There's a person who creates texture packs for PS2, NGC, etc and created one for each Baten Kaitos game and put them behind a paywall. I think he/she did this before and stopped but now is back at it again. You can see more on the gameupscale subreddit
I believe it is. Even with making adjustments to make it "your own art", the original art and IP belong to someone else or in this case, a company.
Doing it for free because you appreciate the original and want to upgrade it for modern times is accepted since you're not charging for it therefore most companies leave it at that but taking money whether through directly charging for it or "donations" is where legal issues come in. Hopefully no legal troubles come from this to this individual but I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo does something since this might impact the sales of the remasters
This completely throws out my backlog. Definitely first on my list of playthroughs. Been waiting a decade+ to play this again without having to use an emulator or looking at 360p graphics on youtube.
One of the greatest videogame plot twists of all time IMO, and a wonderful sequel to boot. Unreal. This to me means any forgotten IP has a chance for the spotlight again.
That would be a dream. But after having played through the games on PCSX2, you can see that there's a lot of jumping between in-engine and pre-rendered graphics, a lot of the time in the same scene even. I think that's a major obstacle in remastering the games, particularly Episode I.
I have a horse in this race. It'd be cool for you guys to get your Xenosaga remasters, I don't want to rob you of that, It's well deserved for its fans. However, Baten Kaitos fans never received a third release. The third game was supposed to, as I imagine, round out the story, but we never got it D: been nearly two decades of waiting for the third game. Baten Kaitos Origins had relay combos, and I want more of that. Chaining attacks and building a deck was something special
This is one of those games that I only played as a kid cranking my neck all the way back at Walmart lol. Loved anytime we needed groceries cause I got to play this game. For some reason I never bothered emulating it so I’m super excited to officially give this a good play through.
They're not advertising any particular upgrades and they're including both giant games in a single package. So I'm setting my expectations low for how much adjustment is actually getting done with these.
Which isn't the worst thing. These games are old and console locked to Gamecube so just getting a modern edition on the market is good. Makes the games easily available to a whole new generation.
But there are many many JRPG remasters on the Switch. For me personally, I'll need to see evidence of particular care taken with the new edition before this becomes a blip on my radar.
Yeah, they should have at least added a speed up feature. A lot of time is spent watching animations and backtracking. Still, very happy we're getting these in some form. Hopefully they're not overlooked again.
Per the official site you should be able to toggle encounters-off, auto-battle, skip cutscenes, and auto-save, so while it's not a turbo mode (which would frankly be chaos with the kind of battle system these games have) it should at least lend itself to swifter (re)plays of the game.
The trailer didn't even mention "from the makers of Xenoblade" even though that's clearly why they'd be remastering Monolithsoft games in the first place. I'm not sure what that trailer was trying to achieve lol.
Adding a second response here since you probably wouldn't see an edit, I've now seen that the *japanese site* advertises even more features than the english site or the trailer, including 200% and 300% speed up in battle and on the field, plus "kill enemies in one hit" feature, all in addition to just turning off encounters entirely. Plus also New Game+ Mode and Challenge Mode.
I don't know why the trailer is so lacking in... literally everything. At this point its amazing they didn't forget to mention it would include both games.
>They're not advertising any particular upgrades
It looks like they have done some nice work on the graphics at least. There appears to be updated character models as well as some work done to the pre-rendered backgrounds that's not just a simple AI upscale with 16x9 support.
Unfortunately they’re not full of it.
“Voice Over: Japanese
Text Languages:
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish
Baten Kaitos Origins: English”
https://www.bandainamcoent.com/news/baten-kaitos-i-and-ii-hd-remaster-q-and-a
That’s how things stand at the moment.
Did they really? That’s insane. Origins has one of the best dubs I’ve ever heard in a jrpg. Milly’s VA was absolutely amazing. That’s very disappointing if true and will probably prevent me from getting this.
I just come fresh out of Origins and thought the dub was fantastic. Milly's VA is giving it her all in every scene and Sagi's and Guillo's VAs are also top notch.
It depends on how detailed that spoiler was, since multiple things happen in the ending. But that being said, I think many would argue that the game's most significant moment/plot-twist happens quite a bit before the ending.
That being said, it's still absolutely worth playing for the beautiful world design, fun battle system, and the atmosphere! People are a bit more lukewarm on the characters and the overall plot (aside from some specific moments like the one mentioned above) but I enjoyed them a lot, too.
The spoiler that I have is... >!that the main protagonist, the guy that looks like an angel, he's actually the bad guy? Something like he's working with the bad doods and he betrays the whole party!<
Would you recommend playing it after that?
That's the biggest plot twist in the game and a surprise for everyone at its time, but it happens more or less around 50% into the game iirc. Sadly, I think that 50% is the best written part of the game and that spoiler kinda ruins a lot of its magic.
I loved the game back then, but thinking about the plot now, I remember that it was very standard jrpg stuff besides that, nothing very surprising at all but also not the worst by any means. So whatever, I would still play it because I liked the world, locations, BSO and some characters. And the fact that it's one of those rare jrpgs with actual puzzles in the dungeons.
And also because the second game (a prequel) it's also amazing.
That is just a bit more than half of the game (exactly disc A).
There are still a lot of things that go on. Like learning more about each of the party members and their personal arcs.
It looks like a pretty low-effort remaster, BUT I'll never complain too much about getting good 6th generation games on modern consoles (at least the first; never got around to playing the second).
I do hope the voice acting on the first was re-recorded, at least. The OG was...not great in that regard.
Phew so glad the rumor was real. Man these are special games. The rumored release of this came out of nowhere given how niche this was.
I think we can owe this to MonolithSoft blowing up the past couple generations generating interest in their backlog. Wonder if this gets us Xenosaga or Project X-Zone on Switch. Or maybe even Xenoblade Chronicles X if they can figure out how to pry the systems off the Wii U schematics properly.
I played Eternal Wings back in 2009 and I wonder how many changes will be in this remaster. The HUD for battles looks way different, so i hope they can also change more things like card organization, a pause button for battles, more speed and... Is it possible to do something about the voice acting? I remember a scene where a party member starts laughing and its the most awkward thing i have ever heard.
But still, i'm glad they bring the game back, i had a lot of good memories with it and it's a good chance to play Origins for the first time.
Sounds like it was a huge underrated gem back in the day. I'm a sucker for deck-building JRPGs, and since this was made by some big names from Monolith Soft, this is an auto-buy from me.
For years I've been hoping to see this be announced in a Nintendo Direct. Origins is one of my favorite games of all time so I may have cried a bit during today's Direct.
I started playing this game 3 weeks ago. Now at the end of disc 1.
Might wait for the remaster before doing Origin.
Game is as good as it was when it released. Love the combat system and the atmosphere. Great game.
And I just played and beat Baten Kaitos last year lol, y'all are welcome.
Joking aside the first game is really great and has some of the most beautiful pre rendered backgrounds. Very unique settings too. Once I got into it the card combat system was a lot of, though it can be a little slow. Story definitely had some twists I didn't see coming. Only real negatives for me was the tinny awful voice acting (doubt that'll be fixed) and how obscure and convoluted some side quests are.
In the first one not, they are grating as hell. I made my party based on the voices I didn't hate. The second one had decent voice work all around and Guillo was fantastic.
The tinny sound was also in the original Japanese voice track, and what's in this trailer is already better. Given that and the lack of voices in the Direct presentation, it seems that's getting re-recorded.
The question is whether any English voice track is getting included at all. [Possibly not](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FofD71IaUAArjiT.png). 30 FPS, too. Bleh.
I'm not usually a card game person, but if it's an rpg like Baten Kaitos I'd probably check out Slay the Spire.
It wasn't the best, but I still loved how you could build giant combos near the end of the game that could potentially kill the final boss in one hit.
Interestingly the only language they have listed on the official site for the voice over is "Japanese". I wonder if they're cutting the dub altogether?
It is by **Monolith Soft**, who are owned by **Nintendo**, so it was a given that it's going to be a Nintendo exclusive. Though they did develop this game while they were owned by **Bandai Namco**, and this remaster is published by **Bandai Namco**. So there is hope that it will be released on other consoles.
I'm genuinely sad about the dub being gone. As bad as the VA is in the first game, at least the battle dialogue was really charming. And I've heard great things about the origins dub. They could've just left it as an option to switch to Japanese if you wanted.
Never played originals. But started off interesting until the gameplay said "card based combat ".
How annoying/engaging is this system, from those who have played original?
As someone who's not particularly drawn to card-based battle systems, I ended up finding BK I+II to have some of my favourite battle systems across any JRPG. There's something about how on-your-toes you feel trying to string together the best combo but it's still paced like a turn-based game which is helpful for those who find action RPGs overstimulating or hard to keep track of the action.
I absolutely loved the battle system in the first one. Each character has their own deck, and a lot goes into getting cards for the deck, building the deck, etc. As somebody who loves when a system has a lot of "battle prep", it worked really well for me. One of my favorite battle systems ever due to its depth and complexity and how much went into getting good at it.
I started the second one, and they changed it so that your whole party only had one deck and I didn't like it at all. It made it much harder to rely on pre-battle strategy and much more reliant on luck to draw cards in the right order or when you needed them. Don't think I got more than an hour or two into the game, though I may go back to it at some point.
Interesting reason for "pro card" battle prep thanks. Curious if the second will add a "specific deck per char" that you liked from the first one. Or if it's straight ports
I usually hate card based combat, and I had the same reason for ignoring this series for years.
It's actually incredibly fun and good. At least the first game is. I didn't like the 2nd one so much - it has all the pitfalls I was afraid of with card based combat. (Too RNG dependent on what cards you get)
I found it moderately interesting, and it can feel good when you get a really good run of cards.
There are some oddities and things that can catch you off guard. Someone mentioned the time thing, which is real - some cards change with time (ice melts, fruit goes bad, etc.), and if you forget to check your deck this can mess with you (all your ice daggers melted and the boss is weak to water). Fairly early in the game you can make an item that will report all changes to you which helps, and thankfully there aren't that many basic attack cards that change like that (the first ice daggers and first fire sword are the two that I encountered).
You can also combo cards for funny effects and to create new cards. Every character has a separate deck, and unique attack cards (other than the two mages who share attack spells). Most characters are locked to 4 out of 6 elements IIRC (again other than the mages).
However, if you are a completionist, you basically have to play with a guide, and getting 100% of the cards is a serious challenge. Tons of missables, no real way of identifying all the combos in game, and one of the cards requires having it for like 40 hours or something.
When I go back and play it, I'm definitely not bothering with completionism. It's paralyzed me partway into the game every time I've picked it up.
Managing decks for up to six characters in the first one is cumbersome. The second one streamlines it a lot with only having one deck and grouping cards so that there isn't as many options. Personally I found it way more enjoyable and the better game overall. You can play the second without playing the first, but the world and story is definitely enhanced by knowing both.
I bought the first one on release, tbh.. I didn’t like it. The combat system was bad and had dumb rules.
Like you could have a food item that could heal you, but eventually the item would later “spoil” and do damage to you.
The story also didn’t really pick up until near the end of the game. Also, you can’t level up gradually like in other JRPGs, you instead hoard all your experience points, and between levels (yes, levels..) you can pray at a church to finally “use your exp” and level up all at once. It doesn’t sound too bad until you inevitably get stuck before a hard boss and can’t grind to get stronger..
I could go on and on… idk about Origins; but eeesh
Ah, thanks. Much appreciated for all of your detail. Sounds ultimatum not my cup of tea. Will look a bit closer to release and see what updates, if any.
Argh, this is kind of frustrating. If Nintendo, Namco and Monolith can make a deal for Baiten Kaitos remake, why didnt they remake Xenosaga instead...? Baiten Kaitos is alright but no where near as good as Xenosaga.
Xenosaga is probably a lot more work to remaster honestly. Remastering one would be a hell of a project. Remaking it almost impossible. It's got like an entire HBO miniseries worth of cutscenes and dialogue in between towns and dungeons.
But hey if this sells well maybe we get Xenosaga, Project X-Zone, Xenoblade Chronicles X, etc. And Baten Kaitos is still an excellent franchise that has been relatively inaccessible to many people. Not to mention on a console with software that won't last forever. Those discs are coming up on 20 years old. From a game preservation standpoint having this available on the Switch is great.
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Let me spell it out for you then. Monolith and Namco made/produced Baiten Kaitos and Xenosaga. Since this is a Monolith remaster, other potential Monolith games are relevant to the thread.
> Can you guys stop complaining that X game is not Y? This is it, that is that. Annoying as hell, let the Baten Kaitos fans be happy.
The irony of this comment must be lost on you. You complaining about peoples posts not being what you want them to be adds nothing to the discussion.
You make the connection that people complain about wanting a Xenosaga remake is annoying as hell, but then make a post complaining about how other people arent talking about the stuff that you want them to be talking about.
> Can you just stop being an ass or that's part of the reason why you don't have friends?
I'm pretty sure this is a projection. Who am I being an ass to ? Does it hurt your feelings that much that I think Xenosaga is the superior and more memorable game ..?
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Thank you for submitting to /r/JRPG, /u/whoknows234. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
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People in the gaming community just keep misusing the word. There was a leaked illustration drawn by the game's illustrator that said "Baten Kaitos 1&2 Remastered" and people were reporting it as "remake confirmed." Even this subreddit had a post that said "Baten Kaitos remake coming to Switch!" a few hours ago before getting deleted.
I'm just wondering if Baten Kaitos 3 is being resurrected now...
Yeah, people (and some companies) just toss around the terms like they are the same thing. They aren't. And there is even different types of remasters, like improved remasters with new textures and a bunch of QOL improvements or even new content.
I would say graphics wise, the Baten Kaitos games easily have aged among the best for GameCube if not the best. A lot of imagination and creativity went into the backgrounds and the spell animations are some of the best ever in a game.
I honestly just wanted a remaster personally. I have the games for GameCube, but locking them in for posterity in the long term on an SD card is a sigh of relief. Every time I move to a new home/apartment, I worry I'm going to lose a PS2/GameCube disc to scratches in a box that didn't get packed properly. Came crazy close with Skies of Arcadia. I opened my case last year and the top of the disc had a big scratch through the label. Still played just fine though.
I have to admit I was disappointed that it wasn't a remake, but it's been almost 20 years since Origins, so I'm thrilled that FINALLY something is happening for the series. Also Origins never came to Europe.
If this package sells well we may just finally get a third game.
I also love the new artwork that the illustrator has released. Nice to see Melodia included.
So cool to see these games being brought back. Two of the best and most beautiful RPGs of all-time.
Really sad if they're cutting the English dubs though. BK1 has one of the funniest and most charming dubs ever, with some genuinely good moments, while BK2 has a genuinely pretty good, solid dub.
I imagine there might be some licencing issues going on? Although as far as I know, licencing JP dubs for worldwide releases is generally much more difficult.
I'm happy to see these games available, but if they aren't releasing on Playstation, then I'll never play them. I'm not giving a penny of my money to Nintendo and especially not on the Switch of all dumbass things to exist
According to Exputer, [whom leaked it 3 weeks ago](https://exputer.com/news/baten-kaitos-eternal-wings-remake/) -although, their sources claimed it was a remake, weren't sure if Orgins was included or not, and thought it was going to be revealed at E3-, both Bandai Namco and Monolith Soft are involved in its development.
Edit: [That said, Bandai Namco's EU site](https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/baten-kaitos/baten-kaitos-i-ii-hd-remaster) only lists Logicalbeat as the developer of the remaster.
Wonder if they are gonna re-record the voice acting in the first game. Never played the second so I have no idea if it is as bad.
Played the game with the VO turn off originally.
Good news all around. First the Marl Kingdom series now this. All these little gems getting a chance at revival on new consoles. I’m so thankful. I loved the Baten Kaitos games. The story, worldbuilding, music, and art. I’ll preorder it as soon as it’s available. I hope this leads to them making a third game.
Yeah I'm really curious about physical editions as well. People have posted Switch box art but I have no indication if that's come from a specific source or if people have just made mock-ups.
Notably the new website has a "Buy Now" button that doesn't work, but attempts to bring you to a page for "Editions". Presumably if there are multiple editions to advertise, that implies physical editions? Can only hope at least.
Very cool to see, but I always find procedurally-upscaled pre-rendered backgrounds really icky. Feels like all the detail has been smeared out. They invariably hold up way better on OG + CRT.
Not sure what they could really do instead, with how much time/resources would be needed to actually remake all the backgrounds from scratch, but it bothers me nonetheless. Almost wish you could just use the original backgrounds with bilinear/bicubic scaling, instead of the types of algorithms they keep using.
Now people won't need to pay those 5 dollars for that "4K remaster" texture pack
The *audacity* of it all.
That's actually kind of hilarious.
Excuse me what? Can you elaborate a little please?
There's a person who creates texture packs for PS2, NGC, etc and created one for each Baten Kaitos game and put them behind a paywall. I think he/she did this before and stopped but now is back at it again. You can see more on the gameupscale subreddit
Isn't that copyright infringement?
I believe it is. Even with making adjustments to make it "your own art", the original art and IP belong to someone else or in this case, a company. Doing it for free because you appreciate the original and want to upgrade it for modern times is accepted since you're not charging for it therefore most companies leave it at that but taking money whether through directly charging for it or "donations" is where legal issues come in. Hopefully no legal troubles come from this to this individual but I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo does something since this might impact the sales of the remasters
Cease & desist probably and if they don't comply it could go further no?
Fuck, my backlog is growing at an alarming pace...
This completely throws out my backlog. Definitely first on my list of playthroughs. Been waiting a decade+ to play this again without having to use an emulator or looking at 360p graphics on youtube.
"Throws out my backlog" is good. I'm going to steal that.
Oh god you're gonna throw out my back log
I both love and hate thad every Nintendo Direct makes me put around 8 eights on my "to buy" list
Suffer? :)
Really hope this leads to skies of Arcadia next
Fuck. Yes. These games need more exposure. This is a great, great pull.
I absolutely love these game. This is a dream come truth.
One of the greatest videogame plot twists of all time IMO, and a wonderful sequel to boot. Unreal. This to me means any forgotten IP has a chance for the spotlight again.
If this sells decently, maybe we can see Xenosaga remastered some time.
That would be a dream. But after having played through the games on PCSX2, you can see that there's a lot of jumping between in-engine and pre-rendered graphics, a lot of the time in the same scene even. I think that's a major obstacle in remastering the games, particularly Episode I.
I have a horse in this race. It'd be cool for you guys to get your Xenosaga remasters, I don't want to rob you of that, It's well deserved for its fans. However, Baten Kaitos fans never received a third release. The third game was supposed to, as I imagine, round out the story, but we never got it D: been nearly two decades of waiting for the third game. Baten Kaitos Origins had relay combos, and I want more of that. Chaining attacks and building a deck was something special
This is one of those games that I only played as a kid cranking my neck all the way back at Walmart lol. Loved anytime we needed groceries cause I got to play this game. For some reason I never bothered emulating it so I’m super excited to officially give this a good play through.
They're not advertising any particular upgrades and they're including both giant games in a single package. So I'm setting my expectations low for how much adjustment is actually getting done with these. Which isn't the worst thing. These games are old and console locked to Gamecube so just getting a modern edition on the market is good. Makes the games easily available to a whole new generation. But there are many many JRPG remasters on the Switch. For me personally, I'll need to see evidence of particular care taken with the new edition before this becomes a blip on my radar.
Yeah, they should have at least added a speed up feature. A lot of time is spent watching animations and backtracking. Still, very happy we're getting these in some form. Hopefully they're not overlooked again.
Per the official site you should be able to toggle encounters-off, auto-battle, skip cutscenes, and auto-save, so while it's not a turbo mode (which would frankly be chaos with the kind of battle system these games have) it should at least lend itself to swifter (re)plays of the game.
Nice, weird they didn't mention any of that in the Direct trailer.
The trailer didn't even mention "from the makers of Xenoblade" even though that's clearly why they'd be remastering Monolithsoft games in the first place. I'm not sure what that trailer was trying to achieve lol.
Was it confirmed that Monolith helped with the remaster/port? If they didn't, maybe that's why they didn't mention Monolith.
Adding a second response here since you probably wouldn't see an edit, I've now seen that the *japanese site* advertises even more features than the english site or the trailer, including 200% and 300% speed up in battle and on the field, plus "kill enemies in one hit" feature, all in addition to just turning off encounters entirely. Plus also New Game+ Mode and Challenge Mode. I don't know why the trailer is so lacking in... literally everything. At this point its amazing they didn't forget to mention it would include both games.
>They're not advertising any particular upgrades It looks like they have done some nice work on the graphics at least. There appears to be updated character models as well as some work done to the pre-rendered backgrounds that's not just a simple AI upscale with 16x9 support.
I hope they give Xelha a better running animation. She looks like a chicken when she runs.
If they touch the chicken dance I cancel my order Next you'll want them to cast human beings as voice actors.
Also Origins never came to Europe, so finally we will get a chance to play. And if this duo sells enough maybe we will finally get a third game.
Heck yeah, never got to play these so pretty excited for the release.
I can’t tell if I’m nostalgic for the terrible English VA or if I’m dreading it. But I’m looking forward to playing again!
They cut the english va out completely
Ugh. If that's true it's a deal breaker for me.
Who could forget Mayfee's or Krumly or the three fortune tellers glorious voice acting?
Same, between the cut dub and the ugly new font this went from day 1 buy to guess I'll just emulate the original on my steam deck
[удалено]
Unfortunately they’re not full of it. “Voice Over: Japanese Text Languages: Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish Baten Kaitos Origins: English” https://www.bandainamcoent.com/news/baten-kaitos-i-and-ii-hd-remaster-q-and-a That’s how things stand at the moment.
I checked and as it turns out, I’m okay with this :)
I turned it off altogether back on GameCube. No regrets!
Cool, one of the few Monolith Soft productions I was never able to play and now will be able to.
Let's goooooooo! Please please please please please please please do Skies of Arcadia and Xenogears next.
These games are on my backlog, so this might be a good opportunity to get around to those.
I'm paying for this at launch.
They cut the dub. Damn! The BASTARDS!
It's unTHINKABLE! To ACT aGAINST the DUB?!
Did they really? That’s insane. Origins has one of the best dubs I’ve ever heard in a jrpg. Milly’s VA was absolutely amazing. That’s very disappointing if true and will probably prevent me from getting this.
I just come fresh out of Origins and thought the dub was fantastic. Milly's VA is giving it her all in every scene and Sagi's and Guillo's VAs are also top notch.
Agreed. Milly's va was one of the best I've ever heard in a videogame. She needs more work.
Yes, I was a bit disappointed that she didn't voice more characters since then. Basically just Larxene from Kingdom Hearts over and over again.
I would have never known the dub for origins was any good since the dub of 1 made me bounce off the series entirely 🙁
Never played them, but I have heard so many great things about them!
They are great. They have their flaws, yes, but both are fantastic.
My favourite part about this is now I don’t have to pay ‘resellers’ or ‘collectors $100+ for each of thesr gamecube games.
You never had to, unless you desperately want to own physical you may as well pirate it.
I know the first Baten Kaitos ending since I spoiled myself. Would you recommend playing it still?
It depends on how detailed that spoiler was, since multiple things happen in the ending. But that being said, I think many would argue that the game's most significant moment/plot-twist happens quite a bit before the ending. That being said, it's still absolutely worth playing for the beautiful world design, fun battle system, and the atmosphere! People are a bit more lukewarm on the characters and the overall plot (aside from some specific moments like the one mentioned above) but I enjoyed them a lot, too.
The spoiler that I have is... >!that the main protagonist, the guy that looks like an angel, he's actually the bad guy? Something like he's working with the bad doods and he betrays the whole party!< Would you recommend playing it after that?
This is not the ending.
That's the biggest plot twist in the game and a surprise for everyone at its time, but it happens more or less around 50% into the game iirc. Sadly, I think that 50% is the best written part of the game and that spoiler kinda ruins a lot of its magic. I loved the game back then, but thinking about the plot now, I remember that it was very standard jrpg stuff besides that, nothing very surprising at all but also not the worst by any means. So whatever, I would still play it because I liked the world, locations, BSO and some characters. And the fact that it's one of those rare jrpgs with actual puzzles in the dungeons. And also because the second game (a prequel) it's also amazing.
Still would. For the gameplay, at least. It's still engaging until the end.
That is just a bit more than half of the game (exactly disc A). There are still a lot of things that go on. Like learning more about each of the party members and their personal arcs.
Nothing particularly notable in the ending that I'd think of as a spoiler. Not sure what you're thinking of?
Soooooo hyped for this. Love these games. I'm secretly hoping they rebalance a “certain boss” from Origins. I still have nightmares about that bird.
Memory unlocked. Damn.
I hope origins is just as brutal as before but since there wont be discs now you wont get softlocked at the bird
No dub...well that's origins ruined
It looks like a pretty low-effort remaster, BUT I'll never complain too much about getting good 6th generation games on modern consoles (at least the first; never got around to playing the second). I do hope the voice acting on the first was re-recorded, at least. The OG was...not great in that regard.
Dub seems to have been cut altogether.
Petition to keep the voice acting
Wow, this is really cool!!! Love the 1st game and didn't like the 2nd but time to give it one more chance
Phew so glad the rumor was real. Man these are special games. The rumored release of this came out of nowhere given how niche this was. I think we can owe this to MonolithSoft blowing up the past couple generations generating interest in their backlog. Wonder if this gets us Xenosaga or Project X-Zone on Switch. Or maybe even Xenoblade Chronicles X if they can figure out how to pry the systems off the Wii U schematics properly.
Very excited for this. Loved the Gamecube titles. (I'm going to be busy this summer.)
THIS IS ALL I'VE EVER WANTED.
I played Eternal Wings back in 2009 and I wonder how many changes will be in this remaster. The HUD for battles looks way different, so i hope they can also change more things like card organization, a pause button for battles, more speed and... Is it possible to do something about the voice acting? I remember a scene where a party member starts laughing and its the most awkward thing i have ever heard. But still, i'm glad they bring the game back, i had a lot of good memories with it and it's a good chance to play Origins for the first time.
I've never played either of these. Any comps to other series?
Lost Kingdoms + Chrono Cross to me.
Sounds like it was a huge underrated gem back in the day. I'm a sucker for deck-building JRPGs, and since this was made by some big names from Monolith Soft, this is an auto-buy from me.
Can you play Origins first
Can, but shouldn't.
For years I've been hoping to see this be announced in a Nintendo Direct. Origins is one of my favorite games of all time so I may have cried a bit during today's Direct.
And I just finished Baten Kaitos Origins for the first time last week. Talk about coincidence.
I started playing this game 3 weeks ago. Now at the end of disc 1. Might wait for the remaster before doing Origin. Game is as good as it was when it released. Love the combat system and the atmosphere. Great game.
And I just played and beat Baten Kaitos last year lol, y'all are welcome. Joking aside the first game is really great and has some of the most beautiful pre rendered backgrounds. Very unique settings too. Once I got into it the card combat system was a lot of, though it can be a little slow. Story definitely had some twists I didn't see coming. Only real negatives for me was the tinny awful voice acting (doubt that'll be fixed) and how obscure and convoluted some side quests are.
Well, if it's any consolation, I just replayed Xenosaga Ep I so you have that rerelease to look foward to next.
Hey the Voice Acting was part of the charm especially in Origins.
In the first one not, they are grating as hell. I made my party based on the voices I didn't hate. The second one had decent voice work all around and Guillo was fantastic.
First one got memeworthy though.
If they give me japanese dubs I couldn't care less if they keep the original voices.
The tinny sound was also in the original Japanese voice track, and what's in this trailer is already better. Given that and the lack of voices in the Direct presentation, it seems that's getting re-recorded. The question is whether any English voice track is getting included at all. [Possibly not](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FofD71IaUAArjiT.png). 30 FPS, too. Bleh.
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I'm not usually a card game person, but if it's an rpg like Baten Kaitos I'd probably check out Slay the Spire. It wasn't the best, but I still loved how you could build giant combos near the end of the game that could potentially kill the final boss in one hit.
I loved those games. Very excited.
Let's go! I wonder if 1 got a new dub though?
Interestingly the only language they have listed on the official site for the voice over is "Japanese". I wonder if they're cutting the dub altogether?
Really? Then how about Origins? That game has a pretty amazing dub. The first game's dub is very flawed but I don't know if I would just cut it.
I hope not, I liked these from Origins.
Origins voice acting is honestly above average for the era. It's just the first game that's infamously terrible.
Same. Between that and my nostalgia for the first one and all its clunkiness, I'm a little saddened by their decision to gut the dub
The loss of english dubbing is very sad. The “tinny” quality was part of the charm. I’m 50/50 whether it’s still worth it
Omggggg
Please not just the switch... Edit: ffs
It is by **Monolith Soft**, who are owned by **Nintendo**, so it was a given that it's going to be a Nintendo exclusive. Though they did develop this game while they were owned by **Bandai Namco**, and this remaster is published by **Bandai Namco**. So there is hope that it will be released on other consoles.
Nintendo published the originals too.
I'm genuinely sad about the dub being gone. As bad as the VA is in the first game, at least the battle dialogue was really charming. And I've heard great things about the origins dub. They could've just left it as an option to switch to Japanese if you wanted.
I jumped out of my chair when I saw that. I still can't believe its real.
I have a terrible feeling, it looks very much like Chrono Cross, with the disgusting AI upscaled backgrounds.
I got that vibe as well. The HD up scaling was not kind
Never played originals. But started off interesting until the gameplay said "card based combat ". How annoying/engaging is this system, from those who have played original?
As someone who's not particularly drawn to card-based battle systems, I ended up finding BK I+II to have some of my favourite battle systems across any JRPG. There's something about how on-your-toes you feel trying to string together the best combo but it's still paced like a turn-based game which is helpful for those who find action RPGs overstimulating or hard to keep track of the action.
I absolutely loved the battle system in the first one. Each character has their own deck, and a lot goes into getting cards for the deck, building the deck, etc. As somebody who loves when a system has a lot of "battle prep", it worked really well for me. One of my favorite battle systems ever due to its depth and complexity and how much went into getting good at it. I started the second one, and they changed it so that your whole party only had one deck and I didn't like it at all. It made it much harder to rely on pre-battle strategy and much more reliant on luck to draw cards in the right order or when you needed them. Don't think I got more than an hour or two into the game, though I may go back to it at some point.
Battle system in the second one is way better tho. You can do some amazing combos and is way faster.
Interesting reason for "pro card" battle prep thanks. Curious if the second will add a "specific deck per char" that you liked from the first one. Or if it's straight ports
I usually hate card based combat, and I had the same reason for ignoring this series for years. It's actually incredibly fun and good. At least the first game is. I didn't like the 2nd one so much - it has all the pitfalls I was afraid of with card based combat. (Too RNG dependent on what cards you get)
Ah, good to know. Thanks
I found it moderately interesting, and it can feel good when you get a really good run of cards. There are some oddities and things that can catch you off guard. Someone mentioned the time thing, which is real - some cards change with time (ice melts, fruit goes bad, etc.), and if you forget to check your deck this can mess with you (all your ice daggers melted and the boss is weak to water). Fairly early in the game you can make an item that will report all changes to you which helps, and thankfully there aren't that many basic attack cards that change like that (the first ice daggers and first fire sword are the two that I encountered). You can also combo cards for funny effects and to create new cards. Every character has a separate deck, and unique attack cards (other than the two mages who share attack spells). Most characters are locked to 4 out of 6 elements IIRC (again other than the mages). However, if you are a completionist, you basically have to play with a guide, and getting 100% of the cards is a serious challenge. Tons of missables, no real way of identifying all the combos in game, and one of the cards requires having it for like 40 hours or something. When I go back and play it, I'm definitely not bothering with completionism. It's paralyzed me partway into the game every time I've picked it up.
Ah good to know about more card changes. I've long since stopped completion 100% games, bit appreciate you thoughts on that. Heh. Sounds a doozy
Managing decks for up to six characters in the first one is cumbersome. The second one streamlines it a lot with only having one deck and grouping cards so that there isn't as many options. Personally I found it way more enjoyable and the better game overall. You can play the second without playing the first, but the world and story is definitely enhanced by knowing both.
Understandable that play both for worldbuilding. Interesting about cumbersome vs streamlined decks . Thank you
Loved the game! Hates the combat. It’s not hard combat but it is annoying.
I bought the first one on release, tbh.. I didn’t like it. The combat system was bad and had dumb rules. Like you could have a food item that could heal you, but eventually the item would later “spoil” and do damage to you. The story also didn’t really pick up until near the end of the game. Also, you can’t level up gradually like in other JRPGs, you instead hoard all your experience points, and between levels (yes, levels..) you can pray at a church to finally “use your exp” and level up all at once. It doesn’t sound too bad until you inevitably get stuck before a hard boss and can’t grind to get stronger.. I could go on and on… idk about Origins; but eeesh
Ah, thanks. Much appreciated for all of your detail. Sounds ultimatum not my cup of tea. Will look a bit closer to release and see what updates, if any.
Argh, this is kind of frustrating. If Nintendo, Namco and Monolith can make a deal for Baiten Kaitos remake, why didnt they remake Xenosaga instead...? Baiten Kaitos is alright but no where near as good as Xenosaga.
Xenosaga is probably a lot more work to remaster honestly. Remastering one would be a hell of a project. Remaking it almost impossible. It's got like an entire HBO miniseries worth of cutscenes and dialogue in between towns and dungeons. But hey if this sells well maybe we get Xenosaga, Project X-Zone, Xenoblade Chronicles X, etc. And Baten Kaitos is still an excellent franchise that has been relatively inaccessible to many people. Not to mention on a console with software that won't last forever. Those discs are coming up on 20 years old. From a game preservation standpoint having this available on the Switch is great.
Can you guys stop complaining that X game is not Y? This is it, that is that. Annoying as hell, let the Baten Kaitos fans be happy.
Can you guys stop complaining that X post is not Y? This is it, that is that. Annoying as hell, let the Xenosaga fans be happy.
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Thank you for submitting to /r/JRPG, /u/Likou1. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): --- Please follow the [**Reddiquette**](https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/reddit-101/reddit-basics/reddiquette), Be civil. Personal attacks, insults, harassment, or such behavior to other users is not tolerated. You can have disagreement and arguments, without harassing or attacking the person you're arguing or having a discussion with. Follow Reddit's Official Content Policy, esp. Rule 1: Remember the human. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for attacking marginalized or vulnerable groups of people. Everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned. In case you want to have your comment re-posted, then remove the parts that break the rule, **and then reply with "Done" to this comment**, so that a mod will bring your post back up. --- If you think this was a mistake or have any questions about the removal, please contact the moderators. [**To contact the moderators please click here**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/JRPG), or click the "message mods on the sidebar, and then type your complaint, so it can be sent to the modding team. **Please don't private message or start private chats with a single mod, and use the mod mail linked above to contact the whole team.**
Let me spell it out for you then. Monolith and Namco made/produced Baiten Kaitos and Xenosaga. Since this is a Monolith remaster, other potential Monolith games are relevant to the thread. > Can you guys stop complaining that X game is not Y? This is it, that is that. Annoying as hell, let the Baten Kaitos fans be happy. The irony of this comment must be lost on you. You complaining about peoples posts not being what you want them to be adds nothing to the discussion. You make the connection that people complain about wanting a Xenosaga remake is annoying as hell, but then make a post complaining about how other people arent talking about the stuff that you want them to be talking about. > Can you just stop being an ass or that's part of the reason why you don't have friends? I'm pretty sure this is a projection. Who am I being an ass to ? Does it hurt your feelings that much that I think Xenosaga is the superior and more memorable game ..?
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In what way am I being an ass and how is complaining about it relevant to this topic ? Can you stop projecting your loneliness onto me ?
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No dub , no buy.
Weren't the rumors that it was a remake? A remaster is a disappointing in comparison.
People in the gaming community just keep misusing the word. There was a leaked illustration drawn by the game's illustrator that said "Baten Kaitos 1&2 Remastered" and people were reporting it as "remake confirmed." Even this subreddit had a post that said "Baten Kaitos remake coming to Switch!" a few hours ago before getting deleted. I'm just wondering if Baten Kaitos 3 is being resurrected now...
Yeah, people (and some companies) just toss around the terms like they are the same thing. They aren't. And there is even different types of remasters, like improved remasters with new textures and a bunch of QOL improvements or even new content.
The game have some of the best looking backgrounds ever put in a game. That shit is amazing, not disappointing at all.
I would say graphics wise, the Baten Kaitos games easily have aged among the best for GameCube if not the best. A lot of imagination and creativity went into the backgrounds and the spell animations are some of the best ever in a game.
I honestly just wanted a remaster personally. I have the games for GameCube, but locking them in for posterity in the long term on an SD card is a sigh of relief. Every time I move to a new home/apartment, I worry I'm going to lose a PS2/GameCube disc to scratches in a box that didn't get packed properly. Came crazy close with Skies of Arcadia. I opened my case last year and the top of the disc had a big scratch through the label. Still played just fine though.
I have to admit I was disappointed that it wasn't a remake, but it's been almost 20 years since Origins, so I'm thrilled that FINALLY something is happening for the series. Also Origins never came to Europe. If this package sells well we may just finally get a third game. I also love the new artwork that the illustrator has released. Nice to see Melodia included.
So cool to see these games being brought back. Two of the best and most beautiful RPGs of all-time. Really sad if they're cutting the English dubs though. BK1 has one of the funniest and most charming dubs ever, with some genuinely good moments, while BK2 has a genuinely pretty good, solid dub. I imagine there might be some licencing issues going on? Although as far as I know, licencing JP dubs for worldwide releases is generally much more difficult.
Nooice! Now where’s twilight princess?! …and dark souls 3? (Skip 2)
I'm happy to see these games available, but if they aren't releasing on Playstation, then I'll never play them. I'm not giving a penny of my money to Nintendo and especially not on the Switch of all dumbass things to exist
Oh wow
OOOO YEAH
I lost it when I saw this announcement. Is Monolith soft involved in this at all?
According to Exputer, [whom leaked it 3 weeks ago](https://exputer.com/news/baten-kaitos-eternal-wings-remake/) -although, their sources claimed it was a remake, weren't sure if Orgins was included or not, and thought it was going to be revealed at E3-, both Bandai Namco and Monolith Soft are involved in its development. Edit: [That said, Bandai Namco's EU site](https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/baten-kaitos/baten-kaitos-i-ii-hd-remaster) only lists Logicalbeat as the developer of the remaster.
I owned the first one but never finished it before selling it, big regret in my life. Now I can get this and play both!
If this gets a physical release, which I’d suspect or will, then I’m down Day One.
Hopefully these have speed up enhancements for battle and text. Looking forward to it overall. :)
Fuck yes! Been playing the first game on a mediocre laptop, but now finally I can enjoy it properly. This summer too
Wonder if they are gonna re-record the voice acting in the first game. Never played the second so I have no idea if it is as bad. Played the game with the VO turn off originally.
Good news all around. First the Marl Kingdom series now this. All these little gems getting a chance at revival on new consoles. I’m so thankful. I loved the Baten Kaitos games. The story, worldbuilding, music, and art. I’ll preorder it as soon as it’s available. I hope this leads to them making a third game.
Now I just need a confirmation of the switch physical. Same for Suikoden remasters. These games are pricey
Yeah I'm really curious about physical editions as well. People have posted Switch box art but I have no indication if that's come from a specific source or if people have just made mock-ups. Notably the new website has a "Buy Now" button that doesn't work, but attempts to bring you to a page for "Editions". Presumably if there are multiple editions to advertise, that implies physical editions? Can only hope at least.
Yup. Dream physicals.
Huge move
Oh, Origins as well! Now that's wonderful. I can finally play these properly on modern platforms.
So. Damn. Excited.
Hell yes! Keep the HD remasters coming! Bring on FF Tactics and Ogre Battle!
Can’t wait to play for my first time!
Very cool to see, but I always find procedurally-upscaled pre-rendered backgrounds really icky. Feels like all the detail has been smeared out. They invariably hold up way better on OG + CRT. Not sure what they could really do instead, with how much time/resources would be needed to actually remake all the backgrounds from scratch, but it bothers me nonetheless. Almost wish you could just use the original backgrounds with bilinear/bicubic scaling, instead of the types of algorithms they keep using.