I'm surprised no one has added any comments about this game yet here.  Has anyone played it through yet?  The battle system is a lot different but the music is quite good.

It's one of the best RPGs I think I've played.  Too bad not a lot of RPG fans even know about this game since it came out at the end of the Gamecube's lifespan.

I grabbed it last week and popped it in for a quick second.  That sorry-ass intro was a disappointment after the lovely CG intro of the first game.  I played up to the first fight and I hated that I couldn't "play defense" anymore.  You're forced to just sit there and get smacked!  I hear each character draws from the same deck of cards now too.  Dunno how this is gonna work out.  But I'll reserve judgement until I actually play.  I thought the card system that was in place in BK1 was excellent.  So we'll see...

I probably won't get around to this game until next Spring though...    I have a crazy backlog of mostly RPGs I have to replay a second time (including BK1).  Right now, I'm slowly working my way through Tales of Symphonia and Fire Emblem 7's Hector Hard Mode.  Then there's a few PS2 RPGs I have yet to dive into.  And Wii's on the horizon...  Twilight Princess...  Working full-time and going to school full-time is no joke!  I'm gonna have to put in some major crunch time during Xmas/New Year's break.

Probably just need practice and to read a FAQ; the battle system isn't working out for me too well. Each fight is taking way to long, and I'm coming extremely close to losing each normal battle. Dying a lot too.

I HATED the long and lengthy battles of the first game (along with the story and characters) so it wasn't likely I'd pick the second one up.

The original Baten Kaitos sucked me in like no other RPG this generation, so I was eagerly awaiting this new entry. Actually, I just beat it today. It's tough to say if it's better or worse, I like to think of them both as equally awesome. I think BK1 has a little more story substance to it than this one, but this is good on its own, too, and since it's a prequel, it's really cool to see how everything is set up for the original game. I may be a bit biased 'cause I liked the ending to the original a whole lot, and this one's ending is a lot simpler...there's just not as much plot to resolve or tie up...3 vs. 6 main characters, anyway.

I do like this one's battle system more, in fact, I don't know if any other RPG's battle system remotely compares to the fun I've had here. It's VERY quick paced and never feels like it's dragging, which could have plagued some people in the first game. It would probably be uncommon for an experienced player with a finely-tuned deck to have any normal random battle go longer than 2-3 minutes or so, depending on the # of enemies. There are special attacks which hit all enemies in this one, so that helps, and you can also string together multiple specials very quickly and deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Setting up relay combos and performing new EX skills is the coolest RPG experience I've had this generation. There are still armor cards here, but like in the first game, using them becomes pointless when stacking your deck offensively is the surest way to make battles quick and easy.

Above all, it's just got more of what I loved about the first one -- flair and class. The presentation is top-quality..the graphics are polished, the music rocks, load times are nearly nonexistent, the card illustrations are beautiful, the attack/finisher animations are glorious, the localization/dialogue is awesome. I don't like VA in general, and didn't play with it on the first game or this one, so I can't comment on it. But overall, you feel like the designers enjoyed themselves while making it and put their heart into it, and that is something lacking in so many games these days.

I also grabed Baten Kaitos Origins last week but since I never got to finish the original, I started a new game of Eternal Wings today. Once I'm done with it, I'll switch to Origins right away even though I have many other unfinished/unopened rpgs. It's too bad it's coming out on a dying platform because it looks like a great game.

The battle system in BKO is different than the first BK.  From what I know, you have command cards like LV1 ATTACK, LV2 ATTACK, AND LV3 ATTACK, which build on one another to give combos. Your weapon cards don't do the attacking in BKO like they did in the first game, your command attack cards do.  You can also use special skills that become activated depending on what MP level you have and can be part of a building sequence of attacks as well. Your armor cards boost defense similar to the first game but can be wasted unless you comebine them with the attack button.  You can't attack/defend in the same round from what I've seen so far.  Also the battles are ATB instead of turn-based like the first BK.

If the battle system is faster, it sounds like a better buy to me. I think it was the "defense" round that did it in for me (which I've heard they chopped out of the sequel).

I played it for a good while, even reaching the second CD, and I think I clocked in, like, 30 hours or so, but then I got sick of it and sold it :S

The first game was MUCH MUCH better, since it had more of EVERYTHING.
I mean, Origins has less characters, less cards, a LOT of re-used backgrounds (and what's new doesn't particularly stand out either), a lesser soundtrack (although still good) and a battle system that's more frustrating and less fun than the original.

No, sir, don't like it.

I Love This Game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baten Kaitos Origins apparently only sold

6,072

copies last month.

o_O

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123933
Of course, between the time when it came out and when the month ended was under a week, but wow.

As an incentive to buy the game it might be worth noting that Origins (unlike the first Baten Kaitos) had been localised by Nintendo Treehouse (of Paper Mario GC localisation fame). At least you in North America are actually getting this...

So that was about 3 or 4 days worth of sales?  That's not too bad.

I have to say I satrted to enjoy the first in the series but then got fed up with the repetitve streak running through it. I got bored at the end castle/building and to be honest haven't looked back.

Don't think it was for me, and won't be getting origins.

Longshot fo'sho... but I just finished this game last night and am wondering if anyone else has played it through to the end.

I finished Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean two weeks ago after putting it on hold for 2 years, and then started Origins. Except then I got into Riviera on PSP, so I guess Origins’ on hold until I finish that game. After 6 or so hours into the game (I’m at the second island’s village), I've got mixed feelings. It's just so different then the first one, I kinda had trouble with the battle system at first, but the graphics are beautiful once again and the voice acting is much improved. Oh and my 5 months old LCD 32” tv crapped on me a few days ago, so until I get it replaced, I can’t play console games. It broke right when I finished downloading the Heavenly Sword demo, argh!

I put BKO in at the end of '06 just to check it out and I wasn't impressed at all with the battle system.  I enjoyed the battle system in the first game and I had a problem with equipping armor during battle and having all three characters share the same deck.

I finally picked the game up in early July, and I will say, once I figured out the nuances of the new battle system I wound up enjoying it far more than the original's.  First, the battles are far more fast paced and action packed this time around.  You can link character attacks together in relay combos and dish out massive damage in addition to exponentially increasing your Technical Points (needed to upgrade your class).  My only criticism of the new battle system is that wish you could put more than 60 cards in any given deck and more cards in one hand.  At the end of the game, you'll have level 1 - 4 super moves for at least 2 of the three characters or even all three, and with all of the defense, healing, and stat boosting items - many times you'll have to discard quite a few magnus to get enough to put together a good combo.

Hope you get a nice TV soon, btw!  Keep me posted with your progress once you pick it back up, it'll be fun to talk about.  The direct tie-ins with Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean are handled quite cleverly.

The indirect tie-ins are also handled pretty well.

The writing binding the two is, I would like to say, surprisingly good, but it *is* Monolith, so it's not *that* surprising.

^ You have the best screename ever.

We need spoiler text on this board... I swore I saw it done before.  Because I have a couple of questions regarding some of those indirect tie-ins.

Use (color=white)text(/color) with edgy brackets, so it turns out like this (quote my post if you still aren't sure)...

Thanks Datschge.  I feel like an idiot for not even thinking to do that.

Unfortunately, approaches like that don't work so well for those of us who are unable to use graphical browsers most of the time.

But since I've already played the games, I suppose it's rather moot in this case.

As soon as I get a chance to organize my thoughts, I'll try to provide examples of hooks left in both games that could allow for an in-between entry (like the DS game that may or may not still be in development) to be planted with equally excellent plot coherence. (Or you could ask questions that might jog my memory more efficiently. I'm sure you know how it is)

(Also things like how the subquests expanded on each other and some reverse-chronological-order easter eggs, provided I can pull myself away from Grand Fantasm long enough to remember them)

A'ight... hopefully Adoru will just ignore this then.

Spoilers

1.  Sagi and Milly go to live in Mira... do you think there's any connection to Melodia in BK1?  Maybe Milly's plumbing was still organic, eh?

2.  The Spring in the Moonguile Forest on Sadal Suud.  I drew that Magna Essence of a spring and it said something about a God or Spirit.  I'm thinking that's some kind of connection to BK1.

3.  I'm still trying to understand why Geldoblame decided to follow Baelheit's promachination scheme after being such a loyal follower of Verus (even if he had the same intentions in the end)...

4.  The Malpercio backstory was really nice... it was totally unexpected and nothing like I thought it'd be.

5.  What was Savyna up to in the Dark Service HQ toward the end of the game?

6.  I'm almost certain the last still frame image during the end credits confirms that Guillo didn't die...

I have a few more comments and questions...  they'll come to me once these are answered or discussed, I'm sure.

I was really hoping you'd use the white-out effect. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here who uses text-based browsers for stuff. (It's not too late to edit)

1: Considering that Melodia was taken in by the Duke (I don't recall whether he explicitly said 'adopted', but he did say 'like a granddaughter'), and that she succumbed to that plague, yes, definitely. I'm of the opinion that Sagi and Milly didn't survive it, and that the Duke did what he did because he couldn't stand to be separated from Melodia, who he considered part of his family.

2: End Magnus. 'Nuff said.

3: I'm convinced this will be one of the main focuses of an in-between game (the aforementioned DS one). At this point, all I can assume is that it was caused by insanity brought on by trauma, unless Wiseman's spirit touched him mentally on its way to claim Verus's being.

4: One of the many reasons why I highly, *highly* recommend this series. (Note to others: The original "question" (comment) itself isn't spoilerific. It just identifies a parallel plotline, and if you played the first game, you'd be prepared for an equally unpredictable storyline in this one)

5: Having lost her father, she had to go somewhere, though I don't remember her looking suspicious or anything at the end.

I'm not sure if her presence there was out of a sense of familiarity or because someone noticed that she was in Tarazed and took her back. Either way, it contributed to her backstory and character in the first game.

I assume her life was left to be covered in an in-between game, since the raid on the mining town that she took part in was never described in any great detail; all we know is who was involved and what the outcome was -- there's still room for tons of character development in those events.

6: It was just its head. While, being magical, it's entirely possible that it is still fully sentient and capable of conversing, and no less alive, by definition, than it was before, I don't think it means that Guillo will be playable or have a large role in any other entries in the storyline, unless someone wants to use it for research or something.

Sorry, I wasn't sure you'd be able to view them if I had.  Previous post edited.

In response to this - 6: It was just its head. While, being magical, it's entirely possible that it is still fully sentient and capable of conversing, and no less alive, by definition, than it was before, I don't think it means that Guillo will be playable or have a large role in any other entries in the storyline, unless someone wants to use it for research or something.
There was a... still frame image during the credit roll, even prior to the scene where you see only Guillo's head on the desk, where it looked like the chamber Guillo was held in Tarazed was destroyed and he/she (it) was hunched over on the ground in front of it.  It looked like he survived, entire body intact from that image...  But then, like you said, only his head was shown in that very last scene, so...

7.  What was this power that Giacomo claimed he wanted to get so badly?  It's been a while since I've played the first BK (since it's release actually), so I'm a bit sketchy on a lot of the details?

I'm really drawing a blank with all of this...  I had tons of questions when I beat the game last week.  I'm sure they'll come back to me.

I can see it just fine. The problem is that the browsers I have to use in some locations don't render colours, so the text looks completely normal to me, which has led to some unfortunate spoilers in the past.

Follow-up to 6: Recall that, when it forced its way into the chamber, the reason Milly thought she could stop it was because her body was largely made up of machina -- her body would act as a break in the flow. There was no mention or reason to believe that she would be vapourized or anything, just that she'd be horribly electrocuted and dead.

Guillo may have been designed -- or it might have been a property of the magic that animated it -- so that its head was able to function independently from the rest of its body, allowing sufficient isolation.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the eyes only lit up because light hit them a certain way and displaying Guillo's head was just Milly and Sagi's way of paying tribute.

7:  If memory serves, it was just him being driven to madness by the fact that, despite his elite status, he kept losing to a common fighter like Sagi. I don't recall any other motivating factors in his character development.

It probably had some significance on the fact that he led the group, along with Ayme, to kill Georg and Kalas's brother, sparking the hatred in the first game.

I'm guessing he was secretly after some of Georg's research, as well as searching for a way to become stronger through use of the powers of the End Magnus (but my memory of the exact conversation at the lava caves is a bit fuzzy, so all I can remember is that some sort of dark secret was disclosed there).

Of course, all of these events (Savyna's raid, Georg's murder, other stuff) conveniently took place around the same time between the two games, so as I've been saying, these are probably all hooks left for the possibility of a third game. (A possibility that I hope was strengthened when Nintendo bought Monolith after localizing BK:O)