My Youth in Arcadia

The game’s title, Eternal Arcadia, is an allusion to a 1982 anime film called Arcadia of My Youth (わが青春のアルカディア), based on the Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga series, written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto and serialized from 1977 to 1979. Vyse’s design is an homage to Captain Harlock’s design.

RPG Cliches

The entire game intentionally rips almost every RPG cliche from the RPG cliche book, an allusion and homage to the RPG genre in itself. Ramirez may be a tongue-in-cheek parody of Sephiroth, a popular character from Final Fantasy VII.

World Map

The world in-game contains many allusions to the real world map. The Baruan Armada is based on the Spanish Armada. The Nasuru Kingdom is based on the Middle East/Africa, Montezuma is Central/South America, and Yafutoma is reminiscent of Eastern countries such as China and Japan.

Moby Dick

Drachma’s goal in life is to kill Mobys, a giant whale of incomparable size. In the 1851 novel Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab’s obsession in life is to kill Moby Dick, a giant sperm whale of incomparable size.

The Middle East

The Nasuru Kingdom is a desert kingdom filled with arid sands, similar to the Middle East. Maramba is the name of a real town and river in Africa. The city of Naslard may be a corrupted spelling of Nasrid, the last Arab and Muslim Dynasty in Spain.

Quetzalcoatl

During the game, the Montezumans were waiting for their saviors from the East called the Quetya. This mirrors the tale of when Hernán Cortés, a Spanish envoy, comes to the Aztecs and the natives believed this man to be Quetzalcoatl’s return before finding out he was hostile.

Stonehenge

The Shrine of Tarutas may be based on Stonehenge.

The Cape of Good Hope

The town of Esperanza is south of the Nasuru Kingdom and seated on the Cape of Good Hope. There’s also a real Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, and both the fictional version and the real version are south of Middle Eastern areas (The Cape of Good Hope was changed to Cape Victory for the English localization).

Sargasso

Sargasso, the current of black clouds which is a rich source of mystery in the game’s world, is based on the real world Sargasso Sea, which has much to do with the Bermuda Triangle and is credited with some infamous disappearances. There is also a total lack of winds over the sea, which may mirror how their is a calm area in the eye of the game’s Sargasso (Sargasso was changed to the Dark Rift for the English Localization).

Robinson Crusoe

The character of Robinson, a castaway that can be found in Sargasso, is an allusion to the character of Robinson Crusoe, a book published in 1719. It is a fictional autobiography of the main character who spends 28 years on an island as a castaway.

Mount Fuji

Fugaku is an alternate name for Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan (Fugaku was changed to Mt. Kazai for the English Localization).

Atlantis

Atlantia, the lost homeland of the advanced Silver Civilization, is based on Atlantis, whose location is hypothesized to be in the Atlantic Ocean, and Atlantia’s in-game world map location is similar the aforementioned Atlantis’ real world hypothesized location. Atlantis is a legendary island that is known for being an advanced lost civilization (Atlantia was changed to Soltis for the English Localization).

Several things were changed when the game was localized to a Western audience. Below is a list of instances where there were notable changes. The Japanese released Eternal Arcadia Legends retains some of the changes made to Skies of Arcadia, mostly visual changes such as Bellena’s and Vigor’s clothing and the removal of tobacco, most likely an attempt to make the game more accessible to a younger audience (strengthened by the fact the Gamecube port has easier Japanese text readability).

Super Skills

In Eternal Arcadia, it isn't possible to skip character skills animations. Starting with Skies of Arcadia and all subsequent releases, the skill animations have been skippable.

Name Changes

Several names and terms have been changed. For example, Mobys (モビス) was changed to Rhaknam and Kururu (クルル) was changed to Dhabu. Rich (リチ) was changed to Gold, and Beam Arts (煌術) was simplified to Magic. Furthermore, several area names have been changed. For example, Dorado became Rixis and The Cape of Good Hope became Cape Victory.

Untranslatable Quirks

Pinta tends to end his sentences in pin, Brabham tends to end his sentences with zoi, and Muraji tends to end his sentences with jaru. Dobra has a kansai accent, which could be called Japan’s equivalent of a southerner’s accent in the US.

Alcohol

All cases of rum (ラム酒) have been changed to a fictional drink called loqua. It is unknown if loqua contains alcohol, but rum is an alcoholic drink deeply associated with pirates.

Salam

A large amount of Nasurans, including Kalifa and Osman, regularly say Salam, which is Arabic for Hello. All of these instances have been erased from the English Localization.

Handsome Boy

In Eternal Arcadia, Belleza affectionately calls Vyse "boy." While it might sound cute to hear a person call someone something in a foreign language, it would lose some of that affectionate feeling if one translated it as boy for the English Localization, which is most likely why it was changed to "handsome" for Skies of Arcadia.

Cockroaches and Dirty Old Men

In Eternal Arcadia at Dorado, Aika says the two things she’s afraid of the most are cockroaches and ghosts. In Skies of Arcadia at Rixis, Aika says the two things she hates the most were dirty old men and ghosts.

Gilder’s Motto

In Eternal Arcadia, Gilder’s motto is to do things that haven't been done before, and you can reply by saying that’s so cool or that he’s crazy. In Skies of Arcadia, his motto is that women are like sunsets and that they're beautiful but there’s a new one everyday, and you can reply by saying it’s a good motto or that it’s messed up.

Arcadia

In Eternal Arcadia, the world does not have a known name and, unlike the English Localization, is never referred to as Arcadia. In Skies of Arcadia, it’s implied a couple of times that the world is named Arcadia, such as in the opening trailer and at the Great Silver Shrine’s Room of Memories.

Ramirez’s Obsession

Ramirez’s obsession with Galcian seems downtowned in the English Localization. He becomes so distraught at Galcian’s death that he mentions his name almost at least every other sentence. For example, before the final boss he says, "ガルシアン様を失ったわが怒り、わが悲しみ……思い知るがいい！" which roughly translates to "I will make you realize my anger, my sorrow… over the loss of Lord Galcian!" which was changed to "Now you shall feel the wrath of Zelos! You will suffer for all eternity!!! Zelos will feast on your souls!" and his last words while disintegrating are "ガ、ガルシアン様ぁーっ！！" which translates to "L, Lord Galciannn!!" which was changed to "No! This can't be happening!!!"

Trivial Stuff That Only Pedants Would Care About

Montezumans speak a combination of hiragana and katakana, and although there are no phonological differences between the two, it’s possibly a trait to make them seem more primitive, similar to the Ixa'takans bad English. There are also some instances where dialogue is changed, such as when talking to Drachma after rescuing Isapa (from saying all this travelling is troublesome to simply saying "Damn Valuans!", and what Aika and Fina say after being dropped off by Krone/Clara (from laughing at how Krone’s search for a man mirrors their own search for a man to laughing at how Clara was the nicest stalker they ever met which explained why her ship looks like a honeymoon suite).

Klayton Vorlick & Chris Lucich (Skies of Arcadia only)

During the development of Skies of Arcadia, writer Chris Lucich named the Vyse’s final sword the "Vorlik Blade" after fellow writer Klayton Vorlick (who’s also worked on games like Jet Grind Radio and Sonic Adventure 2). Lucich went around the department telling everyone about Vorlick’s inflated ego. So Vorlick, in retaliation, named one of the slime enemies a "Lucich."

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Tavern Picture

Original Japanese: On the Island of Sailors’ tavern door and sign, there is a picture of a mug.

English Localization: On Sailor Island’s tavern door and sign, there is a picture of a banquet.

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Polly’s Lip Job

Original Japanese: Polly’s lips are larger.

English Localization: Polly’s lips are smaller.

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Bellena’s Wardrobe Change

Original Japanese: Bellena’s pants are transparent.

English Localization: Bellena’s pants are opaque and a bra is added.

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Prison Romance

Original Japanese: Vigor initially wears his normal attire and then wears a mesh shirt in the later cutscene when Vyse comes to save her. Additionally, the camera pans up and down on Aika as if checking her out while Vigor comments that she has a slender body and sexy hips, though has a horse-face.

English Localization: Vigoro wears a sleeveless shirt throughout the cutscenes. Additionally, the camera doesn't pan up and down on Aika as if checking her out while Aika comments on Vigoro’s figure.

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Ramirez’s Blood

Original Japanese: In Atlantia, when Ramirez prepares to fight the party, he grips the blade of his sword causing his hand to bleed, and then swishes the sword to the side causing the blood to fly off.

English Localization: In Soltis, when Ramirez prepares to fight the party, he grips his sword light enough so his hand doesn't bleed.

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Omitted Drunks

Original Japanese: Several cases of drunk characters can be found throughout the game.

English Localization: All traces of drunkenness have been removed. The Island of Sailors drunk and the drinking Hamachous have been removed completely.

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Don’s Bottle

Original Japanese: Don’s bottle is brown.

English Localization: Don’s bottle is green.

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Smoking Ban

Original Japanese: Several characters smoke. For example, Dyne and Willy. When Gilder introduces himself, there’s a fairly lengthy animation of him taking out a cigar and puffing it.

English Localization: All traces of tobacco have been removed. In the English Localization, the Esparanzan Desert Trader’s animation is choppy as a result of cutting out his original animation in which he had an animation involving his cigar.

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Gilder’s Victory Pose

Original Japanese: Gilder takes out a cigar and takes a smoke.

English Localization: Willy comes and perches on Gilder’s shoulder.

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ぐるぐる温泉2
Guruguru Onsen 2

Release Date: August 8, 2001

Platform: Sega Dreamcast

Description: An online game that had a collection of multiplayer card and board games such as Uno, Poker, Mahjong, and more.

Relation to Eternal Arcadia: In celebration of Eternal Arcadia’s 1st anniversary, Vyse & Aika became downloadable characters for the duration of October 5-6, 2001. There was also a poker tournament with Eternal Arcadia memorabilia as prizes. The prizes were:

1st Place: Premium Set

Eternal Arcadia Limited Box
Eternal Arcadia Pirate Edition
Store demo disc

2nd Place: Soundtrack Set

Eternal Arcadia Original Soundtrack

3rd Place: Mania Set

Skies of Arcadia (NTSC-U)
Skies of Arcadia (PAL)
Vinyl Balloon

105th Place: Special Prize

An autograph of an Eternal Arcadia voice actor

The 105th place is a reference to Eternal Arcadia’s release date, October 5th.

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戦場のヴァルキュリア　－Ｇａｌｌｉａｎ　Ｃｈｒｏｎｉｃｌｅｓ－
Senjou no Valkyria -Gallian Chronicles-

Release Date: April 24, 2008

Platform: Sony PlayStation 3

Description: A tactical RPG set in the country of Gallia, Welkin Gunther and his country strive to fight off an invading army that has their eyes set on Gallia’s rich resources.

Relation to Eternal Arcadia: Vyse Inglebard & Aika Thompson are playable characters and Fina is a medic who comes to the aid of the injured.