Skies of Arcadia Legends for GameCube Reviews by Gamers

The Gamecube is starving for good RPGs, so thank Sega for porting Skies of Arcadia to the system. A Dreamcast game that came in at the end of the systems short life, it was critically-acclaimed but didn't sell well because of the unfortunate time that it hit the market. So it makes sense Sega saw it as a good candidate to get new life on the Gamecube. And what life it has. Skies of Arcadia is a turn-based RPG with some wonderfully inventive concepts and gameplay. You play Vyse, son of a famous air pirate, who helps out a mysterious stranger, Fina, with the help of your loyal friend Aika and several other ecclectic characters. The Valuan Empire believes Fina has important information they need to rule the known world and Vyse is on a mission to help her out and set things straight. You have to take some things for what they are, like the idea that ships, islands, fish and humans are floating in the sky, but it makes for a fun game. For instance, you can move your ship in three dimensions, diving and rising to find discoveries, towns and passageways to new lands. There are two kinds of battles: ship and character. In character battles, you give your party of four or less commands and then watch the round play out. This will take a little while, so feel free to do your taxes between rounds (okay, it's not that bad). Ship battles make for interesting gameplay, as you give your characters commands to man cannons, take evasive action, etc. There are many sub-missions, goals and collection quests to keep you playing above the 60 hour mark. The story isn't half bad either. If the graphics look dated, they are (hey, it was a Dreamcast game). And you may wonder why the dialogue is all text boxes with occasional shouts of "Uh uh" or "Die!" And the random battles in the sky and dungeons will get aggravating. But it doesn't stop this game from being addictive and entertaining. If you didn't play this on the Dreamcast, this is your chance. Take it.

In the days when every RPG is trying to be inventive and change many of the qualities that most RPG fans love about the genre, this game sticks to the basics. It gives you a great story line intermixed with a good number of side quests as well as the classic turn based battle action. If you liked the old classics in the genre this game is for you.