I've been a fan of Monolith Soft for a long time but despite all that time, the only games i've ever played from them was the Xeno series. Or rather, the only original games i've played from them were the Xeno games, because i have played other games that had Monolith Soft involvement. But i wanted to see what else Monolith Soft had on their resume so i decided to check out Baten Kaitos, one of the company's few non-Xeno titles. And while the game can be rough, it was overall a fun enough experience to where i can say i liked it.
To start things off, the game is a card-based RPG. I had never actually played a card-based RPG before, mainly because i felt i wouldn't vibe with it. But this was a Monolith Soft game after all so through the power of bias, i decided to give it an honest shot. And as i played the game, i felt that the battle system is overall pretty fun when it wants to be but also pretty frustrating at other times. Playing your cards right to deal maximum damage or guard perfectly is pretty addicting and i liked seeing big numbers when attacking and small numbers when defending. However, the battle system becomes frustrating when you're current hand is all attack cards when you need to defend or all defend cards when you need to attack. There's no way to shuffle unless your cards run out so i definitely had turns where i literally could not do anything. Not being able to attack is worse because using a non-attack card ends your turn whereas with defending, you can at least burn through some cards until you find a defense one. Still though, the game is fun when you actually get to play it and i can say instances of not being able to do anything happened less often than instances where i do get to do things.
On the narrative side of the game, it's decent but i'd say the faults here are bigger than what you'd find in Xeno. Now it seems that the game was mainly written by Tri-Crescendo and not Monolith Soft, which does explain some things. Still though, the writing does work for the most part. Kalas is one of the better Monolith Soft protags (but since i only have Xeno protags to compare him to, i'm gonna avoid ranking him for now). The guy starts off with a first impression that would make Luke from Tales of the Abyss look nice and i know a friend of mine said "his name is Kalas because he's callous". And i don't mean to say he makes a bad first impression.....well i mean, he can, but at least for me, i thought it was hilarious how one of the first things this guy does is loot the corpses of a girl's dead companions because "they're dead, they don't need this stuff anymore". Kalas is also technically a cyborg because he has a robotic wing since he was only born with one natural wing and i just think that's raw.
The other characters are fine, if kinda weak. They kinda suffer from the plot of the game not really having any breaks. I can compare it to Xenoblade 1 in this instance, just like in that game, the plot just keeps going and doesn't really leave time for character moments. But Xenoblade 1 still had it's Fallen Arm moments and (grindy) Heart-to-Hearts, something i can't say about Baten Kaitos. Each of the other characters do get their own little sidequest towards the end of the game and some of the characters do get cute little moments but i wanted more, you know? Still, i can't say i thought the cast was bad. Their charming in their own ways.
As for the story itself, the first half is your standard McGuffin quest. It works but i can understand if some people wouldn't be as interested in it. I mean, i kinda wasn't either, not out of distaste but throughout the first half of the game, i can say that the story was not a main reason why i was playing this game. The story also does this weird thing where the characters directly address the player as "the Guardian Spirit". It's similar to Mark in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, but i can at least say that the Guardian Spirit felt more involved with the plot than Mark ever did.
The second half of the story becomes a lot more interesting but i actually can't talk about it without going into spoilers. This review can be read spoiler-free but i will include a spoiler section (with a warning) at the end, for those who want more elaboration.
Anyways, one of the best things about this game is the world. I can definitely say that i think this game is when Monolith Soft started getting more creative with their worlds. I love Xenogears and Xenosaga but as far as setting goes, they are your standard sci-fi fare for the most part. In Baten Kaitos, you have: a floating island made up entirely of clouds, a floating island that exists in it's own dimension (and this island is called Mira, and it's island that is 100% weird and Monolith Soft totally revisited this concept for Xenoblade X), a floating island with a tree nearly as tall as the island itself, a literal river in the sky. Actually navigating these locations could be better, it's very linear for the most part. But just as far as concepts go, it's a very nice world.
The music is also very good which is surprising considering Motoi Sakuraba is the composer. The guy is the main composer for the Tales series and i speak from experience when i say that Tales soundtracks are not very memorable. I've heard that Sakuraba is actually better when he isn't doing Tales and you know what, i can agree with that. The True Mirror is an absolute banger of a battle theme and even though it's the only regular battle theme in the game, it never got old. The other battle themes in this game are bangers as well, although i will say that the area themes, for the most part, did sorta draw the short stick here.
As for stuff i just didn't like, i need to acknowledge that i started this game like two years and i only decided to pick it up and finish it a few weeks ago. Why? Because the English voice acting is atrociously awful. The English voice acting in the opening cinematic is alright but in the game itself? No thank you. These English voice actors did their lines with the kind of energy you'd hear in a high-school popcorn reading session. It was that bad and the game becomes 100000x more enjoyable if you get an undub patch.
The boss fights in the second half of the game are honestly kinda annoying. It was around this point that i'll admit, i did turn on cheats. Bosses at this point just had a lot of HP, some had annoying HP restore moves. Combine this with the flaws of the combat system that i mentioned earlier, it definitely just made me want to get the fights over with.
The villains, apart from one, are also pretty weak. We don't really get any insight into their motivation so they just feel like Saturday morning cartoon goons.
Overall though, the game is pretty fun. I don't know yet if i'd fully recommend it, it's definitely not aged well in some parts, but it's a fun game overall. But if you're a Monolith Soft fan, i'd definitely recommend the game. At least give it an honest shot.
Spoiler-free review ends here. Spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk.
There be spoilers
Last chance
LAST CHANCE FOR REAL
Ok if you're here, you've either beaten the game or don't care about spoilers.
The second half of the game's story becomes more interesting when Kalas temporarily becomes evil. It's also at this point that we're shown the game's twist villain, Melodia. As far as twists go, i was definitely caught off guard. In hindsight, the foreshadowing was there, i just didn't put two-and-two together until after it happened. However, while Melodia works as the twist, she doesn't really work as the villain. It's later revealed that she was unknowingly manipulated the entire time but idk, that felt kinda lame to me. I like villains that do things simply because they can but it didn't feel like that in this case.
Evil Kalas is more interesting. It could've been done better, sure, but not many games have the main protagonist betray the group and you have to fight him later. Once Kalas returns to the light, he is forgiven a bit too easily but eh, not a dealbreaker.
At any rate, as i've said, the second half of the game is a lot more interesting than the first.
To start things off, the game is a card-based RPG. I had never actually played a card-based RPG before, mainly because i felt i wouldn't vibe with it. But this was a Monolith Soft game after all so through the power of bias, i decided to give it an honest shot. And as i played the game, i felt that the battle system is overall pretty fun when it wants to be but also pretty frustrating at other times. Playing your cards right to deal maximum damage or guard perfectly is pretty addicting and i liked seeing big numbers when attacking and small numbers when defending. However, the battle system becomes frustrating when you're current hand is all attack cards when you need to defend or all defend cards when you need to attack. There's no way to shuffle unless your cards run out so i definitely had turns where i literally could not do anything. Not being able to attack is worse because using a non-attack card ends your turn whereas with defending, you can at least burn through some cards until you find a defense one. Still though, the game is fun when you actually get to play it and i can say instances of not being able to do anything happened less often than instances where i do get to do things.
On the narrative side of the game, it's decent but i'd say the faults here are bigger than what you'd find in Xeno. Now it seems that the game was mainly written by Tri-Crescendo and not Monolith Soft, which does explain some things. Still though, the writing does work for the most part. Kalas is one of the better Monolith Soft protags (but since i only have Xeno protags to compare him to, i'm gonna avoid ranking him for now). The guy starts off with a first impression that would make Luke from Tales of the Abyss look nice and i know a friend of mine said "his name is Kalas because he's callous". And i don't mean to say he makes a bad first impression.....well i mean, he can, but at least for me, i thought it was hilarious how one of the first things this guy does is loot the corpses of a girl's dead companions because "they're dead, they don't need this stuff anymore". Kalas is also technically a cyborg because he has a robotic wing since he was only born with one natural wing and i just think that's raw.
The other characters are fine, if kinda weak. They kinda suffer from the plot of the game not really having any breaks. I can compare it to Xenoblade 1 in this instance, just like in that game, the plot just keeps going and doesn't really leave time for character moments. But Xenoblade 1 still had it's Fallen Arm moments and (grindy) Heart-to-Hearts, something i can't say about Baten Kaitos. Each of the other characters do get their own little sidequest towards the end of the game and some of the characters do get cute little moments but i wanted more, you know? Still, i can't say i thought the cast was bad. Their charming in their own ways.
As for the story itself, the first half is your standard McGuffin quest. It works but i can understand if some people wouldn't be as interested in it. I mean, i kinda wasn't either, not out of distaste but throughout the first half of the game, i can say that the story was not a main reason why i was playing this game. The story also does this weird thing where the characters directly address the player as "the Guardian Spirit". It's similar to Mark in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, but i can at least say that the Guardian Spirit felt more involved with the plot than Mark ever did.
The second half of the story becomes a lot more interesting but i actually can't talk about it without going into spoilers. This review can be read spoiler-free but i will include a spoiler section (with a warning) at the end, for those who want more elaboration.
Anyways, one of the best things about this game is the world. I can definitely say that i think this game is when Monolith Soft started getting more creative with their worlds. I love Xenogears and Xenosaga but as far as setting goes, they are your standard sci-fi fare for the most part. In Baten Kaitos, you have: a floating island made up entirely of clouds, a floating island that exists in it's own dimension (and this island is called Mira, and it's island that is 100% weird and Monolith Soft totally revisited this concept for Xenoblade X), a floating island with a tree nearly as tall as the island itself, a literal river in the sky. Actually navigating these locations could be better, it's very linear for the most part. But just as far as concepts go, it's a very nice world.
The music is also very good which is surprising considering Motoi Sakuraba is the composer. The guy is the main composer for the Tales series and i speak from experience when i say that Tales soundtracks are not very memorable. I've heard that Sakuraba is actually better when he isn't doing Tales and you know what, i can agree with that. The True Mirror is an absolute banger of a battle theme and even though it's the only regular battle theme in the game, it never got old. The other battle themes in this game are bangers as well, although i will say that the area themes, for the most part, did sorta draw the short stick here.
As for stuff i just didn't like, i need to acknowledge that i started this game like two years and i only decided to pick it up and finish it a few weeks ago. Why? Because the English voice acting is atrociously awful. The English voice acting in the opening cinematic is alright but in the game itself? No thank you. These English voice actors did their lines with the kind of energy you'd hear in a high-school popcorn reading session. It was that bad and the game becomes 100000x more enjoyable if you get an undub patch.
The boss fights in the second half of the game are honestly kinda annoying. It was around this point that i'll admit, i did turn on cheats. Bosses at this point just had a lot of HP, some had annoying HP restore moves. Combine this with the flaws of the combat system that i mentioned earlier, it definitely just made me want to get the fights over with.
The villains, apart from one, are also pretty weak. We don't really get any insight into their motivation so they just feel like Saturday morning cartoon goons.
Overall though, the game is pretty fun. I don't know yet if i'd fully recommend it, it's definitely not aged well in some parts, but it's a fun game overall. But if you're a Monolith Soft fan, i'd definitely recommend the game. At least give it an honest shot.
Spoiler-free review ends here. Spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk.
There be spoilers
Last chance
LAST CHANCE FOR REAL
Ok if you're here, you've either beaten the game or don't care about spoilers.
The second half of the game's story becomes more interesting when Kalas temporarily becomes evil. It's also at this point that we're shown the game's twist villain, Melodia. As far as twists go, i was definitely caught off guard. In hindsight, the foreshadowing was there, i just didn't put two-and-two together until after it happened. However, while Melodia works as the twist, she doesn't really work as the villain. It's later revealed that she was unknowingly manipulated the entire time but idk, that felt kinda lame to me. I like villains that do things simply because they can but it didn't feel like that in this case.
Evil Kalas is more interesting. It could've been done better, sure, but not many games have the main protagonist betray the group and you have to fight him later. Once Kalas returns to the light, he is forgiven a bit too easily but eh, not a dealbreaker.
At any rate, as i've said, the second half of the game is a lot more interesting than the first.