Gaming Baten Kaitos Origins

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]I just got this game a few days ago and so far I?m enjoying it. Baten Kaitos Origins is essentially a prequel to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. Although it lacks some of the better cg shots to introduce the game, unlike the first one the voice overs are done better and don?t have that strange metallic sound to them that I found so irritating in the first game. It was fun, but those metallic sounding voices just grated on my nerves.

Anyway, the basic plot (courtsey of Amazon) is this:
[SIZE=1][INDENT]The plot revolves around a group of characters that are struggling to discover the source of frightening changes (both natural and political) that are occurring in their world. During their journey, they will learn many details that help flesh out the first game, including how the despotic Empire government came to be.[/INDENT][/SIZE]So far it seems that there is only three characters in your group and the interaction between Guillo and Milliarde is downright funny in how it leaves poor Sagi in the middle of an argument.

The battle system is still done with magnus cards, but they?ve altered it in that your combos can only start from lower numbers and go higher, before you could start with say three, then two, etc. However if you?ve got enough points from using cards, some of the special moves can then be stacked on top of each other, something you could not do with the previous game. Instead of using a mangus to defend yourself, at one point if the card comes up you can either have it equipped or a card that improves your weapon?s strength. And the time for grabbing the cards is quick, making it easy to miss a turn as you have little time to decide.

A big plus is that at times you can do a type of follow up combo where one character?s attack is immediately followed up by the next person, thus earning you more points for increasing your deck class. Which changes the amount of cards you can have and so forth. You also share the cards with the other two players and the silly shuffling the deck is gone so the cards immediately go back into the pile to randomly come up again. So far I?ve enjoyed that aspect as it?s meant that the recovery items pop up quicker when three people are accessing the deck.

The game does use the same cities and such, but there are differences in the layout in some areas, giving it a fresh slant so you don?t feel like you are simply re-tracing your footsteps in the previous game. It also has pretty good graphics for the battles, provided you aren?t too busy concentrating on selecting your cards. But it does give you different visuals to help you see who is going to act next so you can pick your cards accordingly.

So far the storyline has been interesting and I?ve been enjoying where it takes me. And there are different activities that I didn?t run into in the last one that I?ve enjoyed. At one point it even has you using your mangus cards to record conversations for an investigation. So it doesn?t completely rely on being sent from one battle to the next. You also have times where you can run errands for people instead of simply advancing to the next stage. It makes a nice break from doing nothing but fighting and dungeons.

You also have a different aspect in that your character seems to be [spoiler]time shifting between two different storylines[/spoiler] Something that I?ve rather enjoyed as it makes the story more involved and interesting.

Anyway, though I?m far from being finished (I?m still on disk one) I?m enjoying this game more than I did the first one. So who else has played it and what was your take on it? ^_~[/COLOR]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR=DarkRed]I have this game and I agree, the voice-overs are definitely a vast improvement. In the previous one, in addition to the tinny sound to them, there were a couple that grated on my nerves anyway. Kalas in particular, and being the main character of the story didn?t help it either. I beat the game but I?ll probably never play it again.

Anyway, I haven?t finished disk one either, due to school and such, but so far the storyline has been engaging. And I really like how they have you following [spoiler]two different storylines, though on some level I assume they will end up being related.[/spoiler]

I like the battle system for this one much better than the previous game. By having three people use the same deck and the way you either equip a defense mangus or one to increase your weapon, pretty much does away with the need to totally stock up on defensive items. So you can really have a lot of attack mangus in your deck and being able to stack special moves on top of each other is sweet. I only wish they had done the defense or offense so you could have one of each instead of having to choose.

Anyway, I like it because the turn over for recovery items is much quicker, no wating for the deck to reshuffle, so even though my characters get pounded on due to the lack of defensive gear, it doesn?t matter. Though you?re right in that the time to pick the cards is on the quick side making it easy to be skipped. So I guess I?d like to be able to equip defense and offense along with a little more time to pick your cards.

And by far my favorite aspect of the game is the three main characters Sagi, Guillo and Milliarde. I definitely like all of them much better. Especially the way Guillo and Milliarde love to snip at each other. And Sagi is actually adorable, unlike Kalas. ;)[/COLOR]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue] [quote name='indifference][COLOR=DarkRed']I only wish they had done the defense or offense so you could have one of each instead of having to choose. [/COLOR][/quote]I agree, it?s not so bad for regular fights, but having to choose between defense and offense for boss battles really bites. If you take defense, it takes longer to take them down, but if you go with offense, you really do good damage, but you get pounded on in the process. I?ve had to re-do several of those battles to see which approach worked the best.

I do like how it gives you the chance to retry and edit your deck. I hated losing a boss fight and then having to redo all the stuff up to that point in the other game. [quote name='indifference][COLOR=DarkRed']Anyway, I like it because the turn over for recovery items is much quicker, no wating for the deck to reshuffle, so even though my characters get pounded on due to the lack of defensive gear, it doesn?t matter. Though you?re right in that the time to pick the cards is on the quick side making it easy to be skipped. So I guess I?d like to be able to equip defense and offense along with a little more time to pick your cards.[/COLOR][/quote]Same here, I really detested that shuffling the deck and how once you used a recovery item you were out of luck until you went through the whole deck.

As for the timing, now that I?ve played it longer and I?ve gotten a little more accustomed to how battle works, I haven?t had the issue of not being quick enough anymore. So being skipped rarely happens now. That and I figured out that the timing doesn?t start until you pick your first card. Once I realized that it made things a little easier for planning which cards to use. [quote name='indifference][COLOR=DarkRed']And by far my favorite aspect of the game is the three main characters Sagi, Guillo and Milliarde. I definitely like all of them much better. Especially the way Guillo and Milliarde love to snip at each other. And Sagi is actually adorable, unlike Kalas. ;)[/COLOR][/quote]Hehe, I agree, I just love Guillo and Milliarde. And I agree about Sagi, and here I thought I was the only one who found Kalas annoying. Though I suppose if they had done a better job on the recording so they didn?t sound metallic I might be able to tolerate him easier. ^_~[/COLOR]