Baten Kaitos
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- A breed apart from other RPGs - Its unconventional battle system, leveling system and compelling narrative offer a new kind of deep role-playing experience
- Turn-based card battle system based on the collection Magnus cards -- over 1,000 in all, with all kinds of powers and abilities
- Capture the essence of certain items within blank Magnus Cards, then reproduce these essences to solve puzzles, battle enemies and heal comrades
- Ingenious, twist-filled story rich with surprises and emotions
- Gorgeous graphics - sub-worlds, villages, cities and weather patterns burst with colors and details
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Product information
ASIN | B0002CHIWO |
---|---|
Customer Reviews |
3.7 out of 5 stars |
Best Sellers Rank | #83,449 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games) #328 in GameCube Games #21,622 in PC Games & Accessories |
Product Dimensions | 7.52 x 5.51 x 0.75 inches; 5.64 ounces |
Type of item | CD-ROM |
Rated | Rating Pending |
Item model number | DOL P GKBE |
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
Item Weight | 5.6 ounces |
Manufacturer | Namco |
Date First Available | July 9, 2004 |
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
The world of Baten Kaitos is a world adrift in time and space. Humanity forges its existence on an archipelago of land floating in a yawning, endless sky. The earth below, and the vast oceans it once harbored, are mere legend. It is by no means a tranquil existence. A sinister conspiracy is afoot, one that threatens to tear these few remaining rafts of land from the heavens and erase forever the memory of the seas below. Act as conscience and spirit guide for young Kalas and his companion Xelha. Guide them in battle and watch their friendship bloom. Join them as they struggle to reveal the mystery of the lost sea and destroy the corruption that threatens their world.
Features
- Embark upon an epic and emotional journey across a richly imagined world. Enjoy detailed character development and unravel an intricate plot spanning over 60 hours of gameplay.
- Innovative, dynamic "Magnus card" system unites all elements of gameplay. Capture the essence of items, weapons and spells in Magnus cards and use them for exploration and combat. Cards in your inventory change with the passage of time: food ripens or rots, blades rust and rare items increase in value.
- Baten Kaitos' unconventional card-based battle engine features over 1000 Magnus cards--each with unique artwork--that can be combined for a virtually infinite number of attacks and spell effects.
- Enter a landscape overflowing with graphic detail. Vivid, pre-rendered backgrounds are alive with movement and subtle, ambient animations. Enjoy gloriously rendered battle environments and astounding spell effects.
- Character design by renowned artist Nakaba Higurashi. Epic, stirring soundtrack
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When I first started playing this game I was like, wow, I can tell this is gonna be a really good game, just by the AMAZING opening cinema...turned out to be a "meh" game. Has its good points, has its bad points, but nothing to write home about.
Here's why I only gave it 3/5.
-Card battle system. If I wanted Yu-Gi-Oh, I would have bought it. If I wanted to play Magic: The Gathering, I would have bought that as well. The graphics on the cards are very well done, and some of the descriptions are funny, but still..its card battle and I hate that. I'd rather have a judgement wheel like Shadow hearts 2 or old school rpg action like Final Fantasy.
-Lack of cinemas. When I saw the opening video to this game while watching the title screen, I almost fell off my chair! I couldn't wait to get going and get into the story! However, after finishing disk 1 and getting 3/4 of the way through disk 2, I was incredibly dissapointed to find out there were NIL, NADA, ZERO, ZILCH FMVs. Thats not really a thing I look for in a game, but when they put a simply AWESOME opening intro fmv to the game, and not include those same fmvs in the actual game at critical plot points, it really sucks.
-Sound. I just had to turn off character voices. Not that they are done bad, just the people's voices they picked to do the characters are annoying and get to me. I really didn't like Kalas' character voice, Xhela's voice gets reeeeeeeaaallly annoying after hearing her name off all her spells as she fires them off in fights.
-Experience points, leveling up and acquiring money. Now I was kinda on the fence with this one. Its different from any other RPG I've played, so I can't decide if its good or bad. You technically kill monsters over and over for experience points till you level up like any other rpg, but in order to level up, you have to go to a church and pray to level up. There is no indicator how much xp till your next level either, so you just have to make periodic visits to the church to level your character up. You don't get money from monsters by killing them either like other rpgs, you have to take pictures with a camera (yes that's right there's a card that lets you take pictures of monsters), then you sell the pictures at stores for cash.
PROS:
-Simply AMAZING graphics. The opening cinema on the title screen had me hooked on this game, just waiting to learn the plot. The worlds are beautiful and something completely new to the rpg scene (everyone lives on floating islands, almost everyone has wings). Every character and monster and spell/special move has great graphics as well.
-In-depth and deep plot. Like I said, I don't like card battle rpgs, so I was forcing myself to keep playing the game (I hated the fights), but there are many plot twists and turns that keep you shocked and intrigued...::spoiler alert:: Most of the best plot stuff happens at the end of disc 1. The game setting was really well-done also..I loved the setting.
Other than the flaws I listed above this game could have been a SOLID 5/5 or even 6/5 had the creators made it not a crappy card rpg, got different actors for the voices (you'll see what I mean if you play this), and put in some FMVs to help the story at critical plot points. I would definitely not buy this game, this is more of a rental..but the game is so long and in-depth it may take you a few weeks to beat it :)
I had high expectations for Baten Kaitos. After all, it was co-developed by Monolith Soft. This is the same company that developed the Xenosaga series for the PS2. Monolith and Tri-Crescendo developed Baten Kaitos for the Gamecube. Namco published the game.
This game is nothing at all like the Xenosaga series. Baten Kaitos does not have an epic story. There are very, very few cinematics in the entire game. The soundtrack works rather nicely with the mood of the game though. And if you have played Xenosaga, you may recognize some of the same voice actors and actresses. However, the dialogue (the lines) in Baten Kaitos is not nearly as good. And yes, even if the voice actors are the same, the acting is not as good.
All of that aside, what really bothered me about this game is the battle system. Please, don't get me wrong. I enjoy variety. Sometimes, the most unusual things are also the most interesting. Evidently, enough people liked this battle system to give it a good review. It is a very unique and unusual system, to be sure. Basically, what you have is a stack of cards, called Magnus. These cards contain weapons, defensive shields, healing items, stat boosters, and magic. Depending on your level, you may have a total of fifty cards on hand. During battle, the AI will "randomly" deal five cards to you. They can be any five cards from your stack. The cards will then be shown to you. The only actions you can take during battle are the ones depicted on the cards that you select. You can pick one or more cards from the five.
There are many types of Magnus. Battle Magnus are used during battles. There are also Blank Magnus, which you can use to carry items around. There are also Camp Magnus, which are items that you can use and consume whenever you are not in battle.
During battle, you are either attacking or defending. You have to pick from the cards that have been dealt to you. The object of the battle is to "play the hand that you were dealt". This is similar to a card game. Basically, luck is a very huge factor. Whatever fortune, or misfortune, you get, you have to make the best of it and play it well. There will be times when it is your turn to attack, but you don't have an attack card on hand. Each card has a number, or numbers. Playing the cards in numeric sequence (straight) will earn you a bonus. This system is not as cumbersome as you might think. You will learn how to use the system rather quickly. However, this makes even normal battles long and tedious. Thankfully, there are no random battles here. However, due to this unique system, battles end up being a chore. Yes, there is a lot of gameplay here, but it is not necessarily entertaining. The normal battles are actually very easy. There is little danger of your entire battle party getting killed. Most normal enemies do very little damage. Even so, some of these normal battle can easily last ten minutes. You're basically waiting for a good "hand" of cards that will allow you to damage the enemy. But, if you do not have a good hand, you cannot hurt the enemy. Elementals (Fire, Wind, etc.) play a part here. If the enemy is resistant to Fire, and all your cards are Fire attacks, well, you get the point. So you see how this can make a simple battle drag on forever. There is one battle that lasts almost an hour and a half! Yes, that's correct. There will be a long conversation at the end of the battle, and then the bad guys get back up and you have to start all over again. Now, I like gameplay, but this is just busy work. It's not at all fun or entertaining. The enemies attack with one combo after another, sometimes eash attack lasting close to thirty seconds. Now, after watching the same attack over and over again it gets tiresome.
A good portion of the game is devoted to sidequests. Basically, most of them involve a lot of backtracking. You will revisit many of the previous areas over and over. Basically, you will be going around in circles. You will be scavenging for numerous items. Unfortunately, you can only carry a few at a time. The idea here is to trap the item's "essence" into a Magnus card.
This game reminds me of Sony's PS2 classic rpg, The Legend of Dragoon. It has the same atmosphere. And the story is almost the same. And yes, you will also hunt down star fragments (stardust) in this game. Baten Kaitos plays almost like a classic Playstation game. It does not have the grand cinematics of the typical modern rpg.
Play this game if you like those classic Playstation RPGs, like The Legend of Dragoon. However, I recommend that you use some sort of Walkthrough or Strategy Guide. Not only will the battle system try your patience, but the numerous quests will also.
By the way, KOS-MOS appears in the game. In the form of an unplayable Magnus card titled "Rare Action Figure".
Update (April 23, 2009)
I have changed my mind about this game. This is my second time playing the game. And you know what? I am actually enjoying it. I was a bit harsh in my original rating of this game. Perhaps because I was not accustomed to a battle system that uses "cards". In any case, for those who still own a Gamecube or those who own a Wii and would like to play a classic RPG, this is an excellent choice.
My adjusted ratings for this game is 4 stars.