Dark Cloud Review
Story - 9/10
Soundtrack - 10/10
Graphics - 10/10
Controls - 9/10
Overall - 9/10
This is one of the games I played as a child and absolutely loved growing up. So if my review sounds a bit grandiose that's probably why! That said, I loved this game back then and pretty much just as much this time! What caught my attention growing up is the fact that this game just had a completely fascinating concept, you go into a dungeon and collect pieces of a town... then you build it! I mean seriously, how friggen cool is that? It definitely sets it apart from all the other RPGs I have played!
The combat system is perfect for an action RPG and is extremely fluid. The game is definitely more RPG oriented though as it will have you opening your menu a lot in the middle of battle to repair weapons early in the game. Don't expect a full on action adventure experience like Fable. It's a lot slower pace and much more of a "thinking" game than action game. If I remember correctly the second one gets a bit more action oriented but let's save that for the other review ;).
Story
After you start out almost immediately your home town is attacked and the entire world is turned into Atla. The Fairy King explains to you what Atla is and how to unseal it/use it to fix the world. His explanation actually does make sense and it doesn't seem grandios or far stretched at all. Maybe a bit later in the game you need some suspension of disbelief for things that happen but over all I would say you can immerse yourself in this story and enjoy it quite a bit. Although, it definitely isn't the selling point of the game!
Over all the story is pretty good, I didn't remember it at all from when I played the game growing up so it made it even better for me. It definitely had a few memorable moments and I liked the game enough to 100% it which is pretty rare for me.
Soundtrack
I am a pretty big geek when it comes to the soundtracks in games and Dark Cloud has a fantastic one!! I am definitely a bit bias from nostalgia but I remembered a lot of the songs from the game and they're really catchy tunes, especially the dungeon music which you will listen to the most out of any of the songs in the game. For those interested here is a soundtrack to the game!
Graphics
Well now adays we have to take into consideration that this game was on PS2 and is extremely old. That said, I find the graphics extremely fitting for the game. There is no graphical tearing at all and everything is completely fluid. Hell man, for a game that lets you construct towns and place buildings anywhere I would say it has amazing graphics for its time. Definitely one of Dark Cloud's strongest areas.
Controls
So literally my only gripe with this entire game would be with its controls. And that isn't even a monumental gripe mind you, there's just some boss fights/some areas where the camera angle totally screws you up. It isn't everywhere in the game so it isn't game breaking, it's just momentarily frustarting a couple of times during your gaming experience. Especially during the final boss fight >_<
Overall
Honestly this game is a must play for any retro gamers who are looking to cover the PS2. It's just such a unique game and it leaves such a mark on the RPG genre for the PS2 that it's pretty much the most downloaded and recommended RPG on the PS2 amongst retro fans. The game does have some flaws such as it seems they started to get lazy towards the end of the game. There are quite a few dungeons but after the Sun & Moon temple they only give you dungeons and no buildable towns. I do understand that would have taken much more development time and it's definitely why they didn't do it however it is a bit of a bummer.
Luckily though the American release of the game got a bonus dungeon called Demon Shaft, this dungeon has 100 floors and is the biggest dungeon in Dark Cloud history between 1 and 2 at least. Maybe they'll release 3 one day! The story of why the american release got Demon Shaft is because the back floor to the final dungeon is off limits. So to make up for it they gave us a bonus dungeon. Which is honestly better than having the back floor of the Gallery of Time if you ask me.
Pretty much to sum it all up... If you are looking for an action oriented RPG to play for the PS2 this is your game. Without question!