baten kaitos : eternal wings and the lost ocean

This game leads off with a good storyline of what i have played so far i have just got past the cloud path going into this city surrounded by imperial soldiers where you have to save the king with the help of Gibari (I think that's how its spelt) Kalas and Xelha.
The game is based around cards called Magnus, which can be used, in battle or out of battle.
There are different types of Magnus but this game is amazing for anyone who loves the traditional Japanese RPG games.
But it seems somewhat familiar to skies of arcadia weather Namco have been borrowing a couple of idea's from Sega's great skies of arcadia game or not it just seems very similar apart from the style of gameplay.
But on the whole this is another great game from Namco hopefully this one will stick with Nintendo only!
i have heard (sorry if you know already) that there is going to be a Baten Kaitos DS maybe some sort of uplink to the Gamecube version will be involved i will give you more information if I discover any by the way the fact about Baten Kaitos being on DS may be a rumour and may not necessarily be true so sorry if I'm wrong or you have heard this already.
Hope you will buy this great game.

That game was utterly BO-RING!

It has a dull combat style and... well. I didn't like it.

Curently playing it. My thoughts so far (I'm only a little bit further than your good self):

+ Great use of cards and combos
+ Plentiful side-quests and secrets
+ Pretty for the most part
+ Interesting universe

- Awful sound quality
- The game and plot run at a snails pace
- Unoriginality for the most-part, evil emporer, girl in danger, anti-hero etc
- Almost 2-D feel with fixed cameras and no cut scenes aka 'rewards'
- Some elements feel like a chore

Overall its the worst rpg i've played this year but it's an average fare if there ever was one.

BK: DS - if they pick up the pace it may be good.

(edit - smiley )

[ Edited by chrisno21 on 2005/5/6 23:01 ]

chrisno21 wrote: Curently playing it. My thoughts so far (I'm only a little bit further than your good self):
+ Great use of cards and combos
+ Plentiful side-quests and secrets
+ Pretty for the most part
+ Interesting universe
- Awful sound quality
- The game and plot run at a snails pace
- Unoriginality for the most-part, evil emporer, girl in danger, anti-hero etc
- Almost 2-D feel with fixed cameras and no cut scenes aka 'rewards'
- Some elements feel like a chore
Overall its the worst rpg i've played this year but it's an average fare if there ever was one.
BK: DS - if they pick up the pace it may be good.
(edit - smiley )
[ Edited by chrisno21 on 2005/5/6 23:01 ]

Do I bother reiterating my feelings on this game.

I did not enjoy this game one bit, I found it boring and pointless.

If you found this game for less than

Gastrian wrote: Do I bother reiterating my feelings on this game.
I did not enjoy this game one bit, I found it boring and pointless.
If you found this game for less than

I found it to have no similarities with Skies of Arcadia bar the generic RPG cliche's.

If you look at most of the reviews for the game they are scoring it highly based on the graphics and the "innovative" card system, both of which should have little effect on the final score.

The story is regurgitated cliched crap, the dialogue (not the voice acting) is half-arsed and the characters have all the depth of a kids paddling pool.

And I have to disagree with Chrisno on the sidequests and secrets. Compare it to other RPGs for the past seven years and Baten Kaitos has one of the smallest selection and the most boring. Find a animal/constellation/family member, collect them and go back to the quest giver. Not the best examples of an RPG sidequest really.

lol, i find it similar to skies of arcadia for many reasons just seems like namco been copying sega. i hear a lawsuit comming on
lol!
i would laugh like hell if that happened

To be honest, most RPGs have had Final Fantasy breathing down their neck, so to do anything noticeable, you'd have to be like Skies of Arcadia and Baten Kaitos (in the sense that you has the card system) and go for something different.

Sometimes it works. sometimes it doesn't.

Well, and here's me about to buy the game!

evil_flame, you've yet to point out the similarities between Skies of Arcadia and Baten Kaitos that aren't generic components of the RPG series.

Well, and here's me about to buy the game!

I just ask people, read the reviews and see how many praise the game for anything other than the graphics or card-based turn system.

Personally, I loved the game. It was different, daring and entertaining. I will admit that it is a love/hate game so you're better off giving it a rental first.

I felt the plot had enough twists and turns to save it from being "cliche" (not that being cliche is a bad thing anyway).

I'd love to debate your points Arkyris but the final ones would be be spoilers.

I fail to see how this game was different or daring - entertaining is a personal opinion and therefore subjective and pointless arguing.

The card system alone made it different and daring. The entire concept of randomized battles bring a whole new element of strategy into the game, building a deck that no matter what you draw you've always got something to back you up.

It's all opinionated though so it's pointless arguing, i'm just laying my opinion out for others to see.

The entire concept of randomized battles bring a whole new element of strategy into the game, building a deck that no matter what you draw you've always got something to back you up.

shouldn't this be in the gamecube forum?

[ Edited by Ikaruga on 2005/5/15 9:33 ]

General gaming gets more hits so we'll leave it here.

The randomised card battle is more of a randomised version of materia for FFVII. The cards themselves don't play out as a true card battling system ala Yu-Gi-Oh, its a glossy image put over a generic menu system. There's some nice touches I'll give it that, especially with the opposing elements but the changes it incorporates are about as daring as the changes made between FFVII and FFVIII.

Well it's on my to buy list - maybe as something to try picking up second hand then :-/

Frazzle wrote: To be honest, most RPGs have had Final Fantasy breathing down their neck, so to do anything noticeable, you'd have to be like Skies of Arcadia and Baten Kaitos (in the sense that you has the card system) and go for something different.
Sometimes it works. sometimes it doesn't.

Arkyris wrote: The card system alone made it different and daring. The entire concept of randomized battles bring a whole new element of strategy into the game, building a deck that no matter what you draw you've always got something to back you up.
It's all opinionated though so it's pointless arguing, i'm just laying my opinion out for others to see.

Gastrien said::: what are the similaries

[ Edited by evil_flame on 2005/5/15 14:27 ]

I can see where you are drawing your similarities from but they aren't originated from Skies of Arcadia, many Japanese anime, manga and games use similar themes and characters.

Baten Kaitos has its fair share of good ideas but it also has its fair share of bad ideas, it seems like Namco drew up a list of ideas with which they could spruce up an RPG and put them all into one game without properly looking at it, like it was a prototype to test ideas before implementing them into other games.

The game is average, I'm not telling people not to buy it as you might like it, just don't buy it at anything over a budget price as the game isn't worth it.

thats true before anyone buys it i would listen to what someone else said about renting it out or amybe jsut go to a friends who has it already.
But to me i think its a great game just depends what games people liek really

My post is below

[ Edited by Galvanizer on 2005/5/15 15:57 ]

I've got it!

Only coz I'm a JRPG nut and there aren't many of them on GameCube. So this was a must have for me.