Jeff Chen, all around good guy and IGN Handyman, has been putting together towns for weeks. He's been battling scads of enemies and leveling up his Macho Sword. He's been dealing with folks named Toan, Goro and Dark Genies. He's worked hard for his money, so you better treat him right. What has IGN's resident b'okay been up to? Crafting IGN Guides' excellent Dark Cloud strategy guide.

This labor of love has everything you need to get through Sony's excellent RPG. Jeff will help you learn the mechanics of the game, put your towns back together, and fight every level boss. All of the info has been compiled into quick, easy-to-use charts, so you can glance at the info you need and get right back to gaming!

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If you're into upgrading your weapons and creating Synth Spheres, here's a helpful tip that lets you quickly raise low-level weapons to Level 5 so that you can Limit Break them in a sphere.

The problem is of course that fighting tougher enemies with a low-level weapon not only requires you to repair it frequently, but it also takes a long time to defeat the enemy. But why fight with the lower level weapon? Simply pick your most powerful weapon, and quickly defeat the enemy. Now, before the slain enemy vanishes, switch to the weapon you want to upgrade. Since there is a small delay before the WHP for the defeated enemy is added, you can easily build up lesser weapons that aren't suited for the enemies you're fighting -- so that you can turn them into spheres and add their powers to your favorite weapon.

Looking for a quick and dirty listing of what the different gem attachments do for your weapons? Here it is:

• Amethyst: +10 Ice, +10 Dinosaurs, +10 Mages
• Aquamarine: +10 Ice, +10 Flyers, +10 Marine
• Diamond: +10 Metal, +5 to all other anti-enemy stats
• Emerald: +10 Magic, +10 Dinosaurs, +10 Plants
• Garnet: +5 Attack, +10 Fire, +10 Stone, +10 Flyers
• Opal: +10 Endurance, +10 Metal, +10 Mages
• Pearl: +10 Endurance, +10 Thunder, +10 Undead
• Peridot: +5 Attack, +10 Holy, +10 Plants, +10 Beasts
• Ruby: +10 Speed, +10 Fire, +10 Mimics
• Sapphire: +10 Magic, +10 Wind, +10 Flyers
• Topaz: +5 Attack, + 10 Undead, +10 Flyers
• Turquoise: +10 Ice, +10 Stone, +10 Mimics

To easily defeat the Ice Queen Boss in the Shipwreck dungeon, make sure you have fifteen Fire Gems (buy them at Joker's house). Toss them one at a time at the Ice Queen to defeat her. Using this method, you can take her down using only one character.

Hmmm... the Demon Shaft. Doesn't sound like a place you want to be, does it? The Demon Shaft is a hellishly long dungeon (100 levels) that you get after you complete Dark Cloud. Once you unlock it, you can access it through the "Go To Other Areas" Map.

The Dark Cloud Board has already yielded a bunch of great information, including these great boss strategies from ehixon.

1. Divine Beast...
Use both of your characters...use Xiao to hit him while he is flying, and he will fall...switch to Toan, attack with your sword. You can use stamina potions and feathers but it's not neccesary. If you do it right he'll be dead in no time and you should take little to no damage.

2. Forest Guardian
Again, multiple characters is the key, though you don't really have to do it this way. Auto target the monkey...see how it targets his big hairy toes? and golly..you have a big hammer...smash em! Get close, wait until he swings at you and move in close and attack. He will be stunned, giving you time to use your strongest character to move in and attack a while. Repeat until he's dead. Again, feathers and potions are helpful but far from essential.

3. Shipwreck...ice queen
Hands down this is the most annoying boss in the game. a couple ways to approach her: a)Stock up on feathers and potions and run in circles until you get close...when you are within range, use your sword to attack until it breaks her shield...then back off and use a ranged attack with the fire element. Repeat. b)This takes longer but it's really easy. Equip Ruby and Xiao with a fire attack. When the battle starts, run and hide behind a pillar. This will block her attack that freezes you. Pop out between her attacks and shoot her with Xiao until it says "no effect"...switch to Ruby and shoot her once (more will have no effect) then back to Xiao. Just repeat this until she's dead. It takes a while.

4. The Kings Curse
Again, you want to use the person you just got. Notice how the boss is made up of that black wind stuff that Ungaga could blow away? Same idea here. Get some distance between you and the boss, turn and face him and hold down the attack button to do his special. The boss will walk right into it and be stunned, giving you a chance to switch to your strongest cahracter and whack him. Switch back to Ungaga and repeat.

5. Minotaur.
This is one if the easiest if you get the trick. I used Toan exclusively. Make use of his affection for those kegs by standing with one between you and the minotaur. He will charge you but stop when he hits the keg and pick it up. While he is drinking it you have time to charge in and hit him. When you do he will run off giving you time to find another keg to hide behind. You can also use a ranged attack while you are wating for him to come back if you want.

6. Dark Genie
Form 1-He thrusts up his hands at you, not too hard to avoid. Notice on the hands what color eyes there are and match your elemental attack to that. The wind attack happens once in a while which is pretty much unavoidable. I wouldn't worry about it though, you'll need your resources later. If he ducks under his wings, he will be changing the color of his hands, so be prepared to switch elements. Just keep hacking at him and eventually...

Form 2- He will now do the unavoidable wind thing ALL THE TIME. Ugh. Stamina potions are great here, you still fall down but don't take any damage. The laser attack its easily avoidable. Just switch to whoever has the strongest ranged attack and go to work on him.

Form 3- Ok, this is tricky because there is a lot going on, if you get hit you are dead quick and the background is disorienting. But, it's not that tough. I used Toan with the holy element. Your first priority is to get to the boss while his head is down and his mouth is open. Don't try to target, it will probably target one of the skeletons wandering around and turn you and ...ahh its bad. Besides, the crystal in his mouth is beig enough that if you can't hit it, well, you shouldn't have gotten this far. SO...run up hit his mouth. Right away, he will stomp a foot and these energy waves will come at you. Run away from them and back around in a little circle, so you end up right back at his mouth. Hit him again, run in a circle. Repeat and he'll be dead in no time.

If you MISS...or take too long doing the circle...he will sit up and do his laser attack. DON'T GET HIT. It takes a lot of HP away. Just run around frantically until you hear it stop and charge his mouth again.

When building Norune village, be sure to build Pike's house BEFORE Odd Gaffer's store because if you don't, Odd Gaffer will hurt his back while fixing his sign, which causes him to have not even half as much supplies but if you build Pike's house first, the event will be Pike helping Odd Gaffer with his sign causing him to have a TON of stuff!

To unlock the windmill slash, a powerful attack that will hit everything around you, you must get 100% in all three categories of the Georama Analysis for Norune Village. To do this you have to first collect everything (for "Collection") then piece it all together ("Completion") then ask all the villagers "How should I rebuild Norune?" and put their house where they want it ("Request"). Here is how it goes:

My House-facing-the sun(cave side)
Macho's, near the Divine Beast Cave
Laura's, away from the mayor's house
Paige's, near the pond
Claude's, near Laura's house
Hag's, infront/facing drans windmill
Alnet's, away from Macho's house
Gaffers Buggy near other houses

Then Dran will fly down and teach you the technique, enjoy!

In Queens, be sure to complete the King's house first to get the genie, Ruby, as an ally. After this, complete Jack's weapons store, but he won't give you a gift if you go in without Ruby in your party. If you have Ruby though, he will give you the Platnum Ring and a hammer with a money making ability!