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Skies of Arcadia

I tried and I tried, but I could never get into this game. It had a lot of neat ideas too, so don't know what's up with it.

I'll give the game a try on Dolphin again some day.
 
There was some interview that said it was likely up next for remaster after Jet Set Radio HD. But as it stands, Dolphin 5.0 and the 16:9 Action Replay code do a pretty good job.

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I played the game a few years ago on the Wii and i loved it, my only complaint was for the too frequent random battles. Had no idea they reduced the encounter rate of the original.
 
You used to be able to tell well in advance when you were going to get a "random battle" in the dreamcast version because you could hear the drive spin up long before the battle, lol.
 
Took me about 10 hours before I really got into this game. Too bad about the battles though... looking back, don't know how I had the patience to get through the entire game. lol
 
Someone should restore the DC music into the GC version (if possible!).

Awesome game, i clocked 80h in the original DC version.

Edit:
Krejlooc said:
You used to be able to tell well in advance when you were going to get a "random battle" in the dreamcast version because you could hear the drive spin up long before the battle, lol.
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True! Going into the menu stopped the battle!
 
Have the game on Dreamcast and Gamecube. I think everytime I play it, I lose motivation a little while in. I thought it was a great game, though.
 
SoA was the first RPG that gripped me enough to have me complete it, and imo, one of the best games on the dreamcast. Loved the world and real sense of exploration and adventure it had, and the feeling of discovering a world as the map expanded from zoomed in on your starting island, to all the way around the world!

Looking forward to the steam port reveal in November then the sequel on the NX..........(dreams)
 
Never played but I've allways wanted to.
I just didnt own a dreamcast or a gamecube.


It would he awesome if Sega would give us a remaster. I've heard some people say the only negative aspect is the super high random encounter rate and a remaster would be the perfect chance to fix that
 
[Fugo];218028512 said:
New content on GC was very good, but I repeat the game had bad dithering compared to the DC version (can the emu solve that?)
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The dreamcast dithers it's output by default. The internal framebuffer for the Dreamcast is ARGB8888 format which is converted to RGB565 on output. The Dreamcast version is literally just as dithered as any other version. There is a step in the tile accelerator's binning process specifically to dither the output. This is a dedicated function of the PVR2 core.

You can output straight from the framebuffer in dolphin to avoid the dithering in the conversion process, yes.
 
Fbh said:
I've heard some people say the only negative aspect is the super high random encounter rate and a remaster would be the perfect chance to fix that
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The boring battle system doesn't help, but reducing the encounter rate would help a lot (although you would need to rebalance the game)
 
had it on DC, one of the few rgps I sacked off due to random battles becoming tedious - never had that before or since and a mate told me recently if I'd stuck with it I could have found an item to lessen them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ weird OP too :D
 
Koren said:
The boring battle system doesn't help, but reducing the encounter rate would help a lot (although you would need to rebalance the game)
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That is indeed the problem, the battle system in Skies of Arcadia isn't really engaging. Panzer Dragoon Saga probably has just as many random battles as Skies of Arcadia, but you never hear anybody complain because the battle system in Panzer Dragoon Saga is the most fun part of the game. In Skies, the battle system is something you get through in order to continue the adventure, which is the main draw.
 
Krejlooc said:
That is indeed the problem, the battle system in Skies of Arcadia isn't really engaging. Panzer Dragoon Saga probably has just as many random battles as Skies of Arcadia, but you never hear anybody complain because the battle system in Panzer Dragoon Saga is the most fun part of the game. In Skies, the battle system is something you get through in order to continue the adventure, which is the main draw.
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I agree, which is why I would prefer a sequel to a remaster. They could revamp the battle system and make the elemental part of it way more interesting that way. Hell, they could do almost anything they wanted because very few people would be up in arms about them scrapping their precious battle system (outside of the ship battles, which were interesting at least.)
 
Speely said:
I agree, which is why I would prefer a sequel to a remaster. They could revamp the battle system and make the elemental part of it way more interesting that way. Hell, they could do almost anything they wanted because very few people would be up in arms about them scrapping their precious battle system (outside of the ship battles, which were interesting at least.)
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If they are going to do that, make a new game. If you're going to port a classic game, don't change stuff because you think some people (definitely not all) would appreciate it.

I wouldn't be happy if they dramatically changed the battle system, no.
 
Krejlooc said:
If they are going to do that, make a new game. If you're going to port a classic game, don't change stuff because you think some people (definitely not all) would appreciate it.

I wouldn't be happy if they dramatically changed the battle system, no.
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I maybe said that wrong. I am not talking making it an action game or anything. I just mean they could do a lot of different things in a turn-based system to make it more engaging. The setting is worth keeping around even so.

Edit: And I didn't say port, I said sequel ;)
 
Now that we have Grandia 2 on Steam, I would love for this to be made available as well.

It would be nice for it to be the GC version with the bugs fixed. Didn't that version lower the intensity of the encounter rate?

Regardless, I loved that game.
 
Klappdrachen said:
Ihe source code of that game was lost wasn't it?
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ok, yet again:

A) You don't need the source code for these kinds of modern revivals. Stuff like the Daytona USA revival, that is pure emulation. You don't need the source code for this stuff.

B) The vast, vast, vast majority of source codes for old games have been lost. For example, the source code for Link's Awakening likely did not exist when they ported the game to the GBC, as evidence of using a disassembler is found in the cart.

C) The source code is sh2 asm. Even if they had that today, it would be useless for a modern x64 processor.

D) I can run the game on my computer right now.
 
It's a shame RPGs are considered too big for remasters. But I hope someday we'll get emulated re-releases or VC.

Krejlooc said:
The dreamcast dithers it's output by default. The internal framebuffer for the Dreamcast is ARGB8888 format which is converted to RGB565 on output. The Dreamcast version is literally just as dithered as any other version. There is a step in the tile accelerator's binning process specifically to dither the output. This is a dedicated function of the PVR2 core.

You can output straight from the framebuffer in dolphin to avoid the dithering in the conversion process, yes.
Click to expand...

I don't know the specifics of the GC version, but while the DC always rendered in RGB888 internally, GC games could use ARGB6666 if they needed an alpha channel for post processing (usually to store bloom intensity) and the final output was always converted to 16-bit YUV, where dithering would take place.
 
Krejlooc said:
ok, yet again:

A) You don't need the source code for these kinds of modern revivals. Stuff like the Daytona USA revival, that is pure emulation. You don't need the source code for this stuff.

B) The vast, vast, vast majority of source codes for old games have been lost. For example, the source code for Link's Awakening likely did not exist when they ported the game to the GBC, as evidence of using a disassembler is found in the cart.

C) The source code is sh2 asm. Even if they had that today, it would be useless for a modern x64 processor.

D) I can run the game on my computer right now.
Click to expand...

Very interesting. I didn't know most of this, so thanks for clarifying.
 
M3d10n said:
I don't know the specifics of the GC version, but while the DC always rendered in RGB888 internally, GC games could use ARGB6666 if they needed an alpha channel for post processing (usually to store bloom intensity) and the final output was always converted to 16-bit YUV, where dithering would take place.
Click to expand...

Actually, the dreamcast doesn't necessarily always render in ARGB8888. There is also a YUV442 mode. And, to clarify my last statement, you can actually skip the dithering process in the tile accelerator if you are outputting in 24-bit color mode, which is not advisable. Your resultant output from the dreamcast can either be RGB888, RGB555, or RGB565, with RGB565 being the preferred format.
 
Easily one of my top 10 games I've ever played. Some of my favourite parts to it were:


  • Diversity of the world, maybe generic but I love the idea of ice, jungle and rural Japan continents.
  • Battle music changing in accordance to your health
  • Much like in Valkyria Chronicles it had a council of "bad guys" who were more shades of grey than pure evil, with relatable motivations and often redeeming features.
  • Having your own base and being able to recruit crew around the world for various benefits
  • The variance of battle types between ship and regular, very important to have this variety for breaking up monotony in rpgs
  • I'm a big fan of slow paced rpgs which gradually open up over time rather than throw everything it has into the first 10 hours. Skies was constantly developing and bringing new mechanics and features at you even 40 hours into the game. I always felt the more I played the better the game was getting.

I'm not really pushed about a HD remake since the gamecube version holds up and I'd only want a sequel if it was the original crew making it. What I'm really curious about is where are these masterminds behind Skies and the original Valkyria Chronicles and what are they doing now? They're some of the finest minds in the industry and have surely been under utilised so far.
 
Killdozer said:
Yeah, now you feel bad too that is game will cease to exist and we'll never experience anything like it while were alive.
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Uhm... It's sitting on my shelf nicely.

2San said:
I still have faith in a PC port. That's also the reason why I havan't played it yet.
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Yeah feels like it's actually happening. They aren't fast though. Hoping that we were enough for the PS2PS4 for it to happen there as well.

[Fugo];218026457 said:
I have 3 copies of Skies of Arcadia.
DC Usa
GC Usa (legends)
DC Japanese limited edition (sooo lovely)

Seems like I love the game :D


Is there any way, through emulators, to play Legends but with the infinitely superior DC music and w/o the ugly dithering that was introduced in the GC version?
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My man!

If you ever find the answer to that question please do share. I never could finish the GC version. Just didn't feel it on GC.
 
I love SoA so much. As I got near the end of the game and was thinking about how much the characters went through and accomplished, and I realized how amazing the game's sense of adventure is.
 
The director from Skies of Arcadia is the same guy who directed Valkyria Chronicles. Some of the characters in Valkyria Chronicles are from Skies of Arcadia, such as Vyse:

latest


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Always thought that was a pretty neat detail.
 
Speely said:
I maybe said that wrong. I am not talking making it an action game or anything. I just mean they could do a lot of different things in a turn-based system to make it more engaging. The setting is worth keeping around even so.

Edit: And I didn't say port, I said sequel ;)
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Ah, a sequel? Then sure, rip that thing apart and rebuild it into something better. Be still my beating heart, lol.

If we were talking ports, though, IMO it's best to leave as much alone as possible, warts and all.
 
I've wanted to play this one for years OP but I can't find a Dreamcast version for a decent price. People are asking for your first born for the game on eBay mang. Here's hoping it gets a steam port at some point.
 
I don't really play a lot of JRPGs, but this one I absolutely loved. Such a great sense of adventure and discovery. A sequel is one of my top dream games.
 
I have it on Dreamcast. It was fun. Just kind of sucks that for a game whose underlying theme is exploring the great unknown, they punish the shit out of you for doing so with the high enemy encounter rate.
 
People complaining about the encounter rate in the Dreamcast version - be aware that there are Pro-Action Replay codes that can reduce or disable random battles. It's probably the best way to play the game these days. Go to a new area, grind in battle a bit, then turn off the battles entirely and continue the story.
 
Greatest RPG of all time. I hope Sega never touches it again (except for a HD port) or makes a sequel because they'll probably fuck it all up.
 
My manager asked me if I wanted her brother's Dreamcast and his box of games, so I said sure. Wasn't expecting much out of the games. Maybe your typical sports game and Sonic.

Nope! He had an unplayed copy of Skies of Arcadia. Now I have TWO copies sitting on my shelf.
 
Cheshire_Buddha said:
My manager asked me if I wanted her brother's Dreamcast and his box of games, so I said sure. Wasn't expecting much out of the games. Maybe your typical sports game and Sonic.

Nope! He had an unplayed copy of Skies of Arcadia. Now I have TWO copies sitting on my shelf.
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Any other hidden gems? I've run into so many casual game players over the years who unexpectedly had some awesome dreamcast games from way back when. Like one of my fraternity brothers in college, who otherwise had absolutely no interest in video games or anime or anything like that, had played Grandia 2 on his dreamcast when he was younger.
 
[Fugo];218028512 said:
DC/GC music comparison
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Whoah, I never knew there was such a difference. Funny enough I played the GC version and then listened to the OST a lot afterwards, seems like I've been listening to the the DC version all this time.
 
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