Baten Kaitos

BreakABone · 07-18-2003, 08:10 PM

Announced back in early May of 2002 during the Namco press for the new StarFox game, Baten Kaitos has pretty much been shrouded in secrecy for the past 15 months or so. Even though, IGN dropped some hints about what the game is, this is the first real details of the game. Which looks to be one of the epic RPGs, but as usually some weird card game on the Cube.

The following is taken from Nintendo Dream magazine in Japan and translated by a poster at IGN.

Quote:

Title: Baten Kaitos: Owaranai Tsubasa To Ushinawareta Umi
(Baten Kaitos: The Neverending Wings & The Lost Sea)
Release Date: Dec. 2003 (tentative)
Price: Undetermined
Developer: Namco
Platform: GC
Genre: RPG

The basic info, and the release date is of course, Japan.

Quote:

What is the meaning of "Baten Kaitos"?
-"Baten Kaitos" is the name of one of the stars that makes up the Cetus(Whale) constellation. In Arabic, the expression means "the belly of a whale." Look for "Baten Kaitos" to be a key phrase in solving the various mysteries you come across in your adventure!

Interesting choice for a title to begin with, I wonder if it will keep the name for the States.

Quote:

-The first to visit this world will be *you*!

-An RPG to mark our generation!

-The curtain opens on an adventure that takes you across five floating continents!

-Work begins on a brand-new RPG series that we will be the first to experience! This isn't a "Part II" or "III"!

-A young girl steps forth to put a halt to an evil plan in motion!

Quote:

Characters:

"Mi-Mai" (animal)
-Mi-Mai is a mysterious creature known as a "grayson," which is able to expand and contract its body size. Mi-Mai can always be found wherever Shela's food can be found!

"Shela"
-A young girl who travels across the floating continents. Having heard of an evil plan being put into motion, she searches for a way to prevent it from being carried out. But what exactly is this "evil plan"?

Quote:

Check out the "Magnus"-based battle system!

Battles are fought using cards called "Magnus," which can seal and inhibit matter such as swords and magic. From the looks of things, the combination of Magnus cards you have on you allows you to perform high damage-inflicting attacks as well as combos!

Arrange your deck of Magnus cards and fight away! Adjust your deck to the enemy confronting you at the time and receive the advantage in battle!

And here comes the cards...

Quote:

-Each of the five continents you visit are varied, with their respective areas all having different characteristics. Check out the city protected by magic and the country dependent on machinery, for example.

GameMaster · 07-18-2003, 09:24 PM

I'm not really into playing as a girl? Is there a boy too?

I also don't like the expressions she poses in some of the screens, too dramatic for my tastes.

bobcat · 07-18-2003, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameMaster

I'm not really into playing as a girl? Is there a boy too?

I also don't like the expressions she poses in some of the screens, too dramatic for my tastes.

I like Rpg's

CrOnO_LiNk · 07-19-2003, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameMaster

I'm not really into playing as a girl? Is there a boy too?

I also don't like the expressions she poses in some of the screens, too dramatic for my tastes.

I agree. Not that I am a sexist or anything but the whole RPG tradition has always had a male as a main character.

And as for this game... well,

Quote:

Arrange your deck of Magnus cards and fight away! Adjust your deck to the enemy confronting you at the time and receive the advantage in battle!

Card battling RPG...?
Not interested...

Nezumi · 07-19-2003, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameMaster

I'm not really into playing as a girl? Is there a boy too?

I also don't like the expressions she poses in some of the screens, too dramatic for my tastes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrOnO_LiNk

I agree. Not that I am a sexist or anything but the whole RPG tradition has always had a male as a main character.

And as for this game... well,

Guess FFX-2 is a no no for you then?

Quote:

IGN's Description

Baten Kaitos
Developer: Monolith Soft / Namco
Publisher: Namco
Release Date: TBA 2003 US / December Japan
Exclusive: Yes
Baten Kaitos is a traditional RPG developed by Monolith Soft. The game takes players to an original planet in which entire countries float atop clouds and humans have magical wings. Gamers assume the role of an orphan named Karasu, who has only one wing, as he embarks upon an epic quest to find his lost family. Along the way, the character will meet friends and foes, do battle with a massive military, and advance. The title, which features traditional turn-based battles, pre-rendered 2D graphics and 3D characters, will sift players through large, cloud-themed worlds and will also boast some Middle Eastern art inspirations.

In the poster Karasu is the focus character too. In the magazine spread they merely had a little bio on Shela and that funky frog creature Miimai of hers. From the scan you can see Karasu got cut off a bit. His little bio thing is partially there but most of his body isn't. That's why BreakABone only has info on just Shela and Miimai, making Shela appear as the main character. I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes...

CrOnO_LiNk · 07-19-2003, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nezumi

Guess FFX-2 is a no no for you then?

Nope, I never said. I am not going to not purchase a game just becuse it has a female as a main character. Although I prefer males as main characters in video games, I prefer females in real life.

So I never said it will suck because of that... I just think it will suck because of the whole card battling feature shown in over ten million other games.

BreakABone · 07-19-2003, 03:16 PM

Well, Namco has opened an official site for the game so here are some other images.

Hhaha, they put his body as 3 different pictures so if that doesn't come out right to some, I don't know.

The art remains me a lot of Final Fantasy X.

Stonecutter · 07-19-2003, 04:10 PM

Oh no.

not another "card" game.

Jonbo298 · 07-19-2003, 06:56 PM

Lately it seems when an RPG is announced for the 'Cube it has something to do with cards. First Lost Kingdoms/II, then PSO Ep. 3 and now this?! I just want to get in there and kick their ass PSO (ep. 1&2) style! (or basically Real Time).

Nezumi · 07-19-2003, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonbo298

Lately it seems when an RPG is announced for the 'Cube it has something to do with cards. First Lost Kingdoms/II, then PSO Ep. 3 and now this?! I just want to get in there and kick their ass PSO (ep. 1&2) style! (or basically Real Time).

Still got Tales of Symphonia.

BreakABone · 07-23-2003, 11:29 AM

Well, someone captured some footage of the game, I guess from the Namco event (thought it wasn't allowed, but eh)

Anyhow, the battle system look a lot cooler than I thought still don't care much for card games, but eh.

mms://mms.gpara.com/movie/monolith/baten_op.wmv
mms://mms.gpara.com/movie/monolith/baten_story.wmv
mms://mms.gpara.com/movie/monolith/baten_battle.wmv

Those are the streams, and these are the downloadable.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconVa...no/2545/BK.zip
That's all of em

http://amada003.hp.infoseek.co.jp/baten_story.wmv
http://amada003.hp.infoseek.co.jp/baten_battle.wmv
http://amada003.hp.infoseek.co.jp/baten_op.wmv

bobcat · 07-24-2003, 12:50 AM

Tales of Symphonia looks great. It's got that Xenogears damage point fonts in it (when u do damage to an enemy)