User Reviews (1 - 11 of 105)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

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!

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.

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.

Dreamcast now has one of the best RPGs ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 27 / 28
Date: November 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Positive reviews made me give a shot at this game even after buying Jet Grind Radio (awesome!). I don't have much time to play RPG's, but I have made time for the very best (Panzer Dragoon Saga, Final Fantasy 2 & 3 on SNES, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger). Amazingly, Skies of Arcadia jumps right into this batch of greats!

In every way, be it innovative gameplay (traditional RPG battle plus turn-based ship battles), incredible graphics (the spell effects are INCREDIBLE and DC-powered, the towns are full 3D, textures galore), or personality (characters change 3D facial characteristics to emote), it's all here.

The storyline is interesting and fun and the environments expansive and truly multidimensional. The quest seems quite long too, I'm at 18 hours and on disc 1 of 2 and have only about 30% of the game's "event log" tallied.

As I said, I don't have much time for RPG's, but this one is so good it's hard not to think the inverse: I don't have much time for everything else...lest it get in the way of playing Skies of Arcadia.

The First Great RPG of the Next Generation Consoles

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 23
Date: December 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Skies of Arcadia is great in so many ways, I don't think I can cover it all. This is the first excellent RPG of the next generation consoles, and it will be a hard act to follow. Almost everything is wonderful and fresh. The graphics, the story, the fighting system, the world of Arcadia - this is the stuff of gaming legend!

Naturally, the graphics are jaw-dropping. Just imagine the static backgrounds in Playstation RPGs, except that you can move about them in full 3D, and you'll get the idea. These textures are the most detailed I have every seen in a game - you'll stop just to study a mosaic in the floor. The towns and dungeons are impossible complex and detailed. Each seem to be more spectacular than the last. What impressed me the most, though, was how completely the graphics combined with the rest of the game to give you a great experience. For example, the character animation not only amazes you at how life-like it is, but draws you into the story and the characters.

The plot starts slow and predictable, but finishes incredibly strong. Everyone who's played this game agrees that somewhere in the first 3rd of the story, something grabs your attention and doesn't let go. Maybe it's the spectacular world of Arcadia, which basically combines the Age of Discovery and pirates with magic, and throws everything into the skies. People live on floating islands, with magic powered sailboats sailing to and from, clouds pouring down like waterfalls, and strange cultures sitting undiscovered by the Old World. Like in any good RPG, the story stirs emotion by taking you to new places and introducing new characters. I don't want to ruin anything for you, so I'll just say that Skies of Arcadia makes discovery *fun* again - you'll look forward to finding that new island, or meeting that new character, or challenging that new enemy. What a blast.

The combat system is actually broken into 2 seperate parts - your standard, run-of-the-mill random monster fights that any fan of Final Fantasy is familiar with and probably getting sick of. This type of battle is actually too frequent for my tastes, especially when exploring the world map. At least Sega has thrown in some new strategic elements to spice things up, like a group-shared spirit pool, or the most user-friendly elemental system on any RPG ever. The second type of combat is a more strategic battle between 2 seperate airships. These battles are very cinematic and a blast to play. They also require more thought and planning then your ordinary turn-based combat. You can spend a lot of time recruiting the perfect crew, or choosing the best combination of weapons and defense.

If you can only get 1 Dreamcast game this X-mas, definitely get Skies of Arcadia. Besides all of the above, this RPG had so many extras and hidden sights that you can easily spend an extra 10 hours finding it all. You can even download entire continents from the Sega web site! I don't want to tell you about all the neat stuff you get to do, so just trust me, and get this game.

Surprisingly delightful gaming experience!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: December 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Never having been a big fan of the Phantasy Star series and knowing that the same team responsible for them was also responsible for Skies of Arcadia, I wasn't expecting much. But, boy, was I surprised!

Arcadia features great and, at times, stunning graphics; a soundtrack that fits the environments and moods of the game; some silly and, perhaps, obnoxious voices similar to those heard in Grandia; and a story that, though simple in plot, has some great twists. For instance: early on, your adventures are interrupted by the sudden kidnapping of your father and friends, and you have to go into enemy territory and make a daring rescue.

There was no shortage of time spent on the battle system either. Battles in Arcadia are fun and challenging; no longer can you just wait to heal your party after the battle -- you may actually have to use some strategy and find the right time to heal your party in between attacks. Arcadia's battles are similar to Chrono Cross' in that they, too, use a color system. A player can change his weapon to a different color (green, red, purple, blue, yellow, or silver) that may be more powerful against certain enemies. For instance: say you're fighting against an ice-based monster; if you change your weapon's color to red, you will inflict more damage since red represents fire.

All magic cast in Skies of Arcadia costs only a single magic point, but each spell expends several "Spirit Points." The statistics of each character in your party include a "Spirit" value and a "Max Spirit" value. The combined "Spirit" of the characters is the amount of "Spirit Points" that your party will start each battle with and is also the amount they will gain every turn, while the combined "Max Spirit" of the characters is the maximum amount of "Spirit Points" that they are allowed to accumulate in a battle. Here's an example: say you have two characters, one with a "Spirit" of 2 and a "Max Spirit" of 5, and the other with a "Spirit" of 1 and a "Max Spirit" of 4. This means you'll start each battle with 3 "Spirit Points" and will gain 3 every turn, but you will only be able to get a maximum of 9. So if you wish to use a magic spell that costs 4 "Spirit Points," you will have to wait until you have accumulated enough. You are, however, allowed to have a character "Focus" for his turn, which will add that character's "Spirit" to the collected "Spirit Points," speeding up the process. I think that this "Spirit Point" system adds a little bit more strategy to battles; you might have just enough "Spirit Points" to cast one spell and would have to decide whether to use it to heal your party or to inflict heavy damage upon your enemies. Magic is put into the six classes of colors previously mentioned, and you learn new magic by gaining "Magic Experience" at the end of battles. If you want a particular character to learn green magic, you'll have to end a battle with that character's weapon colored green. A character will gain double the amount of "Magic Experience" gained at the end of a battle for the color of his weapon, and only a single helping of "Magic Experience" for the colors of his comrades' weapons. For example: at the end of a battle a character's weapon is yellow, his comrade's weapon is green, and the "Magic Experience" gained is 2. Thus, the character will gain 4 experience in yellow and 2 in green, while his comrade will gain 4 in green and 2 in yellow.

In addition to magic, there are certain abilities specific to each character that can be executed during battle. These "Super Moves," unlike magic, which costs one magic point, only cost "Spirit Points," though often a lot. Also, the only way to learn more "Super Moves" is by finding and eating a certain amount of Moonberries. But you'll have to be careful in choosing who learns the next "Super Move," as Moonberries are hard to come by.

The world of Skies of Arcadia takes place in the sky where there are several small islands to travel to, and the only way to travel is in an air ship. Also, in the skies you will oftentimes see other ships; they may be merchant ships, from whom you may obtain information and wares, or they may be enemy ships...which brings me now to ship battles. These battles are different than the common hand-to-hand battles in that your ship is attacking another ship; they can last for quite some time and require a greater degree of tactical thinking. In ship battles you give orders to each of your characters; these commands can include firing the cannons, steering the ship to evade an attack, or repairing any damage inflicted by the enemy ship. Firing cannons will use "Spirit Points," so you can't just fire nilly willy; you'll have to use strategy and know when to fire and when to evade.

Skies of Arcadia is a fun, solid, lengthy, and challenging RPG. My only real gripe is that at times there seem to be too many hand-to-hand battle encounters as you're exploring the world in your air ship. But Arcadia makes up for that in other areas, and that's why it is one of my favorite RPG's.

A superb blend of old and new

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: January 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Skies of Arcadia is one of the first next-generation console RPGs. However, outside of a graphical upgrade, Skies conforms to many traditional RPG conventions. But while this game doesn't really offer any new innovations, its execution of tried-and-true gameplay mechanics is nearly flawless.

Let me first just cover my one main complaint of the game - random battles. By no means is this problem unique to Skies. This is a problem that has long plagued console RPGs in general. In my opinion, random encounters are just a cheap trick to extend the life of the game. Some RPGs, like Chrono Cross, have already gone away from this. I think the rest should follow suit. The problem with Skies is that random battles happen far too frequently...as often as every five to ten seconds. This gets really annoying really quickly, especially since a battle on average takes a couple minutes to complete. The good news is that the game is really paced quite well and you will not have to spend extra time fighting random battles to level up your characters.

So what is good about Skies? A lot. Like almost all RPGs out there, the basic premise is that your ragtag group of characters are the unlikely heroes in a quest to save the world from total destruction. The characters exhibit the cute, childish quality prevalent in many Japanese-designed RPGs, but are never sickeningly so. The personalities are optimistic, but the story line has tragic moments as well. And while the basic flow of the plot is predictable, there is just enough suspense and mystery in the details, compelling you to find out more.

One of the themes of the game is exploration, and I eagerly anticipated discovering a new environment to explore. The locations are rich and diverse. Among other places, you will explore jungle villages, underground labyrinths, Asian-styled temples, and even a futuristic spaceship. All of the environments are beautifully designed and despite the variety, all make sense given the context of the Skies' world and story. The game engine is fully 3D and is gorgeous. No more 3D characters superimposed on 2D backgrounds, which I feel really improves the immersion of the game. All the cutscenes use the 3D engine as well and are well executed.

Battles follow the traditional turn-based RPG style. You decide what your characters are going to do in the current round and they go and do it. One nuance is a party spirit pool. Spirit points are used to perform special attacks or cast spells. Having everyone draw from one unified pool adds a little more to the strategy of each round. Another little nuance is that party members don't stay still while waiting for their turn to act. They will move around and engage enemies (not actually causing or taking any damage). The movements are fairly random and can both help and hinder the avoidance of enemy attacks.

Skies has a second mode of combat for encounters between airships. It is also turn-based and strongly tactical. Each turn is divided into four slots which are planned at the start of each round. A danger meter gives some indication as to potential enemy activity. In this mode as well, the airships move about between slots. The movements are not entirely random, but not entirely predictable as well and do impact the success of attacks and defenses. I found this randomness to add a sense of tension to each round. It definitely made me pay more attention to strategy...watching the danger meter, choosing to concentrate or spread out attacks, etc.

Overall, Skies of Arcadia is a fantastic game. It does not break new ground, instead sticking with traditional gameplay mechanics. But what it does, it does exceptionally well - interesting characters and story, beautiful environments, engaging combat mechanics, etc. I highly recommend this game for seasoned console RPGers or for those people just getting into console RPGs...Skies of Arcadia is among the best the genre has to offer.

Memories!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: November 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Way back in middle-school and high school, I used to love playing videogames, but since then, I've sort of given it up as a hobby. I don't know if I've changed or the games have changed, but I just haven't come across anything like the old Super Nintendo Final Fantasy games or Lunar for the Sega-CD.... until now. Skies of Arcadia is a really classic style, old-school RPG with incredible, "new-school" visuals. The world of Arcadia is really mesmerizing; it's one of those games where you can't wait to move on just so you can see what the next area looks like. Those guys at Sega... they're very creative. You can tell the probably had alot of fun making this game.

Anyways, SOA is a really cool game, and the first in like 5 years to really captivate me. Recommended for new gamers, or anyone whos become dissillusioned with the style over substance games of recent years.

What a surprise!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Being a hardcore Final Fantasy fan I was skeptical about this game! I've seen many bad RPGs! I shiver just thinking about some of them. This game isn't Final Fantasy and thats good! Real good. BUY THIS GAME! This game is a "stay up all nighter!" Very aspect is perfect! It's just perfect. No, I'm not cheating on you Final Fantasy 7, which I 've played and beaten oh... 22 times. Seriously, they have different feels. The game doesn't feel like the developers were trying to imitate FF. It stand on its own! Like a real game should!

Go Skies

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Too bad the sega marketing crew didn't push this title out there, because this is the best game I've seen for the Dreamcast. The ending is very satisfying and the game takes some nifty turns to keep you interested. Only minor flaw is fighting a lot... but the music, graphics, and plot will make this worth your money and time. Too bad it won't get enjoyed as much as it should

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions