In a recent conference call to inform the media about its upcoming GameCube RPG, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Sega offered a summary of the game's concept and improvements since the original Dreamcast version, then answered questions about specific aspects of the game. The game’s producer at Sega of America, Rich Briggs, began by explaining the game’s story, which is mostly unchanged from the original Dreamcast version.

Skies of Arcadia Legends takes place in the Arcadia, a land of floating continents in which people travel on airships. The region of Valua is ruled by an evil queen, and to counteract her crimes, there is a gang of kind-hearted pirates called the Blue Rogues. Led by a man named Dyne, the Blue Rogues take from the rich and give to the poor, just like Robin Hood. Dyne’s son, Vyse, is the game’s main character. Vyse and Aika, his friend since childhood, discover a mysterious young princess named Fina. The three embark on a journey to rid the land of the evil Valuan Empire and discover the secrets of Fina’s past.

Vyse is an unusual main character for an RPG in that he is very positive and adventurous. Throughout the game, a “swashbuckling meter” keeps track of your valor both in and out of battle. Keeping the meter high will affect how people react to your presence. The main objective of Vyse’s quest is to obtain and protect the six Moonstones, which the empire is trying to use to control an ancient evil called the Gigas. The characters explore this vast world with their very own airship and the help of a magical treasure map.

The GameCube version of this critically-acclaimed Dreamcast RPG is basically a “Director’s Cut”, a more complete game incorporating many elements that developer Overworks was not able to include the first time. The graphic improvements are focused on the main characters, who have all been packed with significantly more polygons than before. For instance, they have individual fingers now, and Aika has been given a more “curvaceous” figure. The characters’ faces have also been given more detail.

In response to feedback from gamers who bought the Dreamcast version, Overworks has tweaked the battle system quite a bit. There are now fewer random encounters, and each one awards more experience points than before. Within the battles, the pacing has been bumped up, and both heroes and enemies have better movement routes, so that they no longer get stuck in corners or approach in circular paths. Overall, battles are faster, smoother, and less annoying than before.

There are no new playable characters; however, there is a new female bounty hunter, named Piastol, who is hunting down Vyse and his friends. Players will have the opportunity to confront her at several points in the game, and the encounters are optional for the most part. The reward for defeating Piastol is new background information on Vyse, such as how he received the scar on his face.

Moonfish are another new element. These magical items are scattered all over the game’s world, and when you find enough of them, you can give them to a sick child to nurse her back to health. In turn, the child’s doctor will give you vital story information about the game’s final boss.

There are also new discoveries – local rumors and legends that you can prove or disprove through exploration. As you make these discoveries, the information you uncover becomes part of the local dialogue. Finally, there are eight new gangs of evil pirates, each with a successively larger bounty on its head. These “wanted battles” are totally optional and quite challenging, but victory will result in huge cash rewards.

Most of the new content is clearly designed for hardcore fans of the original game. Sega says that while the game’s overall difficulty level has not really changed (other than battles being less frustrating), some of the new bits, especially the wanted battles, are quite difficult.

GameCube was chosen as the target platform for two reasons. First, Nintendo systems have had few RPGs in recent years, so there is little competition for Skies of Arcadia Legends. Second, Sega thinks the game’s positive, swashbuckling attitude will appeal strongly to the system’s slightly younger demographic as well as older players. Although the conversion took a year to complete, it was not a difficult process; Overworks simply wanted to take their time and do a clean job of it, rather than ship it off to an outside developer for a quick and dirty port. The game features Dolby Pro Logic II support, but not progressive scan. The Dreamcast version’s VMU mini-game was not carried over to GameCube, mainly because there wasn’t a good way to insert it into the game itself without it seeming out of place. However, all of the content originally downloadable via the Dreamcast’s modem has been inserted into the GameCube version as secret material. For instance, the characters’ ultimate weapons are now obtained by defeating certain bosses or accomplishing other tasks.

Finally, when asked if there will be a true sequel to Skies of Arcadia, Sega couldn’t confirm anything. They did say that both they and Overworks would like to make a sequel, but it really depends on how Legends sells on GameCube. So, you hardcore fans who want a sequel go out in droves and buy Skies of Arcadia Legends when it comes out in North America on January 28.

Last updated: 08/01/2002 by Mike Sklens

Skies of Arcadia is still on track for a GameCube launch this year in Japan. Also, the PlayStation2 version of the game has been canceled.

Sega has now announced some of the new features for the GameCube version of Skies of Arcadia. First off, the game will offer an improvement in the graphics over the Dreamcast version. Apparently, there will also be a slight overhaul to the gameplay itself, though nothing certain is known at this time. The biggest news of all is the addition of a new playable character to the game. Her name translates "Pistol". However, this name could change for the US version. Also, her ship appears to be named "The Avenger." She’s a bounty hunter apparently hired to go after Vyse and the gang. She uses a large scythe as her weapon.

The Dreamcast version of Skies of Arcadia was originally going to have some sort of feature where you could buy and sell ships. There was even a crew member that increased the value of your ship. That element never made it into the final version and there is a chance that it could find its way into this new version, although right now it’s just a matter of speculation. We do know for sure that new “elements” are also being added to the game. It’s anybody’s guess as to what these “elements” are, but there’s a good chance that new discoveries and items could find their way into the world of Arcadia.

Last updated: 10/31/2001

Sega had announce a little while back that their DreamCast RPG, Eternal Arcadia would be ported to both the GC and PS2. At the moment, we don't know what kind of bonuses will be added to these new versions, just that the graphics will be "updated". That could mean anything from minor changes (such as bumping the framerate to 60fps) to a complete overhaul of game code.

Either way, it probably won't change the story, so we'll get on to that.

Essentially the story revolved around a young Air Pirate known as Vyse. He and his childhood friend, Aika are junior crew of the Albatross, a gang of Blue Rogues. After they attack a ship from the Valuan Armada, they rescue a mysterious young woman named Fina. From there the story goes on to detail the exploits of the trio, who quickly become extremely close friends.

In the world of Arcadia there are a few main "groups" that traverse its skies.

Blue Rogues: They only steal from heavily armed merchants and the Valuan Empire. They'll never attack the unarmed and always help out travelers. The good sort, rather like Robin Hood. They're identifiable by the shades of blue that make up their mainsails.

Black Pirates: These are your average thieves and general bastards. They'll do anything for gold and have committed unspeakable acts. Their sails are black.

Valuan Armada: The Valuan Empire is based on a cruel society based upon class. The armada is the elite armed forces of the Empress Teodora who has almost no scruples....

In addition, there are the Six Moons, Yellow, Silver, Blue, Purple. Red and Green. Each symbolize one of the Elements and moonstones are used for everything from fuel to weapons reflect this.

The Battle system is interesting, if slow. Possibly the most engaging aspect is the "Spirit meter". Each character has a certain amount of Spirit Points, or SP, which they can use in battle to do special moves. The thing is that the entire party shares this SP pool, which regenerates by a certain number after each turn. Magic is handled differently: each spell costs only one Magic Point, but has various SP cost. Obviously the more powerful the spell, the more SP it will require.

The other main gameplay point is Ship Battles. Rather ingenious, or so I think. Each crew member can do an act, and you must plan your moves accordingly. Firing cannons, using magic all require SP to use, and there's often a "Super special move" that requires an arseload of SP to pull off.

In addition to all of this are making Discoveries and the fact that Vyse has a reputation. The more of a "Swashbuckler" you become in the game (or how heroic you are,) determines your rank. It starts out at "Vyse the Unimpressive" and goes all the way to "Vyse the Legend". People you speak with will react differently according to what your title is. Rather nifty.

Oh and as a final point, I'd like to point out that a port of the original Eternal Arcadia, kinda points to the sequel hitting the GC at some point.