Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Game Cube, 2004)

Reviewed for Big Boss Games by: Eschneider6

Another great RPG game for the Gamecube thanks to Namco.

This RPG is different, you have to buy or collect attack, spell, defense, and item cards to help you in battle.

Also in the battles the attack phase is turn based with a timer, and then it goes to real time when the monsters attack and you quickly have to pick an item or defense card or get clobbered.

The story of Baten Kaitos is a world adrift in time and space. The earth below and the vast oceans it once harbored are mere legend.

Act as conscience and spirit guide for young Kalas and his companion Xelha. Guide them in battle and watch their friendship bloom. Join them as they struggle to reveal the mystery of the lost sea and destroy the corruption that threatens their world.

I played this game for 70 hours, doing the three main sub quests (Constellation Magnus, Animals side quest, and family sub quest) and completing the game.

Also set some time aside for a great ending, this game had a great story, good characters, and some secret stuff that rocked! I highly recommend this RPG. With so few RPGs available on the Gamecube, don?t miss this one out.

Start playing it today!

My review score for Baten Kaitos = 9.5
(Score is 1 is throw it out and 10 is a must buy!)

I bought this game based on underground fame. It was a wise decision. Baten Kaitos has a relativly generic story. Boy with a mysterious past meets girl with mysterious past and they fight evil. The story is good enough that you care what happens to the characters and you want to see the story unfold. What makes this game unique is the card based fighting system which make fights more difficult and makes your approach and prep all the more important. The fighting system is complex and may be tough to get a hang of but makes the game far more exciting. The linear story line with optional sidequest can best be compared to Chronos Trigger. Due to the relative obscurity of this game in north america, the only place you'll probably be able to find a copy is eBay

My grandson age 13 loves it! Some violence, but much better than a lot of the newer games. The game challenges players and makes them think.

I bought this game because I love role playing games and the reviews on this one were good. Well....it's different, challenging and a bit confusing at first. It involves cards (called Magnus) which you are to choose for attacks, healing and defense and you have very little time to choose. Each card is numbered and supposedly beneficial if chosen in the correct order. This is the part I find challenging and confusing because I can't think that fast. However, after a while your instincts kick in and somehow advances take place. I would recommend this game because of it's fun value. Just be prepared for a different kind of turn based play (at least for me it was).

I really enjoyed this game. There are lots of great side quest. The story line has plenty of suprises and of course the gameplay is awesome.

thay were good cause thad did not have the game i wanted and thay gave me my money back right away o

david mtz.here lest see
well its a good solid rpg the battle system may confuse u a bit at first after 2 hours of game play u get the idea is like playing poker to be honest the more pairs or 3 of a kind or full house u make whit your cards the more damage u will give and the same goes for defense 1,2,3,4 or single line or the other way around also works well 4.3.2.1
so play it if u have a chance it may not be as big as final fantasy but it ranks up there whit them to level up u have to go to a church and pray and select level up to get more status hp atk def. etc.
or class up class up means u get 1 extra card more to draw and more room for u to add more cards to your deck 5 or 10 cards
at first u can only draw 3 cards and your deck is only 20 so class up

I just started yesterday and have put in more than 10 hours already. This game rules, I cann't believe I missed this game back when it came out, I feel ashamed :-P . If you like RPG's and need something to fill your drought for the Wii, then get this game, since there is not that many RPG's in the Wii. By the way this game runs smooth in disc reading wise,comparing it to Digimon World 4 (that thing never stops reading and it sound loud, it might be my disc though), and looks awesome in 480p :D.

I love the fact I was able to find a game my son has been wanting for a long time - it made a great Christmas present! The price was excellent and it was definitely worth it! The quality was brand new, in it's original packaging and the auction process is so easy!

Did a good Job. Shipped quickly and delivered what was promised. Not a whole lot of communication from the seller, I personally like to get a message from the seller letting me know there is a human on the other side, but I never asked any questions or initiated any communication either. All in all, they did a good job.

I love it. It has kept me captivated since I started playing it. I am at the end right now and I will miss playing it.

The story is good and has its moments and the battle's are actually difficult at times, a very a good game for the price. If you like colorful well designed graphics then here's the game you want in your gamecube collection.

Product arrived on time and in perfect condition. A very satisfying transaction. Would recommend to anyone. A++++++++++++++

This game is actually been hard for me to find here in my own city, I looked or a decent copy for nearly two years with no avail on this specific version. I love the type of battle system and quest system that uses cards. Characters are well developed and storyline is easy to follow and interesting.

Bought it because I wanted a new, rare rpg for gamecube. It's fun but you have like that type of game.

i decide to buy this game for the price.
i like the quality of this game and that was fast at the delivery

I liked the title so I decided to buy it. It ended up being pretty boring tho. I researched the title to see if it was any good and the reviews turned out positive. But after a few hrs I got bored

Estamos ante un muy buen juego. Excelentes gráficos y coloridos escenarios, buena música y una duración muuuy extensa. Me llevo casi cien horas terminarlo. De todas formas lo que más me agrado de este título fue su forma de batalla mediante las cartas, realmente muy adictiva. Lo flojo quizás sea el poco carisma de los personajes, la dificultad algo escasa y algunos puntos flojos de su historia. De todas formas no alcanzan para opacar un excelente trabajo y como me quede con ganas de más Baten Kaitos, ya compre la secuela para seguir probando combinaciones de cartas y armar los mejores combos.

i bought it because my son wanted it. it was in very good condition. my son really has enjoyed this game

I missed out on this game when it first came out. So when I saw it for cheap on E-bay, I decided to give it a go. This game has two major draw backs. Any long time RPG fan will find most of the story ho-hum been there done that, though newbies shouldn't mind. And the voice acting is often beyond painful. Thankfully voice overs can be turned off, and if you can read you won't miss them. Trust me.

What I really like about this game is how much it feels like my old favorites on the SNES and PS1. Backgrounds are faux 3D hand painted and pre-rended images. Extra sprites and 3D effects make the environments come alive. Alot of work has gone into the art style of this game. Even the over the top Japanese wierd parts are beautiful. This kind of design means virtually no load times, ever. The game plays like Final Fantasy 7-9 and Chrono Trigger/Cross. The battle system takes some getting used to; but the game eases you into it, and after an hour or two it becomes second nature.

Summary: It's not perfect, but if you see it somewhere for $25 or less GRAB IT. A GREAT GameCube/Wii oldie

Baten Kaitos is a fun RPG that offers a fresh twist to the conventional RPG system. While it still has a turn based battle system, all the attacks involve cards drawn from each character's deck. This adds a fun and strategic twist to the battle. To get high scores, you must add up all the numbers in the cards into straights, or use them in pairs. Each card has each own elemental property, meaning that if you use two cards of different elements at the same time, they will cancel each other out! I would definitely recommend making sure every character has no opposing elements in their decks to avoid this.
The story is interesting, and has some very surprising twists. The voice acting is very bad in the game, however, so you will probably want to turn it off ASAP. That aside, the dialogue between the characters is interesting, and some of the characters have very unique personalities.
I loved this game, and I will definitely play it again in the future. The graphics are great, and the backgrounds are beautiful and highly detailed. The music is great too. Overall, this is an excellent game, and I would recommend it to all.

The graphics are AMAZING, smooth, brilliant, and detailed very nicely! It's very playable and is a BLAST to play!
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!! :-D

I've had this game before and liked it so much I had to rebuy. (currently, I'm playing the sequel, Baten Kaitos: Origins). Both games are very fun to play...but only if you like on-your-feet sort of games. It's very much a game for problem-solvers and the battles can take a bit of getting used to - each character draws cards for attacks, defense, and healing from a shared deck that deals out a set number of cards for each battle. Also, there are a number of subquests in which you collect various items for random characters throughout the game world - only some of the items have to be created by mixing together 2 different items...and some will change over the course of time. For example, if you have an apple, in a few hours, it will be rotten fruit. I'd definitely recommend getting a strategy guide.

The storyline is fun and engaging - I had a couple of all-nighters playing this game just to get to the next part and find out what happens. The animation is practically seamless, moving quickly into gameplay. About the only drawback is that you cannot change screen angles. This can be a little annoying if you're running into a building on the opposite side of town, but the animation is crisp and detailed enough that it isn't much of a problem. (No blurry little pixel sprites here). Another drawback is that some of the battles are practically impossible to win without a strategy guide. It's better to have the strategy guide anyway...it saves you a lot of trouble with figuring out how to finish quests.

"Baten Kaitos" refers to a star in Cetus (the whale constellation) The scenerio is set in the future after the oceans have been destroyed and everyone lives in islands high above polluted skies. Most of the humanoid inhabitants of the game have wings, the protagonist of the game is a bit of freak having one natural wing and another engineered wing. It is sword and sorcery futuristic fantasy RPG in which strategy involves an inventory of "magnus" which are like an endless variety of playing cards. During combat the cards are suffled and then you select cards to play for lethal or healing effects.

This is an oddball game, it is very Japanese it seems Japan is always trying to create unusual variants on the usual games. This is a good thing, though it does take some getting used to. I have to admit I wasn't crazy about going around collecting cards but in effect it works out rather nicely. In a typical RPG players may find that random numbers are generated with little input from the player so essentially your random numbers are based on what you've equiped in your inventory. Using cards allows for chance with quick thinking allowing pairs and series of cards to magnify effects. It isn't highly additive but I definently liked it more than I thought I would.
Graphically the game is superb and the environments very diverse etherial and imaginative. I don't think I'll be interested in going through it again any time soon, but there is enough content to give many hours of play time.
I bought it because game cube has so few good games out there I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm happy I did.