Again, the appeal of Skies of Arcadia isn’t so much in what it does differently as what it does similar to other JRPGs, but with a depth, polish, and style that stands above the pack.ĭespite being a lengthy, sizable JRPG, one of the most thrilling elements of Skies of Arcadia is how much respect it has for players’ time. There’s also the occasional ship battle, which involves plotting out your moves four turns in advance and then praying to the Gaming God that you planned out your attack right. Battles involve juggling regular attacks, special moves, and magic spells, adding a layer of strategy as you try to maximize all of these systems and make them work together. Skies of Arcadia battles can really pile on the baddies, with upwards of six or seven enemies at times. Battles are turn based, and dungeons are full of random encounters, which does mean you’ll have the occasional bad luck where you can’t take two steps without getting mobbed by enemies. Skies of Arcadia’s combat is similarly deceptive in how it refines the usual JRPG structure. The story of Skies of Arcadia is vast and winding, but it always grounds events into the emotional journeys and maturity of these three intrepid buccaneers. Big evil empires staffed by a cadre of gimmicky villains (strong guy, mad scientist, old guy, woman) aren’t new, but the baddies in Arcadia’s Valuan Armada are each extremely clever versions of these tropes, providing depth and nuance to what seems, on its surface, too familiar.Įvery main character is likewise an incredibly well-developed and fleshed out character, while the core trio of Vyse, Aika, and Fina are some of the most endearing and relatable party members ever to grace a CRT TV. While this may sound like a fairly standard fantasy adventure, the genius of Skies of Arcadia comes in its execution. A plucky air pirate, Vyse of the Blue Rogues, and his teammate Aika, meet a mysterious girl named Fina and embark on a planet-wide quest to save the world from the evil Valuan Empire. In the magical world of Arcadia, six elemental moons govern the floating islands that make up the planet, and by using the magic inherent in pieces of said moons, people have been able to create airships and build societies. In 2000, one such miracle of game design, Skies of Arcadia, emerged from the clouds, and landed on the Dreamcast, before embarking on a journey to the GameCube under the name Skies of Arcadia: Legends in 2002. But every now and then, a bold new title will emerge, fully formed, not tied down to any existing IP, presenting a fresh, original view of what a video game adventure can be. Many of them are a part of some long-running series, from Final Fantasy to Shin Megami Tensei/Persona to the long-running Tales series. In particular, his team wanted to included a lot of “travelogue” elements, such as when the player heads to a new town, there would be many different shops and only local goods in that region.The bargain bins of gaming history are filled with any number of stat-crunching, loot-grinding, turn-basing JRPGs. Since the game would have all kinds of varied terrain and islands, he elaborated that it would come with many different cultures to explore and discover. We want to have lots of varied terrain too, from vast sprawling deserts to smaller floating islands hidden within deep forests." "There’s all kinds of lands to discover, from huge continents to tiny islands. At the beginning of the game, your map shows about 10 islands, but you’ll gradually find more-there’ll be exciting scenes where you discover whole new kingdoms beyond the clouds, lots of things like that." The seas have waves, but the sky has winds… we’ve prepared lots of little contrivances like that. "On a ship, you might scout a distant island on the horizon, but in the skies, things are hidden by clouds, and I think that makes the thrill of discovery all the more exciting. At Crescent Isle, a hidden boss Spoiler: Vigoro, who in the GameCube version became an Air Pirate following his third encounter with the main characters can be fought. This discovery is a Golden Hamachou, and does not appear in the Journal after it is found.ģ. A secret discovery can be found on a peak of a rocky overpass in High Sky just outside of Sailor's Island. The Mystery Merchant will now sell the Sky Fang sword to Vyse.Ģ. Upon meeting this criteria, The Three Secrets can then be acquired:ġ. Beat all four optional battles with Piastol and finish her story.All Wanted Battle bounties must be found, beaten, and reported.All Moonfish need to be captured and given to Maria's bird Piccolo.The number of opened Treasure Chests must be at 90% or above.All discoveries need to be found and reported.The requirements for earning this content is as follows: Exclusive to the GameCube re-release is a set of unlockable bonus content colloquially referred to by fans as "The Three Secrets".
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