Becuase of the Trinagle button! You can skip all those annoying cutscenes! Wow! Its like ‘shutup and let me play’ and the game lets me do it! Sorry folks, but after playing FFX and Suikoden 3 and Shadow Hearts in rotation… i am up to HERE with all these sidestories in console rpgs!
Anyways, I’m still too busy to give a REAL impression of Dark Cloud 2… have to finish some other console games I probably wont finish (just like pc games).
etc
I posted a similar thought in the Breath of Fire thread.
All these years of console RPG gaming, and only NOW are developers starting to realize sometimes forcing us to watch repeated cutscenes can be more punishing on a gamer than even the toughest boss monsters usually end up being!
(Speaking of Dark Cloud, the first game didn’t even offer the ability to soft reset! Kind of became a pain in the ass to reset the game when I just wanted to compare and contrast upgrade paths on my weaponry.)
Both Breath of Fire V and Dark Cloud 2 release the same day, both of them allow you to skip or speed through cutscenes. This truly is a sign of maturity!
Oh and both games are more than worth a look.
Amen to that! So tell me (us) more about Dark Cloud 2. I haven’t really payed attention to this game but the light buzz i’m hearing about it is that it is awesome.
So far played a couple three hours got up to halfway the first dungeon sewer areas and just started the invention gameplay thing. Overall, it seems really cool. What I like most is the random dungeon aspect… its like Diablo PSO and then you have goals for each level to get medals by killing everything in a set amount of time or using one type of weapon or NO weapon (items). Couple that with the fusing almost any item into your weapons… it has the weapon (charactertype) development addictiveness. The novelty aspect with ‘collecting/taking’ snapshots to invent stuff is a cool sidegame aspect that seems to be intergrated well within the games framework. I havent gotten into the build a town part yet. But most suprisingly is the games open ended approach (at least early on) I like that the game has set goals and you can approach them in any way… like buying the items to make an invention or hack n slash in the dungeon instead.
Its definitely not the ‘average’ console rpg. It;s kept me from playing another night with the ‘average’ feeling Suikoden 3/FFX/Shadow HEarts console rpg rotation I’ve been on the past couple weeks. BTW, Shadow Hearts is surpisingly MORE fun than FFX and Suikoden 3 for me so far. But all three are cool enough to be playing I can’t choose one over the other… and now I have to add DC2 to the mix. And BoF sounds cool, same with .Hack, oh yeah and in another thread some are saying YuGiOh soiunds cool. PS2 has it made in the console rpg market. I dont even think xbox or Gamecube have a chance of catching up in this genre. Sad, because console rpgs (and figthing games) are my fave cosole genres… oh yeah and the gran turismo type games. anyway…
etc
I’ve got a little over 12 hours into the game and I’m BARELY in the third chapter. The game is very user friendly, offering many places to save. The myriad of, while not side quests per se, but ‘other things to do’ really enhances the freshness of the game.
Get bored with dungeons? Go take some photographs and come up with some inventions (I have 5 so far beyond the first one that is a ‘gimme’). Sick of taking pictures? Talk to the townsfolk and try to get them to join your cause (trying hard here to avoid spoiling much). Tired of the whole questing thing? Take some time and play golf in the dungeons (I haven’t gotten to this point yet, and yes, I’m serious). Golf not your thing? Work on earning bonus medals by fishing in the dungeons.
Unlike Dark Cloud 1, there will apparently be quite a few towns to build (I am barely starting the second one), and they very much matter. Not only do the towns matter, but placement of certain items matter if you plan to continue the quest.
The only downside I have seen so far is that it has been very hard, either due to forgetfulness or just because they are weak, to get my gun upgraded well. My main weapon is advancing nicely while the range weapon suffers, particularly due to the obscenely low damage it causes. Other than that, the game has been fantastic and I have been going out of my way to avoid cheating/looking at spoiler sites for inventions/Easter eggs.
Also, while not as bad as Xenogears (so I’ve heard), early in the game was one off-putting non-play FMV sequence that ran about 20 minutes (I timed it) where you are either watching the story unfold or the foofy music video/credits sequence. That almost made me give up early in the game, but after that, the FMV has been almost non-existent and the storyline, as mentioned before, can be skipped.
I have been going out of my way to avoid cheating/looking at spoiler sites for inventions/Easter eggs
As well you should, Lionel. I just submitted a review and one of the first things it says is that you should stop reading this review. :) IMO, the less you know about where the game is going, the better.
Dark Cloud 2 is an absolutely brilliant piece of work. Zelda who?
-Tom
This is good to know. I picked up DC2 about 5 days ago and haven’t had to time to play it yet.
Ergo, get out of this thread, quick! Stop reading and go play!
Oh, wait, one thing: don’t judge it by the first two hours.
Okay, now you can stop reading.
-TomYou better have given it a good score or I will kill you, you moron. I bet you only played for 7 min…oops. Wrong thread.
Going to get mine today after all the praise here. Suikoden III really soured me on console RPGs. I had plan to get this on release day as I enjoyed the original Dark Cloud even with the bottomless pit of redundancy that was the dungeon crawling.
What has Level 5 changed about the dungeons to improve them? They are still random, correct? In DC, there was like a total of two different monsters per level and always the same two when you would revisit that same level. Has that changed as well?
Glad to see you survived the weekend. :) Did you actually plan being away during the post MoO3 review period for safety reasons? 
Please don’t forget about Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter… I’d hate to see a game with so many unique new elements be completely overlooked (as always) in favor of one that’s got a higher profile.
–Dave
What has Level 5 changed about the dungeons to improve them? They are still random, correct?
Still random and built from some really nice tilesets.
In DC, there was like a total of two different monsters per level and always the same two when you would revisit that same level. Has that changed as well?
Well, there are now three different monsters per floor. Actually, maybe four. No, I think just three. But the floors are so small, and there are so many floors to a dungeon, many with different creatures, and you can easily move back and forth, so it doesn’t feel limited.
Did you actually plan being away during the post MoO3 review period for safety reasons?
I was going to get back into the forums yesterday to see about answering some questions, but the moderators had shut down the thread I started! I figured ‘fuck it, let them see for themselves when the game comes out’.
BTW, I’ll be really curious to hear what any of you guys think of MOO3 if you get it. Oh, but not in this thread.
-Tom
Dave Long speaks very true words. Dragon Quarter deserves as much attention as this Sony cash cow(if you can call it that…) Very absorbing, and very much worth a look as well.
Unfortunately, I am but a lowly bookkeeper who slaves all day to go home and play demos of games he can only dream of buying. I have to make a judgement call as to what I can get away with and balance what I spend on games with what my wife spends at Bath and Body Works on $30.00 conditioner (Which I am convinced they buy in bulk and simply re-package in colorful bottles with flowers on them.).
Dark Cloud 2 is a semi-known quantity for me so it gets the nod. I will get BoF:DQ eventually. Another factor. DC2 is 10 bucks cheaper and an A+ Sony product. BoF will do a price cut more quickly so the delay may pay off again there. I have a pathological fear of going in the poor house which leads to all kinds of formulations and equations and justifications for what I purchase. Man, I certainly do not think you all asked for a run down of my personal finance situation did you?
My priority list, since no one asked:
Dark Cloud 2
HoMMIV: Winds of War expansion - Don’t say anything!!! There is another pathological pattern there having to do with self mutilation.
Tie: Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - per your request
Tie: Starships Unlimited: Divided Galaxies - with the crumbling of the MoO empire, this once ignored title (by me) has zoomed up the charts after debuting off the top 100.
P.S. Tom: I read some of the posts regarding the thread’s closing. Stupid community mod/member crap. Many wanted you to respond and posted valid questions and comments, as you most likely saw. The moderators said it was devolving into a flame war which i really didn’t see, btw. Then a thread started opposing the locking of the thread saying you should have been able to at least reply to what was posted. The mods said it was a bad idea for the community as a whole, whatever the hell means.
And then blah, blah, blah…I had already indulged in watching the car wreck longer than I should have and that was midday Sunday. I bet there are 20 threads now for/against/indifferent, but still talking about your review. Your infamy grows as the minutes tick by. What fun!
Well at least you put an end to playing that JRPG cult pap title Suikoden 3, so you get respect points right there…(you did stop playing it didn’t you?)
Yes. Luckily it was an X-Mas present so my monetary melodrama was not involved in that purchase. :) Maybe I can crawl to EB and they will give me $3.78 for it and then re-sell it for $44.99. Anyone want a copy of Suikoden III for 25 bucks?
You’d probably get $25 for it at the EB actually. Suikoden III is still a “hot” game.
I’ve got too many goddamn games to play as it is, so I put Dark Cloud 2 on my “later” list. I can easily see Breath of Fire becoming this generation’s Vagrant Story. That one game people keep hearing about but never bother to try.
Which reminds me, if any of you fockers <–Derekism) haven’t played Vagrant Story on PSOne, for the love of chaps GO BUY IT!
–Dave
Fuck-a-duck… Thursday I’m going to have to hit Best Buy and buy DC2, BoF V and Xenosaga. As if I have that kind of time! God bless my Best Buy credit card…
I’m at 16 hours in DC2 and NEARLY complete with dungeon number three. That said, I am impressed with the fact that the game has not yet bored me to tears considering what appears to be so little progress.
I think other than numbers three and nine, I never completed a Final Fantasy. The required combat got so repetitive and dull that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Games like this (and to a lesser extent Kingdom Hearts) which keep a lot of the same hidden goodies, but also present a more flexible path of travel that allows you to take a break.
I know it isn’t the turn-based combat that turns me off, since I ate it up in the Fallout games. It is the repetitive, almost meaningless turn-based combat (that the Dragon Warrior games of old as well as the FF games) that I can do without.
Now if you will all excuse me, I need to take a picture of a peephole.
Dark Cloud succeeds because it has so much to do, and all of it, while not necessary, is interesting, and improves your character.
Want to fight? Fight enough, and your weapons get better.
Want to invent? Inventions can be weapons, or they can be added on to the ridepod, making it better.
Want to build? Building will increase the percentage of town completed, allowing for better items and skills.
I’ve spent about 10 hours on the game, and I’m 3/4 way through chapter 2. I have no inclination to go any farther, mainly because I’m having too much fun screwing around. Any one of the parts might be boring after awhile, but together they make a good game.
By the way, Level 5, the folks who made the game, are also making 1) A MMOG for the Xbox, and 2) Dragon warrior 8. Should be a nice change from 7.
Yes. Luckily it was an X-Mas present so my monetary melodrama was not involved in that purchase. :) Maybe I can crawl to EB and they will give me $3.78 for it and then re-sell it for $44.99. Anyone want a copy of Suikoden III for 25 bucks?[/quote]
Ty, I’ll buy it for 25$ if you want to sell it.
I can feel the Gamecube selling guilt trips coming.