just a fun gameplay loop with a simple but satisfying premise. the visuals are compelling, offering a dark fantasy atmosphere and charming character designs; the dungeons are all unique enough to keep things fresh; and the new towns and party members for each zone motivate you to progress consistently. maximizing on the different strengths of each party member is also super fulfilling. although rightly overshadowed by its successor, it's definitely still good enough to offer a stand-alone experience itself.

I picked this game up randomly as a little kid and you know I honestly wonder if my love for games that are about creating/rebuilding the world from treasures you find out in dungeons and the like came from here. It's...pretty rare.

But it's something I adore about this game. Going dungeon crawling feels so rewarding because when you find buildings and characters you tangibly see them in the world and then they interact with the other characters in their lives etc etc. The fact that you can be creative with how towns look as well just makes the whole prospect of going into dungeons exciting.

Dungeon combat is pretty rudimentary and kinda tough at times (it loves its risk and reward) but it's also pretty comfy. Going back to it, I'd forgotten that it had survival elements as well, which I guess were pretty commonplace in dungeon crawlers at the time but either way that added lair of preparation and carefulness it asked for was kind of interesting considering it was never too heavy handed with it.

Miss this series a lot.

A charming and unexpected dungeon crawler. There's a flow state you enter by the third town where you spend your time diving into the dungeon slowing accruing power and town pieces and coming back to the town building. It's ahead of its time for a PS2 launch title.

It's a very punishing game if you do not prepare yourself accordingly. Dark Cloud rewards you for experimentation and diversifying your power between your party members. Though there's a spike in difficulty towards the later half, making grinding annoying to do, I enjoyed my play through enough.