Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean - review

 Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Bamco/tri crescendo/monolith soft.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 14-09-2023.

 

So I decided to get Baten Kaitos remaster for the switch, this contains two games eternal wings

and the lost oceans + origins. I will be playing eternal wings and the lost ocean first.

Also disclaimer: this is all just my personal opinion that got formed while playing the game, it could differ from yours and that is fine we all can't like or agree to everything. This review is relatively

spoiler free, I won't really go into the story at all but I did joke about it at the end of the post.

Pro's

- Interesting world/setting and good story from part 2/disc2 onwards.

- Good BGM.

- Nice QoL features like no encount/1hit KO and auto save.

- Peak boss design because someone in a dev meeting dropped the P word.

Con's

- Story doesn't pick up till later and most characters can seem pretty bland cuz of it.

- Long battles, especially boss fights if you don't know what you're doing.

-Time consuming item change system, also annoying how some degrade when in fact they're just cards.

 

Final stats b4 heading to final dungeon, I skipped some sidequests cuz I couldn't be bothered anymore by the end of it I was lvl 70 cuz the final boss was annoying I bet he hated Avocados and Tea.

 

IMHO it was OK at best for a game from 2005, I did think it was a little cliche and i've

seen it somewhere before and the only really good thing was the lore and environments.

Most of the characters were bland, humor was few, far and between which is a disappointment

cuz character interactions are a necessity in rpg's for me! it also has this whole go collect four/five?

thingitis and the biggest offense is how slow this game is in the first half. Then the second half 

fully kicks in after a certain event and I hate to admit how I was blindsided by it, there were

some things throughout as hints but you'd probably wouldn't think anything of it

and well the game sort of keeps doing it like that.

A timeline of my enjoyment of the game would be like:

Beginning: Ok... Eh.. oh... eh.. OH... meh... eh... oho ok..:End.

Literally this game in a nutshell.

This game has a habit of baiting you with interesting tidbits but never actually letting you get

to know the characters till way later, Xelha is the biggest offense at this since she is the one

with the most potential but also who are you?! all will be explained in due time

but this game can test your patience. I wish there were more character interactions too

there's not much romance either but maybe Xelha liked Kalas? i've played many rpg's and BK1

in terms of romance is almost non-existant so by the end it all felt so flat? like okay that's how it is?

the narrative didn't carry it well enough even though characters did care about someone in that way.

I was not amused that I had to find this all out post final boss along with some other small twist...

Sooo I suppose they had other issues on their minds and honestly a lot of the characters

felt closed off even though they're friends.

 

Next the combat while it seems interesting is slow and boss fights often drag on 

due to having bad hands of cards which you use to attack,defend or heal.

It was neat how the player had a role as guardian spirit but... I just don't get why we have

to play out our turns with cards, it just felt so weird to be suggesting things to the characters.

I think my favorite character was Lyude since I sympathized with him, seconded by Kalas

since he wanted no part in taking on the whole empire LMAO which was such a mood early on

but idk about him in part two that is when I just said whatever mate suit yourself.

Xelha grew on me in part two and ended up being my favorite but everyone else

was pretty much whatever. I understand they already went above and beyond trying

to make this game different in many a ways but at the same time make these design decisions

that could make it delve into kusoge territory when its story/narrative is far from it.

Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings certainly had potential but it just was not for me and often wish

I moved on to play something else but by that point I hit the halfway point so I was like okay

let's just gooooo. The only way I'd recommend this game is if you really like to take your time

to get the most out of the combat system and just like slower paced rpg's or just like old games

in general! This game is not perfect but you can get something out of it and the plot does get better

so hang in there I guess? its just blergh old game is old and it has old game issues despite

some QoL improvements that're there as last resort which I definitely used at times.

6.5/10

An rpg with a lot of potential but it is old and it has old game problems.

More ramblings after the jump. Its just more detail of my experience with the game

and some screenshots as well as my final thoughts. Nothing important I haven't said.

 

Story; at first it kind of felt like I had seen something like it before and my first impression

of Kalas was not exactly great, in the first 3 hours it felt like some typical revenge plot

but he meets this girl Xelha who is involved in the evil empire and ends up helping her out

cuz two is better than one and maybe Kalas will meet that guy again.

However the world/lore did feel different/unique so I gave it another chance.

In terms of characters well Kalas and Xelha aside, I actually liked Gibari the most early on

I mean Xelha was ok but too much surrounding her felt so mysterious? and then there

is the plot at times I was like, can I really trust this girl? we're not helping the empire are we?

I honestly wish we had more fun character interactions but there were only a few I remember.

Honestly in terms of characters its a hit or miss, I felt sorry for Lyudo but I couldn't

put him into my party a lot and if you don't they only earn half exp........

I guess that makes Lyude my baby he's a cinnamon roll too pure for this world, too good.

Here's a collection of funny moments over the course of the game! In the end

I still ended up using Lyude more than Savyna or Mizuti.

-

During my playthrough of baten kaitos I did get nostalgic of old ps1 games but what kind

of steers me away is the battle system as it is card based. So imagine an old FF game

but you have to build an deck of cards and playing those cards is how your characters act.

The backgrounds are very well done and that is where the FF vibe come from. Monolith soft

did a better job at porting this game over than SE did with ff8 remaster and we all know

what happened over there, nice new models but blurry backgrounds.

Thankfully Bamco&co knew what they were doing here...

Spot the protagonist and the path. OMG no make it stop NO!

-

Gibari continues to impress. Its paddling time!

I think trying to describe this will only make it more confusing when it is actually quite simple!

you attack by using weapon cards, you can defend during an enemy turn with armor cards

there are finishers that give your character a special move but it also ends their turn

so you should always use them last in the combo. I'm not that good at the game

but its best not to mix elements but instead try to pull of straights 1,2,3 etc or same numbers.

 

Healing cards exists as well but I can't stress enough to be careful with banana cards

I swear to god this is like a joker card, some enemies it will heal because hurrdurr food

but others it can be used as an attack. I definitely  did not try to heal my ally only to KO them.

Definitely not... haha I guess you got me her right? embarassing noob momento.

Also most healing items are food and those can perish/change into something else

there are permanent ones though like honey. Honestly I found that highly annoying

and wished there were spells that could heal. Cuz if there was attack magic then surely?

thankfully my honey pots and cheese were doing the job for a good duration of the game

before I got something better, tea. Also imagine the deck being shuffled and a bunch of rotten items

come up because the battle took too long... wtf what a pain in the ass, cards shouldn't expire

even if it is food??? this was such a weird design choice only serving to annoy the player.

Thankfully there are good healing items like honey,chestnuts,sacred water and green tea

that doesn't expire, there is a super healing item as well but that requires aging a peach

for eight hours and well I didn't even reach those numbers and cleared the game in 40ish.

Wtf... also like hell am I going to AFK my game while I sleep or something???

-

 As long as you build your deck right it should be okay. With all that in mind

I can see why many just steer away from this game because of the battle system

but really its just like any other RPG and its not that different at all

they just have this system that doesn't even make much sense

like okay you the player are making suggestions via cards which allow the

player to rain down an array of weapons on the enemy or to heal/defend. Huh okay

I guess it is also kind of nice the characters can talk to the players and we can reply with

choices during  scenes but idk I just never really made sense of everything.

 

This remaster does have some QoL updates like no encounter and 1hit KO

the latter was extremely helpful to me right after I got Gibari as there was an area

that gave me trouble but the EXP was so good I just grinded to lvl 10 before continueing.

Anyway I mostly used it on trashmobs cuz no one likes those fights taking too long

no encounter is nice if you fought enough as well and just want to waltz through

or go back to a blueflower so you can pray at a church.

Thanks Giacomo v.2.................

Also I hated the way they handled leveling, having to constantly backtrack to a blue flower

or god forbid not being able to, atleast the game was kind enough to warn you

at one point of not being able to go back for a while. Also it made 0 sense to me

to be teleported to some random church to pray to actually use the exp

you had amassed by fighting enemies and such. I did like completing some

of the star map there though with fragments you find. It would be better

if that church was actually somewhere in the world. I had to do a google search

and it apparantly is like Mira where it actually exists but shifts between dimensions.

-

Auto battle exists but idk if I should trust that... it might not even be able

to do useful combos sorry didn't check, feel free to try it though!

-

Boss fights can be long, especially if you didn't go through areas multiple times and

fight enemies+pray at church, I got tired during the first gio-what's his name? fight which

was either since I was underleveled or I didn't manage my deck well... hench why

I sometimes turn on 1hitKO and just do a sweep of the area cuz levels in this game do matter since it increases survivability and by the end you will need it. Moving on while I think the combat system

is neat and if you really get it and take the time to build a good deck you can make numbers

but for me on average my best would be 1k to 2k damage. Overall I think the whole

card battle system makes little sense other than the guardian spirit aka

the player make suggestions on what the characters can do each turn

but idk when I think about it, its just so dumb... I wish I didn't have a pea brain

cuz I didn't grind much and just used what cards I had while staying leveled.

The graphics are decent for its time and it gets a pass from me especially the environmentsnare

really gorgeous. Bamco did a better job at saving the field backgrounds than square enix did

with ff8 remaster. The music was mostly good, the normal battle theme sounded like something

out of a star ocean game which Iiked but it was the same composer so go figure!

I disliked one of the boss themes it played during the gio-arsehole fight it was just

a pain to my ears. Wtf was up with the random lyrics?! blegh not a fan of hiphop rap.

The rest of the music was just okay and served the mood/tone of the game

but man did it sound like a star ocean game during normal battles I kid you not.

 

One more thing before I move on to my final thoughts...

The final dungeon of this game is also among my most hated places like nani-le-fuck

what was the point of fighting the same boss 5 times, only difference is weakness?!

it ended up being a yu-gi-oh reverence for me cuz it reeks of exodia.

No, Malpercio itself is exodia. There I went and said it.

Man that sort of copy pasta just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Be more original bamco.

Part of me thinks the developers were a bunch of sadists and this game is meant for masochists.

Its just like yea back in the day developers actually tried to make a game and you had

to you know play it. The jungle didn't bother me much and tower of stones which was

much worse compared to the last dungeon but it was still worth pointing out.

The final boss was annoying but I got it down after a few tries at lvl 70 and giving the two

guys in the party 3healing items while Xelha serves deluxe tea like the healslave she is.

The whole battle felt long so I had to pause it and went to the bathroom and then the next combo

with Gibari deals a whopping 1466 and KO's it. He truly never fails to impress😄

---

 

Characters based on story relevance:

Kalas > Xelha > Lyudo > Mizuti > Savyna > Gibari.

Savyna felt like she was just there same for Gibari, they were the tag-alongs of the bunch

while Lyudo tagged along more cuz he did not have much of a choice.

Mizuti is an enigma most of the time but does have a reason for being there

sadly I never was able to fit Mizuti in my party, Savyna just like one time only....

Lyudo was my replacement for a certain someone during if you know you know.

Characters ranking in terms of me actually liking them:

Xelha > Lyudo > Gibari > Kalas> Savyna > Mizuti.

Final Thoughts?

This sums up how I feel about BK1 perfectly.

Honestly on one hand this rpg can seem on par with older FF games

and on the other hand can seem like the most intimidating rpg due to its system

which was honestly nothing too difficult once you knew what you were doing.

I mean what just spam the same number or something like 444888 or go from 1-2-3-4 etc.

It worked for me so it should work for you or perhaps even better?

QoL improvements for the remaster were nice, I definitely did took advantage of taking out

trash mobs quickly thanks to 1hit KO and turning of encounters if I had enough of them.

This was also one of the few rpgs were I enjoyed searching  for ''!'' marks in towns

or talk to npcs while progressing, the dialogue some npc's had were fun and made the world

feel alive. I am not really the type to double check after every story beat (not even

in trails games for that matter) but yea it was really nice to stop at NPC's in this game!

Sadly the main characters took a while to get used to or even like for that matter

so it took a long time to even understand literally anything. I didn't end up doing the end game

character specific quests guess the celestial alps boss was so tiresome I wanted it to be over.

I guess this game is probably not for you if you don't like slower paced RPG's. Even 5 hours in

I wasn't sure how I even felt about Kalas or Xelha who felt like they were the leading man and lady.

Especially Xelha, I couldn't understand her at all untill a while in.... it took more than

20 hours for me to even start liking the two leading characters in this game.

Also most bosses were pretty cool but then it seems creativity went full stop because

someone in the developer meeting room said penis and thus did we just get that.

due that I could also not really take this game's story serious anymore and 

it actually did have a pretty serious story! so uh yea this game is a giant mess!

the first half was pretty boring till it finally picks up but even then I felt like

with the way the story was told it just didn't want to end, even when it was ending

some cockroach came crawling back from god knows where and I was like fuck off!

Anyway this game just wasn't for me, mostly cuz I had partly already seen it somewhere else

yes the first few hours are that cliche and the characters at that point just weren't doing it either

but then the second half kicks in and its like wow wait lmao are you serious. I fear that many

players probably will either give up at that point.... cuz it didn't catch their attention

cuz everything was so bland as hell. Boss fights taking up to 20-30 minutes at times cuz

still learning or have a bad hand of cards so can't get combo's rolling  which does not help. 

So I guess if you don't have a lot of time to play games this game

might not be for you esp if you have played plenty rpgs

however if you're a patient gamer then it could still be worth it.

I think this game is best played in short burst and that is how I made it to the end

so it being on switch now might be for the best!

-

TL;DR I think Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is still an OK game

with a slow start, if you played a ton of rpg's it could be a little hard to get into and/or

think you've seen it somewhere before but I do understand that if this game is one of your first

then it could be something special. Its also worth looking into if you want something

different due to its battle system and really want to play another monolith soft game.

Maybe I am a bit harsh but do you blame me when you literally collect pieces of a dead god

(insert exodia meme here) and its 8=D was apparently too powerful

so it had to be contained in another dimension.

 

What's next? not much I bought the tales of arise DLC and I got as far as the first seal before

I went back to... this game. It was nice seeing everyone again in arise but it is maybe too late.

 

Will I ever play origins? at this point its a huge maybe.

I heard the battle system is better but unless someone can convince me

the character interactions are also better and I won't be going eh to oh to eh OH!

at the plot twists then I'd probably pass it for now.