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Screenshots courtesy of rpgfan.com Description Dark Cloud is the story of Toan, a young fatherless boy on a quest to rebuild the world. It seems that an evil man named Flag Gilgister has enlisted the power of a dark genie who has been imprisoned for thousands of years to destroy all of civilization. Luckily, a fairy king cast a spell to seal everthing in spheres called 'atla' and save the stuff from destruction. The fairy king then enlists Toan to travel the world fighting monsters and finding atla to rebuild the world.Helping Toan in his quest are a long list of characters. Xiao, a stray cat who is transformed into a human, fights with a slingshot. Goro, an orphan from Matataki Village, wields axes and hammers. Ruby is a genie who uses magic. Ungaga is a desert warrior from Musca Lacka who sports staffs and spears. Last but not least is Osmond, an inventor from the Moon Sea who shoots several types of guns. The adventure starts in Toan's hometown, which gives him an incentive to undertake this mission. There is a cave nearby that is populated with monsters which Toan must defeat to find the pieces and people of his town. Then he must put the town back together while paying attention to the wishes of the population. The georama system in this game is pretty good, but it is very limited. I could be spoiled because I enjoy Dark Cloud 2 so much, but Dark Cloud is much easier.
back to top When I first played Dark Cloud I was blown away. I had never seen a PS2 and didn't know that the graphics could be so good. The environments have a complete 3-D look to them and you can pretty much interact with anything you can see. The one area in which Dark Cloud is superior to its sequel is interaction with non-playing characters. You must speak to everyone you come across more than once to get all of the information you need. Sometimes you end up having to pick up and move things more than once to get everything in the right position. The downside to this is that once you have played the game it becomes a very fast procedure to rebuild the towns. Hints, Tips, and Tricks Follow along with the book when you begin the game and you will have a very good understanding of how the game works. Follow the tutorials and you will see all of this in action. In Norune, go through the early levels several times before you attempt to fight the boss at the end. He is not really difficult, but if you have both Toan and Xiao built up you can usually defeat Dran in one or two hits. Until you can get a better weapon for Toan, build up the dagger to a +5 and then do a 'status break' on it. This will create a synthsphere with 60% of the dagger's ability. Since this is your default weapon you will automatically have a plain dagger again. Simply put the synthsphere on the new dagger for a more powerful weapon.What requires the most time and effort in Dark cloud is the build up. You will have six characters that all need a weapon and armor built up before they can take on the most powerful monsters. Early in the game I recommend starting at the very first dungeon with each new character and taking them through all levels that are currently available. This will not only get you extra money but also build up that character to have them ready for their own levels. Almost every character you acquire will have some special ability forcing you to use them in a boss battle. After you have acquired all of the characters it is a good idea to choose one and make it your main character. For ease of use I tend to stick with Osmond. He moves around the dungeons very smoothly and his weapons don't require close contact. These guns are also capable of rapid fire that far outstrips the abilities of Xiao or Ruby. Don't forget to pay attention to the time. Look at the time indicator and learn to tell approximately what time it is. This will be important for many of the tasks you will accomplish. Some stores will close at night and some people will only talk to you in the daytime. Most of all in this game, take your time. There are several things that can be screwed up and not repaired. The first time I played I messed up one thing on the first town and didn't end up getting Toan's charge attach, the windmill slash. Now it would not be a big deal, but at the time I was very upset. My two roommates were playing at the same time and both of them got it. Anything looks much more cool when you don't have it.
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