun for Zelda fans?