Surprisingly delightful gaming experience!
Never having been a big fan of the Phantasy Star series and knowing that the same team responsible for them was also responsible for Skies of Arcadia, I wasn't expecting much. But, boy, was I surprised!Arcadia features great and, at times, stunning graphics; a soundtrack that fits the environments and moods of the game; some silly and, perhaps, obnoxious voices similar to those heard in Grandia; and a story that, though simple in plot, has some great twists. For instance: early on, your adventures are interrupted by the sudden kidnapping of your father and friends, and you have to go into enemy territory and make a daring rescue.There was no shortage of time spent on the battle system either. Battles in Arcadia are fun and challenging; no longer can you just wait to heal your party after the battle -- you may actually have to use some strategy and find the right time to heal your party in between attacks. Arcadia's battles are similar to Chrono Cross' in that they, too, use a color system. A player can change his weapon to a different color (green, red, purple, blue, yellow, or silver) that may be more powerful against certain enemies. For instance: say you're fighting against an ice-based monster; if you change your weapon's color to red, you will inflict more damage since red represents fire.All magic cast in Skies of Arcadia costs only a single magic point, but each spell expends several "Spirit Points." The statistics of each character in your party include a "Spirit" value and a "Max Spirit" value. The combined "Spirit" of the characters is the amount of "Spirit Points" that your party will start each battle with and is also the amount they will gain every turn, while the combined "Max Spirit" of the characters is the maximum amount of "Spirit Points" that they are allowed to accumulate in a battle. Here's an example: say you have two characters, one with a "Spirit" of 2 and a "Max Spirit" of 5, and the other with a "Spirit" of 1 and a "Max Spirit" of 4. This means you'll start each battle with 3 "Spirit Points" and will gain 3 every turn, but you will only be able to get a maximum of 9. So if you wish to use a magic spell that costs 4 "Spirit Points," you will have to wait until you have accumulated enough. You are, however, allowed to have a character "Focus" for his turn, which will add that character's "Spirit" to the collected "Spirit Points," speeding up the process. I think that this "Spirit Point" system adds a little bit more strategy to battles; you might have just enough "Spirit Points" to cast one spell and would have to decide whether to use it to heal your party or to inflict heavy damage upon your enemies. Magic is put into the six classes of colors previously mentioned, and you learn new magic by gaining "Magic Experience" at the end of battles. If you want a particular character to learn green magic, you'll have to end a battle with that character's weapon colored green. A character will gain double the amount of "Magic Experience" gained at the end of a battle for the color of his weapon, and only a single helping of "Magic Experience" for the colors of his comrades' weapons. For example: at the end of a battle a character's weapon is yellow, his comrade's weapon is green, and the "Magic Experience" gained is 2. Thus, the character will gain 4 experience in yellow and 2 in green, while his comrade will gain 4 in green and 2 in yellow.In addition to magic, there are certain abilities specific to each character that can be executed during battle. These "Super Moves," unlike magic, which costs one magic point, only cost "Spirit Points," though often a lot. Also, the only way to learn more "Super Moves" is by finding and eating a certain amount of Moonberries. But you'll have to be careful in choosing who learns the next "Super Move," as Moonberries are hard to come by.The world of Skies of Arcadia takes place in the sky where there are several small islands to travel to, and the only way to travel is in an air ship. Also, in the skies you will oftentimes see other ships; they may be merchant ships, from whom you may obtain information and wares, or they may be enemy ships...which brings me now to ship battles. These battles are different than the common hand-to-hand battles in that your ship is attacking another ship; they can last for quite some time and require a greater degree of tactical thinking. In ship battles you give orders to each of your characters; these commands can include firing the cannons, steering the ship to evade an attack, or repairing any damage inflicted by the enemy ship. Firing cannons will use "Spirit Points," so you can't just fire nilly willy; you'll have to use strategy and know when to fire and when to evade.Skies of Arcadia is a fun, solid, lengthy, and challenging RPG. My only real gripe is that at times there seem to be too many hand-to-hand battle encounters as you're exploring ...
