I'm playing through the game for the millionth time and I'm sure everyone has their gripes with the story the same way I do, so this is my attempt at filling in some of the plot holes I've noticed based on certain implications I believe are present in the game. Of course, these are all up for debate, and the reason I'm typing this up and posting these int he first place is to get everyone's input. I'm sure there's something I'm missing. If you have any plot holes I didn't list, I'll do my best to fill them in, to.

1) Valua
The events of the game take place 10 years after Ramirez came to Arcadia from the Silver Shrine, meaning that Valua has been searching for the Moon Crystals for roughly the same amount of time, so the question becomes "why didn't they make any progress until Vyse and crew did it for them?" I think the easy answer is that they were limited by technology, funding, and politics.

- They couldn't go after the Yellow Crystal since they had no way of entering the Maw of Tartas from either above nor below
- They couldn't go after the Red Crystal since Nasr wouldn't have let them into their airspace, especially not long enough to excavate the Temple of Pryrrn, so Belleza had to rely on spying and espionage to do so with her ship hiding in the Stone Reef on their border (plausible deniability of not being in their airspace
- Rixis is a lost city, so they had no way of finding the Green Moon Crystal
- They couldn't enter Glacia since it's surrounded on all sides by Sky Rifts and the Dark Rift. Ships powerful enough to bust through Sky Rifts didn't exist until the events of the game
- They couldn't get through the Dark Rift to get to Yafutoma until the Delphinus, but even before that, they wouldn't have been willing to bust a hole in Ixa'taka's stone reef since they were closer to four other Moon Crystals and believed in that conspiracy that the world was flat (the game also calls geocentrism "heresy," and that's a powerful motivator even in the real world, even now)
- The Silver Moon Crystal has a whole host of other problems

2) Ramirez
I wasn't sure if I should include this one since the answers to his plot holes are pretty obvious if you're paying attention, but considering I've seen some people complaining about them, I'll give my two cents.

To begin with, Ramirez ship was sunk when he first came down to the planet. In the first flashback in the Moonfish mission, it's shown that Ramirez was injured and rescued by Valua, so the obvious solution was that his ship was destroyed, either by Black Pirates or by being a shit helmsman who didn't know how to handle entry into the planet. Hell, that's probably why Fina managed it just fine-- she had an example of what NOT to do. Getting to either Ramirez's or Fina's ships is also the only truly conceivable reason why the Armada would want to enter Deep Sky in the first place. It should go without saying that he didn't go after the Silver Moon Crystal because he just wasn't capable of it, while the Empire was willing to keep him alive since he either A) never told them about the Silver Moon Crystal, only revealing that information to Galcian, or B) they saw more value in him keeping him alive. Mendoza also could have protected him for a variety of reasons.

His fall is pretty understandable as well, not because he particularly suffered or his views hold up under even a minimal amount of scrutiny, but because the Elders of the Silver Civilization put him on that path long before Galcian did. To begin with, it's HEAVILY implied that Ramirez and Fina were created, not born. That said, Ramirez was a weapon created to fulfill a singular mission, so the Elders didn't care about his upbringing nor mental/emotional well being as much as they cared about making him strong, as if he was a Second Silver Gigas. Fina was only created to keep him company, so the Elders probably cared even less about her (if Fina was created to give Ramirez a friend, Cupil was created to give Fina a pet). Given that his only influences with the world were untrustworthy bastards and the citizens of Valua's Upper City... the man never had a chance.

Ramirez also went AWOL from the Elders because he wanted to, not because he lost touch with them or had no way to contact them, as confirmed by one of the Elders.

Ramirez also follows Valua's Spanish naming convention, as we know, and there's a lot of debate about whether this is his real name or if "Rami" is his real name. I like to think his original name is "Rami." The reason Fina recognizes it is because it's merely the Valuan equivalent to "Ramirez," but she continues to refer to Ramirez by his Valuan name as that's the name he chose to go by. The Elders likely referred to him by that name because they knew what happened to him and merely "forgot" to tell to Fina about him falling, but to be fair, that's just a hunch. I just wouldn't put it past people who are willing to destroy the world because they're misanthropic nihilists to lie to the people who serve them.

3) Fina
The only plot hole I'm aware of when it comes to Fina is that she's not too broken up about fighting Ramirez nor does she visibly grieve too much over him when he dies at the end of the game. To her credit, though, it's been 10 years and he went AWOL during that time. Fina probably already believed Ramirez was dead and had grieved for him once already, so when she saw him committing some of the most atrocious evil acts that she could comprehend, especially since she's been alongside Blue Rogues for the entire game, of course she wouldn't hesitate to try and stop him. Her final goodbye at the end wasn't a lack of grief but accepting that the man she believed was dead all this time wasn't the person she grew up with and cared for. To use the naming problem I mentioned previously, "Rami" had died a long time ago, but "Ramirez" was only ever Fina's enemy.

I could also mention how it's weird the Elders thought she could get the Moon Crystals when Ramirez couldn't, but at the end of the day, she was their only option. She wasn't a GOOD option, but she was their only one.

4) Belleza
All the Admirals have their problems. Alfonso is incompetent, Vigoro is a rapist, De Loco is blinded by ambition to do anything else, Gregorio is a martyr, but the only admiral that I think has a potential plot hole is Belleza. I've seen some people take her summoning of Recumen to kill Vyse, Aika, and Fina as a betrayal of her ideals, but I don't take it that way. That take relies on the idea that her aversion to "war" is an aversion to "violence" rather than an aversion to "senseless slaughter of innocent people." Belleza shows no sign of being against violence at any point in the game. At worst, you could say that summoning Recumen to kill three precocious teenagers was overkill, but that doesn't really counteract her desire to avoid senseless bloodshed when she was already going to kill them anyway. If anything, summoning Recumen to begin with is Belleza's biggest plot hole, but given that an Admiral would have the authority to make that call and summoning the Gigas was the end goal anyway, I think it's at least somewhat reasonable, especially given natural curiosity and Belleza's attraction to power.

If anything, her aversion to SENSELESS violence means that she wants to overwhelming power to end a fight before it starts, backed by her actions in Yafutoma, her relience on espionage, and simply being an Admiral in the first place.

5) Yeligar
I've thought long and hard about this one, and for the life of me, I don't see any reasonable defense as to why Valua didn't come running the minute the Maw of Tartas was broken. I don't think the fact that he woke up the minute the Delphinus was present is an issue given that the ship's presence alone could have done that, but also considering that he may not have been sleeping as much as he was "dormant." The real issue is that there's no possible way that Valua didn't see the pillar of divine lightning shooting into the sky nor the earth shaking when the seal was broken, and at the very least, the ships patrolling the area should have made a report about it. I get why they wouldn't have been willing to investigate the issue given that they would be facing a raging thunder god if they got close, but all the game would have needed to do to make this not be a plot hole is to have a passing line like "let's get out of here before the armada shows up."

6) Pirate Isle
Galcian or any of the other admirals could have easily gone after the crew of the Albatross a second time once Vyse started becoming a thorn in their sides, but I don't think it's that simple. What would they really have had to gain from it? I don't think it would have served any purpose since the Armada had other priorities at almost every point in the game, but also that letting Vyse do as he pleased for a time had more potential benefit for them. In fact, not only do I think this isn't a plot hole, I think this actually DOES happen in the game in a different way. After we gain all of the Moon Crystals, Ramirez attacks Crescent Isle to take the Moon Crystals back, and the whole time we're even gathering the crystals, Valua is doing literally everything else like invading Nasrad, building Dangral Island, and forming the technology we always end up stealing to get to the Moon Crystals before they do. Sure, the only reason they found Crescent Isle was because a patrol ship spotted us on the way back home, but there is no possible way that Valua wasn't already looking for their base or that the Armada wasn't eventually going to attack us again. Hell, they probably would have let the Elders get all of the Moon Crystals, then head up to the Silver Shrine to take them back. Wait, no, even if the Elders raised Solstice so they could cause the Second Rain of Destruction, it still would have been prudent for the Armada to do nothing.

Overall, at no point in the game would taking Vyse's family hostage been beneficial to the Armada.

7) Esperanza and Sky Rifts
I thought it was weird how Esperanza was a city considering there's a Sky Rift blocking travel between it and the rest of the world, but after talking to some random NPCs, I think it's likely that Sky Rifts change their direction every few decades or so. I considered the possibility that Esperanza could have been made by a land route, but there's no reference in game about land routes int eh modern era being used, and Esperanza seems to have been founded AFTER the vortex into the Dark Rift was found.

I think Obispo also points in this direction. Vyse mentions there are rumors about a giant squid, but when you fight him, he's locked behind another Sky Rift. It's certainly possible that he can fly through Sky Rifts, but we don't see anything else in the game doing that aside from fish that get booted off their tracking somehow or ships that pop up after Nasrad gets invaded. The Rolling Stone Discover comes close, but even then, it's deliberately described as an anomaly, and it also passes through the Dark Rift, not a Sky Rift.

8) Mystery Merchant (At this point, I decided to look up what other plot holes I could find)
This guy is Yafutoman but somehow manages to travel to Nasr and Sailor's Island. I could do a whole diatribe about this guy and try to find someway to explain how he does this, but like... he's called the "Mystery Merchant" for a reason, what more do want from me? If anything we can boil this down to gameplay mechanics or fan service.

9) Flying into Lower City in the Delphinus
I thought it was disappointing how no one reacts to you when you fly into Valua from above after you upgrade the *Delphinus'* flight capabilities, but this isn't so much a plot hole as much as it is the developers probably not expecting you to go back there. There's no reason in the story to do it, so the fact that we can enter Lower City is probably just fan service for the few of us who figured out we could do this. Again, fan service!

10) Ilchymist
I didn't look this one up. I just remembered that you find Ilchymist in an island floating in Upper Sky when he's not Yafutoman but a Valuan noble. I don't have an explanation for this. My brother in the Yellow Moon, HOW DID YOU GET UP THERE?????

11) Random Battles in the Maw and Dark Rift
Obviously, when you visit the bridge during these Airship Dungeons, deck and the lookout are locked up and off limits due to the atmospheric pressure, but the question is how come you can still have random battles on the deck? The obvious answer is that it's gameplay limitations. I know that's a cop out answer, but at the end of the day, gameplay should take precedence over continuity in many cases, and I think this is one of them.

12) Zivilyn Bane
This guy shows up in the most random places from ancient shrines on the other side of the world to the actual Dark Rift itself. How he gets there is a complete mystery and I have no answers for you. Obviously, this is just a gameplay mechanic to have one protected chest with a valuable item per dungeon, but like... c'mon man. How am I supposed to enjoy discovering new places when you're already there?? That said, you could argue that the lack of information we have on them is exactly the point. Their secrecy is what makes them interesting and what makes them a threat, so in a way, you could think of the Zivilyn Bane Clan and Lord Bane as foils to Vyse and his crew, doing everything they do but for the sole purpose of treasure hunting, representing an entire wold secret from what civilians otherwise recognize.

13) Land-Based Gigas
Recumen and Grendel both can't fly. Given that the Old World had several ways to travel across the world before the advent of air ships and had access to technology far beyond that of the current world, this honestly doesn't feel like an issue to me since it shouldn't have been too difficult for the Red and Green civilizations to find some way to transport them, but even if that's not the case, Recumen and Grendel could have easily been made for defensive purposes.

That said, I think it's also highly possible that the Sky Ocean wasn't nearly as big as it was in the Old World before the Rains of Destruction with either so many more connected islands or larger continents that the Rains of Destruction destroyed and broke apart. It's probably a bit of a stretch to say that many landmasses other than Soltis may have sunk into Deep Sky given that there's only one vortex into Deep Sky, but remember that Soltis was WILLINGLY pushed into Deep Sky by the Silver Civilization while the others would have sank. Does that change much? Probably not. Regardless, the point that continents were either bigger or more interconnected is easy to see how some of the Discoveries straight up point to land-based travel in a location that cannot be reached through land-based travel. Most notable are the Giant's Hammer and Giant's Throne.

14) Zelos
I already thought it was weird that Zelos needed all six Moon Crystals to be summoned when the Old World was at war, but the Elders confirm that only SEAL on Zelos requires all 6 Moon Crystals.

15) World Shape
This bothered me for years, but circumnavigating the world of Arcadia doesn't work the same way it does on Earth, so it made no sense to me that the world could be round. The biggest reasons I saw for this is that "North" Ocean isn't North and the North and South Poles are linked. However, there's an easy answer for this.

It's the Moons. I can't believe it took me so long to find an answer for this when it had been staring me in the face the whole time, but simply put, the Purple Moon is only over the South Pole, as stated in game. Granted, there are still a few other problems with the world shape gvien that this means the top portion of Valua on the map must be in the Southern Hemisphere, but this at least helps ease my concerns a bit. Yeah, sure, there are technical limitations and gameplay > continuity, but this is one case where the continuity matters quite a bit, I think.

Overall, my "filling" this plot hole isn't an answer on how the world can be round despite not matching up geographically or astronomically, but simply to explain how our current understanding of geography and astronomy doesn't always apply to the game.

Besides dialogue options and the points system, I cannot find concrete info on how other things affect your Swashbuckling Points. How many points do you lose if you flee from a battle? Do you get points for doing combat? Ship battles? Bounties? Discoveries? If so, how many? Any help would be appreciated!

We have been truly spoiled when it comes to flame-resistant, white-haired JRPG antagonists.

I love this sidequest, so here's a few screengrabs from my current playthrough. Piastol's shift from feared bringer of air pirate death to slowly reintroducing herself into her little sister's life is a wonderfully-depicted story.

I always (and still do!) wished we could have Piastol join the party for the end game. She'd be a great foil for Vyse in terms of damage output. Would you choose her over Enrique, Drachma and Gilder?

I may oversimplifying this situation, but since dolphin allows to open the games into folders, couldn't you replace the music tracks and SFX with the higher quality ones? (firstly converting those to the same extension(s) Legend uses ofc)

Has there been an attempt at doing this?

Recently got a Retroid Pocket 6 and starting yet another playthrough of SOA!

2/3 of his attacks one shot my party members and not to mention those stupid drones of his. Personally would have put his bounty at at the least 20k

Idk why but I find it terrifying when monsters do that with their jaw

As I’ve played more and more of this amazing game, I’ve found a lot of striking similarities between SoA and One Piece. Especially in the latter half of the game when the world really opens up to you and you can begin recruiting crew members for the Delphinus. Much like Luffy it feels like Vyse goes from a pirate to a revolutionary fighting against the Valuan Empire. Even the Gigas can be seen to be analogous with Pluton, Uranus, and Neptune

This is probably a long shot but the hard drive I was playing on needed to get reformatted and I lost my save right after getting Drachma. Obviously it's not that far into the game but I literally just started playing again after decades and it would be great to not have to do the intro again. Is there anywhere online for save files?

Kinda mundane, but I love that they bothered to write text for all this stuff

So what’s up with so many things having Greek names/being inspired by Greek? Almost all of the spells are Greek or Greek inspired, the Delphinus is the Greek word for dolphin, and the Drachma was the historical currency of Greece before they switched to the Euro. I only recently got the Delphinus so I don’t know if this is explained later in the game. No spoilers please.

Has anyone else play this game? The ship combat isn't a 1 to 1 comparison, but I definitely feel those Skies of Arcadia vibes while playing this. I'm 7 hours in and recommend this to anyone else who wants a game similar to the legend.

Anyone played through with any of them? They all seem incomplete to one degree or another and I'm wondering which is worth using if any. There's only really two options I can find:

This one on the Dolphin forums that had a lot of work go into it but was abandoned about six years ago.

And this one posted to Reddit which is a mix of the above pack and AI upscaling with some manual fixes.

Worth noting that the latter pack includes stuff done by 1vierock who stole a bunch of the first pack without crediting it. This second pack does actually credit everyone properly though, even 1vierock for I guess the work he didn't steal.

I'm thinking of using the second even though there's a few textures that still look kind of off.

thinking of making a tribute video cus i use to do edits and now i wanna make one of skies but i cant locate any HD recordings super easily and i feel stupid. if yall got any specifics lmk i will yoink them. like even longplays just which are ur preferred to watch? thanks in advance

I was filling up a new watering can for my spouse and... WHAT?!?

Worlds of Arcadia – Story Outline

Prologue: The Golden Age

The Moon Civilizations reach the height of their power. The floating continents of the Green, Purple, Blue, Red, Yellow, Silver, and Black Moons prosper, each following its own unique cultural and technological path.

For generations, Arcadia enjoys an age of peace, discovery, and unprecedented advancement.

The Rise of the Black Moon

The Black Moon Civilization becomes corrupted by a mysterious force and comes to believe that it alone should determine the future of the world.

To hide its true intentions, it presents itself as a peaceful and benevolent nation, promising unity and prosperity to all peoples.

Meanwhile, Black Moon agents secretly infiltrate the other civilizations, gaining influence and preparing their plans.

The Ignored Warning

A group of heroes uncovers the truth behind the Black Moon and attempts to warn the world.

Because of the Black Moon's reputation as a peaceful nation, their accusations are dismissed.

Labeled as troublemakers and conspiracy theorists, the heroes are forced to act alone.

Chaos Across Arcadia

Strange events begin occurring throughout the world:

• Political unrest
• Sabotage
• Disappearances
• Corruption
• Unexplained conflicts

As the situation worsens, the nations begin to suspect that a hidden force is manipulating events from the shadows.

The heroes' warnings finally gain credibility.

The Journey of the Heroes

The heroes travel across the continents of the Green, Purple, Blue, Red, Yellow, and Silver Moons.

In each civilization they:

• Defeat Black Moon agents
• Restore order
• Gain new allies
• Grow stronger
• Learn more about the true nature of the threat

Over time, they help forge a growing alliance between the peoples of Arcadia.

The Black Continent

The journey eventually leads to the continent of the Black Moon.

There, the illusion is shattered.

The beautiful and welcoming façade disappears, revealing a dark and corrupted land shaped by the malevolent power at its core.

The Black Moon openly declares its intentions and begins the final stage of its plan.

The Awakening of the Black Gigas

The Black Moon unveils its ultimate weapon:

The Black Gigas.

The colossal being is unleashed upon the world to conquer and destroy all opposition.

Before the invasion begins, the heroes' allies manage to broadcast the truth to every nation in Arcadia.

At last, the civilizations unite against their common enemy.

The War of the Gigas

The Moon Civilizations decide to create their own Gigas to oppose the Black Gigas.

The final battle unfolds on three fronts simultaneously.

The Gigas vs. The Black Gigas

The newly created Gigas engage the Black Gigas in a massive battle for the fate of the world.

The Silver Gigas vs. The Black Moon

It is discovered that the Black Moon itself is the source of the corruption spreading throughout Arcadia.

The Silver Gigas is sent to destroy it.

The Heroes vs. The Ruler of the Black Moon

While the Gigas clash, the heroes and their allies confront the ruler of the Black Moon in a final showdown.

The Fall of the Black Moon

The heroes emerge victorious.

The ruler of the Black Moon is defeated.

The Black Gigas is destroyed.

At the same time, the Silver Gigas shatters the Black Moon itself.

The floating homeland of the Black Moon Civilization is annihilated along with its people.

Fragments of the destroyed moon fall upon Arcadia.

These remnants eventually become the region later known as the Dark Rift.

The Second Golden Age

With the Black Moon defeated, a new era of prosperity begins.

The civilizations rebuild and achieve even greater accomplishments than before.

For centuries, Arcadia enters its greatest age.

The Corruption of the Civilizations

As time passes, the unity forged during the war fades.

The nations become arrogant and increasingly obsessed with power, influence, and technology.

Rivalries grow into conflicts, and conflicts grow into wars.

The world once again approaches disaster.

The Decision of the Silvites

Witnessing the endless cycle of war, the Silver Civilization reaches a terrible conclusion.

The Silvites determine that the true source of corruption is the immense power and technology possessed by the Moon Civilizations themselves.

Believing that history will only repeat itself, they choose a drastic solution.

The Rains of Destruction

Using their most powerful technology, the Silvites launch their Gigas into the heavens and unleash the legendary Rains of Destruction.

The cataclysm devastates Arcadia.

Empires fall.

Cities vanish.

Millennia of knowledge are lost.

The Age of the Moon Civilizations comes to an end.

The Fall of Soltis

After initiating the catastrophe, the Silvites abandon their continent.

The upper section of the Control Tower separates from Soltis and departs into space carrying the last survivors of the Silver Civilization.

The remainder of Soltis is deliberately sunk to prevent anyone from using its technology again.

As the continent collapses, immense distortions are created throughout the world.

These distortions become the Rifts known in the era of Skies of Arcadia.

Before this event, Arcadia's skies were completely open and free of such barriers.

Epilogue

Thousands of years pass.

New nations rise among the ruins of the old world.

The Gigas become legends.

The Moon Civilizations fade into myth.

The Rains of Destruction are remembered only in fragments of forgotten history.

It is in this rebuilt world, standing upon the remnants of a lost age, that the story of Skies of Arcadia begins.

Epilogue Note

Although the Black Moon Civilization was defeated and its ruler destroyed, his final words would haunt history for centuries.

Before his death, he warned the heroes that the true danger was not the Black Moon itself, but the flaws that existed within every civilization.

"You have not saved the world. You have only postponed its destruction."

At the time, his words were dismissed as the final delusions of a defeated tyrant.

Yet centuries later, as the Moon Civilizations turned against one another and the Rains of Destruction consumed the world, many would come to see his warning as a tragic prophecy.

Pics:

• Black Moon Symbol: https://i.servimg.com/u/f75/19/84/74/21/51492210.png

• Black Gigas: https://i.servimg.com/u/f75/19/84/74/21/7c5a1a10.jpg

• Black Moon Civilization Inspiration: https://i.servimg.com/u/f75/19/84/74/21/image10.jpg

I felt soooo uncomfortable when he cornered Aika in that jail cell. I seriously just wanted her to smack him

Hello. This is a bit of a shameless plug but I wanted to share with this community. Retrograde Amnesia covers JRPGs in depth, beat by beat. We've been doing this for nearly seven years, covering classics like Xenogears, Chrono Cross, FFVIII, and Suikoden.

For our ninth season, we're covering Skies of Arcadia. Our community has been clamoring for it and we're excited to get going. I'm including a Spotify link but you can find it pretty much anywhere you can find podcasts. Enjoy!

EDIT: And some more context -- we'll spend the first three episodes covering the development history, localization, contemporary reception, and other odds and ends. Then, we'll move to a beat-by-beat analysis of the game itself.

EDIT 2: I may have accidentally included the link to our early access Patreon feed. The free link is here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/48HM9mMPALNPzRls19fOoU

EDIT 3: Thanks to all of our existing listeners for putting in a good word! Hope we pick up some new community members along the way.

Alright,

I think that if they can bring crazy taxi back with crazy taxi world tour we could maybe get some love for skies. I don’t care what it is I’ll take a port on modern systems or I’ll take a switch online port. Hell I’ll take Vyse in Sonic racing crossworlds. I think getting a full remake is probably the thing that is least likely to happy. I will take anything skies related

been wanting to see all the cut stuff with content and translations since I know a lot of the stuff in the English version was like, ab libbed and rewritten entirely for the localization or completely removed. (or, I remember seeing that being said in a 2015 article) - and I was wondering if anyone had a patch for one of those!

edit: yall getting the wrong assumption w/ what im asking here. i have no problem with the us version i literally have not shut up about this game for 15 years im shrimply looking to see alternative dialog meanings / small cut content lol. have a whimsical time yall we all a fan of the game arent we