I've never put as much work into anything before. So thank you for watching. I hope you enjoy it. Patreon: www.patreon.com/ABitMoreJordan Twitter: twitter.com/SoWhatAboutGame
such a fucking fantastic game. It it one of the all time classics, similar to Tales of Symphonia in that it doesn't do anything spectacularly but it does EVERYTHING very very well. And it is infused with that optimism and adventure that makes it unique. This game needs a sequel so bad
This video was a master work. All the way down to the non-distracting wipes! For years I’ve debated playing Skies again but I have so little time. Now I feel like I don’t have to. Everything I loved and wanted to experience was in this video. I can’t thank you enough for this. All of your effort was on screen!
It bums me out that in today's world of retro revivals, Skies of Arcadia still hasn't seen any re-release. This game would sell like crazy on the switch.
I think so too! After playing it, my theory is that the game is just full to the brim with different assets, many of them incredibly low res. I don't think they can whip out the old files, they'd need to redo a lot of stuff to make it acceptable this day in age.
@@ABitMoreJordan Just do what they did in the Grandia collection and get it back out on the market. Lots of people just want a port on a current Gen system.
Because this game flopped two times. Sega gave second chance on Gamecube, but game still sold like shit (under 100k copies). Sometimes great games just sells bad mainly due to lack of marketing from publisher and their incopentence.
Like, I understand when a fan has this sentiment. I have series I’m a fan of and would love to see modernized or at the very least re-released on modern consoles, that I know it’s almost guaranteed they’ll never see the light of day again. I get it. The reality is though, we’ve got to just look objectively at the performance of the game in terms of sales and reception. Skies of Arcadia is probably a super niche/obscure game, I mean I’d never even heard of it till I stumbled upon this video. So I’m guessing there’s just not an audience for it. Another thing is, sometimes we play a game and think it’s the greatest game ever and yet for some reason it flops and no one played it or ended up never finishing it or didn’t like it. And we think, “well whatever it was great, I really wish they’d do a port or maybe completely remake it.” When the reality is more times than not, the game was actually just kinda mediocre or just SUUUUUPER niche and really never had any chance of appealing to a wider audience when it originally launched and sure as hell wouldn’t fair any better in todays market. Plus a lot of the RPGs that have been getting re-releases or full on Remakes, FFVII for example, have a lot of the original Producers and Directors, and Writers backing them and working on them and are the driving force making the whole thing even possible. The companies involved in Remaking them have the capital and the good-faith of fans(and of course their investors *cough cough) to throw money into the remake it make it as awe inspiring as fans expect it to be. And with state that SEGA has been in for the past two decades I just don’t see how they could ever justify, not just to themselves but their share holders and investors, dumping money into reimagining or even re-releasing an obscure JRPG that didn’t sell well when it originally released. Which means it wouldn’t even sell that well today, it’d do much worse actually because there’s no way every single person that bought it when it originally launch is gonna buy it if they re-release it. It just wouldn’t make any sense. Which then would just totally piledrive the very last nail into its very, very, very old coffin.
@@InTheMindOfDavid remasters or port is not that much to ask, front mission and Samba De Amigo is also very niche franchise, but got new game or remake
I've always wanted Sega to make a sequel to this game. I have so much nostalgia for this game on the Dreamcast. I still quote Alfonso's "dispose of them" comment when the need arises.
Such a good video! Thank you for doing this. Please ignore the requests from others to do shorter stuff... every youtuber does that, its so annoying. Keep it long ;) We love details!
This is a fantastic homage to Skies of Arcadia and brought up some serious happy and sad emotions and memories in me. I adored the game so much and I still regularly think about it and the characters. I bought both Sonic transformed and Valkiria Chronicals just to spend more time with the Arcadia crew. Vyse and his ethos made me a better person. Thanks for this three hour trip down memory lane.
You forgot to play hide and seek with the younger NPCs of the island. You also missed the Aika fan service scene where Vyse peeks into Aika's room as she is brushing her hair. Moments like this is why I love exploring around in JRPGs like Skies of Arcadia. Back then, games rewarded you as you tried to explore around the game world.
50:18 The circles and X are inverted in japanese culture, they use circle for confirmation. It's also why most sony consoles use the circle button to confirm, while we on the west use the X instead.
‘Then you go to upper city where the residents say things that make you want to puke… or maybe destroy the whole world’ loled at that, love that the villain’s motivation for total annihilation is just watching rich people be rich people Also, I’m grateful that you’ve produced such a meaty analysis on this game and its world. It more than warrants one!
1:33:16 This world is actually a donut! If you fly off the top of the map, you come back on from the bottom. If it was truly round, you would come back on halfway across the top or the bottom which you flew over.
Excellemt video! Skies of Arcadia is a big part of my childhood, I beat it once on the Dreamcast and twice on the Legends version on the Gamecube and still remember most of the characters that you meet and recruit to your pirate crew. It's sad that the most that Vyse, Aika and Fina have nowadays is cameos on Valkyria Chronicles. I hope a remaster could be made to modern systems (adjusting some things like the random encounter rate) so more people can play it for themselves.
People want a remake of this game but I refuse to agree, just give a decent PC port so fans can upgrade things with mods if they want to. I don't trust anyone to do good remakes anymore.
For anyone wanting to play this for the 1st time or replay this I highly suggest using the manson mod It's kind of like a hard mode Except everything the game is balanced to reflect harder or more enemies for boss fights Items are more expensive and don't do as much Magic is more effective And you can use it More often Status effects have a higher chance of working on all enemies including bosses Which you'll need because Are much harder There's also extra content that's not normally accessible and you basically start out with the white map So you can drastically reduce random encounters making the game less frustrating
2:52:20 Thinking about it now, you have a point there! On the Dreamcast and the Gamecube if you hit the start button, you can skip the parties animation attacks. 3:14:19 I need to get this game back! That was fun!
These grand retrospectives of retro games I am nostalgic about or missed out on (like this one), make my long nights of driving that much easier to get through, so thank you for all the time you spent making these. It means alot and they fuel my gaming heart when I get these reminders of which games to show my twin girls when they are old enough to enjoy them! Keep up the great work! #ThankYouFromNorway
The jungle music of Horteka village is one of the best Jungle theme music I have heard in any video game. I remember making a flash game and even tried to test out how the Jungle music from Skies of Arcadia fitted in with the flash browser game and even got interesting responses from Deviant Art from people who played it.
2:04:00 Belleza is perhaps one of the best characters in Skies of Arcadia, sadly she never becomes a playable character. I would have loved to play as Bellena in her saucy Belly Dancer outfit. Wish there was a figure of her I could get.
1:01:40 This is the moment when many of us Skies of Arcadia fans were dreaming of Aika x Fina shipping. At least I was when I first played through this game.
Thank you for this, it's one of my favorite games of all time and a Dreamcast classic. I skimmed through comments and didn't see anything addressing this, so I'm sorry if this is a double comment, but actually in the original Japanese, Ramirez IS very queer-coded. In the confrontation with him after killing Galcian, he says "He was my everything," which is obviously not included in the English. I can't remember the other instances off the top of my head, but perhaps that's why you got The Vibes from them. (It also makes him crying and losing his mind at the end make even more sense.)
Love watching and listening to this while I work because I don't have time for games, and I've never played Skies, but it looks fantastic, and excellent commentary. The final note to leave on, leading to the patreon video was perfect too! "Remember that monkey they sent into space 40 years ago? Well, he's back! With a vengeance!..." 🙈
Heck yeah I enjoyed it! 🐬 Loving your videos man, it shows how much effort you put into this. Going to have to dust off the ol' Gamecube and my copy Skies of Arcadia Legends after watching the whole thing! Who am I kidding though, I still play it regularly so it ain't dusty in the slightest. On to Suikoden 2!
Such an incredibly special game to me. It’s been great seeing the outpouring of support from the small group of people who cherish this game celebrating Kodama. Can’t wait to watch all the way through!
Multiple mechanics for Skies of Arcadia went into the games Wizard101 and Pirate101. Apart from just the artwork, and general mechanics and theme, if you hold down the left mouse key, you can have a rudimentary PoV mode, allowing you to look above you at fully detailed ceilings, cave roofs, skies, etc., until you release the button. In the Wooded Cottage house in W101, where a dream pony appears now and then in a glade on the property, you can see the butterflies around flowers on the property the same as the butterflies you can see in the garden in your starting SoA home of Pirates Island. The Humongofrog in W101, will vomit up wizard hats, as homage to the sewer boss who vomited up skulls in Skies. Pirate101 is, unfortunately, far more rudimentary in terms of ship battles, to Skies, but, the graphics of the game are still top notch.
Lol I'm doing a replay of this myself and just left ol Pirate Island with Fina and only then did it click with me that Vyse's Mom doesn't have a name. I don't know why, but i just assumed she had one too. I like the name Janice though, maybe I'll see if i can edit the text to fix that 😅
The Green Giant Gaigas reminds me of an Eva or an Angel from the Neon Genesis anime. The the way how it holds its head in confusion reminds me of a Eva Unit 01 going Berserk uncontrollably. Wouldn't surprise me that SEGA got inspiration from Neon Genesis since they were part of funding the movies back in the 90s.
39:00 This is the scene in the game I love the most. They are stranded in the Desert town and the only thing to do is to go to the pub and watch the beautiful Belly Dancer Bellena. And that is what Vyse chooses to do instead of listening to Aika's complaining. This also leads to an interesting part of the game where Vyse, Aika and Fina gain the trust of the beautiful Belly Dancer Bellena who becomes quite a trusted ally to them.
2:45:00 The weird physics of the game might make morethen you may realize Due to the ruins that include magic for a 7th moon And the black moonstone in the game That has weird physics like floating in mid air and causing things like small islands to be upside down Leads me to believe that the ancient civilstations used this 7th moon In some way that shattered the world and embedded its physics into the very ground And the planet isn't that big Along with 7 moons that are large compared 2 hours close by Would have some weird tectonic and gravitational forces Allowing ships that weigh almost nothing to float Or you to jump 40' Off of a ship onto a deck without hurting yourself Not to mention The atmosphere of Arcadia is closer To Venus then it is Earth Is allowing the air to be more like a fluid than a gas Speaking of Venus And about the middle of the atmosphere It has oxygen and nitrogen and the pressure is somewhere to earth Only when you get closer The atmosphere is so dense that it's unhospitable Similar to Arcadia
A few parts of the game are comparable to the manga/anime, One Piece, although, whether the game took from the anime/manga, or vice versa, or were just coincidence, I can't honestly say. Dakkat, the greatest pirate of all time, leaving his treasure to be found by only the best, and all of his vast treasures are simply a coin... All of his wealth is just one piece. The Valuan Empire are the Admirals and Grand Admirals. The Silvites are the Celestial Dragons, removing themselves from humanity and deciding it's fate in an offhand way, having no concern over the consequences to the rest of humanity. There was a battle with the fake Straw Hat Pirates on the return to Sabaody, that matches the battle with the fake Vyse Crew.
One fun thing of the game, especially with the PoV function, is that different areas have different patterned treasure chests. I honestly liked the PoV function of the game the best. The beauty of this game can never be undersold. It was even worth it to look up, as some ceilings had mosaic patterns, as well.
Skies of Arcadia is by far one of the most underrated games. Though, having played the original version years later, I have no idea how I managed to not go crazy with the random battle frequency. No wonder the sound of the Dreamcast loading is something I have nightmares about. They need to remake this, well...the GC version.
Love your video! This game is one of the best RPGs of all time! I remember playing it for hours in my younger days. My brother and I still quote lines from the game 20+ years later. Rieko Kodama is truly a legend. May she rest in peace. Your video honors her well!
Skies of Arcadia is such an incredible and underappreciated masterpiece. It's the only JRPG I put in the same realm as Squaresofts best games. In my opinion, it also has the best sense of adventure in the entire genre. I still remember getting it for the Dreamcast and being absolutely immersed in its world. How I wish I could go back to those days.
Jordan what you are doing covering games like skies which is my all time fav jrpg is amazing keep up great work. I played on Dreamcast and at 36yrs old now i still look on those days playing this as a kid as some of best in my life.
About the comments of where everyone lives, one thing that should be mentioned, for those who haven't played, it does show massive cities. However, you only visit small areas of them. But, you can see the size of them in areas you don't visit in the backgrounds... In Nasr, you can see this large marketplace below the walkway you have access to. Some places, like Valusa and Yafutoma have gated areas that you can see huge cities behind with living areas, that you just can't access, but, are there.
Great game choices Jordan - SUikoden Alundra and SKies of Arcadia? Fantastic choices - hope you do brave fencer musashi What are some classic games you havent played yet
The best use of magic in this game is healing between battles since it only costs 1mp and 0 stamina to do so. I loved every moment of this game and my best friend and I were in to it at the same time so it created a nice shared memory for us. Thanks for the long form review! I hope we get a switch port eventually.
Just got a Japanese copy to practice and the nostalgia of course. I used to wake up 2h before school just to cram in some more Arcadia. This review was a masterpiece btw. 🐬🐬🐬
I have no particular nostalgia with that game, I was already 25yo in 2004 when I buy it on the GameCube, had already played plenty of great JRPGs such as FF6/7/9, Grandia, and every Phantasy Star games, and traveled, worked and lived in about 26 countries... and yet, that game is gonna be a revelation to me! Never before I felt the call for adventure as I did with Skies of Arcadia, Grandia was close, Tales of Symphonia wasn’t bad either, but Skies was at a different level! Since that time, I have played the game a countless number of times, and it still today, along with Phantasy Star IV (another game by Rieko Kodama, thank you so much madame) my favorite game ever. It’s a great video you did here, and a fantastic love letter to that game.
I need a port of this on my Switch. It is one of the only RPGs that my brother really liked that I don’t own now. It is also the last RPG he ever finished before he stopped playing RPGs and starting playing exclusively FIFA and CoD. When I saw him actually doing airship battles that looked very dynamic for the time I knew the game was something special and I almost stopped playing my own PS2 RPG collection just to watch him play for hours and hours over the weekend. If it weren’t for him playing and enjoying Skies of Arcadia so much I wouldn’t have gotten interested in watching him play Gamecube RPGs so much and he never would have bought Tales of Symphonia to play with me, allowing me to get interested in the Tales series myself and buy my own Tales game and personal favorite game of all time, Tales of Legendia.
When I got Daccat's Coin, I had the option of selling it as an antique for exactly enough money to pay for all the upgrades for the ship. However, I held onto it, and ground left and right in fights to make up the money I could have just had in one go. My rationale for this was, this was something I could save for future generations of my family. A family heirloom, and a tale to go with it of how I got it. In my mind, a pirate may want treasure, but this seemed like something someone with Vyse's temperament and character would have done.
When I was a teenager playing JRPGs, I often level grind early so the latter parts of the game are not as annoying for me. I got that from my Pokemon on GameBoy days, early on I would level grind every 10 levels during each story arc early so by the 5th or so major place to visit I end up leveled up to at least 50 so I can make a dash towards the game's end. In skies of Arcadia I started level grinding my way to level 50 before going to that Eastern Culture, so during that part where you finally got the big ship with the Moon Stone Cannon and you start recruiting your crew for your Pirate Base, that was when I really level grinded my way up so I could get through that annoying Turtle Boss easier than most. And I only have to thank my experience from Pokemon on GameBoy for that sort of strategy.
My gamecube didn't make it through the years. While I can never relive the magic of playing this game in my childhood, this video is the closest thing to recreating those moments. I come back to this whenever the world feels too heavy and I want to feel like a kid flying through sky islands again.
1:08:00 1st time playing this game I found a neat trick Save up your discoveries and sell them as the girls You will get boat loads of money You could also have the thermowrings equipped Before the separation but I never bothered doing that
This is a mammoth video! Must have taken many days of work to script, plan, record etc. You mad fool! Will sit down and watch in instalments but what a game.
You should try the Maeson mod for this game it makes it much harder, adds cut content, new weapons / new ship equipment rebalances magic and SP its pretty nuts
Everytime I remember this game, I get frustrated again that this game is still stuck on the Gamecube and Dreamcast with no open source in sight. I freaking love the world and nowadays, I dream of what the world would be like if the game were remade with modern tech. Like imagine a SOA remake that visually looks like the Valkyria Chronicles series. After all, some developers from SoA went to work on it and even Vyse and Aika show up as playable characters in the first game (or well alternate versions of them. Vyse Ingalbard, Aika Thompson, and a nameless Fina who has 2 identical sisters). But alas. Sega is too busy milking Sonic and Persona to care about their bringing their older franchises back.
Awesome video about an awesome Game! I played it ten years ago, but loved it wholeheartly! Thank you 🐬 Also, no mention of the subquest extra about the Pirate Bounty Hunter?
Actually there is a way to could mak a secuel without nagating everything, bu expanding on some discoveries moatly one in the dark rift you find a black cristal, that apparently was a piece of a theoretically black moon, imagine that having and acient civilization and even gigas they can make a story out of it
Do your long form! Also, I’m glad there’s a tiny community for this game. Not becoming a franchise is like your favorite show getting canceled after one season
One of my favorite games of all time. I put so many hours on this one back in the day. I only played the Dreamcast version, maybe I should look into the GameCube version some day. Thanks for making this video, cheers!
I wouldn’t say it’s essential to play the GameCube version if you’ve already played the original but if you’re hankering for another play through then go for it
🐬 im a father of 6 from the UK. Born in 1985 so skys arrived at a great time for me! Only played it on the dreamcast but loved every moment. Thanks for all the effort you put in to this video 🙌🏼
@@ABitMoreJordan that they do! Although i still get my gaming in when i can. Im looking forward to the horizon forbidde west DLC and currently playing through tales of vesperia for the 1st time via the switch.
🐬This video kept popping up in my timeline, but I’ve never played Arcadia! Out of curiosity and my new love for RPG’s that’s been slowly growing I decided to give this vid a shot and boy do I wish playing this as a kid! An amazing story and what looks like insane gameplay. It’s definitely going on the list so I’ll update when I’ve beaten it for myself one day! Amazing video man you got a new sub right here!
@@ABitMoreJordan Hello again! I’m just commenting to let you know I recently did a top 10 on games that I want to have animated shows and Arcadia made the list and I credited you directly for introducing me to the game and the wonderful narrative! It’s around 11:13 if you had any interest in seeing it for yourself, thanks for working hard cuz it really left an impact on me and I still haven’t played it yet but hope to find a copy after beating Rogue Galaxy, thanks man!
I wish there would be a copy of the ship battle system in other games. It was so good and unique. I'm genuinely surprised I haven't played a game with that mechanic. Maybe they'll make a new skies game lol. Doubt it.
The only 2 I can think of: a DS game called Nostalgia and Mugen Souls which has ship battles but I can’t remember the mechanics if they are similar or not
This video propels me back to the beautiful innocence of my youth and to those emotions that will never be replicated again in adulthood. Thank you for the wonderful time
🐬 Wrapped up the video. I never had a Sega console and the Game Cube is the one Nintendo system I went without. This game looked really cool and it was fun watching and learning about it. Thanks for sharing the experience.
wow! seems like your Skies of Arcadia was my Grandia 1 : o ngl, it sounds like this was a pretty good game I slept on ^^ wild story, interesting. i like the expressive-ness on the 3D models ^^ adorable.
I really hope that thanks to the confimation of many sega games being remade (shinobi, crazy taxi, etc) we get a remake and eventually a sequel of Skies of Arcadia. if not I wish to make a succesor series like bug fables (being a succesor to the old paper mario games), I already have the concept though since I'm not an artist I have not many a lot of progress as of late still is something I think ablut making fully one day
I've never put as much work into anything before. So thank you for watching. I hope you enjoy it.
Patreon: www.patreon.com/ABitMoreJordan
Twitter: twitter.com/SoWhatAboutGame
you earned yourself a new sub good sir
The wipes were distracting.
I saw ads throughout.
such a fucking fantastic game. It it one of the all time classics, similar to Tales of Symphonia in that it doesn't do anything spectacularly but it does EVERYTHING very very well. And it is infused with that optimism and adventure that makes it unique. This game needs a sequel so bad
This video was a master work. All the way down to the non-distracting wipes!
For years I’ve debated playing Skies again but I have so little time.
Now I feel like I don’t have to. Everything I loved and wanted to experience was in this video.
I can’t thank you enough for this.
All of your effort was on screen!
R.I.P Rieko Kodama... you did so much and were a part of the best games in my childhood
I didn’t know she died until this video. She made some amazing games. RIP.
It's sad to hear that she died 😥😥😥
"Personified the word 'adventure'". A paragraph and already summed it up perfectly. Much to Kodama and team. Many thanks to her and her legacy
It's the perfect phrase to describe Skies :D
It bums me out that in today's world of retro revivals, Skies of Arcadia still hasn't seen any re-release. This game would sell like crazy on the switch.
I think so too! After playing it, my theory is that the game is just full to the brim with different assets, many of them incredibly low res. I don't think they can whip out the old files, they'd need to redo a lot of stuff to make it acceptable this day in age.
@@ABitMoreJordan
Just do what they did in the Grandia collection and get it back out on the market.
Lots of people just want a port on a current Gen system.
Because this game flopped two times. Sega gave second chance on Gamecube, but game still sold like shit (under 100k copies). Sometimes great games just sells bad mainly due to lack of marketing from publisher and their incopentence.
Like, I understand when a fan has this sentiment. I have series I’m a fan of and would love to see modernized or at the very least re-released on modern consoles, that I know it’s almost guaranteed they’ll never see the light of day again. I get it. The reality is though, we’ve got to just look objectively at the performance of the game in terms of sales and reception. Skies of Arcadia is probably a super niche/obscure game, I mean I’d never even heard of it till I stumbled upon this video. So I’m guessing there’s just not an audience for it. Another thing is, sometimes we play a game and think it’s the greatest game ever and yet for some reason it flops and no one played it or ended up never finishing it or didn’t like it. And we think, “well whatever it was great, I really wish they’d do a port or maybe completely remake it.” When the reality is more times than not, the game was actually just kinda mediocre or just SUUUUUPER niche and really never had any chance of appealing to a wider audience when it originally launched and sure as hell wouldn’t fair any better in todays market.
Plus a lot of the RPGs that have been getting re-releases or full on Remakes, FFVII for example, have a lot of the original Producers and Directors, and Writers backing them and working on them and are the driving force making the whole thing even possible. The companies involved in Remaking them have the capital and the good-faith of fans(and of course their investors *cough cough) to throw money into the remake it make it as awe inspiring as fans expect it to be. And with state that SEGA has been in for the past two decades I just don’t see how they could ever justify, not just to themselves but their share holders and investors, dumping money into reimagining or even re-releasing an obscure JRPG that didn’t sell well when it originally released. Which means it wouldn’t even sell that well today, it’d do much worse actually because there’s no way every single person that bought it when it originally launch is gonna buy it if they re-release it. It just wouldn’t make any sense. Which then would just totally piledrive the very last nail into its very, very, very old coffin.
@@InTheMindOfDavid remasters or port is not that much to ask, front mission and Samba De Amigo is also very niche franchise, but got new game or remake
I've always wanted Sega to make a sequel to this game. I have so much nostalgia for this game on the Dreamcast. I still quote Alfonso's "dispose of them" comment when the need arises.
Some times I wish I could slip the phrase "moon stone cannon - fire!" into more conversations
"Moon, grant me strength!" - or what was it? :)
@@ABitMoreJordan I say it when I put the high beams on in my car.
YES!
I regularly use that phrase when talking about Russians today.
Was good to see Vyse and Aika in Valkyria chronicles. :D
Great game to boot!
@@ABitMoreJordan could you do a Valkyria chronicles retrospective I would love to see it
Such a good video!
Thank you for doing this.
Please ignore the requests from others to do shorter stuff... every youtuber does that, its so annoying.
Keep it long ;)
We love details!
Thanks James! 😊
Skies of Arcadia, easily my all-time favorite game. Hands down. Warms my heart to see these retrospective pieces on youtube. Subscribed!
Thanks so much 😊
This is a fantastic homage to Skies of Arcadia and brought up some serious happy and sad emotions and memories in me. I adored the game so much and I still regularly think about it and the characters. I bought both Sonic transformed and Valkiria Chronicals just to spend more time with the Arcadia crew. Vyse and his ethos made me a better person. Thanks for this three hour trip down memory lane.
Thanks Zachary! Glad I could bring back the emotions!
Don't make shorter videos Jordan!!
Forget the detractors that want you to abridge your format! We love the longer videos, it's what we come for!
Your wish is my command 😊
You forgot to play hide and seek with the younger NPCs of the island.
You also missed the Aika fan service scene where Vyse peeks into Aika's room as she is brushing her hair.
Moments like this is why I love exploring around in JRPGs like Skies of Arcadia.
Back then, games rewarded you as you tried to explore around the game world.
That's true, I totally forgot about that Aika scene, but now you mention it I remember seeing it back in the day.
50:18 The circles and X are inverted in japanese culture, they use circle for confirmation. It's also why most sony consoles use the circle button to confirm, while we on the west use the X instead.
‘Then you go to upper city where the residents say things that make you want to puke… or maybe destroy the whole world’ loled at that, love that the villain’s motivation for total annihilation is just watching rich people be rich people
Also, I’m grateful that you’ve produced such a meaty analysis on this game and its world. It more than warrants one!
Thanks a lot for watching 😃
11:30 your dad being mvp #wholesome
This is one of my favorite JRPG of all time. Still play this game to the day and still will for a long time.
1:33:16 This world is actually a donut! If you fly off the top of the map, you come back on from the bottom. If it was truly round, you would come back on halfway across the top or the bottom which you flew over.
Excellemt video! Skies of Arcadia is a big part of my childhood, I beat it once on the Dreamcast and twice on the Legends version on the Gamecube and still remember most of the characters that you meet and recruit to your pirate crew. It's sad that the most that Vyse, Aika and Fina have nowadays is cameos on Valkyria Chronicles. I hope a remaster could be made to modern systems (adjusting some things like the random encounter rate) so more people can play it for themselves.
My hope is that it will happen soon. This needs to be more accessible.
People want a remake of this game but I refuse to agree, just give a decent PC port so fans can upgrade things with mods if they want to. I don't trust anyone to do good remakes anymore.
It's a fair point!
Amazing job on this!
And I agree with you about ship battles, I don't understand how anyone can hate them. 🐬
I think it’s just a small vocal people but 🤷♂️ 🐬
They didn’t age as well as I thought they would but they are still pretty unique for a JRPG.
For anyone wanting to play this for the 1st time or replay this I highly suggest using the manson mod
It's kind of like a hard mode
Except everything the game is balanced to reflect harder or more enemies for boss fights
Items are more expensive and don't do as much Magic is more effective And you can use it More often Status effects have a higher chance of working on all enemies including bosses Which you'll need because Are much harder
There's also extra content that's not normally accessible and you basically start out with the white map So you can drastically reduce random encounters making the game less frustrating
Oooo! Maybe on my next play through in 15 years I’ll give the mod a go!
This game was my childhood. Played it on GameCube. Love it. If i had money, I’d fund a Remaster.
I would too
Definitely yes.
2:52:20 Thinking about it now, you have a point there! On the Dreamcast and the Gamecube if you hit the start button, you can skip the parties animation attacks.
3:14:19 I need to get this game back! That was fun!
These grand retrospectives of retro games I am nostalgic about or missed out on (like this one), make my long nights of driving that much easier to get through, so thank you for all the time you spent making these. It means alot and they fuel my gaming heart when I get these reminders of which games to show my twin girls when they are old enough to enjoy them! Keep up the great work! #ThankYouFromNorway
I know what you mean, plenty of times I’ve been on long trips and could have done with one of these 😆
The jungle music of Horteka village is one of the best Jungle theme music I have heard in any video game.
I remember making a flash game and even tried to test out how the Jungle music from Skies of Arcadia fitted in with the flash browser game and even got interesting responses from Deviant Art from people who played it.
1:09:00 "The One Piece is Real!" I would laugh my ass off if One Piece ends like this.
2:04:00 Belleza is perhaps one of the best characters in Skies of Arcadia, sadly she never becomes a playable character.
I would have loved to play as Bellena in her saucy Belly Dancer outfit.
Wish there was a figure of her I could get.
1:01:40 This is the moment when many of us Skies of Arcadia fans were dreaming of Aika x Fina shipping.
At least I was when I first played through this game.
Thank you for this, it's one of my favorite games of all time and a Dreamcast classic.
I skimmed through comments and didn't see anything addressing this, so I'm sorry if this is a double comment, but actually in the original Japanese, Ramirez IS very queer-coded. In the confrontation with him after killing Galcian, he says "He was my everything," which is obviously not included in the English. I can't remember the other instances off the top of my head, but perhaps that's why you got The Vibes from them. (It also makes him crying and losing his mind at the end make even more sense.)
Nice thoughtful discussion. Looking forward to your next
More to come!
Love watching and listening to this while I work because I don't have time for games, and I've never played Skies, but it looks fantastic, and excellent commentary. The final note to leave on, leading to the patreon video was perfect too! "Remember that monkey they sent into space 40 years ago? Well, he's back! With a vengeance!..." 🙈
Nice, been looking forward to this one! And 3.5 hours no less, good gravy! This is gonna be good.
Hope you enjoy!
Heck yeah I enjoyed it! 🐬 Loving your videos man, it shows how much effort you put into this. Going to have to dust off the ol' Gamecube and my copy Skies of Arcadia Legends after watching the whole thing! Who am I kidding though, I still play it regularly so it ain't dusty in the slightest.
On to Suikoden 2!
Legend! 🐬
Such an incredibly special game to me. It’s been great seeing the outpouring of support from the small group of people who cherish this game celebrating Kodama. Can’t wait to watch all the way through!
Vyse Aika and Fina formed a thruple and you can’t convince me otherwise.
NooooooOOOOOOOOoooooo 🙉
Just like Grandia 2. LOL
Multiple mechanics for Skies of Arcadia went into the games Wizard101 and Pirate101.
Apart from just the artwork, and general mechanics and theme, if you hold down the left mouse key, you can have a rudimentary PoV mode, allowing you to look above you at fully detailed ceilings, cave roofs, skies, etc., until you release the button.
In the Wooded Cottage house in W101, where a dream pony appears now and then in a glade on the property, you can see the butterflies around flowers on the property the same as the butterflies you can see in the garden in your starting SoA home of Pirates Island.
The Humongofrog in W101, will vomit up wizard hats, as homage to the sewer boss who vomited up skulls in Skies.
Pirate101 is, unfortunately, far more rudimentary in terms of ship battles, to Skies, but, the graphics of the game are still top notch.
One of the best ever. Needs a remaster or a sequel
I would love a complete remaster
Lol I'm doing a replay of this myself and just left ol Pirate Island with Fina and only then did it click with me that Vyse's Mom doesn't have a name. I don't know why, but i just assumed she had one too. I like the name Janice though, maybe I'll see if i can edit the text to fix that 😅
Pausing right here. 1:36 I'm my mind when I would read his dialog I would i gave him a voice that would sound like Tim Curry.
I remember the long ladder in Metal Gear 3. At least there is a song playing while climbing 😊😊😊
That was the one!
Epic retrospective! I'll rediscover this game alongside this video. Thanks!
Hope you enjoy it :)
The Green Giant Gaigas reminds me of an Eva or an Angel from the Neon Genesis anime.
The the way how it holds its head in confusion reminds me of a Eva Unit 01 going Berserk uncontrollably.
Wouldn't surprise me that SEGA got inspiration from Neon Genesis since they were part of funding the movies back in the 90s.
Perfect video! Loved every second. Didnt want it to end 😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
39:00 This is the scene in the game I love the most.
They are stranded in the Desert town and the only thing to do is to go to the pub and watch the beautiful Belly Dancer Bellena.
And that is what Vyse chooses to do instead of listening to Aika's complaining.
This also leads to an interesting part of the game where Vyse, Aika and Fina gain the trust of the beautiful Belly Dancer Bellena who becomes quite a trusted ally to them.
2:45:00
The weird physics of the game might make morethen you may realize
Due to the ruins that include magic for a 7th moon And the black moonstone in the game That has weird physics like floating in mid air and causing things like small islands to be upside down Leads me to believe that the ancient civilstations used this 7th moon In some way that shattered the world and embedded its physics into the very ground And the planet isn't that big Along with 7 moons that are large compared 2 hours close by Would have some weird tectonic and gravitational forces
Allowing ships that weigh almost nothing to float Or you to jump 40' Off of a ship onto a deck without hurting yourself Not to mention The atmosphere of Arcadia is closer To Venus then it is Earth Is allowing the air to be more like a fluid than a gas
Speaking of Venus And about the middle of the atmosphere It has oxygen and nitrogen and the pressure is somewhere to earth
Only when you get closer The atmosphere is so dense that it's unhospitable Similar to Arcadia
Wow that’s way more thought than I ever put into it!
A few parts of the game are comparable to the manga/anime, One Piece, although, whether the game took from the anime/manga, or vice versa, or were just coincidence, I can't honestly say.
Dakkat, the greatest pirate of all time, leaving his treasure to be found by only the best, and all of his vast treasures are simply a coin... All of his wealth is just one piece.
The Valuan Empire are the Admirals and Grand Admirals.
The Silvites are the Celestial Dragons, removing themselves from humanity and deciding it's fate in an offhand way, having no concern over the consequences to the rest of humanity.
There was a battle with the fake Straw Hat Pirates on the return to Sabaody, that matches the battle with the fake Vyse Crew.
My favorite jrpg ever ! Wish it will get a re-release soon !
Fingers crossed 🤞
One fun thing of the game, especially with the PoV function, is that different areas have different patterned treasure chests.
I honestly liked the PoV function of the game the best. The beauty of this game can never be undersold. It was even worth it to look up, as some ceilings had mosaic patterns, as well.
Skies of Arcadia is by far one of the most underrated games. Though, having played the original version years later, I have no idea how I managed to not go crazy with the random battle frequency. No wonder the sound of the Dreamcast loading is something I have nightmares about.
They need to remake this, well...the GC version.
For some reason it never bothered me as a kid!
Love your video! This game is one of the best RPGs of all time! I remember playing it for hours in my younger days. My brother and I still quote lines from the game 20+ years later. Rieko Kodama is truly a legend. May she rest in peace. Your video honors her well!
Thanks a lot Mike!
Skies of Arcadia is such an incredible and underappreciated masterpiece. It's the only JRPG I put in the same realm as Squaresofts best games. In my opinion, it also has the best sense of adventure in the entire genre. I still remember getting it for the Dreamcast and being absolutely immersed in its world. How I wish I could go back to those days.
Me too! What a great time
Jordan what you are doing covering games like skies which is my all time fav jrpg is amazing keep up great work. I played on Dreamcast and at 36yrs old now i still look on those days playing this as a kid as some of best in my life.
Great times!
About the comments of where everyone lives, one thing that should be mentioned, for those who haven't played, it does show massive cities. However, you only visit small areas of them. But, you can see the size of them in areas you don't visit in the backgrounds... In Nasr, you can see this large marketplace below the walkway you have access to. Some places, like Valusa and Yafutoma have gated areas that you can see huge cities behind with living areas, that you just can't access, but, are there.
no love interest? that's a throuple if I've ever seen one lol . i should really play this game
Nooooo don't do that to me! It would never end well :P
Great game choices Jordan - SUikoden Alundra and SKies of Arcadia? Fantastic choices - hope you do brave fencer musashi
What are some classic games you havent played yet
I’ve always wanted to try that one!
I watched a bunch of videos on Skies of Arcadia and this certainly was one of them. Bravo.
I'm glad mine was one of them! 🙂👍
One of my favorite games of all time subscribed thank you!
The best use of magic in this game is healing between battles since it only costs 1mp and 0 stamina to do so. I loved every moment of this game and my best friend and I were in to it at the same time so it created a nice shared memory for us.
Thanks for the long form review! I hope we get a switch port eventually.
Just need my dream of Skies of Arcadia HD Remaster w/dreamcast soundtrack and GCN content. Amazing video!
That would be the best of both worlds!
I had to stop this video half way and go start the game myself because you sold it so well!
Enjoy 😊
Didn't know about this one until now. Skies of arcadia sounds like a great Dreamcast era game.
Incredible for the time
Just got a Japanese copy to practice and the nostalgia of course. I used to wake up 2h before school just to cram in some more Arcadia. This review was a masterpiece btw. 🐬🐬🐬
I have no particular nostalgia with that game, I was already 25yo in 2004 when I buy it on the GameCube, had already played plenty of great JRPGs such as FF6/7/9, Grandia, and every Phantasy Star games, and traveled, worked and lived in about 26 countries... and yet, that game is gonna be a revelation to me! Never before I felt the call for adventure as I did with Skies of Arcadia, Grandia was close, Tales of Symphonia wasn’t bad either, but Skies was at a different level!
Since that time, I have played the game a countless number of times, and it still today, along with Phantasy Star IV (another game by Rieko Kodama, thank you so much madame) my favorite game ever.
It’s a great video you did here, and a fantastic love letter to that game.
Definitely going to be covering all of these games at some point!
I need a port of this on my Switch.
It is one of the only RPGs that my brother really liked that I don’t own now. It is also the last RPG he ever finished before he stopped playing RPGs and starting playing exclusively FIFA and CoD.
When I saw him actually doing airship battles that looked very dynamic for the time I knew the game was something special and I almost stopped playing my own PS2 RPG collection just to watch him play for hours and hours over the weekend.
If it weren’t for him playing and enjoying Skies of Arcadia so much I wouldn’t have gotten interested in watching him play Gamecube RPGs so much and he never would have bought Tales of Symphonia to play with me, allowing me to get interested in the Tales series myself and buy my own Tales game and personal favorite game of all time, Tales of Legendia.
When I got Daccat's Coin, I had the option of selling it as an antique for exactly enough money to pay for all the upgrades for the ship.
However, I held onto it, and ground left and right in fights to make up the money I could have just had in one go.
My rationale for this was, this was something I could save for future generations of my family. A family heirloom, and a tale to go with it of how I got it. In my mind, a pirate may want treasure, but this seemed like something someone with Vyse's temperament and character would have done.
When I was a teenager playing JRPGs, I often level grind early so the latter parts of the game are not as annoying for me.
I got that from my Pokemon on GameBoy days, early on I would level grind every 10 levels during each story arc early so by the 5th or so major place to visit I end up leveled up to at least 50 so I can make a dash towards the game's end.
In skies of Arcadia I started level grinding my way to level 50 before going to that Eastern Culture, so during that part where you finally got the big ship with the Moon Stone Cannon and you start recruiting your crew for your Pirate Base, that was when I really level grinded my way up so I could get through that annoying Turtle Boss easier than most.
And I only have to thank my experience from Pokemon on GameBoy for that sort of strategy.
I still have this on my shelf, found the gamecube version for 60e years ago, luuuucky~
I need to play it this year for sure.
Wow that's a really great price, especially considering how much it goes for now!
My gamecube didn't make it through the years. While I can never relive the magic of playing this game in my childhood, this video is the closest thing to recreating those moments. I come back to this whenever the world feels too heavy and I want to feel like a kid flying through sky islands again.
Great video from my favorite game!
Thanks for showing Rogue's Landing, it also gives me hope we'll get a remake one day.
🐬
I hope so too! Legend for watching all the way through! 🐬
I'm here for the long form videos to be honest. I play it while I "try" to sleep.
My hope is to keep people company as they try to sleep. Although perhaps in a less creepy way than that sounds haha
@@ABitMoreJordan 😅
Oh man I've probably seen this video 50 times. Love listening to your videos while level grinding haha
Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate the multiple watches 😁
1:08:00
1st time playing this game I found a neat trick Save up your discoveries and sell them as the girls You will get boat loads of money
You could also have the thermowrings equipped Before the separation but I never bothered doing that
Doesn’t Domingo claim them by that point?
This is a mammoth video! Must have taken many days of work to script, plan, record etc. You mad fool! Will sit down and watch in instalments but what a game.
Took a very long time indeed 😂
You should try the Maeson mod for this game it makes it much harder, adds cut content, new weapons / new ship equipment rebalances magic and SP its pretty nuts
Everytime I remember this game, I get frustrated again that this game is still stuck on the Gamecube and Dreamcast with no open source in sight. I freaking love the world and nowadays, I dream of what the world would be like if the game were remade with modern tech.
Like imagine a SOA remake that visually looks like the Valkyria Chronicles series. After all, some developers from SoA went to work on it and even Vyse and Aika show up as playable characters in the first game (or well alternate versions of them. Vyse Ingalbard, Aika Thompson, and a nameless Fina who has 2 identical sisters).
But alas. Sega is too busy milking Sonic and Persona to care about their bringing their older franchises back.
Yeah it seems Sega have other priorities than one of their best games ever 😔
i dont have time to play my fav jrpgs so i love how story focused your vids are
🐬. Took me a while to get to this.. damn holiday season. Great video!! I sold my copy on the game cube about 15 years ago, and regret it so much.
Awesome video about an awesome Game!
I played it ten years ago, but loved it wholeheartly!
Thank you 🐬
Also, no mention of the subquest extra about the Pirate Bounty Hunter?
Multiple mechanics for Skies of Arcadia went into the cel-shaded cartoon, Storm Hawks.
I wonder where Gilders base of operation is.
Skies of Arcadia is a great game and RIP Rieko Kodama
🙏
Actually there is a way to could mak a secuel without nagating everything, bu expanding on some discoveries moatly one in the dark rift you find a black cristal, that apparently was a piece of a theoretically black moon, imagine that having and acient civilization and even gigas they can make a story out of it
thanks for making this awesome review and recap
Great work man! I'm sure I'll enjoy this video just like the other ones
Thanks Michael 😊
I think the most you would get out of me about a game is "I don't know, it was good". Excellent work
😂 thanks a lot!
Do your long form! Also, I’m glad there’s a tiny community for this game. Not becoming a franchise is like your favorite show getting canceled after one season
bit late but keep making long form content! its good shit!
Thanks! 😊 👍
I got the GameCube version in the discount bin at a mall in CT for $15 in 2006! I was beside myself
😮
I didn’t even know what it was! I just thought it looked great… SEGA.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is great just got that for 9$!…SEGA too! Cheers my man
Considering that now if look for it at ebay it can cost over $200 😢 you were very Lucky
One of my favorite games of all time. I put so many hours on this one back in the day. I only played the Dreamcast version, maybe I should look into the GameCube version some day. Thanks for making this video, cheers!
I wouldn’t say it’s essential to play the GameCube version if you’ve already played the original but if you’re hankering for another play through then go for it
🐬 im a father of 6 from the UK. Born in 1985 so skys arrived at a great time for me! Only played it on the dreamcast but loved every moment. Thanks for all the effort you put in to this video 🙌🏼
I have my hands full with just 1 kid. Hope they keep you busy!
@@ABitMoreJordan that they do! Although i still get my gaming in when i can. Im looking forward to the horizon forbidde west DLC and currently playing through tales of vesperia for the 1st time via the switch.
🐬really like this format, separating the story section and the review section, made it easier to watch with no worries of getting spoiled
Thanks!
🐬This video kept popping up in my timeline, but I’ve never played Arcadia! Out of curiosity and my new love for RPG’s that’s been slowly growing I decided to give this vid a shot and boy do I wish playing this as a kid! An amazing story and what looks like insane gameplay. It’s definitely going on the list so I’ll update when I’ve beaten it for myself one day! Amazing video man you got a new sub right here!
The algorithm has been fairly kind to this one. Thanks for subbing!
@@ABitMoreJordan Hello again! I’m just commenting to let you know I recently did a top 10 on games that I want to have animated shows and Arcadia made the list and I credited you directly for introducing me to the game and the wonderful narrative! It’s around 11:13 if you had any interest in seeing it for yourself, thanks for working hard cuz it really left an impact on me and I still haven’t played it yet but hope to find a copy after beating Rogue Galaxy, thanks man!
I wish there would be a copy of the ship battle system in other games. It was so good and unique. I'm genuinely surprised I haven't played a game with that mechanic. Maybe they'll make a new skies game lol. Doubt it.
The only 2 I can think of: a DS game called Nostalgia and Mugen Souls which has ship battles but I can’t remember the mechanics if they are similar or not
This video propels me back to the beautiful innocence of my youth and to those emotions that will never be replicated again in adulthood. Thank you for the wonderful time
Glad you enjoyed it. I recaptured some youth while making this video
Suikoden, Silent Hill then Skies of Arcadia?! You’ve been hitting home runs with me my friend. Those are my personal favorites too!
Suikoden 2 is next, then it seems my producers have voted for Parasite Eve
Great video Jordan! This game looks amazing! Need to play this now 🐬
Yes you do! 😊 🐬
🐬 Wrapped up the video. I never had a Sega console and the Game Cube is the one Nintendo system I went without. This game looked really cool and it was fun watching and learning about it. Thanks for sharing the experience.
Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks a lot for sticking to the end! 🐬
45:00 Vyse doesn't care if Belleza is a woman.
He is going to use Harpoon Cannon from behind her ship.
That is true gender equality.
wow! seems like your Skies of Arcadia was my Grandia 1 : o
ngl, it sounds like this was a pretty good game I slept on ^^
wild story, interesting. i like the expressive-ness on the 3D models ^^
adorable.
Gonna be doing a Grandia one on the future for sure!
amazing video, love long ones like these! new subscriber!
Thanks for the sub! 😊
I will never give up my copy of Skies of Arcadia: Legends
I really hope that thanks to the confimation of many sega games being remade (shinobi, crazy taxi, etc) we get a remake and eventually a sequel of Skies of Arcadia.
if not I wish to make a succesor series like bug fables (being a succesor to the old paper mario games), I already have the concept though since I'm not an artist I have not many a lot of progress as of late still is something I think ablut making fully one day