A light-hearted JRPG loosely based on the historical age of discovery, where people live on floating islands, and the developers biggest stated goal was to give players the freedom to explore. A unique game with surprising features you'd never expect to find in a JRPG and a rarely matched spirit of adventure. Does Skies of Arcadia still hold up?https://youtu.be/xVYZ-XdyQW0
>>3432971I want to play it because I love floating islandsPic related
After boarding and looting a ship belonging to the Valuan Armada and rescuing a mysterious girl on a secret mission, we arrive at the first town. It's suprisingly dense and intricately designed, and we work our way up from an underground docking bay built into the side of the island to topside, which is comprised of houses connected by an elaborate system of bridges and ladders. Conversations are written with care, and reveal many details about the world around us. The map is littered with various objects to examine that accomplish the same thing, such as examining our companions house and observing that she has only one bed, as her parents passed away in her childhood. Secrets are presented in an entertaining manner. They are hidden cleverly, such as in a secret room behind a book case, which slides free to reveal the way inside after inspecting it. All these details make the map feel very rich and rewarding to explore. We also learn about the karma system. Throughout the game there is multiple choice dialogue, and our answers will change how people percieve and respond to us, and our various feats in battle and exploration will also bolster our reputation as a swashbuckler. At the end of the day the party observes a falling star striking a nearby island while watching the sun set and decides to explore it the following morning. So far pretty impressive stuff for a JRPG.
>>3432974I remember that show. Isn't the brother basically Sokka?
>>3433109video games?
>>3432971This is a legitimately top notch jrpg for all the right reasons. There is nothing else like it. Enjoy.
I always thought I was the only person who appreciated Skies, I'm glad it has been getting the attention it deserves lately.
>>3433508Honestly it deserves a new sequel so long as they bring back all the right people to work on it.
>>3433521The creator is dead.
>>3432971isn't this the game that's basically fanfiction if you play it in English?
>>3433522Damn, all my heroes are dropping like flies, RIP...
>>3433543Nope, the localization changes for SoA were minimal compared to other games of the period. The devs were very protective of it, and it was much less edgy compared to other games of the time anyways.
I prefer Rogue Galaxy
Whats the point of his eyepatchFucking jrpg anime bullshitLet me guess, he's 14
>>3433628it's a smart glass
>>3433561
>>3433635Wikipedia is not a source. Anyone can write whatever inflammatory nonsense they wish there.https://skiesofarcadia.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Localization_ChangesThese were the same translators for Panzer Dragoon Saga as well, by the way. Wait until you find out how heavily the final fantasy games were altered in localizations.
>>3433650The source is linked right there. They literally did what people complain about nowadays every time a new Japanese game comes out, except this time it's fine because you played it as a kid and the translators aren't literal trannies.
>>3433122That’s a show that guy posted.
>>3433654You are cropping the articles in misleading ways to purposely troll. They just reworded what was wrote instead of a literal machine translation. In fact, the Western localization was used as a base for the Legends release in Japan. This is why Arcadia is largely in line with the original, whereas here's a 7 1/2 hour long series detailing all the wild translation inconsisties in FF7.https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=tCeN2KjRHZk&list=PLsiJPoHlPqEEA07AKMQ2Hm2oRLiGkR_uJKeep bullshitting though. I see its not western games that are the issue, but complaining about anything that is not Final Fantasy or Bethesda games.
>>3433684>but complaining about anything that is not Final Fantasy or Bethesda games.Unironically this. Mouthbreathing normies should get perma-rangebanned from this board because /vrpg/ should be autists only.
>>3433684*translation inconsistencies
>>3432971https://youtube.com/watch?v=fY6VGV6f-hQI am watching the gameplay and it's not great, also you shill your game but instead of posting in game footage you posted a game ost, how would anyone know anythig about your game from an ost?
>>3433726Don't worry, there's more autism to come. This is a very interesting game, buckle up.
>>3433728Fine, but just post actual game information not what the dev had for breakfast.
>>3433684I have no idea what you're talking about. Obviously I wouldn't defend the FFVII translation being bad either. How do you even reach that conclusion? Is there a know poster that does that or something? I rarely go into these threads.Also how is the cropping misleading? What's the context that makes it different? They literally just "localized" (conserved the meaning instead of the literal text) and even changed some stuff outright, like some character's personalities.
Our desitination is Shrine Island, an ancient abandoned temple from the old world. Upon arriving in our air ship the crew discovers the meteor from earlier, a "moon crystal", has pierced the side of the temple causing it to flood. Walking down the long and narrow bridge we hear begin to hear a device humming with energy as we draw closer, and work our way upwards through the complex to interact with it. The temple explodes to life, light begins to pulse through its stone walls, and it descends partway into the lake. Upon re-entering the temple, we quickly find it has pierced through to the underside of the floating island, and we make our way outside. The idea is to make our way across the outer rings on the temple opening the doors to the lower levels, and as we do the water level will lower, giving us further access to more layers of the facility. There's torches that light up as we pass them, to help keep track of where we've been. While navigating the island we get our first real taste of combat, and there's a lot of it. There's a focus meter you passively build up by taking various actions in combat. Its shared across the whole party and is necessary for both magic and super moves, so you'll have to balance your magic usage (which is also limited by MP) and setting up for big damage. This system can be gamed by passing on your turn with the focus option or using items which require no focus. Different ranges lead to different damage thresholds, and enemies have elemental weaknesses which can be exploited by crystals you slot in your weapons on the fly, and you'll want to end encounters efficiently because they will definitely wear down your resources. Speaking of weapon crystals, depending on which one you attack with you'll also learn abilities within that school of damage, so there's lots to consider. At the end of the dungeon we encounter a massive cyclopean automaton that shoots giant laser beams at us. After, we return to the village and everyone is dead.
>>3433786Another excellent track btw.https://youtu.be/hBx4cGe4DW8
>>3433726>I am watching a youtube videoSo that's how /vrpg/ plays games.
>>3433635>>3433654>>3433737Get learnt, idiot.>Full Eng and JP scriphttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ymsbED2lwx-04HcK08-SCsx3dIiuVfHMa28ARAhBFpM/htmlview>Localization changeshttps://esoarcadia.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Skies_of_Arcadia_localization_changes>Some faggot showing off specific script changes https://arch.b4k.co/_/search/boards/v.vrpg/text/AresArcadia/
>>3433803Holy BASED
>>3433635 >>3433654 >>3433737 >JP devs had veto power over changeshttps://web.archive.org/web/20170518194527/http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/08/05/skies-of-arcadia-revealed
>>3433684Quality.
>>3433797Last time I played an actual computer/video game was back in 2018.
>>3433837I believe this post to be serious.
>>3433803>>3433823Based. I guess I was wrong. Can you really blame me for taking the translators' word at face value instead of autistically going over both scripts?I really feel like playing this game now.
>>3433522Shit that's depressing.I grew up on this back in Dreamcast in grade school
>>3433684WowA series from Kotaku that actually seems cool. I'll watch it while I'm working. Thanks anon for the vampire and donuts
>>3433630Nope
>>3433892No worries. I don't blame people being uppity over localization fuckery, but in this instance I hate how flamewarry some faggots try to be with SoA. The only thing I find disrespectful from what I recall from that interview is they renamed some characters or weapons after people who worked in the office or something "for teh lulz".Apparently Japs pull that kind of gag/reference in their games too, but here it was frat boy tier faggotry.One thing I find funny is Vyse calls Aika a "baka" in JP when she's scared of seeing a ghost in the Green Temple. KEKNot sure if he's saying that as a light jab like "dummy" or straight up caller her stupid.
does this game have a kinda megaman legends feel?
>>3433109Yeah, although I didn't watch ATLA when it aired so I don't remember if it predated it or notsassy older brother uses a boomerange weapon to defend his magical little sister, so basically yes
sex with Aika
>>3432971There were rumors of Sega reviving, or at least remastering this last year. Would be cool to have the GameCube version with the Dreamcast audio.
>>3433823>corporate higher ups giving a single shit about the integrity of some piss-on salaryman writer’s work
>>3434490If they didn't care then they wouldn't have given the Burgers the time of day to shoot down their ideas.
Subverting classic JRPG tropes, everyone in our hometown is in fact not dead, but instead peacefully surrendered to an invasion by the Valuan Armada, and its up to us to save them, so we hop in our boat and make our way to Valua. Before leaving, we can still walk about the village and pretty much every inspectable object and remaining NPC has had their dialogue painstakingly rewritten to reflect the current state of the dire situation we find ourselves in, but as the only man left in this smoldering god forsaken hellhole its time to leave. In our travels, our vessel is enveloped by a thick fog and suddenly we are attacked by a freakishly huge arcwhale that capsizes our boat. Luckily, we are scooped up by Drachma, a madman driven by vengeance on a quest to slay the whale. (this will progress into absolute insanity later) He takes us to Sailor Town, tells us to basically go fuck ourselves and that he needs to go find a fuckhuge cannon to murder the shit out of the whale, then abandons us, meaning its time to explore.Another good track:https://youtu.be/orKLUL0RQCc?si=CBatEi0JpadFexDz
>>3435512>Adventurous>Mystique>Historic>Whimsical>Light-hearted>Comical>Jackie ChanWhat's not to get?
>>3433837And you still waste your time posting here? That's just sad, get a life.
In exploring Sailor Town, we're immediately told that its a good idea to speak with everyone to learn rumors, and so we do. Another new mechanic is introduced here, moonfishing, which are collectables that the player can enter first person mode to find and collect. These in turn are used to feed a strange bird owned by little girl who's family was high ranking Valuan officials that died in a horrific accident, and with each moonfish caught the bird grows bigger and the girl's story is revealed a little bit more. In town, we learn about Discoveries and Bounties, which reward us for finding new locations and gunning down baddies, as well as discover a message in a bottle desperately begging for reinforcements in some far off battle. We then learn that there's a new weapon in development, a harpoon gun powerful enough to blast apart a small island, and conveniently its in Valua, so we covince Drachma to join us again. Our last problem to overcome is the matter of a Valuan passport, but a merchant kindly offers us his in return for escorting him to a desert island, which is located on the other side of a "reef" which is constituted of floating debri like an asteroid field.The appealing way in which towns are designed in this game is a bit difficult to put into words. They're small but very dense, and each NPC has a wide range of animations and facial expressions. You seamlessly move in and out of buildings rather than them being seperately instanced, and each one is set up as this sort of animated painting of this elaborate scene you want to learn about with whacky and expressive characters.
Would've been better if there was an item to avoid random encounters while flying. It gets tedious when you have to sit through 5 battles for every single discovery.
>>3436338>Would've been better if there was an item to avoid random encounters while flyinThere is, late in the game you can fly into upper and lower sky to avoid battles. And yeah, the game is in a weird spot where exploration (which is really rare for a jrpg) is actually fun so the random battles can feel like a gut punch because it pulls away from that. The encounter rate is halfed in the Gamecube version and additionally, an item that reduces encounters can now be acquired with a mere 10 moonfish now rather than 50 discoveries, meaning you can get it really early. It could have done with the encounter system from Wild Arms 3 or something, but this is what we got.
>>3436342>Actually sis-No. Gib non-encounter item.
>>3432971shut the fuck up weeb
>>3436458Go bitch in one of the billions of shitty squaretard threads, this is a thread on a good game. :)
During the escort mission the crew is ambushed by Black Pirates and we get our first taste of ship combat. The primary difference from a normal encounter is that the entire crew behaves as one unit, with each crew member operating a canon. All actions require focus, so planning is required. Throughout the battle there are moments when you can press an advantage or have to act defensively. Its simple in practice, but gives a unique flavor to the battles. There's somewhere in the ballpark of 30 ship designs in the game overall and they're all pretty interesting. At any point during travel you can exit from the overworld and walk around your vessel, gaining some insight on its inner workings, or speak with your crew about whats currently going on. Anyways, we get a brief preview of the city of Nasr, an exotic rival nation, then make our way to Valua, a fortress city shrouded in eternal darkness. Its split into a lower and upper city, which seperates the poor and the rich respectively, and we'll be entering through the lower half.https://youtu.be/eYbEURjhDbU?si=7fv-XDdHe9dVcxnb
>>3436879>speak with your crew about whats currently going onThere were some pretty funky crpg conventions in the game. Its weird how close it is to falling within that genre.
>>3436464nothing wrong with the game. i take issue with your onions summary written like it's an advertisement. just make a skies of arcadia thread little weeblet, not everything has to have anime prose
>>3433543Actually it has one of the best translations around, certainly the best at the time, because it isn't plagued by broken sentence structure, completely screwing up the plot by missing out on some weird idiosyncrasy, or complete mischaracterizations like rewriting someone to act like Mr. T.
>>3437166I think you're upset that he's actually playing the game.
>>3432971It's so weird Japan has never made another game even remotely similar to this.
>>3432971This is one of my favorite rpgs.
>>3437660https://youtu.be/Pw09gKdr8M4?si=FuJq8hGQ5kdrtQbXIt is.
So we're in the Lower District of Valua's capital and if there's ever been more miserable NPCs in a JRPG I don't want to meet them. Remember how I said NPC's in this game are super expressive? Well, now this feature is used to illustrate the crushing depression Valua has inflicted upon its poor, who occupy its decaying industrial sector, which is filthy and constantly reeks of garbage, and is dimly lit by fluorescent lights. Everyone has completely lost hope and is just waiting to die. Their sole form of entertainment is watching enemies of the state be slaughtered in the coliseum, and unsurprisingly that's where we'll find our captured pals. While the crew discusses their plans, some punk orphan overhears them and immediately flees, at which point we give chase by naruto running across the rooftops of the entire district we just explored. When caught, the kid tells the crew they might as well just kill him because he's got nothing to live for. As a beacon of hope, our protagonist, Vyse, tells him to visit the coliseum tomorrow and smugly replies "You said that you've grown tired of living, right? Well, I just want you to see something interesting before you die." And with that we make our way into the sewers to infiltrate the staging area for our friends' execution.
>>3437857Also, I couldn't resist recording this. Something cool about the boss battles here is that the soundtrack changes based on who has the advantage, so when the boss is on the ropes the devs really sell that you're beating the absolute shit out of a big bad like its the final episode of a super robo anime or something.https://youtu.be/Yf_SSmtgskM?si=dHhoFPGaNKtOqTPI
>>3437861>its the final episode of a super robo anime or somethingArcadia really does feel like playing some crazy 90s shonen anime. Nothing comes close to how much like that it feels.
So, after fighting headcrabs in the sewer, the crew busts through a trap door in the coliseum floor and fights a gladiator for the village's freedom. He's no push-over. His party mirrors our own, even generating their own focus for super attacks. After giving him the beat down we make our escape and some of the general themes of the game are expanded on briefly, as seen in the attached picture. However, the mysterious girl we rescued like 3 hours ago, Fina, is nowhere to be found, and has instead been taken to the Upper City. In a cutscene where Fina is interrogated by Valuan royalty we find out she's from an ancient and little know culture called the Silvites, is charged with recovering keys (in the form of moon crystals) to weapons of mass destruction from the long ago destroyed old world, and Valua is unsurprisingly interested. Vyse's father, being the most responsible parent ever, throws a lightning sword at his son and tells him to go handle it... And so we do.
Vyse and Aika make their way through the Upper District and get a brief look at how its populus lives in decadence, totally ignorant of the people suffering beneath them. Pretty interesting to get direct insight on the bad guys like this so early into the game, but that's quickly interrupted by a chase scene acrossed the top of a rail car, then rescuing Fina, followed by Drachma blowing up a lot of stuff with his ship's new Harpoon Cannon. No screwing around here, just straight into rip roaring action. Part of what makes this game compelling is that characters and drama are presented as deceptively simple archtypes, and rather than a grimderp character study with one thousand layers we just get to see these timeless symbols interact in interesting ways that someone can easily and immediately resonate with, stretched over a cool ass world to explore. After narrowly escaping the fortress of Valua, Fina finally tells us what's going on and joins our party, so that means its time to start our adventure proper and go after the moon crystals.
>>3437158This is sort of why I feel this is the perfect game for people who cannot get into jrpgs, and it has a lot of desogn conventions from old jrpgs rather than new ones, which means it's more western in its design philosophy.
Our first stop is the desert village of Maramba in the kingdom of Nasr, where as soon as we step off the boat Drachma tells us to go fuck ourselves and flies away. Arabian theme is in full effect, everyone is either a spice merchant or cooking kebabs. The gimmick here is we get a dinosaur mount (because why wouldn't you get a dinosaur mount in a game like this) and the extra height it proves lets up climb up onto rooftops to explore them. A lot of care is taken to keep exploration fresh and fun. Additionally, by hunting for rumors around town, we can find out about some hidden loot in a totally optional labyrinth under the city which boldly removes the map and has a switch puzzle, but mercifully doesn't have random encounters. News of how we btfo Valua has reached a local stripper with commendable boobie physics, who is so impressed she decides to loan us a boat to take to the Temple of Pyrynn, a giant pyramid in the middle of the desert housing a moon crystal.>>3437866I really like games that convey a spirit of adventure, which is generally what I'm looking for in a JRPG.
>>3434280https://youtu.be/m3pjRlt_jJQ?si=kO2_mZOQuD8wBECv
>>3432974Thanks for posting this friend. I've had the vague memory of this show sitting in the back of my mind for years but was never actually able to track down the name.How does it hold up?
>>3438842The rotoscoped CG images, art, music etc are all wonderful, but the writing and plot tends to lean more kiddie friendly. Not unwatcheably bad, though, and a few of the episodes are actually really fucking good, especially the finale. If you ever watched any of it, the episodes will be a full nostalgia trigger. I feel like the English dub does it a greater disservice than the writing, but I haven't watched the French dub and don't know where to track it down, so I couldn't tell youGive it a watch, if you can't stand the first few episodes you'll know. I found it on rutracker
Forgot I took this screenshot.
I haven't played it, but I immediately sensed the SOVL from the screenshots
>>3437866>Nothing comes close to how much like that it feels.I'd say Grandia and Grandia 2 come pretty close.With Grandia 2 having the wilder plot.
The temple, in actuality, is an egyptian themed pyramid and its the first "real" dungeon of the game. Its at least twice as large as the last, and a bit more mazelike in its construction while being loaded with puzzles and secrets, including a totally optional and well hidden midboss. This is when monsters start getting more deadly as well, and here we'll find enemies that love spamming AOE stuns on your party and constantly summoning allies. Aika's spell shield pretty much becomes a necessity from here on in, as even temporarily losing even one party member can spell absolute disaster. Even with this certain statuses can simply penetrate the shield, so we'll have to priotize targets and manage focus smartly. Fina is with us now, but she starts at level 1 with no abilities. Party member's starting levels reflect their actual experience relative to the world rather than automatically starting on the same playing field as everyone else. She's a powerful caster, which is helpful because getting through this place cleanly is going to hinge on exploiting type weaknesses and curing statuses. Pre-dungeon preparation in the form of shopping may be rewarded as well, and using items is HEAVILY encouraged. There is no mid-dungeon resting in this game, you make it through with what you have. After combing the place for sick hidden loot, dodging some boulder traps, and crossing some rivers of lava we do battle with the temple guardian and retrieve the first moon crystal.
Turns out that scantily clad stripper that loaned us her boat was actually the 4th admiral of the Valuan Armada, Belleza. She steals the moon crystal from us and uses it to activate the weapon of mass destruction known as a metal ge- Uh, gigas. Fortunately, Drachma swoops in to save the day, or at least attempts to. We do battle with the massive gigas by boat, but it seems impervious to our blows, so all we can do is hang on for dear life and time our attacks to offset its death beams so they don't melt us. Eventually, everyone realizes the hopelessness of this situation and flees, the only remaining option being to take out the wielder of this giant weapon, so we set our sights on Belleza's personal battleship. Some new ship combat mechanics get introduced here. Now we have canons that fire for multiple turns and can be set up to hit in tandem during times of a critical advantage. Our opponent plays by the same rules we do, she can evade and repair her ship, but she's an upgraded version us, meaning she has access to torpedos, which have a wind up of 1 turn but do massive burst damage, and a spell cannon, which lets her use offensive spells from her ship. The battle is mostly about carefully managing the ship's HP to not get one shot by the combination of both these offenses. This is like the fourth boss in a row we've fought with no rest, so we're low on supplies. Regardless, eventually she goes down, the Gigas is disabled, and we steal back the crystal as well as her ship's engine which enables us to reach our next destination, the Land of the East Moon, Ixa'Taka.
It has the slowest most boring combat ever so no.
>>3439552Its actually not boring, that's the problem. Theres lots of encounters and you can't mash X to win in 2 seconds because there's instakills and shit everywhere, to the point where it has to let you retry battles if you fail them. If you play badly or are ill-prepared its 10 minutes of backtracking to the nearest inn and you basically have to restart the dungeon with zero progress. It's not the most complex and interesting battle system ever, but its definitely above average in a genre where battles are basically just exp pinatas you can whack open blindfolded.
Getting to this place was hell.https://youtu.be/g4EFcXvUXFw?si=02C61E6X7CqrOjP7
>>3438804>"Oh, and stay out of the ladies room Denton, last time I checked, YWNBAW. That kind of activity embarrasses the agency more than it does you".
We're on our way to the New World. The journey to Ixa'Taka requires traveling across the enormous South Ocean, surviving gale-force crosswinds and cyclones constantly pulling the ship around, and surviving the first enemies in the game to employ instant-kill spells. There's no easy way to do this, the game does nothing to warn you about what its about to throw you into, its just frustrating and it takes a long time. If you let up for even a moment the winds push you back. However, just when things really start getting out of control, green leaves start to appear in the wind, indicating that land is nearby and inspiring the crew to barrel forward. There's something to be said about devs intentionally using gameplay to aggravate the player to convey a message, whether or not that's good is up to you.We land in the village of Horteka and are rewarded with one of the sickest village soundtracks ever for our efforts. (>>3439614) Its a mix of Indigenous American and Spanish music, conveying how the relationship between the Ixa'Takans and Valuans is framed. The natives had mistakenly believed the Valuans to be messangers of god when they arrived, and the Valuans quickly set to exploiting them. Until we clear ourselves with Village Elder, everyone is now understandably suspicious of outsiders, but afterwards they reluctantly open up a bit and provide their services. The village is absolutely enormous, climbing from ground level all the way to the tops of massive trees, with huts built right into the branches. A wrecked ship can also be found, housing some fellow Blue Rogues of a different crew, who crashed into the village prior to the Valuans arrival.
>>3441269they did try to give a feel of a dozen cultures and sub-cultures.and some of those tracks simply didn't age well.
>>3440514Why does this look like that one Sonic Adventure level?
>>3441394Well, it is a Sega game. The producer started her career by doing spritework for the first Sonic game I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaCJoWIH8Js
>>3441269The gamecube version has worse sound quality to fit a single disk.
>>3442348Nah, I'm just wondering why it looks like it's from a completely different game. The discussion was never about soul.
>>3442404>This is consistentlel.
>>3432971Nostalgia on DS felt like a spiritual successor
>>3437660It's basically this game, but in the "real world", though, there is a floating island or two
>>3442611I will add it to the list.
>>3432971i was never a fan of JRPGs and i think i only bought this game at the time because i wanted something other than powerstone and PSO to play on my dreamcast. it helped that i think pirates are cool and the premise and setting looked interestingto cut a long story short i ended up absolutely loving the game. never played a JRPG like it since or before. its surprising that it was popular enough or deemed worthy enough by sega for a rerelease on the GC but it never got a sequel or worthy spiritual successor. a real shame
Our next task is to rescue the high priest of Ixa'Taka from some slave mines, but not before watching an admiral of Valua, De Loco, burn down a forest with a giant holocaust machine, because why wouldn't that happen. The ensuing battle builds on the whole "burst damage to shift turns into your favor" mechanic introduced with the last Gigas. The mines themselves are sort of interesting. We're immediately detected upon entering so the Valuans set up a bunch of traps for us, mostly pits, which play into the verticality of the dungeon where said pits and elevators are used to travel up and down the dungeon to find secrets, while De Loco monologues and fantasizes about torture and murder over the intercom. It's over fairly quickly, but this is just an appetizer for the main course of this region, the Lost City of Rixis, where after rescuing the high priest the crew combs the continent gathering discoveries to piece together clues as to its location.
>>3434485There have been rumors about Sega "reviving" Skies of Arcadia for over two decades now. It's arguably one of the franchises that has been most talked about, by Sega personnel themselves no less, and yet we've had literally nothing released since the GC game.>>3442624Don't. It's absolute trash. The only relation to Skies of Arcadia is on a superficial level. People see generic themes like "age of exploration" and "airships" and start clapping because their two functioning braincells made a connection, but "Nostalgia" has absolutely zero of the charm, pacing, character, atmosphere, and overall sense of adventure that is arguably what makes SoA so great in the first place. Game magazines and reviewers all likened it to SoA back when it originally came out for the same reasons, and it's a comparison that stuck, but let me tell you it's fucking wrong.
>>3442415It is, actually. Too bad people here don't actually play the games they complain about.
>>3443269Hey, I liked it. Don't be a dick...
The crew finally discovers Rixis. It's not a city of gold as the legends promised, but instead the ruins of a lost civilization from the old world. The land is littered with massive craters, scars from the gods wrath as they rained down hellfire as punishment for the hubris displayed by the people of the past. The structures here pierce the sky and are enveloped by clouds, and we take glowing platforms to traverse from one crumbling building to the next. Enemies are unusually feral and gruesome in appearance, with some surpassing bosses we've faced in power. This all culminates in a strange and otherworldly atmosphere. We chase a mysterious figure through the area, until he is caught and revealed to be a priest of Ixa'Taka. They knew how to enter this place all along, and we were tricked into rescuing the high priest so they could summon the Gigas and defeat their Valuan oppressors. A rumbling is heard off in the distance as an ancient evil is awakened.https://youtu.be/IRLQy5uusQI?si=MQufF9g5U4ypPPbi
The Gigas begins rampaging through the Valuan Armada, until De Loco makes a reappearance and disables the ship of the Ixa'Takan king, which in turn makes the Gigas go mad as there is no longer anyone to control it. Vyse and crew must first engage De Loco in a naval battle before turning their attention to the gigas and driving it into a ravine, 3 long boss battles in a row after a long and harrowing dungeon crawl. After we finally disable the gigas we meet with the king, who realizes the error of his ways and gifts us with the moon crystal. We can return to Horteka if we wish and see some things have changed. The Valuans have been driven out and its residents are in a much brighter mood. They have a lot more to say, and some have even begun to sing and dance as they walk about their village. We ultimately glean some insight into the civilation of the Sylvites and their relationship to the old world, then its off to a newly opened channel leading back into Valua.
So far, it sounds like a generic jrpg.
>>3443861God I wish this was the norm.
>>3443861It is. It really is. And that's wha's so beautiful about it.Honestly, reading someone blogpost about it, or even watching someone play it instead of playing it yourself is such a great disservice. The brilliance of the game is in the details, and how it paces things out and builds things up to make them feel like you're actually on an adventure, and the way it makes every achievement feel like a huge deal even though it's a completely linear game and everything was scripted to happen exactly that way from the moment you started playing. It just has all the charm of watching a good movie or reading a good book without being anything close to a modern movie-game.One thing people almost never bring up is all the flavor text in this game; pretty much every location is LOADED with environmental descriptions if you just walk around and press the A button to interact. It's a big part of the game's worldbuilding, as even before you leave pirate isle, you can hear Vyse comment on tons of little things about the world, the people and the way things work. I've played this game 5 times now and I'm pretty sure I've still not found them all, especially because they change frequently (Vyse has different things to say about most of Pirate Isle as soon as you get there as opposed to later after the Valuans attack, and again even later after it's been rebuilt). Honestly, the fact that there are people out there who probably went through this entire game without reading a single bit of flavor text just because the game never prompts you to press A is very disheartening.
>>3444095>pretty much every location is LOADED with environmental descriptions if you just walk around and press the A button to interact.one of my favorite series of these is Vyse's running commentary on the engine in the Little Jack.>first time on the ship, he comments how old it is and how it sounds like it's going to rattle itself apart>later on after his hammock is set up next to the engine, he comments how he's gotten used to the sound>after you steal Belleza's engine he likes how much quieter it is>if you check the engine one last time when the ship is on fire and you're trying to escape, he mentions it sounds like it's ready to blow>if you check his hammock at the same time he's sad he'll never get to sleep in it againJust some simple text boxes that you never have to read at all, but if you take the time, it makes the characters and locations feel so much more real.The Little Jack in general is one of my favorite ship environments. I love Vyse noticing how old everything is, yet how well kept certain aspects are, and how others are neglected. (i.e., the ship's machinery is all in perfect order despite being old as shit, but the actual fishing equipment is in disarray and isn't even cleaned properly) which not only makes it feel like a real place, but also helps build up Drachma's character, since he's basically given up on fishing in the name of revenge.
>>3444100>helps build up Drachma's characterAlso for some reason, it took me until my 3rd playthrough or so to fully realize how much Aika fucking LOVES Drachma, to the point that he sort of becomes a surrogate father to her. It's the sort of thing the game never spells out explicitly, but it's clear as day given their circumstances and how they interact.She must have been absolutely fucking gutted when he died shortly after the end of the game.
>>3444106I know that Drachma's post-credits death was meant to be sobering and bittersweet, but it honestly made me burst out laughing. I know Japan loves its barely-adolescent heroes, but you're telling me this hale and hearty dude died of OLD AGE at 55? Get the fuck outta here.
The crew picks up some news in Valua: Firstly, that they are preparing for an attack on Nasr and, secondly, that the giant whale, Rhaknam, is attacking their ships and being hunted. Naturally, Drachma wants to pursue Rhaknam immediately. When night falls we learn more about his motivations. The whale killed his crew, among them his son, and he thinks back to how helpless he felt as the beast took away everything he cared about in an instant. The whale's cry is heard off in the distance. The entire world seemingly goes silent, and we slowly guide the ship towards the beast's calls, with nothing to accompany us but the sound of wind and thunder in the darkness. All hell breaks loose. Rhaknam skirts past the boat while being pursued by the Valuan Armada. Drachma sinks the harpoon into the whale's back, but is fired upon by Valua and the ship goes up into flames. Everyone flees for the lifeboats, but Drachma chooses to stay behind. Nothing is said, just a twitch of the mustache. The crew is seperated and knocked unconscious.
>>3443273Who said I was complaining? I just wanted to know why it looks exactly like the jungle level from SA1.
>>3445666>>3445669wtf
>>3432971Just curious what emulator/version of the game this is, it looks really good.
>>3445784Saturn Beetle on retroarch. Retroarch is all I really use any more, as it's convenient once you get past the terrible interface.
>>3445787Er wait, GameCube I mean, I was thinking of... something else I am currently recording.
>>3445672Yeah idk what was up with that either, but I hate the antichrist, so I wasn't gonna fuck around and find out, either.
>>3444852The encounter with Rhaknam that killed his son took a toll on his physical and mental health.
>>3446516
>>3437861I remember getting stuck on fighting that thing and then the executioner right after for a long time. I think it was the hardest part of the game.
>>3437158That feature is in a ton of JRPGs, not sure what you mean. Persona 2 actually did this extremely well
>>3446920>Persona 2 actually did this extremely wellNo it didn't.
>>3447040Yes it did
>>3447050Persona 2 had a flying airship you could go inside that functioned as a hub where you could talk to your party at any time?
>>3437861Should have equipped the Mace Hand before using the move...
>>3447053Why is that the definition of doing it extremely well? Seems hyper specific, but to answer your question it did have a flying airship alright. To seriously answer your question, you could talk to your party members at any time in the over world when you enter shops, restaurants, the velvet room and you actually learn a ton about their personalities this way. At the same time even rest stops in the middle of dungeons, even cooler is that persona 1 had the same feature... Not sure why you're acting like a pedantic bitch about this though
>>3447072>Why is that the definition of doing it extremely wellBecause that's what kotor and mass effect did, and it's interesting that these games made during the same time period all converged in similar places, and persona's in-your-face setpiece interpersonal drama is not the same imo.
>>3447080>Because that's what kotor and mass effect didI'm not saying that's bad, if not actually more common in any game that can justify having a hub airship usually does this, hell FF7 has this with the highwind even. But I take issue with that being the end all be all of doing it well. Persona 2 is an urban JRPG where it would obviously make zero fucking sense to have a flying airship with a hub, I'm saying that Persona 2 in favor of not having one excels in that you can frequently interact with party members like other NPCs having evolving dialogue as the game progresses any time you enter a non combat area. I'm sorry but that to me is fucking great.>persona's in-your-face setpiece interpersonal drama is not the same imo.This is not a real critique of anything, you may not prefer the writing of the series but it has no bearing on my statement
>>3447095>But I take issue with that being the end all be all of doing it wellThe comment is that it copies the style of western rpgs well. Persona is more like a really bad VN for gay /r9k/ kids with really in your face character building, which arguably isn't even good and is mostly about being a gay teen.
>>3447097The comment said speaking to your party current events, and now you're just making a really lame attempt to discredit writing and party banter in Persona, I guess I should've realized that you didn't really have anything meaningful to say
>>3447099>The comment said speaking to your party current eventsThat's half the comment.
>>3447106That is literally what the post was focusing on. I just mentioned how other games did this
>>3446920>>3447053If we're going off that definition, then the Aurora from Metro Exodus has to be the cream of the crop when it comes to fast travel/cozy hubworld hybrids. It's not much, especially when compared to how ambitious the devs originally wanted, but it's absolute ludokino.
So what's the best version of this game? Dreamcast? Gamecube?
>>3447361Gamecube, purely for lower encounter rates, but also it has additional content.
>>3444852Nobody said he died of "old age". Stop getting mad at video games for your own idiotic assumptions, maybe?
>>3447368>Gamecube, purely for lower encounter rates, but also it has additional content.Everyone always says this, but I played both versions back to back, and if there's any material difference in the encounter rates, it's borderline unnoticeable. You can tell because they increased EXP and gold payouts for the GC version to compensate for the alleged decrease in encounters, but all it does is make you richer and more overpowered even faster.The biggest reason to still play the Dreamcast original over the GC port is the music. Common misconception is that the music simply suffers from compression due to the smaller disc size, but that's not quite it; there was a specific audio software utilized to handle the dynamic music effects in the game, but no console has used it or been compatible with it since the Dreamcast. The result is that all the music in the GC port sounds a bit "off" for lack of a better word. Some instruments are muffled or off-key, and certain layers of some tracks will cut out, or won't even play at all. The only reason I even mention it is because the OG Dreamcast audio design is phenomenal, and if you're an audiofag with a nice sound system, you might consider it worth your while to play the original version.>>3447361Ignoring the audio issues I detailed above, the extra content in the GC version is totally worth it. You get a bunch of challenging yet extremely satisfying bounty hunter battles that level up exponentially the longer you put them off, and they're probably some of the hardest turn-based battles I've ever done in a JRPG. There are more discoveries, a new collectible sidequest, and you get some bonus backstory to boot. I personally find the decreased encounter rate negligible, but the random battle load times certainly are faster.
>>3447368>>3447617I see. Gamecube it is, then. By any chance have you tried this hack? https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2859/
>>3447848>By any chance have you tried this hack?No, I'm not sure I'd want to. Combat honestly isn't the strong suit of this game. Its not as terrible as people say, but its not at the forefront either.
Vyse is stranded on an island, where he finds half of a map on some dead guy. He spends 2 weeks re-enacting Robinson Crusoe until he is rescued by a pirate named Gilder, who we immediately know is the cool-guy archtype of this game because he wields a gun and disrespects women. Meanwhile, Aika and Fina are rescued by a pirate named Clara and dumped off in the capital of Nasr, Nasrad, and we get to play as them and view things from Aika's perspective. She has unique commentary on everything which is suited to her character, and eventually acquires half a map off some guy who isn't quite dead yet. As the story progresses, Vyse and Gilder make their way to the capital and we get to see Vyse's more 'nuanced' takes on the city. The two pairs frequently narrowly miss bumping into each other as an ongoing gag. They both realize their partial maps lead to the lost treasure of the legendary pirate, Daccat, and both parties arrive on opposite sides of the island where it is located unaware of each other's presence, bringing us to the next dungeon.
The gimmick of the dungeon is that we switch interchangably between parties as we advance in order to unlock doors and open up new paths. The character differences are flexed a bit here, as each group will have to employ different strategies to get through battles. Vyse and Gilder are better suited for dealing direct damage, whereas Aika and Fina are stronger casters, and focus being halfed puts further strain on teams no longer being well rouned. At the end everyone is finally reunited and after fighting a boss from the hell dimension they discover the real treasure was the friends they made along they way... Like that's seriously what happens, the treasure chest is empty except for a single coin and a note that says basically that, and everyone is pissed. Anyways, Valua is moving in on Nasr, so its time to head back and watch the show.
>>3448549And here's a bonus webm from the boss fight.
>>3448549
>>3448549>the treasure chest is empty except for a single coin and a note that says basically that, and everyone is pissedEh, really Aika was the only one who was pissed.btw this game's method of using 2D textures for faces is fucking peak, and makes everything so expressive. This was the greatest era of 3D graphics and we need to go back.
>>3445653>The whale killed his crew, among them his son, and he thinks back to how helpless he felt as the beast took away everything he cared about in an instant.One of my favorite scenes in the game. I love how it takes Drachma so long to even mention anything about his past. The whole atmosphere for this segment is wonderfully eerie, and it also shows off how well the Dreamcast could handle lighting, between the lantern-lit deck scene and then all the flames while the Little Jack is going down.
Man I love this game. It's so terminally comfy. I really hope Sega does fucking something with the IP after literally 20 years of blueballing us.
>>3449060>A remaster is on the way supposedly.A remaster has been supposedly "on the way" since the Xbox 360. I really don't think I've ever heard a company directly corroborate rumors about their own IP as much as Sega has in regards to Skies, and yet nothing has happened.
>>3448767btw here's the same scene on the same monitor but on Dreamcast via s-video from. Sometimes I forget how much they tweaked the main character models for the GC port.
>>3447548>getting madSeems the only guy getting angry here is you, though?
>>3449480Nope. It's definitely not me. I can tell that makes you mad, tho. Maybe seek therapy?
>>3449699You can feel it in yout bones anon?
>>3449699I literally said it made me laugh, lol
>>3449275Huh, the GC actually looks better.
Nasr is attacked, the capital is genocided, and the entire crew is captured, so once again we must escape Valua. This time we're tasked with making our way through its military fortifications, first by escaping our prison, then rescuing the rest of the crew, and finally by quickly dispatching of enemies before they can sound the alarm while avoiding being spotted under seach lights. All small time compared to what comes next. The prince of Valua, Enrique, is appalled by the Empress' actions, and wishes to join us to attone for his family's sins, and in doing so he lets us steal a battleship with a giant laser attached to the front of it. We punch a hole through the impenetrable fortress and make our escape. Gilder departs and Enrique takes his place in the party. We're officially on our own now, and we only had to escape a Valuan Coliseum, cross the South Ocean, find Daccat's treasure, take out 3 Valuan admirals, defeat 2 Gigas, and escape the Grand Fortress... Twice. (As Gilder puts it before his final farewell, and warns us that things are only going to get crazier from here on out.) New mechanics are introduced here. We now can add crew members to our ship, of which there is 22 to find throughout the game, and are instructed to build a stronghold, which we will be able to upgrade and decorate throughout the game. Additionally, our ship, being an experimental prototype, is still incomplete, and must be finished to reach complete functionality.
>>3451668Still blows my mind that there once existed a jrpg that had all this. What happened to this genre?
>>3451742>What happened to this genre?They started pandering to the wrong people and everything is crap now.
>>3432971>Does Skies of Arcadia still hold up?The Gameplay has aged horribly and the story and characters weren't that good, I don't think anyone would play it today for non-nostalgia reason
>>3451946>The Gameplay has aged horriblyHow so?
>>3451742Sega lost, at least temporarily. The shenmue style exploration still sort of lives on in Yakuza, I guess.
>>3451948It's just slow. PS1 and PS2 era (I know this was a GC game) RPGs just aged badly.
>>3451958>It's just slowIt's a 40 hour long game that proceeds at a facemelting pace. JRPGs today are much slower. I don't understand.
>>3451962I don't mean the pacing. The game FEEL slow. It's a problem I have with PS1/PS2/early PS3 games but I don't have with SNES era game for example
>>3451963>it just FEELS undefinably slow>but snes is fine>accuses others of nostalgiaUh, okay then, whatever you say lol
>>3451742>What happened to this genre?Square tards ruined it.
>>3432971https://youtu.be/fryMuULhhZg
>>3451963Sounds more like you dislike time consuming cutscenes/battle animations, rather than you having a problem with gameplay specifically.
>>3451958>>3451963Man, I'm glad I'm not so brain-burnt by modern shit that I feel this way about older games yet. People told me FF9 was painfully slow, but I played it for the first time last year and it felt fine to me.>>3451742The real triumph of Skies of Arcadia isn't necessarily "how much" it contains, but it's how important it makes everything feel.>escape coliseum>cross south ocean>find Daccat's treasure>take out 3 Valuan admirals>defeat 2 Gigas>escape Grand Fortress (twice)The list of events sounds impressive, but the magic of the game is that it makes it all FEEL impressive; the worldbuilding, atmosphere, and overall progression of events in the game happens in such a deliberate way as to make each one of these accomplishments feel like a huge deal, and not just the next objective in your list. The game builds things up, creates boundaries, and then knocks them down, and even though it's all scripted, it still feels like you're on a huge, open-ended adventure where anything can happen.And for accuracy's sake, the party hasn't technically "defeated" any Gigas yet; the first two you encounter are basically just you avoiding dying until you can find another way to end the battle, since your ship doesn't have the firepower to face them in direct combat yet. But that's just another wonderful part of this game's sense of progression. Once you get the Delphinus up to spec, you can start actually going toe to toe with them and it's always epic.
>>3451946I finally got around to playing this game for the first time last year and it was a great time. Fun, logical story and it looked good, too. I have no idea what this guy's on about.
>>3452054>the worldbuilding, atmosphere, and overall progression of events in the game happens in such a deliberate way as to make each one of these accomplishments feel like a huge deal,One of the only other JRPG's I've played that this can be said for is Grandia. I usually dislike games without a traversable overworld, but Grandia uses it to its benefit in order to make the game feel like a huge, sprawling adventure where you can't just go home whenever you want. It's an important part of the plot that you can't actually.In most JRPG's the story comes first, but Grandia and Skies of Arcadia are some of the only ones I can think of where the sense of adventure comes first.
>>3452122Autism. Always autism. Game could stand to load battles a little faster though and be able to skip boss special attack animations.
Our first stop is back to Sailor Town to recruit some... Sailors. Some crew members have special requirements for entry, some come with optional side quests, like finding a lost lover for example, and others just flat out join you for the hell of it. Additionally, we finally obtain the white map, an item that reduces encounter rate, which is sorely needed because we're going to be doing a lot more traveling and exploring. Next, its flying up to Crescent Isle, to establish our stronghold and completely drain all the wealth we've accumulated. Then its back down to Maramba for a mini-boss and some info on our next adjective, penetrating into the lands of Yafutoma, a mysterious land where people eat with sticks and wear scales, but first we must stop in a little heap called Esperanza.https://youtu.be/fkk5OgyeksI?si=ILokB1B8QjD41eS7
>>3453463Ah... Kino.
>>3453726Teleportation accident?
>>3453463>a mysterious land where people eat with sticks and wear scales
Esparanza is the Spanish word for "hope" and Valua has abandoned it. Initially an outpost orbiting an unaturally occuring and massive maelstrom called the Dark Rift with the intent of crossing it, the city was ultimately deemed impractical and lost its funding. After repeated failed attempts at penetrating the rift, its inhabitants sunk into a depression. Its a city coated in rust and decay, the remains of wrecked ships dot the area and its become a home to broken forgotten things. Shortly after our arrival, a Valuan armada appears and we have to fight our way through their blockade. The flagship possesses a massive ram, and by casting a haste spell we can get it off our tail and flip the odds in our favor. Once that's all done with its time to take our chances in the rift.The rift presents itself as a massive dungeon which is traversed by airship, and utilizes full three dimensional movement in its design. Its a maze of winding portals, populated by strange alien flora and pulsating seemingly alive islands, with a negative void space at its center revealing the phenomena has been caused by a large black moonstone. By doing our due diligence in the previous town an important hint is gleamed: That the flowers here will sway towards the exit and can be followed to safety. Each room has strange geometry dotted with shipwrecks containing lost treasure, as well as the husband of our ship's cook, who had been stranded here for many years and presumed dead. At the end we face off with a gigantic oarfish and draw it out of the rifts with our laser cannon to engage it in battle. A very unique and unforgettable dungeon. Undiscovered lands await us on the other side.https://youtu.be/aT_t0cK1al8?si=UUz_2sB71dFe6vi_
>>3453783>That the flowers here will sway towards the exit and can be followed to safetyHuh. Never knew this
>>3452793Hey, never said it was flawless. Encounter rates and loading times are a bit wack for sure. It's also a real pain to track down the discoveries if you're a weenie like me and feel compelled to catch 'em all.
>>3454034It's important to note that the encounter rate is exagerrated though. Like in this webm >>3453783 is an area with random encounters. I just have the white map equipped. That's nearly a full minute with no random encounter, which is a pretty long time for a jrpg.
>>3454262>the encounter rate is exagerrated though.
>>3454262I said a BIT wack. It's still a drag when you're trying to track down a moving discovery or go fishing.
After emerging from the rift we arrive in Yafutoma. There's new terrain here and new wild life flying around, its sort of interesting how open air space can be made to feel unique. After finding a discovery which points us towards civilization we are attacked by eastern air pirates by ship. Due to the unique properties of blue moon rocks, the ships here are able to fly at altitudes our ship's cannons can't reach, so we must utilize torpedos and magic instead. The enemy vessel has powerful spells, but unlike boss battles we can completely disable enemy ships with debuffs while empowering ourselves with buffs, then time torpedoes and magic to strike together at a critical phase for massive damage, which is the difference between this battle going slow as molasses or lightning fast. Next, the pirates board our ship and while, as mentioned previously, debuffs don't work, we can use haste to outpace them, which is necessary as the boss does huge damage and will 2 shot party members before we can recover, and with careful management of focus this battle can be mopped up quickly as well. So each style of battle is really coming into its own now and has a unique flavor. From here, its on to Yafotoma, a stunningly beautiful city with colorful locals and unique architecture suspended over clear blue water in a series of interconnected islands, which we can traverse by tub boat. Every single culture in this game has a very different style and its seriously impressive that they can not only keep this up so late in the game, but make each location increasingly interesting. It really helps make the exploration feel compelling and every town is exciting to step into. The emperor is sympathetic to our cause and directs us to the location of the blue moon crystal, deep within the heart of a mountain.https://youtu.be/BKH6qKnehO0?si=baarCVChki5najPI
>>3456069I really like the character models in this one.
>>3456069I like how kotor blatantly ripped off the gimmick right after this.
>>3432974https://youtu.be/HyHNuVaZJ-k?si=Gavxu1EUPrwZFJdPThis was such a perplexing imaginative aesthetic that left a huge impression on me as a kid. Floating islands ftw
The crew descends in Mt. Kazai to retrieve the blue moon crystal. We make our way through a cave system eerily lit by mysterious runes and guarded by mechanical sentries. Most of the dungeon is submerged underwater, so we need to use special diving suits to get around, and progress deeper and deeper by flooding its chambers and manipulating floating platforms, until we finally fight the most annoying boss ever and retrieve our prize. Upon returning to Yafutoma, we find that Valua has arrived by blasting a hole through Ixa'Taka and has orchestrated the usurpation of the Emperor to install his Grand Vizier as a puppet ruler. We lose the crystal and our ship is stolen, but with the help of the princess we make a daring escape, and now its time to seek out the exiled prince.
>>3457707So we track down the prince to the island of his exile and it turns out he's become the ruler of the pirates we fought when we first came here. He's suggests Enrique should fuck his sister, then we band together with the pirates and attack the Valuan Armada. Amid the chaos we spot our ship and board it forcefully, fighting our way through it until we defeat the Grand Vizier's son and retake our ride. Next, we have a penis measuring contest with a Valuan Admiral to see who's cannon fires the hardest, and after blowing everything up the Grand Vizier goes full retard and summons a gigas, a giant flying beast, which of course we have to do battle with. However, this time we're fighting on equal terms with our new ship and can actually hurt this thing. After pummeling it into a mountain, its time to sail all the way around the world, being the first to prove its not flat, (yes really) and back to our stronghold to check on its progress.
>>3457707>picThis game is really good with color composition, it's always very moody.
>>3457143 #Laputa is cited as a major inspiration for this game if you've never seen it. In fact, Skies of Arcadia was designed to be a competitor to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, with its differentiating feature being that it was designed to appeal to people who like anime and manga rather than traditional sword and sorcery, which I guess isn't a big deal today, but it sure was then.
>>3457968>color compositionIt does a lot of interesting things with color in general due to the whole multiple seperate moons theme and designing areas around specific colors.
>>3451993BASED
Reminder that this happened.https://youtu.be/6Q0LpmTK-u8?si=2O_-b6ttQ5jaNofH
>>3458773>That arrangement of the military facility theme in the mixFuckin' UNF!
>>3458786I think SEGA and Falcom make the best jrpg music in the genre.https://youtu.be/pxDP6RI-DMI?si=60d1VJoSv9z-yb8Rhttps://youtu.be/T6ZdPMLHb7M?si=v7sP0GT2OCnmlIhWhttps://youtu.be/uUyn0YrwOa4?si=LTDQX7BCVExJtC_G
>>3453726Esperanza was so cool, inspiring all the townspeople and dueling with the only Valuan that isn't a complete asshole.
>>3453734>The Dark RiftAlways absolute loved how, at the 2 minute mark in the OST, the entire tone of the song shifts from "spooky and mysterious" to "awe and wonder". It's extremely off-putting.
>>3459237I like to imagine the music is you entering the temple of the black moon. Like its an anomaly powered by unknown interstellar magic that sucks up sailors and you travel to the middle to find dark crystals all lined up for procession to the sound of a strange hymn. And then you fight a giant fish monster.
>>3457997>Laputa is cited as a major inspiration for this game if you've never seen itA bunch of anime, manga, and video game plots from the late 70s up through the 90s use such a similar story blueprint (An ancient, advanced civilization vanishes but leaves behind a weapon of mass destruction which an evil military organization wishes to exploit, and the hero gets involved by meeting a girl who is a descendant of said civilization) to the point that I actually started researching it. Castle in the Sky is probably the earliest and most well-known example, but it recycled a lot ideas from Miyazaki's earlier series "Future Boy Conan", which was allegedly based on a 1970 novel called "The Incredible Tide", which was a post-apocalyptic novel where the ancient civilization was modern Earth and the weapon of mass destruction was just nukes, lol.Of course, that isn't to ignore the greater mythical inspirations for such a stories, like the Hindu script "Mahabharata", which recounts apocalyptic ancient battles with super-weapons eerily similar to nukes, and of course the myth of Atlantis, which is referenced in the original JP script for Eternal Arcadia, where the lost silver continent of Soltis is simply named "Atlantis".Similarly, Nadia: Secret of Blue Water (picrel) is an anime about young boy who protects a girl who is a descendant of the lost Atlantean civilization from a military organization trying get control of an ancient Atlantean super-weapon. It was clearly a big visual and conceptual inspiration, as well as Captain Harlock, which has already been mentioned. The movie "Arcadia of My Youth" is worth watching on its own merit.
>>3457997>it was designed to appeal to people who like anime and mangaThis makes sense given the game's focus on expressions. I'm doing a playthrough with a friend right now and we've really been impressed by all the different face textures they drew to make the characters emote in very specific ways. It really feels a whole world apart from earlier JRPGs from the PS1 era where the best you could hope for was maybe a handful of different character portraits for your dialogue boxes.>>3460171>Castle in the SkyAs much as Captain Harlock was visual inspiration for Vyse, Captain Dola from Castle in the Sky was inspiration for Aika. You can see her younger self in the portrait on the wall in picrel, and her older self does regularly wear goggles. No giant boomerang, sadly.
Seriously tho, warm weather is coming up, it's the best time of year to play this game in the evening with the windows open while the crickets gently chirp outside. I do it to restore my soul every few years.
First stop, the stronghold. Its construction has advanced forward considerably. There's housing for everyone, a tavern and a shop, as well as a meeting room. All the crew member's we've collected are here and they not only interact with us but also each other, and its kind of fun to see all the wild cultures we've visited all gathered together in one place. We make plans to travel to the Lands of Ice and gather the purple moon crystal. When stopping in town for supplies we discover our reputation has been ruined, and the culprit appears to be doppelgangers, leading to what is probably the hardest optional bossfight in the game, then after wrapping that up its time to continue on with our journey.
>>3460520I will always associate early spring with Skies of Arcadia. My friend loaned me his Dreamcast copy on a Friday in the spring of '02. It was the day of my catholic confirmation, and I remember leaving the game running because I had to go to church in the middle of fighting the first boss on Shrine Island (the way the boss music changed depending on how you were doing fucking blew my mind). We had a little party afterwards with friends and family and donuts from a little bakery up the road from my house. Toward the end of the night, I went back to my room with a whole box of donuts and stayed up until like 3 AM playing. Fuckin' loved every second of it even though I got a headache from all the eye strain and sugar, lol. I only called it quits because the game kept freezing at the part where Galcian chases you on top of the train in upper Valua.The Dreamcast optical drive always was a fickle bitch. My first one failed less than a month after buying it, under warranty at least. Even the next one was picky about some things. When I finally bought my own copy of Skies, it never froze at all on any of disc 1, but froze several times and often failed to boot at all from disc 2, and both discs were still in brand new condition.thanks for reading my blogpost.
>>3461404>Fuckin' loved every second of it even though I got a headache from all the eye strain and sugar, lolYep I played video games until I threw up quite a few times as a kid
>>3461491>I played video games until I threw up quite a few times as a kidlol, I don't think it ever got that bad for me. Even the headaches were something that only started when I was 16-ish. The first time was around when I bought my Gamecube because I stayed up until 3 AM playing Smash Bros. Probably also the stress, since I was doing some of those really fuckin brutal event matches and multi-man melees. Honestly I'm surprised I don't get more headaches as an adult, given how much time I spend staring at screens.
>>3457707Man, the blue moonstone is such a fucking slog. Between exploring the area, the painfully slow-ass dungeon in Mt. Kazai, and then having to get your ship back before another marathon of ship battles, it's just too much. Bluheim is also the hardest ship battle you've fought at this point and if you didn't think to upgrade your ship's cannons at Yafutoma, it can make it take that much longer. I'm not saying it's insufferable or that it ruins the game or anything, but it's just one of the arcs that feels like it needs to be over way sooner than it is. Guess it makes coming back to your base that much more exciting, though.The shitty part is that thequests for the two remaining moonstones, purple and yellow, both feel a bit lacking and could have used some more dev time, but I suppose all the stuff with Dangral Island, deep sky, and the overall finale make up for it.>>3457789>its time to sail all the way around the world, being the first to prove its not flatReally, Valua is the one that proved that already by blasting a fucking hole through a mountain range to get to Yafutoma. Guess they just didn't report the discovery fast enough.>>3460968>the culprit appears to be doppelgangers, leading to what is probably the hardest optional bossfight in the gameI always found the Ixa'ness demons way harder. Last time I played, I literally couldn't beat them without burning an aura of valor, which you only get like 4 of in the whole game. I know all the optional bounty battles level up the longer you put them off, which makes some of them easier, while the later ones get harder, unless you farm seeds to boost your stats.
>>3461765By the time I got to Blueheim my ships cannons/torpedoes were hitting as hard as the moon canon, so I didn't find it very hard, especially with crew abilities. The dungeon I enjoyed as well, although I guess it can take a long time if you mess up that one puzzle. I really enjoyed the purple crystal dungeon and the ending was impressive, yellow was indeed a bit short though considering how interesting the premise is.
>>3461855Purple dungeon isn't the worst, it's just painfully obvious that it was a product of "okay we need another dungeon but don't have the time to build enough assets for another major continent or actually make any lore for it". Shame they couldn't have at least thrown in a little village of eskimos or some kind of snowy outpost full of aspiring archaeologists to make the continent feel less bare-bones. Unlike every previous moonstone where you were basically neck-deep in the culture and history of every continent, the ice continent feels like it barely has reason to exist.And as much as I like what transpires at the end of the purple dungeon, plot-wise, the actual boss fight was rubbish. I've played the game like 6 times and I still couldn't tell you what the boss was. If it wasn't for the fact that it spams instant death magic at you, I probably wouldn't remember it at all.The yellow moonstone is even more disappointing because the underside of the Valuan continent is a potentially interesting location and we've literally already seen part of it, but it turns out it's just a big empty cave with a boss fight at the end.
>>3437861I can hear this
Next stop is the lost civilization of Glacia. To reach it we have to smash our ship through a layer of ice into the entrance facility and are greeted by a wall of fog. It slowly lifts and we get our first look at an inverted city attached to the bottom of a perennial ice layer, from which the buildings hang upside-down like icicles. The is a ghost town, its inhabitants have either fled or been wiped out long before recorded history and it makes the crew uneasy. After exploring for a bit via ice bridges and floating platforms, we enter a pavilion and a giant robot bursts down through a stained glass ceiling. We survive its barrage of laser beams and enter the final chamber to find the great whale, Rhaknam, and with him, Drachma. Shockingly he's still alive, but Rhaknam wasn't so lucky, and was mortally wounded. Drachma looks over the dying creature with melancholy, while considering the irony that just as it had accidentally killed his crew and son, so too did it accidentally save his life when it dragged his ship here. Just as Drachma had lost everything, so too did the whale, as the Gigas of this abandoned civilization. The creature lets loose a single tear and passes away, then we collect the purple moon crystal and take our leave. Drachma decides he can no longer accompany us and must move on.Absolutely incredibly soundtrack for this place, by the way.https://youtu.be/YilXEyA1J3o?si=eJlRKTI2ydnCKLHh
>>3462260>https://youtu.be/YilXEyA1J3o?si=eJlRKTI2ydnCKLHhAs I recall, this is one of those songs that was completely butchered during the port to Gamecube. Whatever software they wrote to replace the original midi sequencer just could not handle the reverb right.
From Glacia we head back to Valua for the yellow moon crystal. It, along with its accompanying Gigas, is located in the Maw of Tartas, an impenetrable vault. Fortunately, our ship has now been upgraded with the ability to reach the previous inaccessable upper and lower skies, which allows us to fly underneath the continent and enter the vault through a series of caverns populated by strange and primal monsters, ending with a battle with the yellow Gigas. The dungeon is very short, but on the flip-side with our new found exploration abilities we can now access every area on the map and circumvent random encounters entirely. This opens up many new discoveries and strange miniature islands with interesting people, which have all been just barely out of reach this whole time. Our next stop is the newly constructed Valuan base of Dangral Island.
>>3460520I remember bringing SoA to my friend's house in middle school for a sleepover, and they played it from 4pm to 4am with only one break for dinner. I've never played a game like that.
>>3463299Sounds comfy as fuck, anon. Skies is just the kind of game that inspires that dedication; there's always one more battle, one more treasure, one more discovery...>>3463272Pretty much all of the discoveries in upper or lower sky were neato.
>>3463314>Pretty much all of the discoveries in upper or lower sky were neato.The devs seriously nailed the exploration aspect. I can't think of a single JRPG thats even half as fun to explore, personally.
We infiltrate the Dengral Base and run around in air ducts for awhile until we manage to steal some schematics that enable us to go to Deep Sky. At this point we encounter the Galcian, the Lord Admiral of the Valuan Armada, who has betrayed the Empress to become literally Hitler or something, and Enrique's uncle shows up to sacrifice himself on our behalf while we escape. Then its off to Deep Sky, the very bottom of the planet, where atmospheric pressure is so high that we basically have to turn our ship into a submarine, and is so far down that sunlight cannot penetrate it. Here our goal is to retrieve Fina's lost ship, which curiously places the area's entrance right underneath the very first dungeon where we began the game. We locate the ship through a series of radar pings in a sort of mine sweeper mini-game, where disturbing the wrong patch of earth pisses off giant sea monsters. This all ultimately culminates in a final battle with De Loco, the gimmick here being that it is so dark we cannot predict each other's attacks visually and must instead utilize pattern recognition to hit him, until he tethers his ship to ours with a giant harpoon and we shoot at each other until his ship explodes once and for all. After returning to the surface, Enrique decides he must depart from our party to warn his mother that Galcian has betrayed Valua and attempt to fix the nation.
I made my parents buy me a dreamcast for Christmas in 2008 so I could play this, Grandia 2, and the Berserk game. It was a lot of fun.
>>3461765>Really, Valua is the one that proved that already by blasting a fucking hole through a mountain range to get to Yafutoma. Guess they just didn't report the discovery fast enough.They didn't report the green continent either, plus they didn't go through the Dark Rift, so not an "around the world" for them.
>>3461872>>3462260Glacia was mentioned to be next best after the Silvites, both surfed the Rain of Destruction, yet both are pretty much extinct.
>>3464485I think one of the biggest reasons I love this game is that every part is just plain cool. Like if you describe every single moment of this game on paper, it sounds fucking rad as shit. I feel like that's a major first step in development that a lot of studios don't get.>>3464632Right, but they still figured out they could travel east by going west. You could argue they never made a big deal about sharing the existence of Horteka because they were essentially in the middle of enslaving the natives to strip-mine it for them.>>3464637I remember reading fan theories that the purple civilization built their own spaceship and went off into space, while the Silvites chose to stay in orbit because they positioned themselves as this world's caretakers. I wouldn't be surprised if the Purples (who survived the rains of destruction since their kingdom was built beneath the continent) thought the Silvites were assholes for nuking the entire world and just noped off the planet.(pic unrelated but I do just love how Drachma is ready to kill random strangers at multiple points in the adventure just for convenience)
>>3464876Man, I really wish we got a sequel. There's a ton of background things that could fit into a new game, like the whole unexplained dark moon stuff.
>>3466001I've always been uncertain what I'd want them to do for a sequel. I like the idea of revisiting the same world and characters, but at the same time I think everything stands really well as it is and dredging the few remaining points of intrigue up from the depth of Arcadia might take away more than it adds. Part of me just wants something with completely new characters and a new setting.Although I kinda wouldn't mind the idea of focusing on Vyse's son, or maybe even his grandson, and then we could just have them finally go into space and find other worlds.
>>3466001>>3466260I would go with a remake that expend things a bit over a sequel.
The crew heads back to base to find its under attack by Galcian's armada. He has his own "Fina", a Sylvite named Ramirez, who was swayed to Galcian's cause. He forces us to hand over the moon crystals after bombarding ours stronghold to rubble and reveals that the Sylvites had planned to use them to nuke the planet all along before leaving. Fina doesn't know what to believe, and asks that we use her ship to visit the Sylvites immediately. (and so we do) We break the atmosphere to reach a space station of sorts. Compared to the rest of the locations in the setting its eerily modern looking. Gravity doesn't exist here, and instead we stick to the floor, leading to some pretty interesting architecture for us to traverse. When we finally get to the council of the Sylvites, Fina's suspicions are proven true, and Galcian, along with Ramirez, crash the meeting to slay the elder council member and retrieve the final moon crystal, planning to destroy the world and reform it in their own image, thereby breaking the cycle of destruction and rebirth. After they make their escape, Fina speaks with the remaining councilors and convinces them that by destroying civilation again and again they are running away from their problems, and that mankind must be trusted to overcome these obstacles through strength of character if wish to build a better future. With the council's approval we head back home to stop Galcian.https://youtu.be/mn8afJ5mWQM?si=4MEsmbifcf3kWKNI
>>3432971Why can't any modern JRPG capture this feeling of exploration and discovery?
Galcian has used the crystals to pull the lost continent of Soltis from the depths, used it to nuke Valua, and holed himself up inside with a giant force field, so its probably a good time to regroup. After getting back to our base all the pirates we helped out/beat up over the course of the game show up to lend us a hand in our time of need, and it doesn't take long before we have an entire armada of our own, so its time to kick some butt. Galcian meets our forces in a giant island sized floating fortress, and after wading through the line of battle, we engage it in ship to ship combat until it is disabled, then it becomes a dungeon which we break into then fight our way to the bridge to beat the hell out of this dude once and for all.https://youtu.be/Ek4xtxzhbqo?si=1u3fT_NtZN-Q-Dok
>>3468180Fuck yeah
>>3468105Ys 8
With the loss of Galcian, Ramirez goes insane, which is bad news because he's in control of the silver gigas, a weapon capable of wiping out the entire planet. We enter Soltis through the very first dungeon we encountered on our journey, which was a broken off chunk of the continent all along and has rejoined with it. As we get further into the Soltis things get more alien and dangerous, first navigating the crumbling ruins of a dead civilization then hopping between teleporters as we get deeper into its still beating and technologically advanced guts. After finally reaching Ramirez and facing him in battle, he merges with the silver gigas and becomes a giant death star. (yes really) These fights are seriously not easy, even with shitloads of consumables one slip up and its over. The pressure is so intense that if you fall down the boss will never let you get your momentum back and just crush you.https://youtu.be/PIKuFI8lHcA?si=ugM9V08EpJSBbzuC
>>3469530>We enter Soltis through the very first dungeon we encountered on our journey, which was a broken off chunk of the continent all along and has rejoined with it.I loved that part. I especially liked when you go under the clouds, you can see a part of Soltis through the storm clouds on the way down
>>3469560The descent into deep sky is so fucking perfect. The fact that it isn't a cutscene and they actually let you do it. Last time I played it, I used my good audio setup with a subwoofer, and the fucking thunder made my whole house rumble. Shit was cash.The whole game in general has brilliantly cinematic sound design, really. But that part stuck with me.
>>3468180>Ys 8My favorite part of the Galcian fight (after Terminal) is that Guilder's counter-attack animation makes him look like he's popping a cap into Galcian's dick. Which seems like something Guilder might actually do.
>>3469530>These fights are seriously not easy, even with shitloads of consumables one slip up and its over.I never found the finale this hard. The Zelos fight can be a bit of an ordeal, but most people forget how exploitable your crew abilities are. I always found most of the bounty hunter battles more difficult than the actual endgame.
>>3470141it's been a few years since I played, but I thought Sacrulen always went first in ship battles. At least it always did for me. I was almost never in danger of dying in ship battles once I learned it.
>>3470141It probably didn't help that I didn't bother with captain stripes and wore the white map the whole game.
>>3470172The white map probably didn't make much of a difference, especially in the GC version where EXP gains are boosted, but yeah, not using the captain stripes is really your own fault.
>>3470177>not using the captain stripes is really your own faultI figured it would make ship battles a bit more interesting. It did. I also tried doing some of the end-game bounties with a party of three, which was interesting as well.
>>3469530>>3470141Hydra and Zelos can also be silenced, which kinda makes things easier.Hydra only get one scripted heal, and Zelos waste turns trying to use magic.
>>3461872>>3462260>>3464637thinking back on this, I came with a theory that Valuans were the purple civilization that moved to Yellow after the anciant yellow were annihilated.Part of it is after noticing a lack of anciant ruins of the yellow civilization.
What version of this game should I legally purchase?
>>3470718>Hydra and Zelos can also be silenced, which kinda makes things easier.Only first phase Zelos can be silenced, which is necessary because he'll debuff the fuck out of you. Second phase Zelos does two super attacks a turn.>>3470755Gamecube is the definitive version. Both versions of this game are EXTREMELY expensive, I'd just emulate it honestly.
>>3470726>a lack of anciant ruins of the yellow civilization.They literally had the catacombs underneath Valua which were clearly older remnants, as well as the discoveries of the lighthouse ruins, the stone city, and the ancient temple all being on the Valuan continent. A lot of the flavor text seems to hint that old Valuan settlements were either suddenly abandonned, or simply left behind as the populous shifted to the south to the capital's current location.The Purple civilization was said to be highly advanced and specializing in magic, while a number of the discoveries on and around the valuan continent, such as the sky ladder and the blimp wreck hint at a slow and steady industrialization.If anything, the stronger link is between the Valuan continent and the Silver civilization, as the lighthouse ruins were actually built out of even older ruins with no known purpose, and it certainly looks similar to Silvite technology (picrel). There's also the nearby wreckage of a flying machine made of strange metals that might have travelled through "areas without air", which hints at perhaps being an early Silvite spaceship akin to Fina's.
>>3471371>old Valuan settlements were either suddenly abandonned, or simply left behind as the populous shifted to the south to the capital's current location.Also, it's unclear just how much of old Valua was wiped out by the rains of destruction, but Valua is one of the only continents which still has visible craters leftover from the event, so it's possible they were hit harder than others.Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, Valuans and Silvites are the only cultures with blond hair. Maybe the original Yellow civilization WAS completely wiped out, and the current Valuan civilization is made of Silvites who elected to stay behind. And then there's Ilchymis who literally looks like a Silvite and "left his hometown to do research on a small island at high altitude" which specifically mirrors what the Silvites did. Minus the whole armageddon part, I mean.
>>3471433>IlchymisHe also specifically studies the magic of life and death (i.e. silver magic) and will only join your crew if you've learned the silver magic spell "Riselem". Regardless of the origins of the rest of the Valuan people, Ilchymis is clearly positioned as a potential descendant of silver civilization leftovers.Additionally, the ruins beneath Valua contain a shrine room with a statue depicting a giant, gleaming orb of uncertain nature. It coud just be a statue of the moon, or depicting the rains of destruction, but it could also be Zelos, the silver gigas. This is one of the reasons I had hoped the Maw of Tartas would contain more hints about Valua's past, but instead it's just caves. Oh well.
>>3471371While many of those are old, not that many scream "pre rain of destruction", which kinda makes me think the ancient yellow was either completely annihilated or near completely annihilated and needed immigration. >>3471433Valua does give vibes that it was once a melting pot.
>>3471461Maw of Tartas was mentioned to have been build by the Silvites to hide/seal the Yellow Moon Crystal.
>>3471433I always wondered how Ilchymis got above the clouds, anyway. No ships were capable of that without blue moonstones, and nobody had ever been to Yafutoma where the exist before Vyse and his crew did. Ilchymis has to have access to some sort of advanced tech or knowledge that the average Valuan doesn't.
