|
Pronounced Bah-ten Kye-tose.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Developer: Namco/Monolith Software
Platform: Gamecube
Genre: Role-Playing
The name "Monolith Soft" might sound familiar to you. These guys have recently been tearing up the console RPG market with their widely recognized Xenosaga series. Before partnering with Namco, however, the team that would eventually become Monolith was a part of the Japanese RPG giant, Squaresoft. The core members of Monolith were respsonsible for both Chrono games, as well as the phenomenal Xenogears, which I reviewed several months back.
However, things were not destined to remain this way. For various reasons, Monolith chose to break away from their RPG parent in order to sell their wares to alternate companies. Namco saw the raw, brilliant talent of the team and took the group under their wing.
Since then, we have seen two installments of the Xenosaga series unfold. However, in the midst of all of this, Monolith started down the path of another wholly separate franchise. This past December saw the quiet release of a Monolith RPG named Baten Kaitos, a high-fantasy epic utilizing a creative and fresh new gameplay engine. I've just recently managed to finish the beast, and I can safely say, for fans of the RPG genre, this game is a trip worth taking.
Story
Thousands of years ago, man once dwelled on land, and lived amongst the gods in harmony. However, after a time, peace grew unstable and war broke out between humankind and their divine rulers. In the end, man's numbers proved to be to their advantage, and the gods were cast out from the land. Through the cloud of war, the earth was poisoned, and became uninhabitable. Seeing no other option, the rulers of men decided on a drastic solution: using their magical abilities, mankind tore free the only still-pure chunks of the planet and set them to float in the skies. Almost a dozen of these "continents" were raised into the heavens, and upon them, five sovereign nations were constructed, each taking on a distinct personality and appearance. Since then, man has lived in the sky peacefully. Humankind has adapted to their airborne surroundings and have naturally evolved to grow wings, called Wings of the Heart, with which to maneuver about the environment. However, as is always, history repeats itself, and such a peace would not endure.
Millennia later, a young man named Kalas is found severely injured outside of a small farming hamlet named Cebalrai. The townspeople take him in and nurse his wounds, eventually allowing him to wake from his slumber and rejoin the normal world. While staying in Cebalrai, Kalas has a chance encounter with a young woman named Xelha, who is on a quest of extreme importance. She enlists the young warrior's help in recovering five deadly artifacts called the End Magnus. It is these items that the Alfard Empire, lead by the villainous Emperor Geldoblame, is searching for in order to revive the wicked Malpercio, one of the long-dead gods that man went to war with thousands of years ago. With the fate of mankind hanging in the balance, Kalas and Xelha must travel the world, searching for the End Magnus in order to prevent the coming of armageddon.
The plot starts of pretty stereotypically, as you can see. At the outset, this is nothing new. It's nothing you haven't heard before. However, the plot does get substantially better throughout the course of the game, and little by little it leaves it's paint-by-numbers trappings behind. There are plenty of great twists that you won't see coming, and by the time I finished the title off, I was very pleased with what I'd experienced.
The one big plot and gameplay element that I need to explain in terms of it's connection to the story are the Magnus that I mentioned above. Magnus are cards, and they represent the form in which all things are stored and transported in this fantasy world. The idea is that the people of this world have advanced their understanding of magic to such a tremendous degree that they can now extract the purified "Magna Essence" of any tangible (or even sometimes intangible) object and store it in a paper Magnus for use later. When the item must be used, the Magnus is invoked and the item is released from the card.
This works in relation to the story in numerous ways. First and foremost, it gives the first realistic, in-game explanation that I've encountered for how a small party of people can carry an entire armory of items. In the Final Fantasy games, your characters can be lugging around several tons of equipment, and never is there an explanation for how this is physically possible. In Baten Kaitos, the explanation is right there. You can carry enough weapons and armor to outfit an entire army, and it's perfectly logical because all of that equipment takes up no more space in your backpack than a few decks of playing cards.
Secondly, it also ties in with the plot because of the End Magnus (five dark, nasty Magnus with the powers of Malpercio sealed within them) and the fact that it explains a lot about how advanced a civilization this world really is.
The last Namco RPG I played was the incredible Tales of Symphonia, which I reviewed months ago. My biggest complaint with the game was the plot. It was bland and uninspired. Baten Kaitos, while certainly not on a scale of brilliance such as Xenogears or Chrono Cross, is exponentially more engaging than Tales was. There is real, believable character development to be found, plot developments to make you ponder, and atmospheric elements that you will be mulling over for days afterward. All in all, BK's plot is damn-solid, and is one of the most intriguing elements of the entire package.
Gameplay
Baten Kaitos is, for all intents and purposes, a standard RPG. There are towns and dungeons, a world map, a turn-based combat system, equipment upgrades, experience system, save points, etc, etc. However it's how all of these things function that is the real kicker.
The most important aspect of the entire functionality of the game is the Magnus system. All in all, there are over 1,000 different types of Magnus to acquire throughout the game. They can range from weapons like Long Swords, Ice Daggers and Death Pendulums, to magic spells like Aqua Burst, Light Flare and Chronos Blow, to special attacks like Dream Blade and Wings of Darkness, to armor, to items, to random junk like dead fish and apples. You can get a Magnus for basically anything in the game, and all of them have some type of use, no matter how random or obscure. The Magnus system pervades everything in the game.
First I'll explain the combat system. Each of your characters has a certain number of Magnus that can be equipped into his or her own personal "deck." As you progress through the game, each character's deck can become larger and larger, expanding your combat ability. In battle, when a character's turn comes up, the game will randomly draw a set number of cards from the character's deck into their "hand". As their deck grows larger throughout the game, so does their hand. Once the cards have been dealt, you pick a target (either enemy or friend) and then pick which cards you want to use in your "combo". Like your deck and your hand, your combo grows in size over the course of the game. If you targeted an enemy, you're going to want to use attack cards like those weapons, spells and special attacks that I mentioned above. If you targeted an ally, you'll probably want to use healing or defensive item cards like Apples, Milk and Beer (no, I'm not joking). This is your offensive round, and during it you have the choice of using it to attack an enemy, or heal or assist yourself or a partner.
Then there's the defensive round. When an enemy comes at you to attack, you are given the ooportunity to pick a combo of defense cards like Ice Shields and Flame Helmets with which to block the incoming attacks. If done correctly, you can completely nullify incoming damage. However, doing so takes preparation and quick reflexes.
In combat, one of the things you'll need to be paying attention to is the elemental alignments of your enemies and your deck. There are six elements in the game, and one non-elemental physical alignment. Fire opposes Water, Light opposes Dark and Wind opposes Chronos. Non-elemental cards are only opposed by physical defense stats. Picking the right deck setup for the right situation becomes critical in the game. First, you don't want to be
equipping your character with conflicting elements. If you use Kalas and have him attack with a Light Saber and then a Dark Sword in the same combo, the two cards will cancel each other out, affecting the overall power of your combo. In addition, using a Fire Burst spell against a fire-elemental enemy will result in doing minimal damage, wasting a perfectly good combat turn. In order to do adequate damage and to defend against attacks, you need to prepare your characters accordingly.
The one last aspect of the combat system to make note of is the Spirit Number found on every single Magnus that can be used in battle. All battle-useable Magnus can have up to four Spirit Numbers (numbers 1 through 9) printed on them (one in each corner), and which cards you use with which numbers in which sequence can make a giant difference in the effectiveness of the combo. For example, let's say you use the following combo: Ice Dagger, Light Sabre, Ice Dagger, Death Pendulum, Dream Blade. Let's also say that the numbers on each card, respectively, were 1,2,3,4,5. After your round ends, your overall attack will be granted an extra 20-50% damage because you used a poker straight. You can also get bonuses for having all of your cards the same number, like 1,1,1,1,1 or by doing it in groups like 1,1,2,2,1, or 2,1,2,1,2 and so forth.
The neat thing about the combat system is that it makes the fights genuinely pretty challenging. Because the card selection is random, you don't always have your strongest cards at your disposal. In order to beat tougher opponents, you need to be constantly on your toes and you need to know how to strategize in the blink of an eye. You can't just whip out a huge Knights of the Round-style super attack and finish off the boss. You have to work with the hand that is dealt to you, and on top of that, you need to pay attention to Spirit Numbers and elemental alignments as well. Under those conditions, the fights can get pretty intense.
However, that's not to say that the game is too difficult or unfair in the slightest. On the contrary, I've had less restarts with Baten Kaitos than I did with Tales of Symphonia, and I thought that game was pretty well-balanced.
Oh, and just to ease any fears you guys might be having about the presentation of the combat system, this isn't Yu-Gi-Oh. When you attack an enemy with an Ice Dagger, Kalas will actually fly at the enemy and slash them with his sword. You're not sitting at a table, turning over cards in front of each other. The characters actually attack one another, and the battle animations, spell effects and special attacks are truly badass.
Baten Kaitos also utilizes what has become my favorite encounter system for RPGs. Like Tales of Symphonia, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross before it, Baten Kaitos uses the visible enemy system, meaning that you can see the enemies on-screen and you can either engage or avoid them if you wish. Very much appreciated.
Beyond the combat system, you've got your character stats to think about. Basically, you level up in two ways, character level and character Class. Your level is raised by earning experience in combat. However, you don't just gain levels right after you fight. When you run around fighting enemies, all of that experience just sort of builds up and sits there. In order to claim your levels, you need to find a save point, which can warp you to the "Cathedral". At the Cathedral, you can talk to the Minister, who will level your characters up instantly, so long as you have the required experience. I like this and a dont like this at the same time. I think it's cool because it turns leveling up into something special in the game. You'll eagerly anticipate heading back to town to see how many levels your characters went up after that huge boss. However, it's also a pain in the ass sometimes. There are save points in dungeons, but you can only warp to the Cathedral from the save points in towns, therefore, leveling up before taking on that huge boss means running all the way back out to the town and talking to the Minister.
Then you've got your character Class. Over the course of the game, you'll find key items which, when given to the Minister, will allow him to raise a character's Class. When you Class-up, that character gains a bigger deck, hand and combo.
Now, in combat, using a Magnus has no penalties. You can use those Ice Daggers and Fire Burst spells an infinite number of times, and they'll never break or disappear. The same applies to armor and items. That Ice Shield of yours will always be there, and you'll never suddenly lose an Apple. However, how then does the system keep itself fair if you've got an infinite supply of healing items? The Magnus age over time. If you've got a bottle of milk in one of your character's decks, it will only remain a bottle of milk for an hour or so, at which point it will become cheese. After several hours, the cheese will simply rot, and you can use it as an attack Magnus afterwards. All magnus except for most weapons, armor, special attacks and one or two select items change over time, forcing you to buy or find new stuff as the game progresses.
As you progress through the game, you will also find Blank Magnus every once in a while. These cards are completely empty, and they'll be permanent fixtures in your inventory, but you've only got a small number of them. What they allow you to do is trap the Magna Essence of nearly anything you encounter. You can trap clean water from a river, snow from a mountain top, a cloud, salt, a stoked flame, and even some weird things like a pick-up line you overhear from a stranger or secret information from a royal maid. There are a huge number of things that you can trap in these Blank Magnus, and they all have some purpose at some point in the game. Plus, you don't really need to worry about wasting them, because you can empty the Blank Magnus anytime you like, giving you more space to hold other stuff.
Like normal Magnus, these items also change over time. Trap a Mountain Apple from the barrel in Cebalrai, and if you let it sit in your inventory for long enough, eventually it will turn into Mountain Apple Wine, which will eventually turn into Apple Vinegar. Many of the smaller sidequests involve finding some random item and returning it to a certain person. Granted, these are fetch-quests, and almost all of them are completely optional. However, doing them usually gets you some pretty good stuff in the process.
Speaking of sidequests, there are three major extra quests that span the entire game, which you can reap large rewards for completing. My favorite of which involves finding the entire family of a dying man and bringing them all back to his home for a final reunion. The other two are similar in their fetch-quest basis, but they're amusing nonetheless. Plus, they're entirely optional, so if you're not a fan of looking for long-lost relatives or finding a slew of animals for a royal zoo, then you don't have to engage in them.
If I have one major complaint about the gameplay in general, it's that I'm not 100% in love with the Magnus system. I think it's a great setup, and I absolutely think it should be implemented in future games. However, at the same time, it makes nearly every facet of gameplay feel a little too streamlined. Almost every single aspect of the game revolves around the Magnus system. In Tales of Symphonia, you had a lot of stuff to pay attention to. You had your equipment system, your skill system, item inventory, cooking system, etc. In Baten Kaitos, everything is funneled into the Magnus system. Your characters don't really equip new armor on their bodies, you just put new armor cards in their decks. Your characters don't learn new spells, you just put new spell cards in their decks. In combat, there's no menu to pick options from, you're just handed a random assortment of cards and made to pick between them. Don't get me wrong, I love the system, but it takes some getting used to.
Graphics
Baten Kaitos harkens back to the Playstattion era in this section, using 3D character models and pre-rendered backgrounds for the graphical presentation. In short, the graphics are outstanding. The character models sport a lot of detail, great design, awesome animation, lots of color and great extra touches like realistic cloth and hair mechanics. The backgrounds are superb, with tons of animation and color. The effects are spot-on, casting light onto Kalas' face under a streetlamp, or sparking electricity from his mechanical wing at the start of a battle.
The environments, while great-looking, are a mixed bag in my opinion. The world map itself is very minimalistic. When I read previews for this game, I was expecting a Skies of Arcadia-like world. A massive, full 3D map with huge islands and lots to explore. What I got was the exact opposite. It is literally a world map. It's very pretty, and is artistically very well-made, but in all honesty all you do is point to an island and you're there. There's no travel time, no traversing huge fields and crossing rivers. There are about ten different island on the map, though, so you've got a number of places to go.
The individual island maps are much better, but still a little minimalistic. I like the island maps because they remind me very much of the Kingdom of Zeal from Chrono Trigger. You really can't do much other than run from point to point on the map, but they look great and they present a good geographical and atmospheric represenation of the individual islands.
It's the dungeons and towns where 99% of the game time is spent. Each one is crisp, clean and overflowing with effects like the clouds swirling around Castle Elnath or the machinery chugging away in the Imperial Capital, Mintaka. Most of the locations are a sight to behold, and some of them will honestly leave you breathless. One town, a village constructed entirely of candy and sweets, is particularly memorable. On the other hand, some of the more downplayed locations (like the insides of regular houses) aren't much to scream over.
The dungeons all look spectacular as well. In the Lava Caves of Alfard, a realistic heat-shimmer distorts the landscape, while searing magma bubbles and radiates crimson light. The Ice Cliffs of Wazn are wracked with a violent snowstorm, and your characters actually cut a path through the knee-deep snow as they trudge along. Each dungeon location is very well-crafted, and many of them prove to be some of the most impressive areas in the game.
If I've got one complaint with the graphical presentation, it's the whole minimalism thing I mentioned above. Granted, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross didn't have a whole lot of world map to explore, but they both had a hell of a lot more than Baten Kaitos does. BK's world map amounts to little more than a very pretty menu, and it's not explorable in the least. The individual island maps are slightly better, allowing you to roam freely, but still restricting your exploration some. The real freedom of movement comes from the towns and dungeons. I guess that my disappointment in this area stems from a misunderstanding on my part. I heard "islands floating in the sky" and the first thing I thought of was Skies of Arcadia, which had a huge world map to traipse around on. However, I can't just discount my disappointment because of it. It still disappoints me, so I'm still going to list it as a flaw.
Sound
This is where the game's biggest problems come forth.
The music in the game is phenomenal. It's all fully-orchestrated, and it's all very well composed and arranged. A serene string melody plays while exploring Moonguile Forest, while an epic, driving drum and horn arrangement marches along while fighting off invaders at castle Elnath. The big problem with the music is the variety. You're going to be hearing a lot of stuff getting re-used, and not all of it really fits when this happens. While exploring the aerial heights of Diadem's Cloud Passage, a thrumming battle-tune is playing the entire time. Why? It's a beautiful serene place, aside from the monsters lurking about. The exact same tune plays while exploring a grassy mountain range later in the game. By the same token, you'll hear a military-themed piece playing while in one region (which makes sense because of the Imperial troops occupying the place), but then it's used again as the theme for a completely different, quiet little town later on. It doesn't fit at all!
It's just really disappointing to me. All of the islands have distinct visual and artistic themes, from the Cloud Kingdom of Diadem to the Industrial Military State of the Alfard Empire. However, the musical themes are not as distinct, and to see music re-used as heavily as it is in this game, is a discredit to it's artistic direction.
The sound effects are thankfully all good. Battle effects like spells, sword attacks and blocks all make the appropriate sounds. Plus, walking over different materials produces different sounds, like running on steel floors or trudging through snow.
The voice acting, however, is bar none the worst I've ever heard in a game. I'm not even joking. If you decide to leave the voice acting on, blood will literally shoot out of your eye sockets and coat your TV screen in a thick sheet of red. Namco is a very intelligent group, and as such, they have wisely offered the option to turn the voice acting off, like they did with Tales of Symphonia. Take them up on this offer, and turn off the voices as soon as you possibly can. It's not worth even testing every once in a while just to see how bad it is. Just trust me, leave it off permanently and you won't get cancer from it.
Flaws
1) I love the Magnus system, and I suspect that you will too. However, be aware that it does take some getting used to. Nearly every aspect of gameplay is funnelled into the Magnus system, and as such, the overall package feels very streamlined. I personally, would have liked one or two other gameplay systems that weren't intrinsically linked to the Magnus system, but the gameplay is great as is.
2) If you're looking for a massive, explorable world map, you won't be finding it here. The map is great-looking, and so are the individual island maps, but if you were expecting to be soaring through the sky on Kalas' wings in a huge, roaming 3D world, you'll be disappointed.
3) The music is fantastic. Well-written, well-arranged and very fitting to the overall theme and feel of the world and the story. The problem is that all of this great music is spread too thin. For a world that relies upon each of its islands having a distinct culture and atmosphere, it's upsetting that the musical themes are not as diverse.
4) WORST VIDEOGAME VOICE ACTING IN HISTORY. I have never felt more disgusted with the complete ineptitude of a voice cast in my entire life. Thankfully, you can turn the voices off if you wish, and I would highly recommend that you do.
Overall
Looking at the big picture, I loved this game. The characters are all very well-developed, the story is great, the history of the world is enthralling, and the overall atmosphere of the adventure just sucked me right in. In addition, the visual presentation is only marred in my eyes by virture of my petty nerdiness. The game is a visual treat, and is one of the prettiest games this generation, easily. The music is fantastically written, and although it is a bit sparse in variety, it makes up for it with complexity and layers of detail. It's quality over quantity. Also, the game's biggest flaw (that being the horrendous voice acting) can be completely avoided by simply turning it off in the menu.
If you're a fan of Monolith's work, a fan of richly-detailed and artistic epics, or you're just looking for a fresh new RPG to sink some time into, I would give this game my higest recommendations. In the end, I cloked out of the game at almost as long as Tales of Symphonia. However, it only took me about a month of regular playing to finish it off, whereas ToS took me nearly six. Baten Kaitos pulled me in from the word "go", and had me hooked until the end. Give this one a spin. You can thank me later.
Score:8.6
 
Last edited by Raziel; 2005-02-20 at 03:56 AM.
|
 |
Linear Mode
