Dark Cloud/Walkthrough

Welcome to the Dark Cloud walkthrough. There are some random elements to how you progress through the game, so the order of events you experience may not be the same as they are listed here. In this guide, a cutscene refers to a sequence of events shown on the screen like a movie. In contrast, a dialog pauses each time a character speaks and you must press a button to continue.

Name differences
In some cases the name of the same thing will appear differently depending on where it is. For example the Lightning Gem is called Thunder Gem when you first get it. For consistency, this guide will use the name used in the menu system (item screen, maps, etc.) with occasional notes where confusion is possible.

Opening
The game starts with an introduction about the story being found in an old book. This really has nothing to do with the rest of the game though. You can change your name from the default, Toan, here.

The opening cutscene involves a military type, Flag, releasing a genie from a giant urn. The upshot is that once released, the genies uses his magic to destroy much of the world. Meanwhile you, Toan, leave your house to attend the Harvest Festival of Norune, your village. The genie attacks just as you arrive and you lose consciousness. You are awoken by the Fairy King. He tells you that while it appeared that Norune was destroyed, enough so that the genie was fooled, it was actually saved in spheres called Atla. He gives you something called an Atlamallia, which you can use to restore what was hidden in the Atla. The Fairy king gives you some encouragement and a bit of advice, then you can start playing.