Amazon.com Review: Arcadia is a magical world in which folks float through the air on giant airships. A young and lively air pirate, named Vyse--who leads the swashbuckling Blue Rogue pirates--spends most of his time traveling from floating island to floating island. While touching down on the Valuan Empire one fateful day, Vyse and his sidekick Aika rescue a mysterious girl, named Fina, who was captured while trying to find six magic crystals that are used to summon Gigas--powerful ancient weapons. Naturally, the Valuans want the Gigas for their own malevolent political plans; Vyse, Aika, and Fina, then, set out to find the precious, scattered crystals and fight enemies (both human and nonhuman) to keep the world safe from tyranny.
Graphically, Skies of Arcadia is surreal and stunning. In total, there are six huge lands to explore, with many different kinds of environments--such as villages, dungeons, forests, and deserts, as well as otherworldly locations.
The turn-based combat system is effective, with more than 70 customizable weapons to use (based on different colors) and more than three-dozen magic spells (and special attacks), as indicated by the game's "spirit bar," shown on the screen. The visuals during the fight scenes might cause your jaw to fall to the ground, with its bright lights and mesmerizing colors and textures.
Skies of Arcadia is a highly addictive, gorgeous, huge, and deep RPG, and worthy of your attention. Kudos to Sega for creating a breathtaking fantasy that likely will be a mainstay in Dreamcasts, well into the spring. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
Awesome graphics
Solid story
Lots of customization
Cons:
Random battles can become tiring
Amazon.com Product Description: Imagine a world in which people live on islands, float through the air, and use masterfully engineered sky-ships to travel from place to place. Follow the adventures of the young hero Vyse as he journeys through uncharted skies to discover new continents and explore mystical ruins. Accompanied by Aika and Fina, he will wage battles against savage monsters, evil pirates, and a powerful enemy nation. Skies of Arcadia delivers a brilliantly animated cast of characters, monsters, and villains, along with astounding 3-D graphic environments and a wonderfully scripted story line.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Beautiful and Fun!!
I always passed this game by because the cover did not look all that appealing to me. Until my other half wanted it cause she heard so much about it(I thought she was crazy but what can I say the girls got good tast). Everything about it is enjoyable and different,from the battle system to the feel of the world. It's a game you will just have to play to understand what I am saying. If you miss the good old RPGs and that fun feel with the adventurous story that they offerd, that had you up to all hours of the night then this is the game for you (Geez that last sentence was corny :( oh well, you get the point. RPGs are just not the same anymore).
Rating: - An overlooked gem
This is an absolutely fantastic game that has been overlooked by a great many people. Really, I have no complaints with this game. However, before I get into what makes this game so great, I'm going to list a few of the drawbacks that may put off a potential buyer.
Given that this game was released back in 2000 for the Dreamcast, the graphics will appear to be crude next to what's exhibited by the current-gen consoles. However, as a Dreamcast game, the graphics for most of the game are quite good. The background and ship graphics are gorgeous by almost any standard, though the people aren't very natural-looking.
The battle system, while having nothing wrong with it, is simple turn-based combat. I didn't mind it at all, but I know it bothers some people. Also, at times the enemy spawn-rates are so ridiculously high that you can't go more than a few feet at a time.
No voice acting except the rare sound bite, and no CG movie cutscenes.
Those minor details aside, this game is near-perfect. The spirit meter and changeable elements for your weapons require a small amount of extra strategy without requiring a big learning curve. The Ship-to-Ship battles are great and give the gameplay even more depth.
The music in this game is unmatched with any of the many games I have played. Crisp, clear music that sounds right at home in a performance from an eminent professional orchestra.
Best of all this game has to offer is the story and the characters. The characters complement each other very well and seem almost real. The story itself is told in a masterful way that puts many novels to shame; it's presented in a way that reinvigorates the player's interest in the game at every twist and turn.
The last thing to mention is the great sense of exploration that this game offers. You can literally travel the entire world of Arcadia. Special discoveries can be found during exploration that not only give money but who's description provides glimpses into Arcadia's mysterious history. As the game progresses you explore in a way that slowly opens the world to you; and after you've visited a location you can almost always go back whenever you want, almost no matter what else is going on in the story. Lastly, this game offers something that few other exploration-minded games give: a home. At a certain point in the game, you get your own home base you can return your ship, and it gets rather lively as you recruit your various crew members.
In conclusion, give this game a try if you have a Dreamcast or a Gamecube, I promise that you won't regret it.
Rating: - Great RPG for the Dreamcast
One of the best RPG stories ever made, Skies of Arcadia supplies fantastic music, colorful graphics, an interesting combat system, and emotionally moving characters to make it a great additon to the Dreamcast library. It should be noted that the Gamecube port of this game downsampled the music, which makes the Dreamcast version sound much better. An interesting dimention to the game is the ship to ship battles, where flying pirate ships engage each other using a variety of strategies and crew member special abilities to win. Throughout the game, you will be picking up new crew members that will help you in these situations, but not in the regular combat scenes.
I highly recommend buying a Dreamcast, if only to be able to play this game.
Rating: - This is my favorite RPG!
I am 22 years old, and I think this RPG is amazing! I played once through the whole game when I was 19, and I am planning to play through it again. This RPG presents a great story with unexpected plot twists. The characters are so vivid and memorable. I don't want to go in to the details. I highly recommend this game to everyone!
Rating: - The Dreamacast's No1 RPG
Skies of Arcadia is an absolute masterpiece, I can remember back in 2001, when it was released in England and i picked it up immediatly after hearing rave reviews. It really did live up to the hype, unfortunately much like the Dreamcast it was criminally overlooked, although im sure most people who owned a Dreamcast did buy it.
The combat itself is nothing special, in fact the turn based battles are pretty slow, not as flowing as the active time battles of most Final Fantasy games. The beauty of the game doesn't lie in the battles though, the plot is where all good RPG's excel and this is no different. Exploring the planet is great fun in itself, despite the random battles (which you can later avoid), and the plot moves along superbly right until the end of the game. Where this game really innovates though is in the ship battles.
The ship battles are excellent, rather than fighting as a party, as you do for most of the game, you instead pit your ship against another ship, sometimes even monsters, though usually an enemy pirate or general from the armada. If you have played the game you will know how good these battles are, and what a joy the game is to play. If you still have a Dreamcast picking up dust and you don't already own this, you could do no better than to pick it up. It also came out for the Gamecube, which I believe was basically the same game.
A truly classic RPG, which deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as other classics like Final Fantasy 7, superb.
