Skies of Arcadia

n/a

NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Skies of Arcadia
System(s): Sega Dreamcast, GameCube
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Overworks Aspect Digital Entertainment
Supporting companies: Wave Master (audio)
Distributor: Infogrames (EU)
Peripherals supported: Jump Pack, Dreamcast Modem Visual Memory Unit, Dreamcast VGA Box
Genre: RPG
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: 日本語 English Deutsch Français Español
Release Date RRP Code JP 2000-10-05 ¥6,800 (7,140)6,800e HDR-0076 JP (Limited Box) 2000-10-05 ¥9,800 (10,290)9,800e HDR-0109 JP (@barai) 2000-10-05 ¥1,000 (1,050)1,000e HDR-0119 US 2000-11-14 $49.9949.99 51052 EU 2001-04-27 MK-51052-50 DE 2001-05-21 MK-51052-50 ES 2001-04-23 MK-51052-50 FR 2001-05-04 MK-51052-50 PT 2001-04 UK 2001-04-27 £29.9929.99 MK-51052-50 AU 2001-07-26 JP 2002-12-26 ¥6,800 (7,140)6,800 (7,140) DOL-P-GEAJ DOL-GEAJ-JPN JP (Okaidoku-ban) 2004-05-20 ¥2,800 (2,940)2,800 (2,940) DOL-P-GEAJ DOL-GEAJ-JPN-1 US 2003-01-28 $49.9949.99 DOL-P-GEAE DOL-GEAE-USA DE 2003-05-22 DOL-P-GEAP DOL-GEAP-EUR ES 2003-05-23 DOL-P-GEAP DOL-GEAP-EUU FR 2003-05-23 DOL-P-GEAP DOL-GEAP-EUR IT 2003-05-23 DOL-P-GEAP DOL-GEAP-EUU UK 2003-05-23 DOL-P-GEAP DOL-GEAP-UKV FI 2003-05-23 DOL-P-GEAP DOL-GEAP-UKV AU 200x
OFLC

Skies of Arcadia, released in Japan as Eternal Arcadia (エターナル アルカディア), is a console role-playing game developed by Overworks for the Sega Dreamcast and published by Sega in 2000. During development, it was known as Project Ares.

Gameplay

Dungeons

Most of gameplay in Skies of Arcadia takes place in dungeons. Controlling the male protagonist, Vyse, from a third-person view, players must traverse and defeat these dungeons in order to advance the storyline. Dungeons comprise of a network of pathways with treasure chests, puzzles, and ubiquitous monsters. Completing the dungeons is usually a matter of exploring each of the possible pathways presented to the player until the correct one is found. Treasure chests are commonplace and contain some of the most powerful items in the game. Throughout the dungeon gameplay the player meets compulsory random encounters. If the entire player party is defeated, progress is reset to the beginning of the dungeon. In the Dreamcast version, it was possible to slightly foresee these random encounters by noticing a loud spin-up of the console's GD-ROM drive. This gave the player time to open the start menu and prepare for the battle.

Travel between the numerous dungeons is accomplished by piloting an airship through the overworld, a three dimensional sky with massive floating rocks forming islands and continents. Some islands are completely uninhabited, while others are filled with sprawling towns and cities. All dungeons are located on these islands and continents. There are two exceptions to this, where a dungeon is traversed whilst piloting the airship. This form of dungeon contains floating spherical objects instead of treasure chests, and vortex-like tunnels in place of corridors and doors in one case, and a single series of tunnels in the other.

Overworld

Overworld travel takes place entirely on the player's airship. The world is at first divided by impassable "sky rifts" which bar the player's passage. Throughout overworld travel, unavoidable random encounters occur as in the dungeons. These battles take place on the deck of the airship and are otherwise identical to their dungeon-based counterparts. Later in the game, however, an advanced mechanism is discovered for the player's ship which allows it to rise above the upper cloud layer and sink below the lower cloud layer of Arcadia, presenting two ways to avoid these encounters, and also provides the player the means to pass through sky rifts. In addition, ship-to-ship combat can occur whilst traveling through the overworld; however, the majority of these are unavoidable boss fights which advance the storyline. Random ship-to-ship battles can occur, but they are rare and avoidable.

Discoveries

The player can also find Discoveries hidden throughout the world while flying their airship. Information about discoveries can be sold at Sailor's Guilds located in cities throughout the game; the value of a discovery is determined by how well-hidden it is and how much time has elapsed since it was possible to find. When finding a new land, a discovery is recorded automatically, as these Discoveries are part of the storyline.

Battle system

Combat occurs frequently, especially during the overworld travel. It is not until late in the game that it becomes possible to avoid combat during overworld travel. Combat comprises two vastly different settings: those encountered in ship to ship combat, and character to monster combat. Ship to ship combat occurs relatively rarely compared to the common character-combat. This encounter rate was reduced for the GameCube re-release.

Character combat

Character combat occurs between one to four player characters and one to eight monsters or NPCs. Combat comprises seven main options: Run, Items (which can be used to change the characters' equipment as well), Guard, Attack, S.Move (Super Move), Magic and Focus. An eighth option, Crew Special, becomes available later in the game by meeting certain criteria (which replaces the Run command). After an action has been chosen for each character, the round will commence.

Ship combat

Ship combat is used when battling other ships and the extremely powerful gigas that are summoned throughout the game. Ship combat follows the same framework as character combat, however there are a few distinct differences. Each round in ship combat is divided into either three or four turns depending on how many characters are currently in the party. During each round, neither team has more than a single turn advantage over the opposition. Ship battles use a color-coded grid system to show each turn in the following two rounds, and the amount of fire the ship will come under during each turn.

The same actions used in character combat are used here, albeit with small differences. The 'Attack' option now has the player pick between four different cannons that have been equipped to the ship. Cannons come in three different types - powerful main cannons, multi-firing secondary cannons, and delayed-effect torpedoes - and each one can only be used once per round. This same stipulation carries over to the S. Move command, which now uses a large, front-mounted cannon. In addition to the standard actions, the ship's crew can be called upon by one of the characters in the party. Whilst each of these can only be used once in each ship battle, the diversity and power of the crew's abilities can be very useful.

History

In Japan, there were also special Dreamcast releases of the game. Eternal Arcadia Limited Box bundled the game with a bandanna, three keychain figures, a mobile phone strap, a necklace with leather strap, and a glossy 64-page 'Visual Book' A4 artbook. There is also an "@barai" version, which for a small fee would allow the player to access a small portion of the game. The rest could be unlocked after payment via the Dreamcast's online service.

Sequels and re-releases

Skies of Arcadia Legends, or Eternal Arcadia Legend (エターナルアルカディア レジェンド) in Japan, is an enhanced port released for the GameCube in 2002. Legends was also in development for the PlayStation 2 and Windows. however, it was cancelled shortly before the GameCube release. The game's story focuses around Vyse, a young pirate in a Jules Verne-inspired fantasy world, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons with the potential to destroy the world.

Cameo appearance

Vyse and Aika appear also in the PlayStation 3 game, Valkyria Chronicles, made by the same team of Skies of Arcadia. They can be randomly recruited in Squad 7.

Vyse also later appeared in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, with Rogue's Landing appearing as a raceable course.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Skies of Arcadia	Skies of Arcadia
English (US)	Skies of Arcadia	Skies of Arcadia
Japanese	エターナル アルカディア	Eternal Arcadia

Production credits

Main article: Skies of Arcadia/Production credits.

Magazine articles

Main article: Skies of Arcadia/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Skies of Arcadia/Promotional material.

Artwork

• 

  Drachma

• 

  Vyse, Aika, Fina, and Cupil

• 

  Galcian

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  Aika

• 
• 

  Enrique

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  Fina

• 

  Glider

• 
• 

  Vyse

• 

  Cupil

• 

  Cupil

• 

  Cupil

• 

  Cupil

• 

  Fina and Cupil

• 

  Albatross II

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

  Glider

Physical scans

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 100% Consoles (FR) PAL 90 576 Konzol (HU) 85 Ação Games (BR) 87 Bonus (YU) PAL 97 Consoles + (FR) NTSC-J 92 Consoles + (FR) PAL 98 Dreamcast Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 90 Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL 94 Dorimaga (JP) NTSC-J 94 Edge (UK) 80 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 93 Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU) 83 GamePlay RPG (FR) NTSC-U 98 GamePlay RPG (FR) PAL 96 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 90 Game Station (UK) 80 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 89 Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U 100 GameWEEK (US) NTSC-U 83 Hyper (AU) PAL 90 MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-U 87 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 87 Neo Plus (PL) 70 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 75 Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL 80 Playbox (FR) PAL 93 PSX Extreme (PL) 83 PSX Extreme (PL) PAL 70 Ready! (ES) 91 Revista Oficial Dreamcast (ES) PAL 90 Silicon Mag (US) NTSC-U 93 Strana Igr (RU) 90 Video Games (DE) NTSC-U 90

	88
Based on 33 reviews

Skies of Arcadia

Dreamcast, JP
Cover
Spinecard Disc 1 Disc 2 Manual Reg Card Dream Point Bank card Error creating thumbnail: libgomp: Thread creation failed: Resource temporarily unavailable Extra 1 Extra 2

Dreamcast, JP (Limited Box)
Cover

Dreamcast, JP (@barai)
Cover
Disc 1 Disc 2

Dreamcast, US
Cover
Disc 1 Disc 2 Manual Inlay

Dreamcast, EU
Cover
Disc 1 Disc 2 File:SkiesOfArcadia-DC-EU-Manual.pdf Manual

GameCube version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GameFan (US) 100 GameFan Game Informer (US) 90 February 2003, p100 80 TechTV

	90
Based on 3 reviews

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score big.N (DE) NTSC-U 88 Consoles + (FR) PAL 93 Cube (UK) PAL 90 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 92 GameNOW (US) NTSC-U 100 Game Play 128 (FR) PAL 93 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 90 GMR (US) 90 Hyper (AU) PAL 84 NGC Magazine (UK) PAL 90 Nintendo Official Magazine (UK) PAL 80 Nintendo Official Magazine (UK) PAL 82 Nintendo Power (US) NTSC-U 90 N-Zone (DE) PAL 88 The Official Nintendo Magazine (UK) PAL 85 Play (US) NTSC-U 80

	88
Based on 16 reviews

Skies of Arcadia

GameCube, JP
Cover
Disc

GameCube, JP (Okaidoku-ban)
Cover

GameCube, US
Cover
Disc

GameCube, UK
Cover
Disc

GameCube, FR/DE
Cover
Disc

GameCube, ES/IT
Cover
Disc

Technical information

Main article: Skies of Arcadia/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (US)	Disc 1
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (US)	Disc 2
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (EU)	Disc 1
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (EU)	Disc 2
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (JP)	Disc 1
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (JP)	Disc 2
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (JP)	@barai; Disc 1
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			GD-ROM (JP)	@barai; Disc 2
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-05-09	GD-R	E3 2000 demo			Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-09-12	GD-R	Disc 1			Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-09-12	GD-R	Disc 2			Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-09-18	GD-R	Disc 1			Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-09-18	GD-R	Disc 2			Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-11-15	GD-R	PAL Beta Preview, Disc 1			Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2000-11-15	GD-R	PAL Beta Preview, Disc 2			Page
✔	CRC32 23e347b6 MD5 3e7fa5033c4a2704434fb6ba98195ecd SHA-1 46105320553c858f25fafc5fd357566b505a4940	1,459,978,240		Disc (US)
✔	CRC32 a8e18c76 MD5 bd814992f1e39d4147c775ff8b32d022 SHA-1 30ee1d7777fe51bcd7c4deeb867651d5b6e96e41	1,459,978,240		Disc (EU)
✔	CRC32 3da0e910 MD5 325f0955cfd8324b96ef56ddeb82f29f SHA-1 bb06f5ba75a8e928a62f7b01c2b375b7e2693309	1,459,978,240		Disc (JP)

VMU features

Game saves can keep track of game progress. Up to 7 save files came be created on one VMU. Each additional save provides a different icon. There are also Downloadable Quests as well as a VMU mini game that can be obtained once certain criteria in the main game has been met.

Skies of Arcadia Save Data

Name	File Name	Comment	File Size	Icon
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E001	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E002	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E003	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E004	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E005	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E006	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Save File	ARCADIA_E007	Arcadia [Game Location]	27 blocks
Arcadia Download File 1	ARCADIA_ED01	Arcadia Download	4 blocks
Arcadia Download File 2	ARCADIA_ED02	Arcadia Download	4 blocks
Arcadia Download File 3	ARCADIA_ED03	Arcadia Download	4 blocks
Arcadia Pinta_Quest	ARCADIA_E_VM	Arcadia VMgame	83 blocks

GameCube Memory Card features

Game saves can keep track of game progress.

Skies of Arcadia Legends Save Data

Title	Comment	Blocks	Icon	Banner
Skies of Arcadia Legends	[Game Location]	3 blocks

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Dreamcast
• Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast, GameCube (archive)
• Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US (archive)
• Sega.com Asia webpage: Dreamcast
• Sega.com Asia webpage (Chinese): Dreamcast