Hmm. No I don't think I will. Visuals aside, which I can easily overlook, the script being flat and boring is a major issue. I've read enough text like that already in my gaming life, if you can't put together a compelling story, characters and writing then you are dead in the water. Or the sky, in this case.
this review made me subscribe, i just saw this game and your opening about skies was like....just how did you know I was thinking this or of course this should be the into :)
Shame that this game seems to be everything that I feared. Another RPG indie game that wears the skin of a classic but without any of the meat that made its inspiration good.
I was cautiously interested in the game because while I didn't care for the art style, I might have still been willing to give it a chance if it recreated any of the appeal of Skies of Arcadia in the gameplay. However, your review confirms the initial concerns about the game from what I have seen of it. The impression that I got was that it was something pieced together by people who didn't fully understand the technical aspects of what their ambitions would require and that they didn't have the competence to fully actualize their general idea into something compelling and well-functioning. I will be passing on this one and instead continue hoping that the rumors of Sega having a plan for a modern remaster of Skies of Arcadia for modern consoles and PC have some validity behind them. All hail Indie Krampus! 👹
That's too bad, the art direction is good, but the gameplay not just falls flat, it crashes. This isn't a Skies of Arcadia spiritual successor, it's just a game that exists, nothing more. But huge credit the Art Team, well done on their character designs.
I tried the demo and it didn't impress me so I wasn't excited for this release but wow I didn't think the whole thing would be this bad. I am xurious what you'll think of Beloved Rapture tho
PQED how ever you spell them do make pretty games but lack some sort of life. My best friend had a moded wii and i played a few hours of Skie and i loved it since combat with the gem leveling up made me think of Grandia series but were in the sky.
Damn, artstyle looked good, but the whole "jittering" and the combat, and the script... it's just a shame. The world needs a spiritual successor for Skies of Arcadia.
It is a shame hearing about the technical issues of the game. If they can focus more on fixing the gameplay and technical issues, then I think it could still be a fun experience. I do love the art style in this game and think it looks good. I do not mind that much about the models, but if they can add some more animation or expression to them like the portraits, it would be nice.
The camera movement has been really bothering me in the game more than the graphics there is something really weird about it to me. It also looks much better in the trailers then while playing. I also wanted to get this on ps5 but can’t even find it in the store so I got it on the switch and so far have been pretty disappointed. Skies of Arcadia is amazing. I’m going to continue with an open mind and hope some things get patched but I was really hoping for more. I don’t know why there hasn’t been a port of Skies of Arcadia yet. Probably would have just preferred replaying that wonderful game.
Even if I agree this game is a disappointment, giving it the Krampus might still be a bit harsh. Some graphical issues you fixate on at the beginning, like characters clipping in a bit too brutally, or the character models not having different expressions, are not total deal breakers to many people. In fact, I am enjoying the general look they achieved, here, personally! Sure, it's a mixture of some very modern effects with Dreamcast age limitations which is unusual, but it has some charm. The weak writing and the lack of depth in combat really are the deal breaker from my perspective, but I can see some redeeming qualities in Sky Oceans that make it more of a "rusty lamp" type of game, IMHO.
Kinda sucks that this turned out the way it did - Skies of Arcadia is a favorite of mine - but that doesn't mean the demand is gone; it's not unlikely that someone else will try; for every Mighty No. 9, there is a Rokko-Chan. Also, am I the only one who heard the words, "Gusts of wind" and had their brain immediately shout, "DANCE"? In Lavitz's voice, obviously.
Comparisons with Sky Arcadia were inevitable. But the problem is that Sky Ocean is far from the old, but excellent Sky Arcadia. Seriously, they could have taken the best and developed the elements. For example, make the sky battles alive alive closer to real time, and not constant su scenes between actions. There are no battles of characters when moving on the map, the locations are almost empty. In general, there are enough problems. The game is pleasant, it has its own style, but what is the point if static pictures, the world is empty and there is no life, a strange prospect of battle.
So what basically seeemed to happen was the publisher/studio told the team to get this many places with this many things to boast them in the game description. Everything gets bland when you just value quantity over quality. The artstyle is great though
Oof. I feel like the IDOI crew really does their best to find the fun in whatever they're reviewing, so you know it's a tough putt with a review like this.
Its not easy to be this honest about an indie game, but i'm glad you were at least honest about it. Rather a honest bad review than a fake good one, just for the sake of "supporting indie devs". I tried the demo and it was an instant turn off. I didn't mind the visuals as much (i still play 3ds games upscalled on emulators just fine), but the flying part was a huuuuge letdown, the camera control was also bad.
Gotta admit I’m super disappointed, even had this one on physical preorder on Amazon. Oh well, guess I have to settle for my decades old backlog instead.
not a fan of the art style. why are all their noses red? rampant alcoholism? as for the basic and rudimentary combat in the aerial battles, it sounds just like the disappointing combat in Skies of Arcadia.
I don't think the issue is that it doesn't do justice to the game it pays homage to but that the game it pays homage to is a horrible game to begin with, the majority of complaings you had in this game being complaints I had against Skies Of Arcadia - Horrible character designs, laughably bad story with cookie cutter characters, boring combat system with airship battles that get old quickly, boring dungeons with lackluster puzzles on top of excruciatingly high random encounter rate that makes me want to blitz to the destination every single time. At least that last one they seem to have fixed since you were able to traverse the sky for 10 seconds without monsters jumping at you
Calling Skies of Arcadia a horrible game is absolutely crazy. Call it poorly-aged sure, its a JRPG from over 20 years ago that hasn't had a modern day port job like your Final Fantasy games that let you skip the tedium. It has the same issues as all JRPGs from back then. Everything else I can accept, the game isn't going to win any awards for story or gameplay but bad character design? Terrible take, I don't know how you can look at the concept art of the characters and say they look bad.
@@ApolloDawn85 I played it back then and even then it felt like a remake of a mediocre JRPG from 15 years prior with no update to the combat system. The only good character designs on the game are the gigas, the other monsters are pretty unmemorable and it followed a trend of early 2000s JRPGs with overdesigned outfits, and a weird tendency of oversizing elements as if they were designing for SNES-era sprites resulting in one of the dorkiest JRPG protagonist I've ever seen with an eyepatch monocle that's never explained, boots that look like he's gonna take a hike in syberia and jacket that's been cut into a vest and arm warmers for some reason
Really hate the style. It looks too childish. I'd rather replay Skies of Arcadia, I haven't played it in a long time, actually. Is it just me or all modern games feel "off" for some reason? Even if I overlook the childish aesthetics, the lack of art direction (and maybe even gameplay direction?) makes it feel very amateurish. I'm not sure if these developers know what they're doing.
Will you be checking out Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire? Let us know in the comments below!
Hmm. No I don't think I will. Visuals aside, which I can easily overlook, the script being flat and boring is a major issue. I've read enough text like that already in my gaming life, if you can't put together a compelling story, characters and writing then you are dead in the water. Or the sky, in this case.
Sorry, it's an pass for me
Now i want to play Skies of Arcadia.
"Mom! I want Skies of Arcadia"
"We've got Skies of Arcadia at home!"
Skies of Arcadia at home:
skies of arcadia is overhyped. he sounds like he's feeling the same disappointment i had when i played Arcadia.
@@doctorboot7191 That's subjective.
@@doctorboot7191 your favorite game is overhyped 😂
Honestly the visual issues don't bother me at all, however, hearing the script also falls flat is definitely a kill shot for me.
this review made me subscribe, i just saw this game and your opening about skies was like....just how did you know I was thinking this or of course this should be the into :)
Shame that this game seems to be everything that I feared. Another RPG indie game that wears the skin of a classic but without any of the meat that made its inspiration good.
Many such cases, sadly
I was cautiously interested in the game because while I didn't care for the art style, I might have still been willing to give it a chance if it recreated any of the appeal of Skies of Arcadia in the gameplay. However, your review confirms the initial concerns about the game from what I have seen of it. The impression that I got was that it was something pieced together by people who didn't fully understand the technical aspects of what their ambitions would require and that they didn't have the competence to fully actualize their general idea into something compelling and well-functioning. I will be passing on this one and instead continue hoping that the rumors of Sega having a plan for a modern remaster of Skies of Arcadia for modern consoles and PC have some validity behind them. All hail Indie Krampus! 👹
Completely hated the art style and was nervous about this game looking all flash and no substance.
I really loved the art of this game!! The character design and ships design are amazing.
I was looking forward to this one, conceptually it has potential. Sounds like it needs more development time for polish…
Tough to do reviews like this, but I feel like I'm much better informed now, thank you
Skies of Arcadia mentioned!
That's too bad, the art direction is good, but the gameplay not just falls flat, it crashes. This isn't a Skies of Arcadia spiritual successor, it's just a game that exists, nothing more. But huge credit the Art Team, well done on their character designs.
there's a massive Switch patch released just today + updates on other consoles too
Hopefully with the amazing trend of remasters/collections of like pre-7th gen games, we'll see a Skies of Arcadia remaster coming soon.
I was looking forward to this, thanks for saving me money! Thank you for the review! 🤙🏻
oh wow look a sequel to the legendary YIIK !!!!
The thumbnail gave it away, haha.
Try playing Nostalgia for the ds too
Having some voice over would really help. It looks plain just reading the dialogues. Maybe I'm asking too much?
I tried the demo and it didn't impress me so I wasn't excited for this release but wow I didn't think the whole thing would be this bad.
I am xurious what you'll think of Beloved Rapture tho
Beloved Raptured is good but until the gane has fully ironed out its bugs I'm staying, controller problems, clunky movements.
PQED how ever you spell them do make pretty games but lack some sort of life. My best friend had a moded wii and i played a few hours of Skie and i loved it since combat with the gem leveling up made me think of Grandia series but were in the sky.
I had such high hopes
*sighs in Arcadian*
JRPG fans have it good this year. Can't have 'em all, though.
Thanks for the review, I was kinda looking forward to this but I'll pass now.
Damn, artstyle looked good, but the whole "jittering" and the combat, and the script... it's just a shame. The world needs a spiritual successor for Skies of Arcadia.
It is a shame hearing about the technical issues of the game. If they can focus more on fixing the gameplay and technical issues, then I think it could still be a fun experience. I do love the art style in this game and think it looks good. I do not mind that much about the models, but if they can add some more animation or expression to them like the portraits, it would be nice.
The camera movement has been really bothering me in the game more than the graphics there is something really weird about it to me. It also looks much better in the trailers then while playing. I also wanted to get this on ps5 but can’t even find it in the store so I got it on the switch and so far have been pretty disappointed. Skies of Arcadia is amazing. I’m going to continue with an open mind and hope some things get patched but I was really hoping for more. I don’t know why there hasn’t been a port of Skies of Arcadia yet. Probably would have just preferred replaying that wonderful game.
Even if I agree this game is a disappointment, giving it the Krampus might still be a bit harsh.
Some graphical issues you fixate on at the beginning, like characters clipping in a bit too brutally, or the character models not having different expressions, are not total deal breakers to many people. In fact, I am enjoying the general look they achieved, here, personally! Sure, it's a mixture of some very modern effects with Dreamcast age limitations which is unusual, but it has some charm.
The weak writing and the lack of depth in combat really are the deal breaker from my perspective, but I can see some redeeming qualities in Sky Oceans that make it more of a "rusty lamp" type of game, IMHO.
everyone's doing the "blackhole sun" unnerving smile. waiting for something to wash them away lol.
Kinda sucks that this turned out the way it did - Skies of Arcadia is a favorite of mine - but that doesn't mean the demand is gone; it's not unlikely that someone else will try; for every Mighty No. 9, there is a Rokko-Chan. Also, am I the only one who heard the words, "Gusts of wind" and had their brain immediately shout, "DANCE"? In Lavitz's voice, obviously.
Comparisons with Sky Arcadia were inevitable. But the problem is that Sky Ocean is far from the old, but excellent Sky Arcadia. Seriously, they could have taken the best and developed the elements. For example, make the sky battles alive alive closer to real time, and not constant su scenes between actions. There are no battles of characters when moving on the map, the locations are almost empty. In general, there are enough problems. The game is pleasant, it has its own style, but what is the point if static pictures, the world is empty and there is no life, a strange prospect of battle.
The visuals look like unique 80s animes. Also this is 25 Dollar game...chill. 😅
Can’t believe I never played the original on DC
Someone pushed the game out the door whether it needed 3-6 months more or not. Shame. Too many superb RPGs available to scuff a launch.
So what basically seeemed to happen was the publisher/studio told the team to get this many places with this many things to boast them in the game description. Everything gets bland when you just value quantity over quality. The artstyle is great though
Thanks for saving us money :)
Oof. I feel like the IDOI crew really does their best to find the fun in whatever they're reviewing, so you know it's a tough putt with a review like this.
Its not easy to be this honest about an indie game, but i'm glad you were at least honest about it. Rather a honest bad review than a fake good one, just for the sake of "supporting indie devs".
I tried the demo and it was an instant turn off.
I didn't mind the visuals as much (i still play 3ds games upscalled on emulators just fine), but the flying part was a huuuuge letdown, the camera control was also bad.
Comparing this to the movie smile lulz. So evil! Heh
Well, that's a shame, it looked interesting.
I'll wait and see if it gets a decent discount.
I expected it but i am dissapointed still. The potential was there and i wan't the concept done well.
I’m so sad to hear this 😭
Switch version problem text too fast to read
Gotta admit I’m super disappointed, even had this one on physical preorder on Amazon. Oh well, guess I have to settle for my decades old backlog instead.
not a fan of the art style. why are all their noses red? rampant alcoholism?
as for the basic and rudimentary combat in the aerial battles, it sounds just like the disappointing combat in Skies of Arcadia.
Holy crap this looked awful going in but yikes
This is like serving malk and oareo's and passing them off as Milk and Oreo's
Man this game makes me want to puke.
yeah thi.s review seems opin/i/onated and bnias. i get its not good but will probs have to watch another review to get a more accurate picture ....
Nintendo life gave it 3/10
this is def not skies of arcadia
The characters look terrible, both technically and design wise.
This is certainly no Skies of Arcadia
I don't think the issue is that it doesn't do justice to the game it pays homage to but that the game it pays homage to is a horrible game to begin with, the majority of complaings you had in this game being complaints I had against Skies Of Arcadia - Horrible character designs, laughably bad story with cookie cutter characters, boring combat system with airship battles that get old quickly, boring dungeons with lackluster puzzles on top of excruciatingly high random encounter rate that makes me want to blitz to the destination every single time. At least that last one they seem to have fixed since you were able to traverse the sky for 10 seconds without monsters jumping at you
Calling Skies of Arcadia a horrible game is absolutely crazy. Call it poorly-aged sure, its a JRPG from over 20 years ago that hasn't had a modern day port job like your Final Fantasy games that let you skip the tedium. It has the same issues as all JRPGs from back then. Everything else I can accept, the game isn't going to win any awards for story or gameplay but bad character design? Terrible take, I don't know how you can look at the concept art of the characters and say they look bad.
@@ApolloDawn85 I played it back then and even then it felt like a remake of a mediocre JRPG from 15 years prior with no update to the combat system. The only good character designs on the game are the gigas, the other monsters are pretty unmemorable and it followed a trend of early 2000s JRPGs with overdesigned outfits, and a weird tendency of oversizing elements as if they were designing for SNES-era sprites resulting in one of the dorkiest JRPG protagonist I've ever seen with an eyepatch monocle that's never explained, boots that look like he's gonna take a hike in syberia and jacket that's been cut into a vest and arm warmers for some reason
skies of arcadia sucked
Really hate the style. It looks too childish.
I'd rather replay Skies of Arcadia, I haven't played it in a long time, actually.
Is it just me or all modern games feel "off" for some reason?
Even if I overlook the childish aesthetics, the lack of art direction (and maybe even gameplay direction?) makes it feel very amateurish.
I'm not sure if these developers know what they're doing.