Dark Cloud
Encyclopedia
is a role-playing video game
for the PlayStation 2
(PS2) video game console
. It was developed by Level-5
and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
in 2000 and 2001 in Japan and American/PAL regions respectively. The gameplay
of Dark Cloud combines action role-playing
with elements of city-building
games. A sequel
to the game, Dark Cloud 2 (or Dark Chronicle), was released two years later.
The game's story focuses on a group of adventurers who have all been affected by the destruction caused by a being called the Dark Genie and decide to band together to fight against it. The main protagonist
is Toan, a boy who is given a magical stone called the Atlamillia by the Fairy King, which has the power to rebuild the destroyed areas.
The game was originally intended to be a launch title for the PS2 but was eventually released later in the year. The game was generally well received by critics
with praise toward its blend of gameplay types. The game has sold more than 1 million units worldwide according to Level-5.
moves through randomly-generated dungeons, battling monsters and collecting items. Inside of these dungeons, at uncertain floors or levels, the player may have the option of entering a separate area which contains stronger monsters and more valuable treasure. The player will sometimes 'Duel' an enemy. In this unusual type of battle, the player must press a sequence of buttons shown on the screen correctly to win, similarly to a quick time event
.
Another part of Dark Cloud's gameplay involves special items called Atla which are used to rebuild the world. These items, which are present in almost every dungeon level, are large spherical objects and can be retrieved only by the main character. When removed from the dungeon, they become pieces of the world (trees, houses, villagers, etc.). These pieces must be placed through Georama mode, an element similar to city-building games, where the player can arrange the pieces of the world onto the landscape. After villagers have been placed, the player can speak to them to discover what their wants are for the rebuilding of the village. As the player approaches the ideals concerning the village restoration and its villagers' preferences, their progress is recorded as a percentage of completion in the Georama menu. When the progress reaches 100%, the village is considered complete.
Unlike most RPG
s, instead of the main characters leveling up
, their weapons do. The player characters themselves can only grow stronger with the consumption of particular items. Weapons level up by killing enemies and wear over time, and it is necessary to repair them to avoid having them broken and unusable. With the exception of the starting weapon, a broken weapon is immediately removed from the player's inventory. To upgrade a weapon, the player can attach stat-increasing items to it (attack power, speed, ability to kill different types of monsters, elemental attributes, etc.), but a single weapon can only carry a limited number of attachments. To permanently keep the extra statistics the attachements give, the weapon must be leveled up using absorption points, which are gained by defeating enemies. Weapons can be combined after reaching a certain level, giving the player a single weapon with the combined attributes of the two.
Dark Cloud features six different main characters each with their own playstyle; three ranged fighters and three melee fighters each using a different weapon. The melee characters use a variety of blades, hammers and staves, and the ranged characters use magic rings, guns and slingshots. Each character also has a unique ability that helps them move through the dungeons.
referred to as the East and West. The eastern continent has a focus on technology, and the civilization is advanced whereas the western continent is less so, and its people prefer to "live in harmony with nature".
On the western continent are settlements that were sealed away by the Fairy King during the attack by the Dark Genie and where the game primarily takes place; Norune, Matataki, Brownboo, Queens, Muska Lacka and a settlement on one of Terra's moons, Yellow Drops (Brownboo and Yellow Drops being unaffected).
, he is tasked with the restoration of the world by the Fairy King. The main antagonist is the Dark Genie, an evil genie released by Colonel Flag, a second class military commander who wants its power to control the world.
During the course of the game, Toan meets new characters who can only be chosen to explore and battle in dungeons. The player must accomplish in-game events for new characters to join. The available characters include: Xiao, a slingshot-wielding 'catgirl'; Goro, a hunter from Matataki Village who uses large hammers; Ruby, a magic-ring-using genie from Queens; Ungaga, a Muska Lacka warrior using staves; and Osmond, leader of the Moon People equipped with a variety of guns and blasters.
Dark Cloud is a fairy tale
read from a book found in ancient, nameless ruins. After scholars had translated the story, its significance and verity became debatable.
The story begins in a chamber called the Dark Shrine where a ceremony of dances is being performed to awaken the Dark Genie, a legendary creature of great power. Colonel Flag, a man wanting such power for war, watches while the ceremony's organizer, a priest of the shrine, explains the legend of the Dark Genie. A large urn containing the genie's spirit billows black smoke and the Dark Genie materializes. The Dark Genie accepts Colonel Flag as its master for releasing it but devours the priest. Told by Flag, the Dark Genie then attacks the western continent, but the Fairy King casts a protective spell around the affected lands. This spell causes the buildings, objects and people to be sealed away in magical orbs, avoiding the Dark Genie's attack, but because of it, are scattered throughout parts of the world.
Toan, whose home is the affected Norune Village, is given a blue stone called the Atlamillia by the Fairy King and learns he must search for the people and objects in the form of floating orbs called Atla. Toan goes to a nearby cave and collects all of the Atla there containing Norune Village and its people. In his exploration of the cave, Toan meets a man called Seda, who challenges him to a sword duel. Toan loses when trying to protect a cat that accidentally was caught in their battle. Seda throws Toan a changing potion as a gift for doing so. The potion is later used on the cat which causes it to change into a half-human/half-cat named Xiao; a new ally who joins Toan on his quest. At the cave's bottom, Toan finds Dran, the god of all beasts and guardian of Norune. The usually peaceful Dran is being possessed by the Dark Genie and attacks. Defeating Dran releases him from the genie's control and he suggests Toan find the Moon People, directing the two toward Great Treant in Matataki Village.
As they move into Matataki, Toan is challenged by a boy named Goro. After being defeated, Goro runs back up to his tree house
, dropping the magical earrings which allows one to understand the creatures of the forest, including the Great Treant. Goro eventually joins Toan's party. After speaking with Treant, who tells of where to find the Moon People, the group fights through nearby Wise Owl Forest to reach its final area. There they face the giant possessed primate
called Master Utan, the guardian of the forest, and free him from the Genie's control. Toan and the others afterward venture deeper into the forest, making their way to Brownboo, an unaffected village where the Moon People reside. There they are captured by the Moon People for being trespassing strangers. Learning of the Dark Genie, the Moon People release the group and together suppose a plan on how to defeat the Dark Genie permanently. The Moon People want to call the Moon Ship using the Moon Orb. To find the orb, Toan and party travel to the seaside village of Queens where they learn of a shipwreck
that could be keeping it. The village had suffered the same fate as the previous two, apart from one shop run by a man named Rando, who tells them of this shipwreck. While searching the shipwreck for the orb, the party find and restores the city of Queens and Toan finds a lamp that kept a genie, Ruby, who joins the group. The party also hears the story of the former queen, La Saia, who was abandoned by her lover at the altar
, and who threw herself into the sea in despair. A shopkeeper who initially refuses the party entry to his store also tells them the local story of an orb that will grant immortality, but at the cost of whatever the owner most values apart from their life. In the final area of the shipwreck, Toan and party meet with La Saia's ghost, who serves as the dungeon boss. After defeating La Saia, her fiancée, Rando comes into the sanctuary and apologizes to La Saia, revealing that he was knocked out by the Life Orb for the wedding, in order to destroy what he most valued. He then hands Toan the Moon Orb, and joins La Saia by destroying the Life Orb.
Still unable to summon the Moon Ship even with the orb, the Moon People send Toan and the others to the desert village of Muska Lacka. They find the Sun and Moon Temple and begin to collect the Atla there to restore the village. During this, Toan befriends a desert warrior named Ungaga, who later joins. After reaching the last floor of the temple, they face The King’s Curse. When defeated, a passage opens that leads to the Moon Ship. With the help of the Moon People, the ship is finally able to be activated. They travel to a moon city, Yellow Drops, where Toan meets Osmond, a Moon Person, who asks for help in collecting pieces of a giant battle robot called the Sun Giant. The Moon People, who have lost their magical abilities, believe they can destroy the Dark Genie for good by using this robot. After meeting Osmond, he too joins the group. Toan and party collect the scattered pieces of the robot by searching the Moon Sea. Toan collects the final piece, a powerful energy source, by fighting a giant Minotaur in a coliseum-like battle there. When the Sun Giant is completed, Toan and party, with a crew of Moon People, pilot the Sun Giant towards the Dark Heaven Castle, where the Dark Genie now resides.
The group arrives at the castle and confronts the Dark Genie. After defeating the genie, they learn it was actually a rat that had absorbed some of the true Dark Genie's powers while sealed away in its urn. The true Dark Genie had possessed Colonel Flag and it destroys the Sun Giant. The power is too great for Flag's body to stand and Flag dies. Toan continues to pursue the Dark Genie and enters the castle where he finds Seda who explains how it was his fault the Dark Genie was created. He reveals that he accepted tremendous dark power into his body in order to gain the power to defeat an invading army, and that this led to the genie's birth. Seda opens a portal to the Gallery of Time to allow Toan and the others to find the Atla. Suddenly, the Genie reappears, wanting to reunite with Seda's body, but Seda kills himself to keep the Genie from his power. They travel through the years of the Gallery of Time to collect and view the memories Seda had infused into the Gallery, in order to learn the full story of the Genie's birth. It transpires that while the power Seda absorbed was necessary to create the Genie, the final cause was the death of his fiancée at the hands of an assassin seeking to kill Seda. Toan is unable to prevent the Dark Genie's creation but then faces and defeats its true form. Toan then completely expends the Atlamilla's powers to revive Seda's fiancée, Sophia.Toan is vanished from the past and is returned to his own time.
, lead by designer Akihiro Hino
. Development of the game began when the company was founded in October 1998. When the PlayStation 2 was announced on March 2, 1999, Sony president and CEO Ken Kutaragi
used a demo of Dark Cloud to show the capabilities of the platform;many elements of the demo were not used in the release version of the game.
In 1999, Sony had an early playable version of Dark Cloud at the Tokyo Game Show. This version focused on a character who needed to return a floating piece of land back to where it originally came from but its location had been replaced with an evil kingdom. The world building parts were demonstrated in this version. At the Tokyo Game Show in 2000, a more complete demo was available, similar to the final version.
The English release of Dark Cloud had more features added into gameplay, including the ability to upgrade weapons, extra duels and an extra dungeon after completing the game, the Demon Shaft; this location does not appear in the Japanese version.
, consists of forty-six tracks.
, Dark Cloud was the 15th best-selling video game during the week of its debut in Japan at 19,615 copies sold. By the end of 2001, the game had sold 70,471 copies in the region. Level-5's Akihiro Hino stated Dark Cloud has sold over 800,000 copies worldwide. In 2002, the game received best-seller re-releases in both Japan (The Best range
) and North America (Greatest Hits).
Dark Cloud has an 80% rating on review aggregator site Metacritic
, and a 78% rating on Game Rankings
. Reviews in general are positive but say, in most cases, the main criticisms of the game are toward the repetitive dungeons and battles and lack of strong story. The gameplay is often compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
because it contains features and a main character that are similar, while also being likened to Vagrant Story
for its weapon system. IGN
, GameSpot
, allgame
and others praised Dark Cloud for blending different types of gameplay together successfully. Gamespot calls it "one highly addictive and surprisingly cohesive experience". TotalPlayStation mentions how the town building feature is unique, while Gamespot and IGN say it borrows elements from ActRaiser
. The battle system has mixed reviews, while some think it is repetitive and monotonous in regards to the dungeon crawling, many positive points come from the weapon system and how it is easy to use.
Reviews of the plot were mixed. IGN and TotalPlaystation thought the story, while simple, was "good enough". Gameplanet thought the plot was "bland" and "negligible" and that it was one of the factors that brought the game down. Reviews of the game's graphics were more positive. PSXExtreme said it "has...some of the prettiest textures I can think of", while RPGamer and TotalPlaystation thought the visuals "don't slouch", but were not as good when compared to other games like those made by Namco
and Square
. Absolute PlayStation and planetPS2 mention most of the music is "mediocre" and "not too inspiring and sometimes can get monotonous" but reviews of the ambient and general sound effects are positive. RPGamer
concludes the complete opposite and thinks the "music does an excellent job of setting the mood" but some of the character sound effects are overused. PSXExtreme compares the soundtrack to the soundtrack from Chrono Cross
which they say is "actually a very good thing".
Role-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
(PS2) video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. It was developed by Level-5
Level-5
is an independent video game developer and publisher based in Fukuoka, Japan. The company, which currently employs about 200 individuals, was founded in October 1998 by Akihiro Hino after he departed from the now defunct Japanese developer Riverhillsoft...
and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
in 2000 and 2001 in Japan and American/PAL regions respectively. The gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
of Dark Cloud combines action role-playing
Action role-playing game
Action role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
with elements of city-building
City-building game
City-building games are a genre of strategy computer game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management...
games. A sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the game, Dark Cloud 2 (or Dark Chronicle), was released two years later.
The game's story focuses on a group of adventurers who have all been affected by the destruction caused by a being called the Dark Genie and decide to band together to fight against it. The main protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is Toan, a boy who is given a magical stone called the Atlamillia by the Fairy King, which has the power to rebuild the destroyed areas.
The game was originally intended to be a launch title for the PS2 but was eventually released later in the year. The game was generally well received by critics
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
with praise toward its blend of gameplay types. The game has sold more than 1 million units worldwide according to Level-5.
Gameplay
Dark Cloud is a third person role-playing game in which the playerPlayer (game)
A player of a game is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory and in ordinary recreational games....
moves through randomly-generated dungeons, battling monsters and collecting items. Inside of these dungeons, at uncertain floors or levels, the player may have the option of entering a separate area which contains stronger monsters and more valuable treasure. The player will sometimes 'Duel' an enemy. In this unusual type of battle, the player must press a sequence of buttons shown on the screen correctly to win, similarly to a quick time event
Quick Time Event
In video games, a Quick Time Event is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen prompt. It allows for limited control of the game character during cut scenes or cinematic sequences in the game...
.
Another part of Dark Cloud's gameplay involves special items called Atla which are used to rebuild the world. These items, which are present in almost every dungeon level, are large spherical objects and can be retrieved only by the main character. When removed from the dungeon, they become pieces of the world (trees, houses, villagers, etc.). These pieces must be placed through Georama mode, an element similar to city-building games, where the player can arrange the pieces of the world onto the landscape. After villagers have been placed, the player can speak to them to discover what their wants are for the rebuilding of the village. As the player approaches the ideals concerning the village restoration and its villagers' preferences, their progress is recorded as a percentage of completion in the Georama menu. When the progress reaches 100%, the village is considered complete.
Unlike most RPG
RPG
RPG may refer to:* Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon* Role-playing game, in which players act out the roles of characters in a narrative game** Role-playing video game, a type of computer or video game-Organisations:...
s, instead of the main characters leveling up
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
, their weapons do. The player characters themselves can only grow stronger with the consumption of particular items. Weapons level up by killing enemies and wear over time, and it is necessary to repair them to avoid having them broken and unusable. With the exception of the starting weapon, a broken weapon is immediately removed from the player's inventory. To upgrade a weapon, the player can attach stat-increasing items to it (attack power, speed, ability to kill different types of monsters, elemental attributes, etc.), but a single weapon can only carry a limited number of attachments. To permanently keep the extra statistics the attachements give, the weapon must be leveled up using absorption points, which are gained by defeating enemies. Weapons can be combined after reaching a certain level, giving the player a single weapon with the combined attributes of the two.
Dark Cloud features six different main characters each with their own playstyle; three ranged fighters and three melee fighters each using a different weapon. The melee characters use a variety of blades, hammers and staves, and the ranged characters use magic rings, guns and slingshots. Each character also has a unique ability that helps them move through the dungeons.
Setting
Dark Cloud is set within a fantastic world with two moons called Terra. The world is made of two main continentsContinent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
referred to as the East and West. The eastern continent has a focus on technology, and the civilization is advanced whereas the western continent is less so, and its people prefer to "live in harmony with nature".
On the western continent are settlements that were sealed away by the Fairy King during the attack by the Dark Genie and where the game primarily takes place; Norune, Matataki, Brownboo, Queens, Muska Lacka and a settlement on one of Terra's moons, Yellow Drops (Brownboo and Yellow Drops being unaffected).
Characters
Dark Cloud features many characters, some of which are playable. Each playable character utilizes different weapons, fighting styles and abilities that aid in the exploration of dungeon areas. The main protagonist, a boy named Toan, fights with daggers, knives and swords. After the events of the prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
, he is tasked with the restoration of the world by the Fairy King. The main antagonist is the Dark Genie, an evil genie released by Colonel Flag, a second class military commander who wants its power to control the world.
During the course of the game, Toan meets new characters who can only be chosen to explore and battle in dungeons. The player must accomplish in-game events for new characters to join. The available characters include: Xiao, a slingshot-wielding 'catgirl'; Goro, a hunter from Matataki Village who uses large hammers; Ruby, a magic-ring-using genie from Queens; Ungaga, a Muska Lacka warrior using staves; and Osmond, leader of the Moon People equipped with a variety of guns and blasters.
Story
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
read from a book found in ancient, nameless ruins. After scholars had translated the story, its significance and verity became debatable.
The story begins in a chamber called the Dark Shrine where a ceremony of dances is being performed to awaken the Dark Genie, a legendary creature of great power. Colonel Flag, a man wanting such power for war, watches while the ceremony's organizer, a priest of the shrine, explains the legend of the Dark Genie. A large urn containing the genie's spirit billows black smoke and the Dark Genie materializes. The Dark Genie accepts Colonel Flag as its master for releasing it but devours the priest. Told by Flag, the Dark Genie then attacks the western continent, but the Fairy King casts a protective spell around the affected lands. This spell causes the buildings, objects and people to be sealed away in magical orbs, avoiding the Dark Genie's attack, but because of it, are scattered throughout parts of the world.
Toan, whose home is the affected Norune Village, is given a blue stone called the Atlamillia by the Fairy King and learns he must search for the people and objects in the form of floating orbs called Atla. Toan goes to a nearby cave and collects all of the Atla there containing Norune Village and its people. In his exploration of the cave, Toan meets a man called Seda, who challenges him to a sword duel. Toan loses when trying to protect a cat that accidentally was caught in their battle. Seda throws Toan a changing potion as a gift for doing so. The potion is later used on the cat which causes it to change into a half-human/half-cat named Xiao; a new ally who joins Toan on his quest. At the cave's bottom, Toan finds Dran, the god of all beasts and guardian of Norune. The usually peaceful Dran is being possessed by the Dark Genie and attacks. Defeating Dran releases him from the genie's control and he suggests Toan find the Moon People, directing the two toward Great Treant in Matataki Village.
As they move into Matataki, Toan is challenged by a boy named Goro. After being defeated, Goro runs back up to his tree house
Tree house
Tree houses, treehouses, or tree forts, are platforms or buildings constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level...
, dropping the magical earrings which allows one to understand the creatures of the forest, including the Great Treant. Goro eventually joins Toan's party. After speaking with Treant, who tells of where to find the Moon People, the group fights through nearby Wise Owl Forest to reach its final area. There they face the giant possessed primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
called Master Utan, the guardian of the forest, and free him from the Genie's control. Toan and the others afterward venture deeper into the forest, making their way to Brownboo, an unaffected village where the Moon People reside. There they are captured by the Moon People for being trespassing strangers. Learning of the Dark Genie, the Moon People release the group and together suppose a plan on how to defeat the Dark Genie permanently. The Moon People want to call the Moon Ship using the Moon Orb. To find the orb, Toan and party travel to the seaside village of Queens where they learn of a shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
that could be keeping it. The village had suffered the same fate as the previous two, apart from one shop run by a man named Rando, who tells them of this shipwreck. While searching the shipwreck for the orb, the party find and restores the city of Queens and Toan finds a lamp that kept a genie, Ruby, who joins the group. The party also hears the story of the former queen, La Saia, who was abandoned by her lover at the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
, and who threw herself into the sea in despair. A shopkeeper who initially refuses the party entry to his store also tells them the local story of an orb that will grant immortality, but at the cost of whatever the owner most values apart from their life. In the final area of the shipwreck, Toan and party meet with La Saia's ghost, who serves as the dungeon boss. After defeating La Saia, her fiancée, Rando comes into the sanctuary and apologizes to La Saia, revealing that he was knocked out by the Life Orb for the wedding, in order to destroy what he most valued. He then hands Toan the Moon Orb, and joins La Saia by destroying the Life Orb.
Still unable to summon the Moon Ship even with the orb, the Moon People send Toan and the others to the desert village of Muska Lacka. They find the Sun and Moon Temple and begin to collect the Atla there to restore the village. During this, Toan befriends a desert warrior named Ungaga, who later joins. After reaching the last floor of the temple, they face The King’s Curse. When defeated, a passage opens that leads to the Moon Ship. With the help of the Moon People, the ship is finally able to be activated. They travel to a moon city, Yellow Drops, where Toan meets Osmond, a Moon Person, who asks for help in collecting pieces of a giant battle robot called the Sun Giant. The Moon People, who have lost their magical abilities, believe they can destroy the Dark Genie for good by using this robot. After meeting Osmond, he too joins the group. Toan and party collect the scattered pieces of the robot by searching the Moon Sea. Toan collects the final piece, a powerful energy source, by fighting a giant Minotaur in a coliseum-like battle there. When the Sun Giant is completed, Toan and party, with a crew of Moon People, pilot the Sun Giant towards the Dark Heaven Castle, where the Dark Genie now resides.
The group arrives at the castle and confronts the Dark Genie. After defeating the genie, they learn it was actually a rat that had absorbed some of the true Dark Genie's powers while sealed away in its urn. The true Dark Genie had possessed Colonel Flag and it destroys the Sun Giant. The power is too great for Flag's body to stand and Flag dies. Toan continues to pursue the Dark Genie and enters the castle where he finds Seda who explains how it was his fault the Dark Genie was created. He reveals that he accepted tremendous dark power into his body in order to gain the power to defeat an invading army, and that this led to the genie's birth. Seda opens a portal to the Gallery of Time to allow Toan and the others to find the Atla. Suddenly, the Genie reappears, wanting to reunite with Seda's body, but Seda kills himself to keep the Genie from his power. They travel through the years of the Gallery of Time to collect and view the memories Seda had infused into the Gallery, in order to learn the full story of the Genie's birth. It transpires that while the power Seda absorbed was necessary to create the Genie, the final cause was the death of his fiancée at the hands of an assassin seeking to kill Seda. Toan is unable to prevent the Dark Genie's creation but then faces and defeats its true form. Toan then completely expends the Atlamilla's powers to revive Seda's fiancée, Sophia.Toan is vanished from the past and is returned to his own time.
Development
Dark Cloud was the first game of the Japanese developer Level-5Level-5
is an independent video game developer and publisher based in Fukuoka, Japan. The company, which currently employs about 200 individuals, was founded in October 1998 by Akihiro Hino after he departed from the now defunct Japanese developer Riverhillsoft...
, lead by designer Akihiro Hino
Akihiro Hino
is president and CEO of Japanese video game developer Level-5.- Biography :Prior to founding Level-5 in October 1998, Hino began his career in the video game industry in the early 90's at the now defunct Japanese developer Riverhillsoft, specifically on the Overblood series for the original...
. Development of the game began when the company was founded in October 1998. When the PlayStation 2 was announced on March 2, 1999, Sony president and CEO Ken Kutaragi
Ken Kutaragi
is the former Chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment , the video game division of Sony Corporation. He is known as "The Father of the PlayStation", and its successors and spinoffs, including the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and the PlayStation 3.Before this...
used a demo of Dark Cloud to show the capabilities of the platform;many elements of the demo were not used in the release version of the game.
In 1999, Sony had an early playable version of Dark Cloud at the Tokyo Game Show. This version focused on a character who needed to return a floating piece of land back to where it originally came from but its location had been replaced with an evil kingdom. The world building parts were demonstrated in this version. At the Tokyo Game Show in 2000, a more complete demo was available, similar to the final version.
The English release of Dark Cloud had more features added into gameplay, including the ability to upgrade weapons, extra duels and an extra dungeon after completing the game, the Demon Shaft; this location does not appear in the Japanese version.
Audio
The Dark Cloud Official Soundtrack was released to the Japanese market in late 2001. The soundtrack, composed by Tomohito NishiuraTomohito Nishiura
Tomohito Nishiura is a Japanese video game music composer. He works primarily on games developed by Level-5.-Works:*Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva *Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box...
, consists of forty-six tracks.
Reception
According to FamitsuFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
, Dark Cloud was the 15th best-selling video game during the week of its debut in Japan at 19,615 copies sold. By the end of 2001, the game had sold 70,471 copies in the region. Level-5's Akihiro Hino stated Dark Cloud has sold over 800,000 copies worldwide. In 2002, the game received best-seller re-releases in both Japan (The Best range
The Best range
The Best is a Sony PlayStation budget range in Japan and parts of Asia. For the PlayStation, The Best was followed by PSone Books when the PSone was released in 2000...
) and North America (Greatest Hits).
Dark Cloud has an 80% rating on review aggregator site Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, and a 78% rating on Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
. Reviews in general are positive but say, in most cases, the main criticisms of the game are toward the repetitive dungeons and battles and lack of strong story. The gameplay is often compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1998; in North America on November 23, 1998; and in Europe on December 11, 1998...
because it contains features and a main character that are similar, while also being likened to Vagrant Story
Vagrant Story
is a Japanese-developed console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. The game was released in 2000, and has been re-released through the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles eleven years later...
for its weapon system. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
, allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
and others praised Dark Cloud for blending different types of gameplay together successfully. Gamespot calls it "one highly addictive and surprisingly cohesive experience". TotalPlayStation mentions how the town building feature is unique, while Gamespot and IGN say it borrows elements from ActRaiser
ActRaiser
is a 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System action and city-building simulation game developed by Quintet and published by Enix that combines traditional side-scrolling platforming with urban planning god game sections. A sequel, ActRaiser 2, was released for the Super Nintendo in 1993...
. The battle system has mixed reviews, while some think it is repetitive and monotonous in regards to the dungeon crawling, many positive points come from the weapon system and how it is easy to use.
Reviews of the plot were mixed. IGN and TotalPlaystation thought the story, while simple, was "good enough". Gameplanet thought the plot was "bland" and "negligible" and that it was one of the factors that brought the game down. Reviews of the game's graphics were more positive. PSXExtreme said it "has...some of the prettiest textures I can think of", while RPGamer and TotalPlaystation thought the visuals "don't slouch", but were not as good when compared to other games like those made by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
and Square
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
. Absolute PlayStation and planetPS2 mention most of the music is "mediocre" and "not too inspiring and sometimes can get monotonous" but reviews of the ambient and general sound effects are positive. RPGamer
RPGamer
RPGamer is a media and news website dedicated to covering computer and video game RPGs. Its coverage includes North American game news, European game news, Asian game news, gaming industry news, game reviews, game previews, hands-on game impressions, gaming conventions, game merchandise, release...
concludes the complete opposite and thinks the "music does an excellent job of setting the mood" but some of the character sound effects are overused. PSXExtreme compares the soundtrack to the soundtrack from Chrono Cross
Chrono Cross
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
which they say is "actually a very good thing".