The first thing that leaps out at a newcomer to Skies of Arcadia is the game's unusual, yet exceptional graphical flavour. The artists have largely eschewed realistic visuals in favour of a brightly coloured, cheerful anime style; the character models, environments and texture maps, while superior, are somewhat reminiscent of Power Stone's. Of course, this is an RPG on an epic scale, and rather than confined arenas, you'll be traversing grand expanses of sky, land, and dungeon. Skies of Arcadia's framerate is surprisingly steady considering the detail of its environments, and its clear texturing and far draw-in distance are both technically and aesthetically impressive. Of all DC games, I'd say only Shenmue looks better overall.

Skies of Arcadia is set in a world comprised of rock islands, ranging in scale from insignificant to continent-sized, floating in vast open areas of sky. Travel between islands is accomplished through the use of Final Fantasy-style airships, making such vessels crucial to adventurers and traders, and to the Air Pirates who would prey on them. Enter the Blue Rogues, a more noble subset of Air Pirates that function as a sort of flying Robin Hood's Merry Men, and the group to which the game's protagonist Vyse belongs.

Sailing and piratical themes permeate Skies of Arcadia from beginning to end, and its character designs and text reflect this very well. Sega of America has done an outstanding job with the translation, infusing even moderately important characters with a strong dose of personality, and providing plenty of detail about the settings. You can walk up to almost any interesting-looking object in the game and examine it; point Vyse at a barrel, and he'll tell you what's in it, and maybe even complain about how heavy it was when he had to carry it before. Such attention to detail contributes considerably to one's sense of involvement and suspension of disbelief, and Skies of Arcadia's world is one any RPG fan should enjoy being sucked into.

The most fascinating game-world is virtually useless if the player lacks a comfortable and effective means of interacting with it. Fortunately, Skies of Arcadia's play mechanics are almost as finely tuned as its setting. Moving Vyse around on foot will feel like second nature to anyone who's played Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Saturn, and should be easily picked up by those who haven't, though it can occasionally be tricky to line Vyse up with a specific object or wall in tight quarters; he wants to turn when you steer him into an obstacle. Piloting airships takes a little more practice, but it's simple enough once you get the hang of the slightly odd control configuration. The common character-versus-monster battles are essentially old hat, adding little to the standard turn-based RPG combat systems we're all used to; while nothing revolutionary, it gets the job done with above-average animation and pyrotechnics. The really interesting conflicts in Skies of Arcadia are found in the its ship-to-ship battles, which are more original and strategically oriented than the usual random encounters, not to mention quite visually exciting.

As garnish for its already satisfying main course, Skies of Arcadia offers several of the minor but entertaining diversions that have become standard in modern RPGs, including hidden landmarks scattered throughout the islands, recruiting crew members, catching airborne fish, and a decent little VMU game. They're nothing you haven't seen before, but in a world as richly rendered as SoA's, the pull of finding every last secret is certainly stronger than usual.

Rieko "Phoenix Rie" Kodama and company, of Phantasy Star fame, have done it again with the first true must-have Dreamcast RPG. Stumbling only slightly in its relatively pedestrian combat mechanics, Skies of Arcadia otherwise hits on all cylinders. With highly-regarded new sequels to Lunar, Grandia, and Final Fantasy also beckoning from store shelves, it's a great time to be an RPG fan, but be sure you don't miss this undermarketed gem.