Moth Plays Dark Cloud 2: Chapter 2, Episode 4: Let's Build Some Stuff!

In which we drop a few houses into the Sindain Georama, run another dungeon floor, get in a little fishing, and make a couple of upgrade parts for the Ridepod.

Before I recorded this episode, I did some backtracking for the first time to work on my weapons and farm materials, weapon upgrade items, and money. I'd like to take a minute to talk about the weapon synth system in Dark Cloud 2 in detail.

The most important game mechanics in Dark Cloud 2 revolve around the weapon upgrade system. Unlike most RPGs, where weapons just add an attack bonus and possibly some extra effects to your characters' attack capabilities, in Dark Cloud 2, your weapons ARE your characters' attack capabilities. Weapons have HP, experience points, a full set of stats, and customizable special attributes. Each stat on a weapon adjusts its effectiveness against different enemy types, and some enemies take more damage from certain types of weapons than others.

Monica's weapons are very straightforward--she uses a variety of swords and magic bracelets. There are many different swords you can find, buy, or build up from base weapons; the same goes for her armlets (and all of Max's weapons).

With Max, it's a little more complicated. Max has three different types of melee weapon and four different types of gun:

Wrenches: Max's main melee weapon class. Medium speed, heavy damage, with a marked favoritism toward Smash damage and high durability.
Hammers: Big, bulky, and slow, hammers are powerful but clumsy; Max's most powerful weapon is a hammer.
Spheda clubs: Golf clubs that aren't really meant to be used as weapons but can be for...whatever reason you'd want to. Best left for playing golf, not fighting monsters.
Pistols: Single-shot, weak handguns with little stopping power.
Machine guns: Rapid-fire guns whose damage profile isn't any better than pistols, but their rapid fire capacity makes them more useful in combat.
Grenade launchers: Big, bombastic hand cannons that pack tremendous Smash damage in their explosive rounds. Unfortunately, they're slow and have less range.
Lasers: Easily the best choice of ranged weapon for Max, lasers fire powerful beams charged with elemental energy.

Now, so far in this Let's Play, you've seen me build up a couple of base weapons. The thing is, there's a trick to making the best, strongest weapons you can get...and it isn't endlessly building up your starting weapons. No, there comes a point later where you're going to find something that significantly outclasses anything you've got...but then what? All the hard work you put into building up that first Wrench is just gone?

Not quite!

The cool thing here is that once a weapon has outlived its usefulness, you can Synth Break the weapon. Any weapon that's reached level +5 or higher can be Spectrumized into a special Synth Sphere that can be used to upgrade another weapon. Breaking a weapon to use to upgrade a weapon won't retain its full stats, but it will retain a decent portion of its power and offer a dramatic attack boost to the new weapon. It will also transfer over any special attributes such as Poison, Absorb, Critical, and so forth--things I'll be explaining later in the series as I obtain the necessary materials to demonstrate.

Anyway, back to the story...

Max and Monica are still traversing the Rainbow Butterfly Wood in search of Geostones and Holly. Deep in the forest, they encounter a branching path...with one path sealed by a powerful and mysterious barrier. Is this another obstacle they need to overcome in their efforts to restore Jurak's Origin Point?

You'd think so, but actually not. The dungeons for chapters 2-5 each have one of these sealed branch paths. The paths can't be opened until chapter 6, which is the only chapter of the game that doesn't have its own dungeon. More on that later.

What are Max and Monica going to find in the deepest part of the Rainbow Butterfly Woods?

Find out in the next episode!

Comments

[gamexpert1990]

The thing is, there's a trick to making the best, strongest weapons you can get...and it isn't endlessly building up your starting weapons. No, there comes a point later where you're going to find something that significantly outclasses anything you've got...but then what? All the hard work you put into building up that first Wrench is just gone?

Not quite!

The cool thing here is that once a weapon has outlived its usefulness, you can Synth Break the weapon. Any weapon that's reached level +5 or higher can be Spectrumized into a special Synth Sphere that can be used to upgrade another weapon.

Well, it is kinda possible to more or less just build up that first wrench (maybe not to get the best and strongest weapons, but just enough to upgrade it each time with enough Crystals and barely manage through each dungeon) at least if you either ¹have plenty enough patience to grind and want a bit of a self-imposed challenge or ²didn't really know the wonderful benefits of Synth Break and wanted to keep as many weapons as you could carry, while mostly relying on Steve to take care of everything. Guess which one of those two mindsets my younger self on my very first playthrough fell under...