Skies of Arcadia

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Skies of Arcadia
System(s): Sega Dreamcast, GameCube
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Overworks
Peripherals supported: Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Jump Pack, Visual Memory Unit
Genre: RPG
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 2000-10-05 ¥6,8006,800 HDR-0076 JP (Limited Box) 2000-10-05 ¥9,8009,800 HDR-0109 JP (@barai) 2000-10-05 ¥1,0001,000 HDR-0119 US 2000-11-13 51052 EU 2001-04-27 MK-51052-50 JP 2002-12-26 ¥6,800 (7,140)6,800 (7,140) DOL-P-GEAJ JP (Okaidoku-ban) 2004-05-20 ¥2,800 (2,940)2,800 (2,940) DOL-P-GEAJ US 2003-01-28 $49.9949.99 DOL-P-GEAE EU 2003-05-23 DOL-P-GEAP
ESRB ELSPA USK aDeSe SELL CERO

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.

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 remake released for the GameCube in 2002. Legends was also in development for the PlayStation 2 and Windows. however, it was canceled 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.

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.

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.

Trivia

• Vyse and Aika appear also in the PS3 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.

Production credits

• Executive Producer: Noriyoshi Oba
• Producer: Rieko Kodama
• Director: Atsusi Seimiya, Shuntaro Tanaka
• Chief Planner: Tomohiro Nimura
• Planner: Takuya Ogawa, Takanobu Yoshino
• Chief Designer: Toshiyuki Mukaiyama
• Graphic Designer: Hirotaka Kanazawa
• Chief Programmer: Tetsuichiro Hirose
• Programmer: Kouichi Nomura
• Map Design Director: Koji Maekawa
• Map Designer: Karashima, Hiroshi Soma, Takuya Ogawa
• Map Scripting: Ryosuke Waki, Masaaki Shimoma, Takaaki Tokunaga
• City Maps: Masako Okuda, Makiko Kubo, Atsuko Moroe, Kayo Hoshina, Masaaki Ohki, Masayoshi Iwase
• Dungeon Maps: Keiichi Kawase, Kensuke Kita, Shinpei Tanaka, Hitoshi Fukazawa, Takashi Ohtsuji, Kensei Ogiwara, Hirohiko Samekawa, Hitoshi Honma, Nobumichi Sugawara, Yuji Yanase
• Sky Map: Hirotaka Kanazawa, Saeko Matsuura, Kazuhiro Yamashita
• Window Designer: Mie Furuhashi
• Map Illustration: Hiroshi Nishio
• Map System: Tsutomu Matsuo, Kenji Hiruta, Tatsuhiro Oshii
• Window Programmer: Kazuo Wakihara, Katsuhiko Yano
• VMU Programmer: Kenji Ohsawa
• Scenario Designer: Shuntaro Tanaka
• Scenario Coordinator: Yuko Suzuki
• Scenario Director: Toru Shimizu, Kanji Wakabayashi
• Scenario Scripting: Tetsuya Ohtsubo, Hideki Sakadume, Tatsuo Saito, Ryotaro Fukunaga, Hiroshi Odajima, Hideaki Kitamura, Naoyuki Miyoshi, Tsutomu Mizuno, Kiyoshi Iwaoka, Takanobu Yoshino
• Character Models: Shinichi Higashi, Chika Kojitani, Yuka Miyazawa, Shizuyo Kanda, Tetsuya Oguri, Asako Yamasaki
• Character Motions: Kazuo Komuro, Motohiro Fukui, Shigeki Taniguchi, Yoshiaki Ogura, Hironari Hashimoto, Masaya Takahashi, Yoshihiro Kaneko, Takahiro Honma, Kenichi Harada, Takashi Ohta, Shinobu Ohmura, Kazuhiro Miyazawa, Tsunemasa Endo, Takayuki Naito, Takahito Otome
• Villager Motions: Shiro Kanemori, Kenichi Izawa
• Scenario Effects: Daisuke Oikawa, Minobu Fujii, Satoshi Ono
• Battle System Director: Daisuke Fujii
• Battle Stage Planner: Azusa Kimura
• Enemy Specs: Wataru Murakami
• Enemy Models: Toshiyuki Takamatsu, Paku Sugiura, Satoshi Yokokawa, Tadashi Ohmine, Kiyonori Ohsawa, Sigeru Sato, Kazuyuki Watanabe, Nobuto Iwao
• Enemy Motions: Kentaro Nonaka, Hisashi Toyama
• Battle Stage Designer: Kazuo Komura
• System Programmers: Yoshiaki Endo, Kouichi Nomura, Kentaro Yamamoto
• Effects: Toshihiro Ito, Yasutaka Tanaka, Takamitsu Watanabe, Makoto Tanaka, Etusi Nisiura
• Ship Battle Director: Yorio Kuramoto
• Battle Scripting: Takashi Wachi, Motoyuki Takeda, Kazuhisa Ohmi, Yasunari Sekine, Tsutomu Hotsuki
• Ship Models & Motions: Tsuyoshi Mayumi, Kenichi Minamizawa, Hirotaka Kawai, Masahiro Ito, Isao Wada, Motoko Toyama
• Special Effects: Satoru Arai, Tsuyoshi Inaba
• Battle System Programmers: Shigeharu Yoshikawa, Osamu Sato, Junichi Ishiba
• Sound Director: Tatsuya Kouzaki
• BGM & Sound Effects: Yutaka Minobe, Tatsuyuki Maeda
• Sound Effects: Seirou Okamoto, Mariko Nanba, Takashi Endoh, Hideki Abe, Tomoya Ohtani, Keiichi Sugiyama
• Story Consultant: Junya Fujimoto
• Illustrations: Itsuki Hoshi
• Orchestra Coordination: Kiyoshi Tonozaki, Torakichi Takagi
• Music Performed By: The Skies of Arcadia Symphony Orchestra
• Manual & Package Designer: Kaoru Ichigozaki, Makoto Nishino
• Planning Consultants: Akira Nishino, Takaharu Terada, Katsuhito Goto, Keisuke Nakamura
• Design Support: Toru Yoshida, Tsukasa Mori, Takehiko Akabane, Haruo Nakano, Satsuki Nagano
• Advisor: Tomoyuki Ito
• Voice Actors: Christopher Sullivan, Victoria McCreary, Julissa L. Aguirre, Joseph Hughes, Robb McCulloch, Jay Styne, Fay Lumley, Jerry Lawrence, Steve Cloyes, Charles Martinet, Andrea Satin, Bill Broughton, Ian Reddoch, Dennis Lancaster

Sega Europe, Ltd.

• Director of Product Development: Naohiko Hoshino
• Executive Producer: Kats Sato
• Assistant Producer: Akiko Koutstaal
• Test Manager: Jason Cumberbatch
• Language Translator: Caroline Ruiz, Enrique Gonzalez Fajardo
• European Head of Product Marketing: Jim Pride
• European Product Marketing Executive: Mathew Quaeck
• Package Designer: Tom Bingle
• Manual Support: Sarah Ward
• Lead Tester: Nick Bennett
• Associate Lead Tester: Daniel Slater
• Special Thanks: Akira Nishikawa, Hideki Yokaichiya, Yutaka Kawasaki, Yukako Suzuki, Ken Natsuhara, Masanori Daigo, Noriyuki Deguchi, Hideki Matsuzaki, Takahiro Kobae

Magazine articles

Main article: Skies of Arcadia/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Dreamcast print advert in Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) #10: "Holiday 2000" (2000-11-28)

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Dreamcast print advert in Dreamcast Magazine (JP)

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Dreamcast print advert in Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) #19: "May 2001" (2001-04-05)

SkiesofArcadia DC FR PrintAdvert.jpg¦Dreamcast FR print advertSkiesofArcadia DC ES PrintAdvert.jpg¦Dreamcast ES print advertSkiesofArcadiaLegends GC US PrintAdvert.jpg¦GameCube US print advert

GameCube print advert in Cube (UK) #21: "Issue Twenty One" (2003-07-03)

Artwork

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Physical scans

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Consoles + (FR) 92 №106, p106/107 Edge (UK) 80 №93, p92/93 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) 94 Dreamcast Magazine (JP) 90 №2000-32, p28 Dreamcast Magazine (readers) (JP) 94 №2002-18, p32 Famitsu (JP) 83 №617, p32 GameFan (US) 100 GamePlay RPG (FR) 98 №4, p38-47 GamePlay RPG (FR) 96 №7, p46-51 Game Zero (US) 96 05/2002

	92
Based on 10 reviews

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, US
Cover
Disc 1 Disc 2 Inlay

Dreamcast, EU
Cover
Disc 1 Disc 2

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

Dreamcast, JP Limited Box
Cover

Dreamcast, JP @barai
Cover

Dreamcast, JP Kuzoku Ban
<div style="margin:auto; max-width:px"> 320x80px320x80px Cover
50x50px Disc 200x50px Inlay

GameCube version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Cube (UK) 90 №20, p76-79 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) 92 February 2003, p151 GameFan (US) 100 GameFan GameNOW (US) 100 February 2003, p50 GamePro (US) 90 GamePro Game Informer (US) 90 February 2003, p100 GMR (US) 90 №1, p70 Game Zone (UK) 90 Game Zone neXt Level (DE) 93 Next Level 80 March 2003, p42 80 TechTV

	90
Based on 11 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, US
Cover
Disc

GameCube, JP
Cover

GameCube, JP (Best)
Cover

GameCube, UK
Cover
Disc

GameCube, FR/DE
Cover
Disc

Technical information

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 Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast, GameCube