------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dark Cloud Weapons FAQ Version 1.1 Last Update: June 22nd, 2001 Created By: Richard Trainham ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents: I. Introduction II. Weapon Abilities III. Weapon Evolution IV. Weapon Attributes V. Weapon Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is not a general FAQ for Dark Cloud. It only covers the development of weapons during the course of the game. I am making this FAQ since this information is not readily available in Prima's Dark Cloud guide, or in any existing FAQ that I have seen on the net. The purpose of the guide is to help others playing the game in developing their weapons more efficiently. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ II. Weapon Abilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some weapons in the game have special abilities when found, or gain special abilities when the evolve. These abilities can be passed on to other weapons through synthspheres. Some abilities will cancel each other out, and give a weapon with neither ability. From my experience the abilities that will cancel each other are: Quench <-> Thirst Durable <-> Fragile Drain <-> Heal Poor <-> Bigbucks So far I have only found a dozen or so weapons with abilities. They are: Swords Kitchen Knife Quench Sand Breaker Thirst Antique Sword Stop Drain Seeker Drain (Gained when evolved into) Slings Bandit Slingshot Steal Hardshooter Durable (Sometimes) Double Impact Fragile (Sometimes) Angel Shooter Heal (Gained when evolved into) Hammers/Axes Trial Hammer Poor AbsUp Big Bucks Hammer Bigbucks Rings Bandit's Ring Steal Staffs/Polearms Scorpion Poison Note: I have not found a weapon with the Ability "Critical", although this ability is in the Dark Cloud manual. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ III. Weapon Evolution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weapons can be made stronger throught the absorption of synthspheres, gems and attachments when a weapon is upgraded. Most weapons can be evolved into one or two other weapons when the attributes of the weapon they can evolve into are met. Following is a list of all the weapons I have seen as well as what weapon they will evolve into. The format is: Name of Weapon (Max Att/Max Mag) -> evolve choice#1/evolve choice#2 The first choice of the weapon to be evolved into is always the top choice when you choose to try to build-up the weapon. If the weapon only has one choice into what it can evolve, then there will be no second choice listed. The Max Att is the maximum attack value that the weapon can have, while the Max Mag is the maximum magic value. Sometimes I did not reach the maximum value of the weapon, so I have entered in the maximum value I reached followed by a "+". So (30/40+) would mean a maximum attack value of 30 and a maximum magic value of more than 40. I have classified the weapons into "levels" which is a suggestion on their relative strength. When a weapon evolves, its evolved form is usually in the next level listed. Well anyways, on with the show: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Swords: Level 1: Baselard (??/??) -> ?? Crysknife (40/38) -> Small Sword/Sand Breaker Gladius (37/36) -> Small Sword/Chopper Kitchen Knife (30/15) -> Chopper/Sax Level 2: Bone Rapier (55/62) -> Evilcise Buster Sword (65/35) -> Claymore Chopper (65/43) -> Choora/Dusack Sand Breaker (68/45) -> Antique Sword Sax (65/41) -> Dusack Serpent Sword (70/55) -> Tsukikage/Evilcise Shamshir (60/39) -> Dusack Small Sword (60/60) -> Tsukikage Level 3: Antique Sword (77/47) -> Brave Ark Choora (74/55) -> Heaven's Cloud/Maneater Claymore (68/45) -> Cross Hinder Dusack (78/45) -> Brave Ark/7 Branch Sword Evilcise (80/75) -> Drain Seeker Macho Sword (68/54) -> Aga’s Sword/Cross Hinder Mardan Eins (70/63+) -> Mardan Twei Tsukikage (68/68+) -> Heaven’s Cloud Wise Owl Sword (55/50) -> Lamb’s Sword Level 4: 7 Branch Sword (99/65) -> Atlamillia Sword Aga’s Sword (95/80) -> Atlamillia Sword Brave Ark (95/60) -> Dark Cloud Cross Hinder (110/60) -> Big Bang Drain Seeker (99/85) -> Dark Cloud Heaven's Cloud (102/68+) -> Dark Cloud Lamb’s Sword (80/60) -> Atlamillia Sword Maneater (74+/63) -> Atlamillia Sword Mardan Twei (99/99) -> Arise Mardan Sun Sword (110/58) -> Big Bang Level 5: Atlamillia Sword (155/101) -> Chronicle Sword Big Bang (170/95) -> Sword Of Zeus Dark Cloud (145/99) -> 7th Heaven Level 6: 7th Heaven (240/110) Arise Mardan (250/120) Chronicle Sword (260/150) Chronicle2 (350/200) Sword Of Zeus (199/108+) Note: I accidently trashed the only baselard I got so I didn't manage to get it's maximum stats or what weapon(s) it will evolve into. Note: Lamb's Sword transforms into a more powerful form when it's Weapon Points are low. It will transform back when repaired. Note: The Mardan Eins is a weapon that can be bought at any fishing area after catching the Baron Garayan fish. The conditions neccessary to build up to the next level are not displayed like other weapons, so just keep feeding it gems :) Note: Chronicle2 is aquired after defeating the boss of the Demon Shaft. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Slings: Level 1: Bandit Slingshot (50/10) -> Hardshooter/Double Impact Bone Slingshot (35/10) -> Flamingo Steel Slingshot (35/10) -> Hardshooter Level 2: Flamingo (55/18) -> Dragon’s Y Hardshooter (70/18) -> Double Impact/Matador Steve (60/30) -> Super Steve Level 3: Double Impact (88/30) -> Divine Beast Title Dragon’s Y (85/55) -> Divine Beast Title Matador (90/30) -> Divine Beast Title Level 4: Divine Beast Title (139+/43+) -> Angel Shooter Super Steve (130/80) Level 5: Angel Shooter (182/99) -> Angel Gear Level 6: Angel Gear (256/103) Note: Steve and Super Steve both talk during battle with enemies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hammers/Axes: Level 1: Frozen Tuna (56/30) -> Turtle Shell Level 2: Big Bucks Hammer (80/30) -> Magical Hammer/Gaia Hammer Trial Hammer (77/40) -> Gaia Hammer Turtle Shell (78/25) -> Magical Hammer/Battle Ax Level 3: Battle Ax (125/55) -> Satan’s Ax Magical Hammer (120/80) -> Gaia Hammer/Last Judgement Level 4: Gaia Hammer (165/90) -> Tall Hammer Last Judgement (150/85) -> Tall Hammer Satan’s Ax (199/222) -> Inferno Level 5: Inferno (350/300) Tall Hammer (260/200) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rings: Level 1: Thorn Armlet (60/46) -> Platinum Ring Level 2: Bandit’s Ring (38/55) -> Crystal Ring/Pocklekul Platinum Ring (50/65) -> Crystal Ring/Fairy’s Ring Level 3: Crystal Ring (80/88) -> Goddess Ring/Satan’s Ring Pocklekul (66/70) -> Fairy’s Ring Level 4: Fairy’s Ring (66/90) -> Destruction Ring Goddess Ring (95/128) -> Athena’s Armlet Satan’s Ring (95/128) -> Mobius Ring Level 5: Athena’s Armlet (128/220) -> Secret Armlet Destruction Ring (99/99) -> Mobius Ring Level 6: Mobius Ring (99/250) Secret Armlet (155/300) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Staffs/Polearms: Level 1: Halberd (80/20) -> Scorpion Javelin (85/20) -> De Sanga/Partisan Level 2: De Sanga (110/20) -> Cactus Partisan (95/30) -> Cactus Scorpion (99/30) -> Mirage/Cactus Level 3: Cactus (155/30) -> Terra Sword Mirage (150/40) -> Terra Sword/Hercules’ Wrath Level 4: Hercules’ Wrath (256/50) Terra Sword (220/66) -> Babel’s Spear Level 5: Babel’s Spear (321/80) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Guns: Level 1: Jackal (55/25) -> Blessing Gun/Swallow Snail (65/55) -> Blessing Gun/Hexa Blaster Level 2: Blessing Gun (56/30) -> Skunk Swallow (72/30) -> G Crusher Level 3: G Crusher (99/35) -> Star Breaker Skunk (72/55) -> Hexa Blaster Level 4: Hexa Blaster (128/90) -> Supernova Star Breaker (120/45) Level 5: Supernova (256/128) Note: Star Breaker is a Machine Gun which can fire shots rapidly, which makes up for its relatively low Attack power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IV. Weapon Attributes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a listing of all the weapons that I have aquired from sources other than evolution. They include all the starting attributes of the weapon as well as the starting attack and magic values. The reason behind this listing is to help figure out how much you will need to build up a weapons attributes to get to the next weapon by evolution. For example the Antique Sword will evolve into a Brave Ark. By comparing thier stats: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Antique Sword 37 25 6 0 0 0 20 20 0 8 0 0 0 10 10 0 0 Brave Ark 60 20 30 0 0 0 40 0 0 34 30 0 25 38 0 0 18 You will see that you need to increase your attack value to 60, Fire to 30, Holy to 40, Undead to 34, Flying to 30, Metal to 25, Stone to 38 and Mage to 18. This will help determine whether to use a gem or just an attachment depending on how close you are to meeting the required attribute. Unfortunately, many weapons seem to only come by evolution, so they do not have starting stats listed here. I have yet to make a list of the minimum requirement needed to meet all these weapons. Swords: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Baselard 8 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kitchen Knife 5 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 0 0 0 0 0 Gladius 10 6 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crysknife 12 8 0 0 0 0 8 0 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wise Owl Sword 30 12 0 0 0 16 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 Bone Rapier 15 30 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shamshir 20 6 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 4 Small Sword 20 36 0 8 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 33 0 0 0 0 0 Chopper 30 15 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 10 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 Buster Sword 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 10 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 Sax 26 15 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 10 0 Sand Breaker 28 14 0 10 0 10 12 0 8 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 8 Macho Sword 43 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 8 35 0 0 Serpent Sword 22 8 0 0 14 12 0 21 24 0 23 12 0 0 0 23 0 Mardan Eins 50 50 5 5 5 5 5 10 0 8 0 10 0 10 10 0 0 Antique Sword 37 25 6 0 0 0 20 20 0 8 0 0 0 10 10 0 0 Lamb's Sword 45 20 0 0 20 0 20 0 35 0 35 0 0 0 0 30 0 Brave Ark 60 20 30 0 0 0 40 0 0 34 30 0 25 38 0 0 18 7 Branch Sword 65 35 20 20 20 20 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SunSword 50 30 30 0 35 0 0 30 0 30 0 0 15 30 0 0 10 Cross Hinder 68 21 10 10 10 0 30 30 0 0 0 0 15 35 20 0 0 Chronicle2 199 110 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 Slings: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Steel Slingshot 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 5 0 0 0 Bone Slingshot 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bandit Slingshot 30 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 5 12 0 0 0 0 0 5 Steve 16 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 20 0 0 Hardshooter 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 0 12 0 20 20 0 0 0 DoubleImpact 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 8 0 0 0 0 12 Hammers/Axes: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Frozen Tuna 22 10 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 0 Trail Hammer 20 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 20 0 0 Turtle Shell 36 0 0 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 Big Bucks Hammer 40 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 0 Magical Hammer 62 25 30 20 15 5 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 18 0 20 Battle Ax 65 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 30 0 30 Last Judgement 99 55 10 10 10 10 10 0 0 45 0 0 20 0 25 0 20 Rings: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Bandit's Ring 12 25 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Platinum Ring 17 40 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thorn Armlet 50 35 15 10 10 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fairy's Ring 35 65 0 0 0 15 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crystal Ring 38 55 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Satan's Ring 40 60 55 25 18 18 0 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 0 0 Destruction Ring 50 65 30 30 30 30 10 0 0 0 0 0 30 30 0 0 0 Staffs/Polearms: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Halberd 44 0 0 10 0 15 0 0 8 0 5 0 8 0 0 0 0 Javelin 38 0 8 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 8 0 Partisan 55 0 0 0 10 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 12 8 8 Scorpion 50 0 10 0 0 21 0 12 8 8 8 8 12 0 0 0 0 De Sanga 46 0 0 0 25 17 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 8 Mirage 63 10 45 0 0 20 0 16 16 16 16 16 16 0 0 0 0 Guns: Weapon Name Att Mag Fi Ic Th Wi Ho Di Be Un Fl Fi Me St Mi Pl Ma Jackal 30 8 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Snail 34 10 5 5 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ V. Weapon Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this section I will share the strategies I have used to develop weapons during my games. 1. Share many abilities on one synthsphere. Make a single synthsphere with all the good abilities that you have found during your travels. At the start just worry about getting the steal ability. Once you have a weapon with this ability, use it until it can be made into a synthsphere. Use this synthsphere with any weapon you are currently using, and now everyone has the steal ability. Once you get a second good ability, say durable, use this weapon until you can make it into a synthsphere, and allow the first synthsphere to be absorbed into the weapon beforehand. Now you can make a new synthsphere with two good abilities that can be shared by all. In this manner I was able to make a single synthsphere with the following abilities: Quench, Stop, Drain, Steal, Durable, AbsUp, Bigbucks and Poison. (Note that I had to cancel out the Poor ability which comes with the AbsUp ability of the Trial Hammer with the Bigbucks ability, then use a second weapon with the Bigbucks ability to get both the AbsUp and the Bigbucks on one synthsphere.) 2. Have your synthsphere have good attack and magic values. Having a synthsphere with a lot of abilities is nice, but what is better is one that can also give a good attack and magic boost. I would worry about getting good abilities first, but later you will want to build up a weapon with a good attack and or magic value. I used a Battle Ax early in my game. I built the battle ax up to its maximum attack and magic value and absorbed my ability laden synthsphere to make a new synthsphere with good abilities, but also had a 75 attack value and a 33 magic value. Later I used a Arise Marden to have a synthsphere with a 150 attack value, 72 magic value, 59 in all elemental and creature attributes and 8 abilities. This synthsphere allowed me to use any weapon I had at its maximum attack and magic value usually, and let me see what they would buildup to next without having to invest a lot of gems on a weapon that I may not want to buildup. Having a single synthsphere this strong allows you to not have to build up your main weapons so much, since the synthsphere will bump up your attack and magic values a lot. 3. Use lots o' gems. During the course of making this FAQ I had to build up a lot of weapons, and this meant using a lot of gems. There are five ways to get gems. The first is from the few button-pressing action sequences in the game. If you complete one of these getting each button press exactly on time, you will get a gem. The second way is from fishing, 100 fishing points will allow you to buy a gem of your choice. The third way is from treasure chests in the back areas of any dungeon. The fourth way is from happy clowns, by choosing the small box and getting lucky. The fifth way is to buy them for 3000 each from the Fairy King in the Dark Heaven Castle. Of all theses ways, my most common method for getting gems was by fishing. With the proper technique, you can catch fish 95% of the time. What I would do is wait until a fish started to bite then hit the start button to pause the game. Then quickly un-pause and pause the game until you 1) feel the controller vibrate stronger, 2) see the fish vibrate its rear tail quickly, 3) see the side fins of the fish draw toward the body and 4) see the bob dragged clearly underwater. Once you feel/see these clues, un-pause the game then quickly press the X button to catch the fish. The best areas to fish are Queens and Muska Lacka. In Queens, you can catch Kali which are worth about 40 points using the Petite Fish sold in Queens. In Muska Lacka you can catch the Marayan Garayan which are worth about 200-300 points using Poisonous Apples. No other fish is attracted to Poisonous Apples in this area. You can also catch the Baron Garayan fish which are worth about 700-900 points. They eat Potato Cakes, just like other fish in the area, but are usually substantially bigger (150cm to 200cm in length!). They are quite rare, so be patient and repeatedly try the pond over and over til you see a big fish. I also would only fish at Dusk in Muska Lacka, since I had heard the Marayan Garayan only appears at this time, I don't know if the Baron only appears at this time as well, but I didn't want to waste time trying, and both fish were able to be found during this time. 4. Get lots o' Abs for your weapons. Finally in order to get Abs rapidly, there are two things to try. One is go to the Demon Shaft (if available) which has monsters which give you good Abs and use a strong weapon to defeat an enemy, then switch to a weak weapon as they are dying to give the weaker weapon the Abs. This technique can get tiresome, however. Another good area is the 17th Layer of the Shipwreck in Queens. You can buy Flapping Fish and Ice Blocks in Queens, which are the key to the back areas in the Shipwreck. The monsters in the 17th Layer of the Shipwreck, as well as its back area are pretty easy to beat and give a substantial amount of Abs. You also get the benift of possibly getting gems from the back area of the dungeon. Once you have cleared the level and it's back area, just teleport back to town, get another flapping fish with ice, and go back again. It's a good area to get Abs and random gems. I did a good amount of leveling up in this area during the making of this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that's it for now. I hope you find the information useful. Happy Gaming, Richard Trainham ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dark Cloud Weapons FAQ Version 1.1 Last Update: June 22nd, 2001 This document Copyright 2001 Richard Trainham Email: r_trainham@yahoo.com Any duplication in part or whole of this document is prohibited without the direct consent of the author.