Look: A video game that seemed very similar to Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time on the PS2. It has made its way into the greatest hits category (I wonder why) and a Sequal has been released not too long ago.
Graphics: I like the way the characters look. Especially Toan, Ruby and Osmond. They look sweet, and the backrounds are too, but they repeat alot. (Well, the dungeons are around a million floors) 10/10
Gameplay: This game not only uses HP, but if you use a particular weapon too much, then it breaks, and only the starter weapons (Which are usually as strong as a piece of string) don't dissapear when they break. This can get pretty annoying, especially if you have Toan's best weapon and it breaks and dissapears. Also, you have to duel certain enemies (Goro, your first Master Jacket, and that Sephiroth lookalike), and you have to hit the right buttons at the right time. Kinda like Auron's overdrive in FFX. 9/10
Music: I really like Norune Village music! That one is really good, and the battle with Ice Queen is really good too! All of the music sounds like it was made from real instruments and not techno. I also like the way some people yell when they attack. Toan sounds like he's just inhaled some Helium. LOL!! 10/10
Difficulty: This is the only bad part of Dark Cloud. Not only are the limited zones in which you have to use Goro (I named him Fatty because he eats up all of those healing items like M&M's) and Ungaga (Before he gets his Spears) are a nightmare, and the dungeons are very long, not only that, but your weapons break after too much uses. It takes alot of time to beat the game, but it gets alot easier once you get Ruby. [img]smile.gif[/img] 7/10
Lastability: Oy. Another bad part of the game. It took 3 days just to beat the Divine Beast cave and to rebuild Norune Village. I don't even wanna tell you how long the Demon Shaft took. 8/10
Storyline: It is very good. It all starts out when you, Toan, are sitting with your mother one day and then a festival begins in your home village. But during the festival, the evil Dark Genie (Ever notice how he kinda looks like Buu in the beginning?) appears and destroys the whole village except for you and the mayor. But then as you are about to be squashed trying to save a pretty girl, you dissapear, and an old man called the Fairy King (A good Dark Cloud Spoof idea would be to call him the Dairy King) saves you, and tells you about how he saved the village and all the people in it in these giant floating balls (I think they're called Alta, I haven't played the game in a little while). So he puts a stone on your glove that allows you to absorb the Alta, and you can rebuild the villages with it. Toan does not stop Dark Genie alone though. A stray cat (Whom you give a potion to make her a human), A fatty named Goro, A Genie named Ruby, A desert Warrior named Ungaga, and a moon person named Osmond join Toan on his quest to rebuild the villages and to defeat Dark Genie! It's quite interesting really. 10/10
Overall: I highly reccomend this game! You want this! No playstation 2 collection is complete without Dark Cloud, Or its sequal, so get it!! 9/10
Best part: The Pumpkin Panty Fortune telling. It's plain hysterical!
Worst part: How Fatty/Goro, Ungaga, and Osmond are weak when you get them. Or the way the Ice Queen is so hard. (She took out Ruby in 3 blows!!)