I’m in the Dreamcast Club. It had some of my favourite games of all time on it… I played Skies of Arcadia multiple times on it. Early on, Sonic Adventure, I still remember the first time seeing the Echidna pyramid, which was one of those breathtaking moments in video game breakthroughs similar to the first time seeing the alien mothership in Lylat Wars, the first time seeing Midgar in that opening FMV in FF7, the Kingdom of Zeal in Chrono Trigger, or the first time seeing and swinging through the tangible looking 3D jungles of Donkey Kong Country. I was already kinda falling out with fighting games, but then Soul Calibre arrived… walls of flavour text (that I found interesting, I love history), but a very modern feeling fighting game in an era where button-mashers were taking over… unfortunately, I think Soul Calibre was the final fighting game I ever got into… but what an exit!
Skies of Arcadia was stunning, with all the reefs and sights to see… I still remember being on Sailor’s Island, and being able to look out a window of a house, and taking in the great view of a giant wall of floating boulders with airships flying in and around… it was quite unlike anything I’d experienced before in a game. I don’t know if it had been done before, at least not with that level of detail and free-viewing ability. I was also very sick (mono) that year, so I ended up with a lot of time! And I played through the game multiple times in the same year. It was the last RPG I did that with. So in a way, it’s like a childhood last hurrah while at the same time being the first fully-3D modern RPG I’d ever played. That game occupies a special place in my memory.
Hard to believe that whole era was just two years.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
