Dark Chronicle

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Dark Chronicle (or Dark Cloud 2 in the United States) is a Computer role-playing game developed by Level-5 and released by SCE on February 17 2003. It is the sequel to the game Dark Cloud, also for the PlayStation 2, and features some of the same "world-building" mechanics. New to Dark Chronicle, however, is the concept of time travel, which plays heavily into the game's storyline. Players control two main characters, Max and Monica, who come from the "present" and the "future", respectively, to foil the maniacal plot of Emperor Griffon.

Contents

1 Main characters
2 Other Miscellanous Characters
3 Party Members
4 Places
5 Features
6 External links

Main characters

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Max in his hunter outfit

Max (voiced by Scott Menville) - A young inventor living with his father, his mother disappears when Max was young, in the "present". Max comes from a wealthy family, but has no interest in privileged living amongst the bourgeoise, preferring instead to work with an elderly friend, Cedric, in his mechanic shop. After a chance encounter, he overhears Flotsam - a homicidal clown - pressuring the town mayor to produce a certain item. Soon Max is caught up in a conflict of epic proportions, spanning both time and space. Working with Monica and other characters, Max must "rebuild" the past to ensure a prosperous future. His weapons of choice are various wrenches, hammers, and hand-held guns. He also has the ability to pilot a steampunk-inspired mech named "Steve". Max has one of three special amulets (atlamillia) that enable travel through time, his allowing movement from the past into the future.

Monica (voiced by Anndi McAfee) - A young princess, adept at both swordsmanship and magic, who hails from 100 years in the future. After the murder of her father at the hands of an enigmatic figure named Gaspard, she sets out on a journey through time to uncover a grim conspiracy. Her travels take her into the past, where she helps Max in a battle against the evil clown Flotsam, who, like her nemesis Gaspard, is a servant of Emperor Griffon. Afterwards she joins Max on the quest to rebuild time and put an end to Griffon's scheme. Her weapons of choice are various swords and special bracelets that enable her to use elemental magic. She also has the unusual ability to change into monsters, which avails her new combat options, as well as enabling her to talk to other monsters of the same "type". Monica has one of three special amulets (atlamillia) that enable travel through time, hers allowing movement from the future back into the past.

Griffon (voiced by Mark Hamill) - An evil emperor, he is the main villain in the game. Griffon is the owner of the Sun Atlamilla, which gives him immense power, which in turn he uses to distort time. Although he has this power, he still thrives to find the other two atlamilla which will give him even more power. Later on in the game he obtains the other two atlamilla and gains a new, even stronger form. Until later on in the game, the player would most likely expect Griffon to look strong in appearance due to the facts they learn about him. In spite of these preceptions Griffon actually looks like one of the moon people: a bunny. Griffon was actually a moon person named Sirus, who lived in the Moonflower Palace with his friend and possible love, Alexandra. When a warring enemy of her kingdom apparently killed her, he sank into grief, losing his moral compass and eventually coming to the conclusion that humans should be wiped from the planet. This train of thought eventually led to Sirus being possessed by the manifestation of evil: Dark Element. When Max and Monica defeated Sirus, Dark Element finnaly revealed his true form. Alexandra's spirit spoke to Sirus, telling him to not hate humans but to help save them. Regaining strength he fired a magic blast at Dark Element, only to be struck down. Dark Element then altered reality into: The Dream Spiral. Max and Monica had to fight their way through various mini-bosses to the top of the spiral where the enemy had summoned the Star of Oblivion to crash into the planet, giving the player a limited amount of time to defeat him.

Supporting Characters

Cedric (voiced by Paul Eiding) - Cedric owns the mechanic shop where Max works. He is good friends with Mayor Need. He is honest and is supportive of Max, and he often sends them off on their missions with, "Go get 'em!". He assists with the Blackstone Railroad.

Mayor Need (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) - Mayor Need has a squeaky, pathetic voice. He keeps the town of Palm Brinks in order, which often isn't a problem - things rarely happen in Palm Brinks. Despite this lack of pressure, Mayor Need is always nervous-sounding. This is explainably from the pressure from circus ringleader Flotsam, who works for Griffon. Part of Mayor Need's job is to keep what occurs outside the town walls a secret from the townspeople, because he thinks it would trigger them into panic. He eventually reveals it to Cedric. He has a daughter called Claire, and has a great love for Roasted Chestnuts, an item which Max can find in Rainbow Butterfly Wood.

Flotsam (voiced by Phil Proctor) - Flotsam is the leader of the circus troupe that regularly visits Palm Brinks (seemingly their only outside contact). He wears face-paints continuously and is comically fat. Despite this, he is very agile, seemingly thanks to some magical powers he possesses. He works for Griffon, who only left the city of Palm Brinks standing because somewhere in it was housed the red Atlamillia. Flotsam pressures Mayor Need to find it, threatening to tell the townspeople about the outside world if he doesn't find it soon. He even goes so far as to hurt Mayor Need. Max witnesses this, and Flotsam sees his Atlamillia hanging from his neck. He pursues him, using his circus elephant, Linda, and a magical mechanised robot Halloween, to try and kill Max and steal the Atlamillia. When he fails and Max escapes on the Blackstone, he does a drive-by on it, and as a last ditch effort, he lands on the top of the train and reveals dynamite strapped to his body, and threatens to detonate them to take out both himself and the train. Monica then appears and chops the dynamite from his body and throws him off the train. This damages his body so much that he is forced to replace several limbs and body parts with mechanical pieces. Afterwards he somehow joins forces with the Dark Genie and appears as a boss in the optional dungeon of the Zelmite Mines, now called "Metal Flotsam". Once defeated, Metal Flotsam tells Max and Monica that they won't be able to defeat his "new boss" before exploding.

Jurak (voiced by Gregg Berger) - Jurak is a magical tree spirit. Max and Monica revive him by restoring his origin point, previously wiped out by Griffon, for Jurak was too much of a threat to him.

Jurak is viewed as a very wise old tree, a trove of information. Despite this, he talks extremely slowly, each word drawn out at the end, and since being erased from existence has a slow memory. Max and Monica have a lot of trouble getting the answers from him. When fully re-born, his "nostrils" and branches form a kind of line of shops, where Max and Monica can buy elusive items such as Monster Transformation badges and gold paint.

Conda and the Firbits (Conda voiced by Armin Shimerman) - These dwarf-like people live in Sindain. There could have been many of them, but only seven remain. Conda leads them. The Firbits are suspicious of humans, and share a love for grape juice. Monica cunningly lies that they have grape juice in order to talk to them. She does have a certain fondness of them. The Firbits possess a huge machine that can create environments, and help Max and Monica replace the origin points, such as rivers, trees and houses. The machine requires Geostones to create new elements of the environment, which can be found in the dungeons.

Holly/The Rainbow butterfly (voiced by Jennifer Hale) - According to the Firbits, a kind of dwarf-like people who live in the forests of Sindain, anyone who laid eyes on the Mystical Rainbow Butterfly, would never leave the forest again (the culprit ends up to be a self-obsessed fish called King Mardan). The leader of the Firbits, Conda, advises Max and Monica that if they should see the Rainbow butterfly, they should "Just pretend you didn't see it."

Holly was a woman who lived with the Firbits for a while. Despite being a human (which Firbits were generally suspicous of), Holly is referred to most highly among the Firbits. She is described as the sweetest kindest soul there ever was. She used to cook the best potato pies, and this leads Max to believe that Holly could be his mother, who also cooked good potato pies, his favorite food. Eventually it is revealed that Holly and The Rainbow Butterfly are one and the same. Holly was a young Rainbow Butterfly, but she got caught in some webbing. She struggled, but couldn't get free. She waited for her untimely death, but some Firbits came along and freed her. She was overjoyed. She fully matured into a full-grown Rainbow Butterfly, and earned many magical powers. She decided to change into a human, and reward the Firbits for helping her. But the forest beckoned her, and she had to leave them. The Rainbow Butterfly grows wilder in the forest. Max and Monica defeat her, and she changes back to Holly. Holly tells them that they had just saved her in defeating her wilder self, but had to change back. She leaves a note explaining everything to the Firbits, who still mourn terribly for her.

Pau (voiced by Jeannie Elias) - Pau is a rabbit, or possibly a moon person, who lives in Venicco. He looks after a Shigura, a sea creature who is similar in appearance to the pokemon, Lapras but is not unlike the Loch Ness Monster. He has named the animal Shingala, and is utterly dedicated to him. He requires our heroes to retrieve something which will help heal a wound found on Shingala's body. But Shingala is kidnapped and hypnotised by a villan working for Griffon (who also killed Monica's father). Max and Monica manage to destroy the device controlling Shingala, and the device controlling the other Shigura at Shigura Village. Shingala must return to his family, and Pau realises this, and bids him a mournful farewell.

Shigura are said to flock to Vennico at a certain time of year, bringing Luna stones with them- a valuable resource. Shingala was accidentally left behind by the rest of the Shigura tribe. Note: Pau can be very useful as a tag-along character. In dungeons, he makes the full map appear, signals Gate Key monsters, and warns Max and Monica about mimics.

Gaspard (voiced by Rino Romano) - Gaspard works for Griffon, and confronts Max and Monica many times throughout the game. He is the one who kills Monica's father in the future. He has white hair, and wears a cloak like a vampire, and has a sword that looks like a bigger version of the "Serpent slicer". He is often seen piloting a huge boat/blimp hybrid. His evil deeds include making embers rain down on Heim Rada (this prevents Max and Monica from building wooden structures as an origin point here, for they would be destroyed by the future), opening fire on the Lighthouse at Starlight Canyon, murdering Monica's father, and controlling the minds of the Shigura (which was actually carried out by Dr. Jamming, though Gaspard was behind it). In his final showdown, he transforms into a huge, red firebreathing monster. Once he is defeated, facts about Gaspard's troubled past are revealed, and when he dies, we see that he is re-united with his mother, and he is not totally evil.

Other Miscellanous Characters

Elena (voiced by Kath Soucie) - Max's mother and the wife of Gerald. When Griffon's plot to take possession of the atlamillia is uncovered, the resistance in Monica's time comes up with a plan to protect the holder of the red atlamillia. Unfortunately, the red atlamillia did not exist in Monica's time, it existed 100 years in the past. So, Elena volunteered herself to protect the holder of the red atlamillia, which was Gerald. During Elena's time with Gerald, she eventually fell in love with him and the two got married. Elena gave birth to Max a few months later and cared for him for the first five years. However, as the war against Griffon was intensifying, Elena needed to return to her time to support the resistance. She meets Max again in the main laboratory of the Lunatic Wisdom Laboratory. It is here where she finally reveals to Max that she is from the future just like Monica. She eventually plays a role in helping Max and Monica to defeat Emperor Griffon by giving useful advice. After Griffon is defeated, Elena says her final farewell to Max and the two never see each other again. However, since Max had wanted to tell all about the adventures, he promised to write a letter telling everything about their journey (the letter is Max's narration) and would leave it at a certain place so that it would stay there for a century, thus enabling her to read it.

Galen Agaris (voiced by James Horan) - Leader of the resistance group in the Gundorada Workshop. His origin point is erased by Gaspard but is brought back by Max and Monica's actions. He plays a small role in giving the orders on the Paznos fortress. He is a friend of the now deceased King Raybrandt.

King Raybrandt - The father of Monica who met his unfortunate end at the hands of Gaspard at the very beginning of the game, while Monica looked on in disbelief.

Doctor Osmond (voiced by Michael Bell) - A Luna Lab researcher in the Lunatic Wisdom Laboratory. He plays a role in the game by helping Max and Monica with a troubled Shigura by giving them an electric worm to short out the mind control device on the Shigura and manning the controls of the Ixion.

Doctor Knobb (voiced by Ryan O'Donohue) - The director of the Lunatic Wisdom Laboratory. He plays a role by giving Max and Monica a device to help them communicate with Shiguras and was one of the developers of the Ixion. He is a child.

Doctor Jamming (in Monica's time) (voiced by Cam Clarke) - The grandson of the late Dr. Jaming, who fought against Max and Monica before having a change of heart. He further improves his grandfather's invention by applying it towards the Ixion.

Garek - The plant manager of the Gundorada Workshop who gives Max a time bomb to destroy the Fire Squall of the past.

Alexandra (voiced by Jeannie Elias) - A queen who became a close friend of Sirus. When her kingdom was attacked she stood her ground, despite Sirus's pleas that she escape, and was killed. She shows up as a ghost when Max and Monica arrive at the Moon Flower Palace for the second time ,and begs of them to restore the front garden of the palace to its former self; hoping that it would open up Sirus's heart to his good side.

Party Members

Olive She has heard about the Finny Frenzy and you have to win it for her to impress her. Sells you Lures, and gives you support, pumping you up.

Rufio A hooded Moon Person who wants you to take a picture of the Moon so he can take it with him on the journey. He will sell you elements, and gives you bonus damage against undead monsters

Mina Has a disease which will be cured by playing Spheda and repairing the time distortions. She sells clothes for Monica and can heal you fully once.

Dr Dell Joins you when you have to cure Lin (aka Crest). Will sell you Medicine and cures abnormal statuses.

Granny Rosa She's hard of hearing, so you need to spell out your request. She sells amulets and makes cheese.

Gordon He needs Holy Water to help one of his trees at Max's house. He sells some Georama parts and gives you bonus attack points on plant monsters.

Fabio Wants you to catch a large fish called a Nobby. Once you do, he will sell you all kinds of fishing bait, and makes it for you when in dungeons.

Aunt Polly Needs you to deliver 20 loaves of Crusty Bread to Mortons house, but the party he plans is cancelled, so you keep it for yourself. She sells you bread and it's ingredients.

Adel The Maid at Max's house, she has lost her self esteem, and wants to try making clothes again. She needs you to bring her the items needed for the clothes. She will sell you fruit and gradually raises the Weapon Hit Points(WHP) of unequipped weapons.

Priest Bruno Requires you to solve the Candles riddle in his church. he sells recovery items and will revive you from death one time.

Parn He has painted a picture of a beautiful woman called Julia and wishes to bring her to life with Gold Paint. The Gold Paint can be obtained from the golden eggs in Jurak's fully restored form. He sells you paint, and you can escape from dungeons at any time.

Sherrif Blinkhorn wishes to test your fitness by challenging you to run to the boat by the lake and back again inside the time limit. He will offer advice about monsters.

Ferdinand Ferdinand wants some Roasted Chestnuts for a meal. He will sell you Premium Chicken and makes it when in a dungeon.

Stewart The butler at Max's house, he is an avid auction bidder and asks of increasing amounts of money off you so he can buy a book. He will heal you automatically and sells you shoes for Max.

Claire Claire loves flowers and wants to see a picture of a strange flower- a Himarra monster should do the trick. She adds 2 to the enemies' rage chip and will sell gift capsules.

Donny He needs to complete his coin collection with the Protector Coin and the Dark Coin. Donny gives you free items the more photo scoops you find. He also sells common items and in dungeons opens locked doors, treasure chests and sells repair items.

Cedric Automatically the first member of your party. He repairs your Ridepod and gives you bonus points for upgrades.

Gerald He won't be impressed until you show him an upgraded Trumpet Gun. He sells you guns and gives you bonus points when upgrading them.

Julia Parn's wife joins you when she is brought to life. She bewitches enemies within a certain range and sells armbands for Monica.

Borneo Joins you with Cedric after you reach Heim Rada. He boosts the chance of Georama items (such as Light Element and Sugar Cane, for example) being dropped when you defeat a monster, and he sells you Ores.

Erik Joins you with Cedric after you reach Heim Rada. He makes bombs and sells gunpowder.

Corinne Challenges you to hide-and-seek, because she think's she's lucky. She sells hair ornaments and you will always get an "angel" in the spin the coin game in the dungeons.

Milane Challenges you to level up a sword to prove your strength. Sells weapons and tools and gives you bonus points when upgrading sword.

Lin Automatically becomes your support character after she is cured of her illness. Gives you bonus points when upgrading armbands. Automatically leaves your party and does not return once you reach the Lighthouse at the end of Starlight Canyon.

Places

Palm Brinks - Palm Brinks is Max's hometown, and the town on the entire land which hasn't been wiped out. It is a familiar village, where everyone knows everyone else. It is under the rule of Mayor Need, and it's large gates are shut and the Blackstone Railroad closed to prevent the people of Palm Brinks from seeing the outside world. The only way to get to the outside world is under the town, through the underwater channel. The towns features include a lake which harbours a ghost, which is only revealed through a camera, a huge mansion which belongs to Max's father, a church, bakery, store, repair shop, tea shop, among others.

Sindain - Sindain is a thriving forest, which can be peaceful as much as it can be dangerous. In a clearing lives the relatively harmless firbits, moustached, elf-like creatures. But there is also the dangerous Rainbow Butterfly wood, which harbours such things as attacking flowers, Chimera, skeleton soldiers, pixies and even serpents. In the middle of the forst, you should find the "handsome" King Mardan, a pompous fish who hypnotises anything which bothers it, and Master Utan, a large, but friendly ape-like creature. In the future, Jurak lives in peace and harmony in the forest.

Balance Valley - Balance Valley is so called because it's houses stand on four natural pillars. This changes how you use Georama here, because each must have a near equal amount of weight on it for the future to be restored. The dungeon here is named Starlight Canyon, which is made up of canyons separated by wooden bridges. Unique creatures here include rams, "toy dogs", drakes, and yo-yo robots. The easiest way to travel here is by vulture- holding meat above your head should do the trick. Interesting sights include the Giant Yorda Tree and Bargas Valley, as well as a brilliant Lighthouse. In the future, Balance Valley is a highly useful place to shop, as well as being home to a Great Sage named Crest and the magnificent and powerful Moon Crystal.

Venicco - A beautiful beach, graced by blue skies. There is a cave here where you can find a reclusive bunny, but the sea should be a welcome delight, especially to young boys who have never seen it before. Wooden piers need to be made and placed on the water before placing other things. In the future, a laboratory will be built there. The dank, dark and dripping caverns are interesting to explore until you find the spear-wielding fish and pirates who inhabit it. But venture far enough inside, and you should find a magnificent, mysterious mural unlike any seen before it. And come at the right season, and you might spot some Shigura!When fishing, you will catch many round fish called "Bon".

Heim Rada - A small flat land which sits below an active volcano. The path leading to the summit of the volcano and to the crater is inhabited by dangerous fire based monsters. When Max and Monica arrive at the place, they find falling flames of ember which are created by a big machine called the Fire Squall. This machine takes magma from the volcano and uses it to make falling embers rain down on Heim Rada. The machine was placed there by Gaspard to prevent Max and Monica from restoring origin points and therefore making the Georama ineffective. The area is completely uninhabitable when Max and Monica arrive, but with a little Georama and destruction of the fire squall; the place becomes a three level weapons workshop called Gundorada Workshop. It is here where the weapon Paznos will be constructed and used as a counterattack against Griffon's forces.

Kazarov Stonehenge - An area where an ancient civilization possibly once thrived. The ruins allow a unique convergence of time to take place which is called a Chrono-Union. A Chrono-Union allows an object or a person to exist in two different times for a short period. The Chrono-Union requires four elemental gems- Fire, Wind, Water and Earth, which are found on four altars in the dungeons Max and Monica have visited before. A Star Key is required to pass through the Star gates which guard it.

Moon Flower Palace - A palace inhabited by the evil Emperor Griffon. The player will eventually find that this palace is home to one of the strongest enemies in the game.

Zelmite Mine - A mine in the town of Palm Brinks which appears to be abandoned for quite some time. Max is sent here to retrieve some Zelmite to be used as fuel for the Blackstone. It is here where he will encounter an unexpected friend (Monica) and foe (Dark Genie, Final Boss). It is unlocked after you finish the Dream spiral and defeat the Dark Element.

Features

Dark Chronicle has been widely praised by reviewers from sites and magazines such as Netjak, Official Playstation Magazine and GamePro for its wide array of features, minigames and gameplay elements.

Three of the most widely known features of Dark Chronicle are Fishing, Spheda, and Georama. Players can eat the fish they catch, or raise them in a fully-fledged "fish tank" feature and enter them in contests such as a race.

Spheda, the name of Dark Chronicle's version of golf, is the Italian word for "challenge." The engine for Spheda takes cues from the Hot Shots Golf series, though nuances such as the "golf ball" changing color with each bounce add an extra challenge to Spheda.

The town-building mechanic, called "Georama," tasks players with rebuilding destroyed towns using objects (such as houses, bridges and sushi stands) made from materials they buy or find in dungeons. Along with rebuilding the infrastructure, the town must be populated with inhabitants from Max's home town of Palm Brinks. The goal is to complete as many of the ten objectives for each map as possible for each Georama map. While some objectives are requisite for advancing the plot, most are optional and provide bonus items when completed.

Other features include photography, an invention system, a powerful and customizable robot that can be used for a limited amount of time in battle, and the ability to recruit Palm Brinks characters to aid you with various bonuses in dungeons (although it should be noted that these characters never "fight" alongside you in the traditional sense).

Another notable feature of Dark Chronicle (and its predecessor, Dark Cloud) is the focus upon weapon growth instead of the traditional focus on character growth (in terms of statistics). When monsters are defeated, they drop Absorpbtion Points (ABS), which, when collected, raise the experience of the weapon that dealt the final blow. When a weapon accumulates enough ABS, it will level up and gain Synthesis Points. Synthesis Points are used to infuse a weapon with an item that has been "spectrumized," which results in the weapon gaining specific stats depending upon the item(s) that were spectrumized. Almost every item in the game can be spectrumized and synthesized to weaponry. Weapons themselves can also be spectrumized, but the resulting spectrumized weapon won't carry over much of its stats unless it's level 5 or higher. In this way it is possible to level-up one weapon, synthesize several things to it to boost desirable stats, and then spectrumize the weapon and synthesize it to another one. Weapons also have the capability to be "Built-Up." In order to be built-up, a weapon must meet certain criteria. In most cases, a weapon just needs to have at least a certain number of several stats in order to be built-up, though some weapons also require you to have defeated certain types of enemies. Some weapons can be built-up into more than one new weapon. When a weapon is built-up, it gains strength and starts over at level 1. Built-up weapons are much stronger than weapons that have not been built-up, and tend to earn more synthesis points when they level up.

Spoilers end here.

External links

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