Today, Monolith Mushy is well-known for being certainly one of Nintendo’s best inside groups, with the Xenoblade Chronicles video games delivering a few of the best open-world JRPG goodness accessible. Lengthy earlier than the corporate was acquired by Nintendo, nonetheless, a few of the first initiatives it produced have been the 2 Baten Kaitos video games, each of which have been initially created to handle the shortage of RPGs on the GameCube. Sadly, neither title offered very effectively, however they’ve now been given a second lease on life on fashionable {hardware} with Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster. Although neither of those video games show to be distinctive, they’re nonetheless pleasurable refreshes of an attention-grabbing part in Monolith’s previous and stand as welcome additions to the Change’s huge RPG library.
The narratives of each video games right here — Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (2003) and Origins (2006) — are associated, although simply remoted sufficient you could play both launch first with out feeling such as you’re lacking out an excessive amount of on vital context. Baten Kaitos follows a considerably unlikeable protagonist named Kalas, a self-interested sellsword who’s hellbent on getting revenge for the deaths of his brother and grandpa. Early on on this quest, nonetheless, he inadvertently releases an outdated seal positioned on the God of Destruction, Malpercio, kicking off a race to get to the opposite seals earlier than the evil Alfard Empire can use them to completely unleash chaos the world over.
Baten Kaitos Origins is about 20 years earlier than these occasions, putting you accountable for Sagi, a member of an Alfard Empire black ops group referred to as the Darkish Service. Sagi and his unit are initially given a mission to assassinate the Alfardian emperor, however after they infiltrate his chambers, they discover that one other murderer has already completed the job, framing Sagi and his unit for the demise and branding all of them as traitors. After narrowly escaping, Sagi and his gang set out on a journey to clear their names and unravel the better political conspiracy they discover themselves caught up in.
Although each video games could be a bit plodding in how their narratives unfold, we nonetheless loved the tales which might be spun right here, particularly given how neatly the 2 video games finally tie into one another. And although there are many drained JRPG tropes which might be performed fully straight, the underlying themes undeniably have that particular philosophical edge that Monolith Mushy has develop into identified for over time. Solely time will inform if the success of this remaster results in any additional initiatives (Baten Kaitos DS revival when?), however we’d definitely wish to see extra tales set on this distinctive floating world.
The primary gimmick that units the Baten Kaitos video games aside from their style friends is the heavy deal with playing cards, referred to in-game as ‘Magnus’. On this world, any merchandise’s ‘essence’ may be extracted and imprinted on clean playing cards, which supplies you a handy in-universe motive for having a seemingly bottomless loot bag crammed with all of the junk that you simply hoard over the course of the journey. When exploring the world, you’ll typically come throughout issues you’ll be able to seize—akin to a rainbow or sitting water—and you may then use these captured essences as a quasi-item to resolve a easy puzzle, like utilizing the water to place out a hearth. In a cool (although often annoying) twist, a few of these playing cards also have a shelf life that decays in actual time, akin to yogurt in your bag finally turning into cheese or lava cooling off and turning to stone.
Carrying the cardboard aesthetic onward, fight in Baten Kaitos is considerably much like the battle methods current within the Mega Man Battle Network collection and Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories, fusing intense energetic fight with deckbuilding mechanics. Every motion you’ll be able to take within the warmth of fight, from swinging your weapon to chugging a well being potion, is represented by a card you might want to have positioned in your deck upfront, and some of those playing cards are pulled into your hand every time your flip comes round. To get essentially the most out of your flip, you need to pull off the longest combos you’ll be able to, and these are ruled by the ‘Spirit Numbers’ connected to every card. So, when you can activate a straight (playing cards in ascending or descending numerical order) or pairs of playing cards with the identical quantity, you’ll get to make use of a number of playing cards in a row and dish out much more injury.
It could possibly really feel like so much to juggle, but the principle problem of battles comes not simply from strategizing over which playing cards to play and in what order, however in making these selections quick. Battles observe an ATB-style flip order, so taking too lengthy to emphasize over what playing cards you need to play will all however assure that your enemy will get in some further turns. And even whenever you’re in the midst of your flip, you’re solely given about two seconds after taking part in the primary card so as to add on any others you need to use for the combo. Typically it will probably really feel like this deal with quick motion can get in the best way of the technique that comes with deckbuilding, however it largely does an important job of holding issues transferring and consistently placing the participant only a little off steadiness.
Whereas this fight system stays largely the identical between the 2 video games, there are some vital tweaks that Origins made to streamline and simplify issues. For instance, Origins now not has you taking part in playing cards to dam assaults individually each time the enemy takes a flip, as a substitute you’ll be able to play a defensive merchandise originally of your flip that’ll trigger your character to robotically block a sure variety of blows after they’re attacked.
And the place the primary sport had myriad distinctive weapons you might equip that every one had totally different elemental results and injury numbers, Origins has a easy ‘weak, medium, and powerful’ system that makes it manner simpler to tug off combos. Fight general simply feels higher to play in Origins as a result of this less complicated (although nonetheless in-depth) setup, however some should still want the extra chaotic and unrefined strategy of the primary sport.
Regardless of being pleasurable, there’s nonetheless some antiquated sport design right here that highlights this duo’s age. An early part in Origins sees you visiting a village during which progress is totally halted till you speak to each NPC that lives there, and if NPCs are engaged in conversations with one another, you need to repeatedly eavesdrop on that very same dialog for every NPC collaborating in it. You’re not really instructed to do that at any level, nonetheless, and your companions suggest a wholly totally different goal is required to progress right here, which led to us confusedly wandering round city for 10 minutes looking for a villager who turned out to not exist. Hokey moments like these don’t essentially spoil these video games, however they’re persistent sufficient to noticeably drag down the general expertise.
To assist sand off a few of these rougher edges, this remaster provides a brand new pause menu that allows you to do issues like improve the sport velocity as much as 300%, disable enemy encounters, and activate auto-battle or infinite injury. If you would like, you’ll be able to activate all of the buffs and easily breeze straight by way of the sport, although we most appreciated the way it helps you to optionally reduce down on the tedium of fights, like saving you the ache of refighting the identical 4 enemies that respawned in a room that you simply exited and re-entered.
The standard-of-life options aren’t the one change right here, because the graphics have additionally gotten a pleasant bump to make this pair shine as brightly as they’ll on fashionable {hardware}. Although each video games closely characteristic the flat, pre-rendered backgrounds that have been widespread in lots of PlayStation-era RPGs, their implementation right here feels so much much less jarring than in, say, the remaster of Final Fantasy VII as a result of backgrounds being a a lot larger decision. The 3D fashions have additionally been redone, and whereas they nonetheless look just a bit stiff when in movement, they’ve numerous that retro allure.
Sadly, not every little thing on this remaster is essentially an enchancment. A notable change right here is the removing of the English audio in each video games, and although the primary sport is known for having one of many worst RPG dubs ever, the second sport was an enormous enchancment on this space. The Japanese audio is ok, however contemplating that each English dubs have already been accomplished and will’ve been applied right here, it feels a little bit bizarre they weren’t included as an possibility.
Efficiency can be a little bit of a sticking level right here, with an uncapped body charge that oscillates fairly a bit between 30 and 60 FPS. General, the primary sport feels prefer it performs worse than Origins, however the truth that both of those sixth-gen RPGs struggles with inconsistent efficiency is sort of disappointing.
