Skies of Arcadia
This article describes both Skies of Arcadia and Skies of Arcadia Legends.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Skies of Arcadia and Skies of Arcadia Legends
An RPG developed for the Sega Dreamcast by Overworks (now Sega Wow), a division of Sega. Released in 2001, it was known as Eternal Arcadia in Japan. It was critically well received thanks to its stylish graphics and lighthearted setting. A swashbuckling tale of pirates, discovery and adventure was a great change from the then highly popular cyberpunk style popularized by games such as Final Fantasy VII (a similar turn was taken by the contemporaneous Final Fantasy IX, released around the same time for the Sony PlayStation). Battles could be conducted on foot, and between ships (both using a turn based system, but the latter being more strategic). One major complaint about the game was the high encounter rate of battles, which made travelling from location to location somewhat testing on the player's patience. These complaints largely stemmed from the fact that overworld travel - typically done on foot - is accomplished in Skies of Arcadia via "airship," which is traditionally a method of random encounter-free conveyance in RPGs. Later in the game, the same freedom of movement is accomplished by an advanced mechanism discovered for the Delphinus which allows her to rise above the upper cloud layer and sink below the lower cloud layer of Arcadia and fly in the monster-free skies at high and low altitudes.
This was fixed to a degree in the Gamecube version of the game, Skies of Arcadia Legends, which also added some new content and improved graphics. This was sufficiently successful that a re-release is planned for Q2 2004 in Japan, with a possible re-release in North America.
There is a planned PC re-release of Skies of Arcadia which will add even more new content.
Both Skies of Arcadia and Skies of Arcadia Legends are rated "T for Teen" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
Versions and Release Dates
Eternal Arcadia
- Eternal Arcadia (@barai version, Japan, Dreamcast): 10/05/00
- Eternal Arcadia (standard edition, Japan, Dreamcast): 10/05/00
- Eternal Arcadia (limited edition, Japan, Dreamcast): 10/05/00
Skies of Arcadia
- Skies of Arcadia (NTSC/North America, Dreamcast): 11/13/00
- Skies of Arcadia (PAL/Europe, Dreamcast): 04/27/01
Eternal Arcadia Legends
- Eternal Arcadia Legends (Japan, GameCube): 12/26/02
Skies of Arcadia Legends
- Skies of Arcadia Legends (Sega, NTSC/North America, GameCube): 1/27/03
- Skies of Arcadia Legends (Atari, PAL/Europe, GameCube): 5/23/03
Characters
The individual character pages bear spoilers. Be warned.
Main Player Characters
- Vyse: 17 year old boy, "Blue Rogue" ("good" Air Pirate). Vyse has a highly upbeat personality and a strong will to succeed. Vyse fights with twinned cutlasses. Vyse's magic is relatively weak compared to the girls, but his attacks are the second strongest in the game (after Drachma's). Voice acted by Seki Tomokazu.
- Aika: 17 year old girl. Vyse's close friend since childhood and fellow Blue Rogue. Aika has a strong personality and easily-inflamed temper. Aika fights using an oversized boomerang. Aika balances her attack strength with fairly strong magic. Voice acted by Tomoko Kawakami.
- Fina: 17 year old girl, "Silvite" (survivor of the ancient, defunct Silver Civilization). Fina is sweet-natured and demure, like many "love interest" characters in RPGs, but her sweet nature hides an iron will. Fina's "cute pet mascot," Cupil, fights for her, and she has very strong magic powers. Voice acted by Yui Horie.
Secondary Player Characters
- Drachma: A maimed man in his early 60s. Drachma has a mechanical arm replacing his right arm, which he uses as a weapon in battle sequences. His obsession with hunting the purple arcwhale Rakhnam (Mobys in the Japanese game, an homage to Moby-Dick) leads him to search the skies. Drachma is the captain of the small fishing airship, Little Jack. Voice acted by Mugihito
- Gilder: A rakishly handsome man in his early 30s. Gilder wears a pince-nez and uses twin pistols as his weapons. Gilder is the captain of the light, swift pirate vessel Claudia. Voice acted by Norio Wakamoto
- Enrique: 25 years old, Enrique is the Crown Prince of the Valuan Empire, but disagrees strongly with the imperialist policies of his mother, Empress Teodora I. The name of his father is unknown. Enrique uses rapiers as his weapon in battle. He gives to Vyse his flagship, the Delphinus, when he escapes Valua with Vyse, Aika and Fina. Voice acted by Soichiro Hoshi
Villains
The general villains of the piece are the Valuan Empire, however the main characters are specifically opposed by the six (later seven) Admirals of the Imperial Armada:
- Galcian, Lord Admiral of the Valuan Armada: Galcian is a dark, cold and calculating man. He is strongly connected to the mysterious Ramirez. His flagship is the Serpent. Voice acted by Kinryuu Akimoto
- Gregorio, Second Admiral of the Valuan Armada: Gregorio is an old man, the brother of Teodora's dead husband. He is known as the Stone Wall Admiral for his impenetrable defenses. His flagship is the Auriga. Voice acted by Takehiro Komaya.
- Draco. Voice acted by Masashi Sugahara.
- Belleza, Fourth Admiral of the Valuan Armada: Sultry and dangerous, Belleza is the head of Imperial intelligence. Her flagship is the cruiser Lynx. Voice acted by Yuri Amano
- Ramirez, Sixth Admiral of the Valuan Armada: The youngest admiral by far at the age of 24. Ramirez has a mysterious connection to Fina. His flagship is the Monoceros. Voice acted by Hikaru Midorikawa.
- Piastol, A gothic looking woman who hunts air pirates. Also known as "The Angel of Death" She is after Vyse because she thinks that he killed her father. Armed with a scythe and uses Eterni spells. Included in Skies of Arcadia: Legends as part of a side quest.
Relationships
Although romantic relationships are not a strong theme in Skies of Arcadia, nearly as much as the theme of friendship and loyalty, RPG fans look for romances in the games, and several can be explicitly or implicitly found, depending on contextual readings of the game's dialogue and scenes.
- Belleza obliquely expresses an unrequieted love for Galcian, her superior.
- Vyse and Fina act toward each other in ways that can easily be interpreted as romantic affection or desire.
- Although not as easy to interpret romantically, the relationship between Vyse and Aika shows great love and deep respect between the two characters.
- Some dialogue in the middle part of the game hints rather obliquely at the possibility of a short relationship between Aika and Fina.
- A great deal of Galcian and Ramirez's dialogue indicates the possibility of a sexual relationship between them, with Galcian as the seme and Ramirez as the uke.
- Clara has a deep crush on Gilder, although Gilder does not necessarily return that affection.
- Gilder is portrayed as a womanizing lothario who has a "girl in every port" (and a girl in every game as well - in Skies of Arcadia he wakes up from a dream about "Maria"; in Legends the woman is "Lola" - this is probably because Legends adds the minor character of a young girl named Maria).
External links and references
