History YMMV / DarkCloud

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Frequently. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nsfOU9zmMk&hd=1 Opening/Main Theme]] is a great melody.

* ThatOneSidequest: Use "Items Only" to defeat enemies. Especially when the level is populated with high-flying GoddamnBats, and items are ''expensive''.

* [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer Sidetracked By City-Building]]: Fishing can be very addicting.

** On the other hand, if you've got retro sensibilities, or don't care for the style Level-5 eventually developed, this game is an example of [[FirstInstallmentWins]] for you.

* TierInducedScrappy: Goro and/or Xiao. They both benefit drastically when upgraded properly, which means they start very weak, and seemingly useless, causing most players to try them out, and then write them off with no second thoughts. Played with, in that the game's upgrade system can turn any character into a total BadAss. Ungaga and Osmond are the real worst characters overall, but avoid this due to being cool as hell.

** Weapon Build Up. The mechanic itself would have been fine if it weren't for several of Toan's/Xiao's weapons wanting Anti-Metal Stats. Anti-Metal is the hardest to find (nobody sells Metal Breakers in the entire game outside of fishing, unless you don't mind forking 3k for Opals/Diamonds). The only way to get Anti-Metal without fishing, and pre-Fairy King is to use Bombs on Statues in the first dungeon. However, you can't buy bombs until Queens unless you [GuideDangIt knew ahead of time the trick about Gaffer's Buggy]. This means that half of your weapon upgrade paths are just outright unavailable unless you get a Bandit's Slingshot. On the subject of fishing...

** This is the first full-scale production by Creator/Level5 - and it ''barely'' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness resembles the style they've become known for]] in the late 00s and New Tens. This was before they started GrowingTheBeard, and even the sense of humour seems far more subdued.

** The gameplay itself is quite dated, and can come off as a little more annoying due to its lack of AntiFrustrationFeatures. Dungeons seem to go on forever, power-ups are ''limited'' (The game [[GuideDangIt never tells you this anyways]], meaning one or two characters will just [[CantCatchUp get all the power-ups and become the most powerful while the late-joiners lag behind]]), and the random generation of floors seems to eternally hate you. The plot itself contains some of the seriousness we knew Level 5 to be, but is full of {{Narm}} due to the engrish and wanton spelling errors.

* FanDumb: When the game was being advertised, PS2 fans took the "Zelda Killer" angle and milked it for all it was worth in several [[TakeThat take thats]] directed at the Nintendo's rival series, Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda. They ate crow when ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' only did mildly well and Zelda retained its crown.

** La Saia. The entirety of the Shipwreck can be a little off-setting with its eerie, melancholic music and when you reach the last level, you're confronted with a music box that teleports you to a bright cathedral where a quite normal-looking young woman tells you she's been waiting for you for a long time. The screen then [[JumpScare flashes twice, each one sounding like a huge crack]], the twinkly music abruptly stops, and suddenly she's a witch-like lady that is ''really'' [[ThatOneBoss hard to beat if you don't know what you're doing]]. Oh, and the music changes into a OneWomanWail ScareChord combo.

* GameBreaker: Synthspheres. Characters in this game are about as strong as their weapons, and Synthsphere's are weapons turned into weapon-attachments. Equipping just about any one to a given weapon will max out at least 2 stats. Consider that you can make synthspheres from the weapons of your strongest characters, and attach them to the weapons of your weakest, and it becomes an easy way to subvert CantCatchUp.

** Toan has the biggest weapon pool, the longest combo (which ends in an extra-strength attack), and two invincible charge-attacks. His hitboxes are also very nice, and he can easily hit multiple foes. Further, his weapons tend to the best in the game, with high stats across the board. [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome It's easy to spend nearly the entire game using Toan, switching to other characters only when the game forces you to.]]

** Ruby's weapons are largely based on their Magic attribute, and as such the player often has to manage her active elements to exploit enemy weaknesses if they want to get good mileage out of her, which is fine, but slows the game down. That said, she's the only ranged attacker with a charge-attack, and a close-range charge-attack that strikes the enemy's weakness can do more than respectible damage. Unfortunately, being close-range negates the point of using projectiles, and, while all ranged character's damage drops off as distance is added, Ruby is affected the most by this. Further, of the long-range characters, Ruby has to stop moving the most when attacking because her animations take longer, which means making herself unnecessarily vulnerable, especially when combined with her need to get close to deal her best damage. Ruby also has the interesting property of 'half-charged-attacks', wherein she begins charging an attack, but fires before completing the charge, which deals markedly more damage than standard attack, without the extra damage to your weapon of a 'proper' charged attack, which means she can be the most efficient damage-dealer in the game. Unfortunately, this technique means she has to stand still even longer, exacerbating her main weakness. Her and Xiao gain weapons with the 'steal' trait, which sometimes gives the player items when they hit enemies, and does not affect the enemy's likelihood to drop an item on defeat. This makes them both very easy on the player's wallet, and means Ruby is an efficient attacker in two ways.

* CharacterTiers: Toan and Ruby are often considered to be the best characters, short-range and long-range respectively.
** Toan has the biggest weapon pool, most of which get the job done just fine, and he's quick and simple to use. He's also the main protagonist, so there's further incentive to focus on him rather than others.
** Goro's weapons often have a high attack power and his charge attack can deal huge amounts of damage when executed correctly. However, he's rather clunky to use compared to Toan due to his hammer/axe having a longer delay between strikes, and being a bit inaccurate.
** Ungaga... well, by the time you get him, you've already got a good close-range attacker, so there's not much incentive to stick with him. It's quite easy to forget he exists, in all honesty, which is a shame. Just get the 'Mirage' weapon for him and synthsphere something onto it; that should get you through most of his Limited Zones.
** Ruby's weapons are largely based on their Magic attribute, and as such she boasts a good magic attack power and attack range across the board, with the strongest ultimate long-range weapon out of the long-range fighters (300 MAG at max). Her being more, um... visually pleasing may also be a factor, but that depends on one's disposition.
** Xiao is essentially a weaker version of Ruby, and gets a lot of flack for having a weak starting weapon, but this can be remedied through grinding. If you can get your hands on a 'Double Impact' and synthsphere the weapon she's been using up to that point onto it, you won't have much trouble getting through her Limited Zones.
** Osmond is slightly stronger than Xiao overall, but still weaker than Ruby. The fact you get him at the eleventh hour of the game doesn't really help, as you won't have time to upgrade him if you're playing through normally. Besides, you can just pull a [[DeathRay 'Hexa Blaster']] out of a big chest in the Gallery of Time and you'll be sorted.

* ThatOneBoss: La Saia, who has a bunch of ice attacks that can hit you from pretty much anywhere. One in particular freezes you, regardless of whether you have an anti-freeze amulet equipped, and lets her get 1-2 powerful shots in. Bring healing items. And throbbing cherries.

* TierInducedScrappy: Goro. He's slow, has a terrible attack range, only hits ''once'', and is most likely knocked back if you try to use charged attacks. He's more or less why you need bombs in the game.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Seda in the first game.

* ThatOneBoss: La Saia, who has a bunch of ice attacks that can freeze you irregardless of whether you wear an anti-freeze amulet or not.

** Mess up in the first 'Duel' against the Master Jacket? [[spoiler: The screen fades to black ''just'' as Toan gets decapitated.]]
** Mess up in the 'Duel' against the Killer Snake? [[spoiler: The screen slowly fades to red as the snake ''eats Toan''. Self-censored with the camera, but it's obvious what is happening. Toan's fearful expression makes it worse.]]

** Goro's weapons often have a high attack power and his charge attack can deal huge amounts of damage when executed correctly. However, he is rather clunky to use compared to Toan due to his hammer/axe having a longer delay between strikes, and being a bit inaccurate.
** Ungaga... well, by the time you get him, you've already got a good close-range attacker, so there's not much incentive to stick with him. It's quite easy to forget he exists, in all honesty, which is a shame.
** Ruby's weapons are largely based on their Magic attribute, and as such boasts a good magic attack power and range across the board, with the strongest ultimate long-range weapon out of the long-range fighters (300 MAG at max). Her being more, um... visually pleasing may also be a factor, but that depends on one's disposition.

** Osmond is slightly stronger than Xiao overall, but still weaker than Ruby. The fact you get him at the eleventh hour of the game doesn't really help, as you won't have time to upgrade him if you're playing through normally. Besides, you can just pull a Hexa Blaster out of a big chest in the Gallery of Time and you'll be sorted.

* CharacterTiers: Toan and Ruby are obviously the best characters in the game. Toan has the biggest weapon selection, a really good glitch, and Ruby has the best range ''and'' damage to boot. Xiao is...okay but it takes a bit of time before she gets really good. It's easy to let her fall behind because Ruby can just be ''that much better'' with ''less effort''. Ungaga and Osmond can also be pretty good too, but by the time they join, Toan and Ruby can pretty much be destroying all the enemies with little need for them. Goro...forget it. Slow attacker, has some powerful weapons but having a powerful weapon doesn't help if you can't combo at melee range or you have an ''incredibly'' inaccurate attack. He is useful for a boss fight, but you don't even need him for ''that''...

* GoddamnedBats: The dragon enemies that shoot fireballs from a distance, and tackle you when close, causing Stop status.