The very first thing you see after inserting the disc for Skies of Arcadia: Legends isn’t action or spectacle, but a text crawl. Black text on a white background set to distant, whistling wind. Perhaps even the sound of a flag flying in the distance. We’re informed that it’s a new age of exploration in a vast world full of treasure. And where there’s treasure…

Flash! The title zooms into view as bombastic horns segue into a lavishly animated opening sequence. A pirate ship gliding past a clear blue sky as if suspended by the sweeping strings in the background. No time for hesitation. You’re already setting sail and can taste the excitement in the air. It’s so magical it makes me tear up with joy every time. Even before you’ve hit the “New Game” button you’re being serenaded by an expertly choreographed string quartet as the sun sets behind you. It’s like you have no choice but to get excited.

The first stretch of gameplay is the best introduction to an RPG ever. A young woman is fleeing from a hulking battleship under the light of the full moon. Cannons with barrels the size of houses unleash a barrage of shells under the command of a snivelling general. A pale man in a white overcoat, far too busy playing with his blonde hair to care for her safety. Then all of a sudden, harpoons are shot into the hull. Sirens blare. Who could be responsible for this? A boy slides down a thick chain and lands on the deck, his cutlasses drawn in Tonfa grip.

“I’m Vyse of the Blue Rogues, and in a few minutes, I’ll be relieving you of all your valuables.”

This kind of expert character introduction could have only come from a team that really cared about what they were doing. It’s a love and attention to detail that runs throughout the whole experience. As you proceed to play out the entire rescue mission, it’s clear that the ship you’re battling your way through isn’t just a series of disconnected maps but a living, breathing machine. The pacing in the prologue is so sublime that by the time you’re given your own craft and a mission to take down the dastardly Lord Galcian, about eight hours will have passed without any idea where the time went.

Though by that point, you may notice some cracks in the traditional formula the developers are using here. The time where Final Fantasy was the premier high-budget franchise for long-form storytelling has long since passed us by. On top of this, my patience for random, turn-based battles with overly elaborate and unskippable animations has waned considerably since I played Dragon Quest IX as a child. The shared spirit metre at first is a welcome twist that prevents you from spamming the same techniques over and over. But at some point wasting entire rounds of combat to fill it back up, only to perish to a one-hit death spell I could never get to trigger myself tore at my soul. I hate to say that it also encompasses the majority of your playtime.

There are simply too many issues with the combat to count. The order at which your pirate crew executes their attacks is re-rolled at the top of the round, meaning you can’t queue a focus action ahead of time to get in extra damage. Offensive moves boil down to a strong attack that focuses on a single enemy and a weak move that targets the whole screen. Certain others require enemies to be in formation to connect, but movement is automatic. You might plan a turn around characters being in their current position, only for them to suddenly perform a choreographed dance outside of your control and miss.

About the only real strategy I found came by cycling two special moves that reduced incoming magic damage while deflecting standard attacks made against the party. Which meant I could just sit back on the sofa, relax and watch the monsters smack themselves to death. This would be hilarious fun, except for the fact that most late game enemies not only have access to unlimited healing, but also cheat by getting immunity to a lot of super moves. The legally mandated type matchup system also doesn’t give any indication what’s effective, meaning you can be stuck for hours assuming that enemies are tougher than they really are. I had to print out a chart just to get the challenge down to where it needed to be. Not to mention each skill has a corresponding item that takes priority in the initiative order. Naval combat does provide a necessary mixup in strategy, but it’s so painfully slow (particularly in the battle with the Red Gigas) that you’ll inevitably ask, “why bother?”

Because Arcadia is one of the most fully realised game worlds I’ve ever had the pleasure of wading through. Each character is the next best one. I can remember all their names with absolutely zero hesitation. Lines that would be corny in any other context start to grow on you. It’s like the writers took everything cool about Earth’s oceans and dragged it kicking and screaming thousands of feet in the air. You will catch fish in a customisable pirate ship, go bounty hunting for lost historical artefacts and have breathtaking, unscripted encounters with giant sky monsters. It’s commendable Vyse’s relationship with his friends is almost explicitly polyamorous given little representation this gets in other media. The overall structure of the plot might be a tad formulaic, but when each place you visit has its own distinct aesthetic and activities to participate in, it barely matters. Even if I do wish the locations could have gotten a bit more development and cultural specificity.

Around the same time that your high-fantasy sailing adventure really hits its stride however, the game just shatters to pieces. There must have been a problem with upper management or something because all of a sudden you’re whizzing past locations without enough time to stop and smell the roses. The plot seems over eager to get to the end and characters are just a little more muted than before, with a lot of false action going on in the background. Expressive animation and witty dialogue are enough to carry it through, but the dip in quality is very noticeable. There’s a lot of great mechanical twists in those last ten hours, but it’s all over before you make any use of them. Regardless of how well it concluded I almost don’t recommend you play that far because of a disappointing catch.

Skies of Arcadia features a surprising amount of rape. As in, less than two but more than zero. Hear me out. The key example is towards the halfway point and even though it’s a foiled attempt rather than a graphic attack in progress, the perpetrator is one of the game’s bosses. It really expects you to laugh as Aika acts understandably flustered at this grown adult following her around afterwards, making inappropriate comments about her seventeen year old body and acting like an absolute bastard. It’s not like it was necessary for heroic motivation either. He’s a general of the Valuan armada, an aggressive Spanish fleet analogue that shoots down lifeboats and deals in slaves. That’s reason enough to hate him. Though you fight and beat this guy multiple times, he’s one of very few villains who gets to live at the end. I hate this so much. It shocked me, but in an unwelcome way, because I thought we were supposed to be swashbuckling our way through an Errol Flynn movie. Not sitting down for a very special episode of To Catch a Predator. I refuse to honour the pointy-haired freak responsible with a name. The fact that multiple other NPCs also retread softer, yet adjacent ground made me quite ill. For all the mechanical improvements that were made in the Legends release it’s disappointing this was deemed acceptable.

At the same time, I have a strong desire for that not to be anyone’s lasting impression of Skies of Arcadia, not least mine, because the sense of childlike wonder was far sweeter than the bitter tang of its unsavoury tropes and broken mechanics. I ended up loving it in spite of its flaws. It’s rare that I put a game down and immediately want to write fanfiction about it. The people contained within its MIDI music and low-poly graphics felt real. I already miss them and want them to come home. Sadly, this seems unlikely, as SEGA lords over the intellectual property like an oversized dragon, the game’s lead artist and producer Reiko Kodama having passed away in 2022. The infamous publisher has been teasing new content in this franchise for two decades now since the cancellation of the PC port in 2004, but alas. Only a few scant mentions in SEGA All Stars Racing and Valkyrie Chronicles remain. It’s a crying shame and I can only hope that the lead director’s wish to create a sequel is granted within my lifetime.

What is there left to say other than: Moons, give me strength!