Eternal Arcadia (2000) - a sky-pirate RPG that critics loved but few bought

October 5, 2000, on Dreamcast (Japan)

Hello, this is Toki. Episode 74 of "Today Is Release Day." Today's pick is Eternal Arcadia (known in the West as Skies of Arcadia), an adventure aboard sailing ships that fly.

The Japanese Dreamcast version came out on October 5, 2000. Exactly 26 years today. Sega published it and Overworks made it. The date matches across the Famitsu game database, Game Catalog @Wiki, and the Japanese and English Wikipedia. According to English Wikipedia, the release was first planned for September 14.From the thumbnail of "Intro of Eternal Arcadia on Dreamcast" (SilentQix, YouTube)

Becoming a sky pirate

The world is full of sailing ships that fly. The heroes are "sky pirates." Japanese Wikipedia sets the Blue Rogues, who spare civilian ships, against the Black Pirates, who plunder anyone.

There are two kinds of battle: party fights, and cannon duels between airships. Both draw on "Guts," a shared pool for the whole party. It builds up each turn and is spent on special moves and magic.

The English site RPGFan called the airship battles the most exciting innovation. Guts pays for both attacks and repairs, so ship combat has the same kind of trade-offs as character combat.

English Wikipedia names Rieko Kodama as producer; she worked on Phantasy Star 1, 2 and 4. The team is said to have been about 20 people.

The reception: high praise, modest sales

The short version: critics loved it, and it did not sell well.

According to English Wikipedia, Famitsu's cross review gave 33 out of 40. Abroad, GameSpot gave 9.2 out of 10 and praised the detail of its scenery and buildings. The Dreamcast version holds 93 out of 100 on Metacritic, in the "universal acclaim" band.

RPGFan also gave 93 out of 100, calling it one of the finest traditional RPGs. It named one clear flaw: the encounter rate on the world map is annoyingly high, though it eases in dungeons.

On sales, English Wikipedia says neither the Dreamcast version nor the later GameCube version sold in proportion to its praise. Sources differ on unit counts, so I leave the numbers out.

The reputation lasted. IGN's 2006 all-time list placed it 58th (Japanese Wikipedia).

Beyond Dreamcast: the GameCube version and the lost PS2 port

The GameCube version, Eternal Arcadia Legends, came out in Japan on December 26, 2002 and in North America on January 28, 2003. English Wikipedia describes it as a kind of director's cut with shorter loading and extra side quests. Its Metacritic score is 84.

A PlayStation 2 version was also planned but cancelled in August 2002. Japanese Wikipedia gives the reason as focusing on the GameCube version.

Video: the Dreamcast intro

The video below is the Dreamcast intro. It was uploaded by SilentQix and is not official footage from the time. I include it as a record of the game's mood.

Writing it down: the year 2000

October 5, 2000. Only once I write the year does today's article feel finished.

Praised, yet not a big seller. The Dreamcast years had several games like that. That fans still ask for a remake 26 years on says how strongly people remember playing it.

Do you remember the release date of a game? Tell me which year and which season you played it, if you like.