Would you consider Skies of Arcadia (Legends) to be the best jrpg ever?

Is Skies of Arcadia (Legends) the best Jrpg ever?

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SantaC

SantaC

Member
Before anyone reaches for their pitchforks, I said Jrpg, so that excludes games like Witcher 3.

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SoA had it all. It had exploration, both in the sky and on the islands. It had normal battles and ship battles. It has a non offensive cast of party members with Vyse as a likable protagonist.

It also featured a very memorable OST. It is by no means a perfect game, but I do remember enjoying every aspect of it. It is a very rewarding experience.





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Skies of Arcadia was a huge step forward for the genre. It was, in terms of scale, absolutely mind-blowing back then.
Its traversal was unique and incredible. It felt like a very open world, actually skies, and you had quite a bit of verticality.

Battles were serviceable, the system wasn't too bad, but loadings were long and the time for the enemies to appear was long as well. Ship battles were very fun, although a bit too easy.

You had battles against giants that were amazing, and for the first couple the ship is too weak to be able to really battle, so it was handled in different ways which made it more credible.

The game had a ton of secrets, but it did lack a few optional dungeons. This would have been a great addition. Still, the content by itself was pretty overwhelming anyway, so I understand they did not go to the length of adding optional dungeons. You still had a few things to uncover at the end, which gave a reason to explore even more. Finding all the members of the ship was a very fun quest.

The Dark Rift is one of my favorite dungeons period. Absolute master-piece.

Soundtrack was godlike.

People don't realize the unbelievable achievement it was to make such a massive game with the tools and teams SEGA had back then. It was still very early, and we did not see such a massive game in scale in a long time. Rieko Kodama was behind the game, of course. After working on major games such as Phantasy Star I, II and IV, she was there again, defining major features of the genre.

Maybe not the best JRPG (but clearly one of the best), but definitely a very important entry in the genre. I would give the spot for best JRPG to Phantasy Star II or IV.
 
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No, but it's damn good and came at a time when Sega was at its finest (and final) hour.
 
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Vier said:
No, but it's damn good and came at a time when Sega was at its finest (and final) hour.
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We had top quality RPGs by SEGA recently. They still have a very strong core at SEGA Japan (and I am NOT talking of Atlus) that have great skills at making RPGs.

People don't realize how much of an evolution for Tactical-RPG Valkyria Chronicles has been. It was incredibly creative in terms of gameplay, as well as being ambitious. And it even was unique, and very well done, in terms of visuals. And around ten years later, they did Valkyria Chronicles 4, which is a must play. One of the best JRPGs in recent years, and by a large margin. This is the kind of RPG that is really carried forward by its brilliant gameplay and level-design, and you don't see this often in RPGs. Most of the time they have serviceable gameplay, and you reach the end to see the conclusion of the story first and foremost.

SEGA Japan are very, very good at making great, varied and balanced gameplay in RPGs. They even turned Yakuza into a RPG and succeeded. I have always been convinced that there were stellar RPG skills at SEGA Japan, and I am eagerly waiting for their next game.
 
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N[random encounter]o.


But its a good game, with some issues. Just like many other games, so I understand when it hits you at the right time, in the right mindset, at the right age, then it might become your favorite game and I think thats nice :)
 
Its up there but the combat was never good, let alone how it would fare today. Don't know, haven't played it in almost 20 years. In terms of OST, atmosphere, world building etc its one the best though.
 
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I absolutely love JRPG games, and I've never played this one. Probably should.
 
There are tonnes of superior Japanese role-playing games, most of them created by Square in one form or another. Though I have to admit it's always had a cool title, 'Skies of Arcadia' or 'Vagrant Story'? I know which title I'd pick.
 
As one of the biggest Sega fanboys you'll meet, I would say emphatically no.

The world and atmosphere of the game are phenomenal, and it looked and sounded great for its day, but once you peel that away, the game itself is... not great. The story is basically the story of FF1 and every other half assed JRPG since. Find the 6 McGuffin Crystals and defeat the Evil Empire with the power of friendship. The dialog is cloying and none of the characters have much of an arc.

The gameplay is worse. High random encounter rate paired with slooow battles and a relatively braindead battle system. It gets super tedious fighting the same encounters over and over again that take zero thought or skill but still take forever. Worst of all are those set piece ship battles where it literally tells you what to do and when so there's no stakes or tension.
 
+ Captures the spirit of classic adventure stories better than most RPGs. East or west.
+ It is fun.
- The Number of random encounters can be soul crushing, even with "Legends" tweaks.
- No definitive edition or recent remaster. Music was lower quality in GCN Legends edition.

At the time, people didn't even think it was the best Dreamcast RPG, saying that Grandia 2 was better. I feel that Grandia 2 was really lacking in scope compared to it and wasn't as memorable. I won't talk about Final Fantasy, as pretty much everyone has their own opinion on that franchise.
 
Played on gamecube with action reply (no random battles). It was great fun with a huge sense of adventure much better than the usual angst and boring tropes.

Maybe not the best, but certainly my favourite.

This thread is going to make me play it again isn't it? Bastard.
 
Does it have random encounters? Yes
How high is the encounter rate?
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It has instantly been disqualified from the best ever list.
 
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It's not even a good jrpg. It's decent and for it's time maybe, it was a little better than most...but so overrated and hyperbole to call it the best jrpg ever.

Dragon quest 11 has that title
 
ClosBSAS said:
It's not even a good jrpg. It's decent and for it's time maybe, it was a little better than most...but so overrated and hyperbole to call it the best jrpg ever.

Dragon quest 11 has that title
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DQ11 is definitely a top-shelf JRPG. Along with Shin Megami Tensei, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem.
 
ClosBSAS said:
It's not even a good jrpg. It's decent and for it's time maybe, it was a little better than most...but so overrated and hyperbole to call it the best jrpg ever.

Dragon quest 11 has that title
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DQ11 was cliche shit with a dull silent protag. Search for empty blank stare on google and the MC comes up. Beautiful game graphicvise but it didnt bring anything new to the table. On top of that, the music was very repetitive.

If anything, DQ11 is the most overrated jrpg ever.
 
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LOL fuck no, it's average at best and that's been generous to say the least it has abysmal random battle rates you can barely get a few inches without a damn battle kicking off it becomes a huge chore to play as the battles go sloooow.
 
I played it a bit when I was younger. Really slow, but I could see the appeal. It was also in 50hz, which I have sold and replaced by a 60hz NTSC version. You also played in 50hz SantaC SantaC ? Didn't that feel really slow?
 
I played it back in the days, got stuck at some giant wall of clouds... dropped out because I did not like it much to begin with.

So the answer is: NO.
 
I haven't played it since it was released for the Dreamcast, but it has this banger ewok song that I still think about sometimes.
 
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Yes. Great memories playing Skies, MvC2, PSO, Sonic Adventure, Spawn, Record of Loddus, Berserk, NBA2k, NFL2k, on Dreamcast with a dial up modem (lol). Great system, terrible marketing and management by Sega.
 
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