What made me play this? I didn't enjoy the first game (see my review for the first title here)... I guess I just wanted to give Level-5 the benefit of the doubt to see if they made a Dark Cloud 1 to Dark Cloud 2 leap in quality... well, they didn't... :(
While some things they did here are improvements to the first game, it is definitely a "2 steps forward/2 steps back" situation...
The battle system is more fun to play than the original, but it is far too easy... there is no challenge whatsoever in the combat which leads to the game becoming terribly boring before too long.
The story, music, and characters are pretty terrible - and one of the more egregious things is the lack of voice acting and music throughout... it kills any emotional resonance this game attempted to build. It all becomes rather laughable.
The opening is hilarious and sounds like a damn parody... like I just have to talk about it - so minor spoilers ahead, but this happens within the first 3 minutes of the game...
You play as the President of the United States as New York City literally gets nuked to oblivion... upon which you somehow awaken magically in a new world... finding yourself in the city of Ding Dong Dell, a city inhabited by talking animals, you come to befriend a cat-eared child prince(Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum) and help him try to reclaim his kingdom... it is some real silly shit. Beyond surreal... like even describing it, I cannot believe it is a real premise to a game's story...
The game's sole saving grace was the kingdom building aspect, and its addictive quality... but at the same time, it disgusts me that this is the best part, as it is something you could find from the mobile game market...
Hard pass even for JRPG fans... hell, I don't even know if fans of the first game will like this.
While some things they did here are improvements to the first game, it is definitely a "2 steps forward/2 steps back" situation...
The battle system is more fun to play than the original, but it is far too easy... there is no challenge whatsoever in the combat which leads to the game becoming terribly boring before too long.
The story, music, and characters are pretty terrible - and one of the more egregious things is the lack of voice acting and music throughout... it kills any emotional resonance this game attempted to build. It all becomes rather laughable.
The opening is hilarious and sounds like a damn parody... like I just have to talk about it - so minor spoilers ahead, but this happens within the first 3 minutes of the game...
You play as the President of the United States as New York City literally gets nuked to oblivion... upon which you somehow awaken magically in a new world... finding yourself in the city of Ding Dong Dell, a city inhabited by talking animals, you come to befriend a cat-eared child prince(Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum) and help him try to reclaim his kingdom... it is some real silly shit. Beyond surreal... like even describing it, I cannot believe it is a real premise to a game's story...
The game's sole saving grace was the kingdom building aspect, and its addictive quality... but at the same time, it disgusts me that this is the best part, as it is something you could find from the mobile game market...
Hard pass even for JRPG fans... hell, I don't even know if fans of the first game will like this.