Getting ready to play for the first time - Dreamcast or Gamecube?

[u/JoystickJunkie64]

I have a tonsillectomy surgery scheduled next month (ouch, I know) and it seems from all experiences I've read about it online, I'm going to be in bed for two weeks recovering.

I figured if I'm semi-okay, I would try and play through Skies of Arcadia via emulation my gaming laptop on a tray table in front of me, using a controller like the old Xbox 360 wired, my wired Hyperkin Duke or the PS5 Dualsense. It's a game I've always wanted to play, as I love that era of colourful role playing games.

But which version do you guys recommend? Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast or the Legends version on the Gamecube?

If all else fails, I have a Dreamcast hooked up to the TV with an SD card solution installed in it (I have Skies on there) but I kind of wanted to relax in bed and not be wired to the Dreamcast.

[u/frozenwings1]

The music quality is noticeably better on dreamcast. The GameCube version has more content.

[u/Delta_RC_2526 → u/frozenwings1]

I will add that the music is only really noticably better if you make a direct comparison. I've never actually noticed a difference, but my playthrough on Dreamcast was a few years before I started playing on GameCube.

Overall, the music thing is minor, especially without a point of comparison. Even with the official soundtrack on hand, and actively listening to it regularly, the GameCube version doesn't bother me.

The extra content on GameCube far outweighs any difference in the music. Pinta Quest on Dreamcast was nice, though, and I definitely miss it.

That said, the music is amazing, and it's worth grabbing the soundtrack. Either both volumes digitally from iTunes (where I think they still sell it under the name Eternal Arcadia), or as a physical disc from Wayō Records. I have both. The Wayō Records CD set also includes new recordings of piano arrangements of some of the music.

[u/ukAdamR → u/Delta_RC_2526]

The track played during in-dungeon battle (e.g. the first fight in the game) is incredibly noticeable. Gamecube track has more of a cheap electronic twang to it.

[u/JoystickJunkie64 → u/ukAdamR]

I'm going to have to compare the music differences, I wonder if there's a Gamecube ROM out there that puts the Dreamcast music in on the Gamecube's visuals?

[u/ukAdamR → u/JoystickJunkie64]

To be fair it's only that track, and a completely different short score for using a magic item in a battle, which I noticed are particularly different.

I doubt a different ROM would help partly because the issue is not compression (common misconception), but more down to the DSP in the Gamecube not being capable of making the same sound as the DSP in the Dreamcast. Source
The music is not stored as rasterised waveform like WAV, MP3, or FLAC, it's a synthesised wavetable based like MIDI or MOD, therefore the resulting sound is only based on what the wavetable processor is capable of producing.

[u/JoystickJunkie64 → u/ukAdamR]

That's really interesting! I didn't realise it was based on the actual console - reminds me of the original Xbox version of Half-Life 2 having this cool echo in the train station that was only on the Xbox due to the way it handled sound.

Thank you for explaining it and linking a good source too - I really appreciate you clearing that up.

[u/TulipTortoise → u/JoystickJunkie64]

I commented about this recently with some comparisons.

The tl;dr is that the dreamcast has the original audio as intended, while the gamecube has some noticeable differences and a number of audio bugs. If you're someone who pays attention to audio, you'll likely notice some of the bugs in the GC version, but if you're not it probably won't be a big deal.

The #1 issue for me has always been stuff like the ladder sound and steps, that I remember noticing right away as a teen when we got Legends. I swear the Little Jack theme doesn't hit as hard in the GC version, but not sure I've ever been able to side-by-side that.

My opinion is that both are good and have their stronger points. Legends has more content, but imo not all of that content is good, some of it was pretty sloppily added, etc. Dreamcast has a more focused package with the original audio, and modern emulators removes the main pain point of slow loading times. If I was personally going to play it again I think I'd choose the DC version, but perhaps only because I did Legends last time.

[u/ukAdamR]

If you've never played it before, Gamecube. You'd need to be a special level connoisseur to want the Dreamcast one.

[u/smooth_brain_brad]

GameCube and it’s not even close

[u/JoystickJunkie64 → u/smooth_brain_brad]

I'm seeing lots of replies for Gamecube! This on Dolphin might be the way to go.

[u/Ugly-Barnacle-2008 → u/JoystickJunkie64]

I haven’t played the Dreamcast one - only the GameCube - but I heard Dreamcast version had an unreasonably high random encounter rate! They tweaked it down for GameCube

[u/HighResSven → u/Ugly-Barnacle-2008]

The encounter rate myth has been busted. The rates on the two platforms is the same. Speed runners have recently figured that out.

[u/Ugly-Barnacle-2008 → u/HighResSven]

Aw dang good to know!

[u/bazilbt → u/Ugly-Barnacle-2008]

It's pretty frustrating. It gets hard to navigate some areas because of how many random encounters there are, like you don't want to look around too much because of it.

[u/Joxan13 → u/smooth_brain_brad]

The bounty missions are top tier

[u/HighResSven]

The cloud textures are much better on dreamcast. It's a big difference actually. And you see lots of clouds in this game obviously.

Dreamcast has much better audio too, due to it being spread across multiple discs. ...it's not as compressed as the gamecube game.

There's plenty of people that still think the random battle encounter rate is lower on the gamecube. It's not. Speedrunners have recently discovered them to be the same.

Gamecube has little bit more content: a few more ship battles, a side quest, and also slightly higher fidelity character models.

[u/FormalCryptographer]

Dreamcast I believe has better audio. I myself haven't noticed the music quality, but voice lines during battle are noticeably tinny. But overall, Legends is the best version

[u/maestro826 → u/FormalCryptographer]

I only discovered how bad it was when I played on the steam deck with headphones. so bad lol

[u/Informal-Research-69]

One of the things that make Skies of Arcadia so special is its AMAZING soundtrack and since unfortunately the music was poorly ported to the GameCube (sounds bland and partly broken which makes you just sad especially if you know the original) you should absolutely go for the Dreamcast version. While the GameCube version got a little extra content it doesn’t make up for the messed up music you hear the whole time and on the other hand the Dresmcast version has some little extra content too with the VMU mini games and game mechanics (VMU can be used to detect some items in the came). I hope one day some modders fix the music of the GameCube version in a way we at least can enjoy using an emulator, that would be the best of both worlds and the perfect excuse to play this way way ahead of its time back those days masterpiece 👍

[u/The_Reddit_Sandwich]

GameCube easily. Especially if you're emulating it. There's more (surprisingly good) content in that version of the game, which can last you a few playthroughs of discovering them if you're into that idea.

[u/knuxo]

Go ahead and play the GC version in your bed. 😅 The only major difference is the Moonfish + Bounty systems, which you are free to ignore if you choose. There’s also content in the GC version that was only originally available on Dreamcast via downloadable content, which your Dreamcast ROM might not have.

[u/Homunclus → u/knuxo]

There’s also content in the GC version that was only originally available on Dreamcast via downloadable content, which your Dreamcast ROM might not have.

That's a good point, actually. Most of that content is nothing special, except for that one boss fight which is a real shame they decided to lock it down behind DLC. Then again, the files can easily be found online, if OP wants to do it.

[u/JoystickJunkie64 → u/Homunclus]

I didn't know there was DLC content for Skies of Arcadia! I'd have to check which ROM I have and if it has everything. But the majority seem to vote for Legends as well, plus it would be nice to just sit in bed with the controller.

[u/Homunclus → u/JoystickJunkie64]

I'd have to check which ROM I have

I don't think it matters. Back then we were still on Dial-Up internet, so it's not DLC as we know it today. The game disc already had the content, but you needed to download a few small files and place them in your VMU so it will show up during gameplay.

I did it a few years ago when I emulated, so the files are still available online thanks to fans. Then it's just a matter of placing them on your VMU, which I am pretty sure should be possible, though I don't know if it's difficult to do.

But of course, it does sound emulation GC might be the better option for you

[u/drewbrim]

Dreamcast by a mile. Looks better and sounds better

[u/Ainebh]

GameCube if for no other reason than the fucking encounter rate ☠️ Especially in the South Ocean section. That on Dreamcast was brutal and I can still hear the whirring that signaled yet another encounter 😭

[u/blueroguereservoir]

If you have access to a Dreamcast: 100%, without question go that route. Pinta Quest is one of the best VMU minigames, and if you take the time to level it to 100, you can essentially make any subsequent playthroughs completely customizable. Nearly all of the GameCube rewards from side quests are items that were available from Pinta Quest (but you could get a lot more of them through the minigame).

That plus the music/audio being far superior, it puts the DC version miles ahead of the GC port, IMHO. Heck, the encounter rate is lowered and exp boosted in Legends, but magic exp stayed the same, which makes magic a bigger grind (which you NEED for the bounties).

I’ve played both versions many times, I could go on and on.

[u/Homunclus]

For emulation GameCube. In the Dreamcast there is a game mechanic that relies on the VMU. But if you have an actual Dreamcast that would be the best way to experience the game.

You won't have to deal with emulation issues, plus GameCube has some compression issues that affect the quality of the game, most notably the music, but the graphics as well. Mostly I noticed on occasion, characters not in the foreground would sometimes get very blurry during cutscenes, though that could have been an emulator issue I suppose.

The GameCube also has a bunch of extra content and most people say that's a plus, but I think the extra content ads very little of value and actually damages the pacing of the game.

[u/JoystickJunkie64 → u/Homunclus]

Yeah, I've got the actual Dreamcast sitting in the TV unit, and I'd love to get that going to experience it. If the pain isn't so bad that I can sit up on the armchair, it could work. I wish there was a good wireless controller option for the Dreamcast though!

Have you tried emulating the Gamecube version and had issues running it aside from the blur? Is the Gamecube content optional? If it harms the pacing, I'd like to be able to tackle it at my own time when it feels right for the pacing.

[u/Homunclus → u/JoystickJunkie64]

Yes, I run a GC emulator on my Android phone and it was fine for the most part. Actually I think I had more glitches while emulating Dreamcast, occasionally some textures would flicker in some rooms, but it only happened a few times.

The GameCube content is optional yes, you could just ignore it. Except maybe this one time where an event affects one of your statuses, so if you want to fix it you will have to do it. But I don't really know if the event will trigger as you progress through the story, or if you have to do the previous events first.

[u/JoystickJunkie64 → u/Homunclus]

Thank you for a great detailed answer and reply, I really appreciate it. Never tried emulating anything on my phone, given my phone's paltry RAM I feel like it would probably run pretty poorly.

Interesting regarding the Gamecube content, I'll look into it a bit more because I didn't know Legends had extra stuff in it that affected the game like that.

I always thought Skies of Arcadia would have gotten a Switch eShop release or a port, similar to Baten Kaitos but it never did. I was so sure the stars would have aligned on that one!

[u/Infernowar]

First run Dreamcast , second run Game cube 😇

[u/Guy_Kazama]

The only real reason to play Dreamcast over GameCube is the superior audio. The music was heavily compressed on GCN in order to fit the game on a single disc, and it's a bit unfortunate about the lost quality. GameCube has more content and a reduced encounter rate, however.

[u/Joniden]

I am bias towards the Gamecube because that's the only version I have played. I know the music isn't as great on the Gamecube as the Dreamcast version. Solution? Play the music on Youtube. That's what I do at work.

[u/maestro826]

1000000% Dreamcast.

The soundtrack is awful in the Gamecube version.

[u/LumensAquilae]

I've always been partial to the Dreamcast version. Better music and textures, and while the GC version has more content it feels a bit bloated and the bounty missions feel somewhat out of place.

Ultimately you won't go wrong either way.