I want to fry sky high!...Wrong game, but it fits.

In late 2000, the barely-hyped Skies of Arcadia hit store shelves and blew the very anticipated Grandia II out of the water. While Grandia II was a fantastic game in its own right, Skies of Arcadia was high above it, sailing around the skies in their Air Pirate ship. It seemingly came out of nowhere and quickly became one of the most beloved RPGs of all-time. To this day, fans of the game still clamor whenever there is a rumor of a sequel. However, is this game really as good as everyone believes? Indeed it is, friends. Indeed it is.

Lets get right to the combat. The combat in Skies of Arcadia is your standard turn-based fare with little tweaks and modifications to make it a system all its own. There is a bar at the top of the screen that shows you how many spirit points you have. The whole battle system revolves around this bar. Normal attacks and/or item usage will not diminish the bar during regular combat. However, if you want to use magic and/or special skills to really give your enemies a whuppin’, all of those will use up spirit points. If you don’t have enough spirit points during a turn, then you can’t use the skill. After each turn, the spirit point gauge fills up a little, and you can also use the ‘focus’ option during battle to fill it even faster, so you’ll still be able to use the skill you want eventually, but it may not be at the particular moment you wanted. This helps bring in some strategy to the battle system. It kind of requires you to plan ahead and figure out when to use moves that take spirit points, when to heal (which may take up spirit points), and when to use the focus command. If you allow the meter to fill up completely, then you’ll be allowed to perform a devastating move that can (and usually will) wipe out all of the enemies on screen, with the exception of boss encounters and a few above-average random enemies.



Also, a big part of combat are the moon stones. There are six different moonstone colors and each one grants an attribute to the weapon that it’s attached to. Each color has strengths and weaknesses when used against enemies of different colors. For example, a red (fire) weapon against an enemy with a blue (water) attribute will do above average damage...However, a red weapon against an enemy of a purple (ice) attribute will do much more damage. You can change the color of the weapon whenever you wish, even during the middle of a battle. However, once the battle is over, the color of your characters’ weapons will determine what color your experience will go to in regards to learning magic spells. This is important to remember, especially in later battles when some spells may be a necessity in order to survive.

There is another form of combat which involves your ship battling an enemy ship. In these fights, the spirit bar is still there, except in these battles everything aside from items takes spirit points away, including the basic attacks. Ship combat requires a bit more planning than regular combat due to the fact that the spirit point meter can diminish much more quickly, however there’s a grid system during each turn that helps you plan out your attacks to make things a little easier. If part of the grid is green, then that’s the time to unload some fire power, focus, or heal since there’s little danger. When part of the grid is yellow, that’s when you should be a little more cautious with what commands you make. If part of the grid is red, then that’s when you should be bracing for attacks from the enemy. At first, the combat is pretty much just a fire-fight with cannons. However, as you progress through the story, you’ll gain more weapons and abilities that will help prepare you for the various enemy ships and giant monsters that you’ll be battling.



The story in Skies of Arcadia is pretty good. You’ll see Vyse, the main character, slowly progress from the son of an Air Pirate to someone who not only is in charge of his own island and crew but someone who managed to sail around the world and make several unknown discoveries all while trying to prevent the world as he knows it from being destroyed. It’s very satisfying...It’s almost as if you’re not just seeing Vyse grow stronger as you level up but you’re also seeing him grow stronger as a leader as the story goes on as well. The story has Vyse travel all over the world, allowing various environments and areas to be visited and lots of unknown discoveries to be uncovered.

Discoveries are another important aspect to the game. Not only does the game allow you to wander around and explore the world, but it encourages it. As you sail around, you’ll eventually find discoveries that, when reported, will earn you money. This helps a lot, especially later in the game when you can skip the random battles while sailing, since you won’t have to fight to get some income. The hidden secrets of the game don’t end there, either. There are various crew members to seek out and find when you gain control of your own ship. Also out there to find are various secret ‘boss’ fights from giant birds, to giant squids, to giant....errr...dreamcatchers? But anyway, there is a lot to find for gamers who like to wander around and explore in their RPGs. Discovering things in Skies of Arcadia isn’t just a fun side-quest, it’s an important aspect of the game.



Graphically, Skies of Arcadia looked absolutely beautiful when it was released. Even today, the graphics still look pretty nice. The overall look and feel of the game really works well with the personality of the characters. Each area of the world has its own, unique look and feel that helps keep the game feeling fresh – even when you’re near the finale of the game. As far as sound is concerned, I’ve heard some say that the soundtrack is of standard fare, but personally, I adore it. Each track fits the area that it plays in very effectively. There are limited voice-overs for the characters, but they’re pretty much just one-word or one-sentence phrases, leaving the player to read what they’ve got to say. I know some folks really hate that...I’m not one of those folks. The little samples of their voices were enough to give some personality to the story as you read the dialogue.

There aren’t many flaws to the game that I can think of aside from the often-complained-about frequency of the random battles that you'll hear with most RPGs. The only time this became a nuisance for me was when I was exploring and trying to find discoveries on the ship, which seems to be when the random battles are at their most frequent. However, once you’ve got a feel for the battle system, the random battles, even at their most frequent, will be more of an annoyance than a problem...And later on in the game, you’ll gain the ability to avoid random battles all together while sailing on your ship...So, it’s not really a big deal to me, but it will likely annoy some.



Overall, Skies of Arcadia is a must-play game for anyone who enjoys RPGs. With its strategic battle systems, interesting story, and overall polish, this game is one of the absolute best games to grace Sega’s Dreamcast console and easily one of the best RPGs of all-time. After a few hours of sailing through the clouds and traversing the game’s varied dungeons, it’ll likely become clear to you why Skies of Arcadia has such a loyal fanbase...And why they all seem to foam at the mouth whenever a rumor pops up about a possible sequel. It almost seems fitting that most of the game takes place above the clouds; your time spent playing it will feel like heaven.

10/10