Never played Alundra, so I wouldn't know. Sorry ;o

Dark Chronicles/Dark Cloud 2 is not too different from Dark Cloud 1, the first change that comes to mind is the graphics, DC2 is anime style, while DC1 is not. A bit more focus on story in DC2 also, and it's also enhanced the leveling system a bit. Bunch of sidequests too, a lot more than DC1. It's a good game, but I still prefer DC1. Just something special about that game.

There's a wiki page on it here: Dark Cloud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It says it's similar to Zelda, but I really don't think it is.