"Move out of the way, Shin Megami Tensei. This is more underrated than you'll ever be."

By the time I started playing this game, I was still sort of new to the world of Role Playing Games, so I had some idea of what to expect form this game: HP, FP (I was into Paper Mario at the time), Equipment, the usual RPG necessities. Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean only had half of that, which wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was rather new, and it worked exceptionally well. I have no idea what this game is best in: graphics, music, writing, character development, plot twists, there's just so much to pick from. This is the game that solidified my obsession with RPG's, and since this one Ive been trying to find a far better game, but with a 9/10, that's near impossible. Still, the game does have flaws here and there, but not enough to make it bad.

Gameplay: 9/10
Who knew that using a card system like in Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon could actually work in an RPG? Okay, not like that at all, but the idea of using cards probably came from those. The battle system while confusing at first, lets you know how to perform efficient attacks or defenses. Every card has numbers on them, ranging from 1 through 9. You use these cards to attack, defend, heal, or cure/give status effects to a party member. There are two phases of battle: attacking and defending. You need to decide on the attacking phase whether to heal or not. Attacking phase allows to...well, attack with the deck you have. You can stack your cards to make rising combo, a falling combo, or a set. For example, two Punk Knifes with the numbers 2, 3, and 4 used in that order will get you a combo, which will increase the damage you deal by a bit. Same thing applies with defending and healing. You can also take pictures of enemies with Cameras that you receive as you play. You start of with the standard Camera, then get better ones which develop faster. Be careful of the environment as you use them: light and darkness based attacks can affect the quality of the camera's photos. Say you use two Light Flare Lv 1's, then a Camera. The image with look far too bright when it develops and will knock down the value. Also, this is one the ways to make money in this game, and it actually makes sense in an RPG. Also, leveling up has been changed around too. You don't level up simply by fighting monsters. You must go to this church through Blue Save Flowers and talk to the Priest. You can choose how many levels you wish to increase, which I always thought was cool as you weren't able to overlevel yourself without a choice. You can also increase your deck capacity and how many cards you can use in battle with Class Up cards you find as you continue the game. DO NOT PASS THESE UP. You'll see what I mean when you play. Back to the cards now. I said that you can make the combos, but I didn't say how later on. You get two or more numbers on the cards as the game progresses, but I don't believe you're told how to get the combo you want. This is when the negative effects like Confuse and Headache make sense, because you can point the C-Stick in the direction of the number you wish. That about covers the game's battle system.

The map system is pretty much the same as it's always been, except there are no battles and it's pretty linear. There's nothing to explore and your just going from one area to the other. In fact, the entire game is pretty linear, until a specific event which I refuse to spoil grants you freedom. But then again think about it: you're in the SKY, with several methods of transportation to take you where you want to go out of your reach because of the plot. And you kind of need to stay on track here, as the game's villains DO NOT sit around. The towns and dungeons work similarly. You walk around, fight enemies, grab loot, save at obvious boss alert Flower which will probably be Red, meaning you can't go to the Church.

Graphics: Why the hell is this game not nominated for best 2D graphics in a video game/10
Sweet...Lord...I have not seen a more artistic and perfected design as this games. Every single map, every single dungeon, even all the enemies, characters, and final boss, have some of the most beautiful and convincing graphics I've ever seen in a video game. If I had to choose a part of the game which had the best of the best...I don't think I could do it. They are that amazing. Even some of the pre boss fights have lovely cutscenes of sheer divinity, and even after boss fights have them...sadly this is only on disc one. The rest of the game's graphics are still lovely though. The effort really shows how hard Namco worked on this game, and yet it still didn't sell very well which is truly a tragedy in itself. Methinks it was because other popular games came out at the time, or it could be because the cover looks pretty cheesy, or because no one knows what Baten Kaitos even has to do with the game. Well, it's actually the name of a real life constellation, Cetus. In Arabic, Baten Kaitos translates to something like "The Great Whale's belly". In fact, you could say this game is Arabic based, like how Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga's 1 and 2 are based on Hindu. Very pretty game, so much effort and care put into it, never did get as popular as it should.

Music: It's beautiful/10
Find me one track in this game that is bad. Seriously, do it. I don't think this game even has any okay music. Most of it is orchestrated goodness by the one and only Motoi Sakuraba and gives off the RPG feel without it sounding cliched. This is further supported by some of the boss themes, like Rumbling of the Earth and The True Mirror Guitar ver. Then there's the main character's "reason for living" enemy's theme, Chaotic Dance. No track in this game felt out of place. I believe each and every one was performed with the solid though of the area in mind. Although some songs are used for other area than their origins, they still sound pretty damn fitting and makes you wonder which one fits it more. It's just that good. The battle theme, town themes, cutscene themes, boss themes, even the level up song and class up songs are pretty damn triumphant. It doesn't have a Game Over theme though, which is kind of disappointing, but I think seeing your last surviving character hit with an unsurvivable finisher with a ridiculous Final Damage is proof enough that you just got destroyed. The ending theme is also pretty sad, and you'll know why when you get there. Again, not spoiling it.

Replay Value: 7/10
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but one or two playthroughs is really all you need if you don't have the time. This game takes a LONG time to beat, with the battle system, and the story. My last playthrough, I did get the best equipment for everyone, and I'm in the middle of getting their decks to be perfect, but the only way I'd be able to do it all again is...let's just say with company. The game is also quite hard on the second disc. Hell, the first or second boss you fight ends it's turn with an instant death attack. Pray it's not on the one with the only Death curing item, as that fight is quite hard without it.

Final Score: 9/10 The Replay Value is the only thing keeping this game from being absolutely flawless. You can be satisfied with just one sitting of the game and then move on to something else. However for me Baten Kaitos has left a permanent mark on my teenage hood of my gaming lifestyle, and since then I've never played a game as fantastic and well executed as this. I'm still annoyed by the fact that it didn't get the attention it deserved, though I am glad it was given a prequel, which I may or may not review sometime in the future. I recommend renting it first, because enjoying this game is rather a required taste, as it does have cliches and it tries to cover them up with uniqueness, and in my opinion it worked. It worked better than you think, let's just leave it at that. Overall, great game, beautiful everything, tragedy it wasn't well received. If you can find it, rent it, see if it's any good. I hope you like it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/11

Game Release: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (US, 11/16/04)