I am a role playing junkie, I love almost every role playing game of this type there is...however, I never cared for free playing ones where you create your character and stuff, not my style. This role playing game follows a band of travelers trying to find the mystery behind these strange seals and an ancient god. The world they live in consists of island continents floating in the sky each one representing a country. The main players seemingly on the side of evil come from a land with more technology than the other islands...they are also a ruthless empire intent on ruling the other lands as well. Our heroes come from varying islands themselves as is typical of a role playing game of this type. There are some interesting plot points, one in particular, but the story is pretty basic. Most of the characters can sprout wings, but this really did not seem to serve a point to anything other than to give our characters really cool wings during the fights. You are sort of a character yourself as you play the guardian spirit to our hero Kalas, from time to time you can make choices and suggest things to him. The most unique part of this game is the fighting. I am not the type of person who wants to fight and fight, I play role playing games more for the story, and don't get me wrong this one is more story based, still the fighting was an actual plus. It consists of offensive and defensive turns and utilizes a card based system that when used correctly can yield great amounts of damage or make an enemy's attack virtually useless. It is a great fighting system. One of the flaws of the game is the voice overs, I didn't mind their voices so much as the fact it sounded as if they were talking through a coffee can or something. Other than that, and a couple of other minor points this one was rather fun to play and enjoyable.
3 Reviews
Baten Kaitos is Great!
Undernet0111 December 2004
Baten Kaitos is a wonderful game full of twists and turns which will leave you wanting more. It's developed and produced by the same two companies that brought you Xenosaga Episode I and II. There are plenty of cutscenes but only one FMV. This is at the beginning of Baten Kaitos. The story is incredible, but the Voice Acting isn't too good. Monolith could have chosen a much better Cast or Director for Baten Kaitos.
Baten Kaitos is an RPG, where the battles are played through Card. Don't get me wrong, this is nothing like Yu-Gi-Oh, or Pokemon. This has all the elements and RPG should have and does not get repetitive. The story continues and there is very little backtracking. You use the Magnus Cards to select how your turn is to be played.
The battles can be somewhat tedious at times. They can become quite challenging. However, if you lose in a Boss Fight, you do not return to a Save Point, but can select whether you would like to try the Boss Fight again. This saves the work of having to go from a Save Point, through the same cutscene again, to the battle.
My Rating: 7/10
Baten Kaitos is an RPG, where the battles are played through Card. Don't get me wrong, this is nothing like Yu-Gi-Oh, or Pokemon. This has all the elements and RPG should have and does not get repetitive. The story continues and there is very little backtracking. You use the Magnus Cards to select how your turn is to be played.
The battles can be somewhat tedious at times. They can become quite challenging. However, if you lose in a Boss Fight, you do not return to a Save Point, but can select whether you would like to try the Boss Fight again. This saves the work of having to go from a Save Point, through the same cutscene again, to the battle.
My Rating: 7/10
3/5 stars; Very Tiresome and Mixed Game (Not really spoiler, but goes into details.. I haven't finished disc 1 yet anyway...)
openapartment19 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I was very excited to purchasing Baten Kaitos, as it seemed to receive great reviews. After a few hours at the game, however, I became more and more tiresome of it.
The use of Magnus in the game is inspired. There are so many different types and combinations that I didn't even bother to experiment with them. Lots of detail went into them, and some of the descriptions are hilarious. The battle system is done pretty well. It doesn't lose excitement (especially since you cannot pause at some points).
A lot of hype went to the graphics. Yes, the graphics are good, but most of the scenes involve nearly static images. Also, the characters are at most two inches tall (with the exception of battles). When you visit the church, you can barely see the priest standing at the end of the room. Maybe it would look more impressive on a large HD TV... Like the last person said, no FMVs to be found save the intro. "Cut-scenes" involve little figures lightly moving limbs around.
The story is stilted at best. Why do the characters insist on battling monsters to obtain End Magnus when the Empire just shows up and takes it. Can't they take a hint?! Let the Empire fight the monster, then take it from THEM! The names of the End Magnus (and the meaning behind the names) is dumb. The characters spend endless amounts of time talking about nothing, or explaining the oh-so-simple story.
The voice acting has mixed results. Because the cut-scenes are so uninvolving, we rely on the voice acting to absorb us into the scene. It works most of the time. I found the voices of Kalas and Savyna to be tolerable. I absolutely HATE Xelha's voice. Her intonation is so undramatic. Mizuti is pretty neat, even though you can't understand him... or it. Gibari sounds goofy but tolerable. Lyude either has an annoying voice or is annoying himself... I cannot decide.
Gameplay is pretty linear. Explore island by island, visit a couple of cities, fight through a few paths, then face an End Magnus guardian, Empire shows up when you're done and steals the End Magnus, you rush off to the next island and repeat. Sidequests are pretty interesting, but involves traveling and gathering Magnus from all over.
By the way, there are NO random battle encounters which is nice. However, enemies reappear on screen if you leave and come back. Corridors are usually so narrow that you'll fight them anyway.
In conclusion, this game is an above average RPG to widdle your time away on. In my opinion, it doesn't come close to any of the PS FF games (except maybe 9, which I did not care too much for in the end). The lack of FMVs made more of a difference than I would have thought, and the linear gameplay, stilted story, and poor directing leave much to be desired. On the other hand, the extensive Magnus system, inventive worlds, and impressive graphics (though static and distant) make it worthwhile to play.
3/5 stars
The use of Magnus in the game is inspired. There are so many different types and combinations that I didn't even bother to experiment with them. Lots of detail went into them, and some of the descriptions are hilarious. The battle system is done pretty well. It doesn't lose excitement (especially since you cannot pause at some points).
A lot of hype went to the graphics. Yes, the graphics are good, but most of the scenes involve nearly static images. Also, the characters are at most two inches tall (with the exception of battles). When you visit the church, you can barely see the priest standing at the end of the room. Maybe it would look more impressive on a large HD TV... Like the last person said, no FMVs to be found save the intro. "Cut-scenes" involve little figures lightly moving limbs around.
The story is stilted at best. Why do the characters insist on battling monsters to obtain End Magnus when the Empire just shows up and takes it. Can't they take a hint?! Let the Empire fight the monster, then take it from THEM! The names of the End Magnus (and the meaning behind the names) is dumb. The characters spend endless amounts of time talking about nothing, or explaining the oh-so-simple story.
The voice acting has mixed results. Because the cut-scenes are so uninvolving, we rely on the voice acting to absorb us into the scene. It works most of the time. I found the voices of Kalas and Savyna to be tolerable. I absolutely HATE Xelha's voice. Her intonation is so undramatic. Mizuti is pretty neat, even though you can't understand him... or it. Gibari sounds goofy but tolerable. Lyude either has an annoying voice or is annoying himself... I cannot decide.
Gameplay is pretty linear. Explore island by island, visit a couple of cities, fight through a few paths, then face an End Magnus guardian, Empire shows up when you're done and steals the End Magnus, you rush off to the next island and repeat. Sidequests are pretty interesting, but involves traveling and gathering Magnus from all over.
By the way, there are NO random battle encounters which is nice. However, enemies reappear on screen if you leave and come back. Corridors are usually so narrow that you'll fight them anyway.
In conclusion, this game is an above average RPG to widdle your time away on. In my opinion, it doesn't come close to any of the PS FF games (except maybe 9, which I did not care too much for in the end). The lack of FMVs made more of a difference than I would have thought, and the linear gameplay, stilted story, and poor directing leave much to be desired. On the other hand, the extensive Magnus system, inventive worlds, and impressive graphics (though static and distant) make it worthwhile to play.
3/5 stars
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