Developer: Monolith software
Publisher: Namco
Genre: RPG
Players: 1
Blocks: 8

Introduction:

Another rpg from the famous Namco. That almost everyone knows from the Tales of games. Let’s see if this game is just as good as the other tales games.

The story:

The story takes place in a time where the earth is no more. The ocean is also gone. The reason why both disappeared? A long battle between the humans and the wicked god melpercio. After the long war the earth was so dragged down that nobody could live there anymore. The ocean was swallowed by Melpercio and he died by the very water he swallowed.

After a long time 5 very different islands floated high to the sky. That way the humans could once again live. Most of the people of the 5 different nations developed wings. But the main character of the game has only one wing the other one is a mechanic one made by his grandfather. Kalas is his name. He’s out for revenge some henchmen of the ‘’evil empire’’ destroyed his home but.... That’s not all they also murdered his grandfather and his (little) brother. So no wonder he’s out for revenge.

Xelha has foreseen that something horrible is about to happen. That’s why she headed for the heart of the empire. And she became the maid of the ruler of the empire: Geldablame. She found out that he’s trying to resurrect the evil god with the help of some necklace. She steals the necklace and runs off to prevent the god being summoned to the world once again.

Gameplay:

In the world of baten kaitos there are cards. They are called Magnus. Almost everything can be stored in a Magnus. From milk and water to Axes and swords. During the adventure you get blank Magnus and you can use them for carrying things like water and milk etc. These are called quest Magnus but they are very limited. During the adventure you get also Magnus that you can use in battle’s. The battle system is turn-based but quick. You can make combo’s by combining grades like in yatzee. That way you get extra damage done to your opponents.

You have to look out which cards you choose. If you choose a fire card to start off with and you combine it with a water card they damage is almost zero. Cause they negate each other. Never attack in the same turn with opposing elements.

No random battle’s in this game. You can see the enemies before you fight them. This gets rid of the annoying random battle's.

The world map is okay but not great. They are too small and thus making the world looking small. But that’s far from the truth. This game has 2 disc’s. They are some great characters in this game my personal favourite is the great Mizuti an strange looking character that speaks in riddle’s and is very confusing but all is explained in the end.

Sound:

Some people say that tales of symphonia has some bad voice covering. But if those people compare it to the voice covering in this game they are sure to change their minds. Almost all the text is spoken in this game. But at some points it just looks like the characters are talking trough a tube or underwater. Still I don’t think the voices are bad. They are just average and you can always turn the voices off.


Graphics:

This game uses a special style it’s called 2D rendering. It’s also used in some of the older resident evil games. The characters are 3D but the environment/background is 2D. This gives a unique special style. Although sometimes you have to look very good to see where are some little things like door passage’s and even people. Apart from that the game just looks really great!

Ending:

Another game of the same company that made tales of symphonia. If you liked that I’m almost sure that you will like this also. Don’t let the card system scare you off it’s really quick and a new style of fighting.

Score 80/100







This post has been edited by crazyboychris: Jan 15 2006, 09:16 AM

Nice review...

I bought this game the other day actually... and rather like it. Some of the special character moves and especially some of the spirit moves are rather pretty to watch, and just when you start to get used to the look of the attack then the character suddenly gets a whole new special attack.

The game is reasonably easy to figure out if you use a bit of logic. Especially when it comes to using combos to unlock cards... if you are smart enough it won't take you long to unlock various powerful healing and poisoning/effect cards very early on in the game when the stuff in the shop doesn't come close to comparing.

Some bits of the game take a tiny bit to work out but when you do then you'll most likely slap yourself on the head wondering how you could have missed it. Good example of this is how you have to actually go to the church and talk to the priest to level up... i progressed to fighting the thunderfish ((and losing spectacularly)) before realizing why i was still stuck on level 1 and why the dude that joined my party recently was tonnes stronger despite the fact the other 2 people had tonnes more experience. Could have something to do with the fact the priest dude was at the end of the screen and looked more like a pillar/decoration then an actual person.

O yeah, the music on the fourth boss Giacomo... IT'S AWSOME!!!

Anyways have only been playing the game for 3 days and am nowhere close to completing it, but so far I'm finding it rather awsome. And to those curious to know... I saved and turned the gamecube off for a night just after gaining some red headed ex-imerial guy in my party. Well they say he's a guy... looks more like a girl though. Seems to have several dark and light attacks, which in the end basically contradict each other and make fighting more difficult.

But yeah... pretty good game. 8/10 is a good rating, since it does have a few negatives to it.

I'm pretty much THE master of this game, and considered as a god on the message board on GameFAQs. So if anyone who has this game and needs help with something, ASK ME!!!!!!!!

nice review dude , i have the game myself and LOVE it ^^ especialy the battle system rocks^^

Thanks Uberman ^^ and a little off topic.. Nice sig MegaMage! ^^

Kudos go to ManaGirl. She's the one who made it.

Played this. It's definitely a big step up from the other RPGs that are available on the gamecube.