List of Skies of Arcadia localization changes

English Localization Changes
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 Vigoro'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).

Kou
煌 (Kō) is a very special word in the Japanese version of Skies of Arcadia. It is used in many words regarding the moon, and the word mainly can mean glitter, gleam, twinkle, glisten, sparkle, glimmer, etc.

Below is a list of words where 煌 is used in the Japanese version of Skies of Arcadia. For a literal translation, the word beam could work well with the word moon, as in moonbeam (moonlight could also work, but sounds passive compared to the energetic moonbeam, energy needed to describe the power the moons in Skies of Arcadia hold).

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 Koujutsu (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 people from Nasr, 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 and 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."

No Alcohol Allowed
A drunk NPC was removed from Sailors' Island when the game was localized. However, his dialogue was translated and can be found in the game files: Sailor: Did you know? Over in Valua there's a humongous fortress that's as big as a mountain?

Sailor: It's called the Grana or the Gracha or something like that. I forget!

Sailor: Did you know? Beyond the stone reef, at the entrance to the desert, there's an oasis city.

Sailor: It's called Mardaba or Muratada or something like that. Hehe... I forget!

Sailor: Did you know? On the southern edge of the continent of Nasr, there's an old city that's been forgotten.

Sailor: It's called Esa or Ese or something like that. Hehe... I forget!

Sailor: Did you know? Those bastards from Valua have started constructing some kind of weird thing beneath the clouds...

Sailor: It's called Dungal or Dangol or something like that. Hehe... I forget!

Sailor: Did you know? That huge landmass that appeared from beneath the clouds is apparently an ancient continent of some old legend.

Sailor: It's name? How should I know? The world's coming to an end... I don't really care anymore!