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Skies of Arcadia Trademark Renewed. Sega's next HD release?

Panzer Dragoon Saga-style ship battles.

This wouldn't be an improvement, in my opinion. I would like to see an evolution of the currently existing system. Panzer Dragoon Saga's combat makes sense considering what you're flying: a dragon, which is a lot more agile than a giant-ass ship. It's sort of like the misguided criticism with EVE Online. Many people want controls that are found in most space combat games, but it just doesn't make sense to have controls like that when you don't even fly anything as small as a fighter. Most of the ships you fly in EVE are massive.
 
What are the chances that Sega will actually do a decent job on this? They've not ported any GameCube games to date :S

Dreamcast has better music anyway, although we'll likely miss out on Pinta's Quest.
 

ryushe

Member
I'd rebuy this purely on the fact that SoA has one of, if not the best battle music in RPG existence.

It even made the high encounter rate tolerable.
 

Culex

Banned
I think we are all being way too optimistic here. Why assume it's HD? I think we'll get a bare-bones port of the DC version, with DLC added later.

Standard version! No frills. 5 dollars.

HD upgrade! Breathtaking graphics! 5 dollars.

Pintas Quest! Travelling companion! 5 dollars.

Legends content! Side quests! 5 dollars.
 

Tizoc

Member
What are the chances that Sega will actually do a decent job on this? They've not ported any GameCube games to date :S

Dreamcast has better music anyway, although we'll likely miss out on Pinta's Quest.

They've done a good job with Daytona USA and Jet Set Radio 1 is looking promising, they've upped the performance of their ports recently so I say they may do a good job with the porting for this.

Any major differences between the DC and GC versions of Skies of Arcadia?
 

Sydle

Member
This is going to be the third time I buy and play through this game. I hope they port Legends, but I'm down either way.
 

Penguin

Member
What are the chances that Sega will actually do a decent job on this? They've not ported any GameCube games to date :S

Dreamcast has better music anyway, although we'll likely miss out on Pinta's Quest.
Maybe the rumors of GameCube games being added to the eSHop for Wii U will make it easy for them since I imagine Nintendo's console would do some of the work.

They've done a good job with Daytona USA and Jet Set Radio 1 is looking promising, they've upped the performance of their ports recently so I say they may do a good job with the porting for this.

Any major differences between the DC and GC versions of Skies of Arcadia?

They cut down on the number of random encounters
Add a pretty cool sidequest with a rival for Vyse

I believe there are some other changes, but main two that stick out to me.. also something with Fina's pet since the GCN has no VMU.
 

Crub

Member
I have yet to play the game and the talk about frequent random encounters and slow battles makes me less interested in doing so. Hopefully they do some adjustments in the HD version to make the game shorter and more enjoyable.
 

Mupod

Member
Glorious textures.

Skies was one of the best looking games with the VGA box, if not THE best for this reason. I remember SA2 being up there as well.

Why is literally every post here about a potential HD re-release? Have we completely given up on a new Skies of Arcadia game? I mean all we know is that Sega has renewed their SoA trademark, correct? Maybe I'm missing something.

Well personally, I don't have much confidence that modern Sega could make a sequel that'd live up to the original even if they had the will and resources to do so right now. So I'll keep my expectations reasonable.
 
Any major differences between the DC and GC versions of Skies of Arcadia?

To sum up partly what others have said in one post:

  • Random battle rate reduced
  • 24 more Discoveries
  • Wanted list and Bounty Hunter fights
  • Moonfish collecting sidequest and Angel of Death fights/storyline
  • Extra weapon and secret boss fight
  • Shittier music quality and no Pinta's Quest VMU thing
 

GCX

Member
I have yet to play the game and the talk about frequent random encounters and slow battles makes me less interested in doing so. Hopefully they do some adjustments in the HD version to make the game shorter and more enjoyable.
The slow battle system complaint is mostly about the ship battles which consist less than 5% of the overall number of battles in the game.

The actual battle system is pretty fast and mostly standard JRPG stuff.
 

Aeana

Member
The slow battle system complaint is mostly about the ship battles which consist less than 5% of the overall number of battles in the game.

The actual battle system is pretty fast and mostly standard JRPG stuff.
The slow battle complaint is most certainly about regular fights, which is why people ended up resorting to spamming lambda burst over and over to make them go faster.
 
The slow battle complaint is most certainly about regular fights, which is why people ended up resorting to spamming lambda burst over and over to make them go faster.

Plus, there's the different moon colors, which could make your attacks weaker or stronger depending on which enemies you attacked. I definitely spammed special moves a lot. It was fun summoning up a massive moon attack or pirate attack though.
 

Mr Nash

square pies = communism
Works for me. Here's to hoping Sega Rally 2 or F355 Challenge get an HD remake somewhere down the line!
 
I somehow doubt that a trademark renewal is a sign of an impending HD release even given the recent rumors... *hype self-defense mechanisms activated*
If it does happen though I'll be more than happy!! Especially if it's the GameCube version.

Looking forward to hearing the battle theme again.
 

McNum

Member
Bust out a Platinum Trophy for extra confirmation of my purchase.

(Haven't played the game before but love me some jRPGs)
A Platinum Trophy for Skies of Arcadia... That's a horrifying thought. Are you sure you know what you're getting into?

I mean the following are all very likely ideas for Gold trophies, and they're all crazy. Spoilered, just in case:
  • Locate every Discovery
  • Defeat the secret Air Pirate boss
  • Acquire all weapons, including the Volrik Blade and all forms of Chupil
  • Learn all S. Moves
  • Earn the title of "Vyse the Legend"
Some of that list are missable if you don't know where to look. The title one requires you to find 90-ish% of all treasure chests in the game and pick the right choice in a lot of multiple choice dialogues.

Have fun!
 

Videoneon

Member
Shit! I ordered the Gamecube version this summer and beat the game two to three weeks ago! Oh well, I'd probably buy this game to show support for the series and Sega's current movies, I'm not out much money anyway.

A Platinum Trophy for Skies of Arcadia... That's a horrifying thought. Are you sure you know what you're getting into?

I mean the following are all very likely ideas for Gold trophies, and they're all crazy. Spoilered, just in case:
  • Locate every Discovery
  • Defeat the secret Air Pirate boss
  • Acquire all weapons, including the Volrik Blade and all forms of Chupil
  • Learn all S. Moves
  • Earn the title of "Vyse the Legend"
Some of that list are missable if you don't know where to look. The title one requires you to find 90-ish% of all treasure chests in the game and pick the right choice in a lot of multiple choice dialogues.

Have fun!

I don't know specifically about the trophy system for PSN but yeah, shouldn't be that difficult to come up with achievements/what not. For the
Cupil forms
, I thought it was impossible to get -all- of them, or do you just mean getting all of the
chams? And we don't really need to spoiler this, right?

But yeah, Discoveries can be tiresome especially depending on the encounter rate, which I thought skyrocketed in the South Ocean area where the twisters are.
 

Shahed

Member
A Platinum Trophy for Skies of Arcadia... That's a horrifying thought. Are you sure you know what you're getting into?

I mean the following are all very likely ideas for Gold trophies, and they're all crazy. Spoilered, just in case:
  • Locate every Discovery
  • Defeat the secret Air Pirate boss
  • Acquire all weapons, including the Volrik Blade and all forms of Chupil
  • Learn all S. Moves
  • Earn the title of "Vyse the Legend"
Some of that list are missable if you don't know where to look. The title one requires you to find 90-ish% of all treasure chests in the game and pick the right choice in a lot of multiple choice dialogues.

Have fun!

Hah! I did all that on both the Dreamcast and the GameCube. It'll be a cakewalk :p

Those Flutterflies will kill me though. As will those stupid Valuan Ruins
 

McNum

Member
Shit! I ordered the Gamecube version this summer and beat the game two to three weeks ago! Oh well, I'd probably buy this game to show support for the series and Sega's current movies, I'm not out much money anyway.



I don't know specifically about the trophy system for PSN but yeah, shouldn't be that difficult to come up with achievements/what not. For the
Cupil forms
, I thought it was impossible to get -all- of them, or do you just mean getting all of the
chams? And we don't really need to spoiler this, right?

But yeah, Discoveries can be tiresome especially depending on the encounter rate, which I thought skyrocketed in the South Ocean area where the twisters are.
I'm spoilering because if this turns out to true, Skies is now an upcoming release.

I think you can make
Chupil regurgitate the chams, turning it back into its base form.
Otherwise, hey, multiple playthroughs!

A
Vyse the Legend
trophy is all but inevitable, I think. It's a good gold candidate, at least.
 

Aeana

Member
A Platinum Trophy for Skies of Arcadia... That's a horrifying thought. Are you sure you know what you're getting into?

I mean the following are all very likely ideas for Gold trophies, and they're all crazy. Spoilered, just in case:
  • Locate every Discovery
  • Defeat the secret Air Pirate boss
  • Acquire all weapons, including the Volrik Blade and all forms of Chupil
  • Learn all S. Moves
  • Earn the title of "Vyse the Legend"
Some of that list are missable if you don't know where to look. The title one requires you to find 90-ish% of all treasure chests in the game and pick the right choice in a lot of multiple choice dialogues.

Have fun!
Now add the stupid ones, like get everybody to max level, carry the maximum amount of gold, beat 1000 battles consecutively without taking any damage, travel eleventy billion miles, max out the game clock, etc.

It's going to have at least some of these. For some reason.
 

McNum

Member
Now add the stupid ones, like get everybody to max level, carry the maximum amount of gold, beat 1000 battles consecutively without taking any damage, travel eleventy billion miles, max out the game clock, etc.

It's going to have at least some of these. For some reason.
Oh, it has the stupid one already there. To get the final Discovery, you have to unlock the Three Secrets. And you don't get those unless you do everything just right. It's like the iPod Music trophy of MGS4. It looks innocent enough, but... it's evil.
 

Aeana

Member
Oh, it has the stupid one already there. To get the final Discovery, you have to unlock the Three Secrets. And you don't get those unless you do everything just right. It's like the iPod Music trophy of MGS4. It looks innocent enough, but... it's evil.
Getting all discoveries isn't stupid, because it's a challenge that exists within the game already. It's perfectly natural for there to be an achievement for that. But making achievements for stupid busywork with no real in-game benefit, like maxing out the game clock or getting maximum money or other stupid things, has always rubbed me the wrong way.
 

Videoneon

Member
I'm spoilering because if this turns out to true, Skies is now an upcoming release.

I think you can make
Chupil regurgitate the chams, turning it back into its base form.
Otherwise, hey, multiple playthroughs!

A
Vyse the Legend
trophy is all but inevitable, I think. It's a good gold candidate, at least.

I understand what you mean about Skies being an upcoming release, but I'm just talking about whether or not
the Cupil evolution mechanic needs to be spoilered. Doesn't particularly affect the story to know how Fina's weapon works, and it's pretty obvious that Fina joins as a party member. Is it because it would be a trophy? If that's the policy here though, you'll have to excuse me. And yeah, if you find a Chom (of which there are maybe six or so throughout the natural progression of the game) Cupil will throw up your Chams and Abirik Chams.

edit: this discussion isn't that serious, in hindsight.

Some awesome music:

(Beware of spoilers, especially in comments sections, and if you see yourself playing this game you'll want to hold off on viewing these)

Armada Battle

Sailor's Island

Boss Battle

Ice Dungeon

Final Dungeon

edit: Fucking Loopers
 
Getting all discoveries isn't stupid, because it's a challenge that exists within the game already. It's perfectly natural for there to be an achievement for that. But making achievements for stupid busywork with no real in-game benefit, like maxing out the game clock or getting maximum money or other stupid things, has always rubbed me the wrong way.
That's pretty much how I feel. But then again, my bet is that you couldn't care less about achievements, Aeana.
 

Shahed

Member
Getting all discoveries isn't stupid, because it's a challenge that exists within the game already. It's perfectly natural for there to be an achievement for that. But making achievements for stupid busywork with no real in-game benefit, like maxing out the game clock or getting maximum money or other stupid things, has always rubbed me the wrong way.

Precisely. Getting all the discoveries is an in game sidequest that's meaningful. Arbitrary requirements that a lot of trophies have are just pointless ane a waste of time.

Watch one of them be kill 1000 of those coloured enemies that have an insane dodge rate. Lupo's?
 

Aeana

Member
That's pretty much how I feel. But then again, my bet is that you couldn't care less about achievements, Aeana.
I don't, but the reason I don't is because too many games include stupid ones like what I mentioned. My first ever game on one of the HD consoles, Blue Dragon, didn't give me an achievement for collecting every Nothing in the game, and ever since then, I've been totally unmotivated by them. The idea of achievements was appealing to me - some sort of permanent record of doing everything there is to be done in a game, but they didn't turn out like I'd hoped.
 
I don't, but the reason I don't is because too many games include stupid ones like what I mentioned. My first ever game on one of the HD consoles, Blue Dragon, didn't give me an achievement for collecting every Nothing in the game, and ever since then, I've been totally unmotivated by them. The idea of achievements was appealing to me - some sort of permanent record of doing everything there is to be done in a game, but they didn't turn out like I'd hoped.
My thought is that, if it's really worth doing in the game, there should already be something within the game that makes it worth doing. An extra cutscene, a piece of equipment, an ability, or even just the wonderful challenge that comes along with it. Achievements are a sloppy way of making people do extra stuff in your game. It's understandable as a cataloguing item, though, I agree. As a kid, I remember finishing optional final bosses in Final Fantasy games and thinking "I wish I could brag to my friends...but none of them play RPGS...". It's neat to have a record of what you've gone through, but that doesn't seem to be the goal.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
I love this game to pieces but I'm so fuckin tired of these HD remakes. Give us new shit! I know we don't know what it is yet but I highly doubt it's a new adventure.
 
I love this game to pieces but I'm so fuckin tired of these HD remakes. Give us new shit! I know we don't know what it is yet but I highly doubt it's a new adventure.
HD remakes cost very little compared to a new game, and also involve smaller teams. It's a nice way for people who missed the game the first time to have another shot at it. The teams who work on the HD remake stuff don't develop full games, likely. At least, not the kind you want. So it's not so much of an either-or situation.
 

McNum

Member
Precisely. Getting all the discoveries is an in game sidequest that's meaningful. Arbitrary requirements that a lot of trophies have are just pointless ane a waste of time.

Watch one of them be kill 1000 of those coloured enemies that have an insane dodge rate. Lupo's?
Loopers. Just have Vyse cast Skull Shield. Counter attacks don't miss. Aika should spam Delta Shield to nullify their magic. They can either be ineffective, die, or run away on their turn. Counter the latter by equipping a Black Map. The other two party members can do whatever. Save up for a Captain move if the Loopers don't suicide fast enough. I farmed those things because they died so easily...

As for a silly one, have Vyse do Cutlass Fury 1000 times. Why? Because of a throwaway line from Aika if you pick the wrong dialogue choice early in the game.
 

Grisby

Member
Bought. So hard.

This game was just fun. The story for the most part was light-hearted and the setting was awesome.

The towns were a bit small but I had fun roving about them. Probably my favorite dreamcast game.
 
I'm spoilering because if this turns out to true, Skies is now an upcoming release.

I think you can make
Chupil regurgitate the chams, turning it back into its base form.
Otherwise, hey, multiple playthroughs!

A
Vyse the Legend
trophy is all but inevitable, I think. It's a good gold candidate, at least.

Indeed vyse the legend is inevitable and i should say a necessity

80% of discoveries should be ok , too , otherwise it will be faq time.

Loopers. Just have Vyse cast Skull Shield. Counter attacks don't miss. Aika should spam Delta Shield to nullify their magic. They can either be ineffective, die, or run away on their turn. Counter the latter by equipping a Black Map. The other two party members can do whatever. Save up for a Captain move if the Loopers don't suicide fast enough. I farmed those things because they died so easily...

As for a silly one, have Vyse do Cutlass Fury 1000 times. Why? Because of a throwaway line from Aika if you pick the wrong dialogue choice early in the game.

those ennemies always annoyed me ... glad to know there are solution to EX TER MINATE them that i didn't know
 

McNum

Member
those ennemies always annoyed me ... glad to know there are solution to EX TER MINATE them that i didn't know
People underestimate Skull Shield, I think. Between that, Delta Shield and Justice Shield, you can out-turtle pretty much any foe if you need to. Yes, you're still weak to non-magic status attacks, but note that Fina didn't have her turn there.

It is amusing, though, when you set that one up as Fina ends up being the offense of the team.
 

Videoneon

Member
Once you have Pirates' Wrath, and I suppose Justice Shield, the game is much easier. Auras of Valor are just icing on the cake, though I don't think you can do Prophecy more than once per battle. By that point, you build up Spirit quickly too, so managing your shields shouldn't be too big a problem.

Delta Shield makes certain battles much easier, too, just not all of them. Skull Shield is definitely the way to go for random Looper encounters if you don't feel like just hoping for the best with your physical attacks. Though I wonder if your characters' Hit rate even approach influencing the outcome of hitting a Looper.
 

Shahed

Member
Loopers. Just have Vyse cast Skull Shield. Counter attacks don't miss. Aika should spam Delta Shield to nullify their magic. They can either be ineffective, die, or run away on their turn. Counter the latter by equipping a Black Map. The other two party members can do whatever. Save up for a Captain move if the Loopers don't suicide fast enough. I farmed those things because they died so easily...

As for a silly one, have Vyse do Cutlass Fury 1000 times. Why? Because of a throwaway line from Aika if you pick the wrong dialogue choice early in the game.

Ou it wouldn't be that hard. Equip Black Map and go to the Looper Nest. By the end of the game you should start with 12sp so you cN use Aika's move that she learns after Lambda Burst, or stick with that if you don't have enough. It should kill most of the Loopers except the stronger colours and maybe red. But eventually you'll start with 14 and Rain of Swords will end it in one hit

It would just be an utterly annoying and pointless grind
 
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