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> Results: Baten Kaitos Origins
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The ESRB says...
Fantasy Violence: Players fight monsters and warriors with swords and spells. The story is filled with violence, war, and assassination plots. Language: Characters use words like hell and damn frequently. Mild Suggestive Themes: A character may make a subtle comment about a pretty lady in the game, but this happens sparingly. Use of Alcohol: Players may inspect items in the game that might be an alcoholic beverage, or talk to townsfolk who sound like they've been drinking. Nintendo's Gamecube is nearing its final days as a major game console. During its lifespan, the Gamecube has gotten very few role playing games, but it goes out with a bang in exclusive RPG Baten Kaitos Origins. Set up as a prequel of sorts to the first Baten Kaitos, Origins takes themes, locations, and characters and sets them 20 years prior to the original game. Command a rag tag team of three adventurous warriors as they fight a sinister empire on the verge of uncovering an ancient evil. The storyline is pretty typical RPG stuff. What makes Baten Kaitos Origins unique is its card-based battle system. When you run into an enemy, a battle starts in typical RPG fashion, but instead of a menu for attacks and spells, you select attacks and moves from a deck of Magnus cards that you build up through the game. It's up to you to find and arrange the best attack, magic, and defense cards in your deck for an effective battle. Playing certain cards in order releases special combination super attacks, and everyone in your party shares the same deck. Battles are a little slower paced, and since cards are drawn randomly you might get stuck with bad cards at crucial points in the fight. When gathering clues in towns and exploring dungeons, you solve puzzles and help characters with Magnus cards, too. Blank Quest Magnus cards are used to capture the ﾑessence' of things for later use. For instance, if you need to put out a fire in a room, find a water source and absorb the water so you have a water card. Then go use the water card on the fire to put it out. Sometimes quest cards change over time. If you have a fruit card, after a while it might become a rotten fruit card. Be careful not to put your fruit cards next to rotten fruit cards or they get rotten quick, too! Quest cards can boost your stats in battle as well. Graphics, music, and story in Baten Kaitos Origins are average and comparable to many of today's other RPGs. If you like card battle based gameplay, or if you enjoyed the first Baten Kaitos game, then Origins should be your next Gamecube quest.  
While Baten Kaitos Origins only uses cards, the graphics depict your characters using swords and magic spells to directly attack monsters and enemy soldiers. There is no blood, and defeated bad guys just fall down and disappear. The story has a lot of violence, with war and assassination. In one town all the people's spirits get taken away, even children and babies. Light cursing is used somewhat frequently, but suggestive themes and alcohol references are kept to a minimum. Some of the characters in the game have wings like angels, which might bother some strict religious families.
Even though Baten Kaitos Origins has spoken voice in some places, strong reading skill is required for all the text and deciphering the game's rules in the 50-plus page instruction booklet. Knowledge of the first game isn't required, but is sometimes helpful. Baten Kaitos Origins is best suited for older pre-teen and teenage gamers. If you have older kids who enjoy playing collectible card games like Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic: The Gathering, they'll probably get a kick out of Baten Kaitos Origins. This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Baten Kaitos Origins |
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