Is Dark Cloud a great game, or is it a bomb? Find out Gaming Age's review!
Dark Cloud for the PlayStation 2 is one of the rare games that takes the best from lots of games, adds random dungeons, and a dash of its own originality, and ends up being a really great game.
The story takes place on two continents, the technology-driven Western and the nature-driven Eastern Lands. The Dark Genie, imprisoned in the Eastern Land for destruction 400 years ago, is released by the power hungry Colonel Flagg. He wants to destroy the Western Continent at all cost, even if it means resurrecting a world-destroying genie. That is where Toan comes in.
Witnessing the destructive events in his home town, the Spirit Emperor appears to tell him that he is "the one" (not Neo, Toan). The Emperor places an artifact called the Atlamilla on Toan's hand, allowing him to release the trapped towns in Atlas, scattered in the deep recesses of huge dungeons nearby. Toan's goal is to travel the land, undo what the Dark Genie has done, and find a way to defeat the Dark Genie once and for all.
Toan has the help of five allies, each with their own special abilities. Xiao wields slingshots and can jump large distances. Goro uses hammers and axes for attacking, perfect for smashing things. Ruby can use magic bracelets to shoot fireballs, and to open special doors. Ungaga uses fighting staffs and spears, and can use his whirlwind attack to blow away evil clouds. Finally, Osmond is one of the Moon People, who attacks with guns and lasers. Each ally is used, since there are some doors that can only open with a special ability/attack, and some bosses need you to figure out what ally to use to help defeat it.
The graphics are outstanding, showing realism and detail that is rarely shown in a game. Staring at a newly built town and its surroundings are a common occurrence. Traveling around the land, each area has a distinctive flavor to it. From the port, to the desert; from the forest to the moon, there is lots of variety. While in towns, a first-person mode lets you walk around from the eye view of Toan. This does have its benefits. Hidden treasure chests in people's houses can easily be found by looking from the first-person. Another little quirk is that when talking to people via the first-person view, they actually look you in your eyes. People taller than Toan will look down at you as you talk, causing even more realism.
While walking around town, Toan can talk to people he meets, and a cartoon-like bubble appears for chatting (think Vagrant story). Stories on the town, information on how the town should be built, and the ability to buy/store items can all be found in town.
Controlling the game is very nice. One analog stick walks/runs, while the other rotates the camera around. (One problem with the camera is that it is fixed in its circumference around the player. Rotating it around a close wall won't happen, as it will just stop, instead of hugging the wall. When doing a lock-on battle with the enemy, it could pose a problem, but not a major one). The X button attacks, Circle locks on, Square is the "use" button, Triangle is the menu button, and finally, you can quickly switch allies with the select button.
Dungeons are randomly generated, much like Phantasy Star Online, except on a grander scale. Hallways are now generated, as well as rooms, making the combinations of dungeon types a bit larger than other games. On each floor, an item must be found from defeating an enemy to allow passage to the next floor. Once Toan finishes a stage and heads to the next one, a very helpful system allows you to leave the dungeon before you visit the next floor, then come back when Toan is all healed up and full of supplies.
In each dungeon, there is a little passageway to the "back floor". The key to the back floor is different for each land, but the result is same. Upon entering a back floor, you get a complete map, with radar. The area is noticeably darker and more evil. There are enemies scattered around that are much more powerful than normal. As a bonus, all the treasure chests usually contain good items, such as the rare Gem attachments, making it worth your while to put your character in danger.
The dungeons of each land accurately represent the graphical styles of the main town, to make you really feel like the dungeon is part of town, and not some out of the way place. For example, the port town of Queens has a shipwreck offshore where merchants store their wares. Traveling between floors via a hook, it really looks and feels like a multi-level ship. Wood floors, portholes, boats, anchors, and many more little atmospheric tweaks help immensely. All this, plus a dungeon map on the screen, so Toan doesn't get lost. Going between floors, there are barely any new textures whatsoever, but thanks to the randomly generating dungeons, it helps relieve the repetitiveness.
The main selling point is the GEORAMA system. Whenever the player discovers people, items or houses stored in Atla's, the player then places them down real-time on a large open map. When something is placed, you can go right to it, even explore and enter it with no loading time at all! The catch is that eventually, when you have the town completed, the people do want to be put back a certain way, which adds a little puzzle element to the town building.
Battles are done in real-time. Just find an enemy, run up to them and attack. On the other hand, using the lock-on system lets you strafe and block while you fight, an option that could be good or bad, depending on who you are and what enemy the character is fighting. While locking on, an energy bar appears above the currently selected enemy. Otherwise, when attacking, or being attacked, the usual "number floating from the enemy" damage indicator is present.
Much like Dragon's Lair and Shen Mue, there are button-pressing battles called Duels. While very short and quick, they offer a fun little break from the normal hack-and-slash action. Sadly, the duels move so fast, causing the player to really concentrate on button pressing, that the action that happens during the duel is completely missed.
While in dungeons, there are multiple indicators. Along with the aforementioned on-screen map/radar, there are 3 instant-action item slots. You can put items in here and use them in battle with the control pad. Not only that, but amulets, which are multi-use antidotes for common ailments. Even throwing items can be placed in these slots. The Life/WHP/Abs/Thirst and Speed meters are the other on screen indicators. Life is pretty apparent. WHP and Abs will be discussed later. Thirst is a little quirk. While walking around, the character does get thirsty, and needs a refreshing drink now and then to quench their thirst, otherwise dehydration sets in and the life bar slowly goes down. The speed indicator is a small bar which depletes after every attack. It refills quickly, but having the bar prevents slingshots from becoming rapid-fire Uzi's and so forth.
The weapon situation is a large aspect of the game. For starters, each character has certain types of weapons they use, as outlined earlier. There are many "base" weapons, which can in turn be upgraded into newer weapons, and so forth. Lots of base weapons mean lots of combinations, although the end result ends up in a few ultimate weapons that can be achieved. Think of it like a tournament ladder, except the end point is about 2 "winners". That's how the weapon system basically is. Weapons are upgraded to the next weapon in line when it reaches a certain status/magic/anti-creature level. Otherwise, when the Abs, or Absorption, meter is filled up, the weapon can then be "morphed" with its current attachments to upgrade it on the way to a major new weapon change.
Each weapon has a certain number of slots which can be used to hold attachments. These can be in the form of statistical (Strength +2), Elemental (Fire adds fire magic), and Monster (Undead Buster does +3 when fighting undead). There are rare magic gems which are found usually in back rooms of dungeons. These gems, when added to weapons, give larger bonuses, such as a Ruby (+10 weapon speed, +10 Fire magic, +10 against Mimic enemies). When the Abs meter is full (from destroying enemies), there is the chance of upgrading it if the next weapon is not achievable. Upgrading adds +1 to all stats (Attack, Endurance, Speed, Magic Power), increases the Abs, WHP, and morphs any current attachments into the weapon as permanent stat increases. A weapon upgrade is noted by the number next to the name. For example, +8 means the weapon was upgraded 8 times.
Status break is a great way to build up to a new weapon faster. When an item is upgraded to level +5 or higher, it can be Status Breaked. This compresses 60% of the items power into a small gem, including its special abilities (such as Drain, Steal, Critical, etc...). This gem can then be placed in another weapon and morphed with it in the next upgrade. The new weapon gains the full 60%, plus adds any of the special abilities on it. Playing your cards right could end up with a mega weapon with every special ability!
The WHP gauge is mostly weapon hitpoints. As a weapon is used, the WHP goes down. Failure to repair a weapon will end up in the destruction of the item. The game warns you as a weapon is breaking, plus the damage that is done is lowered. Certain enemies take lots of WHP away each attach, such as metal and stone enemies. Each attack could take away multiple WHP, and even destroy a nearly-destroyed weapon in one fell swoop.
Some attachments (even valuable Gems), items and weapons can be purchased via Fish Points. As you encounter areas to fish at in the game, Toan can bait his rod (provided he has bait) and try his luck at catching a fish. Each successful catch at fishing nets him points. There are rumors to hidden magical fish which are very lucky and worth lots of points...
The music is surprisingly great. It's no Final Fantasy, but the vein of the music is much like the early Final Fantasy titles with similar instruments. All of the music is fitting for each stage. The major problem is the game is sort of limited when it comes to the amount of music. Don't expect long huge songs like Final Fantasy, but a few good ones here and there. On the other hand, there are some sound effects worth forgetting about, such as when Toan taps his feet while fishing. Waiting for a prized catch can be all the more annoying hearing the tapping echoing under a dock.
The translation is pretty good, but there are some places where character names change from books and spoken word. I think the translation could have been a little better, as the current situation might cause most players grief, trying to find a person that has a different name.
A finely-detailed Options screen lets you customize the game to your liking. The time of the game could be speeded up, in case there is something going on at a certain time, and you are impatient. The dungeon map which appears on the screen can be more or less transparent, or even off completely! The number indicator which shows how much damage you have done to an enemy can be turned off, if numbers floating around aren't your thing. The same goes for the life bar above an enemy's head. You can turn on and off the boxes above people and monsters which display the names. Finally, there is a neat little tweaking option called "Farside Soft Focus". On, this focuses the distant objects to look smoother, while turning it off makes the graphics far in the distance much sharper and less atmospheric. Both are pretty unnoticeable, but after a while, experimentation with this option is a must for personal preference.
Overall, even with its flaws, Dark Cloud is one great game that will provide hours upon hours of enjoyment. Anyone who loves action/adventure games and RPG's must at lest rent it...which will lead to buying it once the rental period is up. Hooray for addictive games!
As a bonus, the US version of Dark Cloud has 30% more content over the original Japanese version. These improvements include:
Enhanced AI 18 new monsters, two new bosses, and one more form of the last boss A bonus dungeon called Dark Shaft, with 100 floors, and a brand new ultimate weapon Enhanced weapon system, including 35 more upgradeable weapons Nine new magical items New combos for Toan and Ungaga Revised lock-on targeting system More "Duels" Many More
