Skies of Arcadia

The smell of burning fuel fills the air as you lean over the railing, watching the scenery. Clouds stretch as far out as the eye can see, both above and below you. A few islands sprinkle their silhouette upon clouds in the distance as the luminous Silver Moon above quietly watches the world. Soon, you spot a speck in the distance- it is almost invisible to the eye at first but it grows larger as you near it. A raised black flag with a skull upon it catches your eye. It's a ship- and from the looks of it, its crew has just taken in a loot of treasure. A grin creases across your face as you hear your crew members preparing to board, and you quickly rush to join them.

The age of exploration has dawned upon this world. Brave adventurers set sail across the vast skies in search of treasures untold. And where there is treasure, there will be Air Pirates.

This is the world of Arcadia.

Arcadia

Skies of Arcadia (Eternal Arcadia in Japan) is a RPG that perhaps few are familiar with. Originally released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 and later ported with a few new additions to the Nintendo Gamecube in 2002, Skies of Arcadia is considered by fans as one of the greatest RPGs to grace the Dreamcast, as well as the Gamecube.

But what makes Skies of Arcadia different from other RPGs? I don't particularly consider myself a hardcore RPG player, as the number of RPGs I have played probably dwell in single digits, but Skies of Arcadia was one RPG that stole my heart.

I. The World

Skies of Arcadia weaves a beautifully rendered world with six moons high in the sky- red, green, blue, yellow, purple, and silver. It is these moons and the debris that falls from them that the denizens of Arcadia depend on for survival. Not only do the moons each have their own properties, but they also endow the land and people they shine upon with that property- for instance, the land under the scorching Red Moon becomes a desert, and the land under the Green Moon becomes a rich and beautiful forest.

The city of Valua, blessed with the electromagnetism of the Yellow Moon

Of further interest is that there is no surface to the planet. On the world of Arcadia, islands populate the skies, including a few islands large enough to represent a continent. How they are raised in the sky is a mystery, but by breaking away from conventional overworlds, Skies of Arcadia is able to deliver and create a world where everything is new to the player and the sense of exploration is heightened.

The overworld

Of course, some form of transportation is needed to get across this vast world, and Skies of Arcadia introduces a world where flying ships are the norm. Not only does this further immerse the player in a huge world of the unknown right from the start, but it also allows for ship battles, where the player engages enemy ships in turn based combat, creating an exciting new method of battle to break away from the monotonous random encounters in dungeons. Furthermore, the ship can be equipped and even upgraded later in the game, allowing the player to explore areas previously unreachable and equip stronger weapons.

Badass

II. The Battle System

There are two forms of battle in Skies of Arcadia- one being the traditional random encounters in dungeons and in the skies, and the other being ship to ship battles that typically occur to progress the storyline or occur against optional enemies on the overworld.

At first, the random battles felt extremely tedious. The beginning of the game is plagued with random encounters, perhaps one every five steps or every five seconds at worst (and this is after they toned the random encounter level down in the Gamecube version). But as I continued to do battle with colorful and often interesting creatures, I began to pick up upon several aspects of the unique battle system. Skies of Arcadia implements a turn-based battle system, but no one from either side is allowed to attack until the entire party's moves have been selected. This can be both advantageous or a disadvantageous to the player, as the player must think through his moves thoroughly before choosing what to do. Thinking several steps ahead of the enemy is crucial to keeping the characters alive. As interesting as I found the battle system, the one downside was that it made battles feel extremely long and cumbersome- after selecting the character's moves, one has to watch as the characters and the enemies execute their moves one by one; the order of movement is decided by highest speed first, then each character and monster until the slowest and last one has made its move.

Length aside, the random battles work similarly to any other RPG. As the player progresses throughout the game, he will obtain different colored moonstones that will allow him to change the color of his weapons in battle. This incorporates another level of strategy into the game, as the colored weapons not only can increase damage if changed to a color strong against the enemy monster’s color, but also the colored weapons serve to help your characters learn magic of that color. For instance, having a character’s weapon left at green at the end of the battle will gain that character and other party members magic points in green magic.

The battle system also utilizes a Focus system, a pool of spirit points that is constantly replenished each turn. These spirit points, or SP, allow party members to use magic and S-moves (super moves, powerful attacks or defensive moves that consume large amounts of SP), thus forcing the player to choose between focusing for a powerful move next turn or to attack straight away.

That’s a lot of HP

Ship to ship battles are unique to Skies of Arcadia and are often found to be more enjoyable. Similar to random encounters, ship to ship battles force the player to decide all his moves before executing them- thus, the player is allowed four moves in each turn, one move corresponding to each character in the party. The player is presented with a grid, with a colored light on top of each column- a green light means no real danger, a yellow light means some danger, and a red light usually means the enemy will use a high powered attack that turn, allowing the player to decide which turns to guard. Also in similarity to random encounters, ship to ship battles use a focus system as well, as casting magic and firing cannons consume SP.

These battles may seem simplistic at first, but the developers incorporated torpedoes (missiles that take one character’s turn to fire, but can hit on another turn with increased accuracy) and even an S-move for the ship, which is usually a high powered, high SP consuming cannon that can only be fired on columns denoted with an S. Furthermore, the ship’s stats are taken into account when battling, so players are forced to keep their ship’s equipment up to date in order to move first, deal higher damage and lessen damage received. Lastly, the power of primary ship cannons is based upon the character firing it, forcing the player to choose which character should perform what action.

After deciding upon a move set, the player watches as the two ships do battle, executing all four moves before a new turn begins. Throwing in choices to attack from behind or to attack different areas allows the player to make tactical decisions and bear the consequences of what subsequently happens- perhaps attacking from behind will allow the player a few critical shots, or perhaps the enemy was aware all along of his intentions and will get the advantage instead. The plethora of options and strategic choices comes together for a refreshing and invigorating battle experience.

Imma firin' my cannon!!1

III. The Characters

Skies of Arcadia is also unique in its characters. Rather than the downcast and emotionless characters of some popular RPGs, Skies of Arcadia presents its characters as both upbeat and realistic, fighting for their values and their beliefs. What is also interesting is that there is a small amount of characters. Whereas some RPGs have parties of up to eight members, Skies of Arcadia introduces three main characters and three supporting characters that are never in the party at the same time. With few characters, Skies of Arcadia frees itself from the convolution of explaining every character’s story and instead weaves them all together. Here, I will give a brief synopsis only of the main characters, as the supporting characters are spoilers in themselves.

Lookin’ good

Vyse is the protagonist of the game. He is upbeat, confident, and if something is said to be impossible, it only motivates him to try harder. Vyse’s dream is to explore the world of Arcadia and to find treasures and artifacts that have never before been documented.

Vyse wields two cutlasses as his primary weapon, one for offense and one for defense.

It’s coming back right?

Aika is Vyse’s childhood friend and best friend. Her parents were killed in a raid when she was younger, so growing up with Vyse has rubbed tomboyish qualities upon her. Similar to Vyse, she is not afraid to speak her mind, but when it comes to making decisions, she will usually follow Vyse’s lead.

Aika utilizes a large boomerang as her attacking weapon and is extremely quick, often taking the first move in battles.

Fina and Cupil

Fina is a secretive, mysterious girl who knows nothing of Arcadia. She was raised upon the belief that the denizens of Arcadia were hateful, greedy, and could not be trusted. When she meets Vyse and Aika however, her perception of the world and her beliefs are thrown upside down.

Fina’s pet Cupil acts as her weapon, transforming itself into various objects to bash against enemies.

IV. The Story

In the Old World, warring nations used organic weapons known as the Gigas to do battle against one another. Each civilization under each corresponding moon in the past had its own Gigas and would use it to defend or attack an enemy nation. Ultimately, a shower of moonstones was called down upon the world, wiping out the majority of Arcadia’s population and ending the wars. This was the Rains of Destruction.

In the New World, under the power of the Yellow Moon’s electric properties, Valua has quickly developed and become the most technologically advanced nation of Arcadia, along with the largest mobilized army under the control of six admirals. But yet, Valua seeks something more still, something even more powerful: the moon crystals. It was these crystals that in the past allowed the bearer to control the Gigas of the corresponding civilization. To have all six crystals and command of all six of these entities would allow for Valua to completely seize and conquer the entire known world. And to find these crystals, the Valuan empress sent out the admirals of the Valuan Armada to find and seize anything that would help them.

The Admirals of the Valuan Armada. Can you spot the emo?

Alfonso, First Admiral of the Valuan Armada, comes across a sleek silver ship in the sky and promptly shoots it down. He seizes the ship and the strangely dressed female passenger inside and prepares to take her back to Valua for questioning, but in the distance, he spots a blue flag- Air Pirates.

Vyse and Aika board Alfonso’s ship, and this is where their story begins.

V. The Gameplay

What I believe to be the shining jewel of Skies of Arcadia is how it immerses the player into Vyse’s shoes in a land of the unknown. Vyse’s swashbuckler rating, a title for Vyse that grows more and more legendary as the player makes correct dialogue choices and fulfills special requirements. Such a simple addition is very effective however- tavern owners and shop keepers will begin to acknowledge Vyse every time he visits and their praise only grows as Vyse’s fame grows, giving acknowledgement to the player’s achievements and rooting him deeper into Vyse’s shoes.

Also to immerse the player in a world of exploration are discoveries that can be made on the overworld. These are revealed when the player flies his ship into the vicinity of the discovery, which causes the compass to rotate wildly. Upon finding the discovery, the player is given a brief synopsis of the artifact or creature, and he can sell the information to a Sailor’s Guild for gold.

Furthermore, Skies of Arcadia allows the player to take upon side quests known as bounties, which involve tracking down Black Pirates and defeating them for gold. This aspect of the game not only exemplifies Vyse’s nature, but they also reveal parts of the story and background information that would otherwise be missed.

I am a Black Pirate! Fear my mighty black beard!

There are still tons things to do in Arcadia that will further pull the player into the world- ship upgrades, crew recruitment, and island customization are just a few of the things available that make the world of Arcadia just so hard to leave.

Why can't I use any more italics!?

VI. The End?

Skies of Arcadia is now eight years old, and other than a port to the Gamecube with a few upgrades, it has not seen a sequel despite having a large fan base (sounds like a certain game TL knows very well). However, rumors have been recently rising about a sequel showing at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Whether or not it’s true however, the world of Arcadia still lives on.

In a far away land, leaves blow through the air and exotic plant life and fruits can be seen in every direction. In a far away land, strong winds course throughout the skies and ships fly high above the clouds. In a far away land, the surface of a continent is deadened with ice and no sign of life is to be found. And in a land not too far from here, a young boy gazes out upon the ever expansive clouds that recede into the distant Silver Moon high in the sky, and marvels at the beauty of the world.

Skies of Arcadia

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