Gaming Skies of Arcadia Legends

[Shinmaru]

There was an old thread about the game, but it was in the Video Game Archives, so I just decided to make a new thread about it, since I've been really getting into the game lately.

Anyway, I never had the opportunity to play the original game on the Dreamcast because, well, I had never owned a Dreamcast lol. I had heard many great things about the game, though, and really looked forward to its release on the GameCube as Skies of Arcadia: Legends a few months ago (okay, it was more than a few months lol). I bought the game about six months ago and played up until [spoiler]Pyrnn Temple, where I proceeded to get my *** kicked by the Red Gigas[/spoiler] and abandoned the game for a while. Yes, that is an extremely silly reason to abandon such an awesome game.

However, a couple weeks ago, I was feeling extremely bored and decided to take up the game again. Lo and behold, I showed that [spoiler]Red Gigas bastard[/spoiler] what was what and proclaimed my victory over the land. I've been hooked into the game ever since.

What was pointed out extremely well in the other thread (and whenever I talk to Tony about it lol) is that Skies of Arcadia was, and still is, a well needed breath of fresh air in the realm of RPGs. The story, which is actually very good, maintains a light-hearted sense of pure exploration and includes a rich and likable cast of characters. The game's story pulls off both serious moments and humorous moments with ease. There have been several moments in the game so far that have genuinely made me laugh. That's pretty rare in gaming, heh.

The gameplay is more than up to snuff, too. Most of the puzzles are admittedly a bit simple, but the boss fights are fun, the world is genuinely fun to explore and the game gives you several reasons to keep playing the game; this isn't a short game by any means (hell, my quest is approaching the thirty hour mark and I [i]know[/i] that I'm nowhere near done with the game - I'm fully expecting that my game will approach thirty-five to fourty hours by the time I'm finished and I haven't done very many of the extra quests, outside of the bounties).

If you haven't figured it out by now, this game is highly, highly recommended, [i]especially[/i] if you're a fan of RPGs. Skies of Arcadia: Legends is the best RPG on the GameCube by leaps and bounds and I wouldn't hesitate to call it one of the best RPGs I've ever had the opportunity to play...by the time I'm finished with it, I might even be calling it [i]the[/i] best RPG I've ever played.

[Xeryus Weapon]

The original on the Dreamcast was just plain old [I]Skies of Arcadia[/I], and the [I]Legends[/I] signifies that improvements have been made to the port. I was a big fan of the Dreamcast version as I had finished the game several times, but unfortunately never had the chance to play Legends.

I was always thought that Skies of Arcadia bared some sort of resemblance to the Wind Waker or Crystal Chronicles, as it tends to have that cartoony style to it, though the game is very serious at hand. New additions to Legends include new wanted battles, ultimate weapons, side quests.

One thing I am interested in seeing in Legends is the new battle system which I read about. Apparently it's made to be less frustrating than the original, with less random encounters, and receiving more experience points for each fight (practically making up for the less battles, lol). The battles them selves are now faster, which I think is great, as I'm a very impatient person.

If anything, I'd say that Legends is more or less a Director's Cut of the Dreamcast release, and makes a great change if you're fed up of the old Final Fantasy series, lol.

[Ben Holiday]

Well after talking about it since '02 I finally broke down picked a GC and a copy of Legends up. Now I just have to wait to get some time to try it out and see how it compares to my lovely memorries of the original DC version (crosses fingers). :D

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]You know, I'd been considering going and digging up this thread ever since I got Skies of Arcadia Legends a while ago, but I never got around to it. And now it looks like someone else did it for me -- procrastination wins again!

I picked up Skies of Arcadia Legends back in ... August, I think it was, and have since beaten it. I had also been thinking about getting it ever since its release on the GCN but I just never got around to it until recently, though I'm really glad I finally did. Never owning a Dreamcast, I hadn't gotten to play the original before, so Legends was an entirely new experience for me and it turned out to be the most fun I've had with an RPG since FF Tactics Advance.

Something I really liked about the game was the overall atmosphere that it had. Sure, it got pretty serious at times, but just the attitudes of the characters kept that heavy feeling from getting overwhelming. Heck, pretty much no matter what's going on, Vyse is leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the table whenever they're all sitting around in the operations room planning what to do next. The game has a pretty upbeat and layed back air about it, as well as being humorous at times, which I really enjoyed.[/color]

[S9per]

I really enjoyed this game.

For those of you that really liked the DC version, the GC version is totally up your alley. It's the same great game (down to the basics), with added in (funny) moments, added in side-story-ish thing, and best of all, added in side quests, discoveries, and Bounties! Basically think of the bounties as extra hard and fun boss battles. Extremely fun game.

It's quite generic as far as battle mechanics go, but the game is lots of fun. The story is pretty generic also, but it really shines in the characters. The characters, albeit cliche are quite fun and interesting to watch.

The only thing that disappoints me is that I heard about some sort of sequel coming out for, Cell phones...
Yeah...
So basically they decided to flush that popular and good-sequel potential game, straight down the toilet where no one will ever play it...

[Semjaza]

I liked the DC version, but many annoyances kept me from completing it. So little XP and Gold for battles, too many random encounters, annoyingly long load times, long save times, etc etc.

The GameCube version fixes all of those issues and adds a few more things that I think really help complete it. My only complaints are that the music sounds a bit lower quality, it's not progressive scan (I have a HDTV in my room) and some of the textures don't seem quite as crisp. It also suffers from the same distance blurring the DC version had, which I thought would be fixed. It wasn't.

The story is that standard "group of kids save the world" thing, so yeah, it is cliche... but as mentioned I loved the characters. They were lighthearted, yet determined. While they could be described as "two-dimensional", I really didn't mind it at all. It's such a nice alternative to the characters of today, where any three-dimensional character traits they have can really just be summed up as "angsty" or "melancholy".

Good game. The ending sequences are amongst some of the best times I've had with a RPG.