| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 78.09% |
| Metacritic | 80 out of 100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Allgame | |
| Famitsu | 28 out of 40 |
| GamePro | |
| GameSpot | 8.1 out of 10 |
| GameSpy | 79 out of 100 |
| IGN | 8.4 out of 10 |
| Absolute Playstation | 91 out of 100 |
According to Famitsu, Dark Cloud was the 15th best-selling video game during the week of its debut in Japan, with 19,615 copies sold. By the end of 2001, the game had sold 70,471 copies in the region. Level-5's Akihiro Hino stated Dark Cloud has sold over 800,000 copies worldwide. In 2002, the game received best-seller re-releases in both Japan (The Best range) and North America (Greatest Hits).
Dark Cloud has an 80% rating on review aggregator site Metacritic, and a 78% rating on GameRankings. Reviews in general were positive, but in most cases the main criticism of the game tended to focus on the repetitive dungeons and battles and lack of strong story. The gameplay was often compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time because it contained features and a main character that are similar, while also likened to Vagrant Story for its weapon system. IGN, GameSpot, Allgame and others praised Dark Cloud for blending different types of gameplay together successfully. GameSpot called it "one highly addictive and surprisingly cohesive experience." TotalPlayStation mentioned how the town building feature was unique, while GameSpot and IGN said it borrowed elements from ActRaiser. The battle system received mixed reviews, while some felt it was repetitive and monotonous in regards to the dungeon crawling, many positive points came from the weapon system and how it is easy to use.
Reviews of the plot were mixed. IGN and TotalPlaystation thought the story, while simple, was "good enough." Gameplanet thought the plot was "bland" and "negligible" and that it was one of the factors that brought the game down. Reviews of the game's graphics were more positive. PSXExtreme said it "has...some of the prettiest textures I can think of," while RPGamer and TotalPlaystation thought the visuals "don't slouch," but were not as good when compared to other games, like those made by Namco and Square. Absolute PlayStation and PlanetPS2 felt that most of the music was "mediocre", "not too inspiring and sometimes can get monotonous," but reviews of the ambient and general sound effects were positive. RPGamer felt the complete opposite and thought the "music does an excellent job of setting the mood," but some of the character sound effects were overused. PSXExtreme compared the soundtrack to the soundtrack from Chrono Cross which they said is "actually a very good thing."
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