Skies of Arcadia is a 2000 role-playing video game created by Overworks and released by Sega for the Dreamcast. Players control Vyse, a young air pirate, and his friends as they try to stop the Valuan Empire from bringing back ancient weapons that could destroy the world.
The game uses traditional Japanese role-playing game features like turn-based battles and experience points, but focuses more on exploration. Players fly an airship in 3D space. The development team included people who had worked on the Panzer Dragoon, Phantasy Star, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sakura Wars series.
Skies of Arcadia was praised by critics when it was released and is often considered one of the best Dreamcast games. However, it did not sell well. A version for the GameCube called Skies of Arcadia Legends was released in 2002.
Gameplay
Skies of Arcadia is a role-playing video game (RPG) that focuses on exploring the game world. The gameplay is similar to early 3D versions of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Players fight enemies in turn-based battles to gain experience points, which help make their characters stronger. The game world is split into six areas, and players travel through these areas using flying airships in a 3D environment. Secret locations, called "Discoveries," are hidden throughout the world and provide extra rewards. The map begins as an empty space, and players must draw the map by exploring the areas. Players can also recruit characters they meet during exploration. These characters can join the player’s airship or base, offering help during exploration or battles.
When players are on landmasses or warships, exploration happens on foot. Gameplay switches between exploring cities and moving through the game’s mazes, called dungeons. Cities are visited to buy equipment that makes characters stronger and to interact with non-playable characters to advance the story. Dungeons are designed like mazes, and players guide their characters through them to find helpful items in treasure chests while fighting enemies in random battles. To exit a dungeon, players usually must defeat a final boss in a battle. The battle system requires managing "Spirit Points," "Magic Points," and a multi-colored "Moon Stone" system.
Plot
The game is set in a fictional world called Arcadia, where six civilizations live on floating continents that orbit six moons with different colors. Long ago, each civilization, which matched one moon, developed advanced technology and created a Gigas, a huge living weapon controlled by a Moon Crystal. These weapons caused wars between the civilizations, nearly destroying humanity. The most advanced civilization, the Silver Civilization, used their Gigas to summon the Rains of Destruction, which brought meteors from the moons to crash onto the planet. This caused massive destruction, stopping the Gigas and nearly destroying the other civilizations. To prevent the Silver Gigas from being used again, it was sealed, and the Moon Crystals were hidden. Each civilization then focused on rebuilding itself.
The player controls Vyse as part of a group of up to four characters. Aika and Fina are required members of the party for most of the game. The fourth member is chosen from three options—Drachma, Gilder, or Enrique—based on story events or the player’s choice. Twenty-two other characters can be recruited to join Vyse’s airship, but they stay on the ship and do not travel with the main group.
Vyse and Aika are part of the Blue Rogues, a group of air pirates who fight against the Valuan Empire, a powerful and oppressive force ruled by Empress Teodora. Teodora wants the Moon Crystals to awaken the Gigas and take control of the world. She sends her fleet, led by admirals Galcian and Ramirez, to find the crystals. The Silver Civilization sends Fina to find the crystals first. She is captured by the Valuan fleet but rescued by Vyse and Aika, who then help her mission.
With the help of Drachma, an old fisherman and his ship, the Little Jack, Vyse, Aika, and Fina recover the Red Moon Crystal from the desert nation of Nasr and the Green Moon Crystal from Ixa’taka, a forested continent. When Drachma’s ship is damaged, Vyse is stranded on Crescent Island, where he finds letters and a map left by another pirate. He is found by Gilder, a Blue Rogue who takes him to search for his friends. Aika and Fina are cared for by Clara, another Blue Rogue, who helps them find Vyse in Nasr. After learning about the same treasure, the three reunite but are captured by Ramirez and taken to a Valuan prison. They escape with the help of Enrique, a Valuan prince who opposes his government, and steal the warship Delphinus. Vyse establishes a base on Crescent Island for his crew.
The group recovers the Blue Moon Crystal from Yafutoma, an eastern land, and the Purple Moon Crystal from Glacia, a southern icy continent. After obtaining the Yellow Moon Crystal from the Valuan continent, they retrieve Fina’s ship to deliver the crystals to the Silver Civilization’s shrine in space. Ramirez steals the crystals and attacks the Blue Rogues. Vyse, Aika, Fina, and Gilder travel to the Great Silver Shrine in orbit to meet with elders. They are followed by Galcian and Ramirez, who kill the leader of the Silvite elders and take the final Moon Crystal from his body.
Galcian and Ramirez use the crystals to raise the lost Silver continent of Soltis and break the seal on the Silver Gigas. They use the Rains of Destruction to destroy the Valuan capital, kill Empress Teodora, and take control of the Valuan Armada. Vyse gathers a fleet of Blue Rogues, Yafutoman warships, and ships from other regions to fight the Valuan Armada. The Delphinus crew disables Galcian’s ship, the Hydra, and defeats him with help from Belleza, one of his subordinates.
Ramirez, who retreats to Soltis, plans to use the Rains of Destruction to destroy the Blue Rogues. The Silvites sacrifice themselves to break Soltis’s shield, allowing the party to enter and fight Ramirez. Ramirez merges with the Silver Gigas, Zelos, and awakens it. Vyse and his crew defeat Zelos on the Delphinus. Ramirez is killed, and the Valuan Armada is defeated. Prince Enrique marries Princess Moegi of Yafutoma and becomes emperor of Valua, promising to rule kindly. He and his wife oversee rebuilding the Valuan capital. Vyse and Aika officially make Fina a Blue Rogue, and the three sail into the sunset.
Development
In 1999, the game started being made under the name Project Ares. In 2000, the title changed to Eternal Arcadia, which was used for the Japanese version. The Sega team that worked on the game, called Overworks, included members from Team Andromeda and the Phantasy Star teams. Producer Rieko Kodama had worked on Phantasy Star 1, 2, and 4, as well as the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Genesis. Scenario writer Shuntaro Tanaka had written the stories for the first two Sakura Wars RPGs. The music was created by Tatsuyuki Maeda, who also composed for Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Yutaka Minobe. Expectations were high because Team Andromeda’s previous game, Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998), was well-received, and the Dreamcast had few popular Japanese role-playing games.
Development went smoothly because the Dreamcast had more power and a simpler design compared to the Sega Saturn. The team had about 20 members. They decided to make entering buildings in towns seamless, without loading screens, and to use an expressive anime art style to show characters’ facial expressions and emotions more clearly. They felt recent games like Final Fantasy VII and VIII lacked these features. While those games focused on dark themes and complex systems, Overworks aimed to create a bright, cheerful game with simple mechanics that let players explore a large world. The game was released on two special GD-ROM discs to fit its size.
The game was first planned for the Sega Saturn, with battles on land and train tops. When development moved to the Dreamcast, the idea of traveling through the skies was added, inspired by the Age of Discovery. At the time, most Japanese RPGs had dark themes, but Overworks wanted to create an optimistic hero who explored the world. They made sure the female characters, Aika and Fina, were shown as equals to the main character, Vyse, rather than being saved by him. The historical buildings and ancient civilizations were designed by Shuntaro Tanaka, who studied history in college and created the game’s world and story.
The Japanese Dreamcast version was planned for September 14, 2000, but was delayed until October 5, 2000, so the team could release a trial version. The game was promoted with posters and TV ads in Japan. During the launch month and for eight months total, the game also had an official manga in every issue of Magazine Z, supervised by the development team. A soundtrack was released on CD on the same day as the game.
For Western releases, the game was renamed Skies of Arcadia, which Sega believed better explained the story for non-Japanese audiences. It was translated by Chris Lucich and Klayton Vorlick, who had the freedom to change content but could not make changes without approval from Sega of Japan. While the main story stayed the same, most of the dialogue was rewritten. The two translators first translated the entire game from Japanese to English, then removed all Japanese text and rewrote the final version without referencing the original. Vorlick rewrote the dialogue for Enrique, Vigoro, and Fina, while Lucich rewrote Gilder and Aika, and the two worked together on Vyse’s lines. Speech patterns that might annoy Western players, like Fina repeating "mina-san," were removed. Other characters received more interesting speech patterns, jokes, and quirks, influenced by Joss Whedon’s style. Many side characters and weapons were renamed after members of the localization and quality assurance teams.
Some mature content was changed. References to Aika being attacked by Vigoro and Ramirez’s obsession with Galcian were reduced. Cigarettes were removed, shops sold Loqua juice instead of alcohol, and Bellena’s outfit was made less revealing. The localization took four months, with workers putting in 80- to 100-hour weeks on a script over 2,000 pages long. Skies of Arcadia was released in North America on November 14, 2000, and in Europe on April 21, 2001, in English, German, French, and Spanish.
In October 2001, after Sega announced it would stop making Dreamcast games, the company said it would port Skies of Arcadia to GameCube and PlayStation 2. US developer Point of View Software helped with the conversion, while original Overworks members continued working on the game. Development was planned to start in January 2002, with a mid-2002 release. However, the PlayStation 2 version was delayed in April 2002, and rumors of cancellation spread in May, though Sega denied this. In August 2002, Sega canceled the PS2 version to focus on the GameCube release, which was 80% complete by October 2002. Skies of Arcadia Legends was released on GameCube in Japan on December 26, 2002, in North America on January 28, 2003, and in Europe on May 23, 2003, with Infogrames handling the European release. A Windows version was announced in 2004 but was never made.
Sega and Kodama described Legends as a "director’s cut." It uses a mix of the original game’s code and new code for the GameCube. Improvements include more detailed character models, a more stable frame rate, shorter loading times, new side quests, subplots, hidden discoveries, and a "Wanted List" of enemies to find. It has fewer random battles but gives more experience points in fights. Because the GameCube lacked the Dreamcast’s VMU, some effects like Cupil’s notifications were moved to the TV screen, and the "Pinta Quest" minigame was removed. Since the GameCube had limited internet access, downloadable content was added directly into the main game.
Reception
Skies of Arcadia received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 33 out of 40. A reviewer from GameFan gave it 99%, calling it "By far my favorite RPG of all time thanks to its great story, looks, and battle system. The game has absorbed my days and nights with swashbuckling adventures—and that's all you can really ask for in the end, isn't it?" IGN praised the game for being "One of the most solid games visually on the Dreamcast" and concluded that "There's so much to explore, so much character, and a great story that you don't mind being retold again." GameSpot praised the visuals, stating that they were "some of the most painstakingly detailed ever seen in a role-playing game." As a whole, GameSpot concluded that the game "lives up [to] the high expectations." Edge gave the game eight out of ten, saying, "Gripping to the nines, extraordinary to behold, with rich character development and innumerable statistics, Skies Of Arcadia is a wonderful experience, and bodes well for all 128bit [sic] RPGs to come." Jeff Lundrigan of NextGen wrote, "Despite the problems—which it shares with practically every other Japanese RPG—Skies of Arcadia is an impressive, thoroughly delightful game that no one should pass up."
Four-Eyed Dragon of GamePro called it "a Dreamcast role-playing game worth playing to the very end. Despite some small blemishes, Skies of Arcadia won't disappoint during your flight through the role-playing skies."
Despite the generally positive reviews, many critics noted that it was sometimes difficult to explore the game's world due to the game's high rate of random encounter-based battles frequently disrupting progress. Neither version of Skies of Arcadia sold well.
The game was a finalist for the "Best Dreamcast Game" and "Best Role-Playing Game" awards at GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2000 Awards, both of which went to NFL 2K1 and Chrono Cross, respectively. During the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Skies of Arcadia in the "Character or Story Development," "Console Role-Playing," "Console Game of the Year," and "Game of the Year" categories; all were ultimately awarded to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Final Fantasy IX, SSX, and Diablo II, respectively. The game was also nominated for the "Best Console RPG" and "Best New Game Character" (Vyse) awards at The Electric Playground's Blister Awards 2000, both of which went to Valkyrie Profile and Ulala from Space Channel 5, respectively.
Game Informer later listed it as one of the top 10 Dreamcast games. In a 2017 retrospective from Metacritic on the highest-rated exclusive games (at time of release) per platform, Skies of Arcadia placed third for the Dreamcast, behind Soulcalibur and Jet Grind Radio. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.
The GameCube release, Skies of Arcadia Legends, received slightly less positive reviews. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40. Fennec Fox of GamePro stated that "there's no need to harp on the battles too much—they're the only blemish on what's otherwise the Dreamcast's (and now GameCube's) best RPG. The graphics are dated but effective, and the musician was obviously overdosing on 1930s adventure serials when composing the over-the-top score. The story, though, is the best part—Vyse and crew are the most extroverted RPG heroes ever, and there's none of that Final Fantasy-style self-abhorrence present. Get over the battles, and you'll find Skies dangerously playable." GameZone gave it a score of nine out of ten, saying, "The main problem with this game is that it feels a little dated, especially when you compare it to FFX or other games coming out shortly. Other than that, it is a great game."
A common source of the lower scores was the game's graphics, with criticism coming from the fact that they had not been substantially improved despite more powerful hardware and over two years passing from the Dreamcast's release. Expectations in graphics had changed drastically in between releases—while the Dreamcast release was frequently compared to the weaker original PlayStation and Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX, by the time of the GameCube release, the game was compared against the likes of the much more powerful PlayStation 2 and its games like Final Fantasy X and Xenosaga.
GameSpot named it the best GameCube game of January 2003.
Legacy
In addition to the PlayStation 2 and PC versions of the game that were not completed, Sega considered making a sequel to the game in the early 2000s but did not begin full development. The development team showed interest in creating a sequel or a version for the Game Boy Advance during the creation of Legends for the GameCube, but neither idea was carried out. In September 2002, after finishing Legends, Skies of Arcadia producer Rieko Kodama said the team was still interested in making a sequel, but no work had started on it. She believed the GameCube would have been the best choice if development had begun. In February 2003, Overworks president Noriyoshi Ohba announced that plans for a Skies of Arcadia sequel were being made. However, in a December 2004 interview, Kodama said that while there were plans for a sequel, the project was paused for a long time as many team members were assigned to work on Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love.
Starting in 2010, Sega began offering high-definition remasters of Dreamcast games digitally on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, including games such as Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure 2, and Jet Set Radio. In 2012, Sega brand manager Ben Harborne said a Skies of Arcadia HD version was likely to be the next release after Shenmue, as those games were most often requested for re-release. Sega renewed the Skies of Arcadia trademark later that year, but a re-release did not happen. As recently as 2020, main developer Kenji Hiruta expressed interest in returning to the series.
Characters from Skies of Arcadia appeared in other Sega games. Several characters from the game later appeared in Sega’s 2008 video game Valkyria Chronicles, also directed by Shuntaro Tanaka. "Vyse Inglebard" and "Aika Thompson" are optional members of Squad 7 and are listed on each other’s "Like" list. Fina appears as one of several identical sisters who serve as the squad’s unplayable medics. The three also appeared in the Japan-only Valkyria Chronicles III in 2011. Vyse and Fina made small appearances in some of the Valkyria Chronicles anime. Outside of the Valkyria games, Vyse also appeared in some Sonic the Hedgehog-related media. He is a playable character in the 2012 Sega racing game Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which includes a racetrack based on Skies of Arcadia. Players must drive and fly through the Blue Rogue’s home-base while avoiding attacks from the Valuan Empire. Vyse also appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book adaptation of Transformed in Sonic Universe #45 and again in the Sonic comics for the "World Unite" Sega character crossover story arc.