User Reviews (1 - 11 of 105)

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Blue

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 31
Date: November 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have nerver played it but it sound fruity and to many people gave it a five. By the way i just moved to china from mongola. the people here hate me and i dont no y? do u no?

good game, but some flaws

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 21
Date: January 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

ok, the game was really good, but at first, it is very boring. untill disk two, the story is very repetitave, adn also, you fight a bad guy every 5 seconds or so, which is really bad and annoying. if that doesnt bother you, then buy this, becasue the ending of the story is great and the graphics and sounds are awesome, but i couldnt stand these two major flaws

If you still own a DC, then you'd best buy this game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Skies of Arcadia is a fun, addicting game that will steal away your nights and weekends until you beat it. The colors, the fights, the story, all will be imprinted on your brain for some time to come. But if you are a person of little patience and less tolerance, maybe you should consider a raincheck because this game may drive you to the BRINK!

Allow me to explain if you will. Skies of Arcadia follows loosely the guidelines set by the Final Fantasy series. You will have a group of three to four warriors and you will find and defeat a series of enemies. Weapons and combat skills will abound while magic will grow and engulf the world around you. To this tried and true style, several major and important advancements were made.

1) Ship battles. You will love this the first second you play it. Not unlike some of the monster battle games of the world, you will order your ship to make 4 "moves" for a given turn. This can be magic, repair, attack, or defend. Then you will okay it and sit back. the four turns will be played out in front of you not unlike a movie, with your ship and your enemy swirling about and attacking. Then the 4 turns will end and you will be given a chance to make 4 move moves. Battle goes on until either you or your enemy plunges from the skies in flames. However this sounds to you, I promise this will be one of the better aspects of the game to you.

2)Move to move combat. Not unlike the ship battles above, personal combat follows a turn basis. Instead of having time bars that fill until it is your turn, each side will decide what their warriors will do, and then they will do it. When a person goes in determined by what their speed is. Strategy evolves around your ability to guess what you enemy will do and counter it. Boss battles are some of the most inspiring and fun things you will partake in.

But not all is flowers in the Skies of Arcadia. Much like FF, you will often be ambushed by random enemies. The difference here is how often it happens. Throughout the game you are expected to find or discover your next area of importance. Well this is rather hard when ever fifth step of tenth seconds you have to fend off hordes of enemies. I personally tired every way possible to avoid those all-to-common attacks but to no avail. There is a actual dis-insentive to explore because you don't want to spend hours fighting your way in, possibly finding some weapon or goody, and then spending more time getting back out so you can continue on your way. And there is no relief from this tedium. Only towns are safe for you to explore freely. Now I understand why this is in the game but COME ON! I don't want to have to fight an army everytime I go into some cave. This feature needed to be spread out a little.

Also of annoyance is the lack of dialouge. Everything is writte with the exception of a few simple and comically dsiplaced sound-bytes. In the end, I think I should have been happy for just those but a bit more actual taliking and a bit less eye-wearying reading would have been nice.

So in conclusion, this is a must have for your average DC owner (although we are a dying breed). But if you have a short fuse, might want to look elsewhere because I am a patient and mellow tempered person and I nearly gouged my eyes out from the almost constant combat.

What could've saved Dreamcast had it came out sooner

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Great game. Decent challenge, excellent storyline. very good battle system that is easy to use. Airship battles were excellent, but could've been a bit harder in the later parts of the game. Overall, excellent buy for any RPGer.

One of the best games of the year!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: December 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Skies of Arcadia is one of the best games I have played all year and I own a PSXone and a Dreamcast and a PC. This is a true console rpg in every way and is influenced by many other rpgs to create a unique experience. Unique? Yes, you get an airship from the start and the map is a series of floating islands with seperate cultures and architecture and music. The characters have very memorable design and the airships are spectacular. My fav part of the game is the airship battles which can be long but are way interesting to watch. The graphics are superb although not near the calibur as say Resident Evil: Code Veronica or Shenmue, this is anime meets polygons and it is very well done. The voices aren't bad at all since they are kept to a minimum to be used as battle cries and emotion indicators. The game truly is a good buy for a Christmas present if your a parent, it is good for 13+ ages I would suspect with some language and character interaction that only mature users will pick up on. The story is very good and original unlike Grandia 2. The battle system is very simple and the enemy random encounters can be a bit too often but your levels will increase quickly. I have spent 30 hours on it so far and I am on Disc 2/2. The game may be quicker to beat but I generally take my time and look around etc. to get the most out of my purchase. GET THIS GAME and prepare for the sequel which is already in development. Yes, it is in development as of IGN news.

An excellent game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First of all, I'd like to say how sick I am of people who give a game 5 stars, but then mention flaws in thier reviews. (If it has flaws worth mentioning, it's not quite worth five stars. ^_^ )

Having said that, I would have loved to have given Skies 5 stars, (And I would have given it 4 1/2 stars, if I had the option to do so.) but I did have one major gripe with it. When flying an airship, there are *WAY* too many random encounters. There were times when literally three seconds after I won a fight, another one started. It discourages a player from seeking out many of the harder-to-find Discoveries. Luckily, on the second disc, you gain the ability to fly above or below the level of the atmosphere monsters can survive at. Also, random encounters didn't seem to happen as often while on foot.

Having gotten that out of the way, I love the game. Airship Battles are probably the most original feature I've seen in an RPG in years. Battles have a nice balance in difficulty. (Not easy at all, but you won't be swearing at your TV at how the computer cheats, either. ^_^) The story is nothing revolutionary, but it's very nice, and there are some very original parts to it.

All-in-all, Skies of Arcadia is a very solid purchase, and I feel it's the best Dreamcast title of 2000. Buy it! Buy it NOW!

Check it out...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game isn't quite perfect but it's almost there. The game starts off with a girl trying to escape from the Imperial Armada(the bad guys). Well, she gets caught but it just so happens that an Air Pirate ship happens to be nearby ready to rid take over this ship and take all it's valuables. That's where our main character and hero, Vyse, comes along. Accompanied by his friend Aika, Vyse goes after bad guy on this ship who has this mysterious girl that they were chasing earlier. Vyse eventually catches up with the bad guy, (Don't quite remember his name) the bad guy sicks his little pet on Vyse and Aika and bails the ship like a coward. That's where the story pretty much starts. The beginning a little dull but this is where it get's better. The battle mode is nothing original but there are a few quite nice innovations like spirit points which allows you the character to pull of special moves. There still are MP (Magic Points) but they aren't used as frequently. The animation of certain special moves and magic are quite appealing and I must say that they did an excellent job with the characters facial expressions. The overall scenery in different areas are remarkable. It looks like the folks over at Sega put in a little overtime working on the designs and animation for this game. The overall story is quite original believe it or not with a few influences from movies and such. The characters are likeable and do not get annoying. *cough cough Squall cough cough* As a long time lover of the Final Fantasy series I must say that this game is quite refreshing after having to play Final Fantasy 8 and 9. All in all, I recommend this game even if you like RPG's just a tad. By the way, the reason I gave this game only 4 stars is that random battles are a little TOO random. But, it's just minor when you realize how great this game really is. Buy and enjoy!

This is a cool game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: November 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

It has taken awhile for the good old rpg style. But now there is a good one. This game is just plain fun and full of all the stuff that makes these games addictive.

You start as a lowly air pirate and go in search of fame, fortune and saving damsels in distress.

The graphics although not amazing are not bad and do add a certain flavor to the game.

My only complaint is as usual a major lack of speech. When are they going to release these games with speech.

Otherwise this game is excellent and a hell of alot of fun.

Much better than Grandia 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is second only to Phantasy Star Online in my book. Original ideas and a solid story provide for hours of entertainment. Arcadia keeps you in front of the screen by keeping you wondering what is around the next corner or over the next cloud. A pleasant surprise. I played through this one first because I expected Grandia 2 to be much better. It turned out just the opposite. The random battles can get tiring.

Beyond The Skies

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: August 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Since the launch of the Dreamcast, I've been longing for some kind of game which can occupy me for a long time to come...games such as Crazy Taxi, WWF Royal Rumble, NFL 2001...they are all great games especially when your used to playing the Playstation...playing games in enhanced graphics (from 32 to 128 bit) really does prove to enhance your need to keep on playing. Phantasy Star Online was my first RPG that I loved the most (See Phantasy Star Online Review I made) but after well over 200 hours of play, I've ran sick of it now...Skies Of Arcadia is the next purchase I've made and I did not know anything about this game apart from judging from the back of the cover, I made a good choice I believe :)

Although the game does not possess any online gaming functions, you can however go on the internet via Dreamcast and download add-ons for the game to enhance your gaming pleasures although I've yet to venture that far but I will do so in the near future.

Graphics Game is set in a fictional world where boat like ships are capable of flying and the scene from different cultures of the world seem to be from different time zones...whether it's Islands full of rain forests, medieval castles to the buildings of the stereotypical far east buildings...all captured of course in a splendid 3D rendered display which is exquisite to look at. Whether your looking at the special abilities of your character to the falling waterfalls of the scenery, all look realistic and runs smoothly.

Game play Skies Of Arcadia is played in a third person view (Like Diablo on the PC or Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast). This is how you would tend to explore in the realms of Arcadia but fighting in the world involves a different kind of interaction. The screen from wither the world map, palace or cave (depending where you are) performs a transition effect and goes into the fight which you look upon your characters as you control them with a series of commands (Like any Japanese style RPG i.e. Final Fantasy).

Lasting Appeal I do find that this game does sort of attach itself onto the person who is playing it. People who prefer playing RPG's rather than any other platform of game would definitely play this game for a long time and lose sleep over it since it has a wide variety of quests and gamers would like to venture further into the game as quickly as possible.

Side Quest: This section is made because I believe it is relevant to all those who strive to become nothing but `Perfection' within the game. Playing the game you would no doubt want to become the best that you can possibly be and the game itself lures you into doing that but if gamers wish to just go straight through the game then that's their own choice. I believe that people would want to go on search for the `Perfect Crew' as you later go on a recruiting mission and would like to recruit every single person in the game.

Cons Memory Card: Most people have already got a memory card but the game is so good, you may want to explore the game further with the side quest called `Pinto'. This feature allows you to go on search with the VMU and find any extra items within the mini game for the VMU. Although it sounds like a good feature for the game, it has a bad side to it that in order to play it, you must however have a blank VMU with nothing else on it. I found myself buying an extra memory card not for this particular purpose but just for the future of games I intend to purchase for this platform. Although not necessary, a memory card would be a nice thing to purchase if you have the spare cash for it.

Vast Sceneries: I believe that the game at certain points are too large and prove to be pointless. For those who have yet to purchase this then you will encounter cities that prove to be a puzzle in themselves just to find a particular building. Unless your smarter than me (Which is almost 100% definite) then you won't have this problem. I believe that it takes too long to climb ladders in the game...I do not complain about the characters climbing speed but the length of most ladders as most are large.

Conclusion With aid of a great story line to go through, the game is very addictive (After Phantasy Star Online), if you love a typical Japanese Style RPG then you'll no doubt love this game. The game comes in two CD's and it took me over 30 hours to get through the first one and I'm now onto the second one. If you only buy selective games then I hands down recommend that you purchase this game. I'm sure you can remedy the `Vast Sceneries' con with some music in the background or flicking to another channel as you hold the button down...hee hee.

Cheers for reading my review.

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