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[Icymanipulator]

Recently watched this video:


I loved Skies of Arcadia growing up, I owned both the Dreamcast version and Skies of Arcadia Legends on GameCube.
No other rpg has come close to the sense of wonder and exploration except maybe Elden Ring, which I hate to admit, but first time through is magical.

I remember being so disappointed in Final Fantasy XII because there was all this talk about air pirates and the skies with Vaan and Balthier , but you never get even a taste of it the entire game. FF12 is still a good game and I like it, but this always bothered me. Skies of Arcadia just absolutely nailed this aspect with the varied world and the discoveries.

It’s not a perfect game, but it’s still one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve had in decades. The story is simple and straightforward and the game is this huge adventure from moment 1, well paced. The characters are unique and well designed, the ship combat is such a good inclusion and reinforces the idea of a world in the sky. The Delphinus is arguably one of the coolest airships in gaming. As a kid I always thought it was so cool that you got this ship because it was always the bad guys in games that ever got the cool designs. But in Skies, you get the most bad ass ship ever.
The airships and flying around and islands in the sky is such a great setting, always wished that final fantasy would try something like this. We need more of this kind of setting.

I’ll take anything, a remaster. A remake. A sequel with a small budget?

 

[Celcius]

It's definitely been long enough for a remake to happen. Sega get on it please!

 

[Hohenheim]

Im considering getting a copy for gamecube. Quite expensive though. And the moment i'll get it, a remastered version will be announced for sure.
Never played it, but it looks really nice.

 

[Graciaus]

This is one game that people have hardcore nostalgia for. The game has not aged well.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Im considering getting a copy for gamecube. Quite expensive though. And the moment i'll get it, a remastered version will be announced for sure.
Never played it, but it looks really nice.

If you can forgive its old school jrpg approach, the game as a whole is a magical adventure and has the best sense of exploration. If you enjoy those things the most you’ll like it for sure.

 

[IAmNotFromDelaware]

This is one game that people have hardcore nostalgia for. The game has not aged well.

It was over a decade ago that I played this game. What exactly hasn't aged well about it?

And I'm curious if a remake couldn't fix those things that didn't make it age well.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

Damn, loved this on my Dreamcast back in the day. Grandia II was also a blast! Awesome memories. As one of the apparent few that had a Dreamcast from day 1 and almost all of the big releases it was easily my favourite console ever. It had one of the best initial 2 and a bit years of games of any console. So many great games. Most of which subsequently ended up ported to the Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

It was over a decade ago that I played this game. What exactly hasn't aged well about it?

And I'm curious if a remake couldn't fix those things that didn't make it age well.

Slow, boring battle system with a high encounter rate. You even get into random battles when flying around in the airship, even when rotating in place or changing elevation IIRC

Personally I would like to see the battle system changed to action-based (something like Tales Of), but if that’s too much of a departure it at least needs a fast forward + auto-battle option

 

[March Climber]

It's in the same waiting room as the Xenosaga trilogy., Shadow Hearts Trilogy, and the many other JRPG gems of that gen that weren't Final Fantasy.

At least Baiten Kaitos' number was finally called.

 

[Vyse]

Been asking the same question for a very long time.

 

[BacklashWave534]

Slow, boring battle system with a high encounter rate. You even get into random battles when flying around in the airship, even when rotating in place or changing elevation IIRC

Personally I would like to see the battle system changed to action-based (something like Tales Of), but if that’s too much of a departure it at least needs a fast forward + auto-battle option

Yeah no thank you on the cookie cutter action based crap that every game is doing now. Fast forward i would agree with.

 

[BacklashWave534]

I put this in the never going to happen category along with the Xenosaga Trilogy. Love them both but i won't get my hopes up. Just happy to have the originals and luckily most modern emulators will upscale them a decent amount.

 

[Mr Hyde]

The sequel probably died with Rieko Kodama, may she rest in peace. But a remake would be awesome. Maybe they can rework the random encounters because the frequency was way to high in the DC game I played. You took two steps, than fight, two steps and so on. It wax a bit of a slog. Buy the rest of the game was ace. We need more games with sky pirates!

 

[Naked Lunch]

Im almost positive I read remake or HD news not too long ago. Sega did a survey or something.
I have the game on Dreamcast and Gamecube.
Pretty sure the GC version was better because they toned down the random battle encounter rates.

Sega didnt make RPGs often but when they did - they were the usually Sega blue skies wholesome comfort food quality.

 

[Gamer79]

My favorite RPG of all time. Would love a proper sequel or remake.

 

[STARSBarry]

I have my dreamcast limited box set hidden away in my parents loft, I should dig it out to put it back on display back at my house.

I know plenty of people won't believe me when I say I still love legends as dated as it is. But there is something just so timeless about the game.

Only things I would change is have the music returned to the better quality dreamcast soundtrack and have the legends content available with a single tweak.

Once you finally defeat Piastol, she should become a candidate for 4th party member. It boggled my mind that she never was, you can only fight her super late on for the final time so hardly any dialog or scenes would need to be changed for her inclusion, and the fact she was added in Legends anyway was 90% of the work, you had the voice actors available for the extra lines required for your slamming the moon into the planet ultimates etc. The entire character arc essentially suggests that she would join you... she literally super owes you at the end of it, big time, and she is set up as a kickass bounty hunter with major skills.

I would at least like a regular SEGA HD re-release on steam so people could get the chance to play it like they have done with other classic Dreamcast games.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Ya I always wanted Piastol in the group too lol

 

[Comandr]

As soon as I saw the title I knew that this thread was inspired by Majuular. Guy’s videos are consistently excellent.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Yeah no thank you on the cookie cutter action based crap that every game is doing now. Fast forward i would agree with.

Lol at calling that “cookie cutter” when SoA has some of the most basic, bland, generic “pick direct damage attacks from a menu until you win” combat. I’ll take pretty much anything over that. Any time I consider replaying, I remember the boring ass battles and say forget it.

The ship vs ship battles were pretty cool though

 

[Elysion]

The airships and flying around and islands in the sky is such a great setting, always wished that final fantasy would try something like this. We need more of this kind of setting.

Yes! That’s why I’m so excited about TotK, especially since we now know we can use flying vehicles.

My ideal game would have a skyworld that allows movement not only horizontally (like Skies of Arcadia), but also vertically, meaning you can move in all directions like a spaceship in space. The world should ideally loop back into itself, meaning if you keep moving in one direction, you eventually arrive back at the point you started, so that there’s no need for for any weird borders on the edge of the map.

 

[xellos2099alpha]

it is funny how Grandia 2 was ported everywhere but SOA only got an enchaned GC port

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Always wanted to play this one.

Shocked it hasnt been rereleased. At this point itd be a mobile remake though

 

[saintjules]

There was talk of someone who played a snippet of the remaster. So there is one in existence AFAIK.

 

[Alexios]

The sequel is called Granblue Fantasy (Relink). They replaced Fina with Lyria and the Gigas the empire is after controlling with the knowledge/magic of the aforementioned helpless girl they need with Primal Beasts. They also added more waifus but I'm fine with that too. But dat original intro...


I'd like a remaster or remake too though, the way to really improve the original would be to give it the Grandia combat system for party battles and Panzer Dragoon Saga's for ship battles, but it's fine already (and still best on Dreamcast where the draw distance in the overworld is technically worse than on GameCube where it seems slightly further away or smoother but that also makes it look like an obvious line rolling alongside you as you travel when on Dreamcast stuff fade in more gradually chunk by chunk so it's not as obvious of a sky corridor, I'd hope they remake this effect right too).

 

[BlackTron]

I have some nice memories of the airship battles, set pieces and characters (the name Gilder comes to mind even though it's been 20 years) but also bad memories of falling asleep mashing A over and over enduring countless random battles.

Just too slow-paced and grindy for me. With Grandia II and PSO there as well I just couldn't make the home stretch and didn't finish it. Never wanted to look back.

 

[Shifty1897]

This is one game that people have hardcore nostalgia for. The game has not aged well.

Disagree, I played the GameCube version for about 10 hours over Christmas and had a great time.

 

[DeVeAn]

This is one game that people have hardcore nostalgia for. The game has not aged well.

All the more reason to remaster it. Was playing on XBSX2 runs fairly well there in 4K.

 

[Gojeran]

Dude I remember when we used to play that together at your house on weekends. The Dreamcast version. When one of use was playing the other was likely playing Pinta quest on the little VMU. Getting so much extra money and moon berries. Good memories and still one of my all time favorite RPGs.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

The GameCube version was great. It was slightly enhanced over the og in a few ways I'm pretty sure. I'd take an upres of that version on modern hardware.

 

[existensmaximum]

Am I the only one who could never get into this game? I remember buying a Dreamcast together with a bunch of games and I absolutely loved Grandia 2 for example. That was my favorite RPG and game overall at the time.

But Skies of Arcadia never clicked with me, I just kept waiting for it to get good. I can't really remember why except that I hated the battle system and that the story felt really weird and poorly presented.

So after a few hours I just gave up, I've always been a little sad that I never started to even like it when everyone else loved it to bits.

 

[Alexios]

Am I the only one who could never get into this game? I remember buying a Dreamcast together with a bunch of games and I absolutely loved Grandia 2 for example. That was my favorite RPG and game overall at the time.

But Skies of Arcadia never clicked with me, I just kept waiting for it to get good. I can't really remember why except that I hated the battle system and that the story felt really weird and poorly presented.

So after a few hours I just gave up, I've always been a little sad that I never started to even like it when everyone else loved it to bits.

Story's pretty fun. Wouldn't say it's worse presented than Grandia II's which wasn't even good. Battle system is a bit simplistic on the ground and a bit Idk wtf I'm going but winning anyway so whatever with the ships. Still overall awesome. Give it another shot. I don't think many Dreamcast games have more accomplished cut scenes in direction and what not, save for some in Shenmue. Skies of Arcadia throws amazing scenes/effects like it's nothing. Grandia II is charming too but clearly nowhere near as detailed in presentation. In this style I think only Sakura Wars did better on Dreamcast.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Dude I remember when we used to play that together at your house on weekends. The Dreamcast version. When one of use was playing the other was likely playing Pinta quest on the little VMU. Getting so much extra money and moon berries. Good memories and still one of my all time favorite RPGs.

Dude!!
Nice to see you on GAF


Also ya, those were the good old days eh?
The Pinta VMU was horrible lmfao, Legends really is the superior version of the game. Also less encounters

 

[Chastten]

With Metroid Prime, Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos getting remakes/remasters pretty soon, this is one of the last reasons I'm still holding on to my GameCube.

While there are points that definitely didn't age all that well and could be improved, it's still one of my favorite RPG's ever. Few other games ever gave me that sense of exploration. The music is great (Kingdom of Ixa'taka music is fantastic) and I think this is one of the few games that changes boss music depending on how well you're doing. Half your party down? Dramatic and anxious music. Got a crit on the boss? Boom, suddenly the music changes and you know you're about to win. Something I really miss in most RPG's. For those not familiar with it, here it is. So simple, yet it improves the combat so, so much.

I've been waiting for a remake/remaster since the earliest rumors in the 360 days, but so far no luck. Who knows, maybe some day.

 

[cireza]

Play Legends with Dolphin on Series S/X or PC. That's pretty much like a remaster.

I have replayed the DC game last year, RIP Rieko Kodama. It was still a great, unique experience.

 

[Fat Frog]

Lately, almost 10 Dreamcast IPs have been released or announced like Samba Party Central, PSO2 NG,SC5VR, Cosmic Smash(Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio confirmed by Bloomberg as well).

Even Shenmue 3 got a chance, so, i guess Skies is not that far.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Lately, almost 10 Dreamcast IPs have been released or announced like Samba Party Central, PSO2 NG,SC5VR, Cosmic Smash(Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio confirmed by Bloomberg as well).

Even Shenmue 3 got a chance, so, i guess Skies is not that far.

One can hope

 

[SF Kosmo]

It's not as good as you remember. I mean maybe a remake could address a few of its shortcomings, but it really coasted a lot on the strength of its atmosphere, tone, and setting, while it had an apallingly bland and generic story, tedious, braindead combat.

I say this as a huge fan of Sega that was in love with their Dreamcast output. It just isn't that good.

 

[Black_Stride]

It's not as good as you remember. I mean maybe a remake could address a few of its shortcomings, but it really coasted a lot on the strength of its atmosphere, tone, and setting, while it had an apallingly bland and generic story, tedious, braindead combat.

I say this as a huge fan of Sega that was in love with their Dreamcast output. It just isn't that good.

Ive replayed this game almost yearly since I got my Dreamcast power slot fixed.

Its even better than I remember cuz now im older some of the references make more sense.
Soundtrack is still top tier.
Ship battles are still amazing.
My Dreamcast still telegraphs when "random" battles are going to occur.
Pinta!!!!!!!!!!!
The water puzzle still sucks ass.
The puzzles in general still suck ass.
Im still all in for Turn Based Combat, but yeah a fast forward would be nice, thats pretty much all I would ask for.
And whatever cut content to be put back in, the "treasures" always seemed to have some significance that was just never realized.

 

[BigDeadFreak]

I played the GameCube version and really enjoyed it. It felt like a more kid friendly and refined version of Panzer Dragoon Saga in a way.

The random battles were very frequent but then if you don't enjoy turn based combat you're probably playing the wrong game.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

The first JRPG I played on my own, prior to that I used to watch my brother play. Still in my top 3 JRPGs to this day. With the Baten Kaitos remaster, I think there's a good chance for a Skies of Arcadia remaster. If Baten Kaitos sells well the decision-makers might become more willing to release another Gamecube JRPG. With modern quality-of-life improvements this already great JRPG could become even better. To this day I haven't played another game wehre I get that sense of exploration and discovery while flying by airship.

I got that video on my Watch Later list but haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I've always wanted to play it. At some point I would hope a remaster of the definitive GameCube version could come together. If so, I would definitely buy it, I think it would do well. I just assumed the game was in licensing/ rights limbo-hell and so no one's wanted to bother.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

The first JRPG I played on my own, prior to that I used to watch my brother play. Still in my top 3 JRPGs to this day. With the Baten Kaitos remaster, I think there's a good chance for a Skies of Arcadia remaster. If Baten Kaitos sells well the decision-makers might become more willing to release another Gamecube JRPG. With modern quality-of-life improvements this already great JRPG could become even better. To this day I haven't played another game wehre I get that sense of exploration and discovery while flying by airship.

I got that video on my Watch Later list but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I think Baten Kaitos is happening because it's Monolith, which is now fully owned by Nintendo. Some people there have probably long wanted to work on BK again, and maybe Nintendo was like "sure, go for it!". Skies is still SEGA, I think? But it's been so long, who knows. I assume it's on someone's list to remake or remaster, but could be more an issue with rights or licensing for the game, being it was so long ago.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Soundtrack is still top tier.

Yes that's true. The game looks and sounds great.

Ship battles are still amazing.

I will never understand this. The ship battles are slow and telegraph exactly what to do and when to do it, they are an interactive paint drying mini game, and I truly cannot wrap my head around how anyone gets anything resembling "fun" out of them.

Im still all in for Turn Based Combat, but yeah a fast forward would be nice, thats pretty much all I would ask for.

Or maybe fewer/more challenging battles. The amount of time staring at my characters destroying low level enemies in that game far outweighed any time spent having fun, it felt like.

And whatever cut content to be put back in, the "treasures" always seemed to have some significance that was just never realized.

 

[cireza]

Game certainly isn't perfect but it was released in 2001 and set the bar for a lot of things in ambitious 3D JRPGs. It had a huge world that you could really explore 360° with tons of things to find. The amount of full 3D content, backgrounds, enemies, cut-scenes, animations etc... it had was insane. Every single NPC has its little animation when you talk to him.

Ship battles are slow and could be improved but they were still a nice addition, although not as good as the battle system in Panzer Dragoon Saga (one of the very best).

Normal battles also tend to have you use the same strategy over and over again, which is to launch your best special attack that does area damage to take out or weaken enemies, or use Cutlass attack to finish a single enemy. And bosses are "everyone defends, buff Vyse, use his special attacks".

There is room to make things a bit more engaging, less battles and more interesting strategies. However the world, the exploration etc... is timeless. This is a game that has SEGA written all over it.

Gamecube game makes loadings and transitions much faster.

 

[Fbh]

I honestly think it's one of those franchises that a niche group of people online really like but that probably wouldn't sell that amazingly if they bring it back.
Also IMO it would really need a remake and not just a remaster. For current standards the battles are way too slow, and random encounters are shit (specially with the ridiculous high encounter rate in this game)

 

[Fat Frog]

It's not as good as you remember. I mean maybe a remake could address a few of its shortcomings, but it really coasted a lot on the strength of its atmosphere, tone, and setting, while it had an apallingly bland and generic story, tedious, braindead combat.

I say this as a huge fan of Sega that was in love with their Dreamcast output. It just isn't that good.

A remaster with less random battle would be a good start but i really wish an audacious remake with dynamic battle system a la Grandia.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Yes that's true. The game looks and sounds great.

I will never understand this. The ship battles are slow and telegraph exactly what to do and when to do it, they are an interactive paint drying mini game, and I truly cannot wrap my head around how anyone gets anything resembling "fun" out of them.


Or maybe fewer/more challenging battles. The amount of time staring at my characters destroying low level enemies in that game far outweighed any time spent having fun, it felt like.

It's definitely going to be harsh and jarring to play today vs 2003. And certainly there have been better JRPGs that have come along since way back then, but it's something I've always heard is great, and I would love to try it. Golden Sun is on my list of old JRPGs to try too, now that Octopath has reinvigorated my love for classic turn-based good 'ol fashioned JRPGs.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Hold on. Let SEGA get past their low budget phase first. I think Sonic Frontiers did well enough so we’re maybe on the verge of leaving it

 

[Crew511A]

Sega exec: "So what they're saying is we need to release more ports of Genesis games."

 

[Kurimao]

I'd rather have a complete remake of Phantasy Star & Shining Force.