History YMMV / SkiesOfArcadia

* HellIsThatNoise: The BGM for the Dark Rift and Deep Sky. It sounds soothing, but has odd dark undertones that turn it from relaxing into unsettlingly ambient. The oddly triumphant-sounding part at the end of the loop adds to the eeriness. Also, [[FridgeBrilliance it's not on the OST]].

** Fighting the black looper Elcian in the Dark Rift. It's a fairly simple fight compared to the other bonus bosses, yet grants 2871 EXP and it reappears every time you re-enter the Rift. It is very easy to max out your group with just one or two hours of grinding this monster and then breezing through every fight from then on.

** Skull Shield makes your party immune to regular attacks and guarantees a counter-attack if a character is hit. This allows you to kill Loopers easily- simply activate Skull Shield, then sit back and laugh as the loopers kill themselves while trying to attack you.

** Fighting the Giant Squid in the Dark Rift. It is an extremely easy fight, yet grants 2871 EXP and it reappears every time you re-enter the Rift. It is very easy to max out your group with just one or two hours of grinding this monster and then breezing through every fight from then on.

** Skull Shield makes your party immune to all physical and magic damage for one turn, but still leaves you vulnerable to staus ailments. In addition, if the enemy uses a physical attack against any of your party members, while Skull Shield is active, it responds with an automatic counter attack. This allows you to kill Loppers easily. Simply activate Skull Shield, then sit back and laugh as the loopers kill themselves while trying to attack you.

** Delta Shield blocks all magic attacks and is invaluable against instant death attacks.

* ThatOneLevel: Moon Stone Mountain. Feel free to rage at the memories of falling through floor tiles and having to walk all the way back again.

** Fighting the Giant Squid in the Dark Rift. It is a extremely easy fight, but grants 271 EXP and it reappears every time you re-enter the Rift. It is very easy to max out your group with just one or two hours of grinding this monster and then breezing through every fight from then on.

* GoddamnedBats: Loopers, in all their forms. They're nearly impossible to hit with normal attacks, are immune to magic, their defence power is high enough that Lambda Burst usually deals 0 damage to them, they frequently buff the other enemies in the battle, and often ''run away'' before you can actually hit them with a Special attack and/or kill them, especially early in the game. Ironically, they're more likely to die if they attack you than if you attack them, since your counter-attack rate is likely to be higher than your hit rate against them.
** Skull Shield lets you pwn Loopers easily, as noted under: GameBreaker. Vyse's "Rain of Swords" also kills Loopers, since it deals non-elemental damage.

** Vyse can count as this as well. Unfailingly optimistic and driven, ends up personally exploring the entire world, thwarts an evil empire [[spoiler: and the man who tried to seize control of it, and then the man after that who tries to destroy everything, and then sails off into the sunset with ''two'' potential girlfriends who don't show a hint of jealousy towards each other.]]

** Also Drachma, once you finally find out his backstory.

* TheWoobie: Fina. [[spoiler: Over the course of the game she loses everyone she's ever known prior to coming to Arcadia, and ends up having to help personally kill other remaining Silvite due to how insane and vengeful he'd become.]]

** Most Bounty fights can be easily dealt with by spamming Justice Shield and Delta Shield every round until you max out your SP meter, and then casting Prophecy for massive damage. It probably won't TPK your opponent, but they'll definitely be seriously hurting and easy pickings to finish off.

* ClicheStorm[=/=]{{Troperrific}}: If you had to look at the game on paper, it'd be hard to see what see in it It's an extremely standard turn-based RPG that follows TheOneTrueSequence (or at least appears to) one hundred percent, it has your typical "race with the bad guys to collect the magic crystals in the world" plot, only a handful of the characters really undergo any substantial CharacterDevelopment, and a majority of the villains are some of the hammiest, most straight-forward and one-dimensional {{Card Carrying Villain}}s ever. [[TropesAreNotBad But it pulls off each and every single one of these cliches and tropes so well that the game is far more than the sum of its parts]]!

* ClicheStorm[=/=]{{Troperrific}}: If you had to look at the game on paper, it'd be hard to see what see in it It's an extremely standard turn-based RPG that follows TheOneTrueSequence (or at least appears to) one hundred percent, it has your typical "race with the bad guys to collect the magic crystals in the world" plot, none of the characters really undergo any substantial CharacterDevelopment apart from Drachma (and Enrique to a lesser extent), and a majority of the villains are some of the hammiest, most straight-forward and one-dimensional {{Card Carrying Villain}}s ever. [[TropesAreNotBad But it pulls off each and every single one of these cliches and tropes so well that the game is far more than the sum of its parts]]!

* {{Wangst}}: Ramirez. The man just whines endlessly [[AvengingTheVillain after his idol dies]].

* ClicheStorm[=/=]{{Troperrific}}: By all rights, ''Skies Of Arcadia'' does not deserve as much praise as it gets. It's an extremely standard turn-based RPG that follows TheOneTrueSequence (or at least appears to) one hundred percent, it has your typical "race with the bad guys to collect the magic crystals in the world" plot, none of the characters really undergo any substantial CharacterDevelopment apart from Drachma, and the villains are some of the hammiest, most straight-forward and one-dimensional {{Card Carrying Villain}}s ever. [[TropesAreNotBad But it pulls off each and every single one of these cliches and tropes so well that the game is far more than the sum of its parts]]!

* AngstWhatAngst: Vyse is this trope crystallized. [[DoomedHometown His hometown is destroyed?]] His base is destroyed? He gets separated from his friends? [[DeterMinator He shrugs it off and fixes it.]]

* NeedsMoreLove: People have been demanding a sequel for almost a decade now. We were given a slight glimmer of hope when the trio showed up as major cameos in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles''...

** Belleza, in her flagship the Lynx. [[WakeUpCallBoss Potentially the third ship battle in the entire game]], not counting the preceding HopelessBossFight, Belleza is also the first to make strong use of both torpedoes and a magic cannon, buffing herself and combining her attacks for heavy burst damage. A good combo from her can knock upwards of 7,000 health off the Little Jack's 10-11,000 HP pool in a single round. To make matters worse, you fight her immediately after [[spoiler:the Temple of Pyrynn]] and [[spoiler:Recumen]], so it's unlikely that you'll start the fight in good shape.

** Skull Shield makes your party immune to all physical and magic damage for one turn, but still leaves you vulnerable to staus ailments.

** SkullShield makes your party immune to all physical and magic damage for one turn, but still leaves you vulnerable to staus ailments.