After playing Sega’s Skies of Arcadia, I couldn’t help noticing how the game paralleled Panzer Dragoon in many ways. There are so many similarities that it really does almost feel like the sequel to Panzer Dragoon Saga that we never had. Skies compensated for the loss of a true RPG sequel in my opinion; I recommend it for that reason alone. Yes, Skies is more colourful than Panzer Dragoon Saga, which lightens the dark themes, and yes, that means it’s less full of the same bleak realism, but even a spiritual sequel from the same publisher is still the next best thing to a real one.

Unfortunately Panzer Dragoon Saga wasn’t successful, but it was such a work of art that it deserved a sequel. Skies of Arcadia set that wrong right in terms of the bigger picture. No game has really come closer to retelling the same tale than Skies does. Thus, Skies of Arcadia is, dare I say, the closest thing to a true RPG sequel to Panzer Dragoon Saga we may ever have the pleasure of playing. Here I am going to take a look at just how similar the stories told are.

In the world of Arcadia where whole nations float in the air, airships powered by magical moonstones sail across a sea of skies. Already it’s hard to imagine that Panzer Dragoon wasn’t a source of inspiration for Overworks to dream up this world in their own brighter inimitable fashion at the time.

Long ago, six separate nations located under six separate moons of varying colours created extremely powerful living weapons called Gigas. The creators used their respective Gigas creations to wage war on each other, but as if a divine force disapproved of the trail of destruction left in the wake of these gigantic monstrosities stampeding across the world, the sky rained fire, cleansing the world of all life. It seemed that someone, somewhere had decided that human beings who had become so destructive simply didn’t deserve to live. However, a few survivors emerged from the devastation caused by these rains of fire that had rained down from the heavens as if the wartorn residents had been given a second chance to redeem themselves.

Naturally, the remaining fragments of humankind were forced to rebuild their once advanced civilisations from the rubble of the ones that came before. The descendants slowly but surely forgot their ancestors as time passed, and new civilisations were born to replace the old ones. As people focused on their old lives, soon the myths of old were all but forgotten.

Centuries later in the nation of Valua located under the yellow moon, an empire rose to power by building a huge armada of flying warships. This armada was so huge that it was unheard of in all of history. The Valuan empire’s sole aim was to conquer the world. In its relentless pursuit of power, the Valuan empire stumbled over the legend of the Gigas, and the current ruler, Empress Teodora, wasted no time in searching for them, and any living descendants of the civilisations that constructed them.

Each Gigas was controlled by a specific moon crystal of a corresponding colour and would obey the commands of anyone holding it. Having such power at one’s fingertips was far too tempting for anyone to resist, so naturally, a wide-scale search began, which left no stone unturned. No one dared to stand between the Valuans and their dreams of conquest simply because no one in the world had the power to stop them. To the outward observer it seemed as if history was repeating itself.

The game starts with the Valuan empire capturing a member of the Silver civilisation, also known as the Silvites, before the Imperial ship is boarded by air pirates who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Any fan of Panzer Dragoon will find themselves wandering into very familiar territory by now. Both the Valuan empire and “the Empire” (a name which suggested it was the last empire standing) found in the Panzer Dragoon world shared very similar goals. They are similar to the point of bordering on almost exactly the same in that they both sought to control powerful ancient weapons created by long extinct civilisations, which were responsible for the downfall of those civilisations. Am I seeing parallels where there aren’t any, or did Sega recycle some of Panzer Dragoon’s themes for Skies of Arcadia? The presence of living weapons sends alarm bells ringing already.

In typical RPG fashion, a young air pirate by the name of Vyse and his friends, including the descendant of the Silver civilisation named Fina (whom Vyse rescued from the clutches of the Valuans), endeavoured to find these crystals first in order to stop them from falling into the wrong hands. Although it’s in humanity’s nature to destroy itself it seems, our three young heroes strive to break the cycle of war and death that has habit of devouring us alive. Of course, things didn’t go quite according to plan as they attempted to thwart the Valuan empire’s plans, and the group soon found themselves being the target of the Gigas’ wrath on more than one occasion.

Vyse and his crew have their first taste of the Gigas’ power when Admiral Belleza uses the red moon crystal to awaken the red Gigas, Recumen, from its centuries-long slumber beneath the temple of Pyrim. The process of stirring the sleeping giant from hibernation sent a red beam of light towering so far into the sky above that it could be seen miles away. Strangely enough, the red Gigas had been laying dormant for so long that the temple had been built around it. This ancient living weapon was actually hidden in plain sight by being made to seem like it was a part of the temple. That shows you show much time had passed and how old the old world really was.

When the red Gigas finally wakes from its long slumber, it violently shakes itself free from beneath the temple grounds where it has been buried for so long. As it rises, Vyse can hardly believe what he is seeing. His disbelief quickly becomes a distant memory, however, when the Gigas starts firing laser beams of the purest red in his direction. In that same moment, Vyse’s survival instincts take control. Like in Panzer Dragoon, ghosts of the old world still haunt the present.

The Valuan empire does everything in its power to resurrect the ancient living weapons known only as the Gigas, but in the end, these weapons eventually prove to be more than the Valuans can handle (although they did manage to focus the wrath of the red Gigas on Vyse et al as seen in the image here). Only the one possessing the correct moon crystal could bend a Gigas to their will, which was an unfortunate fact of life that quickly translated into a problem for the Valuans.

Some of us love to see what motivates villains to commit vile acts of villainy; seeing things from their perspective in a clearer light helps us understand their motivations better. For instance, Admiral Belleza reveals a nobler side to herself when she tells us with heartfelt sincerity that she wanted the world to be ruled by one nation, because if all nations were united under a single banner, then the borders separating them from one another would become redundant, and consequently, the wars fought over them would become a thing of the past. In other words, the only solution to war is to bring peace to the world by force.

Personally, I have a fondness for noble villains (i.e. villains who are honourable in their own way) and fallen heroes who are the products of their environment to some extent. What the empire of the Panzer Dragoon world needs is a few admirals with personalities that threaten to take on a life of their own like the admirals we see in Skies of Arcadia. The empire in the Panzer Dragoon series needs a dark evil genius to lead it to victory, hunt down Abadd, and put his head on a pike as a warning to all other drones who would dare to follow in his footsteps.

These admirals were just a lot more devious and calculating than the mindlessly loyal subjects of the Emperors in Panzer Dragoon, especially the leader of the armada, Galcian. He did whatever it took to win and was obsessed with power above all else. That mentality is a huge source of strength and a fatal flaw.

These leaders were forging their own destiny instead of being reduced to mere target practice for those who hold real power. At least at first. Both empires played a role in steering the of course of humanity’s destiny, but never away from disaster. You never really see much strong leadership in Panzer Dragoon’s Empire to bring it to life. However, in both stories you do you see people who sincerely believe in Imperialism without necessarily being indoctrinated into it. It’s fascinating to see what motivates great people, such as Evren, the Dragonmare captain in Panzer Dragoon Orta, who will do anything to win, even commit suicide.

There’s no denying that the Valuan empire had very similar goals to the empire in the Panzer Dragoon series. You’d have to be blind not to see that. Also, like the Empire, the Valuans constructed hundreds of ships that are so magnificent that it is a tragedy to destroy them. More importantly, however, the Valuan empire was guided to victory by several clever admirals. If the empire in the Panzer world followed in the Valuan empire’s footsteps, then dare I say, nothing would stop it from ruling the skies.

If only some of those devious admirals from Skies of Arcadia would find their way into the Empire’s ranks; the Empire lacks anything even resembling such strong leadership. Nevertheless, not all the villains we encounter in the Panzer Dragoon series lacked the kind of deep (as opposed to shallow) personalities necessary to really bring the roles they played to life.

Lord Craymen (the commander of the Empire’s Black Fleet), like Admiral Belleza, is also a noble villain because he was willing to do all the wrong things (such as destroy the Imperial capital and activate the Tower of Uru in order to keep human beings under control) for all the right reasons (to save humanity from itself). Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), Craymen didn’t side with the Empire, but decided to side against it in the end. He could no longer stand idly by and watch as humanity continued to walk down a path of self-destruction, even if bringing his own goal to fruition would mean becoming a victim of the Ancients’ technology himself. Imagine if a character as devious as Craymen had remained loyal to the Empire. That’s what we see in Skies. Villains with depth. Who would’ve thought it possible?

Ultimately, the Gigas turning on the Valuans was as inevitable as the sun rising in the morning; they were taught a lesson they weren’t quick to forget.

An insatiable hunger for power drove the Valuans to capture and control the Gigas by force if necessary whilst having little to no regard for the potential consequences of their actions. Maybe that is a bit too predictable, but then so is human nature. They were too blinded by their hunger for power to see how powerful it really was. Once on the receiving end of the Gigas’ power, however, it opened their eyes to the sheer overwhelming destructiveness of that which they wished to control.

The Valuan empire’s armada quickly buckled under the pressure of being bombarded by the Gigas’ power on more than one occasion, forcing the Valuans to abandon their dreams… for now. Of course, even after suffering at the hands of the Gigas, the Valuans were still more than willing to seek them out in the hopes of one day controlling them.

The Valuan empire knew the risks involved, yet were more than prepared to take those risks if it meant controlling the Gigas. Sound familiar? If anything is synonymous with Panzer Dragoon it’s dragons, flying warships and power hungry human beings who will stop at nothing, even suicide, to claim ancient weapons as their own. The Valuans attempted to harness and wield weapons more powerful than they could even begin to imagine… in vain, which naturally led to disastrous consequences. If that isn’t something the Valuans have in common with the Empire we all know and love from Panzer Dragoon, then I don’t know what is.

The Delphinus, one of the Valuan empire’s prototype flagships, even has a beam cannon much like the Grig Orig. Endeavoring to have more and more power always leads to committing the oldest of sins in the newest of ways. Good thing Vyse and his friends stole it.

As we know thus far, in Skies of Arcadia, the world of Arcadia was burned to the ground by literal rains of fire by what was much later in the game revealed to be the Silvites who were by far the most advanced of all of the civilisations at the time. Somehow they overshadowed the rest despite the fact that each one possessed their own Gigas. That always made me curious as to what gave the Silvites the edge that they had, which was enough to decisively put an end to all wars waged with these giants in the playground once and for all. They decided to save human beings from their own self-destructive nature by almost wiping them out to save them from themselves before it was too late. Of course, the Silvites would have to kill everyone on the planet in order to achieve that goal. It reminds me of that episode of The X Files when Mulder made a wish for peace on Earth, only to find an empty planet when he stepped outside. People cannot have peace and still be people?

One of the first clear comparisons you can make with Panzer Dragoon is how both Fina and Ramirez were both the products of the Silver civilisation, which I mentioned previously, much like how drones such as Azel were built by the Ancients to serve their will unquestioningly. However, unlike Azel, they were both human, and Fina didn’t turn against her own people.

Ramirez, on the other hand, followed the leader of the Valuan armada like a father he never had much like how Azel wholly gave herself to Craymen after he gave her purposeless existence purpose again. In both games this conveyed how the absence of that guidance can truly make or break someone. Ramirez chose a new damning path for himself by repudiating his ancestors and using their knowledge for his own newfound ends. The result here being two characters who were flawed through no fault of their own.

It should not be necessary to highlight how both Ramirez and Orta have white hair as if they were both grown in a lab either, but I’ll do it anyway. Perhaps they were the pinnacle of human evolution created to adapt to all known possible adverse effects. Let’s not forget that I can only speculate, but to me they seem to be perfection itself personified by artificial means.

Last but not least, we come to the Silvites themselves. Their Gigas was so powerful that it had to be destroyed before taking its final form, lest it became invincible. Calling the Silver Gigas a Death Star would not be far from the truth; no wonder the Silvites had the power to end all wars. As you can see, it has power veins running through its metallic structure like the Ancients’ technology. Even now I consider the Silver civilisation to be the missing link in Panzer Dragoon that I have been searching for, for so long.

Finally, buy Skies of Arcadia if you are a fan of the Panzer Dragoon world and haven’t already. I cannot recommend this game enough, even if you only play it for the story or gameplay alone, and especially if you are a fan of old school turn-based RPGs. The heroes and villains are so deliberately cliched that they start to grow on you. It may not be the RPG sequel to Panzer Dragoon Saga that we all wanted, but it’s a step in the right direction nonetheless, and thus immortalises itself as a spiritual sequel. Farewell travellers.