Dark Cloud 2 heavily refines the approach of the original. Level-5 improves their genre-crossing dynamic to overwhelming heights, with its strengths - all mechanical, displaying a truly rare talent of JRPG gameplay ideas feeding into practically everything.

Even if its predecessor's tense dungeon crawling is virtually non-existent here, it compensates by introducing several ideas that grant degrees of replayability to each dungeon floor while avoiding monotony. New combat options, dungeon achievements and specific enemies/loot on each floor (and even a golfing minigame!) all contribute, while the revamped build-up/spectrumize system basically turns each equipped weapon into a separate party member; continuously evolving organisms, constantly mutating, building and inheriting traits freely. The new invention system demands environmental awareness from the player while providing additional value to each town, player-made or otherwise. Even outside of those, the mechanics are smartly woven together, from the crafting system to fishing, from city-building to time travel, each concept connecting to one another in various ways.

Story-wise: the revamped style, setting, better production values and cutscenes certainly helps its whimsical, intrepid adventurer attitude. However, the final dungeon succumbs to the same tired genre stereotypes, both in the more-tedious-than-tense gameplay and the predictable story sequences. The plot is hardly revolutionary, but it at least feels like an honest attempt this time around, and not a goofier, verbose Zelda clone. Regardless, the sheer value and depth in its gameplay makes Dark Cloud 2 a milestone of 6th generation dungeon-crawlers.

Another childhood game for me. Weapon system is really fun to work with, combat is engaging and fun. The graphics are a little dated but the cel-shading helps it. Story is unique, but the voice acting is...depressingly mediocre, despite the rather impressive voice talents that were hired to dub this game in English. This game was longer than the first, but felt shorter due to better pacing. Lots of extra stuff to do. Worldbuilding was fantastic and the literal world building, meaning the georama, was pretty great too! I'm proud of my reconstructed villages. However, all praise aside, this game is a pain in the ass to 100% in the PS4 trophy department. It will easily make you despise the game due to some missable achievements.

I really adore the very specific mood that Dark Cloud 2 and a ton of games of this era had: a sort of illustrative, vaguely French, soothing carnivalesque pastoral steampunk anime fantasy vibe... I know that is a LOT of descriptors but it was such a fucking thing I swear!!! Nights / Klonoa 2 / Professor Layton / Final Fantasy IX / Steambot Chronicles / Radiata Stories / Tail Concerto... There is some aesthetic affinity between all of these that feels really meaningful and worthy of a subgenre descriptor by someone more savvy and cogent about the origins of this style than my dumb ass!!!!! You know the vibe: Everything looks ADORABLE but kind of janky/haphazard at the same time and there are accordions and big loaves of bread in random peoples houses near gleaming amber hay fields where a bunch of purple hot air balloons are floating and your messenger-capped protagonist fights with some bulky tool or with something silly like a weaponized jack in the box and there are simultaneously cartoony medieval knights and monacled train conductors running around everywhere and there's definitely a big circus happening somewhere at some point! It's such a lovely storybook way to render a world and serves this wonderful game so well. Intensely overlong if you want to engage with even 30% of its side content (I think my childhood playthrough took me like 160 hours) but in a sweet and welcoming way that never feels burdensome. Maybe a little bit too saccharine to return to something this time-intensive as an adult, but this has good vibes and good fun that I remember fondly.