WEM 06 - Skies of Arcadia (Legends)
For Winter-een-mas 2006 I've decided to play my top 5 games again and write a review for the new TGN site whatever it's called.
Today I played the last 3 bosses of Skies of Arcadia Legends all over again. I wish I could've played more but there's no way I could do the game in a day, especially when Man Utd are playing for a place in a cup final (We did win the game and we're going to cardiff the day after my birthday WHOO!)
Below is a copy and paste of what I submitted just moments ago. Tomorrow is a different game but what will it be...? Come back tomorrow to find out.
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Late in the life of the Dreamcast SEGA released a brand new franchise RPG called Skies of Arcadia. Later on it was ported with some bonus material on the Gamecube and given the subtitle Legends. Many of those who have played this game have praised it to the heavens; many have said it’s the one of the best Dreamcast games. I am one of them, I’ve been through each version and enjoyed every last minute.
But what is it that makes this game so special. From just the screens and videos it looks nothing more than a Traditional style RPG, entering a market saturated with plenty of Traditional style RPG’s. Most notably Square-Enix’s infamous Final Fantasy series. Will it be more than a match for the series or fail like many a contender before it?
You play as a young, probably teenage, boy called Vyse. A member of a group of pirates called the Blue Rogues who spend their days stealing from an iron fisted government, and generally helping those who need it. You soon meet a mysterious girl on a mission to save the world from massive weapons, sought by that government, all to stop a possible apocalypse.
The Gameplay remains very traditional in many areas, such as turned based combat, special attack limits, and controlling a party of four at once, it does have some more unique elements. Most noticeably in the battle phase of gameplay where your attacks are practically dictated by the Team Spirit Bar at the top.
Like previous titles in this genre, barring some basic actions your most powerful moves use up points on this Special Bar. However the whole team has to use it. No rushing in with your most heavy attacks and healing those character’s individual bars with items. If one character has used most of the Spirit bar the other characters must use what has been left over.
It’s a very smart system particularly with Magic as now you have sort of a magic counter. As long as you have a Magic point you can use magic, but stronger magic spells will take up more of the spirit bar. Also when you reach certain levels you will generate the right number of spirit points on the bar to use special widespread attacks each turn. This makes battling weaker enemies much easier and quicker.
This is a good thing, as unfortunately its biggest flaw is the frequency of Random Battles. It came out in a time where these types of RPG’s were experimenting with seeing enemies and being able to avoid battles. Seeing some of the systems in place now and looking back, using Random Battles seems like a bad idea.
Though what makes this game so unique are the brilliant Ship Battles. You fight as one ship against another ship but have as many actions per turn as you have characters. You can see the turn after the one your about to assign actions too and it’s really a case of thinking ahead. As you progress you can recruit crew members, each giving their own unique skill and making your ship overall much stronger.
Outside of battles the gameplay is a pretty standard affair. You move across a huge adventure field, discovering secrets and entering towns or dungeons. When in towns you can buy and sell items, weapons and armour, and find information on side quests. When in Dungeons you solve puzzles to venture deeper and eventually face a boss. Pretty much what’s expected in this type of game though just because it’s expected doesn’t mean it’s bad.
There is a small part of the game that has you customising your own base with some limited options. This is a nice feature offering you some freedom of expression in the game.
Overall the gameplay is very solid and nicely polished outside of battle, and very stylish in battle whether as your party or as your ship. It could be argued that there are a lot of menus to go through, which can put people off. Though this isn’t an issue exclusive to Skies of Arcadia and very few games try to get round it.
There are loads to do in this game. Not only will you be hooked with the nice and long story, there are also plenty of side quests that practically stare you in the face (such as the Discoveries and in Legends, the bounties).
You’ll spend ages recruiting every crew member, finding every discovery, fighting hidden bosses, tracking down bounties and collecting hidden items to strengthen your party and ship. There are also moments where you’ll be tested on your quality as a leader and rated accordingly. This is called the Swashbuckler rating and the more you progress the better it will be. The Ultimate challenge of this game is to get the title Vyse the Legend.
The bounties in Legends really open up the game. They are bosses that get stronger as you do and the only way to beat them is to use good strategy. One of the games highlights has you pitted against a group of impostors, with moves more powerful than your own. Beating them is a real challenge that I certainly enjoyed.
Visually at the time it was very good. Dungeons were presented and played in full 3D, i.e. no pre rendered backgrounds or isometric perspectives. However when Legends came out the graphics had already looked aged quite a lot, and paled in comparison to most of what had been released. It probably won’t bother you all that much though.
The music is beautifully composed and fits in well with the pirate theme. Though sound wise there isn’t much else. There’s very little voice acting and when you do hear something it can be quite annoying. But then what else is new. Rarely does a game actually have good voice acting. You can’t have many quarrels with the sound unless you’d rather hear what they say rather than just read it.
If you want a very long one player experience you can’t go wrong with Skies of Arcadia. Its story is a good 40 hours at least, with around 15-20 hours of side quests and a further 15-20 on legends. You’ll be hooked from start to finish and the feeling doesn’t fade on your second run through.
And this is why I love it. It’s long, quite addictive, challenging and gives the same feeling every time you play. Arguably the best in the genre and it’s a crime that there hasn’t been a sequel yet. It has its flaws like any other game but your honestly won’t care. A worthy addition to any collection
+ Loads to do including a lengthy main quest
+ Stylish Battling including an awesome team spirit system
+ An awesome soundtrack
- Do we really need Random Battles? Especially at this frequency?
- Might benefit from more voice acting, though only if they can get it right
- You may feel there are too many menus during battles
9 out of 10
Today I played the last 3 bosses of Skies of Arcadia Legends all over again. I wish I could've played more but there's no way I could do the game in a day, especially when Man Utd are playing for a place in a cup final (We did win the game and we're going to cardiff the day after my birthday WHOO!)
Below is a copy and paste of what I submitted just moments ago. Tomorrow is a different game but what will it be...? Come back tomorrow to find out.
----------------------------------
Late in the life of the Dreamcast SEGA released a brand new franchise RPG called Skies of Arcadia. Later on it was ported with some bonus material on the Gamecube and given the subtitle Legends. Many of those who have played this game have praised it to the heavens; many have said it’s the one of the best Dreamcast games. I am one of them, I’ve been through each version and enjoyed every last minute.
But what is it that makes this game so special. From just the screens and videos it looks nothing more than a Traditional style RPG, entering a market saturated with plenty of Traditional style RPG’s. Most notably Square-Enix’s infamous Final Fantasy series. Will it be more than a match for the series or fail like many a contender before it?
You play as a young, probably teenage, boy called Vyse. A member of a group of pirates called the Blue Rogues who spend their days stealing from an iron fisted government, and generally helping those who need it. You soon meet a mysterious girl on a mission to save the world from massive weapons, sought by that government, all to stop a possible apocalypse.
The Gameplay remains very traditional in many areas, such as turned based combat, special attack limits, and controlling a party of four at once, it does have some more unique elements. Most noticeably in the battle phase of gameplay where your attacks are practically dictated by the Team Spirit Bar at the top.
Like previous titles in this genre, barring some basic actions your most powerful moves use up points on this Special Bar. However the whole team has to use it. No rushing in with your most heavy attacks and healing those character’s individual bars with items. If one character has used most of the Spirit bar the other characters must use what has been left over.
It’s a very smart system particularly with Magic as now you have sort of a magic counter. As long as you have a Magic point you can use magic, but stronger magic spells will take up more of the spirit bar. Also when you reach certain levels you will generate the right number of spirit points on the bar to use special widespread attacks each turn. This makes battling weaker enemies much easier and quicker.
This is a good thing, as unfortunately its biggest flaw is the frequency of Random Battles. It came out in a time where these types of RPG’s were experimenting with seeing enemies and being able to avoid battles. Seeing some of the systems in place now and looking back, using Random Battles seems like a bad idea.
Though what makes this game so unique are the brilliant Ship Battles. You fight as one ship against another ship but have as many actions per turn as you have characters. You can see the turn after the one your about to assign actions too and it’s really a case of thinking ahead. As you progress you can recruit crew members, each giving their own unique skill and making your ship overall much stronger.
Outside of battles the gameplay is a pretty standard affair. You move across a huge adventure field, discovering secrets and entering towns or dungeons. When in towns you can buy and sell items, weapons and armour, and find information on side quests. When in Dungeons you solve puzzles to venture deeper and eventually face a boss. Pretty much what’s expected in this type of game though just because it’s expected doesn’t mean it’s bad.
There is a small part of the game that has you customising your own base with some limited options. This is a nice feature offering you some freedom of expression in the game.
Overall the gameplay is very solid and nicely polished outside of battle, and very stylish in battle whether as your party or as your ship. It could be argued that there are a lot of menus to go through, which can put people off. Though this isn’t an issue exclusive to Skies of Arcadia and very few games try to get round it.
There are loads to do in this game. Not only will you be hooked with the nice and long story, there are also plenty of side quests that practically stare you in the face (such as the Discoveries and in Legends, the bounties).
You’ll spend ages recruiting every crew member, finding every discovery, fighting hidden bosses, tracking down bounties and collecting hidden items to strengthen your party and ship. There are also moments where you’ll be tested on your quality as a leader and rated accordingly. This is called the Swashbuckler rating and the more you progress the better it will be. The Ultimate challenge of this game is to get the title Vyse the Legend.
The bounties in Legends really open up the game. They are bosses that get stronger as you do and the only way to beat them is to use good strategy. One of the games highlights has you pitted against a group of impostors, with moves more powerful than your own. Beating them is a real challenge that I certainly enjoyed.
Visually at the time it was very good. Dungeons were presented and played in full 3D, i.e. no pre rendered backgrounds or isometric perspectives. However when Legends came out the graphics had already looked aged quite a lot, and paled in comparison to most of what had been released. It probably won’t bother you all that much though.
The music is beautifully composed and fits in well with the pirate theme. Though sound wise there isn’t much else. There’s very little voice acting and when you do hear something it can be quite annoying. But then what else is new. Rarely does a game actually have good voice acting. You can’t have many quarrels with the sound unless you’d rather hear what they say rather than just read it.
If you want a very long one player experience you can’t go wrong with Skies of Arcadia. Its story is a good 40 hours at least, with around 15-20 hours of side quests and a further 15-20 on legends. You’ll be hooked from start to finish and the feeling doesn’t fade on your second run through.
And this is why I love it. It’s long, quite addictive, challenging and gives the same feeling every time you play. Arguably the best in the genre and it’s a crime that there hasn’t been a sequel yet. It has its flaws like any other game but your honestly won’t care. A worthy addition to any collection
+ Loads to do including a lengthy main quest
+ Stylish Battling including an awesome team spirit system
+ An awesome soundtrack
- Do we really need Random Battles? Especially at this frequency?
- Might benefit from more voice acting, though only if they can get it right
- You may feel there are too many menus during battles
9 out of 10
posted by Master hunter at 1:25 am
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