The Baten Kaitos series is pretty special. The GameCube, developed in 2003 and 2006 by MonolithSoft & tri-Crescendo. Both of the titles released around Japan on March 11, 2003 or 2006. They only barely made splash outside China! For one, Baten Kaitos Originno did not even get to Europe. It left an entire continent incapable of having the prequel experience seen on any other side in it’d take place Two cult classic RPGs have been burned and almost forgotten for 20 years. Baten Kaitos I & II, HD Remaster is now here for his modifications.
The first chapter in the series is Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wing and Lost Ocean. The story follows the young girl named Kalas in repressive bid for revenge against his grandfather and sibling, who eventually turns into an attempted to fight death of this old man. Baten Kaitos Origin is a prequel set 20 years before the first entry. The movie follows Sagi, from Spain who was on an adventure to break his name down from those political murderous crimes of all time but one that did not kill him in 1977 under the rule “Durch Death”. In both games, the narrative twist shows that a player character is regarded as being an emotional spirit from another world. This follows and talks directly with each other while helping to influence their action by driving them towards change of direction (like in one’s own environment). While Baten Kaitos is a multifaceted quest and intimate quest, but with the more realistic relationship between characters and Kalamandy’division, Originians want to make an informed effort for the first step.
Image by Siliconera.
The world of Baten Kaitos is breathtaking – both narratively and visually (and even more thanks to the new HD prerendered backgrounds). The Baten Kaitos series is going to take place during the earth’. Each island is its own nation. They are different in both aesthetics and geopolitical disciplines – with each other having different values of land size, lengthening the distinction between nativeness; how do you feel about that? The allies and enemies the Kalase-Sagi meet while traveling through that world are interesting, but carefully crafted. While the first entry may lose more gas near that end, Monolith Soft didn’t pull any punches when making a series of world fantasy. The Baten Kaitos and the Xensee Chronicle series share many narrative, aesthetic DNA as well that it would in another version explore much more detail. The games actually have a bit of ’60s vibe that reminded me in my late 2000’. While I personally prefer Sagi a lot, Kalalak has become an anti-stupid and unissimo man who grows immensely in love with the world of its people. He then finds himself thinking about his own mistakes so that he can’destil any future prosperity rather than to decipher it; as long as they come into existence also help him overcome these fearless issues I have a special place in the heart of Kalawa, along with Luke from Tales for Abyze.
At least the action in Baten Kaitos is experimental. These games are as turn-based RPGs, and card based. Each card or Magnus is a puzzle, item and other useful weapon in combat. Players can play multiple cards in their attack turn to make optimal combination and fight attacks, or heal allies. In the turn of an enemy, players can use equipment cards to lower damage. In order to cut the elemental damage, and make certain enemy strengths better profited. Although Baten Kaitos provides an efficient system for nearly 50 hours of game, Origin polished the formula. In Origins, the regular weapons can be converted into simple light and medium Attack cards with a high effect. They have been simplified so far as to create an improved army of guns that are easily accessible in these early days/lifestyles (Sift, Dark, Heavy), or even more durable targets without breaking limits when used effectively Aside from that, the pacing of combat is amped. Players need more attention and response in doing so by fearful tactics
Image from Siliconera
One particular concern of this series is that most Magnus are affected by the game’s time. For example, the Green Banana attack Magnus will turn into a healthy banana after five hours. This is now going to transform into an effective black-made banana and finally become very useless foreseat on the applesand. This also affects some Quest Magnus, items players can take in Blank Magne by interfacing with the environment. These have become used to the main quest, as well and include a lot of side tasks. Blank Magnus are limited and players should choose carefully which to carry with them for their possible quests – in order that time can really mess up these side quest. Magnus’ time-management aspect is charming, doesn’t interfere with a main quest and can be frustrating for those interested in finishing sidequests or optional content.
All of this gameplay aspect remains unchanged in the second row, but some QoL additions were also implemented. These include a button menu that allows to speed up the game outside and out of combat, avoid enemy encounters with others or go against one-hit tactics. Some of those characteristics are not quite good, but they lack quality in life. With the speed of fighting, a very good option when it comes to instant-KOs or autocombat. You can’t respond well against enemy attacks by using your own card combo and add extra cards as quickly on action! Unfortunately, some of those optional settings can only be changed outside combat and therefore not so useless. I wish that these optional QoL features would have focused on Magnus and the time management aspect, as it’s one of my favourite aspects.
The image was captured by Siliconera.
Fortunately, both Baten Kaitos and Origin have pretty strong gameplay-wise as well. They’ve been decently aged (if you don’t try to get the Splenddid Hair Magnus). Using HD photos and improved detail in character models is an interesting addition to this revised release. This review of the game has been great for some time, but they turn out perfectly beautiful! The old-school backgrounds aspire to be better resolutions and look good at it now. I can’t predict how stunning the games look and in his mind how well their backgrounds have. However, the stylized contrasting shadows in character models have been lost. I could see players lacking this artistic choice from that point of view so far as to forget and express his thoughts on characters (and also bet there). However, presumably the shadows of characters also seem worse in Switch versions; they are likely to be random. The HD version also has some particle effects out of place. The fog effect in the first dungeon, for example is very bad and eventually it looks dark.
It’s the biggest regret with Baten Kaitois I & II HD Remaster because of no original English dump. Both games are only available in Japanese. In an ironic and sad twist, the opening cinematic for Baten Kaitos is all pronounced in English. While the English dub of a first game was famous for its lacks in quality, there is no excuse to discourage them from doing that and give alternatively between Japanese characters. Besides performance, the game was slow when it came to being launched and all over the place framerate quickly changed dramatically. Fortunately, Bandai Namco took this action soon after release and smoothed the process.
Photo by Xmasel.
The general sound of the two games has been upgraded. They sound more gentle than GameCube; they fit the game’s feel pretty well. Motoi Sakuraba is delivering the soundtrack of Baten Kaitos. It’ll be truly extraordinary! The electric guitar and the synthesizer are riffing when fighting contrast dreamlike strings, wind instruments or sounds with the sound of an ocean that is no longer alive. I encourage everyone to look for the End of The Glittering Star and listen.
The Baten Kaitos series is JRPG royalty. Both games are experimental, engaging and rich – the results of which I will be exploring an incredible world is carefully done by veterans at Monolith Soft. While the Batman: I & II HD Remaster lacks its QoL features and makes it difficult for him to include his English title, new animation is stunning. With $50 on both of these games in total, costing money will be enough! I understand that the aforementioned issues can be difficult to deal with. Without recommending the Remaster, it is possible for me to be proud of two amazing classics available by simply sharing them with anyone.
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster is now available for Nintendo Switch.