Baten Kaitos

[SoulBlazer]

So, has anyone spent some time with this game and can offer a review of it?

I'm really tempted to get it, for several reasons -- I love RPG's, it's from the same people who made Xenosaga, another game I really enjoyed, and my GC needs some more loving. :P

With so many other games coming out this month or next, though, I wonder if it's worth paying the full price for or wait until it drops down to a used sale price.

[orangemage]

i played it for a little while and i really couldn't get into that card battle system add in the bad voice acting and i'm gonna wait till the price drops

[Aussie2B]

I've only been recommending the game for nearly a year now. Doesn't anybody pay any attention to me? :P

I beat and put over 70 hours into it. It's an EXCELLENT RPG. Amazingly beautiful graphics, great Sakuraba soundtrack, nice characters and plot, and a wonderfully unique, complex, and challenging battle system.

Keep in mind that it's not truly a Monolith project (the people who did Xenosaga). It was a joint project, so tri-Crescendo (a spin-off company of tri-Ace) had just much involvement in the development as Monolith, if not more so. Monolith is mostly responsible for the graphics and story elements, while tri-Crescendo did all the gameplay and sound.

[Aussie2B]

i played it for a little while and i really couldn't get into that card battle systemO_O add in the bad voice acting and i'm gonna wait till the price drops

Yeah, the US dubbing is really horrible, but thankfully the rest of the localization is good. I'm surprised you're turned off by the card battle system. o_O It's so different from any other card-based RPG that the cards shouldn't even bother people who normally don't like card-based games.

[orangemage]

yeah it's much better then most card baased rpgs the graphics and music are great, but the card system was still only just ok IMO i'll still get it but i will wait for it to go on sale or hit players choice

[Cobra Commander]

I bought it Thursday. My first brand new game in a very long time too.
I bought the game pretty much sight unseen; I wanted a new RPG and I have to admit the graphics were a major selling point.

I'm only about 4 hours into it(damn working), but I'm totally loving it so far. I has captivated me. The backgrounds are so beautiful, I can almost feel them. I love the little streams and pools in the forest. The music is something you have to hear. I fell in love the minute I heard it.

I can't for the life of understand people's attitude when it comes to the voice acting. I've been reading through that wastleand called Gamefaqs, and almost everyone hates the voice acting, and simply refuses to get the game because the voice acting is so "teh ghey!" I mean come on, surely you've heard worse, and for godsakes, you can turn it off.

I'm really into the battle system. It's kinda tough often, because I just because I have that fire or aqua, doesn't mean I can use it like Final Fantasy or any other RPG. I guess that's where originality comes in. In my opinion, this is the best card type use I've ever seen. Much better than something like Lost Kingdoms.

So far, it's the best RPG I've played all year.

[shai hulud]

looks like i might have to pick this one up, i seem to trust you guys more than most mag reviewers

[Aussie2B]

I can't for the life of understand people's attitude when it comes to the voice acting. I've been reading through that wastleand called Gamefaqs, and almost everyone hates the voice acting, and simply refuses to get the game because the voice acting is so "teh ghey!" I mean come on, surely you've heard worse, and for godsakes, you can turn it off.

While I agree that the dubbing is a stupid reason to pass on trying such a good game (although it's enough to probably make me play the Japanese version more than the English one), I can't say I can think of many games that have worse dubbing. I can think of many that are equally abysmal, but worse? Star Ocean 2, Resident Evil, and Blue Stinger are the only ones that come to mind at the moment. :P It's THAT bad. It's great that they give the option of turning off the voice acting for the dialogue scenes, but you still gotta suffer through the dubbing in the battles (and to make matters worse they usually say the same stupid lines over and over and OVER).