"The second get-together of Chrono Trigger's Dream Team? Not quite, but close enough."

Ah, yes. Baten Kaitos. The game I had been spamming since before I played it. Does it hold up? Yes, I'd say it does. And I still say get it, if for no other reason than to support different games and GCN RPGs. But let's get to the review.

This game was made by Monolith Soft, the company that made the Xenosaga games. Three members from the Chrono Cross team (two of whom worked also on Chrono Trigger) were some of the more prominent: the character designer worked on this game and on Chrono Cross, while Masato Kato (story writer) and director worked on both previous games. Apart from them, many other video game greats helped make this game possible, such as composer Motoi Sakuraba.

PLOT

The plot isn't the LotR of video games, but it does a decent enough job. It works well. But enough opinions. Let's get to the facts.

A long time ago, people fought an evil god and defeated him. After winning, the continents rose into the sky and the land below passed into legend, while the Ocean and Whale passed into myth.

Now, why am I talking about the Ocean and Whale? Because the characters talk about them all the time. In fact, Baten Kaitos is a star in the Cetus constellation, and is Arabic for "the belly of the whale." Actually, many things in this game are named after stars: Alphard, Mira, and Diadem, to name a few. There's also a sidequest involving constellations.

Anyway, after that detour, we come to the rest of the plot. When the islands rose into the sky, something else happened--many people grew wings. The Wings of the Heart, as they are called, reflect ones personality.

The main character is Kalas, a teen who was born with only one wing, who is looking to avenge the deaths of his brother and grandfather. Your standard antihero who doesn't really care too much about the world, but gets caught up in a quest to save it. Xelha is the girl who is actually interested in it. After meeting up with her, he reluctantly decides to help her find the End Magnus, Magnus (more on that later) that contain great power, before Emperor Geldoblame gets them.

Standard RPG fare, really. The story takes a little longer than most to get started, so I'd say play at least until a few hours into the second disc before giving up (not as long as you think as disc 2 is about twice as long as disc 1). However, this game features one incredible plot twist that if you expect, you are psychic or something. This is the Aeris thing from FFVII or "Luke, I am your father" from Star Wars of this time period. I'm sure that if it was a more popular game, people would be talking about the One Uber Plot Twist to Rule Them All (as I've named it) all the time. In fact, it is up to this plot twist that I recommend playing at the least. And I can tell you this much: if you're wondering if you've gotten to the plot twist yet, you haven't.

GAMEPLAY

For the world map and town, nothing out of the ordinary. Think Chrono Cross, and you'll be quite close. It's also pretty linear. However, there is something new. You are not Kalas--you are a guardian spirit who is bonded with Kalas. Like in Skies of Arcadia, you will be given choices that will affect the game. The right answer will make it more likely for Spirit Attacks to appear at the end of a combo. These attacks are very powerful, and should be used in most situations, although not all, as ruining a large combo (8 or 9 hit) would likely not be a very good idea.

Of course, there's a catch to the choices. Unlike in SoA, the choices you have to make are not necessarily morally correct, and thus may be quite enigmatic. You have to agree with Kalas to make Spirit Attacks more common.

As for battle, this game uses cards--wait, wait, wait! Don't leave just yet. It's like nothing you've ever played before. Think of it as a combination of Poker and Speed. You build a deck and fight. It's random, but a good deck will rarely let you down. In battle, when you attack, you have until the last card is played to choose your next card. As you raise you class level, you'll be able to play more cards in one turn (however, you'll have less time to choose your first card). For defense, you'll have to choose armor cards before the enemy attacks.

Both attack and defense will allow combos to increase/decrease damage. Straights and pairs will increase your Prize (combo). If even one card is not paired with another one (or more), you won't get a Prize, and straights MUST be in order.

After an attack is finished, a screen will come up with all the totals and other information. You can turn it off, but it is not recommended. You CANNOT pause mid-battle, so that screen is your only chance of a break. On top of that, it will be almost essential in later battles to know if you're going about the battle the right way.

The battles can get quite long, so be aware of that. Thankfully, there are no random battles.

Another thing is that you WILL NOT get money from battles. To get money, you have to take pictures of monsters and then sell them once they're developed.

Also, to level up you go to a church and turn in your experience points to gain levels. Basically, you reflect on your battles and get stronger. Well, the characters do, anyway. You just choose which level you go to. Yes, you can choose how much you level up (provided you have enough experience to reach that level). Say you got enough experience to gain ten levels but you're on a low-level game. Well, you don't have to level up. And if you want to, you can only gain one level. Baten Kaitos is PERFECT for low-level games.

Now, what is a Magnus? A Magnus is a card that can store practically anything, from food to weapons, and even magic. Quite possibly the best explanation of how RPG characters can carry around a bunch of crap without having a supply line behind them all the time.

SOUND

The music: Motoi Sakuraba (Golden Sun, Tales, and Star Ocean series) composed the music for this game. This is, without a doubt, his best work. The regular battle theme, The True Mirror, is one of the best regular battle themes and uses violins, adding to the awesomeness. The boss themes are very good. The guitar version of The True Mirror makes for a fitting piece, as do the other pieces of music. Also, the music is performed by a live orchestra.

The sound effects: they don't really stand out much. They fit. That's all there is to say.

Voice acting: This is probably the game's biggest flaw. You can turn the voices off, by the way. Most of it sounds like the voices were recorded through a cardboard tube. This effect is fixed by switching to surround (even if you don't have surround sound). Also, some voices (mainly NPCs) sound horrible. I almost wanted to shoot them. The rest were decent or just bad. The voices fit the characters for the most part (exceptions exist, however), but oftentimes they sound like they're reading from a script. Lyude is the one that fits that description the most. There's no emotion in his voice. Too bad, as the actual voice fit his character well. Of course, the main villain, I think, has a VERY fitting voice and the acting also works. It just creeps you out.

I can honestly say that the voices actually detract from the story of this game. I found myself literally laughing at some of the scenes because of the voices.

GRAPHICS

The graphics here are quite good. It's sometimes hard to find your character, but such situations are minimal. This game uses pre-rendered backgrounds, so you'll find them to be pretty nice.

All in all, this is a great game with a very original battle system. This RPG, unlike most, is not driven by the plot, but by the battles, which are extremely fun. You have to think on your feet, and button mashing WILL get you killed unless you are at a high level and fighting very weak monsters. Very fun game, which I recommend to everyone, although you may or may not like it.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/05