Sometime around 2017 (I think), I had stumbled with a playlist called "Top 100 Best JRPG Musics of All Time", or something like that, and the top #1 of that list was "Le Ali del Principio". I got really hooked with that song, so much so that it made me interested in this franchise.
But it was only last year that I got myself to play this game, and boy, I was definitely not expecting this.
Let's start with the mechanics, which it was something I wasn't expecting and was a delight to play with. I was longing for some kind of TCG-like game for a while, and this one was a godsend (side note, I played Inscryption, but it was not enough to scratch this particular itch).
The combo mechanic took a while to get used to it, but who nice it is to play a 123456789 combo and deal something close to 10k damage in a single turn. Incredibly satisfactory.
A somewhat anoying, but also engaging mechanic is the aging magnus. The food spoiling in your inventary and then using them as a healing items during combat was something I had to learn quick to not to do. But even then, spoiled food was not a completly useless item, as you can also use to deal damage to your enemies.
That being said, the game sometimes slows down to a crawl, more so if you backtrack to past areas, as you still have to battle weak enemies that you can kill with a single blow.
Another nice thing about the magnus system, is that items used during combat are not deleted from your inventary, making resting for healing just some extra for your convenience.
Storywise, the game is nothing more than your run-of-the-mill JRPG: level 1, save a kitten; level 100, kill god; and there's the evil empire somewhere out there.
But in its own circle, BK's narrative is compelling. Of course, there's some hiccups here and there, but nothing that I found particularly bad. And, occasionaly, someone drops one or another line of dialogue that hits really hard. Without spoiling anything, there's one that feels like one of the best lines in videogame I've ever heard, and it is said by this particular girl in Celestial Alps, fyi.
Adjacent to the story, I guess, the game also presents us with some incredible voice acting, and by "incredible" I mean "bad". Apart from the protagonist(s), the majority of dubbed lines sounds as it they were recorded in a bathroom of something in the likes, as almost everyone have this weird echo or muffle to their voices. And let's not get started with the vibrant emotions, or lack thereof, present in their voicelines.
The game don't present much in classical cutscenes (like, say, Final Fantasy X), but it its 3D models in everything the game has to offer. The only downside I noticed is that it can sometimes be a bit clonky in the controls, mainly during the sections in which you rely in depth perception, like in Zosma Tower.
Overall, I really like the game, and I'm glad I stumbled with that playlist that many years ago. Even though I have many reservations to the game, it was an incredible experience, and, with the rumors of a remake for switch, I'm excited for more people to discover this gem (that being said, I don't think I would replay this game, at least not in the forseeable future, as I clocked 60 or so hours and I'm not even close of 100% it, but that's a "me" problem).
Also, shampoo can SUCK MY SHINY HAIRY A**!
PS: I forgot about the music. Although the random battles always uses the same song (even some bosses uses a more guitar-y version of the music), I found the score really enjoyable. It was always a pleasure to enter a new area and bask a little in their respective theme songs, like the festive vibes of Komo-mai's theme, the oppressively feeling of Alfard's theme, or the mystique in Mira's theme. Everything such a gorgeous bop.
If anything, I think the game's OST will really stay with me, circling us back to the beginning, where I found this game for its soundtrack.
PPS: fyi, Baten Kaitos is apparently the arabic name of the constellation Cetus (Whale in english). Now I love this game even more. <3
TL;DR: nice game with a few hiccups. Simple, but compelling story. TCG-mechanics are nice.
But it was only last year that I got myself to play this game, and boy, I was definitely not expecting this.
Let's start with the mechanics, which it was something I wasn't expecting and was a delight to play with. I was longing for some kind of TCG-like game for a while, and this one was a godsend (side note, I played Inscryption, but it was not enough to scratch this particular itch).
The combo mechanic took a while to get used to it, but who nice it is to play a 123456789 combo and deal something close to 10k damage in a single turn. Incredibly satisfactory.
A somewhat anoying, but also engaging mechanic is the aging magnus. The food spoiling in your inventary and then using them as a healing items during combat was something I had to learn quick to not to do. But even then, spoiled food was not a completly useless item, as you can also use to deal damage to your enemies.
That being said, the game sometimes slows down to a crawl, more so if you backtrack to past areas, as you still have to battle weak enemies that you can kill with a single blow.
Another nice thing about the magnus system, is that items used during combat are not deleted from your inventary, making resting for healing just some extra for your convenience.
Storywise, the game is nothing more than your run-of-the-mill JRPG: level 1, save a kitten; level 100, kill god; and there's the evil empire somewhere out there.
But in its own circle, BK's narrative is compelling. Of course, there's some hiccups here and there, but nothing that I found particularly bad. And, occasionaly, someone drops one or another line of dialogue that hits really hard. Without spoiling anything, there's one that feels like one of the best lines in videogame I've ever heard, and it is said by this particular girl in Celestial Alps, fyi.
Adjacent to the story, I guess, the game also presents us with some incredible voice acting, and by "incredible" I mean "bad". Apart from the protagonist(s), the majority of dubbed lines sounds as it they were recorded in a bathroom of something in the likes, as almost everyone have this weird echo or muffle to their voices. And let's not get started with the vibrant emotions, or lack thereof, present in their voicelines.
The game don't present much in classical cutscenes (like, say, Final Fantasy X), but it its 3D models in everything the game has to offer. The only downside I noticed is that it can sometimes be a bit clonky in the controls, mainly during the sections in which you rely in depth perception, like in Zosma Tower.
Overall, I really like the game, and I'm glad I stumbled with that playlist that many years ago. Even though I have many reservations to the game, it was an incredible experience, and, with the rumors of a remake for switch, I'm excited for more people to discover this gem (that being said, I don't think I would replay this game, at least not in the forseeable future, as I clocked 60 or so hours and I'm not even close of 100% it, but that's a "me" problem).
Also, shampoo can SUCK MY SHINY HAIRY A**!
PS: I forgot about the music. Although the random battles always uses the same song (even some bosses uses a more guitar-y version of the music), I found the score really enjoyable. It was always a pleasure to enter a new area and bask a little in their respective theme songs, like the festive vibes of Komo-mai's theme, the oppressively feeling of Alfard's theme, or the mystique in Mira's theme. Everything such a gorgeous bop.
If anything, I think the game's OST will really stay with me, circling us back to the beginning, where I found this game for its soundtrack.
PPS: fyi, Baten Kaitos is apparently the arabic name of the constellation Cetus (Whale in english). Now I love this game even more. <3
TL;DR: nice game with a few hiccups. Simple, but compelling story. TCG-mechanics are nice.