Dark Cloud 3

In-game screenshot, showing Toan fighting a dragon in one of the game's dungeonsDark Cloud is an played from a, in which the player moves through dungeons, battling monsters and collecting items. On random dungeon levels, the player may have the option of entering a separate 'back door' area which contains stronger monsters and rarer treasure. Although the majority of combat involves, the player will occasionally 'Duel' an enemy. In this type of battle, the player must correctly press a sequence of buttons, similar to a.

'Why would you ever even make Dark Cloud 3?' You might ask me, referring to a possible sequel to a terrific PlayStation 2 role-playing game. In declarations to Polygon, Hino confirmed that the company has heard the public’s demand for another entry in the series, saying that “There has been a lot of requests and voices to create a Dark Cloud 3 or some form of Dark Cloud That IP is co-owned or managed by Sony Computer Entertainment, so it’s not something that we can do or act upon on our own.”.

Whilst in dungeons, the player has both a and a meter. The thirst meter gradually decreases over time, and when fully depleted, it causes the health meter to begin to decrease. To prevent the thirst meter from depleting, the player must drink water or step into one of the pools found in many dungeon levels.A major component of Dark Cloud 's involves special items called 'Atla' which are used to rebuild the world outside the dungeons. Atla, which are present in most dungeon levels, are large spherical objects which can be retrieved by Toan only. When Atla are removed from the dungeon, they transform into pieces of the world (trees, houses, villagers, etc.).

These pieces must then be reassembled in 'Georama mode'; a gameplay mode similar to, in which the player can arrange the pieces onto the landscape. After villagers have been placed, the player can speak to them to discover their wishes for rebuilding the village, regarding both what they need for their own house to be rebuilt completely, and where they wish their house to be placed. The player's progress in terms of collecting Atla, rebuilding the village and fulfilling the villagers' wishes are recorded as percentages. When all three reach 100%, the village is complete, although it is not necessary for the player to reach 100% in all three to be able to move on to the next set of dungeons and the next village; the player must only acquire 100% in collection and rebuilding to unlock the next village.

Completing 100% of the villagers' wishes is not a requirement, although if the player does reach 100%, they are awarded a bonus item/ability.Unlike most action role-playing games, instead of the characters, their weapons do. Weapons attain 'absorption points' with each kill.

Once a certain number of points has been reached, the weapon can be leveled up. However, weapons wear out over time, and it is necessary to repair them in order to prevent them from breaking. With the exception of each characters' starting weapon, a broken weapon is immediately removed from the player's inventory and cannot be retrieved or repaired.

To upgrade a weapon, the player can attach stat-increasing items (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. These attachments are absorbed into the weapon when it is leveled up, freeing up space for more attachments. When a weapon reaches level five, it can be transformed into a 'SynthSphere,' which carries 60% of the weapon's power and attributes. This sphere can then be attached to another weapon, and absorbed into it when it levels up, just like a regular attachment.

The characters themselves can only grow stronger with the consumption of particular items, which can increase their health points, water meter and defense.Dark Cloud features six main characters; three melee fighters and three ranged fighters, with each using a different weapon. Each character also has a unique ability that allows them to move through the dungeons; for example, Xiao can jump across chasms that other characters can not. Georama mode, which allows players to rebuild towns and villagesDark Cloud was the first game from, led by president and CEO, who also wrote, and the game.

Development began immediately when the company was founded in October 1998 with a projected development time of two years. When the was announced on March 2, 1999, Sony president and CEO used an early demo of Dark Cloud to show the capabilities of the platform. The demo showed a flying through a valley, and some waterfall effects.In September 1999, Sony showed an early playable version of the game at the. This version featured a character who must return a floating piece of land back to where it originally came from. However, this original location has been usurped by an evil kingdom.

Georama mode was a major component of the demo, with both and comparing it to 's 'Land Make' system. At in May 2000, a 30% complete playable demo was shown. IGN's Dave Zdyrko praised the graphics, especially the water. The demo was mainly centered in Norune Village, and although it did feature one accessible dungeon, the for the dungeon portions of the game had yet to be finalized.At the Tokyo Game Show in September 2000, a more complete demo was available, similar to the final version.

In December, GameSpot previewed the game, calling Toan ' with an twist.' They compared the combat system to and the duels to, and they the graphics, water effects and transitions from day to night. IGN wrote that 'without fully playing through the game, it's very hard to determine whether or not this title will prove to be revolutionary or just a gimmicky way to show off the real-time rendering powers of the new console.' The English language release of Dark Cloud in May 2001 had additional gameplay features, including new weapons and monsters, improved, extra duels and an extra dungeon after completing the game, the Demon Shaft; this location does not appear in the Japanese version. Music The game's music was composed, arranged, and produced. A full forty-six track soundtrack was released by in Japan on January 11, 2001. PlayStation 4 port In November 2015, Sony announced the would be getting PlayStation 2.

On December 3, the Sony feed posted, and then quickly removed, an announcement trailer for Dark Cloud running on the PlayStation 4, demonstrating graphics via up-rendering, trophy support, and both and compatibility. On December 4, via the, Sony confirmed Dark Cloud would be included in the first batch of up-rendered PlayStation 2 games released for the PlayStation 4. Available only via the, the game would feature everything shown in the leaked announcement trailer plus support for the and the. The game was demonstrated in full at the and released on December 5, 2015.

Reception ReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScore80/100Review scoresPublicationScore28/409/10B8.1/108.4/10Dark Cloud received 'generally favorable reviews,' with an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on, based on twenty-seven reviews.Gameplay was compared by several critics to, while the weapon system was likened to. 's Shane Satterfield and 's David Zdyrko both felt the Georama mode borrowed elements from. GameSpot, IGN and 's Andrew Reiner all praised the game for blending different types of gameplay together successfully.

Satterfield argued 'no game has blended all these compelling and unrelated ideas together into one highly addictive and surprisingly cohesive experience until now.' Zdyrko called the game 'a highly-enjoyable and insanely addictive role-playing experience that wouldn't have been able to stand alone with just its story, just its battle system, or any single one of its gameplay elements. The game works because each element aids in the enjoyment of the other parts.' Reiner wrote 'The overall may not be the best, yet you'll be completely engrossed with Dark Cloud 's play. Completists will want to obtain every item and weapon. Fans will drool over the combat.

Sim junkies will admire the town building. A rarity for, Dark Cloud truly does have a little something for everyone.' The battle system received mixed reviews.

Barnes found the game's use of elemental attacks awkward; 'Rooms can have anywhere from three to five monsters at a time, each having different elemental attributes. This means that gamers will most likely have to kill a monster that's weak against a specific attribute, open the weapon menu, select another attribute for the other monster, close the menu and repeat until all the monsters are defeated.

He also found the aspect somewhat repetitive. Called the fighting 'monotonous,' arguing that the game 'doesn't do the basics right.' Reviews of the plot were also mixed. IGN's Dave Zydrko thought the story was 'good enough to keep you wanting to find out more.' AllGame's J.C.

Barnes was less impressed, writing 'while there are hints of talent behind some of the story elements, there needs to be more emphasis on creative, original storytelling if Dark Cloud is going to become a franchise capable of going head to head with.' 's Johnny Liu called the plot and characters 'ho-hum.' Reviews of the were also mixed. AllGame's J.C.

Barnes was critical, writing, ' is extremely widespread in dungeons and towns. Also dungeon are bland and repetitive.' Game Revolution's Johnny Liu wrote 'Graphically, Dark Cloud is colorful if a bit bland.

It simply looks like a first generation game.' On the other hand, Game Informer 's Andrew Reiner wrote 'All of the, effects, and textures are sumptuous.' IGN's Dave Zydrko was more ambivalent; ' Dark Cloud isn't a bad-looking game by any means. The character models actually look really good, completely with jag-free edges, lots of texture detail and really cool designs.

What hurts Dark Cloud is its background graphics. There's a lot of flickering in the backgrounds, plus problems can be found, there are some instances where you'll see seams in the textures, and the background textures are poorly designed in that they look like floor and wall tiles in the outside environments.' GameSpot's Shane Satterfield had similarly mixed views; ' Dark Cloud 's graphics can be both stunning and disappointing. All six characters look great, and it's obvious that a great deal of time was taken in crafting their personalities through animation. Graphical tricks like, depth blur, and are prevalent in most settings.' However, he also felt, 'By the third stage of each dungeon, things become undeniably monotonous due to constantly reused textures and objects. Other graphical problems include flickering textures and a that regularly gets stuck behind objects while your character is locked on to an enemy.'

However, even reviewers who were critical of certain aspects of the game tended to give positive conclusions. Barnes wrote, 'Despite all of its flaws, the positives of Dark Cloud outweigh any negatives.' Dave Zydrko wrote 'The whole of the game is definitely much greater than its parts. Dark Cloud offers a splendid mix of several existing genres and game ideas that when merged together brings forth a delightful and extremely addictive adventure role-playing game that's easily one of the best we've yet seen on PlayStation 2.'

Shane Satterfield concluded 'this game will handsomely reward those who invest the time to learn the nuances of its weapons system. While it's not the Zelda for the PlayStation 2 everyone was hoping for, Dark Cloud puts its own significant stamp on the adventure-RPG genre.' Sales The game initially sold quite poorly. During its debut week in Japan, it entered the charts at number 15, selling only 19,615 units.

By the end of 2000, it had sold 35,783 units, making it to the 286th highest selling game of the year, across all systems. In 2001, it sold a further 34,688 units, for a total of 70,471 units. However, it proved to have much stronger sales internationally, and ultimately sold over 800,000 units worldwide. By July 2006, Dark Cloud had sold 670,000 copies and earned $22 million in the United States.

Ranked it as the 95th highest-selling game launched for the, or between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of the Dark Cloud series reached 1 million units in the United States by July 2006. References.

Retrieved April 8, 2011. ^ Winkler, Chris.

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Dark Cloud Instruction Manual (UK). SCES-50295. Turner, Richard; Ellie, Gibson (2001). 'The Dungeons'.

Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is the demo version of the Nintendo DS game Metroid Prime Hunters.Originally released on November 21, 2004, it was bundled with the Nintendo DS console with an ESRB rating of RP. A preview of Metroid Prime Hunters was featured at E3 2004, which players control different colored variations of Samus in a deathmatch. A demo version, titled Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, was included as a pack-in game with the Nintendo DS when it launched in North America on November 21, 2004. Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is an official demo of Metroid Prime Hunters, the first Metroid game for the Nintendo DS.It was included in Nintendo DS packages at the time of release, but has long since been discontinued. The game includes three short single-player games, a trailer for the full game, and a small multiplayer section. Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is a great addition to your Metroid game collection, but not much more. If you choose to buy it, do so with the full knowledge that it has very little substance and can get boring quickly. If you're a collector like me, then First Hunt is a must-have. Metroid prime hunters first hunt.

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'The Diorama'. Dark Cloud Instruction Manual (UK).

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Retrieved December 4, 2013. Turner, Richard; Ellie, Gibson (2001). 'A long, long time ago.' Dark Cloud Instruction Manual (UK). PlayStation 2. Ceremony Organiser: 400 years ago, the of darkness appeared in the East, and with his evil power, the world was burnt away. PlayStation 2.

Fairy King: Just before the village was destroyed by that Genie, I saved the buildings and people by sealing them into spheres called 'Atla'. PlayStation 2. Fairy King: Let me bless you with power. There, surprised? That's called 'Atlamillia,' it's a stone with a magical power. PlayStation 2.

Seda: It's not that you couldn't dodge.You simply didn't dodge.Deliberately. PlayStation 2.

Seda: I have a gift for you. Have that little one return you the favor. PlayStation 2. I'm like, totally a human. PlayStation 2. Dran: I don't have a clue just how powerful this Genie is, but it was powerful enough to control me.

PlayStation 2. Dran: Long ago a monster called the 'Black Demon' appeared in East Terra. The creature caused massacre after massacre, and almost brought the world to an end. Neither the most gallant nor the most powerful of could stand before the horror of the creature, much less harm it. Its power seemed as vast as the limitless power of Genies. Thus people started to call it the 'Dark Genie'. It wiped out nearly all of the known kingdoms of the world.

Ultimately, only a few people survived on Earth. Then, when all seemed lost, a tribe called the 'Moon People' created an enormous urn that could seal tremendous magic power and trapped the Dark Genie inside. PlayStation 2. Dran: Once you reach Matataki, first thing, visit Great Treant. PlayStation 2. Brownboo Village Chief: The orb of the moon is a sphere to move the Moon Ship.

PlayStation 2. Brownboo Villager: Say, why not go to Queens to find the orb?. PlayStation 2.

Ruby: Okay, I've made up my mind! I'll fight that Dark Genie with you!. PlayStation 2. Rando: I'm sorry, Toan.

Here, this is for you.' PlayStation 2.

Brownboo Villager: That's strange.it's not working. PlayStation 2. Osmond: Listen Toan. The destination is Dark Heaven Castle. PlayStation 2. Colonel Flag: What you'd called the 'Genie', that was this little one here.

A lucky little rodent that found its way into the urn while I was still imprisoned. Its mere proximity to me allowed it to absorb tremendous magical power.

PlayStation 2. Colonel Flag: I used this fool's body.

The fool broke the urn's spell, blinded by greed. PlayStation 2. Seda: He was born here in this castle, long, long ago. This is where the 400-year nightmare began. PlayStation 2. Seda: Follow the Fragments of Memory I left in the Gallery of Time. They will show you what you need to do.

PlayStation 2. Seda: I can't give up this body.yet. PlayStation 2. Seda: Something was born from me. Something evil and powerful. Black blood in me gave birth to the Devil. My endless hatred and bitterness from losing you is his energy.

PlayStation 2. Fairy King: Now is the time to use that hidden power!

The power to bring a lost soul back!It is not too late. Call out for Sophia's wandering soul!. PlayStation 2. Fairy King: Toan!! So it's over now! That evil will never come to life.At least not for some time.Let's go home.

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