Finished playing the damn game and here's a good NoSpoiler review on it. Read on in your own discretion.

Review for DarkCloud2

Like my other reviews, I don't believe in a rating system. Since Numbers can be so misleading.. Instead of that, I'll tell you specifics on what I found good and bad about the game in some balanced manner of way.


Good

Characters - There are two characters in the game. Both kids... You can gather this by the booklet of the game or the cover. Max is the main character and while some people don't like how he turns out, I found him to be very fitting in the design, personality, and voice. I liked Monica about the same, but much different from Max in her own nice and comfortible ways. Monica's character is DEEP! I loved how she acted in some parts XD weee.

Plot - While I can't say much without ruining fun for you, everything starts off pretty slow and loose, then puts you on a straight path with many things to do on the side. How the main characters fit in with the entire story is very original and something I overall loved to boot. Some stuff in the game made me happy and laughible, and some stuff made me pretty damn sad.

Ending - I haven't gotten any finite ending yet because there's a side adventure after the Last Major Plot Battle with the Last Badguy. But the main ending was pretty short, sad, and snugly fitting with the plot. Nothing explosive, but nice and just right.

Monsters and Character visuals - I dunno, I really thought lowly of the game when I saw how the characters where animated with HUGE hands. But it's something that grows on you after a while of playing. The monsters are cleverly done, though. And battling the said monsters is a touch and go/learning basis. I mean, a specific type of monster can absolutely wipe your character all over the battle map, but after fighting it with different techniques, you find that a specific type of fighting is most effective... so you end up working with that from then on for that specific monster. Yeah. That alone plus the challange with newer monsters, tough badguys, rediculously tough last battles, keeps the game entertaining all the way through.

Oh, also wanted in add in here. You get to kill CLOWNS in the beginning! WOO!

Games in the Game - During DarkCloud2, and this is my favorite juicey tidbit to the game, you get to play random other games. This makes going back levels and buffing up FUN! Everything from golf to taking pictures of monsters atspecific moments to fighting levels under their 'medal specifications' (like 'only attack with Max's right-handed weapon'), to fishing. OH! The MANY things you can do with Fish! You wouldn't believe it! Adding that to the plot-buffing town-building parts. It makes the game really worthwhile.



The Bad

I found alot of the game to be average. While the plot held me down in moments I couldn't completely connect with some emotional moments. There are two things I think caused this. One was that the music, while nicely composed, sometimes didn't fit the moment. There's no 'character' music, just moment music. And the 'special monumental' music (or 'holy' music) actually made it hard to follow with sythesized aaaahhing. Adding to this, some of the dubbed character voices just didn't seem to fit. Max's voice was PERFECT for his character, but EmperorGriffon's just didn't match up at all in the end. That and when a major badguy gave a deathcry in the end of being defeated, it just made me hang my head and shake it at how badly it sounded out.

Another note about the ending - like Arc the lad, Sony decided to leave a huge difficult gap of major fighting and scenes between the last badguy and the savepoint. So you're left with 30 minutes to an hour of fighting Before even getting to the last badguy. Therefore dieing for the third time almost made me destroy the television. But winning was GREATLY rewarding, at least for me.

Tiny plotholes - nothing major, but some stuff made me go, "Wha? But wouldn't that do... Oh, nevermind, it doesn't matter." None if it kills anything and isn't worth bringing up.

The Fighting - This is a MAJOR bad in my opinion. Not the fighting, itself. That was challanging and fun. I'm talking about the controls. You move with the left joystick on the control, but if you hit the button you change characters. If you hit the other joystick button you go into robo or monster mode - which can be passionately bad at parts. And I found myself in MANY moments trying to switch from blocking to swinging the wrench, but end up trying to lift the badguy instead - which gets Max killed by accident. Or other such mishaps. It greatly displeased me and drove me mad at times. But don't take my word for it, the game is still fun. Just be warned that the controls for the game can be difficult at times.

Lastly, and this follows with the plot thing, the beginning of the game is rediculously slow. I found myself waiting for something to happen from the first town to the forest. And they left me lost when it came to building my first town, not to mention the whole future thing. I guess I should've read the booklet more. ^^` But after I got into Balance Valley and the beach, ALL this plot was thrown at me to the point where I had to stand back with a 'WHOA! Where'd all this come from".. that was good, btw.




Overall I found the game to be an average one. Very original and fun to play, the system is a memorable one, as is the main plot. But it's also very long and had it's bad points as well. Either way, I was able to play it all the way through (with exception of the extra bonus level after you beat the game, but give me a while and a good day =P). I found myself cheering at the television when I beat the bad badguy and that's what makes a game worthwhile. Accomplishment.

Fav Charries - Max, Crest, Monica.

Motionsick - This game made me motion sick at times. But not extremely so. They put a map feature in the fighting area which makes motionsickness at a minimum. But trying to take pictures and walking around towns made me sick. Especially in Gundora Workshop for some reason..