Awesome / Skies of Arcadia

"C'mon... dance for me!"

Unmarked spoilers below.

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• The opening sequence complete with ship battle. This comic summarizes it pretty nicely. * The game starts out by raiding Valuan ship, killing its guards, defeating a war beast named Antonio, rescuing a Mysterious Waif named Fina, and bringing your ship home to its base IN A HOLLOWED OUT ISLAND.
• Vyse and Aika's introductions makes for a pretty cool opening, but Dyne's introduction... *Bang* "That's funny, I only count four of you." This game makes it clear from the start that even the secondary characters were going to be awesome.
• Your first ship battle, an entryway to new levels of awesome.
• Vyse infiltrates Valua, sneaks in through the catacombs, kills an acid-spitting monster, rescues his friends and family, and kills their would-be executioner (without rest after the acid monster). He realizes Fina's not with them, so he does the logical thing...he jumps on a train and beats up the guards to get to her. He's cornered by the toughest mofo in the game and escapes by his friends blasting the train in half.
• Ramirez is attacking, the Little Jack is on fire, and Drachma leads the kids down to the lifeboats, but he's not getting on. He still has business to settle with Rhaknam. No words, no dramatic build-up, he just gives them a last smirk and pushes them to safety.

• Liberating a Slave Race with one ship and four people.
• Centime gets one for disarming De Loco's deathtrap.
• Taking Grendel out... by making him fall over! Grendel is a giant humanoid Gigas that breaks islands with its bare hands.

• It's satisfying to kick Vigoro's ass considering he was trying to rape Aika!
  • Aika's after-battle "Reason You Suck" Speech to him counts, too.
    Vigoro: No fair... I didn't have my cannon... or my... armor....
    Aika: On Pirate Isle, we have a saying. "A man doesn't make excuses for his shortcomings.'' And judging by that saying, you've got a ways to go.
• The second escape from the capital of Valua. The first one, squeezing out through the huge gates just as they close, trapping the Valuan ships inside, was one thing; blasting through the gate with your shiny new Wave-Motion Gun as you steal the very latest Valuan flagship was another altogether.
  Vyse: Moonstone Cannon, FIRE!
  • The entirety of the Delphinus's first flight is amazing. From the moment you get your first look at the ship, to when it powers up and starts moving, to when the "battle" starts and you get a look at its stats. (4x as much health as the Little Jack!) At this point, the player is likely thinking: "Holy Shit! This ship is awesome!! And I get to use it!!!"
• Enrique showing Cruel Mercy to Muraji as the latter begs for his life, and the subsequent game of Chicken with Vigoro.

• The Silvite elders blocking the enemy's moon-shattering Wave-Motion Gun with their own space station. Which then crashes into the lost continent and makes the glowing panels comprising its force field fly up into space. Attacking the last of the Valuan Armada with an army composed of Blue Rogues, the entire Yafutoman navy, and all the Air Pirates of the world, both Blue Rogues and Black Pirates, is pretty damn awesome too.
• The Gondor Calls for Aid moment is epic, as it shows how much of a Captain Vyse has become. To show how respected he has become, the trope is inverted. That's right, in the world's moment of desperation, the aid unanimously calls for Gondor!
• The ending gives closure to the game and has such crowners as: Air Pirates Fina and Cupil, Drachma dying a happy fisherman, and Enrique marrying Moegi and beginning a new Valuan Empire.
• Belleza sacrificing herself to blow up Galcian, taking him out just when it seems like he's about to get away, and he can't do jack shit about it.
• Most of Vyse's speeches are awesome.
  • "Impossible is just a word people use to feel good about themselves when they quit."
  • "No one's escaped because I've never tried."
  • Vyse's speech to the citizens of Esperanza shows him as an awesome Hope Bringer. For context, Vyse questions them on how to get through the Dark Rift, a dark vortex in the skies nearby that has never been sailed through. The citizens, several of them retired sailors who tried previously and failed, proceed to laugh at Vyse and mock him. As Vyse prepares to leave, he proceeds to give one of the most awesome The Reason You Suck Speeches ever in a video game to everyone present, sending them into a shamed silence.
    Vyse: If you lose sight of one dream, replace it with another. Think about how much you could have accomplished in the time that you've spent here. Just because you couldn't cross the Dark Rift, are you just going to sit here for the rest of your life? Because you tried something once and failed, are you going to throw the rest of your life away? There's a whole world out there to see! Don't you have any desire to sail again?

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