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Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is an RPG released for GameCube on November 16, 2004, developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco. Several people from the development team had also worked on Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

The game propose to embody an invisible entity, the guardian angel of Kalas, a young man with an arcane past who wakes up at the beginning of the game in the hut of a doctor in the small village of Celbarai. We learn that Kalas wants to avenge the death of his brother and his grandfather. The universe of Baten Kaitos is made up of several celestial islands that Kalas will cross accompanied by several companions. There are 5 celestial islands: Sadal Suud, the starting island, Anuénué, an island with flowers that provide magnificent scenery, Diadem the cloud island, Mira a strange island lost between 2 dimensions, and finally the island of Alfard headed by Geldoblame a tyrant who wish to resurrect Malpercio, an evil god.

Throughout the adventure Kalas will be guided by the player who will influence his choices and behaviour. The guardian angel played by the player acts as the conscience of Kalas. The hero will meet several characters who will join him in his adventure. Xelha, a mysterious young woman, Gibari, a fisherman former soldier of the Diadem army, Lyude, a young nobleman of the empire exiled for having contradicted Geldoblame, Savyna, a former member of the Empire special forces, and finally Mizuti, a strange little magician hiding his face behind a mask.

In terms of gameplay, the battles in Baten Kaitos differ significantly from other RPGs that have also turn-based fights. Here the player has to use cards called Magnus, who represent the essence of a sort, an object or an attack. There are 2 phases during the clashes: the attack turn and defense turn. During the attack turn the player has to use the Magnus effectively in order to deal most damages as possible to the opponents. We may also take the opportunity to heal the characters. During the defense turn, the enemies make attack moves and we must then try to undo the damage of their Magnus with the cards we have in hand. We must also choose the Magnus strategically depending on their element (fire, water, earth, wind, darkness, light). Each card has 1 to 4 numbers printed on its corners. We can therefore try to make straights, pairs, threes of a kind, etc. with these numbers by conducting combo of cards with the same elemental affinity.

Magnus cards are also use to fullfill small quests in the different villages and cities of the game. For example, you can capture the essence of an object in a Magnus and then give it to a pnj. The objects transformed into Magnus can even evolve, for example milk Magnus can be changed into cheese Magnus.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is one of the few RPGs of GameCube. With its enchanting universe, its beautiful music and its original gameplay based on Magnus, Baten Kaitos has managed to get a place in the heart of the RPG lovers.

Baten Kaitos reviews