I Guess I'll Just Use LJ For Reviews, Since I Have Little Else To Say
Skies of Arcadia Legends
GC
DC Version Contains Significant Differences
Sega
Standard RPG
GRAPHICS/LOOK: 2/3
Quite nice visuals, both colorful and generally clear. A few actual cinemas would have been nice, but in general, everything's quite pleasing to the eye. There are also a few nice art scenes that are shown during the game.
MUSIC/SOUNDS/VOICE ACTING: 4/7
The music is great in SoAL. Several themes are terrific, and all fit very well. The regular battle theme is somewhat dull and repetitive, but that's the only real problem.
The main reason SoAL loses points in this catagory is that the sound quality of voice acting and even some background noise at times (notably Doc's boat) is really pretty bad. While Aika has clear voice acting during battle, the other characters, particularly Gilder, often sound fuzzy and difficult to interpret. It can get fairly annoying and distracting after a while.
MINIGAMES: 1/1
Unless you count ship battles, there aren't really any minigames that I can remember, so no point lost. And if you do count ship battles, well, those are quite fun anyways.
CHALLENGE: 3/5
In general, the challenge is just about right. Bosses tend to be difficult, but not too much.
However, there's a couple slight problems--one, the optional bounties and Piastol battles. These get harder to match the player's level-gains as the game goes on, but some are just plain frustrating in their difficulty. The Piastol fights have actual plot significance, too, so it can get really annoying that they're unreasonably hard sometimes. In addition, ship battles later on, once you get a better ship, are almost all absurdly easy. I ended up liking the last two ship bosses the most just because they were the only ones who could actually survive a prolonged battle. So in general, the challenge is good, but at times just too skewed.
BATTLE SYSTEM/PLAYABILITY: 7/9
The battle system for both regular and ship battles is moderately complex, but easy to understand and plan strategies through. The regular battle system is not terrible innovative, but it has a couple twists that keep it from being boring, as well. Level and spell progression is fine. The playability is also good--you have good control over your character, and though there are times when it's hard to get him (or her, at certain points) to face the exact right direction to examine something, there's generally no problems.
PLOT: 29/35
SoAL has a very good plot. It doesn't take its time to develop, like the usual "personal journey becomes world-saving quest" story, yet at the same time, the world-saving quest is never all there is to it--everything that happens is also part of a personal journey for the protagonist Vyse and his friends, and several times the game will remind you that this isn't just a duty for Vyse, it's also living out his own personal goals and dreams. It's subtle enough that it doesn't strike you immediately as original, but when you think about it--how many other RPGs can say the same? Sooner or later in most of them, the epic quest and their personal feelings of honor, obligation, duty, and whatever, push out their other personal needs and goals. It's an interesting twist, and I like interesting twists.
The plot itself is fairly standard--a "collect 6 special crystal things before an evil empire/general do or all is lost" kind of deal. But a good execution can always make an old story seem new again, and SoAL does quite well in that regard. You'll be interested in seeing what happens next right to the end.
There's one other part of the plot that I quite like, and that's the setting. The general idea is that Arcadia is a six-mooned world of floating islands, which is generally where people live, and to get to other islands people employ airships. But not the general blimp kind of airships we're used to seeing in RPGs--these are real ships, based on water-based ones on Earth. You'll see wooden pirate ships (which makes sense, given that the game is based on pirates, both the regular true-to-life cowardly murderer kind and a Robin-Hood-esque type), steel battleships, lifeboats, and many more as you sail about. And you'll probably be fighting most of them, too.
This may sound familiar to you--the idea isn't entirely original. Squaresoft's Bahamut Lagoon had the idea of floating islands in the sky comprising a world long before Sega made Skies of Arcadia. Nonetheless, this is an almost completely different take on that idea, so it still feels like a whole new and interesting experience. And this time, sailing from one place to another isn't an obscenely boring drudgery, thank God--The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker this is not.
CHARACTERS: 30/35
The characters are great. The hero, Vyse, isn't exceptional, but his adventuring enthusiasm that goes with his standard hero sense of virtue and justice is a nice touch that keeps him from seeming like just another damn kid protagonist on a quest. Aika and Fina are likewise fairly close to standard character models--Aika's the cheerful female and Fina's the mysterious girl from a distant place--but each has a solid personality that makes them likeable and interesting. Enrique, Gilder, and Drachma are also much alike--clearly recognizable RPG character types, but with good personaliities and development to keep them interesting. All the characters mesh very well with the plot, as well.
One thing I also like about the main three (Vyse, Aika, and Fina) is that they work really well together. They aren't just good characters thrown together by chance, they're good characters who build off of one another. I also have to say that I enjoy the seemingly strange lack of serious romance in this game. I love a good love story as much as anyone, but it can be very refreshing to play a game whose plot and characters can be very good without having to rely on a romantic hook to reel players in. Not to say it's not there--both Aika and Fina both show definite interest in Vyse (another thing I like: no stupid competition for him, either. They're both great friends; if anything, they show more friendly affection for each other than for him!). It's just that it never tries to break into the story. It's there for the player to consider and enjoy, but the events of the plot are more important and pressing, which frankly makes sense.
The one problem with the characters would be the villains--the two main ones are just plain dull and boring. Ramirez is far too remniscient of Sephiroth, and Galcian is as unoriginal as it gets. Even if you see all of Ramirez's backstory, it still doesn't make him at all an interesting villain--just the standard over-dramatic type who gives up on all people based on one bad experience. Note to developers: that's not a good villain, that's just a shallow idiot.
PACE/LENGTH: 5/5
Good, long game, but not so long that you get bored with it. The pace is also good--nothing seems to happen too slowly or too fast.
EXTRAS:
+2 for all the sidequest stuff. There are several different small sidequests to engage in, such as beating all 10 Wanted Black Pirates, defeating "powerful" sky monsters, discovering interesting places and things, and (most notably) catching Moonfish. That sidequest is very nice, because it provides a lot of interesting backstory of both Vyse and Aika and of the main villains.
+2 for the crew and base. You get to recruit people to man and maintain your second ship and your personal base, and also get to choose how it's built and developed. It's like a minor version of a Suikoden game, really, and great fun. You can also summon the crew members into battle to help you out, which is a fun bonus.
OVERALL: 85/100
Great game, lots of fun and fairly unknown.
Like This? Try:
Suikoden Series (3 And 4 Especially)
Bahamut Lagoon
Breath of Fire 2