Why my favourite games rock: I Wanna Touch the Sky

It’s been a while since I sat down and bashed out an essay-length post about a favorite game of mine and why I think it rocks. So for today, seeing as I have nothing better to go on about, I would like to talk about a game close to my heart: A game called Skies of Arcadia.

Now, I like my RPGS but, as any gamer would tell you, RPGs are the type of game that demand a huge commitment: They present huge worlds that can be explored, problems that need to be solved, strategies that need to be devised,  and are the type of game that demands a huge amount of time form the playing (average of seventy hours maybe?). Now whilst I’ve played many RPGs, they aren’t the type of game that I would willingly pop back into the console for another run through. Skies of Arcadia however is a rare exception – once a year I like to go back and take yet another shot at this game. And for a game to do that, it must be a special one indeed, right? Of course.

Now allow me to brutally honest: if you’ve played more than few JRPGs then the set up for Skies of Arcadia would sound disturbingly familiar: In Skies of Arcadia, the player controls a guy named Vyse, a courageous but cocky young lad (ooh here we go) who is part of band of sky pirates (ooh pirates) along with his female best-friend-since-childhood-but-not really-romantic interest Akia (aren’t they all?). During one particular raid, they encounter a mysterious teenage girl (well they’re sticking with the familiar) named Fina whose origins are unknown (ho-hum) and whose in possession of a great power (like you do). This zany trio then teams up to go on an adventure which involves exploring the world, recovering magic crystals (as they all seem to do) and defeating an evil empire (because there’s no such thing as good empires – you thank Star Wars for that). 

Original image located here. Accessed 23rd July 2013

Have I lost you yet? I hope not. True Skies of Arcadia may be following the standard JRPG textbook but there is a lot going on about this game that somehow manages to capture interest.

So what do I like about this game? Well I like exploring the world set before me. I’ve had many an enjoyable time traversing from one end of the world to the other and finding new locations. I love how the obligatory JRPG airship is made available from the very beginning and the inclusion of the Discoveries is a nice touch. I love visiting the various areas and the designs put into them. I like how later in the game, one gets a crew and gradually builds up a pirate base. And if anything, I love how the game world actually feels genuinely huge – which is perhaps rarer than one would think.

I also like the characters – the three leads in particular have a lot of personality and the journey they take is indeed one worth following. The side characters are also heaps of fun too with Gilder being a particular favorite (he’s DA MAN!). And I also like the music – easily one of the best gaming soundtracks I’ve heard – being loaded with memorable tunes arranged in a manner both inventive and magnificent . The combat is fun – okay sure the rate encounter is ridiculous and the ship-to-ship battles get tedious but all else there is certainly a lot going for Skies of Arcadia.

But what interests me the most about Skies of Arcadia is that it seems a deliberate attempt to go against the grain of what was popular in JRPGs at the time. Keep in mind that this game was released in 2000 and at the time Sony was still relishing in the success brought about by both Final Fantasy 7 and 8. That being said, I have this fancy about Skies of Arcadia: Sega saw the success of both Final Fantasy 7 and 8 and noted some key features, namely the drab cyberpunk settings, the dour characters and how everything was done with seriousness and solemnness – so someone in Sega thought: Bugger this, let’s do something of our own! And it shows: Everything in Skies Arcadia eschews dark and serious for brought and colourful. Instead of dealing with the theme of a doomed world coming to end, there is the theme that there world is out there to be explored. Instead of a mopey/emo-esque lead character, Skies of Arcadia presents a lead with an enthusiastic, never-say-die personality that comes across as curiously refreshing. Hell, Skies of Arcadia even takes the character tropes that defined the party in Square’s games and puts a distinct twist on it. If anything, the more I look at Skies of Arcadia, the more it becomes clear to me that the makers really wanted to take the seriousness of both Final Fantasy 7 and 8 and really show it up. And for me, such audacity needs to be lauded.

Ultimately, the greatest impression Skies of Arcadia leaves on me is that it is a labor of love. Obviously the people who made it realized that the Dreamcast was in dire need of a major RPG so they put everything they had into. And to have such a game convey the amount of effort put into it is something worth celebrating when game companies tend to stamp out thoughtless, generic rehashes of popular franchises (looking at you EA!). And whilst Sega’s reputation as a RPG maker is patchy to say the least – more of a case of misses than hits – it is indeed welcome to see them finally conceive an RPG that actually works a treat.

Sadly due to it being on the Dreamcast, Skies of Arcadia didn’t go anywhere afterwards – it did turn up on the Gamecube however with the magnificent soundtrack reduced to Midi tunes but that was it. Alas, Skies of Arcadia ended up joining the scrap heap of Sega’s failed IPs. Still you never know: Sega certainly seem keen on rehashing past games for the XBLA, PSN and Virtual Console so maybe there could lie the possibility of seeing this great game redone in HD.

In fact I’d rather play Skies of Arcadia in HD than a complete HD built-from-the-ground-up Final Fantasy 7 revamp….

Original image located here. Accessed 23rd July 2013