Skies of Arcadia Review by: Flamesnipe
<head>Skies of Arcadia Review</head>
Skies of Arcadia
Review by Chris a.k.a. Flamesnipe
Vitals
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developers: Sega and Overworks
Disks: 2
Players: 1
Memory Card: Yes. Visual Memory Unit. 26 Pages.
Rumble Pack: Yes. Jump Pack Compatable.
Genre: Role-Playing Game
Storyline: 9.5/10
You take control of Vyse, son of the Air Pirate Dyne. By your side is your childhood friend Aika. And you're about to jump ship onto a Valuan Flagship.
In the world of Arcadia, there are six moons. The Red Moon watches over the scorching deserts of Nasr, the Yellow Moon stays afloat over Valua. The Green Moon stays in the air over Ixa'Taka, and the Blue Moon watches over Yafutoma. The Purple Moon watches the ever-frozen Lands of Ice, and the Silver Moon looks after the tiny islands near Pirate Isle.
All of the Moons have certain properties. Red - Fire. Green - Nature. Blue - Wind and Water. Purple - Ice. Yellow - Lighting. Silver - Life and Death. And these Moons shot down the Rains of Destruction, destroying the Old World, and the remains of these Rains, Moon Stones, cover the New World. With these Moon Stones, people have invested into many new creations, such as Armadas of flying ships.
These Moonstones are used in all items - Potions, Weapons, Armor, Cannons. And with it, you can instantly change your weapon's element. They also power machines, ships, and fires.
All in all, you are an Air Pirate fighting the Valuan Empire. Then you met Fina, and it seems your fate is sealed. What do you do - Save your own life, or that of a stranger?
Graphics: 8.5/10
The Graphics in Skies of Arcadia are really something. The detail shows why. The very air looks real, and the swords and boomer-angs as well. The worlds were sculpted with great care, and the ships detail goes right down to portholes and and secondary cannons. Also, the later stages of the game host incredible high-tech worlds which must of took days to create. Lastly, the lighting effects are incredible.
Magic spells look nice, but the real beauties in battle are the Special Moves. Everyone hosts it's own special background, lighting effects, character movement, and flashing weapons. Fina's are especially nice, with the Silver Moon in nearly all of them.
Not many character sprites are re-used. The only ones re-used are soldiers and some merchants. Most people have their own look, but not as many people roam the world.
One of the problems with graphics is that they use the same picture of the character all the time. So when the pull out their sword, they are holding the default one, not necesarily the one that is equiped. This really gets annoying to me, at least.
Control: 9/10>
The Control in Skies of Arcadia is simple. A is action, B is cancel, X is menu, and Y changes weapon element and lets you look at things from a first person point of view. R and L change the camera angle, and the D-Pad lets you look around the area while on ships.
Sound: 7.5/10
This is where Skies of Arcadia falls - Character talking. The characters were originally supposed to talk out everyline, but due to time, they are limmited to a very few lines such as "Thank you very much". It gets iritating when they don't even say that in the dialog, but they play the clip anyway.
The music is wonderful. The battle theme is great. It consists of a simply addictive tune with a very fast drum beat. The Overworld theme is constant, and when you near a far off land, it plays another set of instruments along with it, giving it a real feal for the area. The boss theme is great, as well. It features a system of three songs - one for the time when the battle is even, and uprising song when it is in your favor, and a demonic tune when you are on the downside.
The other songs are good as well, but the chaos song sounds kind of lame. All in all, the character speach killed the sound for Skies, but is backed by a good OSV.
Overall: 8.6
Skies of Arcadia was well thought out and managed. The storyline is compelling and addictive. The Battle-system is original and inovative. The typical RPG Gamer will be happy with this game. Also, this game has finally shown that quality RPGs do exist on the Dreamcast.
The Bottom Line
Skies of Arcadia is worth forking over $50 to $70. It is really that good. Buy it now!
This work is originally found at Video Game Kings. You must get permission from the Webmaster or author to put this on your site. Check out Here to see if this is allowed on this site.
