Well, first off we all need to take in a big breath to say the following
title: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. There. One thing that
must be said is that this is a very long title...makes you wonder if the
developers get paid by the word. Anyway, BK, as it will be know from here on
out, is a hybrid type of RPG for the GameCube brought to us from Namco. I say
hybrid because this game takes some elements of a traditional RPG and smashes it
together with a card game. Sound like a good idea? Let's find out...
BK, hybrid or not, is one of the few RPG games for the GameCube (although
there have been a couple released recently) and has a great team of
collaborators including members from the Chrono series and Tales of Symphonia
which was released earlier in the summer of 2004. Yet this is certainly not the
regular RPG that most of us would expect. The biggest difference between
“normal” RPGs and BK is the use of “cards.” I kind of panicked when I first saw
that! I am not a big fan of card games...never got into Magic: The Gathering or
the tons of similar style games that it spawned. However I do enjoy a good RPG
so I was willing to cast aside my fear of card games and what I found was that
the way they are used in BK actually makes for a surprisingly good game.
In BK you play as Kalas, a young man who is looking for those responsible for
the death of his father so that he can have his revenge. Well, technically you
play as Kalas' guardian spirit. This means that you can influence Kalas's
decisions, but not necessarily dictate them. There are even times when Kalas,
and others, will look at the screen to talk to you. It is interesting that as
the “spirit” you need to keep a good bond with Kalas and through different
selections in dialogs your bond will get stronger or weaker. By having a strong
bond you will unlock special attacks. While traveling to find the bad guys Kalas
meets a young girl named Xelha who just happens to be hunting the same bunch of
goons in order to save the world from destruction. The world in question is a
place where everyone now lives on giant floating islands-the-the-sky land
masses. Because of this unique living situation humans have developed wings in
order to get around. Kalas only has one full wing and the other is kind of a
winglet...at least that's what the townspeople call it. Kalas and Xelha both end
up going against The Empire (no not THAT Empire), a mega organization that rules
the five islands.
The story itself is not groundbreaking for the world of RPGs. Actually a
weakness of the game is the depth of the characters. I never found myself
getting very attached or concerned for any of the main characters. Kalas is kind
of cold-hearted and that makes it hard to really have much empathy for him. What
also doesn't help drag you into the story and characters is the voice acting.
Every time I start to think that developers are finally taking this seriously
along come some very laughable voice acting. It would be funnier if it didn't
take away from the enjoyment of the game, but in this case it does...if just a
little. The game basically follows a straight path with a few sidequests, mostly
near the beginning. There are some quests that will take just about all the game
to complete as you can't complete them until you visit a bunch of different
places. Further into the game the linear style seems to open up a bit, but even
when you choose a different path in the story line you will still end up in the
same situation sooner or later.
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