Yet another sequel in an RPG series has gone the way of the not-so-new-anymore graphical style of cel-shading. My only question is why? By stepping on my soapbox, I can now say it drives me insane when developers change the graphics like this (that means you too, Nintendo (Zelda)). Okay, back to reality. Does this cel-shading really matter? No. In fact, I'll be the first to admit that after a dozen or so hours of play, I didn't really notice it anymore.

The cel-shaded graphics aside, Dark Cloud 2's outside environments are, for the most part, very basically constructed. The inside environments are stunning. You will notice a bit of clipping in the distance while outside, but it is minimal considering the environments in the game are huge (which explains the lower-detailed textures).

Unlike the graphics, Dark Cloud 2 does stay consistent with its predecessor as far as audio is concerned. The music is brilliant, and the dialog stays fairly consistent throughout the game, offering you the typical storyline you'd expect. Now it's off to save the world...

Be prepared for a lot of story and very little gameplay to start. With the exception of a fighting a few clowns when you first pop in the Dark Cloud 2 DVD, you'll be treated (or forced) to watch a 45-minute movie. After this, the game slowly progresses and allows you to talk with villagers, which will eventually allow you to enter the randomly-generated dungeons typical of the series.

New to Dark Cloud 2 is the ability to take photographs anywhere you travel, including dungeons. These photos have a couple of purposes. First, you'll need to take pictures of certain objects or creatures, and then take the pictures to villagers who will then help you and possibly join your party. The second objective of the photographs is to allow you to get new ideas for inventions.

As you meander around, you'll find notes that will list three pictures to take. When you combine these pictures, you'll develop an idea for an invention. Then it's just a matter of collecting or buying the necessary parts to build your invention. Inventions range from new weapons to attribute items that will help you survive the dungeons.

Once again, as in the first game, Dark Cloud 2's main objective is to rebuild towns from parts you find in the dungeons (this time in the form of geostones). Different however, is that everything you do in the present will affect the outcome of the future. What this means is that as you build the present, you'll frequently travel to the future to find out what you have changed. But the basic overall premise of making everyone happy remains constant throughout the Dark Cloud series.

Just like every Role-Playing Game on the market, Dark Cloud 2 uses a point system to build up your weapons. As you progress through the game, you'll encounter more and more difficult enemies. However, you'll also find that a lot of people will join your group if you just satisfy their needs. Each extra character will also bring his or her own abilities. However, you'll find that only 3 characters can be in your group at one time, and you'll actually only play with your main two characters. The third character will help you revive dead or injured playable characters, help you gain extra abilities as you defeat monsters, or offer many other specialties of their own.

But even with all of this, Dark Cloud 2's difficulty is not all that hard. If you do run into problems defeating baddies, you'll always be able to go back to previous dungeons or dungeon floors to build up your stats, which will make progressing much easier. In fact, you may find that solving some of the puzzles actually occupies most of your time.

Dark Cloud 2's controller configuration is very well done, and very easy to use. Its menu system could be tweaked a bit to get around easier (I liked the first game's menu system better), but is still pretty good. I absolutely love the interactive fighting system that the Dark Cloud series offers, instead of 'taking turns' like in other RPGs.

Dark Cloud 2 again has a feeling of repetitiveness associated with it. But as with the first game, it was also very hard to put the controller down. The gameplay is so crisp that it will draw you in and never let go. This is great, because you're going to find that Dark Cloud 2 is a HUGE game, and worth every penny. Believe it or not, it took approximately 25 hours before finally clearing the first dungeon and rebuilding the first city (the others won't take that long). If you liked the original, Dark Cloud 2 is definitely worth buying. If you didn't, you may still want to rent and see if the many new features appeal to you.