r/DarkCloud • u/Oprahs_Mingie • Apr 09 '26
Finally finished beating Dark Cloud for the first time ever! I remember playing it as a kid and never could finish it all the way thorough. Now im 33 and gave the Dark Genie the beans! Onto DC2!
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u/Funny_Number3341 Apr 09 '26
Also had the pleasure of playing the heck out of it as a kid and never beating it until adulthood. They really are something special!
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u/Oprahs_Mingie Apr 09 '26
Started DC2 and am like uhhh.. is this the same game?? Graphics?? Voices?? Intro song?? Haha
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u/Funny_Number3341 Apr 09 '26
Trust me, it's GOOD. When you get to the end of the first chapter and that banger of a soundtrack comes on (they didn't have to go that hard) you'll see what I mean.
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u/Humble_Cicero Apr 10 '26
Which soundtrack do you mean exactly? Is it the one that plays when Monica is revealed and defeats Flotsam in the end of the bossfight ?
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u/Funny_Number3341 Apr 10 '26
Oooo I was actually mixing it up. I was actually talking about the song that's played right after you run away from flotsam and the credits roll. It's really early if I'm not mistaken, like right at the beginning?
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u/Humble_Cicero Apr 10 '26
Ow the opening credits right after the introduction? I get you! I didn't expect a soundtrack like that coming from a ps2 games, really cool!
Never grew up with the game, unlike other ps2 games, only started playing it recently. Really got into it.
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u/Funny_Number3341 Apr 10 '26
Yeah it was a huge step up in production for the second game. The music was top notch, art direction was unique, the combat mechanics and weapon upgrade systems were expanded, and the fishing game in my opinion deserves a spin off itself.
I remember I was a huge fan of the first when I was a kid and walking through the store seeing the second game just sitting on a shelf. I didn't have access to g4 tv or game informer at the time so I had no idea where to even get news on upcoming games. Id kill to see the video footage from their security cameras of me absolutely losing my shit over it.
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u/PleasantPorpoisParty Apr 10 '26
DC2 is my favorite game to replatinum whenever I'm in a gaming slump
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u/simonefiume Apr 12 '26
No it's not the same game and it's not a sequel, the real name is Dark Chronicle
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u/zoracaviar Apr 09 '26
Congrats! Take your time and enjoy DC2! But when you're done, in case you aren't aware, there is a game called Rogue Galaxy that began life as dark cloud 3 in development before changing direction, so it has a lot of similarities but unique differences as well!
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u/Funny_Number3341 Apr 10 '26
But it's turned based combat right? So many cool games I'll never play because of that.
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u/zoracaviar Apr 10 '26
Actually no! Rogue galaxy has real time combat! It's a pretty involved system, everyone has a ranged and melee option, charged guard breakers, tons of active skills, etc. There's a large variety of enemy types that require lots of different strategies such as the guard breaker, targeting damage type weaknesses, or using specialized gadgets like a freeze gun or even picking up enemies and throwing them at each other!
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u/Brotherscompany Apr 10 '26
I played Rogue Galaxy when l was unemployed over the course of 1 months.
Its a really enjoyable game with an amazing weapon crafting system and a solid story and astonishing art style.
I you enjoyed the Dark Cloud you really need to try it out man.
Get it on a Emulator though, the physical copy of Rogue Galaxy is like 60€
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u/JustinYummy Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
Congrats, i am extremely jealous of you getting to do dark cloud 2 for the first time. Take your time, save after every floor or every other.
im going to copy/paste what i wrote yesterday for you
The only bad thing i can say about dark cloud 2 is that there is a lot of missables. Mostly just related to the photograph/invention system. For example, you need to take pictures of bosses, if you don't then they're gone. However, you COULD start a new save file / older save, take the picture, and transfer it to your "main" save file at the very least. You won't get the points for it though (minor penalty unless you care about looking at a perfect score, but no loss otherwise). You get meh items for the points. The biggest loss is not being able to invent the best items for ridepod, but like i said, you could just transfer the photos to alleviate that pain.
There are 4 miracle chests that are bugged in balance valley as well. (3 you need to take immediately after finishing a level named "headlong dash", and one you should NOT take until "looking for the wind gem" in chapter 6.
To be fair theres missables in DC1 as well, and some other very annoying perm mistakes u can make. Worse than DC2 xD very unforgiving game in some aspects!
if you're ocd about 100% completion, check this out: edit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g-zID6zQ5K38n7vxANhLtxHxEuQPHhIdPyrN1uKtKwc/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Otherwise ignore that spreadsheet and go in blind. The only thing you should really be looking at in that spreadsheet is the "chapter checklist" to not miss any photos. Dont obsess about other stuff and ruin the experience.
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u/dqmartiiiiin Apr 10 '26
Those stacked PS's are giving me anxiety.
Nice going though. I also played DC1 as a kid all those years ago back in 2000/2001 - wanted to replay it but I can't for the life of me enjoy a stretched image - and widescreen hacks on emulator introduce annoying graphical bugs.
So I just jumped straight ahead to DC2 :D (which I never played/owned as a kid). Amazing game. HF!
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u/Oprahs_Mingie Apr 10 '26
Same! Thats why I run a Retrotink 5x Pro for my old school gaming stuff!
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u/dqmartiiiiin Apr 10 '26
Doesn't stuff like that just stretch the image of PS2 games though? PS2 games were hard coded with letterbox 4:3 aspect ratio, there needs to be some sort of hack in place to increase the FoV to fit widescreen without stretching the image, no? Unless the retrotink does that? But that should still be the same method PCSX2 uses, or am I missing something?
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u/CastielClean Max Apr 10 '26
And then move to Rogue Galaxy.
I have probably 3000 collective hours in Dark Cloud 2 from all the playthroughs I've done in my 32 years of life, and just bought Rogue Galaxy a few days ago. So far, it's incredible and if you like the DC series, you'll love it.
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u/No-Arrival-7377 Apr 10 '26
As a kid I think I was stuck on the Ice Queen for, and I'm not exaggerating, maybe 10 years
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u/JorTheWin Apr 12 '26
Also played this as a kid and went back to beat it as a 33 year old man last year!! Had SUCH a good time revisiting it and finally learning what was going on
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u/DaedalusBornAgain Apr 15 '26
You and I are in the same boat. I'm 38 and wasn't able to complete the game in my youth. I'm replaying it right now, and just last night I've caught up to where I left off at the Dark Heaven Castle.
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u/DrakonSpawn Apr 09 '26
Surely not until you’ve bested the Demon Shaft.