I remember it vividly. The next Sonic game, his big comeback, was to be Sonic Adventure. I saved up for nearly two years and bought the Dreamcast. Awesome console, awesome gaming. Unrivaled in fun factor by any console. Sega's divisions were each independently owned, their was rivalry between all of them, ideas were swapped, competition ensued and awesome games were released. Skies of Arcadia was one of them. The Skies of Arcadia community was great.
GameFAQs used to have a social forum. I can remember the likes of - FireFalcon, Argama, VyseTheLegend, EikoVII, DrunkenLoqua, Tetsuro. Those were good times. There was an entire fanbase around the game, lots of inside info and inside jokes and and a community full of SPs if I'm not mistaken.
The game's mechanics, story, and lots of theories were beaten to death. Somehow everyone managed to get a long. The community fella part, the death of the Dreamcast was announced, and a new version of Skies of Arcadia was released for the Cube and the PS2 (later cancelled). Sadly, gaming hasn't been the same since. The Internet has turned into a festering cesspool, gaming has all but diminished into something like music groupies.
I'll never forget it.