One of the most underrated and greatest RPGs on an underrated console.
Skies of Arcadia tells the story of a young air pirate named Vyse. Vyse and Aika (his childhood friend) find a girl named Fina during a raid on an imperial vessel. Along with Fina, Vyse and Aika decide to leave home in order to leave their mark on the world. The unique world of Skies of Arcadia is made up of floating islands hovering over an abyss that no one can possibly come out of. People travel on giant, flying boats from island to island.
SoA uses a typical turn-based, random battle system but with a few alterations that make things a lot more interesting. They have added a circular elemental system based on the elements that make up the world. There are six moons that surround the world of Arcadia and each one is affiliated with a certain color/element. For example, the red moon is the fire moon and reigns over the desert area in Arcadia. You can switch weapons elements any time in battle in order to defeat the enemies which are also affiliated with a certain color. Also, to use special attacks, you must fill up a meter at the top of the screen that effects all your characters. So say, for example, if Vyse uses a special attack, it could use up too much energy so that Aika can't use her special attack. There is also a focus move that will charge up your energy at the cost of your turn. All in all, it's pretty balanced and very fun to play and has an incredible story with plenty of twists to it.
Another cool thing are the ship battles, and it set itself apart from other RPGs. 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 colour-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. It's different, yes, but also very well done.
The graphics are among the best for the Dreamcast. It has nice character designs, detailed and varied environments, and cool particle effects. Not much to complain about.
The sound isn't very disappointing either, though it's flawed. The music fits the tone for each event and sounds beautiful. While the sound effects are good, the voices you hear from the characters when they grunt and such are pretty lame. It could use real voice acting, have better sounds for voice acting or ditch it all together.
One of the main problems with the game is the high rate of random encounter-based battles, which is good for doing lots of battles to increase your experience for your characters, but can be a pain if you just want to travel. As you progress near the end, there's less frequent encounters, though there's a lot before it. And considering how challenging it gets, you must make strategic decisions to survive.
It takes around 40 hours to complete, and to add to replay value, there's Discoveries you must find. There are 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. If you feel up to it, you can find them all to know more about the story.
Overall, this game must not be missed. Great story, gameplay, graphics and music makes it worth playing, while lame voice overs and frequent encounters bring it down a bit. But it's so much fun and engaging that those flaws really don't destroy the game. If you don't have a Dreamcast, pick up Skies of Arcadia Legends for the Gamecube, or else you'll miss out on one of the best RPGs of all time.
Overall: 9.5/10