Moth Plays Dark Cloud 2: Intermission - Another Sindain, and More Recruiting

In which we take a break from the action and story to recruit several more citizens into the party, and also take a look at a more built-up Sindain from a different save file.

So I've decided that for three of the Georamas, I'm going to do these little intermissions to show you how vastly different the Georama looks on another save file. I only have one playthrough of the game saved on my PS4 other than this (all my others are old PS2 saves), so I can only show you one example each of how I build up different versions of the Georamas, but I do have some ghetto-style oldschool screenshots (taken with a camera, gasp!) from two previous playthroughs which, if interested, you can peruse here:

2009 playthrough (SDTV, standard AV connection)
2013 playthrough (HDTV, component connection)

...my 2013 Heim Rada is going to be hard to top. O_o;;

So anyway, the three Georamas I'll be doing guided tour intermissions for are Sindain, Veniccio, and Heim Rada. I won't bother doing an intermission for Balance Valley, because honestly? Balance Valley is a boring and ugly Georama that doesn't really allow for much in the way of free creativity. Between its limited landspace and its weird restrictions, there's no real joy to be found in building up Balance Valley--you just get it over with and move on. Veniccio and Heim Rada are where the real fun is--these two Georamas (chapters 4 and 5 respectively) really give you room to stretch your creativity.

There WILL be an intermission after chapter 3, mind. It'll be a special episode devoted entirely to Dark Cloud 2's love-it-or-hate-it golf minigame, Spheda.

So what will our heroes find waiting for them when they board the train for Balance Valley?

Find out in the next episode!

Comments

[vladspellbinder]

As someone who normally hates fishing and golf minigames I found Spheda to be fun and enjoyable and always made sure to get the best scores just to get the best scores, since there was little use for the medals after getting The Outfit. (At least if you were not planning on cheating with tags).
I think it was because for most golfing minigames you have a few set courses with little variance but with Spheda, since the levels themselves were randomized you never had the same experience twice, even replaying a level to try and get the best score. To some that is a problem but to me it was a bonus and made me really enjoy playing the game. So put me firmly in the "love it" camp there.
Expect for in the sewer. Spheda there. Low ceilings AND tight corners AND "water traps"? One of thoses is a good challenge, two makes it tough but sssooooo rewarding when you pull it off, all three is just ing you and makes it so frustrating. (I still parred each one of them because I'm a 100%er on games I really enjoy and I really enjoyed Dark Cloud 2 Spheda.)

As for fishing and fish racing (which I don't think you've reached yet in your current play through but I think you mentioned tangentially in one of the other blogs) minigames I found fishing itself to be somewhat enjoyable and not overly tedious like most such minigames but wasn't a real fan of it and I didn't care much for the racing.
I did the very bare minimum of the racing stuff I could get away with to get everything needed.

[MythrilMoth]

4862134
Yeah, I don't get too invested in the fish races either. The fishing CONTEST, on the other hand, I tend to obsess over just a wee bit. But my luck is never exceptionally great--don't think I ever placed higher than second EVER.

I hate hate hate hate HATE Spheda in the UWC. It's also frequently a pain in the RBW. Starlight Canyon...it's hit or miss there, depending on what kind of bullshit path you get. Of course, the two BEST places for Spheda are Ocean's Roar Cave and Moonflower Palace. Hell, Moonflower Palace is practically the game giving you a BREAK. It's almost impossible to OB there.

[vladspellbinder]

4862201
The Woods aren't SO bad, sure you can get some tricky shots but at least a lot of the time you can punt OVER obstacles if you get your shots right because the tall grass wasn't solid. But the Sewers Channel? Forgetaboutit!
Cave was very good for bank shots as was the Palace. Oddly enough I didn't have as much trouble in Mount Gundor as I did the Channel but I guess that might have just been because I had more experience, because like a stubborn fool I had brute forced my way though the Channel courses before moving on.

I LOVED the Canyon, if only because I was really good at both long shots and ricochets (together, why I hated Channel so much was because of the low, low ceiling).

Only Spheda players know that feeling of getting a blue ball right next to a blue portal in the middle of a room with nothing nearby. There is no worse feeling in the game.

The Mines weren't that bad either, but, again, more experience.