Eternal Arcadia

When I first saw an advertisement for Skies of Arcadia (the US title of Eternal Arcadia), I wanted it immediately. When I researched it on the internet, I knew I had to get this game.

The thing that first drew me to the game was its premise. The world of Arcadia consists of floating islands. People travel between cities by use of airships. Among these people are Air Pirates. The "good" Air Pirates who take no hostages and only attack armed ships are called Blue Rogues. The main character Vyse and his best friend Aika are Blue Rogues. They and the crew of the Albatross sail around stealing from the rich and keeping it until they meet a mysterious girl named Fina. Together, they embark on a quest to find the powerful Moon Crystals before they fall into the greedy hands of the Valuan Empire.

Now that I've played the game, I can tell you the story is much deeper than that. There are scenes that have left me in awe for hours. It's full of twists and secrets, and at the same time, full of humor. I repeatedly find myself laughing at Aika and Gilder's comments. The dialogue is superb. It includes such memorable quotes as, "Women are like sunsets. They're beautiful, but there will be a different one tomorrow," said by the womanizing Captain Gilder.

However, I usually play a game for the gameplay. No matter how good the story is, if the gameplay's no good, it won't be any fun to proceed. Not a problem. Skies of Arcadia's battle systems are original, yet easy to understand. Yes, I said battle systems. Not only can your characters battle, but you can have ship battles, too, using cannons, torpedoes, and crew commands, which bring me to my next point.

The crew system was the part of the game I was most excited about before getting it. There are 22 recruitable crew members, all with interesting personalities and different conditions before they'll join. They help out during ship battles and have a special attack during regular battles. Vyse can walk around the ship and home base and talk to all of them. Some of them will do different things to decorate the base. Although few of them are very important characters, many of them are my favorites.

The crew system isn't the only thing you can do on the side. You can look for moonfish, find discoveries, go after pirates on the Wanted List. If you don't feel like proceeding to the next dungeon, you still always have something to do. Personally, I love finding discoveries.

Next are the graphics. While the graphics are old now, they were amazing for a game on Dreamcast, and I still like them a lot. I love how the characters' anime-style facial expressions change, especially Aika's. The animations for the characters' super-moves are beautiful, and the cutscenes are always enjoyable. Think of it this way: 3D technology is available, but people still make great 2D cartoons. In the same way, while the graphics for games are usually better nowadays, the graphics in Skies of Arcadia are still very pleasing to the eye, and I actually prefer them simple.

Finally, the music. I'm not great with instruments, but I believe that's a mad viola solo I hear in the battle music. Besides being amazing compositions, the music also tells you how you're doing in boss fights. If your characters are low on HP, the music changes. When your characters are okay and the boss has less than half its HP, the music changes. The regular battle music, the music inside the caves at Pirate Isle, and the "Yay! We're winning!" boss fight music are my favorites. The music in this game sets the mood like no other game music does. Energetic and hopeful when things are going well, frantic when they aren't, and dark and disturbing when a certain character comes along. I love the use of string instruments.

To sum up, no matter what you're looking for in an RPG, be it a good story, dialogue, gameplay, extras, graphics, music, or something else, chances are you'll find it in Skies of Arcadia. It surprised me by being a thousand times better than I expected. It is the best RPG I have ever come across, complete in every way. I strongly urge you to try this game. You will not be disappointed.

Yes, this game has pirates and pirate ships in it, the catch is that they are flying ships and the lands you plunder are in the skies. Sort of like the Baiten Kaitos series though this one did come out first and has more of an emphasis on flying than that particular game. The story has you as a kid and his female friend working with the guy's dad as of course pirates. They do their normal routine, but then run across a mysterious girl and the real quest begins as your pirate hideout is invaded by this empire, there is always an empire in these games that invades lands isn't there? Well you go on a quest searching for a ship and trying to stop the resurrection of these giant golem creatures. You also must search for various landmarks and such during the game and this can be fun, but annoying as well. You feel pressed to find them because this other guy is searching to and I do not know what it goes by, but it is annoying when you don't find the landmark first. So you have your many lands, you have a part of the game where your character is deserted on a island too which is fun. So is the part where you are imprisoned in the empires lands. You also must reach a more primitive land, plus another land that is surrounded by dark clouds and there are other places also surrounded by barriers. You find out the empires intentions, you are hunted by a crazed bounty hunter and you also get to be a sort of bounty hunter yourself and go after other pirates not as noble as your team. You meet different pirates who will join you on your quest and you will fly through the skies in various vehicles as well. The combat when you are playing as the characters is pretty standard...basic attacks and some cool special ones. The neat part of this game is the fighting when you are in the pirate ships. These fights are usually a good deal longer, but a nice change of pace.

It gets hard to find decent RPGs... most RPGs you run across are mostly Final Fantasy... The series Final Fantasy is getting old. I found Skies of Arcadia to be a fun RPG and a break from the FF fanfair. Skies of Arcadia also has a great story line.

Oh sure, the graphics aren't great, but the story line is pretty addicting and cacthy. It's also good to get away from the Final Fantasy series for a while.

While other good RPGs are put in the back room, they still try to stand out.

I loved Skies of Arcadia... one of the best RPGs I have played next to Xenogears and Breath of Fire 4.

Skies of Arcadia gets **** out of 4 stars.

Originally released for the Dreamcast, this game has been re-released for the GameCube with added content and subtitle: Legends. Given a beginning length of 60 hours, the storyline is as unpredictable as expansive. Each turn will come out of the blue, while also being plausible (in the game's set universe) and mostly original. Some of the characters are cliché, but it's rarely a fault (some speeches come off as a bit cheesy).

The gameplay is diverse for an RPG. Included with the battle system and on-foot dungeons is manipulation of multiple different airships you can use to traverse anywhere in the overworld. To spice up flying around a bit, there are things to discover, barriers that you can pass if you progress far enough, and some detailed towns littered throughout lands separated by land barriers and recognizable cultures.

Knowing exactly what to do, I ran through it as fast as I could, and it took thirty-five hours, never feeling too long or drawn-out. And throughout the entire experience, it was actually enjoyable, and only one or two times did I wish I wasn't in one of the many dungeons. I recommend this game to all my friends (who like RPGs, anyway), and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good, long game. This is what I thought of when the consoles started taking advantage of the third dimension, and is truly a shame that they don't make them like this anymore.