Gaming Target - GameCube: Skies of Arcadia Legends

Written by Jeff Milligan on January 13, 2003

First Impressions: Who says all pirates have to be named after the color of their beard?

When you take a look back on the Sega Dreamcast, you will notice one inevitable fact... it had a ton of amazing RPG's. Ranging from the original battle system of the Grandia series to the online trials of the Phantasy Star series, the Dreamcast pretty much had it all. However, one of these great games came almost silently, with only the most devoted of RPG fans expecting it. What once was this unknown new-comer soon exploded into an instant success. Eventually, it earned the honor of being one of the best games to hit the system. That game was none other than Skies of Arcadia.

The once premier RPG has since become little more than a memory to most, being revisited only by those who have stuck by their Dreamcast. Yet there remains hope for those who could not relive their fond memories, for the all powerful Sega is bringing the saga back to reality on our own little GameCube in Skies of Arcadia Legends. Though being a port, Legends does have a few new tricks up its sleeve, including updated graphics, plot twists, side quests, new characters, and more items and weapons. OK, I lied, there's more than a few new updates.

You can almost call Legends the "director's cut" of Skies of Arcadia. For anyone that knows the difference between Resident Evil and Resident Evil Director's Cut, you'll know what this entails. It has the same basic game behind it, but with extra material tacked on for a deeper gameplay experience.

For all of those who never had a chance to play the original, Skies of Arcadia put you in control of a pirate named Vyse. Vyse was not the parrot toting, eye patch wearing, scallywag kind of pirate you are probably thinking of. On the contrary, Vyse is a smooth talking young gun who captains a different sort of ship, one that flies. On one of his routine treasure runs, Vyse rescues a mysterious girl named Fina, who is being chased around by a giant battleship. Of course, the battleship doesn't seem to like that you stole it's prey, so it follows you and gives you all sorts of trouble. So begins your adventure.

One of the biggest additions developer Overworks is throwing into Legends is the addition of a new main character. She's mean, she's crude, and she carries a really big scythe. Let's give a big warm welcome to Piaster! Small details have been given so far about how she falls into the storyline, but what we do know is that she's a bounty hunter who is for some reason after Vyse. The "Angel of Death" as she has been deemed, apparently is not the only new character making an appearance, but she does seem to play the biggest role in the updated storyline.

So now that you know the basis of the storyline, let's continue on with some of the other characters you'll be interacting with. Being the stud-muffin that Vyse is, he has two female companions that go on voyages with him, Aika and the newly acquired Fina. Together, they travel from floating island to floating island (now you see the need for a flying ship) seeking riches. Throughout the journey, you'll soon realize that you're not the only pirates in Arcadia, and battles against enemies are frequent. This brings me to my next subject, the battle system.

SoA Legends will present you with two types of battles: ship-to-ship, and your classic RPG turn based battling. The ship battling system has been slightly improved over the original and now features spell effects, special attacks, and a new battle engine. Hand-to-hand combat also has a few new improvements, boasting over 70 total weapons and 36 magical skills which can improve your parties abilities.

A more powerful console = clearer and more vibrant colors and Overworks has promised us just that. They're especially focusing on the character models by making the characters more life-like. Improved battle sequences have also been mentioned. The ability to cancel attack animations is a huge plus for Legends, as slow and boring battles were one of SoA's biggest downfalls. All of these updates are focusing to improve one aspect in Legends, the overall tempo of the game, making it a bit more fast-paced and action-packed. What can all of you SoA veterans expect besides fancy graphics and some new characters? Legends will bring all of you nuts a horde of new items and secrets, just for you.