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The Overworks team behind Skies of Arcadia is also the team responsible for the venerable Phantasy Star series on the Genesis. These games are classic RPGs and the best in their genre on the Genesis console. SOA is the latest work from this talented team, and suffice to say, blows away the past efforts made by the Overworks team.
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Visually, SOA is a very pretty game. The characters are all well-designed, the various cultures you encounter all have a different look, and the overworld is incredibly cool and original. The towns and dungeons are also cool, in that they are well-designed and vary greatly from another. The effects are well-done, as is the lighting for the most part. The textures, too, are quite good looking and tie together the visual package. To top it off, the ships that are such an integral part of this game look excellent, and they all are different looking, depending on what region of the world they came from. On the whole, the visuals in this game are great, especially considering the size of this game.
SOA is a very original game in terms of its universe. The world that you play in is one in which the land masses are in the skies, and you travel via airships between them. The world actually does a great job of mimicking the Age of Exploration, in that there is a genuine feeling of discovery throughout the game. Anyway, the various towns you go to all have a different style and culture, and it is reflected in their architecture and how they interact with you. The airships too, vary from culture to culture, and they play huge role in both transportation and combat. To top it all off, the game is very non-linear in nature, allowing you to branch from the main quest at any given time. Suffice to say, the universe that SOA presents you is both highly original and quite cool.
The combat in SOA is excellent. Instead of making everything easy for the player, the developers decided to make this game a challenge, just like the RPGs of old. The combat system is also reminicent of these classics, except it has a few new innovations. The ability to change the element of your weapon during combat and the ways in which you earn magic are all perfect examples. Besides the normal combat between your characters, there are also ship battles, which are excellently done, but I'll go into that later. The only downside to the combat system is the overabundance of random battles. However, you eventually get abilities that allow you to avoid these little nuisances, so its no big deal. The combat system in Skies of Arcadia is absolutely excellent, and it provides a near-perfect merger of classic RPG gaming with some new innovations.
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