100%Nintendo GameCube

Phenomenal game. Great music, great combat, great exploration, engaging story. And it looks gorgeous too.

80%Nintendo GameCube

This would be one of my favorite rpgs of all time. Only ONE notable issue that unfortunately hinders it in sections quite a lot.

That would be the random encounters. And they are even LOWERED from the original version.

Still very much worth playing for fans of the genre, but new entrants? I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe Bravely Default instead.

100%Nintendo GameCube

Un gotardo que todo amante de los JRPG no pueden dejar pasar, merece más amor y cariño, juego redondito tanto en historia como en jugabilidad teniendo una trama atrapante y un desarrollo de personajes bien logrado. Es un juego gigante en contenido que sorprendió para el año en el que salió y que a pesar del tiempo sigue siendo igual de disfrutable.

90%Nintendo GameCube

Great

90%Nintendo GameCube

Some of the coolest locales and temples in any rpg Ihave played. The speed of battles hasn’t aged all that well but otherwise a fantastic game.

70%Nintendo GameCube

Game does have a great sense of adventure. The dungeons are pretty unique and cool even if they don't make sense. This game would be unbearable without the No-Enc mod.

100%Nintendo GameCube

Much better of dreamcast version

60%Emulated

I liked the atmosphere, the music, the characters and all the environments and characters looked really nice. My big problem with skies of arcadia is the gameplay.

Though, the gameplay itself isn't that bad, the games battles are subject to long, drawn out slow animations for every attack. For tense boss fights, long attack animations can draw out tension and make you wonder and second guess how much damage you or the boss will deal so I suppose it can get a pass there but for common enemy encounters against enemies that are never a threat (the game isn't difficult which in and of itself isn't to its detriment), the slow pace of fights is a killer. Skies of arcadia includes frequent segments where you backtrack over previously trodden skies full of easy enemies for low risk low reward fights and when they are drawn out it feels lethargic. Even in new areas, the tried and true strategy of having physical characters attack and magic characters use fire magic will get you through the vast majority of fights. Credit where credit is true, some of the harder random encounters promote other strategies like buffing that would usually be reserved for bosses, which I liked.

Random fights being dull is a minor complaint when compared to the ship battles though. If you are playing on an emulator, acceleration functions are a must because ship battles are incredibly slow. Animations here take even longer and fights are full of little pauses and buffers between attacks that add up to drag down the pace of encounters. Enemies have a surplus of health and given players are using items, bosses hold very little threat as most damage can be fully healed immediately assuming players use the plentiful cheap resources that they are provided with. I cannot understate how slow these fights are and how simple they are. The system with the grid indicating when the enemy attacks makes it abundantly clear when to attack, guard and heal. The super move mechanic, where based on player decisions, they will have the opportunity to use a harpoon or special cannon to do massive damage on enemies is satisfying the first time but afterwards, it just feels like you're doing meagre damage and making slow progress through a fight until you are offered the opportunity by the game to do proper damage again. Ship battles are always the climactic battle of s section of skies of arcadia, so every vignette always culminates with these extremely slow fights and you just end up dreading them near the end of the game as they grow longer, without getting much harder. The last story airship fight went on for an unholy amount of time and the initial excitement of the fight wore off quickly.

I feel bad writing this because I do like skies of arcadia and I think some of the ground based fights are fun, especially the bosses. I think if they fleshed out ground combat and cut aerial combat the game would be a lot better. I think that early 3D JRPGs did not always have extensive or slow battle animations and that if skies of arcadia was just a little bit faster it would benefit tremendously

90%Nintendo GameCube

Overall great game - points take a minor dip due to very high encounter rate in dungeons and travelling on world map, and music quality compared to the DC version. Aside from that, great world and lore, great characters, great story and pacing. Felt like a big, grand adventure of exploration and discovery - one of the greats from the Golden Age of JRPG's, and for the most part meets the hype around it. Time for an HD remaster and update for new gen Sega!

80%Emulated

Really good story for the time (Dreamcast era). Death is treated well, it's important. It's not predictable and playing cycles are not repetitive. Battle system a bit confusing due to not clear colours, but manageable. Pretty easy. Solid game.

100%Nintendo GameCube

A quintessential RPG; one of the best games of all time.

It took me around 35 hours to finish, and not for a single minute of that time was I bored, or wanted to take a break, or wasn't enjoying myself. it has enough stuff in it for five games, I'm amazed they managed to fit it on a single GameCube disc.

It really captures the joy of exploration in a way that many games try but few succeed as well; even the sidequests didn't feel like padding. Discovering new stuff feels fun and the characters felt like they actually grew.
It's not exactly flawless; the random encounter rate is very high, and the battle animations drag on a bit. The ship battle animations are outright overlong. Some boss fights will literally take 40 minutes to an hour. But I didn't mind very much. Some games just have 'it' - maybe its because the battle theme doesn't suck or whatever, but even when they have this 'comes with the territory' stuff that would make other games of their time feel hugely dated, they're still enjoyable.

At every turn, it felt fresh and interesting, and made me very happy. Has that good feeling of fulfilment at the end. Amazing game, can't praise it enough. Just heckin play it and then pester Sega to release Skies of Arcadia HD on modern platforms. 10/10!

Side note, the main characters of this game - Vyse and Aika - were also in Valkyria Chronicles. When I replay that again, I'll definitely be using those two a lot since I have a new appreciation for them now.

Literally all they need to do to re-release this game is make a fast forward mode for battle animations, and add widescreen support. Everything else is perfect

90%Emulated

emulation speed 300% is the only way to experience this without dying of old age from sitting through the same battle animations over and over and over. battles system itself offers many options of strategy. which comes down to: spam Aika's Lamda Burst ---> profit.

slightly cliche plot about ancient civilizations and their ancient world destroying weapons with greedy war-hungry kingdom trying to resurrect those weapons *cough*typicalanimeHBombmetaphor*cough* we seen it in Trails in the Sky, Wild Arms, Solatorobo and countless others of this ilk. soundtrack is phenomenal. plenty of sidequest and stuff to discover on world map. memorable cutscene moments with likable cast. dungeons can be feel a bit aimless but nothing too aggravating.

bottom line: Skies of Arcadia may be one of the finest examples of its era & genre. right up in the echelon of Breath of Fire and Shadow Hearts. A must play for JRPG fans.

60%Emulated

6/10 Fun. Will not replay. Semi-forced myself to complete. Story was good/decent and characters where interesting. Unfortunately, combat and game-play felt slow, repetitive and dull.

90%Nintendo GameCube

Well worth playing, brilliant story, good fun. Only things that let it down are slightly uneven pacing and the temptation to grind makes you a bit too powerful towards the end. Really need to consult a guide to get 100% of all content as it's well hidden.

80%Nintendo GameCube

Fantastic, quaint, fun overlooked JRPG of last Gen. Fan of interesting RPG's? Get it. Play it. It's worth it.

90%Nintendo GameCube

A wonderful sense of exploration and cheery characters is offset by a slow battle system and a high encounter rate. Despite that, the excellent music, fully realized and unique world, entertaining locales, epic ship battles, and full on joie de vivre this JRPG exudes makes it a necessary play for all JRPG enthusiasts. A highly unique and fun JRPG worth tracking down from the ether of eons past.