Sky’s the limit
Skies of Arcadia (Titled Eternal Arcadia in Japan) is one of the few ‘big’ RPGs published for the Dreamcast. Dreamcast hasn’t exactly been the console for RPG lovers, there are a few quality titles like Shenmue and Grandia II that are worth of purchasing. Due to the change in Sega’s business plan that now involves developing for multiple consoles, GameCube owners also got their port of Skies, so the game’s not only for Dreamcast owners anymore.
Overworks’ Skies of Arcadia is produced by a member of team Phantasy Star (who are best known for the Phantasy Star RPG series for multiple Sega consoles). It’s set in a world filled with floating islands. As you can see from the images, the game world looks really beautiful and you can explore it in full 3D. People travel from one island to another with airships. And not surprisingly, where’s ships, there’s pirates. There are two different pirate sections, the good Blue rogues and the evil Black sky pirates. In addition to these two, the Valuan empire is also a major force in the skies.
The main character of the game, Vyse, is a member of the Blue rogues. Other characters include a mysterious girl named Fina and Vyses’ best friend, Aika. The game starts as the blue rogues attack on an imperial battleship in attempt to rob all the Valuan Valuablesâ„¢. Besides robbing the vessel, Vyse also rescues Fina who was held as a prisoner in the ship. This one event leads to many others and before you know it, you’ve got a crisis in your hands.
The battle system is a standard RPG one – turn based. It’s pretty standard in many ways: regular attacks, special attacks, magic, that sort of things. Special attacks consume action points of your party. Some action points are regained at the beginning of each turn, and by using the spirit-command your character uses his turn to build up additional action points for your party.
One difference to many games is that every weapon and magic has a color attribute. I think Chrono Cross is about the only game using similar system. Each color is vulnerable to some colors and strong against some colors. That means that you must also pay attention to this in battles, thus adding a bit strategy to the game. If you’ve played Chrono Cross, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
In addition to the normal battles, the game also features battles between airships which require more strategy than normal battles. In my opinion these are just about the coolest parts of the game. Huge airships flow through the air, circling each other just waiting for a chance to strike…
The airship battles are really really exiting, even though your strategic options are basically limited to attack, magic, defense and spirit. You can change your airships weaponry from cannons to various different torpedoes. Special cannons can be used only at certain points in battle, but deal insane amounts of damage when compared to regular weapons. At some points you are offered two different strategy choices that can either turn the battle to your favor or against you – depending on your selection.
Ever dreamed of owning an island?
The music in the game is generally very good, and I’ll have to give special mentions to some tracks. The music in the jungle village of Horteka fits the place perfectly. Battle themes are also excellent, in my opinion. Boss battle themes even change dynamically regarding your situation, e.g. if you’re losing, the song becomes more depressing and while you’re winning it brings up more valiant, upbeat melody. Also, the track that plays during the battles between airships is a really powerful piece and makes the battles feel even more dramatic.
The graphics are very nice and detailed, the developers have even paid attention to the facial expressions of the characters and lighting is used very well. Spell and special moves offer the best graphical effects in the game, and are generally impressive and very nice to watch.
Controls are standard RPG-type, and you really can’t go wrong with them. As for the difficulty, I’d say about medium. Skies is not a very difficult game, but there are some points that can be challenging. Length of the game is quite good. The two CDs offer a lot of gameplay and all the exploring you can do is fun. While exploring the world of Arcadia, you can make discoveries, which give you money. Discoveries vary from things like lost cities to new continents.
ne special thing worth mentioning is the Swashbuckler rating. During the game you’re faced with many questions with multiple answers to choose from. Answers to these affect the game and determine your swashbuckler rating. Brave and wise choices affect positively while stupid and cowardly answers lower your rating. You start as Vyse the Unimpressive and later on obtain nicknames such as Vyse the Valiant until eventually you become Vyse the Legend. The title isn’t just a show off, however, as your swashbuckler rating affects to things like item prices and how the people react to you. It’s a nice feature in the game, although not a very important one.
At certain point during the game Vyse gets his own airship you can start gathering a crew for it. You’ll also obtain your own headquarters (or an island to be exact) and you can spend money on decorating the place with things like fountains or animals and change the style of buildings. All these little things that you can do really add to the length of the game. You can waste hours on little optional tasks that have nothing to do with the plot. It makes the game feel less linear and more fun.
The best part of the game is the world of Arcadia. With every other RPG that I can think of having a very ‘ground-based’ feel, SOA offers a completely new area – the air. Some games may have had airships and floating continents or islands – Zeal in Chrono Trigger, Vane in Lunar, Shevat in Xenogears – (so if you liked those, you’ll love SOA) but Skies of Arcadia has no solid ground, just floating islands. This gives Skies of Arcadia a truly unique feel. In addition to being different, it manages to be a great game as well. In case you’re tired to those RPGs that are all alike, you might need a fresh breeze that Skies of Arcadia can offer.
