Review - Dark Cloud (2001)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Let me ask something: what do you get when you take the medieval fantasy and dungeon crawling elements of The Legend of Zelda and combine them with the world construction elements of The Sims? You'd probably get the underrated PlayStation 2 launch title Dark Cloud, produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and Level 5 Games. 

       So, Dark Cloud is set on a world called Blue Terra, where people are pretty much in tune with the spirits of nature. However, men from East Terra being led by Col. Flag Gilgister have acquired an ancient urn, and unleashed from within it an evil and malevolent being called the Dark Genie. Although, what they perceive as the Dark Genie isn't quite what they expected. More on that later. Anyway, the Dark Genie is then taken to West Terra, where it unleashes a powerful attack that wipes out most of the world...or so it believes. 

       You see, in truth, the various people and buildings across the land were sealed in large orbs called Atla at the last moment by Simba the Fairy King. And, he chooses a single survivor to receive a powerful gift: a stone known as the Atlamillia. And, this is where we meet our protagonist: a boy from Norune Village named Toan. With the power of this ancient and powerful stone, Toan can break the seal of the Atla and rebuild the world. Unfortunately, the Atla was all scattered throughout multiple dungeons unique to each area of the game. So, Toan's task is simple: traverse each area's dungeon, collect Atla, and restore the world. 

       So, we start off the game in Norune Village, and from there we head to three other villages and towns affected by the Dark Genie's attack: Matataki Village, Queens, and Muska Lacka. We also find ourselves on the Moon, in the town of Yellow Drops, and finally at the eerie Dark Heaven Castle. And, for each area, there are six specific dungeons: Divine Beast Cave (Norune Village), Wise Owl Forest (Matataki Village), Shipwreck (Queens), the Sun & Moon Temple (Muska Lacka), the Moon Sea (Yellow Drops), and the Gallery of Time (Dark Heaven Castle). Each dungeon has a slew of monsters roaming around, and there's the Dungeon Boss at the end of each dungeon. And, the bosses are as follows: Dran (Divine Beast Cave), Master Utan (Wise Owl Forest), La Saia (Shipwreck) King's Curse (Sun & Moon Temple), Minotaur Joe (Moon Sea), and the Dark Genie (Gallery of Time). Also, there are plenty of treasure chests in the dungeons, with one chest carrying the map to each area of the dungeon, and one carrying a Magical Crystal, which can pinpoint locations of monsters, chests, and Atla. But, that's just regular sized chests. Large chests, which are often locked and booby trapped, contain weapons for one of the characters. Also, make sure to visit shops in each village and town to stock up on items, as monsters in the dungeons with drop spendable money that can be spent on important items like food and water, as well as antidote drinks, holy water, and soap (to dispel things like poison, curses, and being covered in goo). 

        But, with each area of the game, Toan gets new allies. For instance, Toan sees a stray cat wandering around in Divine Beast Cave, and it eventually turns into an Atla, which Toan can collect to add on to his own house in Norune Village. The cat, Xiao, can be transformed by a magic Changing Potion (which Toan receives as a gift for winning a duel), and becomes a cat girl that becomes an ally to Toan. Other allies include a young hunter from Matataki Village named Goro, a genie named Ruby, whose lamp is in one of the buildings in Queens, a desert warrior from Muska Lacka named Ungaga, and finally Osmond, who runs the entire operation in Yellow Drops. Now, the six characters each have unique weapons: Toan has swords and daggers, Xiao has slingshots, Goro has mallets and axes, Ruby has magic rings, Ungaga has staves, and Osmond has guns. 

       Now, outside of the dungeons and combat, the most notable element of Dark Cloud is what's known as Georama Mode. Remember how I said that Dark Cloud combines both Zelda and The Sims? This is where the Sims element comes into play. As you unseal the Atla throughout each dungeon, Toan collects what are known as Georama Parts, which for the first four villages (Norune Village, Matataki Village, Queens, and Muska Lacka) allow Toan to restore the villages to normal, and even improve them based on the requests of the locals. For Yellow Drops, the Georama Parts are for a massive robot called the Sun Giant, and the Gallery of Time's Georama Parts are for the memories of the former King of East Terra: Seda. 

      So, the story of Seda is that, in his time (centuries before the events of the game itself) he  ruled over East Terra, which was at war with West Terra. In his efforts to bring a decided victory for the East, Seda made a pact with a dark sorcerer. And, unfortunately, when his beloved Sophia died in an assassination attempt on Seda, the dark power within him was unleashed in the form of the Dark Genie, which had no real form. So, the massive, rotund purple being we are introduced to as the Genie is what became of a mouse that fell into an urn that the Moon People, beings that came from Yellow Drops, sealed the true Dark Genie in. Seda, learning of the Atlamillia, jumped forward in time using powerful magic in order to obtain it, unaware that Simba chose Toan to wield its power.

         Okay, so the combat mechanics in the dungeons are pretty standard. Toan's sword wielding is pretty much what one would expect, as are Xiao's slingshots, Goro's mallets and axes, Ungaga's staves, and Osmond's guns. Ruby's rings, interestingly, can unleash magic blasts that can be increased in overall strength if held for long enough. Weapons, much like characters, have their own health meters, and will degrade the more they're used. And, with the exception of a base weapon, weapons disappear once broken. Luckily, there are items within the game to remedy that, Repair Powder and Auto Repair Powder (which can be equipped as an Active Item and will trigger just as a weapon's health hits zero), and both can be purchased in shops or found in chests in the dungeons. Also, once a weapon reaches its necessary stats, it can be built up into a more powerful weapon, and can be broken down into an attachment called a Synth sphere, which will add most of the stats of the previous weapon to whatever weapon it's attached to. 

        Monsters in each dungeon, for the most part, fit within the theme of each dungeon, with skeletons and bats within the Divine Beast Cave, mummies and stone golems in the Sun & Moon Temple, sea creatures and zombie pirates in the Shipwreck, etc. However, two common monsters found in all of the dungeons are Mimics and King Mimics. As mentioned before, there are small and large treasure chests in each floor of the dungeons. However, after a certain point in each dungeon, the chests can turn out to be monsters called Mimics. And, the large chests that contain weapons can, in fact, be a larger form of Mimic called the King Mimic. Just something to be aware of when opening a chest to find some loot. 

      Overall, this was one of the more interesting and unique games ever made for PlayStation 2. I highly recommend it, and it's a personal favorite of mine. I'm giving Dark Cloud a rating of 5/5. 

       Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.