Our next game for Together RPG will be Skies of Arcadia.
Skies of Arcadia is a well regarded RPG originally developed by Overworks and published by Sega. The game received a Gamecube port under the name Skies of Arcadia Legends. The game focuses on airship pirates as they stop an evil empire from destroying the world.
I'm excited for this. I think I dabbled just a tiny bit after getting it but I got distracted by the large amount of other RPGs I was buying at the time, and ended up playing Grandia II instead. But now I can bust out the Dreamcast for this game.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
This is piquing my interest. I have the original version on the dreamcast.
I've given a try to this game at least two or three times over the years, but I keep getting stuck, I mean really stuck, trying to find a stupid little island to open up a dungeon.
I haven't played it in a few years so I really cant tell where it is in the game. I think its after the big dark city you reach?
It seriously pissed me off over the years and I still cant find it. Plus the random battles that pop up while you're trying to find said stupid island really grinds my patience.
All the random battles ate up my supplies and I have to reset.
I heard that the random battles were fixed on the Gamecube version. I want to try and find this game but I'm pretty sure Skies of Arcadia Legends is going to be expensive.
OH! And as some tips, I recommend that you have your own VMU to play this game. Each time you save a game and your VMU has a different image, the game bugs you to change to it's custom image each time. Very annoying.
Also, will we discuss the VMU mini games? I remember playing them a long time ago. its going to be a bit expensive to play though. Two 2032 batteries to replace in your dead VMU's portability can get a bit expensive.
I'll keep an eye on this thread.
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It's a huge undertaking though; I think I put in over 50 hours when I beat it last. After Grandia earlier his year I'm not sure I can handle another long RPG quite yet. We'll see - for now I'll at least follow this thread because I'm interested in what others think.
I just went and checked my HLTB stats for this game. I finished it back in January of 2013, the GameCube version. It took me 65 hours to complete, but I did a lot of the optional things. (The GameCube version has some significant extras.) I rated it a 9/10 and wrote this quick review:
A wonderful sense of exploration and cheery characters is offset by a slow battle system and a high encounter rate. Despite that, the excellent music, fully realized and unique world, entertaining locales, epic ship battles, and full on joie de vivre this JRPG exudes makes it a necessary play for all JRPG enthusiasts. A highly unique and fun JRPG worth tracking down from the ether of eons past.
This is a JRPG worth anyone's time. Have fun dudes.
As I have picked up and sold about 6 or 7 Dreamcasts now, and Skies of Arcadia a few times, I will be playing my Gamecube copy. I hear it is the more optimal experience for the most part anyway.
Jmustang1968 wrote:I hear it is the more optimal experience for the most part anyway.
Legends is superior, here's why:
The rate of random encounters is slightly lower in the GameCube version but experience points earned are higher per battle to make up for this.
The majority of character models have gained some additional polygon counts, which are especially apparent on most characters' hands, heads, and torsos.
In addition, framerate drops that occurred on the Dreamcast while sailing in certain areas or performing certain super moves or magic have been largely reduced or eliminated.
The GameCube makes use of its improved hardware to reduce game saving and loading times as well as battle sequence loading times.
The GameCube version does not require the use of a second disc, whereas the Dreamcast version does.
There are twenty-four new discoveries to be found in exploring in Legends. These are scattered throughout the game and act as a larger source of income for the player.
Additionally, inclusion of a subplot involving collecting Moonfish for a Doctor and a girl named Maria was added. Moonfish, invisible to the naked eye, are placed throughout the game for the player to collect. When prompted by the distinctive sound Moonfish make, Vyse is able to see Moonfish with a special adjustment to his headgear. When returning these Moonfish to the Doc, Maria's bird begins to grow, and is eventually is added to the journal as a Discovery. Feeding Maria's bird also unlocks cutscenes showing the pasts of several characters related to Doc and Maria, including the antagonists.
Another added subplot involving Piastol, a woman who hunts air pirates under the nom de guerre "Angel of Death". She calls for Vyse several times throughout the game, leading to optional, difficult boss battles. Defeating her unlocks additional cutscenes explaining her past and relations to the other characters.
A "Wanted List" of enemies to locate while exploring has been added as well, most of them being entirely new to the GameCube version. These mini-bosses are more difficult than the rest of the game's bosses because they level up simultaneously as the player's party does, meaning that they will be consistently difficult regardless of the player's current level.
Legends also contains a new in-game secret, music tracks for both Nasultan and post-attack Nasr, the best set of swords for Vyse, and a secret boss battle.
As I said, lots of new content. My favorite thing was all the new bosses. They were more challenging (thus more fun to defeat) than the traditional bosses of the Dreamcast original. Loved fighting these guys:
People will say that the GameCube version has inferior music. I did not find that to be the case. Or at least the music was good enough that its quality never came into question for my own ears. It's a very easy breezy game and should be a piece of cake for anyone to enjoy.
