"Baten Kaitos is a game that may try to change too many things but it still turns to be a great RPG"

Overview:
Yet another RPG appears on the Gamecube in order to help save the RPG starved system. Although this RPG is not a traditional one, it still is a very good game in it's own right. The characters battle and defend with many different cards to choose from. Yes, it is a card battling game, but don't let that drive you away. You can also use Magnus(fancy name for cards in this game) to heal, level up, equip and experiment with. Welcome to the mysterious world of Baten Kaitos!

Story- 9.0
The story first starts up with the tale of an ancient battle that took place thousands of years ago between man and the gods, and it ends with man sealing the gods away until now. You play as Kalas, a rash but kind character who meets up with a mysterious girl named Xelha. After about an hour into the game you found out that the Empire plans to unleash the End Magnus onto the world to unleash the evil god Malpercio. You plan to stop them and you later meet up with the other characters in the game who also try and help you in this plan to stop evil from being awakened into this world. It may sound a little cliche, but later in the game there are a few plot twists that help keep the story fresh and interesting. Overall, the story is good, but not awesome.

Controls- 8.5
The controls in this game are very simple, but during battle sometimes they can make you take a little bit of extra damage that could have been avoided if the controls were a little bit more polished. Anyways, talking to people and opening up the menu is quick and easy to do outside of battle. During battle, things may get a little complicated because sometimes healing your people is not as easy as it should be. All in all, it is a small mistake and it doesn't affect your battle too much. The controls in this game are good and only a few things keep them from being great.

Graphics- 9.0
The graphics are very good, fresh and inventive. Everything from the characters to the finishing moves during battle and even the weird places that the characters travel to in the game all look great. For example, a few examples of that would be the village made completely from sweets, the one that looks just like a picture book, or the one that has tons of mirrors in it. You can tell which elements the characters are using during battle as well. For example, when Kalas uses a flame sword it erupts and when he uses a dark finishing move it envelops the enemy in darkness. All in all, the graphics in this game are awesome and very inventive!

Sound- 8.5
The music in this game all sounds great and most of it even fits what's going on in the game which is a definite plus. The battle music doesn't sound too great but the boss fight music sounds awesome. Outside of battle the music sounds great as well, and most of it is cheery apart from the times when there are plot twists or even evil things that are going on during gameplay. The sound effects are also great, ranging from the flaming sounds that you hear after using a flame weapon/spell or the tink that you hear when hitting someone with a gun. The only thing that is truly bad about the sound is the voice acting. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. On the plus side, you can turn the voices off outside of battle but unfortunately not during battle. All in all, great sounds, terrific music, but mediocre voice acting.

Gameplay- 8.5
The gameplay in this game is mostly good although there are a few annoyances during gameplay. Outside of battle, the game has most of the typical stuff taking place such as many things to do and a typical world map. There are many quests to do and a good amount of large side quests as well. You collect cards called Magnus and use them to do many different things as well. Apart from that, it's pretty much just a typical RPG type environment. Battle is the main concern here, so I'll talk about it from now on. You fight using Battle Magnus, such as swords, guns, brass knuckles, boat oars, and magic spells. Each character has their own unique choice of weapon, with the exception of the two magic users in the game. Enemies are shown on the field, so all you have to is walk into them in order to start a fight. After completing your deck anyway you want to, you are assigned a random hand of cards that you placed in your deck. Be sure to add a fair amount of every type of card. So, after you are assigned your hand of cards, you can press A to select an attack card and attack. Depending on your class, you can either choose from 3-9 cards in a row. If you have any finishing moves in your deck at the time you can use those as well. After finishing your turn it depends on the speed of a character or an enemy to determine who goes next. If it's an enemy, you have to defend with a defense card such as armor or a helmet. You can also choose to heal your character by hitting the R button and selecting the character you want to heal and then clicking A to use that certain healing item on them. Other types of Magnus you can use during battles are combo items, status items(such as poison or paralyzing items) and cameras. Although the card battling may not make it a traditional RPG, there are other additions that change what would otherwise be in a traditional RPG style. For example, defeating monsters does not give you any gold at all, and selling weapons at the store gives you barely any money at all. The only real way to earn money in this game is take pictures of the enemy with a camera and then sell them at the store(you have to wait at least 10 minutes for them to fully develop as well). Also, gaining levels is also much more different than it would be in other RPGs. You do get experience points at the end of a battle, although you can not level up by just fighting battle after battle after battle. You have to go to a church and then level up there. The only problem with this is is that you never know when to level up because it doesn't tell you when and you sometimes forget to level up as well. All in all, apart from all of the changed things that a traditional RPG normally would have, it is still a great game and it has pretty good gameplay indeed.

Replay Value- 8.0
The replay value isn't that great, but it is not that bad. The game itself is very long and I clocked in 80 hours and I still hadn't gotten everything done. Sure, I finished the game and mostly all of the side quests, but I didn't collect all the 1020 something different Magnus in the game or finish all of the combos. There are a lot of side quests to do in the game and a lot of Magnus to collect on top of a largely long main game so be prepared to be occupied on this game for a long while. The incentive to play the game again after beating it is not as large as it should be but I guarantee that I will play this game at least a few more times over the years. Good replay value overall.

Overall- 8.5
This game is good but it is not a must have game. Apart from the few flaws the game has such as gaining money, leveling up, getting hit on the first round of a defensive turn quite often, and how the game drags on for a bit near the end of the second disk, it is actually not that bad of a game. Battles are actually quite fun, and playing the game is good fun as well. Overall, this a great inventive RPG on the Gamecube that is fun to play but it tries to change too many things to set it apart from your usual, standard RPG. I'd say that it is definitely worth a shot.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/06/05