Nintendo Baten Kaitos Switch remasters out today, Monolith and Bandai-Namco joint project

[crispy4000]

[EXCLUSIVE] Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings And The Lost Ocean Remake Is In Development - eXputer.com

EXPUTER.COM

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Sources have confirmed that a remake of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is being developed for the Nintendo Switch.

 

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eXputer has seen graphical evidence of the title under development but is unable to share any of it publicly at this moment in time. 

Moreover, the remake is in the works by the game’s original developer Monolith Studio — a Nintendo-owned company — right alongside Bandai Namco. Additionally, Nintendo is involved in the new remake and will work with the two developers to oversee the title’s development.     

In addition, there’s a lightweight chance that the remake could be released as part of a bundle, where the collection would comprise both Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins, but don’t hold your breath.

 

 

I'm all for it.  Origins is a much better game though, so I hope we get that too.  Only made it halfway through it, but I'd be interested in starting over.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I always misread the title of this game as "Beaten Kratos".

[gamer.tv]

This was one of those GC games I picked up off the shelf and then put back time and time again. An RPG card battler though makes sense.

[Fizzzzle]

I fucking love this game, I just played through it as recently as 2020 or so. It's great. Just don't play it with voice acting on. The battles are fast, the artwork is gorgeous, the music is fucking incredible, it's easily one of my favorite RPGs of that time period.

 

I actually didn't really like Origins that much in comparison. Too much praying to RNGesus. Still a good game, but I didn't like it nearly as much.

[Greatoneshere]

15 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

I fucking love this game, I just played through it as recently as 2020 or so. It's great. Just don't play it with voice acting on. The battles are fast, the artwork is gorgeous, the music is fucking incredible, it's easily one of my favorite RPGs of that time period.

 

I actually didn't really like Origins that much in comparison. Too much praying to RNGesus. Still a good game, but I didn't like it nearly as much.

 

I liked both games a lot, and agree with your description of the first being great (Origins is better in some ways, worse in others). I'd definitely be in for a remake but you gotta keep the colors and art style, etc.

[crispy4000]

48 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

I fucking love this game, I just played through it as recently as 2020 or so. It's great. Just don't play it with voice acting on. The battles are fast, the artwork is gorgeous, the music is fucking incredible, it's easily one of my favorite RPGs of that time period.

I actually didn't really like Origins that much in comparison. Too much praying to RNGesus. Still a good game, but I didn't like it nearly as much.

 

There was plenty of RNG in the first game too.  It comes with the territory being card based.  It's just that the worst of it got dragged out in the defense phase, which I'm glad Origins dropped.  Battles felt far too long by the end.

 

A lot of Origin's quality of life improvements make BK1 hard to go back to, IMO.  I really hated having your healing items rot, for example.

[Fizzzzle]

6 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

There was plenty of RNG in the first game too.  It comes with the territory being card based.  It's just that the worst of it got dragged out in the defense phase, which I'm very glad Origins dropped.

 

A lot of Origin's quality of life improvements make BK1 hard to go back to, IMO.  I really hated having your healing items rot, for example.

Origins had everyone using the same deck rather than each character having their own, though. While there is still some RNG, the first game wasn't nearly as bad in that regard.

[crispy4000]

9 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

Origins had everyone using the same deck rather than each character having their own, though. While there is still some RNG, the first game wasn't nearly as bad in that regard.

 

It's been a while since I played it, but I seem to remember discarding being pretty lenient.  The deck autobuild option also worked pretty well to build something that felt balanced regardless.

[Fizzzzle]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

 

It's been a while since I played it, but I seem to remember discarding being pretty lenient.  The deck autobuild option also worked pretty well to build something that felt balanced regardless.

I just prefer everyone having their own deck. Like I loved having lyude just being glass cannon, destroyer of worlds. Everyone sharing the same deck makes you have to temper it a bit, which hamstrings the role playing.

 

Plus I liked how each character having their own deck forced you to use everyone. Gibari is mostly wind/water, lyude is light/dark, etc. Then you get into magic users, I would have mizuti be certain elements and xelha be another, etc.

[EternallDarkness]

game was a blast

[crispy4000]

14 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

I just prefer everyone having their own deck. Like I loved having lyude just being glass cannon, destroyer of worlds. Everyone sharing the same deck makes you have to temper it a bit, which hamstrings the role playing.

 

Plus I liked how each character having their own deck forced you to use everyone. Gibari is mostly wind/water, lyude is light/dark, etc. Then you get into magic users, I would have mizuti be certain elements and xelha be another, etc.

To each his own.  I think it really needed an auto build feature to streamline things, and to show you a basic good composition. And to take out your rotting cards.

 

Monolith is often guilty of overstuffing their systems, making the player jump through hoops without much respect for their time.  BK Origins is probably the leanest, slickest RPG of theirs I’ve played in that matter.  Torna is second (apart from the late game questing).  They’re better games for it IMO.

[TheLeon]

Good remake choice for me; that’s one I was always curious about, but in the GC era I could only get a couple new games a year, and I wasn’t ready to gamble on a weird card-based RPG.

[crispy4000]

53 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

Good remake choice for me; that’s one I was always curious about, but in the GC era I could only get a couple new games a year, and I wasn’t ready to gamble on a weird card-based RPG.

 

Overall, it's a really beautiful looking/sounding RPG with an interesting (if slow) battle system.  It positions itself as a Chrono Cross spiritual successor, sometimes to a fault.  The first dozen hours retread several of that game's story beats in an unflattering way.  Get past it and the pacing picks up - it becomes wildly imaginative.  There's a bonkers twist halfway through (avoid spoilers!), and the ending is so odd and fun that you'll never see another like it.

I'd still recommend playing it before Origins, which hits the ground running by comparison.  You get more out of it knowing the first game.

[Greatoneshere]

3 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Overall, it's a really beautiful looking/sounding RPG with an interesting (if slow) battle system.  It positions itself as a Chrono Cross spiritual successor, sometimes to a fault.  The first dozen hours retread several of that game's story beats in an unflattering way.  Get past it and the pacing picks up - it becomes wildly imaginative.  There's a bonkers twist halfway through (avoid spoilers!), and the ending is so odd and fun that you'll never see another like it.

I'd still recommend playing it before Origins, which hits the ground running by comparison.  You get more out of it knowing the first game.

 

Well, given Masato Kato wrote Chrono Cross and wrote Baten Kaitos, it's no surprise they are similar in style, tone, aesthetic, and story beats.

[crispy4000]

40 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Well, given Masato Kato wrote Chrono Cross and wrote Baten Kaitos, it's no surprise they are similar in style, tone, aesthetic, and story beats.

 

Surprising only in how much he recycled.   It's a magical moment when the game starts to deviate more substantially.

[Greatoneshere]

2 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Surprisingly only in how much he recycled.   It's a magical moment when the game starts to deviate more substantially.

 

Yeah, definitely agreed.

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[Greatoneshere]

Nice to see both games get the remaster treatment, and the remaster looks solid. But those definitely aren't remakes.

[TheLeon]

Yeah, I’ll buy that.

[Brick]

Never played the originals, but always heard good things, even if I don't really know what they are. Maybe I'll give them a try. 

[imthesoldier]

I owned the first game on GCN way back in the day, but hardly played it. I even sold it before copies were shooting up in price too. 

 

This remaster pleases me. 

[GameDadGrant]

Anyone that has not played these games before? 

 

YOU ARE NOT READY.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Yup, still misreading the title of this game as "Beaten Kratos".

[imthesoldier]

13 minutes ago, GameDadGrant said:

Anyone that has not played these games before? 

 

YOU ARE NOT READY.

 

I played maybe 30 min of it back in the day. Does that count?

 

 

[crispy4000]

3 hours ago, Brick said:

Never played the originals, but always heard good things, even if I don't really know what they are. Maybe I'll give them a try. 

 

They're essentially the spiritual successors to Chrono Cross that Square never made.  Sometimes for worse, sometimes for better.

 

Expect radically different battle systems.  How much Cross changed from Trigger is how far both games are a departure, even to each other.

 

BK Origins has the best combat system Monolith has ever made, IMO.   Best way to describe it is a card battler arcade game mixed with FF ATB.  Sounds insane on paper, but it works.

[Brick]

4 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

They're essentially the spiritual successors to Chrono Cross that Square never made.  Sometimes for worse, sometimes for better.

 

Expect radically different battle systems.  How much Cross changed from Trigger is how far both games are a departure, even to each other.

 

BK Origins has the best combat system Monolith has ever made, IMO.   Best way to describe it is a card battler arcade game mixed with FF ATB.  Sounds insane on paper, but it works.

 

Well I never played Chrono Cross either so this comparison doesn't help me 

[crispy4000]

6 minutes ago, Brick said:

 

Well I never played Chrono Cross either so this comparison doesn't help me 

Hmm, that makes it hard.  Maybe a more vibrant FF9 with less traditional combat?

[Brick]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

Hmm, that makes it hard.  Maybe a more vibrant FF9 with less traditional combat?

 

Again, never played that lol

[crispy4000]

Just now, Brick said:

Again, never played that lol

 

Played any PS1-era JRPG with pre-rendered backgrounds?

[Brick]

29 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Played any PS1-era JRPG with pre-rendered backgrounds?

 

Don't believe so. 

[GameDadGrant]

6 hours ago, imthesoldier said:

 

I played maybe 30 min of it back in the day. Does that count?

 

 

No.  

[Keyser_Soze]

7 hours ago, Brick said:

Don't believe so. 

 

Any JRPG ever?

[Brick]

11 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Any JRPG ever?

 

Yes. The first three Final Fantasy games that were remade on the GBA, and DS. Chrono Trigger on DS, Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles X on Wii U, and I'm sure some others I can't think of right now. 

[Fizzzzle]

It's a fucking great game. I don't think I'll get the remaster, just because I've played them so recently, but they were both criminally underrated when they came out. Mostly because of terrible voice acting.

 

I'm going to go ahead and assume that they didn't have voice actors re-record lines, so... it's still going to be bad. The voice acting is totally not necessary, though. You can't see characters' mouths move during cut scenes, for example.

[Keyser_Soze]

4 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

I'm going to go ahead and assume that they didn't have voice actors re-record lines, so... it's still going to be bad. The voice acting is totally not necessary, though. You can't see characters' mouths move during cut scenes, for example.

 

Japanese VA sounds pretty solid though