Dark Cloud 2

"In the best tradition of "Soul Blazer" comes a great new RPG"

The original “Dark Cloud” was billed by many sources as a Zelda-Killer, and this may have been one of the worst things that could have happened to it. Whenever you bill something as a something-else killer you immediately activate tons of malice. People from the “killed” camp will hate on your game because people feel threatened when the value of their favorite things are called into question, and the people of the killer camp will develop a mind-set that they have to hate the original game in order to support the new game. Dark Cloud then was a disappointment for a lot of people. It promised infinite butt-kicking potential in the form of randomly generated worlds. A unique weapon xp system, fresh, clean graphics and some cliché, but good character-design. In the end though, it was a game of tedium. After 30 hours of mashing the X-button in order to kill endless legions of foes that marched at you straight on even the most die-hard gamer had to ask themselves’ what the point was.

Well the world is in crisis again, a terrible horrible crisis the likes of which has scarcely been fathomed before. But I have no desire to spoil the story for you, so I will keep specific plot points to a minimum. Suffice to say that you will be leading a motley crew of underdogs on an epic quest to save the world; 3 in all: a young inventor that wields a mean wrench, a shape shifting Swords-maiden, and a steam driven Battle machine. You begin with the inventor and other characters are introduced as you progress through the story. Unlike DC1, it will take less than 50 hours to get access to them all.

Dark Cloud 2 is a massive melding of several game-play themes. It is a dungeon-hack that sends you into the sprawling underworlds, forests and other places where property values are likely to have sharply declined. It is a world builder in which you must find and create environments by uncovering their hidden components and reassembling them in a correct matter. It is also a game of photography, in which you must take hundreds of pictures of all sorts of strange and amazing things, so that you can dream up someway to turn a Tree, a bag of flour, and a roll of toilet paper into a deadly weapon.

From the moment you start playing this game, it feels as if Level 5 looked at what they had done wrong the first time, and not only fixed it, but fixed it in a positive way. Combat for example has been modified to include combo and lock-on systems. When an enemy is in view, hitting the O will lock-on to the foe in a manner similar to that in the 3-D Zeldas. Tapping the X button rapidly will launch a series of melee attacks, holding it will charge up a much more powerful attack, and hitting the R1 key will raise a guard to block incoming enemy attacks. Combining the X button with the directional stick allows you to activate combos, lunge at foes, or jump back to dodge incoming attacks. You can even grab and toss foes “River City Ransom” style by pressing X while holding up your guard. The best addition, is the twin weapon system. Each character has 2 attacks equipped, a melee attack of some sort (punch, wrench, sword etc..) and a missile attack (spells, guns, or weapons of mass destruction) Holding L1 raises this second weapon into position and pressing the X button fires it. Another removed feature that nobody is likely to miss, is the thirst gauge. From now on, your character can go more than 5 minutes without dying of thirst!

As in DC1, maintaining and improving your weapons is paramount to your success. It is a welcome relief that breaking your weapon no longer destroys it permanently as it did in the prequel. Now it simply renders it useless until you repair it with an appropriate repair powder (which appear with far greater frequency this time around). Weapons gain levels with use, and at each level they gain “synth” points that allow you to add improvements, such as elemental or special effects like the ability to poison, or steal money. Weapons can be evolved into more powerful implements by advancing specific weapon attributes to a certain level.

One of the best aspects of DC, was the “Georama” system that allowed you to rebuild towns and cities as you found their components. Each city, when fully assembled was a sort of puzzle that had a single optimum configuration that you had to discern from clues given within the game. DC2 improves on the system by greatly increasing the size and complexity of the towns, as well as the potential rewards.

A brand new innovation and by far the most entertaining is the “invention system” In order to create certain items, you need to gather the right inspiration to build them. Early in the game you are given a camera with which to photograph objects of potential interest. As you explore the towns and dungeons, you can take the camera out and snap photos. Items that may be potentially used in an invention are catalogued and stored for later use. On occasion, you may find a clue as to the components to an invention. If you have pictures of the parts, you can then combine them to get a blueprint of the item. For example, early on you need to create an fuel tank. To do so you need to find the picture of a belt, a milk-can, and a pipe. Once these 3 items are found, you can combine the images into a blue print, and then build it. Snapping pictures then is of great importance since some powerful items may require difficult to find images, or objects that you have already passed in the game. You can even snap pictures of townsfolk and they will pose for you!

The core of the game is Dungeon crawling though, and with the new combat system it becomes a lot more enjoyable. The basic goal in each dungeon, is to find an exit, and some sort of key to open it. Each level though also has a few challenges associated with it, such as exterminating all the monsters under a time limit, or completing the level without using a healing item. Completion earns you a medal, and certain plateaus of medals will grant you bonuses such as new items, Georama pieces. While not necessary to complete the game, they can make the dungeons a bit more interesting and challenging

Graphics
Love it, or hate it, this game is cel-shaded. Personally I have nothing against the style when it is used correctly and in the case of DC2, it is used correctly. Characters are interesting and well animated, monsters range from sort of cutesy, to sort of menacing, and the environments are rendered with a great deal of detail, even the dungeons have enough varied geography to keep them interesting, or at the very least not mind-numbingly dull as in DC1. Towns are very nicely done, they almost feel like a real town, albeit on a smaller scale.

Sound
Sound effects are pretty standard, the music while not the best compositions your ever going to hear in a video-game are still alright. The voice-acting is also for the most part quite good.

Gameplay
The addition of a combo system, lock-on targeting, as well as melee and ranged attacks goes a long way to making the combat interesting. Many enemies require you to use these new features, in particular blocking. Button mashing is more than likely to get you an early demise. The Georama system is improved over DC1, and the new invention system is a welcome addition to the soup.

Replay
Since the dungeons are random, you aren’t likely to run out of new areas to explore. The challenges associated with each area can provide endless hours of, err challenges for the perfectionist gamer. Dungeon combat is enjoyable enough to keep you interested. It will take you a long time to finish this game, while it is possible you will want to beat it twice, current medical technology may not allow you to live that long.

Overall
I played about 40 hours of DC1 before the sheer tedium killed me. The fact that 40 hours into the game I had nothing to show for it besides a cool sword that was in constant danger of breaking, the most easily dehydrated bunch of heroes ever, and miles and miles of generic hack and slash still a head of me. DC2 on the other hand is a very strong title, that will in all likelihood sneak right under the radar of most gamers with the near zero marketing it has received at the time of this review. The fact that this title sells for only $39 brand new makes it a great value for the dollar.

If you dig hack and slash, loved the classic SNES game “Soul Blazer”, or just want a good RPG to keep you busy, this is your game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/03, Updated 02/20/03