I by no means had an opportunity to play the Baten Kaitos video games after they got here out on the GameCube. I wasn’t an RPG fan till my late teenagers, so I most likely wouldn’t have appreciated them even when I did have a chance to play them. Fall appears to be the season for reviving dormant IPs, and it’s now Baten Kaitos’ time to shine as soon as extra.
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster comprises precisely that, HD remasters of the primary (and solely) two video games within the collection: Baten Kaitos: Everlasting Wings and the Misplaced Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins. Bringing over employees that labored on Chrono Cross to guide the venture, and developed by Monolith Delicate within the period the place they didn’t primarily work on Xeno titles, the Baten Kaitos video games are in contrast to most RPGs on the market. Each single factor you do in these video games revolves round playing cards.
At first, your battle system makes use of playing cards collected, traded, or bought all through the world. Baten Kaitos is a turn-based RPG with a sophisticated deck builder there for many who adore min-maxing to their coronary heart’s content material. Sometimes I’m not keen on card RPGs, however Baten goes to date in on the idea that I couldn’t assist however get invested in it.
Battles play out in an ATB-like model. Your characters construct up a bar till it’s their flip, unleash a collection of assaults to construct a excessive combo, after which hold going till the battle is completed. Within the unique Baten Kaitos, the quantity of assaults a personality can use in a flip depends on their class. As a result of turns are so gradual I believe it tends to tug down simply how enjoyable ATB battle methods are typically. There’s nothing worse than having 7 playing cards to play in a flip, selecting your assaults, after which killing it in a single. You don’t simply pivot your assaults to a brand new enemy, however as an alternative, simply sit there and let that total flip play out. It’s fairly gradual and punishes correct planning.
Baten Kaitos Origins fixes this, with quicker battle animations and a brand new combo system the place you are supposed to play card numbers in ascending order. It nonetheless doesn’t pivot your assaults to a brand new enemy in case you kill your goal, however battles being more durable and the combo system being extra partaking stored me from ever becoming bored like I did with the unique. I believe Baten Kaitos’ fight is an unfun blight on a really quirky and interesting sport, and am grateful that they included loads of choices to change the expertise for many who get bored.
In all probability my favourite method the sport implements playing cards although is how they’re used exterior of battles. Baten Kaitos may be an RPG, however the sport design thrives within the point-and-click journey period. There are particular area playing cards referred to as Magnus, which let you soak up objects from the surroundings and use them elsewhere to unravel particular puzzles. For instance, if I had a block of ice in entrance of me I might go right into a villager’s home and get a Blaze magnus out of their hearth pit. Then once I return to the block, I might use that to soften the ice and proceed. That isn’t an actual instance from the video games, but it surely explains simply what sort of puzzle-solving you’ll be able to count on from Baten Kaitos. The primary story and aspect quests each make the most of this sort of puzzle-solving, so that you’re anticipated to speak to everybody and use your mind.
The tales of those video games are exhausting to speak about with out giving an excessive amount of away, however I believe essentially the most fascinating facet of them is how they’re designed round participant interplay. Alongside your two protagonists – Kalas within the unique sport and Sagi in Baten Kaitos Origins – is a pressure referred to as a Guardian Spirit. This spirit is certain to them, and infrequently different individuals can talk with them as effectively. You’re this spirit, and the protagonists will steadily ask you on your enter on the occasions occurring round them. Your bond along with your protagonist will have an effect on how environment friendly they’re in battles, primarily based on how usually you agree with them. In case your bond is excessive with Kalas, he’ll get extra particular assaults to look in his deck. In case your bond with Sagi is excessive, playing cards you would possibly want in a decent spot will seem extra usually. The place this turns into attention-grabbing, particularly in Kalas’ case, is that they’re not all the time essentially the most agreeable protagonists. Kalas is impolite and plain egocentric to simply about everybody you meet, however in case you disagree with him too usually battles will probably be so much more durable. It’s a captivating dynamic between participant and protagonist with actual gameplay penalties, I’ve by no means seen the rest prefer it earlier than.
If I needed to choose which of the video games I desire, I’d most likely must say Baten Kaitos Origins edged out the unique. Whereas it’s not as in your face with its eccentricities, it makes up for it by refining and sharpening your core set of mechanics. You might have a touch on the overworld that may choose issues up once you’re attempting to traverse in a rush. Fight has a quicker rhythm with its new number-based combo system, and stage ups really occur on account of battles as an alternative of needing to cease at a church. All the tedium was stripped away, and also you’re left with a a lot quicker and extra approachable expertise that I believe is much extra considerable for newcomers. As a prequel, there are spots that play in your expectations primarily based on information within the unique sport, however I don’t suppose it’d be to your detriment.
The best factor this remaster has performed has touched up the visuals. Not precisely the character fashions, which look stable in a better decision, however the backgrounds look really beautiful in HD. We’ve got a considerable amount of traditional RPG remasters within the earlier console era that appeared to place the naked minimal quantity of effort into preserving the standard of the backgrounds. There’s no affirmation, but it surely virtually looks as if they stored the unique background photographs. Perhaps they have been AI Upscaled, but when so it was performed expertly. These are the very best cleaned-up backgrounds I’ve seen for the reason that remaster of Legend of Mana. They’re stellar.
When the remasters launched, I’d name the efficiency virtually unacceptable. Baten Kaitos Origins appears to have been working and looking out good since day one and doubtless is even cleaner for the reason that first patch. The unique Baten Kaitos has a wildly inconsistent body price that went all the way in which from 30-60 on a whim. Outside areas have been nearer to 30, and small indoor areas have been normally a locked 60. That is unusual since each space in each video games are pre-rendered backgrounds. Battles would go from about 33-47 fps, and it felt simply terrible to play. Since each video games have a pseudo-ATB system, your timing issues so much.
However one other challenge with timing comes from the QoL launched right here, particularly the speed-up choices. You’ll be able to improve sport speeds in each battle and outdoors to as much as 300%, and whereas that’s nice when you find yourself roaming the world issues come up in battles. On the subject of protection within the unique Baten Kaitos, you’ll want to select your protection playing cards on the fly to dam assaults. With the sport pace so excessive, your window to get these blocks in time is sort of nonexistent. The QoL menu can’t be pulled up in battles although, so there’s no on-the-fly pace altering. When you choose one, you’re locked into that pace till your battle is finished. In Baten Kaitos Origins, you choose passive protection playing cards that’ll provide you with a few blocks stocked up, however the speed-up will most likely additionally provide you with hassle with regular assaults. Since Baten Kaitos Origins is simply general a more durable and mechanically tighter expertise, I’m positive many will discover this pace possibility not possible.
We even have a few of the typical HD Remaster QoL right here, like with the ability to flip off encounters and kill issues immediately. A fantastic possibility they’ve added within the unique Baten Kaitos is the flexibility to skip the flip battle outcomes display, dashing up battles exponentially. I nonetheless suppose that the unique sport is a bit too gradual for my liking.
On the present second, the one main remaining level of competition with the remaster is the exclusion of the English voice tracks from each unique video games. Supposedly it’s because they’d be incompatible with script adjustments, however from my analysis these variations are miniscule. A lot of the script is similar, however I’ve seen that the remaster refers back to the participant as genderless now. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Japanese model all the time did it like this, which is why that voice monitor remained. I want the choice would have been out there, even when supposedly the dub for the primary sport is subpar in high quality. I’d all the time heard good issues about Baten Kaitos Origins’ localization, so on the very least, we get to learn that sport’s great script.
Total (and after some post-launch updates) I’m content material with the state of Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster. That’s not precisely the tone I used to be anticipating to have in the course of the launch interval, so I’m grateful that they fastened it rapidly even when I used to be pissed off that we would have liked to attend per week in any respect. These are two very particular video games that deserved a terrific re-release, and I’m grateful that I used to be in a position to expertise them on this style. They won’t appease each hardcore fan of the unique, however I doubt many would have the ability to deny how good of a steal that is for newcomers trying to expertise some cult classics. They’re flawed gems, however they’re certain to seize the eye of anybody searching for one thing really distinctive.
Model Examined: Nintendo Change
Evaluation copy offered by Bandai Namco Leisure