Rated 
Great RPG!
Beautiful graphics, great music, innovative combat system, interesting plot and unexpected twists, 40+ hours of gameplay, innovative level-up system, character stories have an interesting development
Battles may get a little boring, no in-game CG cinematics (except for the intro), bad voice acting, the plot has a slow start
Posted Jul 8, 2005 - The first thing i have to mention about Baten Kaitos is graphics. Environments are beautifully designed and colored, which is something very enjoyable in any RPG. Battle graphics are amazing too: monsters, magics, and finishing attacks look really cool. What about music? Well, does Motoi Sakuraba ring a bell? He composed the music for Star Ocean, and for all of you who have played it, you'll be happy to know he's done an excellent work in BK too. From sad music to inspiring or cheering themes, each one fits perfectly in every scene, giving every moment a special atmosphere. Something i can't forget to mention is battle music: these themes are some of the best ones i've ever heard! The standard battle music (called "The True Mirror") is a violin theme, but don't be fooled by the sweet violin sound, because this music really cheers the battle up and makes it incredibly enjoyable and entertaining. What about boss battle themes? Well, let me just say there are 6 boss battle themes! One of them is a guitar, rock version of "The True Mirror", which is my personal favorite along with a Rock/Metal theme called "Metallic Stroke". There's also a dance theme called "Chaotic Dance" which plays only with a particular boss... really cool, too. The battle system is the element that makes this game very special. In BK, you use "Magnus", which are cards that have an object's essence trapped in it. You'll have to equip these magnus into your deck so that you can use them in battle to attack your foes, defend yourself, or heal your characters. At the beginning of each battle, some of the magnus cards of your deck randomly appear at the bottom screen (the number of cards depends on your class level). You can use up to 9 magnus in a single turn. The numbers at the corners of each battle magnus card are used to give bonuses to the offense or defense of your character. Depending on how you combine these numbers or what order you give them, you'll get a bonus to the total damage you deal or the damage you prevent. Gaining these bonuses (called prizes) is a matter of life or death. Depending on how many cards you play in a turn, these prizes add a percentage of the damage you deal, from small percentages like 9%, to an incredible 306%, being an incredible help when fighting a tough foe or when you need to heal a damaged ally. Some magnus have elemental properties. There are six elements in BK, which are paired in an opposing relationship: fire and water, dark and light, and wind and chronos. Magnus offset and cancel each other if they have elements in opposition. You must use these elements to increase damage when you're attacking or to reduce damage inflicted when you're defending. Something i didn't like about the battle system is that you can only target one enemy per turn. Once you have selected an enemy and selected your first magnus, you can't switch to attack another enemy until the next turn. Another think i didn't like is that there aren't any magnus or attacks that affect more than one target, which makes battles a little longer or even boring and repetitive. In BK, you have to go to a church and "pray" in order to level up, besides, yo can choose how many levels you wish to go up, which is a very interesting element if you want to complete the game in the lowest level possible, for example, just to add some challenge to the game. The plot is a little slow at the beginning, but it gets pretty interesting as time passes, having some unexpected, incredible twists in it. It's a really good story, and it's worth playing for about 60 hours just to see how the story ends. You won't regret it. While you play the game, you'll learn a little more about each of the 6 characters that will be in your party. Trust me, their stories are very interesting and worth seeing. Now what really disappointed me is that the only cinematic video was the intro. The other cutscenes just have the same graphics as the normal game scenes, except that they have different camera angles and close ups. However, this is quite understandable, because the game is too long and graphics are already good, so i guess the programmers couldn't find enough space in the 2 discs to put more cool cinematics. Voice acting is really bad in BK! It looks like actors just spoke their lines without giving them a little feeling or trying to act too much. This doesn't happens all the time, though, besides, there's an option in the menu screen to turn off the voices, so that you can just read the dialogues. With great music, an interesting story, and an innovative battle system, BK is a perfect choice. However, i didn't like it as much as other RPGs, like Final Fantasy &, 7, or Tales of Symphonia, but that's just a personal opinion. If you like RPGs, you can't miss this game. I would recommend downloading some gameplay videos, so that you can see how the battle system works.
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One of the good RPGs available for GameCube.
