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 in all probability 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 accommodates precisely that, HD remasters of the primary (and solely) two video games within the collection: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins. Bringing over workers that labored on Chrono Cross to guide the undertaking, and developed by Monolith Soft 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. Every single factor you do in these video games revolves round playing cards.
First and foremost, 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. Typically 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. In the unique Baten Kaitos, the quantity of assaults a personality can use in a flip depends on their class. Because turns are so sluggish I feel it tends to pull down simply how enjoyable ATB battle techniques are usually. There’s nothing worse than having 7 playing cards to play in a flip, choosing 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 sluggish 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 should you kill your goal, however battles being more durable and the combo system being extra partaking stored me from ever losing interest like I did with the unique. I feel 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.
Probably my favourite means the sport implements playing cards although is how they’re used exterior of battles. Baten Kaitos is perhaps an RPG, however the sport design thrives within the point-and-click journey period. There are particular discipline playing cards known as Magnus, which let you take up gadgets from the atmosphere 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 after 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, however it explains simply what sort of puzzle-solving you’ll be able to count on from Baten Kaitos. The important story and facet quests each make the most of this type of puzzle-solving, so that you’re anticipated to speak to everybody and use your mind.
The tales of those video games are onerous to speak about with out giving an excessive amount of away, however I feel probably the most fascinating side 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 drive known as a Guardian Spirit. This spirit is certain to them, and infrequently different folks can talk with them as effectively. You are this spirit, and the protagonists will ceaselessly ask you in your enter on the occasions happening round them. Your bond along with your protagonist will have an effect on how environment friendly they’re in battles, based mostly on how typically you agree with them. If your bond is excessive with Kalas, he’ll get extra particular assaults to seem in his deck. If your bond with Sagi is excessive, playing cards you may want in a good spot will seem extra typically. Where this turns into attention-grabbing, particularly in Kalas’ case, is that they’re not all the time probably the most agreeable protagonists. Kalas is impolite and plain egocentric to simply about everybody you meet, however should you disagree with him too typically battles might be lots more durable. It’s a captivating dynamic between participant and protagonist with actual gameplay penalties, I’ve by no means seen anything prefer it earlier than.
If I needed to decide which of the video games I want, I’d in all probability should say Baten Kaitos Origins edged out the unique. While it’s not as in your face with its eccentricities, it makes up for it by refining and sprucing your core set of mechanics. You have a touch on the overworld that may decide issues up whenever you’re attempting to traverse in a rush. Combat has a quicker rhythm with its new number-based combo system, and degree ups really occur because of battles as an alternative of needing to cease at a church. All of the tedium was stripped away, and also you’re left with a a lot quicker and extra approachable expertise that I feel is much extra considerable for newcomers. As a prequel, there are spots that play in your expectations based mostly on information within the unique sport, however I don’t assume it’d be to your detriment.
The best factor this remaster has achieved has touched up the visuals. Not precisely the character fashions, which look stable in a better decision, however the backgrounds look actually beautiful in HD. We have 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, however it nearly looks like they stored the unique background pictures. Maybe they have been AI Upscaled, but when so it was achieved 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 nearly unacceptable. Baten Kaitos Origins appears to have been working and searching good since day one and possibly 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. Outdoor areas have been nearer to 30, and small indoor areas have been normally a locked 60. This 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 lots.
But one other challenge with timing comes from the QoL launched right here, particularly the speed-up choices. You can improve sport speeds in each battle and out of doors to as much as 300%, and whereas that’s nice when you’re roaming the world issues come up in battles. When it involves protection within the unique Baten Kaitos, you’ll want to choose your protection playing cards on the fly to dam assaults. With the sport velocity 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 velocity altering. Once you decide one, you’re locked into that velocity till your battle is finished. In Baten Kaitos Origins, you decide passive protection playing cards that’ll offer you a few blocks stocked up, however the speed-up will in all probability additionally offer you bother with regular assaults. Since Baten Kaitos Origins is simply total a more durable and mechanically tighter expertise, I’m certain many will discover this velocity possibility not possible.
We even have among the regular HD Remaster QoL right here, like having the ability to flip off encounters and kill issues immediately. An important possibility they’ve added within the unique Baten Kaitos is the power to skip the flip battle outcomes display, dashing up battles exponentially. I nonetheless assume that the unique sport is a bit too sluggish for my liking.
At 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. Most of the script is identical, however I’ve observed 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 accessible, 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 fantastic script.
Overall (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 throughout the launch interval, so I’m grateful that they fastened it rapidly even when I used to be pissed off that we wanted to attend per week in any respect. These are two very particular video games that deserved an excellent re-release, and I’m grateful that I used to be capable of expertise them on this style. They may not appease each hardcore fan of the unique, however I doubt many would be capable to deny how good of a steal that is for newcomers trying to expertise some cult classics. They are flawed gems, however they’re certain to seize the eye of anybody on the lookout for one thing actually distinctive.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch
Review copy offered by Bandai Namco Entertainment
