I totally agree with you, I love Dark Cloud! It's the closest game to Zelda you will be able to find, and it even does some things better than Zelda. Restoring each town however you like is really fun
Here are some other games I recommend:
-Metal Gear Solid 2
-Metal Gear Solid 3
-Kingdom...
These are some game I've played that I highly recommend
-The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (A top 5 game of all-time for me, must play)
-Fallout 3
-Red Dead Redemption
-Fable 2
-Grand Theft Auto 4 (Not as good as the older games, but still great)
-Call of Duty: World at War
-Modern Warfare 2...