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Fantastic adventure awaits in Arcadia.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Although I have yet to beat the game myself, it swept me away the first time I borrowed and played it for the Gamecube, and now that I have a Dreamcast, I plan on buying the original version. The story is unique, the characters, such as Vyse and Aika, are so close to being real you could almost feel their expressions.

As for gameplay, I absolutely hated turn-based RPG's until I played this game. With graphics that are skilled(which beat some mediocre companies to this day) are strung together with anime-styled characters, funny expressions, and overall...it's fun.

The music is so accepting, even someone who hates some of the "classic music" style tracks could be moved. Unfortunately, it's hard to find games with such devotion in their music as much as Skies of Arcadia.

Fun, compelling, touching, exciting and you can go back and play it when your done, this is Arcadia.

Welcome, friend.

An overlooked gem

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

An overlooked gem

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

Great RPG for the Dreamcast

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

This is my favorite RPG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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!

SKIES OF ARCADIA!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am a 10 year old girl and I love this game! My older sister played it and completed the whole game! She LOVED it too! That is why I decided to try it and so far it is AWSOME! I still don't know why they rated it T for teen. I mean when you fight something, it just disappears, no blood. I would recomend this for a girl or boy who is 10 and up or in Middle School. If you are, say, 18, I think you would still have lots of fun! It is not a kiddie game because it is very hard. Now, if you are not a very experenced gamer, then I don't recomend this game to you unless you are actually a teen.
Ok, just a little heads up, ask people questions in the game. They can help you get around. When you drive your ship, before you get on, ask someone nearby because they can tell you which direction to go in. I love this game!

The Dreamacast's No1 RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

An awesome Japanese-style RPG - marred only by random combat

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have enjoyed Skies of Arcadia more than practically any other RPG I've played - yet curiously, the place the game is most lacking is at its core. The combat system (and in particular, the random nature of the combat system) is rather lacklustre, and not as good as (say) Grandia II.

In many ways, Grandia II and Skies of Arcadia are the perfect RPG split into two. Take the combat from the former and wed it to practically every other aspect of Skies of Arcadia and you have an awesome game.

Skies somehow manages to work despite its lacklustre combat (and irritating random combats - which thankfully you eventually earn the right to avoid). I think much of this is due to the amazing world that you get to explore - and I really do mean explore, as flying your ship around Arcadia is one of the best exploration experiences I have ever had in an RPG. New and wondrous sights are always just around the corner, and the desire to see more of the world just kept me going.

Not only did I love exploring the world - but later, when you get to recruit your own crew - you can go back and interact with people you've already met and ask them to join your crew. This was also hugely satisfying - finally, a game with NPCs who aren't just cardboard.

If the combat has to be just right for you to play a game, or if you find random combats very annoying (and I have to say, I wouldn't play a sequel unless they fix the random combats), you'd do best to avoid it. But otherwise, every RPG fan needs to play Skies. Everything but the combat is pratically perfect.

Memory Maker

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There a few games that provide wonderful, enjoyable and everlasting memories. Skies of Arcadia is such a game. This game has such beautiful environments, scenery and characters that you immediately fall in love with them. You even learn to love the villians.

Whenever I hear the soundtrack, I feel utter nostalgic and would recount the events in my life during my game time with SOA. I nothing but the best opinions for SOA.

Unfortunately, Sega Overworks will not release a sequel to SOA. The sequel was in the planning stages but later scrapped because the GameCube Director's Cut did not sell well. In fact, the GameCube version of SOA sold worse than the Dreamcast version. Thus, SOA 2 was tossed in the bit bucket.

I only have one copy of SOA and Dreamcast. I'm keeping these for life. You can have them after you pry them out of my cold, dead hands.

Forever a Champion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have ejoyed this game from the moment I put it in my Dreamcast to the second I completed it some 90 hours later (yes I am slow). The Graphics are somewhat dated and blocky but they're good enough and in the long run are not that important anyway. Skies is just plain fun, it keeps you wanting more with interesting characters and a well executed story line. I recomend this to anyone and if you don't own a dreamcast GET ONE or buy the gamecube version, either works and I doubt you'll be disappointed!

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