Skies of Arcadia

Prototype Info

Unused Graphics#

In the BATTLE\PCEC.MLD folder, an earlier rendition of Vyse and Aika can be seen along with a group of enemies.

PVR	Name	Unused	Final
00000000000003B0	Aika
0000000000003470	Vyse

PVR	Name	Unused	Final	Notes
0000000000000BD0	Sentinel
00000000000013F0	Seeker			The unused image shows a yellow element instead of Silver.
0000000000001C10	Undefined		?	Does not make an appearance in the game.
0000000000002430	Flestik			Changed from red to blue element.
0000000000002C50	Ghastling			Changed from blue to green element.

In FIELD\KKENGET.MLD, an early Airship Battle portrait of Fina can be seen among the cast.

Unused	Final

Status Effect#

A different set of icons for the status effects is present in FIELD/HRSBIN.MLD. HRSBIN is related to Airship battles.

Name	Unused	Final
Strengthen
Weak
Quickened
Confusion
Death
Fatigue
Stone
Poison
Regen
Silence
Sleep

gazo100#

This unused cutscene graphic is mixed in with Fina's explanation of her mission while on Pirate Isle near the beginning of the game. It's found in "/field/a002cc19.mld/gazo100.pvr".

Unused Data#

Inventory#

A number of items and equippable parts were unused in the final game.

Armor#

An unused armor piece, named De Loco Armor, which was supposed to be equipped by either Vyse, Drachma or Gilder.

Curiously, the word "diseñada" was misspelled as "disenada" in the Spanish translation.

Special Items#

Silver Crystal

There is a Silver Crystal in the game's data, but it has a dummy description and Vyse never obtains a Silver Crystal.

Alfonso's Key

Alfonso's Key can be found in the game's data near Golden Man's Eye and Great Bird's Eye, suggesting it may have been an item during Vyse's tenure in Ixa'taka.

Kabal Skewer and Mom's Skewer

The Kabal Skewer and Mom's Skewer also seem to have been planned as Special Items at some point but were changed to consumable items.

Final Weapon 3

The Final Weapon 3 is listed right after the two Veloriums in the game's data, suggesting there may have been three obtainable ingredients for the Vorlik Blade.

Magic Cannon (Special Item)

There are two Magic Cannons in the game's files, one classified as a Special Item and one as Ship Equipment. The Special Item version didn't make it into the game.

Ship Battles#

To do: Some of these ships also have mid-battle dialogue for them left in the script.

Four ship enemies can be found in the game's files but are never fought against in the final product. They are the Raja Embla, Valuan Warship, Valuan Destroyer, and Gaditaos. There are also an additional 7 ships interspersed in the list of ship enemies in the game's files that have no statistics or names: カット１５, カット１９, カット２０, カット３３, カット３４, カット３９, カット４２. The Japanese in these names says カット (Katto), suggesting these enemies were planned but cut.

The following ships do not have any Abilities defined. While their exact location cannot be verified, the background gives a general idea on which region they would appear in.

a554a / Valuan Warship#

Areaː Nazr Airspace.

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a567a / Valuan Destroyer#

Areaː Ocean.

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a538a / Raja Embla#

Areaː Deep Sky.

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a581a / Gaditaos#

Areaː Soltis Airspace, near Shrine Island.

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Battle Formations#

The way enemy formations work in Skies of Arcadia is every scripted encounter also has scripted party formations. For example, there is no data for Fina to be in the fight against the Executioner; not because Fina isn't in the party, but because the battle formation doesn't call to spawn her. Every possible battle formation is listed in the game's data as long as it is possible. There are multiple battle formations for specific enemies such as the final boss, wanted battles, and later on, Piastol, depending on who the fourth character is. However, there are battle formations that call for Drachma or Enrique to be the fourth character in the battle against Galcian, suggesting switching the fourth party member may have been intended to occur as early as before the attack on the Hydra as opposed to before the final dungeon.

Unused Text#

No Alcohol Allowed#

When localizing Skies of Arcadia, a drunk NPC was removed from Sailors' Island when the game was localized. However, his dialogue was translated and can be found in the game's files:

Sailor:
Did you know? Over in Valua there's a humongous
fortress that's as big as a mountain?

Sailor:
It's called the Grana or the Gracha or something
like that. I forget!

Sailor:
Did you know? Beyond the stone reef, at the
entrance to the desert, there's an oasis city.

Sailor:
It's called Mardaba or Muratada or something
like that. Hehe... I forget!

Sailor:
Did you know? On the southern edge of the
continent of Nasr, there's an old city that's
been forgotten.

Sailor:
It's called Esa or Ese or something like that.
Hehe... I forget!

Sailor:
Did you know? Those bastards from Valua have
started constructing some kind of weird thing
beneath the clouds...

Sailor:
It's called Dungal or Dangol or something like
that. Hehe... I forget!

Sailor:
Did you know? That huge landmass that appeared
from beneath the clouds is apparently an ancient
continent of some old legend.

Sailor:
It's name? How should I know? The world's coming
to an end... I don't really care anymore!

Regional Differences#

As with many other video games, Skies of Arcadia underwent a number of changes when localized for western audiences. Many of these changes were retained in subsequent releases of the game. The Japanese release of Skies of Arcadia Legends in particular retains some of the changes made to Skies of Arcadia, likely an attempt to make the game more accessible to a younger audience (strengthened by the fact the GameCube port has easier Japanese text readability).

Vigoro Cutscene (Grand Fortress)#

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The cutscene that takes place when Aika is locked up with Vigoro in the Grand Fortress has a few minor differences between the Japanese and the localized versions, likely made to tone down the more mature aspects:

• In the Japanese version, at one point, the camera focuses on Aika's legs, and then zooms up slowly, to then focus back on her legs. In the localized versions, the camera quickly zooms up from her legs, and does not move back down again.
• In the shot with Vigoro after that one, he is seen smiling with his teeth and winking in the Japanese version, whereas in the localized versions, he adopts his neutral face.

Vigoro's clothing was also edited from the Japanese version, so that it is less revealing.

Aika's Dislikes#

During a cutscene in Rixis, Aika states that the two things she's afraid of the most are cockroaches and ghosts. However, in the Japanese and US version, she says she hates "dirty old men" instead of cockroaches.

Ramirez's Blood#

Before the final battle, Ramirez originally grips his sword tight enough to make his hand bleed and then swishes the sword to the side causing the blood to fly off and splatter onto a white backdrop. The scene was altered in subsequent versions to remove the blood, although strangely other instances of blood were left intact, including the blood seen during Ramirez's Silver Tundra move.

Bellena's Clothing#

Belleza, while disguised as "Bellena", originally had a more revealing outfit, which was changed in subsequent releases of the game. An official piece of art still depicts her with the unaltered clothes.

Alcohol References#

The Japanese version has characters drinking rum (ラム酒), an alcoholic drink deeply associated with pirates. Furthermore, this version also had several NPCs who were depicted as drunk; while most were edited in the localization, a few were removed outright. The English version replaced rum with a fictional beverage called loqua.

Tobacco References#

Multiple characters in the Japanese version are depicted with a cigar, including Dyne and Gilder. Gilder even has a victory pose in this version that involves him holding a cigar. The localization removed all traces of cigars and changed Gilder's victory pose to one with Willy perched on his shoulder.

Kou#

煌 is a very special word in the Japanese version of the game. It is used in many words regarding the moon, and the word mainly can mean glitter, gleam, twinkle, glisten, sparkle, glimmer, etc.

Below is a list of words where 煌 is used in the Japanese version of Skies of Arcadia. For a literal translation, the word beam could work well with the word moon, as in moonbeam (moonlight could also work, but sounds passive compared to the energetic moonbeam, energy needed to describe the power the moons in Skies of Arcadia hold).

Super Skills#

In the Japanese version, it isn't possible to skip character skills animations. Starting with the localized versions and all subsequent releases, the skill animations have been skippable.

Name Changes#

Several names and terms have been changed. For example, Mobys (モビス) was changed to Rhaknam and Kururu (クルル) was changed to Dhabu. Rich (リチ) was changed to Gold, and Koujutsu (煌術) was simplified to Magic. Furthermore, several area names have been changed. For example, Dorado became Rixis and The Cape of Good Hope became Cape Victory.

Untranslatable Quirks#

Pinta tends to end his sentences in pin, Brabham with zoi, and Muraji with jaru. Dobra has a kansai accent, which could be called Japan's equivalent of a southerner's accent in the US.

Salam#

A large amount of people from Nasr, including Kalifa and Osman, regularly say Salam, which is Arabic for Hello. All of these instances have been erased from the English localization.

Handsome Boy#

In the Japanese version, Belleza affectionately calls Vyse "boy." While it might sound cute to hear a person call someone something in a foreign language, it would lose some of that affectionate feeling if one translated it as boy for the English localization, which is most likely why it was changed to "handsome" for Skies of Arcadia.

Gilder's Motto#

In the Japanese version, Gilder's motto is "to do things that haven't been done before", and you can reply by saying "that's so cool" or "that he's crazy". In the localized versions, his motto is that "women are like sunsets and that they're beautiful but there's a new one everyday", and you can reply by saying "it's a good motto" or that "it's messed up".

Arcadia#

In the Japanese version, the world does not have a known name and, unlike the English localization, is never referred to as Arcadia. In the localized versions, it's implied a couple of times that the world is named Arcadia, such as in the opening trailer and at the Great Silver Shrine's Room of Memories.

Ramirez's Obsession#

Ramirez's obsession with Galcian seems downtowned in the English localization. He becomes so distraught at Galcian's death that he mentions his name almost at least every other sentence. For example, before the final boss he says, "ガルシアン様を失ったわが怒り、わが悲しみ……思い知るがいい！" which roughly translates to "I will make you realize my anger, my sorrow… over the loss of Lord Galcian!" which was changed to "Now you shall feel the wrath of Zelos! You will suffer for all eternity!!! Zelos will feast on your souls!" and his last words while disintegrating are "ガ、ガルシアン様ぁーっ！！" which translates to "L, Lord Galciannn!!" which was changed to "No! This can't be happening!!!"

Dialogue and Accent Variations#

Montezumans speak a combination of hiragana and katakana, and although there are no phonological differences between the two, it's possibly a trait to make them seem more primitive, similar to the Ixa'takans bad English. There are also some instances where dialogue is changed, such as when talking to Drachma after rescuing Isapa (from saying all this travelling is troublesome to simply saying "Damn Valuans!", and what Aika and Fina say after being dropped off by Krone/Clara (from laughing at how Krone's search for a man mirrors their own search for a man to laughing at how Clara was the nicest stalker they ever met which explained why her ship looks like a honeymoon suite).

CD Warning#

There's a CD warning for both English and Japanese. The message is nearly identical.