Skies of Arcadia is a very solid and almost perfect RPG game. It's absolutely the best of its time.
The graphics are great - at the time, we wouldn't expect more. It's just beautiful. We have colored environments and the are all good detailed. Very nice work, really.
The gameplay is simple and quick to learn - The battle system are very intelligent w/ the usage of spirit and magic. Every other RPG after "SoA" should have more of it. At least J-RPG's that up to today are most dispensable than ever.
The soundtrack is very nice. But there's no much more variation than you'll hear in the first 10 hours of gaming.
The characters are really nice and fun. You'll surely like most of 'em.
Now, let's make some negative critics:
Sometimes the game has a little glitch in the Air Boat part. You can make close turns otherwise the ship will just stop like the near stuff is in the way. You can forgive this tough... And walking, but sometimes, you'll have the same problem.
The storyline is great and all but sometime in the middle of the game it gets very predictable. But be patient because it'll get on its feet right after this boredom.
The Dreamcast version is quite incomplete. You'll have to download stuff to see 100% of the game or have to play the "Pinta's Quest" (boring) to find every necessary Chams for Cupil for example. This can be done, ok, but it's just a letdown if you are not playing it in GameCube (which is a little harder than the Dreamcast version).
Well, that's it. The negative critics can be put aside considering the year of release and as you play you'll find very funny lines and moments as well as emotional ones too.
Almost a perfect RPG that use everything that's good in the J-RPG stuff. One of the last really good RPG so far. You just can't miss this one.
I hope it eventualy comes out again in Full HD and some other improvements.