Sony's highly anticipated RPG, Dark Cloud, was shipped on May 29th and should currently be available at local electronics stores in North America. Featuring fantastic graphics, a large emphasis on character development with six playable characters, and a realtime battle system resembling that found in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, Dark Cloud is poised to increase the quality of the PlayStation 2 RPG library. Taking the role of Toan, the player is forced to rescue the world from the turmoil released when the "dark cloud" appeared in the game world.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the game is the "GEORAMA" gameplay system, allowing a player to shape the world into his or her own game world using trees, rivers, wells, houses, and other items. This system is used to reconstruct the ravaged world, and the closer to the original village the player gets, the greater the prosperity of its citizens. Time of day and weather will also affect the environment and character conversations. For more information on Dark Cloud, check out RPGamer's preview.