Now that Sega has announced its withdrawal from the console hardware market (and the death of the Dreamcast), one can only look back at its brief history and wonder at how this could have come to pass: With stunning sports games, 3D and 2D fighters, solid action games, and some of the funnest titles ever created (e.g. CRAZY TAXI, JET GRIND RADIO, SAMBA DE AMIGO), how could it not have done well? And before the astonishment can settle in, along comes another title to further solidify the Dreamcast as an amazing console system, and legitimize its claim to an RPG heritage: Sega Japan and Overworks' SKIES OF ARCADIA. This marks the Dreamcast's first true RPG released in the U.S., and for Overworks' first attempt on this new system, their efforts are nothing short of amazing.

When you first hear the word "RPG," many ideas are invoked: From "games for geeks" to "FINAL FANTASY," the word "RPG" (or "Role-Playing Game") has been the source of much inspiration and negativity. Or people may think of the "traditional, high fantasy, Euro-centric" setting of knights and dragons, and swords and sorcery. Certainly there is nothing wrong with any of those ideas, but the good thing is that Sega Japan / Overworks (creators of the original PHANTASY STAR series) have done an outstanding job of shattering many of those stereotypical notions, and given Dreamcast owners a true breath of fresh air.

To start out with, the inherent attitude and mood of this game is different from most RPGs out there: It is about Exploration and Adventure. The main character, Vyse, is an optimist! While it may not seem like much, stop and think about the majority of RPGs out there, and what their main character is like. Most of the time, they are confused, angry, naive / unsure, or just plain jerks. Vyse, while just starting out, is a flat-out optimist: He's constantly willing to go the extra mile, to look at the bright side of things, and to be the best Blue Rogue on the planet. This alone brings a massive breath of fresh air to the genre, and makes this game that much more enjoyable. His positive thinking and good-naturedness is infectious, not only to his comrades, but to the game player as well. You can't help but be genuinely happy when Vyse and his crew win their battles and continue to stop corruption with their actions.

Besides Vyse's refreshing attitude, the rest of the characters help complement and round out this game to make it even more enjoyable. First off is the main heroine, Aika, Vyse's long-time childhood friend and sweetheart. She, like Vyse, is more interested in going off on adventures and questing, than being love-sick, fighting over Vyse, or acting pensive. One of the highlights is most definitely Aika and Vyse's "high five" sequence, when they win battles. Fina plays the quiet, demure girl, but unlike in so many trite anime series or games, where you'd expect some love triangle to form and incessant bickering to start up between the three of them, nothing of the sort happens in SKIES OF ARCADIA. Instead, all the characters have really unique and charming personalities that only help further the main storyline and also re-emphasize the overall mood of the game.

Story-wise, SKIES OF ARCADIA is about Vyse, son of the leader of the Blue Rogues, who travel around a planet made up of floating islands with no solid land! They've been suddenly attacked by the Valuan Empire, who play the primary antagonists in this story, and Vyse now sets forth to discover what's at the root of all this. The fact that this game is set in the sky, and that you fly around to all your destinations via flying airships, adds yet another refreshing element to this game. It would make Miyazaki feel proud to have seen what you can do here. Massive flying ships that travel through the clouds, and air dock at various floating islands and cities in the sky, add to the refreshing feeling.

If the previous points didn't convince you to get this game, then maybe the technical aspects will: Graphically, the game features very nice, "next generation" quality high-res textures, and very pretty special effects. While the spells are nice, the "Special Moves" (like Limit Breaks in FINAL FANTASY VII) for each character are where the most flashy effects lie: From "basic" Special Moves like Aika's Lambda Burst, to Vyse's crazy Pirate's Wrath special attack, the effects are deftly handled and well done. The characters all have very anime-inspired facial expressions that change from happy to sad (and a variety of other emotions), and they truly help bring them to life.

The only downside would be the audio: The english-dubbed voices are downright horrible in some places, proving once again that U.S. console game companies have a lot to learn. The weirdest aspect is the "half grunts" that occur once in a while, where they recorded the first "word" or "emotion" to a person's dialog, and then cut it off, like Aika's "Huh?" when she has any dialog with a question in it. It's as if they wanted to "add emotion" to a normally speechless game, but couldn't afford voice overs (spoken dialog) for the entire game. But nevermind that nit-picking. In the end the music nicely drowns out these voices, and you accept them after some time.

Much more can be said about SKIES OF ARCADIA, but the bottom line is that it is truly one of the all time great RPGs ever. From the inspiring story, to the optimistic characters, to the nice, next generation graphics, this game has it all. SKIES OF ARCADIA can probably be best summed up with the ideals of our own "Age of Exploration." When you play SKIES OF ARCADIA all you can think of are the ancient Spanish galleons and the high seas, and pirates and exploration, with a touch of Miyazaki and flying through the air. Magical and inspiring, with one of the best endings ever in a video game, SKIES OF ARCADIA is RPG perfection.

Rating: 9.4 / 10.0