Skies of Arcadia... Anyone play it?

[Connor MacLeod]

Next to Wild Arms, I tend to think of this one as being one of my favorite RPGs of the "console" generation - enough so that I happily bought a gamecube to play it (the fact I got Tales of Symphonia and the Zelda games, series I also like, was a nice bonus, but it was mainly to play Skies.) Hell even my GF loves Skies of ARcadia, and it was definitely one of the overlooked games IMHO.

Did anyone else ever play this (Gamecube or Dreamcast version, doesn't matter) and also enjoy it?

[Darth Onasi]

I have both versions. Actually I have the Dreamcast version twice. I played it so damn much that I snapped one of the discs taking it out one time (the Dreamcast seemed to be rather harsh on discs).
I love everything about it from it's quirkiness (lol flying fishing boats vs. flying battleships) to the characters and even the story. It was full of almost every stupid JRPG cliche in the book, but it was pulled off well.
Plus Vyse was a refreshing main character. Yes, another young boy out for adventure, but he wasn't some emo douche and had genuine charisma.

[Jade Falcon]

I played the Dreamcast version and heard from some of the Dreamcast lot that they felt the music was better in the DC version than the Gamecube one, but never having played the Gamecube version, I can't say.

[Darth Onasi]

I played the Dreamcast version and heard from some of the Dreamcast lot that they felt the music was better in the DC version than the Gamecube one, but never having played the Gamecube version, I can't say.

The music on the Gamecube version was compressed into midi files to save space, resulting in far poorer quality music that's often cut off by the sound effects.

[Vanas]

Ready the Hydra Cannon.

It's an ungodly mash of clichés that somehow works and somehow comes out the other side as incredibly satisfying. From non-retarded lead characters and their relationships to a Villain who has at least given the Evil Overlord Handbook a quick look through, it sticks in the memory. That and the setting. We need more games set in that sort of universe.

Though I fail to understand how anything but the Delphinus shoots down Valuan ships. (Okay, and the Harpoon Gun). Guess torpedoes are a bitch.

[Masami von Weizegger]

An unremarkable game that I played nearly to the very end in the hopes that something interesting would happen.

That said, it's technically sound and it is fairly enjoyable. My main beef is the lack of backstory for the world (which is just me being a pedantic asshole, but I can't help it. I had convinced myself that when I went to meet those sages, or whatever, the reason for the state of the world would be revealed and I never quite got over the hand waving done there), and there's nothing terribly offensive about the game in my book, but I just don't see it as the "forgotten classic" some make it out to be.

Perfectly decent, though, I wouldn't dissuade anyone from at least trying it out. Same re: Tales of Symphonia.

[Ghost Rider]

Enjoyable game that doesn't have the prentension of so many RPGs(Xenosaga and the precursor to Namco's dick waving Xenogears). It was decent on the DC, but I liked the GC in both technical(Less fucking random battles) and esoteric(I liked the little extras). Too bad about the music, but I can live with it.

[LMSx]

A delightfully cheery atmosphere from the main party/hero. That's hard to overemphasize. Swashbuckling might be the right word.

Faithfully executes almost every non mopey-lead-character cliche, but does it well, so....Skies of Arcadia's ceiling isn't too high, but the roof isn't that low either. I'd love to see Skies of Arcadia 2, just to see how they approach the overworld with PS3 or Xbox 360 resources behind it.

[Vendetta]

Skies is one of the more fun RPGs of the last generation. It's not perfect, the battles on foot have uninspiring animation and (on the Dreamcast) happen way too often. The ship battles are fun though, especially with the Delphinius, when you get it to unleash all it's primary and secondary cannons in a single round.

[Ted C]

Did anyone else ever play this (Gamecube or Dreamcast version, doesn't matter) and also enjoy it?

It was one of my favorite games for the DreamCast. The Wii is supposed to be able to play Gamecube games, so I may pick up that version, which supposedly has a little bit of extra content.

[Dalton]

I thoroughly enjoyed Skies of Arcadia Legends. Vyse has become one of the ranking members in my League of Badass Motherfuckers.

[Bounty]

Did anyone else ever play this (Gamecube or Dreamcast version, doesn't matter) and also enjoy it?

It was one of my favorite games for the DreamCast. The Wii is supposed to be able to play Gamecube games, so I may pick up that version, which supposedly has a little bit of extra content.

You'll need to pick up a Gamcube controller and memory card too, but there are decent third-party ones out there.

[Losonti Tokash]

I love this game. It's the reason I still keep my Dreamcast around. And goddamn, Gilder is just awesome.

[CaptHawkeye]

From what I hear Valkyria Chronicles was made by the same guys that did Arcadia. If Arcadia is as full of stupid jRPG cliches as it sounds like, the developers must have seriously gotten their shit together over the past few years. I've been playing the demo a lot, and it turns out Valks is a really good game. It completely does away with usual jRPG bullshit and replaces it with gameplay that is genuinly progressive and not just "zomg we added a new stat boostaz".

[Darth Onasi]

SoA was full of cliches but it played on them well by not taking itself too seriously and adding twists here and there.
It was never a typical JRPG, believe me.

[Connor MacLeod]

Oops. Forgot about this.

I realize Skies was "stereotypical" in many ways and its plot wasn't exceptional, but that's generalyl true of alot of RPGs (conceptually all "modern" RPGs are just clones of one sort or another.) but what I tended to like about it was alot of the vareity you encountered. You didn't just have a core party (although there was that as well) you got and customized your own ship, and your own crew (who you had to recruit) and you established your own base. To my knowledge not many games really encompass all of that (the closest are the Wild ARms games, mainly 3 and 5, and the Suiikoden games, whcih really tend to only enocmpass the recruiting lots of people and making a base and they tend to short-change the sidequest aspect.)

Skies also really had alot to do: bounties, treasure hunting, sideplots, alternate ship battles, etc. which were nice twists.

I think its just the sheer "variety" of things in the series as well as the "piratey" aspects of the universe that really made for its charm. And while they didnt get into any depth of backstory, I dont think the plot in the first game woudl support that. Further development would have to have come from later games, which unfortuantely never happens. (or has yet to happen, since rumors of a sequel always crop up.)

[Darth Onasi]

The only thing I'd really criticise is that the ship battles got rather too easy after you got the Delphinus.
Which makes sense I suppose, it is the biggest baddest bestest ship in the world, and a few battles involved some fun tactics.

[Ted C]

The only thing I'd really criticise is that the ship battles got rather too easy after you got the Delphinus. Which makes sense I suppose, it is the biggest baddest bestest ship in the world, and a few battles involved some fun tactics.

I don't think SofA was ever meant to be difficult in any way. It was very rare to actually lose a fight, and that was only when you used absolutely the wrong strategy on something, or when it was one of the "no win" battles.

[Vendetta]

Or when the computer cast Eternes and it hit all of your characters despite supposedly having a 50/50 chance to work (And note that this never happens when you use it).

[Tasoth]

For the past couple of years, my cold weather gear has included a black pull over hoody with a white Blue Rogues logo acrossed the shoulders. I caught shit for doing from my printmaking teacher, but damn was it worth it.

[Vendetta]

From what I hear Valkyria Chronicles was made by the same guys that did Arcadia.

At least Vyse and Aika, if not others, are recruitable soldiers in Valkyria Chronicles.

VC is an SRPG though, so it runs on a different set of rules to Skies. Still, it avoids many of the problems of SRPGs as well (you don't have to grind every character individually, you earn experience for beating missions quickly with few casualties, and spend it to improve whole classes at a time).