Loved: The upbeat, old-school vibes, the appealing figurine-like character designs, the approachable combat system, the mixture of swashbuckling piracy and steampunk futuristic fantasy.

Didn't love: The grinding. Oh, the grinding.

I played the bulk of this game years ago while I was home sick with a bad flu. It was the perfect mental state for the moderate grinding necessary to explore this imaginative and captivating world. But after many hours of steady progress, I found myself under-leveled to take on the final boss. One challenge remained, but even after repeated attempts, I just couldn't hack it.

Over the past few years, I've occasionally popped the game in to level up my characters. It was finally enough for me to claim victory (after three attempts). I'm happy to have seen the ending to Vyse the Hero's journey, but I'm sure its impact was dulled so far removed from my initial sprint through the game.

With fewer random encounters, more generous experience gains and a more forgiving final boss, Skies of Arcadia might be one of my all-time favorite RPGs. As-is, it's a very special but very flawed experience.

Skies of Arcadia was the first console JRPG I played and it remains my favorite. This game is a goddamn beautiful swashbuckling adventure where the real treasure is the friends you made along the way. Its setting, characters, story and design are all absolutely top-notch. Sega was firing on all cylinders in the Dreamcast era and this is perhaps the pinnacle moment of Sega's final year in the console biz. A hidden gem in the truest sense.

And I just have to say, of all the Final Fantasy games to feature airships, how many of them feature actual in-depth airship battle gameplay? Kinda makes you think, huh?