"Shuffle Your Decks For Adventure"

Have you ever played a game that you wanted to be great, I mean really frickan great, and in many ways it was, but in so many others, it fails, for me, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, fits this description perfectly.

Story- 7/10

We'll start this review with the story, the story in Baten Kaitos is somewhat weak, I could have been so much better, and the potential was there, they just didn't use it. Although I will say the second disk is much better than the first.

The story revolves around young Kalas, a mysterious boy who is found in a forest just outside a small farming village. I also forgot to mention, that you have amnesia, hooray for cliches. Your role however isn't as Kalas, you are the guardian spirit, which means you help Kalas in making his decisions, which doesn't really affect the story at all, but does have a slight affect on battles. Anyways, Kalas sets out on a journey to kill a man named Giacomo, who killed your grandfather and brother. Giacomo is an elite member of the Alfard Empire's military, which should lead you to the conclusion that the Alfard Empire is evil, and you would be pretty much correct.

So anyway, Kalas goes into town, and he meets up with Xelha, who talks about going into the forest, blah, blah, blah, there's something sealed in the forest and it should stay that way, but of course, in true RPG tradition, no angst ridden teen could resist the opportunity to go and un-seal something. So you travel to Moonguile forest, all alone (Xelha went on ahead) and your journey, begins.

The main flaw with the story is almost everything used, has been done and much better too, but at the same time the story isn't horrible, there are some redeeming factors, and one huge plot twist early in the second disk, and I really didn't expect it coming. Another flaw in the story is that only one or two characters see any development, the rest remain kind of cardboard.

Sound-8/10

Voice Acting-6/10

Everybody turn your TVs to mute, the voice acting is ****. There was some potential, the voices themselves fit the characters, but for some weird reason it sounds like they're talking through a metal pipe. Namco says that they did this because you (the spirit) are supposed to be hearing this through a dimensional rift, and since Namco apparently hears thing through a dimensional rift ALL the time, I guess they know what it sounds like. Regardless, the voices sound like crap, on to the music.

Music- 10/10

Remember when I told you to put your TVs on mute a while ago, well I now take that back. Thank God for something perfect in this game! The music is so freaking awesome. Most of my favorite video game tracks come from this game. There are only two tracks that I really hate. The only thing is that the music is in short quantities, there simply isn't all that much of it. Good thing it's awesome when it begins repeating it's self...

Gamplay-7.5/10

The battle system for this game was fun and innovative for me. In a way this game is part standard turn based RPG part card based combat, but not lame card based combat like Yu-Gi-Oh. Each character has a deck of Magnus Cards (30 at the beginning, but as you get your class up, it increases.) These cards are used in battle as your attacks. At the start of a turn cards are shuffled out of the Magnus deck and into your "hand"(the number of cards is once again determined on your class level) and every time you use a card, a new one is shuffled into you hand. Most cards have their own attack and defense value, when the enemy is attacking you, you can defend with some of the same Magnus you attack with. Also each character has a set of "Finishing Move" Magnus that you can get through the course of the game. Another thing is as your class level increase you will be given less and less time to select you Magnus, which gives the a nice real time element. You can also use combos, as long as you have enough attack Magnus in your hand.

As much as I liked the battles their where several flaws. The main one was that you can only target one enemy with your attacks and combos. This caused battles to often feel long and drawn out. Another is that I have to use a Magnus. No other option exists, and seeing as all the characters have their own weapons in hand it looks like I should be aloud to use them without Magnus.
Outside of battle its standard RPG exploration, travel through towns, castles, forests, caves, dungeons, its pretty much all here. There aren't any minigames sadly, which was a huge downer. There are however three side quest that you can't finish until near the end of the game, and you have access to the first two just a few hours into the game, so this was a definite plus for me since I like massive side quests.

Random encounter have thankfully been thrown out the window in favor of having monsters roaming around the map, if you touch one your thrown into a battle, Namco also did this with Xenosaga and Tales of Symphonia.

Graphics- 8.5/10

The box boasts that this is one of the most beautiful games one the Game Cube, and that's probably true. The reason is because it uses pre-rendered graphics, which allow for a lot more detail to be put in, but sadly the camera is so far away at times you can't always see the wonderful detail all that well.

The graphics in battle however are not pre-rendered. These graphics are pretty good too, nothing special, but still better than most. Overall the graphics are definitely good.

Final score:7/10

So in the end Baten Kaitos isn't that bad, I'm sure you've probably heard someone saying that it sucks, which is a lie, but it's nothing spectacular or epic. If you are an RPG fan, it definitely wouldn't hurt at all to check this out. Game Cube owners looking for an RPG should look into this too, because this, Tales of Symphonia, Skies of Arcadia, and Fire Emblem are pretty much all there is right now, and it doesn't look like there's a very big change in store.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/06