Skies of Arcadia

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Skies of Arcadia
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Developer(s)	Overworks
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Rieko Kodama
Platform(s)	Dreamcast, GameCube
Release date	Dreamcast October 5, 2000[1] November 13, 2000[1] April 27, 2001[1] GameCube December 26, 2002[2] January 27, 2003[2] May 23, 2003[2]
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen)[1][2] ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: M15+ PEGI: 12+ USK: 6
Media	2 GD-ROM's 1 GameCube Optical Disc
Input methods	Gamepad

Skies of Arcadia, released in Japan as Eternal Arcadia (エターナルアルカディア, Etānaru Arukadia^?), is a console role-playing game developed by Overworks for the Dreamcast and published by Sega in 2000.^[1] Skies of Arcadia Legends, an enhanced remake, was released for the GameCube in 2002. Legends was also in development for the PlayStation 2; however, it was cancelled shortly before the GameCube release.^[3] The game's story focuses around Vyse, a young pirate in a Jules Verne-inspired fantasy world, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons with the potential to destroy the world.

In 2007, it was rumoured in EGM that SEGA is currently in the process of developing a sequel to Skies of Arcadia. ^[4] It's rumored to be officially announced at this year's Tokyo Game Show for the Wii, with a possible PS3 version mentioned. ^[5]

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Dungeons 1.2 Overworld 1.3 Discoveries 1.4 Battle system 1.4.1 Character combat 1.4.2 Ship combat 2 Storyline 3 Characters 3.1 Party 3.2 Main player characters 3.3 Secondary player characters 3.4 Antagonists 4 Soundtrack 5 Reception 6 Skies of Arcadia Legends 6.1 New content 7 References 8 External links 8.1 Dreamcast 8.2 GameCube

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Dungeons

Most of gameplay in Skies of Arcadia takes place in standard role playing game dungeons. Controlling the male protagonist, Vyse, in a third-person view, players must traverse and defeat these dungeons in order to advance the storyline. Dungeons comprise of a network of pathways with treasure chests, puzzles, and ubiquitous monsters. Completing the dungeons is usually a matter of exploring each of the possible pathways presented to the player until the correct one is found. Treasure chests are commonplace during this style of gameplay and contain some of the most powerful items in the game. It is usually in the best interest of the player to explore all routes, as it is frequently impossible to return to dungeons the player has visited, and significant portions of the game are made inaccessible when certain events occur in the storyline. Throughout the dungeon gameplay the player meets compulsory random encounter. If the entire player party is defeated, progress is reset to the beginning of the dungeon. In the Dreamcast version, it was possible to slightly foresee these random encounters by noticing a loud spin-up of the console's GD-ROM drive. This gave the player time to open the start menu and prepare for the battle.

Travel between the numerous dungeons is accomplished by piloting an airship through the overworld, a three dimensional sky with massive floating rocks forming islands and continents. Some islands are completely uninhabited, while others are filled with sprawling towns and cities. All dungeons throughout the game are located on these islands and continents. There are two exceptions to this, where a dungeon is traversed whilst piloting the airship. This under-utilized form of dungeon contains floating spherical objects instead of treasure chests, and vortex-like tunnels in place of corridors and doors in one case, and a single series of tunnels in the other.

[edit] Overworld

Throughout overworld travel, the same unavoidable random encounters occur as in the dungeons. These battles take place on the deck of the airship and are otherwise identical to their dungeon-based counterparts. Later in the game, however, an advanced mechanism is discovered for the player's ship which allows it to rise above the upper cloud layer and sink below the lower cloud layer of Arcadia, presenting two ways to avoid these encounters. In addition, ship-to-ship combat can occur whilst traveling through the overworld; however, the majority of these are unavoidable boss fights which advance the storyline. Random ship-to-ship battles can occur, but they are rare and avoidable.

[edit] Discoveries

The player can also find Discoveries hidden throughout the world while flying their airship. Information about discoveries can be sold at Sailor's Guilds located in cities throughout the game; the value of a discovery is determined by how well-hidden it is and how much time has elapsed since it was possible to find. When finding a new land, a discovery is recorded automatically, as these Discoveries are part of the storyline.

[edit] Battle system

Combat occurs very frequently in Skies of Arcadia, especially during the overworld travel. This is widely accepted as one of the main weaknesses of the game, since due to the large amount of encounters, the player characters level up too quickly and make the rest of the game less of a challenge. It is not until late in the game that it becomes possible to avoid combat during overworld travel. Combat comprises two vastly different settings: those encountered in ship to ship combat, and character to monster combat. Ship to ship combat occurs relatively rarely compared to the common character-combat. This encounter rate was reduced for the GameCube re-release.

[edit] Character combat

Character combat occurs between one to four player characters and one to eight monsters or NPCs. Combat comprises seven main options; 'Run', 'Items' (Which can be used to change the characters' equipment as well), 'Guard', 'Attack', 'S.Move' (Super Move), 'Magic' and 'Focus'. An eighth option, 'Crew Special', becomes available later in the game by meeting certain criteria (Which replaces the Run command). After an action has been chosen for each character, the round will commence. As with all RPGs, using these in an effective combination can make victory almost certain.

[edit] Ship combat

Ship combat is used when battling other ships and the extremely powerful gigas that are summoned throughout the game. Ship combat generally follows the same framework as character combat, however there are a few distinct differences. Each round in ship combat is divided into either three or four turns depending on how many characters are currently in the party. During each round, neither team has more than a single turn advantage over the opposition. Ship battles use a colour-coded grid system to show each turn in the following two rounds, and the amount of fire the ship will come under during each turn.

The same actions used in character combat are used here, albeit with small differences. The 'Attack' option now has the player pick between four different cannons that have been equipped to the ship. Cannons come in three different types - powerful main cannons, multi-firing secondary cannons, and delayed-effect torpedoes - and each one can only be used once per round. This same stipulation carries over to the 'S. Move' command, which now uses a large, front-mounted cannon. In addition to the standard actions, the ship's crew can be called upon by one of the characters in the party. Whilst each of these can only be used once in each ship battle, the diversity and power of the crew's abilities can be very useful.

[edit] Storyline

The story begins with a young Silvite named Fina sailing through the skies in her tiny Silver ship. Not far behind her, Valuan Admiral Alfonso is in hot pursuit under orders from Lord Galcian. Alfonso opens fire on and disables Fina's ship sending it crashing into Deep Sky, but just as she is being brought onboard his warship, a Blue Rogue vessel arrives to save the day. Vyse and Aika of the Blue Rogues jump from the Albatross onto Alfonso's flagship and battle their way to the bridge, prompting Alfonso to flee on a lifeboat while leaving Fina behind. Vyse and Aika bring Fina back to their clan's ship, which Vyse pilots back to their secret hideout, 'Pirate Island' (disguised as 'Windmill Island').

While watching the sunset, Vyse and Aika see a Moonstone fall from the skies onto nearby Shrine Island. The next day they travel to Shrine Island to retrieve the Moonstone, a concentrated form of airship fuel, leaving Fina behind in the care of their clan. The Moonstone in hand, Vyse and Aika return to Pirate Island to find it obliterated by the Valuan Armada. Fina and many Blue Rogues have been captured by the Armada and taken to the capital city, and here the game proper begins. What starts as a simple rescue mission becomes a struggle for survival amid a looming world war.

Shortly after leaving Pirate Island, Vyse and Aika are shipwrecked by the legendary arcwhale Rhaknam. They are rescued by a callous but good-hearted fisherman named Drachma, who is hunting Rhaknam. They manage to convince Drachma to take them to Valua City and rescue their friends from death row, luring him with the prospect of a powerful whaling harpoon that is to be found in Valua. Upon rescuing their friends and making a miraculous escape from the Grand Fortress (a history-making feat), the Blue Rogues return to Pirate Island, where Fina admits the real reason that the Empire would go to such trouble to capture her.

Fina's mission is to travel Arcadia in search of the Six Moon Crystals, rare sources of power which can be used to summon organic weapons called the Gigas. The Armada also seeks these weapons with the plan of world domination, and Fina has to find them first. Fina recruits Vyse and Aika to her cause and joins the party, and together with Drachma, fellow pirate Gilder, and frustrated Valuan Prince Enrique, the trio find themselves fighting the Armada and the Gigas at every turn, all the while enduring shipwreaks, betrayal, enemy pirates, and a second capture and escape from the Valuan Grand Fortress. Upon the second escape from the Grand Fortress, Prince Enrique allows Vyse to command the Flagship built for him, the Delphinus, which lets Vyse captain his own airship. They ultimately gather five of the six Crystals and return to Vyse's home base on Crescent Isle, expecting to celebrate and throw a farewell party for Fina, as Fina admits that her elders are in possession of the last, Silver Crystal.

Instead, the party is ambushed by Ramirez, a corrupted Silvite warrior and childhood friend of Fina. Disgusted with the greed and conceit of the world (primarily Valua's Upper City), Ramirez now serves Galcian and the Armada. Vyse, Aika, and Fina engage Ramirez in battle but are defeated. Ramirez reveals that the Silvite Elders were the ones who ordered the Rains of Destruction, a hail of moonstones that ravaged the old world to quell the ancient wars, and both Ramirez and Fina were sent to recover the Crystals so that the Elders may once again call down the Rains. Ramirez also reveals that every Silvite is born with a Silver Crystal in them, and attempts to kill Fina to take hers, but is stopped by Gilder's cannonfire and retreats. In order to prevent Galcian from obtaining the Silver Crystal, Vyse and co. recover the ship Fina arrived in from Deep Sky, the surface of the world beneath the clouds where atmospheric pressure is extreme. They recover the ship and use it to travel far above the clouds to the Great Silver Shrine, where Fina warns her Elders of Ramirez's betrayal, and lectures the Elders on the trust of people, and the wrongful nature of judging and killing them. Ramirez arrives with Galcian and murders the head Elder and takes his crystal and quickly makes a getaway. Ramirez takes all six Crystals and uses them to activate the continent of Soltis, of which Shrine Island is a small part. Ramirez alone can use the true power of the Crystals: when brought together with the Silver Gigas, they can call the Rains of Destruction upon any or all of the world's six continents, leading to apocalypse. Wishing to be rid of the Valuan Emipire, Galcian orders the Yellow Moon to rain on Valua's capital, killing most of the citizens, including Empress Teodora and First Admiral Alfonso. Ramirez's initial plan is to give Galcian the power to rule the world, but Galcian dies in the massive Battle of Soltis at the hands of Fourth Admiral Belleza, who sacrifices her life and Flagship to kill him, after an Air Pirate army raised by Vyse defeats Galcian's fleet and Battle Station. Ramirez, angered by Galcian's death, decides to destroy the world. He is undermined by his own former Silvite Elders, who sacrifice their lives to break through Ramirez's defensive shield to atone for their judgmental behavior, allowing Vyse's crew entry into Soltis.

Vyse and friends fight Ramirez to a standstill, endangering his life. In desperation, Ramirez allows himself to be absorbed by the Silver Gigas, sacrificing his individuality for extra power and a chance at revenge. The Gigas loses to Vyse in a ship battle, and its core, an amalgamation of the Gigas and Ramirez, falls onto the Delphinus's deck for a final duel. The entity loses, and Ramirez and the means of summoning the Rains of Destruction are both destroyed forever. Vyse buries Ramirez's "remains," the Silver Crystal, at sea, and a lengthy celebration follows, after which Vyse, Aika and Fina (now a full-fledged Air Pirate) shed their combative past and return to being full-time Blue Rogues as the credits roll.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Party

Throughout the game the protagonist, Vyse, is the character that is actually controlled by the player. Vyse and Aika, the female lead, are permanent members of a four character party. At various stages, the player can pick up one, and only one, of the secondary characters. At some points the player has a choice which of these to use, but often it is compulsory for the party to contain a certain secondary character. A short way through the game, Fina changes from a storyline-only role to a playable character and a permanent member.

At one point in the game the four character party is split in two, with Vyse + Gilder and Aika + Fina being the pairs. This part of the game presents an unusual challenge as the various strengths and weaknesses of the characters are unable to complement each other. The two primary damage dealing characters (Vyse and Gilder) are paired together, with little magical ability, and the two primary magic characters (Aika and Fina) are paired, with little damage ability.

At various stages in the game Gilder, Drachma and Enrique are added and removed from the character pool. This is usually done forcibly, however near the end of the game the player can choose which of the three characters to choose from.

[edit] Main player characters

• Vyse: 17 year old boy, Blue Rogue (Air Pirates that only attack armed vessels larger than their own ships, in particular those of the Valuan Armada). Vyse has a highly upbeat, eternally optimistic personality and refuses to give up, always believing that when you put your heart to something, nothing can stop you. Sometimes, he's the one who keeps the entire party's spirit up. He is also the character the player controls when not in battle. Vyse fights with twin cutlasses, one primarily used in offense and one for extra defense. Vyse's magic is relatively weak compared to that of Aika and Fina, but his physical attacks are the second strongest in the game (after Drachma's). His Super Moves often become a staple in boss battles.
  

• Aika: 17 year old girl, Vyse's close friend since childhood and fellow Blue Rogue. Aika has a strong personality and an easily inflamed temper, yet has weaknesses such as obsession with treasure and fear of swimming. She also was orphaned at an early age, and was cared for by Vyse's family. Aika fights using an oversized boomerang. Aika balances her high speed and respectable attack strength with fairly strong magic. Aika becomes mostly used for buffs and items rather than attacking enemies. Her Super Moves are best used to destroy large numbers of common enemies at once.
  

• Fina: 17 year old girl, "Silvite" (survivor of the ancient, defunct Silver Civilization). Fina is sweet-natured and demure, like many typical love interest characters in RPGs, but her sweet nature hides an iron will. Fina's pet, a silver ball-like creature named Cupil, fights for her. Cupil can morph into various shapes, and gains power by eating Chams, Moon Stone shards that are hidden throughout the game. His most powerful form is Final Cupil, although it required a download in the Dreamcast version in order to get the final cham. When not in battle, Cupil takes the form of a bracelet that Fina wears. Fina has very strong magic powers, and her super moves are very useful when fighting bosses, such as Galcian, Ramirez, and Piastol, for their healing and regeneration abilities.
  

[edit] Secondary player characters

• Drachma: A 55 year old maimed man, Drachma lost his right arm, eye, and son whilst fighting the giant archwale Rhaknam. He now has a mechanical right arm which he uses as a weapon during battle. His obsession with hunting Rhaknam (Mobys in the Japanese game in a homage to Moby-Dick) leads him to search the skies. Drachma is the captain of the small fishing airship, Little Jack. He travels with Vyse and the others for part of the game, and pretends not to care about them, but he shows up just in time to save them quite a few times.
  

• Gilder: A rakishly handsome 32 year old man, Gilder wears a pince-nez and uses a pistol as his weapon. Gilder is the captain of the light, swift pirate vessel Claudia. He has a parrot named Willy, who can be helpful when Gilder needs to break out of jail cells. He is a very laid-back individual, and loves good times and women. However, he seems to be constantly looking over his shoulder and running away from Clara, a Blue Rogue obsessed with Gilder.
  

• Enrique: At 25 years old, Enrique is the Crown Prince of the Valuan Empire, but disagrees strongly with the imperialist policies of his mother, Empress Teodora I. The name of his father is unknown. Enrique uses rapiers as his weapon in battle. He joins the party and gives Vyse his flagship, the Delphinus, when he escapes Valua with Vyse, Aika, Fina, and Gilder. His frank nobility and chivalry are in direct opposition to the attitudes of most of the higher Valuans, and it is his infectious goodness that ends up saving the entire party later on.
  

[edit] Antagonists

The Blue Rogues' sworn enemy, the Valuan Empire, continually hunts Vyse and Aika throughout the game. The Valuan Empire is ruled politically by the Empress Teodora I, but the real military power lies with the Lord Admiral Galcian. Galcian's five deputies - Alfonso (First Admiral), Gregorio, Vigoro, Belleza, and De Loco (Fifth Admiral) - each have a distinct personality, personified by their highly unique flagships. Amongst themselves they are each silently competing for promotion at the expense of the others, especially Alfonso, who thinks he should be Lord Admiral instead of Galcian. Galcian's Vice-Captain Ramirez later becomes the Sixth Admiral of the Valuan Armada and has a mysterious connection to Fina. Five of the six Admirals die in the game, the surviving admiral being Vigoro (ironically, he is the only original admiral that the party fights in hand-to-hand combat).

In addition, a significant number of lesser adversaries confront the player throughout the game. These are mostly 'Black Pirates,' a faction of unscrupulous criminals who lack the Blue Rogues' self-restraint and hence have earned the Rogues' ire. Notable Black Pirates include Captain Baltor, a bandit from Nasr airspace who pursues a small vendetta against Vyse, and Gordo the Round, an obese pirate whose plundering is driven by his lust for unique food. In the Gamecube rerelease, several more of these Black Pirates appear and can be hunted for bounty rewards, including a trio of criminals who resemble Vyse, Aika and Fina in appearance and poison Vyse's reputation unless defeated during an optional sidequest.

[edit] Soundtrack

On October 5, 2000 the game's musical soundtrack was released on CD as a double album.^[6] Composed by Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda, it features 67 original tracks from the game and has a runtime of over two hours and twenty minutes.^[6][7] The album is named after the Japanese version of the game, Eternal Arcadia.^[6] Four tracks from the game (Clara's Theme, De Loco’s Theme, Dark Rift music, Blue Moon Crystal tune) are omitted from the official soundtrack release.^[7]

[edit] Reception

Reviews and awards

Publication	Score	Comment
IGN	9.2 of 10[8]	Editor's Choice
GameSpot	9.2 of 10[9]
Electronic Gaming Monthly	9.4 of 10[10]	Game of the Month
Edge	8 of 10	Issue E93
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK)	8 of 10[11]	Issue #19
Game Informer	8.5 of 10(Dreamcast) 9 of 10(gamecube)[12]
Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings	90 of 100 (based on 43 reviews)[13]
Metacritic	93 of 100 (based on 21 reviews)[14]
Awards
IGN.com Top 100 (2006)	58th best game of all time on IGN's 2006 reader's choice list[15]
EGM Top 100 (2001)	80th best game of all time on EGM's 2001 list[16]

Skies of Arcadia was well received by most game reviewers. IGN gave the game a 9.2, praising it for its "solid overall visuals, lively and appealing characters, excellent use of camera angles, and some of the coolest mechanical designs for the airships".^[8] Gamespot gave the game a 9.2 as well, also praising the visuals, stating that they were "some of the most painstakingly detailed ever seen in a role-playing game". As a whole, Gamespot concluded that the game "lives up [to] the high expectations".^[9] At Gamerankings, it currently ranks in the top 10 highest scoring Dreamcast games, with an average score of 90.3%. Game Informer also listed it as one of the top 10 Dreamcast games.^[17]

Lacking any highly rated single player RPG's, Skies of Arcadia filled a hole in the Dreamcast's lineup. As such, Skies of Arcadia is generally rated higher amongst its owners than by the press. Skies of Arcadia debuted with a one-hour playable demo in games magazines. To this date, Skies of Arcadia is held by most reviewers as the best RPG to ever be released on the Dreamcast.

The game has received acclaim for its advanced battle system and unique fighting style. Like most RPG's, Skies of Arcadia involved the usual attack, defense and healing components. In addition, further strategy was incorporated into the game through the use of the Elements system. By equipping the right element color against a given enemy, the player could effectively increase the delivered damage. For instance, equipping the fire element against an ice enemy would deliver greater damage. The use of Spirit Points to deliver special moves is also a notable addition to the battle system. Each round a number of spirit points are made available in order to use magic abilities or character-specific special moves. Later on in the game, two 'super' abilities become available by filling the spirit meter completely. These moves unleash a devastating amount of damage to the enemy, but forfeits the player's turn.

One major complaint about the game was the high rate of random encounter-based battles, which made traveling from location to location somewhat testing on the player's patience. This was fixed to a degree in Skies of Arcadia Legends, the enhanced remake for the GameCube. Some players add that the ship battles take too long and distract the player from enjoying game play, however, no such complaints have been made for the common random encounter-based battles. The game was successful enough that it was re-released in Q2 2004 in Japan, which vouched for a similar release in North America on January 27, 2003.

[edit] Skies of Arcadia Legends

On December 26, 2002 an enhanced remake, Skies of Arcadia Legends was released in Japan for the GameCube. It was subsequently released in North America on January 27, 2003 and in Europe on May 23, 2003. Legends features slightly enhanced graphics, shorter loading times and some additional content. The remake is unable to make use of the Dreamcast's external hardware, such as the rumble pack and VMU, to let players know when many treasures or events were near. For example, in the Dreamcast version the official Sega VMU would start to beep whenever there was a Cham in the area. Cupil would also appear on the VMU screen to guide players to the Cham's exact location. Since the GameCube version has no VMU, Cupil would instead start making a "Pyu!" sound and appear in the corner of the screen as an icon when the player was on top of a Cham. Finally, the rate of random encounters is slightly lower in the GameCube version but experience points earned are higher per battle to make up for this.

There are not many significant graphical differences between the two versions; even the texture LOD bias remains the same despite the GameCube's more powerful texturing abilities. However the GameCube does make use of its improved hardware to reduce saving and loading times. The majority of character models have gained some additional polygon counts. In addition, the GameCube version does not require the use of a second disc, whereas the Dreamcast version does. However, in order to fit on the smaller GameCube disc, the music in Skies of Arcadia Legends is of a lower recording quality than the Dreamcast version.

Skies of Arcadia Legends, as well as the original US Dreamcast version, has tighter censorship of mature content.^[18] All traces of cigarettes are removed, shops serve Loqua juice instead of alcohol, and several female characters have less revealing clothes.^[18]

[edit] New content

Twenty-four new discoveries are to be made in Legends compared to the original. These are scattered throughout the game and reduce the difficulty somewhat as they act as a very large source of income for the player. In addition a potential lookout, Domingo, can be recruited earlier. Another alteration between the two versions is the inclusion of Moonfish and a ship flying near Sailor's Island flown by a doctor, Doc, and a young girl named Maria. Maria has a pet bird, which turns out to be a Hamachou. Moonfish, fish which are invisible to the naked eye, are placed throughout the game for the player to collect. When prompted by the distinctive sound Moonfish make, Vyse is able to see Moonfish with a special adjustment to his headgear. When returning these Moonfish to the Doc, Maria's bird begins to grow, and eventually it turns into a fully grown Moon Hamachou and is added to the journal as a Discovery.

Another addition to Legends is Piastol, a goth-dressed woman who hunts air pirates under the nom de guerre "Angel of Death." Piastol is after Vyse because she mistakenly believes that he killed her father, Admiral Mendoza of Valua, ten years before the story began. One night, her father's ship, the Aquila, caught fire. Dyne's Blue Rogues saw the ship aflame and staged a rescue mission to find survivors. However, Piastol thought it was they who set the ship alight and attacked the first person she saw, which was Aika. Aika came unarmed thinking it was a rescue mission, so Vyse defended her from Piastol's throwing knife and received a scar on his cheek which remains to this day. When Mendoza's corpse was found and examined, it turns out it was a sword wound that killed him instead of the fire. From then on Piastol planned to avenge her father's death by hunting down any and all air pirates. It is later revealed that Piastol is Maria's older sister, who was traumatized by the same incident and believed her sister to be dead. Piastol is armed with a scythe and Eterni spells, along with a Deathhound at her side. She has an attack called Tempest Dance, which becomes longer and more deadly each time Vyse and company fight her.

A third major addition to the Legends version is the inclusion of a wanted list, with large bounties to be rewarded when the player defeats any of these foes. While some of the NPC's on the wanted list are present in the original, most of them are entirely new to the GameCube version. As with the new discoveries, the wanted list provides another source of income for the player. The wanted list boss battles are markedly more difficult than the rest of the game (including the other boss battles), partly because they level up when the player characters do, meaning that they will be consistently difficult regardless of the player's current level.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Eternal Arcadia at the Internet Movie Database
• Skies of Arcadia World Unofficial fansite
• List of Skies of Arcadia Characters

[edit] Dreamcast

• Skies of Arcadia at GameFAQs
• Skies of Arcadia at GameSpot
• Skies of Arcadia at MobyGames

[edit] GameCube

• Skies of Arcadia Legends at GameFAQs
• Skies of Arcadia Legends at GameSpot
• Skies of Arcadia Legends at MobyGames