# Skies of Arcadia ## Thoughts This is one of my all-time favorites — see [[Skies of Arcadia Legends]] for more thoughts! For the [[Dreamcast]] version of *Skies of Arcadia* specifically, I feel like the sound quality is indeed noticeably higher than in *Legends*, but there are some drawbacks that are also noticeable, namely the load times and not having the extra content from the [[GameCube]] port. It takes a moment for random battles to get situated as the Dreamcast loads in character models and such, so you have to be a little bit more patient throughout the game. For some reason, the part of the game where you're going between Nasr and Crescent Isle was especially painful in random battles for me. A small quirk that I've noticed is that the dynamic boss battle music doesn't work quite as well as it does for the GameCube. The Dreamcast can't load the next track quickly enough so there's half-turn or more of delay before you get that tension/optimistic flavor of the boss battle track. In *Legends*, it transitions almost instantly, which is really immersive when a character take a particularly bad hit and the dramatic music kicks in right away. On the topic of content, things that are missing are the doctor that has you look for Moonfish throughout the game and Piastol, i.e. The Angel of Death. Neither of those are side-quests I'd consider essential, but I do think they add some fun extra things to do. One other thing would be the bounty system, which is actually very fitting given the whole context of air pirates in the game's world, and I think that was a nice addition to the GameCube version. ## Progress **Main Story:** *In Progress* **Highest Swashbuckler Rank:** *Vyse the Valiant*[^1] --- [[2026 - June 15 - Monday]]: I haven't played this a ton lately, but last week I got to Yafutoma, followed by the blue moon crystal temple. I'm not looking forward to this part — water temples are almost never very fun to me. Once I get through this stuff, I'll be able to start moving pretty quickly again, I think. --- [[2026 - June 6 - Saturday]]: Recently while playing, I escaped Valua along with Enrique and the Delphinus! After visiting Sailors' Isle and Nasr, I headed to Crescent Isle to give the first 25,000 gold to the engineer to beef up the ship. I just need to gather another 30,000 or so to give the full 75,000 to the builder to get the new base up and running. … Scratch that, I got the money pretty quickly because Daccat's Coin sold for 20,000 gold on its own! I'm through the Dark Rift now! This part used to scare me quite a bit when I played this game the first time around as a kid! ![[dark-rift.jpg]] --- [[2026 - June 1 - Monday]]: I just got to the Temple of Rixis in Ixa'Taka after defeating De Loco and rescuing the slaves from Moonstone Mountain! I might swing back over to Horteka for healing items, though, as I recall there being a fair number of enemies in this temple, plus the ship battle that occurs after reaching the end against the green Gigas. --- [[2026 - May 28 - Thursday]]: I powered through a lot of the early game, and I'm really enjoying it! I haven't done a play-through of this game for a long time, so a lot of it feels pretty fresh to me. I just beat Recumen, the red Gigas in Nasr, and am about to start heading towards Ixa'Taka. --- [[2026 - May 21 - Thursday]]: Since I just finished [[Rayman 2 - The Great Escape]], I decided to stay on the [[Dreamcast]] train and start this classic. It's one of my favorite games, and I haven't played it in a minute — much less on the Dreamcast versus the [[GameCube]]! So far, I just got through the initial prologue and reached Pirate Isle. I'm excited to play more of it as I'm sure a lot of the game will seem fresh to me at this point. ## Swashbuckler Ranks I'll mark the ranks that I've gotten as I play through the game! - Vyse the Ninny ❌ - Vyse the Coward ❌ - Vyse the Unimpressive ✔️ - Vyse the Blue Rogue ✔️ - Vyse the Competent ✔️ - Vyse the Determined ✔️ - Vyse the Respected ✔️ - Vyse the Admirable ✔️ - Vyse the Bold ✔️ - Vyse the Valiant ✔️ - Vyse the Daring ❌ - Vyse the Dashing ❌ - Vyse the Fearless ❌ - Vyse the Hero ❌ - Vyse, King of Rogues ❌ - Vyse the Legend ❌ [^1]: See the "Swashbuckler Ranks" section for the list of possible ranks, which can be acquired by progressing through the game as well as picking the best dialogue options during cutscenes 🏴‍☠️