Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 HD Remaster

[radiofloyd]

 

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/02/baten-kaitos-i-ii-hd-remaster-announced-for-switch
 

A pleasant surprise.

[DANGERMAN]

I always wanted one of these back in the day but never saw them around 

[HandsomeDead]

I played quite a bit of the first one.  I can't really remember the story tbh.  What I mostly remember is the card based battle system being interesting it was also frustrating.  This was the first game I played like this so I may have been just bad at it but I remember seeing reviews that they improved it in the sequel (or prequel? It's subtitle is 'origins').

 

We never got the second game in Europe so while I really wanted to play it I didn't get a chance (a GameCube game released in 2006, not surprising we didn't get it).  17 years later we finally see it available to us.  Neat.

[Maryokutai]

19 hours ago, HandsomeDead said:

This was the first game I played like this so I may have been just bad at it but I remember seeing reviews that they improved it in the sequel (or prequel? It's subtitle is 'origins').

 

From what I remember it was mostly an act of streamlining the battle system. They removed the defense phase, which always was a bit unrewarding as you felt forced to use potentially useful cards just to reduce incoming damage. So even if it is a prequel, it's probably better the play them in the original release order when the collection comes out to experience the improvements on the gameplay side.

 

But with that said, even the first one is excellent. It takes a while to get going but it's a very accomplished JRPG with one of Sakuraba's best OSTs as well IMO.

[radiofloyd]

 

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/06/baten-kaitos-i-ii-hd-remaster-launches-september-14
 

Out September 14th.