Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean and Origins have been in my collection for a long time, they were both some of my favourite JRPGS growing up. It was a real shame they didn’t sell well as they had good reviews at the time and I think they were good games with interesting plots and a good battle mechanic, hopefully, these HD remasters will bring some new eyes to these underappreciated games and fingers crossed for Baten Kaitos 3.
Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is the first game and Origins is a prequel set twenty years prior to the first game, Both games are set in a world where civilizations now reside in islands in the skies after an evil god named Malpercio invades the planet and sucks all the water out of every ocean, making the planet inhabitable, overtime humans grow to evolve wings allowing limited flight.
The HD remaster adds features that can be turned on if necessary, features like No encounters, Instant KO or auto-battle, these are always nice to have as enemies due to re-spawn every time you leave and re-enter an area, so it is nice to have a quick way to deal with them, these features can be left off if you want to have the same experience as the originals.
Kalas the protagonist of the first game is on a quest for revenge, his brother and grandfather have both been murdered and he makes it his life's mission to avenge them, as a protagonist he starts out high on the unlikeable scale, it's quite off-putting that he really doesn't care about anyone other than himself, he has a real cold edge, but as the story goes on it does an excellent job of unveiling his backstory and I definitely liked him by the end, all the other cast members are equally engrossing and all feel like they have gone through periods of growth, both the characters and world-building are fantastic and such a strength, it's one of my favourite plots in this genre. 
I would say Origins isn't as good but it still is at a high calibre, as far as prequels go it is one
of the better ones and adds a lot to the plot and world of the first, Sagi is the main protagonist of Origins, he works for an elite force for the Alfard Empire and is set to assassinate Emperor Olgan, however, it turns out he is set up and is now on the run, Sagi is definitely the more likeable protagonist, Origins does a good job of expanding things that were mentioned in the original and really does a great job of setting up events that lead into Eternal Wings like I said I prefer the firsts plot and characters but both games are very engaging.
The combat system is another strength, it is card based, the two games have similarities but some differences, in both games you have a deck of cards in the first each character has their own deck whereas in the prequel it is a deck shared between all the party of characters, you have attack cards such as swords and other weapons, defensive cards such as shields and armour and item cards like food which you use to heal your character, as you start off you have a small deck that you grow as the game's progress, things like elemental cards get added that can be combined with other cards to make big attacks but be sure to not combine element cards that are not complimentary.
The combat system is another strength, it is card based, the two games have similarities but some differences, in both games you have a deck of cards in the first each character has their own deck whereas in the prequel it is a deck shared between all the party of characters, you have attack cards such as swords and other weapons, defensive cards such as shields and armour and item cards like food which you use to heal your character, as you start off you have a small deck that you grow as the game's progress, things like elemental cards get added that can be combined with other cards to make big attacks but be sure to not combine element cards that are not complimentary.
You have to be quick when in combat as it's in real-time and you have to take your turn relatively quickly, you only get a brief moment to think before the enemy attacks, and this keeps you on your toes at all times, throughout the battle, you have a camera card which you can use to take photos of enemies, which will develop as you wander around, after fully developing these can be sold to merchants for good money. I found the combat very intriguing back when the games were originally released and I still feel the same all these years later.
The HD remaster adds features that can be turned on if necessary, features like No encounters, Instant KO or auto-battle, these are always nice to have as enemies due to re-spawn every time you leave and re-enter an area, so it is nice to have a quick way to deal with them, these features can be left off if you want to have the same experience as the originals.
The frame rate through these remasters can get a bit choppy at times, nothing that breaks the game but it is noticeable.
SUMMARY
Everything I loved about these games all those years ago still holds up, captivating characters, an enthralling plot and a fantastic combat system make these games just as great now as they were then, if you missed them the first time and you are a fan of this genre, I can't recommend them highly enough.
Everything I loved about these games all those years ago still holds up, captivating characters, an enthralling plot and a fantastic combat system make these games just as great now as they were then, if you missed them the first time and you are a fan of this genre, I can't recommend them highly enough.
GAME LINK 🔗
No comments:
Post a Comment
Like what you see in the Games Freezer?
Why not tell us what you think with a few well-chosen comments? :)
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.