by Jody - February 4, 2004

With the launch of the PS2 and Dark Cloud, a lot of rumors came about. Digging through them all, I've noticed that the "best cel-shaded game ever" comment seemed to be the one standing out the most. Even though Dark Cloud wasn't a hit, Level 5 didn't give up. With the recent release of Dark Cloud 2, we get to see what true power they have hidden.

If this doesn�t get 2003 RPG of the year, I don�t know what will.

When I first heard of Dark Cloud 2, I did not want to even bother buying or renting it. After some time of friends convincing me to play it, I fell in love. Dark Cloud 2 is everything that its predecessor is not. It has many improvements, such as faster battles, expanded weapon-building system, cooler magic spells, and way more attack commands. It also has a new, silly-looking (but fun to use) robotic contraption called the Ridepod. The presentation of Dark Cloud 2 story is base on a narration point of view like with Final Fantasy X. The story is base on 90% voice acting which is done exceptionally well. It starts off with the main character Maximilian narrating his adventure to save his world. In a small town of Palm Brinks, Max had decided to attend the circus which was in town. While touring the circus, Max accidentally overheard a conversation between the boss clown of the circus name Flotsan and the mayor of Palm Brinks. Apparently Flotsan was threatening the mayor into finding a stone amulet hidden inside Palm Brinks and warning the mayor to make sure that the people of Palm Brinks remain inside Palm Brinks so that they don't see what had happened outside of the town. This then brought about Max's curiosity on what this stone amulet is that is hidden inside Palm Brinks and what had happened outside of the town. Along the way, Max meets up with Monica, and they must develop their weapons into bigger �badder� monster bashers, find pieces to remake the world of the future, fish, take photos to develop inventions, hunt for items, persuade townspeople to join their quest, and also play a version of golf. These many different activities, none of which have any time limit and most of which are not absolutely required to advance the story, give DC2 an amazing open-ended feel. It reminded me of playing EverQuest, where starting the game often allows the player to consider and decide what they want to do. Unlike any other RPG similar to this, Dark Cloud 2 does not get confusing.

Dark Cloud 2 is slam packed with things to do. The mainstay of the game, though, is the 3D 3rd person dungeon treks where Max and Monica attempt to conquer the monsters on a randomly-generated dungeon floor until they reach the end. Players can easily target the nearest monster with the press of a button and then attack with a melee or ranged weapon. Tactics play a role in combat, as some monsters are better taken out from afar, while big monsters are often best dealt with by Max�s tank, known as the Ridepod (and �Steve�). The use of support characters, which join M&M after certain quests, grant special abilities in dungeons, adding another layer of strategy to the dungeon run.

Combat takes place in the same third-person view, much as in the first Dark Cloud. Each character has a melee and a ranged weapon at their disposal, and both are easily brought to bear thanks to the wonderful interface. Fighting itself isn�t all that complicated. Most battles consist of walking up to a monster, �locking on� the camera, and attacking. To spice things up a bit, there are a few other attack options, including a �power attack� for each character, a string of combo attacks for the melee weapons, and the ability to throw rocks (or even other monsters) at the enemies for stunning effects. As I said before, each character also has an alternate fighting form, which can add some further variety to the battles.

The weapon improvement system � taken and fleshed out from the first Dark Cloud � is a fascinating twist on the old �experience point� routine of RPGs. By adding items to a weapon (known in the game as �synthesizing�, players build up more powerful and/or specialized weapons for dealing with the wide variety of monsters. Later, players synthesize other weapons into their main weapon to create more monster bashing power. The weapon system is very addictive in the way good RPG character systems can be, and the game rewards players willing to explore the weapon building with a wide variety of different weapons, each having a different, fluidly animated attack style. Players can also build up the Ridepod, and also play as a monster using Monica�s monster transformation ability. Weapons are still breakable, but they don't break as easily as before. There aren't many weapons to acquire early on (outside of using the build-up feature), so the game goes a little easier on you. The monsters, on the other hand, do not. Bats, rats and other familiar creatures have returned, and this time they mean business. If you thought they were a little too challenging at times before, just wait till you try attacking them now. The monsters are faster and more intelligent. They know when to block and when to attack. To defeat them on a consistent basis, you'll have to outsmart them. This is yet another reason to love Dark Cloud 2.

Along the way through the dungeons, players collect a variety of items used mostly for the Georama world-building system. In order to advance the story, players must rebuild sections of the world using this fun system of plopping down buildings and other features to meet certain criteria. Controlling the Georama is a pretty simple affair, and the game explains it perfectly with some fantastic voiced tutorials (for the Georama as well as everything else in the game). Sadly, there�s little incentive to fine tune the town building beyond the set criteria however, but players so inclined can have a lot of fun getting their town to look the way they want.

The story advances mostly through the dungeon/Georama parts of the game, but in addition, players can win more items with the aforementioned invention system, as well as a simple fishing game where players choose bait and engage in the classic video game struggle of fish vs. fishing-pole-break meter. Once caught, players can eat the fish, race the fish, breed the fish for better racing fish, or pit Fish vs. Fish in a gladiatorial aquarium. The best thing about the fishing is that it�s entirely optional, but successful fishing or fish racing rewards the player with some nice items.

Let�s see: so far, DC2 covers the action game, adventure, RPG game, virtual pet game...oh yes, what game is complete without sport (besides fishing)? DC2 has sport also in the form of a simple Hot Shots Golf style game called Spheda. After completing a dungeon, players can � again optionally � attempt to golf club a sphere into a portal.

Cel-shading at it�s best!

Graphic is a definite improvement from before. Not to say that the graphic was bad before. Before the game was all in smooth texture 3-D polygons. Now while the smooth rendering of the 3-D polygons remained for the background scenaries. Character designs are now done in cel-shading. This is probably one of the best cel-shading around in terms of character designs. (Besides The Wind Waker) Each character is designed exceptionally well and they blend in perfectly with the background. The problem with cel-shading is that if done wrong, the characters can come out looking like cardboard on a 3-D background. That's not the case here. The characters look very 3-D. And the black outline that you would normally see on cel-shading is kept to a minimal that you hardly notice the black outline at all. Add all that to the wonderful use of colors in the game and you have yourself one of the best looking rpg game around. The game just look so rich overall with the use of different colors and the very smooth rendering of character designs. Just a beautifully design game. Add in some FMV and it would be perfect.

I was listening to the music while writing this review.

Sound is another big factor in this incredible title. If Dark Cloud 2 did not sport the audio splendor that it does, I believe it would not be as good of an experience. First off is the music. It is nothing short of first-class. Dark Cloud 2 will have your eardrums trapped in euphoria. If you are one of those people that feel music plays a large role in their video game experience, you will surely love this game.

Also, the voice acting is excellent. Each voice seems to fit each character�s personality. The voices also convey a true sense of emotion. When a character looks sad on screen, you can expect their vocal tone will be sad. There is a downfall to this, though. Some characters just do not have that emotion that was previously stated; they sound somewhat monotonous. However, it is just a select few of the cast that sound boring. This is not a very big problem, just one of the few shortcomings with the game.

What? This cannot be the sequel to Dark Cloud�.

When I first head of a sequel for Dark Cloud, I did not know what to think. At first, I really looked into Dark Cloud � I thought it was going to be a very fun game. When I finally got a chance to play it though, I extremely disliked it. As far as Dark Cloud 2 is concerned, I�m going to have to be very blunt here. I LOVE DARK CLOUD 2! I don�t think that there is not one thing in this game that I do not enjoy. From traveling around the world, to meeting people, fishing, playing golf, creating inventions, synthesizing weapons, and so much more, Dark Cloud 2 is something that has earned its rights to be played by gamers everywhere. It�s fun to take a break from the storyline and enjoy the other features of the game.

Dark Cloud 2 is a must-own.

Dark Cloud 2 is a must have for anyone... even if you're not big into RPGs. Just the pure side-quest of fishing makes this game fun for all... and the story is simply excellent.