What Changed in Skies of Arcadia Legends?

Producer Rieko Kodama and Sega described Legends as a director's cut, and the changes aim at the original's two documented complaints. The random encounter rate, criticized even in the Dreamcast version's warmest reviews, was reduced, with experience rewards raised to compensate. Loading grew faster and the frame rate steadier.

Around that core, content was added: new side quests and subplots, most notably the bounty hunter Piastol, whose story threads through the game; a Wanted List of bounty targets; new Discoveries to chart; and the Moon Fish quest, which replaced Pinta's Quest, a Dreamcast feature built around the VMU memory unit the GameCube did not have. The Dreamcast version's downloadable extras were folded into the game itself, so Legends is also the more complete text of the work.

The second life was not a coronation. Legends averaged 84 on Metacritic against the original's 93; GameSpot scored it 7.5, down from 9.2, and the recurring criticism was that the graphics had not been substantially improved while expectations had moved on, the game now measured against Final Fantasy X and Xenosaga. EGM's panel, at 9, 9, and 9.5, dissented from the cooler line, and GameSpot still named it the best GameCube game of January 2003. GameZone's 9 of 10 carried the gentle version of the complaint: it "feels a little dated."

Both versions underperformed commercially. The sequel announced as in planning in February 2003 was on indefinite hold by December 2004, its team pulled into Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. Sega's Ben Harborne said in 2012 that a Skies remaster remained among the most requested, and the trademark was renewed that year. No rerelease has followed. Which leaves Legends in its odd, durable position: the slightly less acclaimed version of the game is the one most living players can actually buy, and the Dreamcast original is the artifact.