The world building of Actraiser meets the dungeon crawling action of PSO in Dark Cloud 2.
The sequel to Factor 5's world-building action RPG, which was among the PS2's first batch of hits after launch, Dark Cloud 2 has enough diversity, things to do, and places to explore to keep even the most hardened RPGer in their seat for hours at a time. Essentially split into two styles of play, you'll spend most of your time crawling through randomly generated dungeons, leveling up weapons and collecting seemingly useless trinkets as you advance the story. However, these seemingly purposeless objects (such as scraps of metal, thick hides, etc.) can be harnessed into raw power to upgrade your equipment's stats. Alternatively, you can take your camera on a scavenger hunt of sorts for "ideas", which give your character the inspiration for new, often unique items, which must then be built with raw materials. There are also numerous subquests to be found, as well as the other core gameplay mechanic - a world builder that seems to be a throwback to the classic Actraiser series of the 16 bit days. Bottom line? Those who wish to do, see, and build everything could well be playing in excess of 100 hours.
In addition to being full of depth, Dark Cloud 2 oozes style – the graphics are a lighthearted, colorful, vibrant mix of watercolor styling and cel-shading goodness, while the score, voices, and other sound work rivals anything put out by Squaresoft or other genre masters. Indeed, Dark Cloud 2 actually raises the bar in areas where games before it (Kingdom Hearts, etc.) failed to do so.
With great presentation and design values, quirky, innovative gameplay that fully realizes ideas first invoked in the original, and an almost ludicrous hour-per-dollar gameplay ratio, Dark Cloud is a great title for longterm, discerning fans of the genre and newcomers alike.
-George
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