70%Nintendo GameCube

The concepts in this game were something really new to me, the collecting of cards that was built into the actual world of the game was wild. Creating combos, having to watch out for conflicting elements, and all the bonuses that come along with it made the battle system very fun and unique.

The game's story itself felt a little bit generic overall, but definitely had it's fair share of plot twists and turns to change things up. An overall good RPG, especially for a console with so little within that genre. The biggest issue for me was that the game just felt way to drawn out, it's hard to explain without a spoiler so I'll just leave it at that.

70%Nintendo GameCube

Deckbuilding is kind of jank. Grinding is for cards rather than levels. Best strat for lvl.1 is to make one character a dedicated res slave with armor which feels weird. Pretty cool style and vibes.

100%Nintendo GameCube

un des meilleurs JRPG qui m'a été donner de jouer. le meilleur de la game cube

100%Nintendo GameCube

Baten Kaitos I is an awesome game in general, and is definitely the best game with a glorified solitaire for a combat system. Despite its weird premise, it works; combos are satisfying, and combat manages to encourage both strategy and quick thinking. The world is one of the most unique RPG settings ever, and its concepts are both unusual and well thought out. The story is amazing, and contains some of the best plot twists in the history of fiction. Graphics are fine, despite prerendered backgrounds. Just don't try to 100% it. 10/10.

80%Nintendo GameCube

It's an RPG that I have nostalgia and fondness for. The True Mirror (2nd version) slaps.

90%Nintendo Switch

This game is amazing and was so ahead of it's time when it came out. Definitely paved the way for many RPG's to follow as well as being a pioneer in turn based card battling gameplay. Long live Monolithsoft!

90%Nintendo GameCube

Very good and innovating mechanics.
Every aspect of the game is polished.

65%Emulated

Baten Kaitos, the project of Xenosaga's developer Monolith Soft and tri-Ace's sound designer tri-Crescendo, was unique in pairing the collection, strategy and customization of TCG's with JRPG combat. By themselves, the cards are not particularly inspired. Limited to simply replicating battle actions, it's the interactions between their properties that form the core of the battle experience, with bits of active gameplay (each turn, players choose a number of cards within a time limit) and a set of powerful, unlockable special moves that somewhat recall the element-driven combos of Persona 2 & Breath of Fire IV. But that influence reveals another problem: Combat's card game integration consists of a few poker mechanics and little else. It's undoubtedly an interesting fusion, but one that's only half-realized.

They fare better in the non-combat areas. Best of all is how JRPG traditions are repurposed to revolve around their card-centric program, from shops to equipment, to enemy loot and hidden collectibles. Also of note are some truly original concepts like temporary cards (that may transform over time) and blank cards - key items that can mimic parts of the environment to complete objectives. On the downside, Monolith Soft leans too much towards the lengthy, slow-burn format once more, repeating the same mistakes that detracted from Xenosaga: Everything from cutscenes (although not as extreme) to battles, animations and movement border on plodding. If that largely remained the same, the writing couldn't be more different. The addition of Masato Kato (script writer for many Square titles, including Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII) marked a newfound penchant for weird scenarios, locations and humor; alongside effective story moments and a mishmash of aesthetics (part steampunk RPG, part stylized medieval-fantasy a la Fire Emblem, part Chrono Cross-ian naturalistic fantasy). Sadly, much of that talent is wasted on a rather tedious second half.

80%Nintendo GameCube

Remember me the good old day when good old fashioned japanese rpg old style were the norm.

60%Emulated

A unique, but somewhat hit-or-miss title that is especially welcome amongst the middling presence of JRPGs in the GameCube library. Combat is the expected turn based affair of old crossed with elements of collectible card games that forces you to improvise and stay on your toes. Deck building is a major focus of character building as equipment is almost entirely absent and most of the strategy is found in preparation for upcoming battles. It’s a really interesting system, but expect the RNG to cause a few game overs in the more challenging fights.

Upon starting a new game, the fourth wall is immediately shattered as the player is established as a guardian spirit that interacts directly with the cast of characters and gives insight to the plot. While I thought this was a fun inclusion, the plot itself comes off as generic and the characters aren’t the most compelling despite being fleshed out pretty substantially. The voice acting is laughable, the character portraits are ugly, and there is a lot of inconsequential dialogue that makes important story conversations cyclical and droning, but the music and prerendered backgrounds are excellent.

80%Nintendo GameCube

It's an RPG with a battle system heavy on random cards. Normally I'm not a fan of random, but you can dictate it well enough it didn't bother me. The battle system is slow but satisfying, and the story made sense if I recall. Looks great but has some hit or miss voice acting, but sometimes, like in Lyude case, it's so bad that I came to really love it.

80%Nintendo GameCube

Beautiful game, but the game stays in isotropic perspective the entire time, even in cut scenes. And the voice acting could be better. But the story, world, and combat system are all great.

90%Nintendo GameCube

Loved the combat system it goes along with Xenoblade by Monolith Soft for making fun, addicting combat with tons of depth.

80%Nintendo GameCube

A good game, but many aspects are seriously flawed, if only at second glance. There's just too many things that I disliked:

The battle system's time limit, ubiquitous but lengthy encounters, not even slight variations in the music over countless hours, the terrible voice acting (What the hell, folks!), dialogue and story presentation, limited exploration options and most importantly... that feeling when half of your deck has suddenly evaporated, changed forms or otherwise altered itself for no reason whatsoever -- Rotten Fruit, I'm looking at you! I can't let anyone get away with blatantly frustrating mechanics like that.

All this sounds awfully negative, but I did enjoy playing the game. Sadly, many of the ideas that could be totally awesome turned out to be unpolished or were brought down by their implementation... I still prefer the much older Skies of Arcadia as the GameCube's main RPG, which says a lot.

90%Nintendo GameCube

One of the most beautiful games ever made, Baten Kaitos shows real imagination in its world building: set in a series of islands in the sky whose people sport various types of wings, the game takes you to a country bedecked in swirling, sunset-tinged clouds; a mechanized golden city where the machinery is modeled after brass instruments; a land made of scintillating light with towns redolent of LSD imagery; and more. Despite a rough first few hours, the main characters are a really likable bunch, and the card-centered battle system is fast-paced and fun, with interesting wrinkles like creating new cards from various in-battle combos and balancing attack and defense items in the same deck. The game also features an innovative twist where you, the player, are actually a character in the story, a "Guardian Spirit" from another world who watches over young swordsman Kalas and is periodically asked - directly, by the cast - for your input on the plot. Drawbacks: The incidental voice acting is problematic (the voices of the central cast range from serviceable but staid to fine in a cartoony vein to actually quite good), and the overall "stop the evil empire from collecting the magic doohickeys" plot is derivative. That said: the plot twist in the middle is a real gut punch.

60%Nintendo GameCube

Enjoyable, but too long for it's own good. Lame story.

60%Nintendo GameCube

This game has some killer ideas, but the execution is painful and has led to Baten Kaitos aging horribly. Card-based combat is highly appealing to me as a fan of collectible card games, but the battles here are too shallow to warrant such a system and the cards provided do not actually have depth themselves. Everything's just an attack, a heal, status recovery, etc. Baten Kaitos is hurt even more by its slow speed--irrelevant random battles take full minutes and the hero's running speed just isn't high enough. Add in a poorly presented, cheesy plot and this one comes off as a stinker. It's a real shame because, again, I love card-based anything.