Yarrr Matey, this be a mighty fine game, says I.

A few years ago, when the Dreamcast was at its peak, it seemed like so many good games were being released for the system that it was impossible to keep track of them all. It was inevitable that some good games would slip through the cracks, being lost to obscurity in favor of other titles that had more hype and greater anticipation. Released around the time of Grandia 2 and Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia definitely qualifies as one of these games.

First, let me say a little bit about how appealing this game is.  I As a general rule, I'm not a huge RPG fan. I have tried games in the Final Fantasy series, the Ogre Battle series, and the recent GBA offering Golden Sun. However, none of these games caught my interest, and I usually stopped playing around 20 hours into them.  Not so with Sega's Skies of Arcadia.  found this excellent RPG about a year after its release, and I found it gripping and I played right through the first major plot line (Unfortunately, Plebe Summer intervened and it would take me 6 months to get back to it). Needless to say, I found this game to be an immensely fun and satisfying gaming experience. Now, the game has been re-released by Sega on the GameCube as Skies of Arcadia Legends (SOA:L) with some minor graphical tweaks and a few gameplay enhancements.

SOA:L takes place in a world where land masses float in an immense sky. The inhabitants of this world use airships to navigate this sky in order to explore, trade, and wage war. The story follows a young man named Vyse, who is an Air Pirate. However, in Arcadia the Air Pirates come in two flavors: Black and Blue Rouge. Blue Rouges only pick on ships of the evil Valuan Armada, a force bent on dominating all of Arcadia. Black Pirates, on the other hand, will attack, rape, and pillage everything in sight. Vyse, a Blue Rouge, takes part in an attack on a Valuan ship where he and his friend Aika liberate a woman named Fina. This touches of a long and unpredictable quest whereby Vyse saves the world and builds his reputation by doing so.  The plot of SOA:L makes use of many RPG conventions that even I recognize, but it still holds a few surprises and manages to shake things up enough to remain interesting.

Graphically, this game is bright and colorful. There are quite a few sharp edges and blurry textures, but given this game's Dreamcast roots, this is to be expected. I was disappointed that fewer enhancements were made to the game over the Dreamcast version, but SOA:L isn't a bad-looking game by any stretch of the imagination. The sky and cloud effects are quite convincing, the characters are well designed and animated, and the airships are both varied and interesting. The special attacks used by each character are especially cool. In terms of sound, the soundtrack to this game is AWSOME! I found a CD copy of it and imported it, it was so good. From tender themes to heroic marches, this game's music helps to set the tone for the epic adventure it depicts. The sound effects aren't as remarkable, although they are all suitable to thier uses. The one aspect of SOA:L's sound that has often drawn criticism is the small voice exclamations such as "Yeah!" or "Uh-hu" that are added to each character to spice up the text-only conversations. Personally, I don't have an issue with them. To the contrary, I think they add a lot of personality to the game.

SOA:L's gameplay is very much in line with traditional RPG fare, with a few twists. There are of course turn-based random battles, with all kind of elemental magic. However, all members of your party now draw on a common pool of "Spirit Points" which are replenished at the end of each round. These points are needed to cast "S-moves" which are both powerful and entertaining to watch. Another twist SOA:L addes is the ship to ship battles. This battles are also turn based, and different attacks still require spirit points. You choose your moves for four rounds in advance, and then watch the battle play out in a very cinematic style. The big draw for me with these battles is trying to anticipate what my opponent's moves will be and plan mine accordingly. New to the GameCube version of this game are several sidequests. Some reveal new information about the characters. Others provide you with rare items for use in battle. The "Wanted List" side quest in particular offers both a challenge and an excellent way to earn cash for upgrading your ship and party. All of these quests definitely made it worthwhile in my mind to play the GC version even after having completed the game on the Dreamcast. I should note, however, that none of the added material in SOA:L is essential to beating the game. I wound up spending about 40 hours on the game completing the major side quests, but there was still more to do for those hard-core RPGers out there.

Overall, I rank SOA with games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as some of my favorite ever, and in my opinion it was the best reason to own a Dreamcast. This enhanced version is a welcome addition to the GameCube's library, as it adds a quality RPG to the system's lineup. If you consider yourself in any way, shape, or form an RPG fan, than I highly recommend this game. For those of you that, like me, don't normally play RPGs, then I encourage you give this one a try. Avast, it is time to let your inner Air Pirate out to play for a while! Yarr!

By Andy Rucker