The spirit awakens ...

A brilliant RPG that's a Nintendo GameCube exclusive!

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean breaks the RPG battle mold. If the card-based battle system and the seemingly endless combos that accompany it are the cake, the stunning graphics provides a thick layer of icing on this masterpiece.

Features * Unique card-based battle engine * Incredible graphics * More than 60 hours of gameplay

Baten Kaitos calls on you to embark on a journey to unlock the mystery of the lost ocean. The civilizations live on a continent that floats in the sky, and its people possess wings, known as "wings of the heart." This seemingly peaceful world becomes the target of an evil plot, courtesy of the Empire.

This epic tale stars Kalas, a young man searching for those who killed his father and brother. He meets a young woman named Xelha who has a secret and wants to save the world from peril. During their journey, they cross paths with other characters who join them in their fight to save the land.

Battles With Magnus In this world, the essence of items is captured on cards. This results in Magnus. The cards represent the physical property of an item, without the bulk of carrying an item around. The Magnus card absorbs the energy of an item and then releases it at your command.

For example, a Magnus of a sword will damage an enemy when played. The Magnus of a banana will provide food for an ally when played and restore health. During the quest, the characters come across all sorts of Magnus. They can buy Magnus from shops or take them from fallen enemies.

In turn, you need to make a battle deck consisting of the Magnus cards you've collected. At the start of the game, your deck is limited to 20 cards. When your characters level-up in Class, his or her deck grows in capacity and allows the character to play multiple cards during a turn in battle. Also, certain Magnus possess elemental qualities (such as Light, Dark, Water and Fire). Magus with Light qualities do more damage to Dark foes. Needless to say, deck building is a key element to winning Baten Kaitos.

Each Magus card has at least one Spirit Number. In battle if you can line up the Spirit Numbers in a row or in pairs, your attack deals more damage. For example, le'ts say you play three sword Magnus cards in a turn, and the Spirit Numbers of those cards are four, five and six. If you played them in ascending or descending order, you earn an attack bonus. A three-card straight yields a 28% bonus to the attack. On the defense, if you play three shield Magnus in the same order, the damage is reduced by 21%. As the game goes on and you can play up to nine cards in a turn. A nine-card straight yields a 306% bonus to the attack.

Finally, you'll come across some strange Magnus, such as a pen, a blank notebook and a pine tree. You can create new Magnus by making combos with seemingly worthless Magnus. Playing a blank notebook followed by a magic pen won't damage your opponent. However, it creates a new item: a Prophet's Notebook. A helmet, uncooked rice, water and fire yields cooked rice, which heals 800 points. Each Magnus comes with a description that can give clues on how to combo it to make a more powerful Magnus. You'll find 141 special Magnus combos. A Magnus can change over time. For example, bananas that replenish health will rot into blackened bananas that deal damage to your opponent.

A Wonderful World Although the Magnus can be a lot to digest, the amazing graphics will blow you away. The world of Baten Kaitos is so full of color and detail, it will make your real world feel awfully gray.

Your actual role in the game is as a Guardian Spirit that looks down upon the land and Kalas. Kalas' enemies don't come out of nowhere; they stand in your way. If you run into them, you'll engage in battle. Any time when you're not in battle, you can press the Y Button to go into your inventory and change your deck.

Like traditional RPGs, you find plenty of people to talk to. Many have little more to talk about than the weather, but others give you clues as to how to complete your main and side quests. One of the side quests is to track down an old man's family members and have them return to see him. You'll need to find 31 family members to complete this task.

Also to complete these quests, you're given a supply of blank Magnus. With these blank Magnus, you may capture the essence of items you come across in your travels. Since you have a limited number of blank Magnus, you will have to decide what to keep and what to ditch.

The Quest Calls What's love got to do with it? Not much, which is a good thing. Although Baten Kaitos is too wordy for its own good at first, the game flows when it gets into the action. There's no love sparks between the main characters. Instead, they're fighting the same enemy for different goals. Kalas can be a little unlikable at times because of his off-putting attitude, but childish comments and actions are few and far between. Although the story is grand and important, it isn't weighted down by caricaturing the heroes. They're here to whoop some butt. Are you coming on board?

Bottom Line

This must-have game blows you away with the graphics and consumes your mind with the battle-strategy possibilities.

Source:

www.nintendo.com

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean breaks the RPG battle mold. If the card-based battle system and the seemingly endless combos that accompany it are the cake, the stunning graphics provides a thick layer of icing on this masterpiece.

Features: Unique card-based battle engine

Incredible graphics

More than 60 hours of gameplay

Baten Kaitos calls on you to embark on a journey to unlock the mystery of the lost ocean. The civilizations live on a continent that floats in the sky, and its people possess wings, known as "wings of the heart." This seemingly peaceful world becomes the target of an evil plot, courtesy of the Empire.

This epic tale stars Kalas, a young man searching for those who killed his father and brother. He meets a young woman named Xelha who has a secret and wants to save the world from peril. During their journey, they cross paths with other characters who join them in their fight to save the land.

Battles With Magnus In this world, the essence of items is captured on cards. This results in Magnus. The cards represent the physical property of an item, without the bulk of carrying an item around. The Magnus card absorbs the energy of an item and then releases it at your command.

For example, a Magnus of a sword will damage an enemy when played. The Magnus of a banana will provide food for an ally when played and restore health. During the quest, the characters come across all sorts of Magnus. They can buy Magnus from shops or take them from fallen enemies.

In turn, you need to make a battle deck consisting of the Magnus cards you've collected. At the start of the game, your deck is limited to 20 cards. When your characters level-up in Class, his or her deck grows in capacity and allows the character to play multiple cards during a turn in battle. Also, certain Magnus possess elemental qualities (such as Light, Dark, Water and Fire). Magus with Light qualities do more damage to Dark foes. Needless to say, deck building is a key element to winning Baten Kaitos.

Each Magus card has at least one Spirit Number. In battle if you can line up the Spirit Numbers in a row or in pairs, your attack deals more damage. For example, le'ts say you play three sword Magnus cards in a turn, and the Spirit Numbers of those cards are four, five and six. If you played them in ascending or descending order, you earn an attack bonus. A three-card straight yields a 28% bonus to the attack. On the defense, if you play three shield Magnus in the same order, the damage is reduced by 21%. As the game goes on and you can play up to nine cards in a turn. A nine-card straight yields a 306% bonus to the attack.

Finally, you'll come across some strange Magnus, such as a pen, a blank notebook and a pine tree. You can create new Magnus by making combos with seemingly worthless Magnus. Playing a blank notebook followed by a magic pen won't damage your opponent. However, it creates a new item: a Prophet's Notebook. A helmet, uncooked rice, water and fire yields cooked rice, which heals 800 points. Each Magnus comes with a description that can give clues on how to combo it to make a more powerful Magnus. You'll find 141 special Magnus combos. A Magnus can change over time. For example, bananas that replenish health will rot into blackened bananas that deal damage to your opponent.

A Wonderful World Although the Magnus can be a lot to digest, the amazing graphics will blow you away. The world of Baten Kaitos is so full of color and detail, it will make your real world feel awfully gray.

Your actual role in the game is as a Guardian Spirit that looks down upon the land and Kalas. Kalas' enemies don't come out of nowhere; they stand in your way. If you run into them, you'll engage in battle. Any time when you're not in battle, you can press the Y Button to go into your inventory and change your deck.

Like traditional RPGs, you find plenty of people to talk to. Many have little more to talk about than the weather, but others give you clues as to how to complete your main and side quests. One of the side quests is to track down an old man's family members and have them return to see him. You'll need to find 31 family members to complete this task.

Also to complete these quests, you're given a supply of blank Magnus. With these blank Magnus, you may capture the essence of items you come across in your travels. Since you have a limited number of blank Magnus, you will have to decide what to keep and what to ditch.

The Quest Calls What's love got to do with it? Not much, which is a good thing. Although Baten Kaitos is too wordy for its own good at first, the game flows when it gets into the action. There's no love sparks between the main characters. Instead, they're fighting the same enemy for different goals. Kalas can be a little unlikable at times because of his off-putting attitude, but childish comments and actions are few and far between. Although the story is grand and important, it isn't weighted down by caricaturing the heroes. They're here to whoop some butt. Are you coming on board?

Source:

www.nintendo.com.au – GameCube

"It's possibly the most beautiful GCN title ever made"

• Nintendo Power

The world of Baten Kaitos exists in an era where lands float in the sky and the once-vast oceans are mere legend. With your help, Kalas and Xelha must struggle to reveal the mystery of the lost ocean and destroy the corruption that threatens their world.

• Embark upon an emotional journey across a richly imagined world and detailed character development spanning over 60 hours of gameplay.
• Vivid, pre-rendered backgrounds are alive with subtle, ambient animations. Enjoy gloriously rendered battle environments and astounding spell effects.
• An unconventional card-based RPG system unites all elements of gameplay with over 1000 types of "Magnus" cards.

Source:

Back of Case (US)