Baten Kaitos Origins (Nintendo GameCube, 2006)

Baten Kaitos: Origins is the prequel to the original game, and manages to greatly improve on almost every aspect. Story-wise, it's your basic Japanese RPG, with colorful characters and an involving, complex plot. The Baten Kaitos games stand out, however, in their battle system, which is entirely executed using cards (so-called Magnus) collected throughout the game. Origins has managed to streamline the card battle system a great deal, and battles now proceed much faster and more smoothly than previously. Basically, a character's attack in one battle round will progress from weaker attack to stronger by playing the corresponding cards, possibly ending in increasingly powerful and impressive special attacks. There are also various equipment magnus with various effects, as well as healing and other effect cards. Furthermore, if cards are available, several characters can chain onto each others' attacks for one huge combo. All in all, the system becomes intuitive and fun after some getting used to, and many of the battles provide a great challenge. Still, the constant card-collecting and deck-optimizing may be a turn-off to many.

Other aspects that have been improved on include the voice-acting. The original BK game was plagued by voice actors that were, in a word, dreadful, and many opted to turn off the voice-overs entirely. In this game, however, the voices are for the most part solid, and work well together with a well-written and well-translated dialogue filled with quips and humorous quotes. The three main characters all have distinct personalities that really engage. The music soundtrack is also well-done, though is arguably slightly shy of its predecessor.

Graphic-wise, this game presents some stunning visuals, especially backgrounds. Many of the venues were re-used from the previous game, which might be seen as a tad cheap by some. There are still plenty of new areas to explore, however, all beautifully rendered. The characters and monsters are nothing spectacular, but look good enough. The battle animations and special attacks are impressive, though one often doesn't have time to look up from the hand of cards to watch them.

The storyline is, as has been mentioned, complex and involving. The main plot covers the events of two entirely different time periods, and the game goes on for a long time leaving the player wondering exactly what's going on. There are also a fair share of side-quests to entertain yourself with. Doing everything there is to do, it's easy to spend 80 hours or more on this game.

To summarize, this is a great RPG for some. If you played the previous Baten Kaitos and liked it, this is a no-brainer. If you enjoy Japanese PRG's in general, you're likely to enjoy this.

Baten Kaitos 2 is a card-based RPG about a young boy named Sagi. Sagi is a newcomer to the Dark Elite Force. When you start the game, you'll find out that each member of the force has a machanical partner called a "paramachina." Paramachina are machines that fight obediantly with their masters. Guillo, Sagi's paramachina, is the only one that can talk. What is Guillo hiding....? As a member of the force, your first mission is to kill Emperor Olgan. You must lead a band of soldiers, including Guillo. Will the mission be succesful, with you as the leader....?

The battle system uses a unique card-based battle system. Your characters HP and "action gauge" will be displayed at the top of the screen. Everyone's action gauge will begin to go down, and the first character's action gauge that is comepletly empty, it will be there turn. you will be able to choose from a set amount of cards in your hand. You'll notice that each card has a number on it. If you press A on a card, that card will be used when they begin their actions. Cards range from certain numbers. Attack cards are 1-3. You can only select cards in ascending order, and you can't press the same number twice. As you gain more party members, they will be part of your equipped deck, with some of their personal attacks added to the deck for you. There are also certain save points where you can go to a church and rise your "deck class," or your abilaty to use a particular deck. as this number rises, you'll be able to equip more cards in that deck.

I highly recommend this game to every RPG lover. The battles are always active, so you can't stand there and strategize when your character's turn comes, enemies will still attack you. The story is amazing, and the characters are great.

The game is as addicting as the first game. The battle system takes awhile to get used to, since they changed the battle system from the first so it causes you to use strategy to figure out what the best cards to have in your deck. The characters are interesting; there is one character that can be a bit annoying but the character might grow on you as the story progresses. The story seems to have hidden mystery surrounding the characters and you might find yourself constantly playing to see how the story plays out. If your rpg lover and there doesn't seem to enough rpgs on the wii or game-cube console, I would recommend you try this hidden gem. It's a game that I played once before when I was younger and I never gave it a chance but now I find myself appreciating the in depth characterization and story that seems to be lacking in new generation games.

This game has fantastically rich character development, immersive story line, tons of sub-quests, battles and interactions. The description on the back of the packaging says it's over 60 hours of game play, that's not an overstatement. The card/battle system is a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Compared to the first one the battling system in this one is awesome. You can chain each character's individual combo together now...It might seem easy in the beginning but it gets more complex later on. Making decisions about what special to choose gets a bit more complex. The story is awesome(c'mon it's Baten Kaitos) ofcourse and so is the battling. Only annoying part is wandering through towns talking to people and checking up on inanimate objects(resident evil style) looking for extra/secret magnus. It's a hassle in huge towns but it's well balanced with the fighting they have and the nicely timed progression of the story/plot. 5/5 Definitely...I lent to my cousin and he even played through it. Oh and it truly is about 45-60 hours depending on if you're the type to perfect a game or not so if you're worrying about a super short RPG don't worry this will take some time...It's TWO DISCS!!!