Ah, the Dreamcast. What fond memories I have when I think back on that console. The Sega Dreamcast was home to some truly wonderful games. While most of the goodies from the Dreamcast have since been ported to either Nintendo's Gamecube or Sony's PlayStation 2, I will always remember them as Dreamcast titles. Among the worthy titles on the system some shine brighter than others. Titles such as Sonic Adventure, Phantasy Star Online, Grandia II and even odd ones like ChuChu Rocket are games which I recall fondly, but there is one title which shines brighter than all of those. I speak, of course, of Skies of Arcadia.
I'll get started on this one by stating that Skies of Arcadia is the first game that I lost near a whole day on. I mean a whole day consecutively. I forget what day it was. I do not know if I even knew what day it was the day I did this. Anyway, the story goes something like this: I woke up one morning just earlier than 7 a.m. I had nothing in particular to do that day, so I threw Skies of Arcadia in to my Dreamcast and fired that bad boy up. So anyway, im playing Skies of Arcadia when I get a phone call. A friend of mine just got home from work and wants me to come hang out. I found this to be quite odd as I knew that there was no way that he would be off work so early, but I decided that I should probably get up and hang out with my friends. It was at this time that I realized that it was 7 p.m. I had been playing this game for twelve straight hours without even noticing the time that had elapsed. If that doesn't say it all, then perhaps I'll go in to more detail.
Hell. I'll go in to more detail anyway.
From vast blue seas to lush green tropical islands and even desolate arctic tundra this world doesn't differ all too much from the real thing with only one exception: It's all floating high in the sky! In the world of Arcadia the continents and islands are all suspended in mid air, floating high above the planet's surface. While there is a “ground” so to day, nothing but a few extremophiles are able to live there. The lowest points in the world of Arcadia are known as “Deep Sky” where the air pressure is so high that it will crush anything which is not suited to such pressures. As for transportation, the peoples of Arcadia traverse the skies themselves in ships much like the water faring vessels of our own world. And of course, in any open sea there will be found pirates.
Skies of Arcadia's story centers on a young pirate named Vyse. Vyse belongs to a class of pirates known as the “Blue Rogues” and is himself a bit of an egotistic and ill mannered rapscallion. Blue Rogues live by a code of honor which prevents them from assailing unarmed vessels. One might think of them as sort of the “Robin Hood” type. Anyway, enough about that. I'll leave the disclosure of story line details to the game itself.
Skies of Arcadia was one of the most graphically breath taking games I had played at the time it was out. Mind you, this was the days when the N64 was still current, and the PS2 was fresh out of the gates and still very much in short supply. Skies of Arcadia's visuals were really something. The dungeons are lush with detail and the colors are wonderfully vibrant. The fully 3-D environments were a welcome distraction from the forest of pre-rendered backgrounds of most other titles in the genre to date. The world itself bled beauty. There was a zone for pretty much every imaginable ecosystem. My personal favorite was Horteka, the tropical forest section of the world of Arcadia. The zones in this area, I thought, were the most beautifully designed in all the game. The ruins, particularly in the Horteka area just screamed mystery and filled me with a sort of Indian Jones-esque intrigue. I just cant get over how well I feel that the world in this game was designed.
The music in Skies of Arcadia was also something to take in. My favorite track in the game might be no surprise after reading the previous section, but what can I say aside from how awesome Horteka is. The boss fight music in this game is notable from other games in that it changes depending on the flow of the battle. As I remember, there are three different triggers for changes in music during boss fights in Skies of Arcadia: If the player reduces the boss' health in to the critical range, the music will change to a more up-beat triumphant tune; if the player finds himself in dire straights then the music will change to a more down-beat piece; and if the damaged player, or damaged boss recovers health to return to a safe range, the music will return to its normal track. I found this to be a bit interesting and definitely fun. It also serves as a way to gage how close one is to winning a boss encounter, and it can also serve as a reminder that you are in danger if you often find yourself forgetting to pay attention to your health meters.
Sadly the music in this game suffers from what I can only assume is a poor compression scheme. The music, while well composed, sounds very dull. The voice overs suffer the same fate, though they are hardly an integral part of the experience. While the problem with the music is quite noticeable, it hardly detracts from this wonderful title.
Another low point in the game is the horrendously high random encounter rate coupled with the long load times when entering fights. Another notable problem with the game is that you always know when a random encounter is about to begin because you hear the drive accessing the disc just before the encounter begins. This combo of flaws caused me to develop a little of bit of a nervous tick every time I heard my Dreamcast accessing a disc, be it Skies of Arcadia or otherwise.
However, in this game it seems that there is a redeeming quality to accompany each flaw. This isn't to say that there are all too many points in the game that need to be redeemed, but I can say that the ship on ship encounters were very much a redeeming quality for how annoying the random encounters could be. In these ship encounters you have to face off against massive monsters, enemy pirate ships or imperial war vessels in a bit slower paced but much more strategic combat. The problem with these fights is that they can drag on for quite some time. But I'll be damned if I wasn't having fun for the entire time.
Skies of Arcadia even featured a couple of nice bonuses which could only be afforded by the Dreamcast hardware. Well, I suppose one of them could be done on the original PlayStation hardware, but lets face it, the PocketStation's lack of support made it into a very lackluster peripheral. Anyway, enough idle chit-chat. The awesome bonus stuff in Skies of Arcadia included 3 pieces of DLC –something pretty much unheard of for console games at the time-- and a VMU mini game which actually afforded you bonuses in the main story mode.
The DLC consisted of a new island hidden high in the skies above the forboding Dark Rift. This new island harbors an item required to attain one of the characters ultimate weapons; a new boss to do battle with aboard your pirate ship; and a new weapon for two of the main characters in the story. The VMU game titled “Pinta's Quest” put you in control of a strange critter named Pinta who you meet at the traders post “Sailor's Island”. You control his ship in a series of mini games to increase his stats and find treasures. The treasures you find will go straight in to your party's inventory in the main game the next time you resume play. The items you can find in this VMU mini game are nothing to be scoffed at either.
Another fun distraction of the main story is the large list of discoveries to be made throughout the world of Arcadia. This part of the game really grabbed my interests, as I am one of those guys who has to be sure to get every last little thing in a game. To sum up my attitude in this regard, I'm that guy who never sells his old weapons and armor just so that I can have every item in the game whenever possible. Many of these discoveries must be made before you progress to certain parts of the story, however, as a rival explorer might find them before you if you proceed too far in to the story. Also, I suppose that it doesn't hurt that the faster you find these wondrous places, the more the explorer's guild will pay you for your hard work. And finally, as with every other Dreamcast game I have ever played, there are some nice easter eggs on the discs if you insert them in to a CD-Rom drive or a CD audio player.
Skies of Arcadia was first release in the United States on the thirteenth of November 2000. It was later re-released for Nintendo's Gamecube – much like many other great Dreamcast titles – and was slated to be released for the PlayStation 2, but was cancelled. The Gamecube version, titled “Skies of Arcadia: Legends” has added content including all of the DLC from the Dreamcast version and includes a lowered random encounter rate and faster load times. While I dearly love the Dreamcast hardware, I recommend that anybody interested in playing Skies of Arcadia seek out a copy of Legends. It will definitely save your teeth a little wear from the constant sound of the CD drive's encounter early warning system.
On a side note: The three main characters of Skies of Arcadia make guest appearances in Sega's recent PlayStation 3 title Valkyria Chronicles. They look awesome and their voice casting is pretty much dead on. It also doesn't hurt that they are pretty good units to take in to battle. I highly recommend that game to any PS3 owners out there.
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