Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dreamcast now has one of the best RPGs ever!, November 19, 2000
By A Customer
Positive reviews made me give a shot at this game even after buying Jet Grind Radio (awesome!). I don't have much time to play RPG's, but I have made time for the very best (Panzer Dragoon Saga, Final Fantasy 2 & 3 on SNES, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger). Amazingly, Skies of Arcadia jumps right into this batch of greats!In every way, be it innovative gameplay (traditional RPG battle plus turn-based ship battles), incredible graphics (the spell effects are INCREDIBLE and DC-powered, the towns are full 3D, textures galore), or personality (characters change 3D facial characteristics to emote), it's all here. The storyline is interesting and fun and the environments expansive and truly multidimensional. The quest seems quite long too, I'm at 18 hours and on disc 1 of 2 and have only about 30% of the game's "event log" tallied. As I said, I don't have much time for RPG's, but this one is so good it's hard not to think the inverse: I don't have much time for everything else...lest it get in the way of playing Skies of Arcadia.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First Great RPG of the Next Generation Consoles, December 20, 2000
Skies of Arcadia is great in so many ways, I don't think I can cover it all. This is the first excellent RPG of the next generation consoles, and it will be a hard act to follow. Almost everything is wonderful and fresh. The graphics, the story, the fighting system, the world of Arcadia - this is the stuff of gaming legend!Naturally, the graphics are jaw-dropping. Just imagine the static backgrounds in Playstation RPGs, except that you can move about them in full 3D, and you'll get the idea. These textures are the most detailed I have every seen in a game - you'll stop just to study a mosaic in the floor. The towns and dungeons are impossible complex and detailed. Each seem to be more spectacular than the last. What impressed me the most, though, was how completely the graphics combined with the rest of the game to give you a great experience. For example, the character animation not only amazes you at how life-like it is, but draws you into the story and the characters. The plot starts slow and predictable, but finishes incredibly strong. Everyone who's played this game agrees that somewhere in the first 3rd of the story, something grabs your attention and doesn't let go. Maybe it's the spectacular world of Arcadia, which basically combines the Age of Discovery and pirates with magic, and throws everything into the skies. People live on floating islands, with magic powered sailboats sailing to and from, clouds pouring down like waterfalls, and strange cultures sitting undiscovered by the Old World. Like in any good RPG, the story stirs emotion by taking you to new places and introducing new characters. I don't want to ruin anything for you, so I'll just say that Skies of Arcadia makes discovery *fun* again - you'll look forward to finding that new island, or meeting that new character, or challenging that new enemy. What a blast. The combat system is actually broken into 2 seperate parts - your standard, run-of-the-mill random monster fights that any fan of Final Fantasy is familiar with and probably getting sick of. This type of battle is actually too frequent for my tastes, especially when exploring the world map. At least Sega has thrown in some new strategic elements to spice things up, like a group-shared spirit pool, or the most user-friendly elemental system on any RPG ever. The second type of combat is a more strategic battle between 2 seperate airships. These battles are very cinematic and a blast to play. They also require more thought and planning then your ordinary turn-based combat. You can spend a lot of time recruiting the perfect crew, or choosing the best combination of weapons and defense. If you can only get 1 Dreamcast game this X-mas, definitely get Skies of Arcadia. Besides all of the above, this RPG had so many extras and hidden sights that you can easily spend an extra 10 hours finding it all. You can even download entire continents from the Sega web site! I don't want to tell you about all the neat stuff you get to do, so just trust me, and get this game.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A superb blend of old and new, January 22, 2001
Skies of Arcadia is one of the first next-generation console RPGs. However, outside of a graphical upgrade, Skies conforms to many traditional RPG conventions. But while this game doesn't really offer any new innovations, its execution of tried-and-true gameplay mechanics is nearly flawless. Let me first just cover my one main complaint of the game - random battles. By no means is this problem unique to Skies. This is a problem that has long plagued console RPGs in general. In my opinion, random encounters are just a cheap trick to extend the life of the game. Some RPGs, like Chrono Cross, have already gone away from this. I think the rest should follow suit. The problem with Skies is that random battles happen far too frequently...as often as every five to ten seconds. This gets really annoying really quickly, especially since a battle on average takes a couple minutes to complete. The good news is that the game is really paced quite well and you will not have to spend extra time fighting random battles to level up your characters. So what is good about Skies? A lot. Like almost all RPGs out there, the basic premise is that your ragtag group of characters are the unlikely heroes in a quest to save the world from total destruction. The characters exhibit the cute, childish quality prevalent in many Japanese-designed RPGs, but are never sickeningly so. The personalities are optimistic, but the story line has tragic moments as well. And while the basic flow of the plot is predictable, there is just enough suspense and mystery in the details, compelling you to find out more. One of the themes of the game is exploration, and I eagerly anticipated discovering a new environment to explore. The locations are rich and diverse. Among other places, you will explore jungle villages, underground labyrinths, Asian-styled temples, and even a futuristic spaceship. All of the environments are beautifully designed and despite the variety, all make sense given the context of the Skies' world and story. The game engine is fully 3D and is gorgeous. No more 3D characters superimposed on 2D backgrounds, which I feel really improves the immersion of the game. All the cutscenes use the 3D engine as well and are well executed. Battles follow the traditional turn-based RPG style. You decide what your characters are going to do in the current round and they go and do it. One nuance is a party spirit pool. Spirit points are used to perform special attacks or cast spells. Having everyone draw from one unified pool adds a little more to the strategy of each round. Another little nuance is that party members don't stay still while waiting for their turn to act. They will move around and engage enemies (not actually causing or taking any damage). The movements are fairly random and can both help and hinder the avoidance of enemy attacks. Skies has a second mode of combat for encounters between airships. It is also turn-based and strongly tactical. Each turn is divided into four slots which are planned at the start of each round. A danger meter gives some indication as to potential enemy activity. In this mode as well, the airships move about between slots. The movements are not entirely random, but not entirely predictable as well and do impact the success of attacks and defenses. I found this randomness to add a sense of tension to each round. It definitely made me pay more attention to strategy...watching the danger meter, choosing to concentrate or spread out attacks, etc. Overall, Skies of Arcadia is a fantastic game. It does not break new ground, instead sticking with traditional gameplay mechanics. But what it does, it does exceptionally well - interesting characters and story, beautiful environments, engaging combat mechanics, etc. I highly recommend this game for seasoned console RPGers or for those people just getting into console RPGs...Skies of Arcadia is among the best the genre has to offer.
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