Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster Evaluate (Swap)

Today, Monolith Mushy is well-known for being certainly one of Nintendo’s most interesting inside groups, with the Xenoblade Chronicles video games delivering a few of the most interesting open-world JRPG goodness obtainable. 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 dearth of RPGs on the GameCube. Sadly, neither title offered very effectively, however they’ve now been given a second lease on life on trendy {hardware} with Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster. Although neither of those video games show to be distinctive, they’re nonetheless gratifying refreshes of an attention-grabbing section in Monolith’s previous and stand as welcome additions to the Swap’s huge RPG library.

The narratives of each video games right here — Everlasting Wings and the Misplaced Ocean (2003) and Origins (2006) — are associated, although simply remoted sufficient you can play both launch first with out feeling such as you’re lacking out an excessive amount of on essential 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 Early on on this quest, nonetheless, he inadvertently releases an outdated seal positioned on the God of Destruction, Malpercio, kicking off a race to get to the opposite seals earlier than the evil Alfard Empire can use them to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, inserting you accountable for Sagi, a member of an Alfard Empire black ops workforce 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 dying 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 larger political conspiracy they discover themselves caught up in.

Although each video games generally is a bit plodding in how their narratives unfold, we nonetheless loved the tales which are spun right here, particularly given how neatly the 2 video games ultimately tie into one another. And although there are many drained JRPG tropes which are performed utterly straight, the underlying themes undeniably have that particular philosophical edge that Monolith Mushy has turn out to be recognized 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 other than their style friends is the heavy concentrate on 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 provides you a handy in-universe purpose for having a seemingly bottomless loot bag crammed with all of the junk that you just hoard over the course of the journey. When exploring the world, you’ll typically come throughout issues you’ll be able to seize—corresponding 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 fireplace. In a cool (although often annoying) twist, a few of these playing cards actually have a shelf life that decays in actual time, corresponding to yogurt in your bag ultimately 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 Community sequence and Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Reminiscences, fusing intense lively 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 must 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, if you happen to 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 might really feel like loads 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 comply with 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 additional 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 could possibly really feel like this concentrate on quick motion can get in the way in which of the technique that comes with deckbuilding, but it surely largely does a fantastic job of retaining issues transferring and continuously placing the participant only a little off stability.

Whereas this fight system stays largely the identical between the 2 video games, there are some essential tweaks that Origins made to streamline and simplify issues. For instance, Origins not has you taking part in playing cards to dam assaults individually each time the enemy takes a flip, as an alternative you’ll be able to play a defensive merchandise originally of your flip that’ll trigger your character to mechanically block a sure variety of blows after they’re attacked.

And the place the primary recreation had myriad distinctive weapons you would equip that every one had completely 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 consequence of this less complicated (although nonetheless in-depth) setup, however some should favor the extra chaotic and unrefined method of the primary recreation.

Regardless of being gratifying, there’s nonetheless some antiquated recreation design right here that highlights this duo’s age. An early part in Origins sees you visiting a village through which progress is totally halted till you discuss to each NPC that lives there, and if NPCs are engaged in conversations with one another, it’s important to repeatedly pay attention to that very same dialog for every NPC taking part in it. You’re not truly informed to do that at any level, nonetheless, and your companions indicate a wholly completely 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 smash 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 pace as much as 300%, disable enemy encounters, and activate auto-battle or infinite injury. If you’d like, you’ll be able to activate all of the buffs and easily breeze straight via the sport, although we most appreciated the way it helps you to optionally lower down on the tedium of fights, like saving you the ache of refighting the identical 4 enemies that respawned in a room that you just 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 trendy {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 loads much less jarring than in, say, the remaster of Closing Fantasy VII because of the backgrounds being a a lot increased decision. The 3D fashions have additionally been redone, and whereas they nonetheless look just a bit stiff when in movement, they’ve a number of that retro attraction.

Sadly, not the whole lot on this remaster is essentially an enchancment. A notable change right here is the elimination of the English audio in each video games, and although the primary recreation is famous for having one of many worst RPG dubs ever, the second recreation was an enormous enchancment on this space. The Japanese audio is okay, 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. Total, the primary recreation 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.