Dark Cloud

[Ando85]

I've finished Dark Cloud 2, Rogue Galaxy, Jeanne D'Arc, and White Knight Chronicles. I enjoyed them all, although WKC for me was entertaining but won't make any top 10 lists.

I'm thinking of starting up Dark Cloud 1, but I've heard a lot of negative things about it. I had been eye balling it for years and finally got it as it was only 6 bucks.

How does this game stack up for you against other Level-5 offerings?

 

[Tallim]

It's "ok" but Dark Cloud 2 just blows it out of the water and you will probably find it rather disappointing given you've played the second one first.

 

[dimensional]

hated dark cloud 1, dark chronicle and rogue galaxy were great however as was dragon quest 8. I would say dont bother with it its inferior in every way to the ones you have played.

EDIT: sorry if you have it there is no reason not to try it hopefully you will enjoy it more than me.

 

[targren]

Just a warning about Dark Cloud... my biggest problem with it, which was thankfully done away with in Dark Cloud 2, is the stupid damn thirst meter. But if you like that sort of thing (I understand some people do) then go to it.

Otherwise, I thought it was a pretty good game.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Dark Cloud 1 is very.. rough. It's rather blatantly a clone gameplay wise of the 3D Zelda titles mixed with a poor man's city builder and yet it's not a bad experience to play through. Particularly in it's early zones where you have more freedom in creating the type of city you want to build, there's a lot there that was never really done in any other game. As a long time fan of the Soul Blazer, Actraiser "series" I found it really cool to be able to rescue pieces of the world, place them as I saw fit and then actually be able to explore what I had reconstructed on foot.

Actually, I'd really love to see a new Dark Cloud using todays technology.

 

[InsanityRequiem]

It's a rough game, but enjoyable. The graphics are par, with rather fast camera controls. I still play it once in a while. The problem for me is the lack of space. Your items don't stack.

But yes, I say play it!

 

[edgecult]

give it a shot -shrug- Dark cloud 2 was definitely better.. (as was a few of the others you listed off up there) but Dark cloud 1 should be interesting to play.. if for no other reason than to help ya appreciate all the little things in dark cloud 2 they changed from it to make it a more easy pick up.

 

[krazykidd]

Dark Cloud 1 is very.. rough. It's rather blatantly a clone gameplay wise of the 3D Zelda titles mixed with a poor man's city builder and yet it's not a bad experience to play through. Particularly in it's early zones where you have more freedom in creating the type of city you want to build, there's a lot there that was never really done in any other game. As a long time fan of the Soul Blazer, Actraiser "series" I found it really cool to be able to rescue pieces of the world, place them as I saw fit and then actually be able to explore what I had reconstructed on foot.

Actually, I'd really love to see a new Dark Cloud using todays technology.

How can it be a clone of 3D zelda , if Dark cloud came first?

OT: it's a fun dungeon craler type game , for 6 bucks go for it . But you Might find it a bit tedious . Oh and good luck with the bonus dungeon if you ever make it that far . 100 floors of misery and DEATH .

 

[Hawk of Battle]

Yeah you might find it a little harder to get into seeing as you've played the sequel first, the sequel improved a lot of things really. There's no voice acting in DC1 for a start, there are 6 main characters to level up instead of 2 (and you may only end up levelling 1 of them really), and the world building is much more limited.

It can also get quite tedious at times, the dungeons have less variety and some seem to go on forever, with fewer side quests and secret things to do on the side. There's no inventing or mechs either.

On saying that, I played through the game probably 6 times way back and I had fun with it, but these days it's definately over-shadowed by the sequel.

 

[PureIrony]

I actually picked up Dark Cloud pretty recently, and while it was fun for an hour or so, it's got one big design flaw: your weapons degrade, and you need an item called repair powder to rejuvenate them. To find repair powder, you need to progress in a dungeon. To progress in the dungeon, you need to kill every monster on a level.

You see where the problem might come in?

I got stuck with a broken weapon, which at the time was my only weapon, and couldn't find any repair powder. I haven't picked it up since.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Dark Cloud 1 is very.. rough. It's rather blatantly a clone gameplay wise of the 3D Zelda titles mixed with a poor man's city builder and yet it's not a bad experience to play through. Particularly in it's early zones where you have more freedom in creating the type of city you want to build, there's a lot there that was never really done in any other game. As a long time fan of the Soul Blazer, Actraiser "series" I found it really cool to be able to rescue pieces of the world, place them as I saw fit and then actually be able to explore what I had reconstructed on foot.

Actually, I'd really love to see a new Dark Cloud using todays technology.

How can it be a clone of 3D zelda , if Dark cloud came first?

Ummm.. Dark Cloud came out late in 2000. Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 with it's sequel Majoras Mask coming out early in 2000.

 

[krazykidd]

Dark Cloud 1 is very.. rough. It's rather blatantly a clone gameplay wise of the 3D Zelda titles mixed with a poor man's city builder and yet it's not a bad experience to play through. Particularly in it's early zones where you have more freedom in creating the type of city you want to build, there's a lot there that was never really done in any other game. As a long time fan of the Soul Blazer, Actraiser "series" I found it really cool to be able to rescue pieces of the world, place them as I saw fit and then actually be able to explore what I had reconstructed on foot.

Actually, I'd really love to see a new Dark Cloud using todays technology.

How can it be a clone of 3D zelda , if Dark cloud came first?

Ummm.. Dark Cloud came out late in 2000. Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 with it's sequel Majoras Mask coming out early in 2000.

Did it? I though Dark cloud was one of the first games on the ps2. Guess i was wrong , my bad.

 

[Ando85]

Just a warning about Dark Cloud... my biggest problem with it, which was thankfully done away with in Dark Cloud 2, is the stupid damn thirst meter. But if you like that sort of thing (I understand some people do) then go to it.

Otherwise, I thought it was a pretty good game.

Yeah, I heard about the thirst meter. I envision it being more of a pain than anything.

 

[Ando85]

hated dark cloud 1, dark chronicle and rogue galaxy were great however as was dragon quest 8. I would say dont bother with it its inferior in every way to the ones you have played.

EDIT: sorry if you have it there is no reason not to try it hopefully you will enjoy it more than me.

I forgot to mention Dragon Quest 8 and 9. Loved the hell out of 8 and spent well over 100 hours playing it. I enjoyed 9 as well, but I noticed that since your party consists of generic characters there was a lack of personality to the game that was very present in DQ8. I finished the game's main storyline, but I've heard great things about the post game content so I might check that out as well.

On the subject of Dark Cloud. Yeah, I already bought the game, but 6 bucks for a game I might not even enjoy or finish isn't too bad of a loss. I might pop it in and give it a whirl, but I wanted to see how people here think about the game.

 

[Ando85]

I actually picked up Dark Cloud pretty recently, and while it was fun for an hour or so, it's got one big design flaw: your weapons degrade, and you need an item called repair powder to rejuvenate them. To find repair powder, you need to progress in a dungeon. To progress in the dungeon, you need to kill every monster on a level.

You see where the problem might come in?

I got stuck with a broken weapon, which at the time was my only weapon, and couldn't find any repair powder. I haven't picked it up since.

Damn along with the thirst meter that sounds rather annoying.

 

[XT inc]

I Actually just started a new save file a couple weeks ago for dark cloud 1.

It is a pretty fun little game, but man is it tedious. You have to constantly repair your weapons, drink water, manage health, level everyones weapons, swap between characters all the time just to open a path so your main character can get the orbs, and grind for gems to properly level your weapons.

I love the game, but it is old school, and the graphics really show it's age.

You have to be into the game itself otherwise you will get bored arbitrarily running through the dungeon maps trying to collect the orbs then the key to the next level and repeat until you run out of repair powder.

Stick with dark cloud 2 imo I think I am only playing the first one because I don't own the second.

 

[Ando85]

I Actually just started a new save file a couple weeks ago for dark cloud 1.

It is a pretty fun little game, but man is it tedious. You have to constantly repair your weapons, drink water, manage health, level everyones weapons, swap between characters all the time just to open a path so your main character can get the orbs, and grind for gems to properly level your weapons.

I love the game, but it is old school, and the graphics really show it's age.

You have to be into the game itself otherwise you will get bored arbitrarily running through the dungeon maps trying to collect the orbs then the key to the next level and repeat until you run out of repair powder.

Stick with dark cloud 2 imo I think I am only playing the first one because I don't own the second.

Alright thanks. You and the other posters inspired me to not to bother with the game quite yet. I might try it out one day, but for now I have more than enough other games to delve into.

Dark Cloud 2 was absolutely amazing to me. I really can't think of any major glaring flaws. DC1 appears to have a lot of things wrong with it that were thankfully removed for the sequel. Now we can only cross our fingers for a Dark Cloud 3.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Dark Cloud 1 is very.. rough. It's rather blatantly a clone gameplay wise of the 3D Zelda titles mixed with a poor man's city builder and yet it's not a bad experience to play through. Particularly in it's early zones where you have more freedom in creating the type of city you want to build, there's a lot there that was never really done in any other game. As a long time fan of the Soul Blazer, Actraiser "series" I found it really cool to be able to rescue pieces of the world, place them as I saw fit and then actually be able to explore what I had reconstructed on foot.

Actually, I'd really love to see a new Dark Cloud using todays technology.

How can it be a clone of 3D zelda , if Dark cloud came first?

Ummm.. Dark Cloud came out late in 2000. Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 with it's sequel Majoras Mask coming out early in 2000.

Did it? I though Dark cloud was one of the first games on the ps2. Guess i was wrong , my bad.

It was one of the first PS2 games, but the 3D Zeldas came out on the N64 so it was actually about half a gen earlier (the Sony competitor to the N64 was the PSX, not the PS2).