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Baten Kaitos: Hands On Impressions

Online Stock Market Trading For those who are unaware, Baten Kaitos was one of my top most anticipated titles for the fall. I've been following this game since it's announcement, and have talked to a lot of people who've been timid about Baten Kaitos simply because it involves cards. It wouldn't be unusual for a conversation to follow as such:

Me: "So, you picking up Baten Kaitos?"
Them: "I don't know, it looks pretty. However, cards? C'mon."
Me: "No no, this isn't like Yu-Gi-Oh, the cards act more like menu options, and you can rack up combos and stuff."
Them:"We'll see...I still don't like the idea of using cards."

Well to all you naysayers out there, I dare you to try Baten Kaitos because yes, it uses cards. However, it uses cards in a unique way that keeps battles fresh, unique, and full of strategy. Each new battle is a challenge in of itself, and having the right deck can make or break you in a fight.

Cards, as mentioned before, as essentially like menu options you'd choose in your typical tun based RPG. Cards vary as to purpose and style, you want to keep a balanced deck so that you have a lot of attack cards, but a lot of defense and healing cards as well. When your attack phase comes up, you begin your card sequence by selecting one card, immediately followed by another, then another until your card limit is up. It's not quite that simple, however, as each card has a spirit number on it that can aid you in doing combos. Much like poker, if you play two cards with a spirit value or 2, your total damage is increased by a percentage. Likewise, if you proceed with a combination 3-4, you'll get a bonus for a straight. All of this occurs fast, and it adds a strategy element to a genre that previously lacked one.

Playing cards is something you'll have to see for yourself to really judge. For me, it's a welcome change to a stagnant RPG menu system that most RPGs are accustomed to. I like the fact that there is no sure win by pounding A over and over again, because if you don't rack up good combos, you're done for. The battles do tend to take a good amount of time, especially with a damage menu popping up after each attack, but I never found myself whining to get out of them. Boss battles, especially, can be challenging and make you break a sweat.

All cards aside, perhaps the thing you've heard most about Baten Kaitos is that it is pretty. This, my friends, is an understatement. The art direction of Baten Kaitos is little less than astounding. The sceneries thus far have been breathtakingly detailed and full of imiginitive, minute details that give each screen life, despite the fact that all backgrounds are prerendered. Ever seen a waterfall of clouds? A rushing river bed? A sea of poisonous gases? It's likely you have indeed seen these things, but it's unlikely you've seen them better than they've been presented in Baten Kaitos.

Of course, Baten Kaitos isn't perfect. The character design is unique, but ultimately not great. The models themselves look crisp, especially in battle, but I'm not a fan of the style. Also, to say that the voice acting is sub par is being too gentle. The voice acting is poor both in sound quality and acting quality, which makes each sentence being spoken a bit of an ear sore. You will more often than not find yourself skipping dialogues and reading them as opposed to hearing them. It's hard to describe the voice acting, because it literally sounds like the equipment used for the recording was poor. The voices all have a low pitch that is as unnatural as the actors and actresses delivery of lines.

That being said, the voice acting is the single worst part of my experience thus far. Everything else has been a treat, and I can only hope the story stays as strong as it has been and doesn't do a nose dive on me. Baten Kaitos should be in every RPG fans collection already, even if you've never tried a card system before. Try it, you just might like it.

15 Hour Outlook Mark: B+

Namco has revealed plans to release a soundtrack for their GameCube RPG; Baten Kaitos. The soundtrack will be comprised of two discs, including 57 musical compositions from the game. The music, which is primarily composed of tracks by Motoi Sakuraba of Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean fame, will also include a special booklet with interviews from the game's producers. It will go on sale December 17, 2003 for a price of 3200 yen (about $27.00).

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