Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster brings back one of the greatest RPGs ever made as well as its impressively fleshed-out prequel so if you want to experience an incredible story with phenomenal strategic card-based combat then definitely pick this collection up.

It's a great chance of discover a truly special JRPG. A GamesCube gem with a prequel that many people don't know yet.

Elaborate expositional lore and deck-based battles are unexceptional today. But when Baten Kaitos and its prequel were released, these constituents were rather uncommon in console RPGs. Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster’s bundling of Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo’s titles offers a chance to revisit this overlooked GameCube duology and observe developments that would have a significant impact on the genre. Have little interest in role-playing history? Well, there’s about 100 hours of adventure waiting for you.

Bandai Namco presents one of the most acclaimed niche RPGs on a console that favors this genre. Although the performance and quality of life improvements could have been better, the game stands out as a title that stands out for its unique combat, narrative, and music that will impact more than one player and that no fan of RPGs should be left out.

The Baten Kaitos series is JRPG royalty. Both are experimental, engaging, and rich games that explore a gorgeous world carefully crafted by veterans at Monolith Soft. While the Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster leaves a lot to desire in terms of its QoL features, and makes the fatal mistake of not including the original English dub, the new HD visuals are stunning, and packaging both games for $50 is a great deal. I can understand that the aforementioned problems can be a dealbreaker to some. However, I have a hard time not recommending the HD Remaster, as it makes two incredible cult classics easily available and more gorgeous than ever.

Overall (and after some post-launch updates) I’m content with the state of Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster. That’s not exactly the tone I was expecting to have during the launch period, so I’m thankful that they fixed it quickly even if I was frustrated that we needed to wait a week at all. These are two very special games that deserved a great re-release, and I’m thankful that I was able to experience them in this fashion. They might not appease every hardcore fan of the original, but I doubt many would be able to deny how good of a steal this is for newcomers looking to experience some cult classics. They are flawed gems, but they’re bound to capture the attention of anyone looking for something truly unique.

Baten Kaitos 1 + II HD Remaster is a great way to play this pair of classic games, but there are a few caveats. A few of the new visual features might make the game lag, and the original English dub is missing aside from during the opening cinematic – very peculiar. But despite that, if you’ve ever wanted to play Baten Kaitos, I have no doubt that this is the best way to do it.

As a newcomer to Baten Kaitos, I’m glad Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster exists so I could finally play these games, but I hope Bandai Namco can iron out the few annoying issues holding it back. The quality of life features are welcome, but the unstable performance is disappointing. This release is definitely worth your time if you’re interested in the games though. Motoi Sakuraba’s soundtracks are also superb here.

In an ideal world, the remasters probably would have worked better as proper remakes. Baten Kaitos and Origins’ pre-rendered backgrounds were gorgeous on the Gamecube, and they’re just as lovely now. Some aspects would have benefited from more improvement, though. Character animations, limited dialogue illustrations, awkward battle structures, and wonky localization weren’t great at the time and don’t hold up quite so well. Both games are still worth experiencing, but there are a few more hurdles to enjoying them than there should be.

Quotation forthcoming.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster brings back from the past two competent JRPGs which had a limited run and were going to be forgotten for good.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster is a pretty straightforward of two great JRPG from the Gamecube. Best resolution and some quality of life improvements is all that your are going to fin here, but is also a pretty good chance to play this cult games.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster is a great opportunity to discover, or replay, two role-playing gems from the GameCube era. Although the visual improvement is evident, Bandai Namco could have done more, as translating Baten Kaitos Origins or polishing the technical hiccups. Even with that, both are great adventures, with a great combat system.

After a disappointing remaster dedicated to Tales of Symphonia, Bandai Namco gives the Baten Kaitos franchise the treatment it deserved, gifting us with a solid remaster of two of the most obscure but also most appreciated GameCube JRPGs.

The Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster offers a wonderful glimpse into a well-received bit of Monolith Soft’s history, one that barely sold enough for us to expect a second look. While the remaster doesn’t do anything exceptional, it’s more than enough, and it’s such a delight to have a bit of history in the palm of your hand.

Even if it’s not flawless, this still is a nice collection full of content that help new and returning players access these two “lost” games.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster are memorable JRPGs that can finally fully spread their wings in this remastered package. While the systems might cause early confusion no matter which entry you’re playing, they both develop into a masterful adventure. The added quality-of-life features made these titles approachable for any who wish to casually revisit the narrative or experience it for the first time. I’m glad these classics have graced a modern platform for fans, both new and old.

Following the decadent drift of Tales of Symphonia Remastered, the restoration made to BATEN KAITOS I & II HD REMASTER did not completely convince us. The excellent work done on scenarios and polygonal models is in fact counterbalanced by superfluous playful features, unsatisfactory technical performances and only partial localization of the texts. Since these are two authentic pieces of history of the medium, we recommend their recovery to fans of the genre and to those who would like to delve into the past of Monolith Soft.

Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 HD Remaster brings two GameCube classics back from the dead, and they're still worth playing in 2023.

RPGs don’t always age well. Things like combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving can change drastically in a handful of years. The Baten Kaitos games hold up pretty well, all things considered. The visuals are great and the combat is excellent. The Remaster also does a great job of smoothing over certain rough patches. There’s a generous autosave system in place, for one thing. The modern combat upgrades also go a long way to making those slow battles feel faster. On the other hand, the story feels very by-the-numbers. I felt like I was running down a checklist of tropes within a few hours of the first game. But if card-based battle systems are your thing, this collection is a godsend. If nothing else, Baten Kaitos I&II provides a fascinating snapshot of a lost era of GameCube RPGs.

The Baten Kaitos Collection is a duology remaster that's full of contrasts, demonstrating perfectly the highs and lows that come with bringing decades old games to new consoles. The two games are great little JRPGs from yesteryear, however given the weird nature of the first and the generic nature of the second, it’s difficult to recommend to any but those wanting the nostalgia trip or die-hard fans of the genre.

The Baten Kaitos games deserve better than this remaster gives them, but for new and returning players alike, it is still a great addition to any RPG fan’s Switch library. Hopefully, this collection isn’t the last we see of the Magnus-slinging series and is instead the beginning of a bright future ahead for the series.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster is a worthwhile release, though it feels like a bit of a mixed bag. Despite some cool ideas here, both games epitomize the ‘flawed masterpiece’ while the changes and updates made for this remaster are minimal at best (though obviously welcome). This package is easy to recommend to any fans who want to venture further into Monolith’s back catalog and are looking for something a little unconventional to scratch that RPG itch. Just recognize that this isn’t something that you need to rush and play immediately and that both games are very much products of their time, with design elements that feel outdated in a modern context.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster brilliantly showcases Monolith Soft’s signature worldbuilding and storytelling abilities, but exhausting battles and overworld exploration also expose the originals’ age. The remaster’s improvements – despite their lackadaisical implementation – manage to at least make some of this duology’s worst aspects passable.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster is frustrating because it is so close to being great and is only undermined by its utterly perplexing choices put into the boosters. The meta of resisting the boosters is too distracting for the experience, and succumbing turns these games into walking sims with some visual novel elements. The new UI elements have an air of "mobile game" about them, but thankfully the in-game visuals still look hot, and the QOL feature to speed up combat is a worthwhile addition. Baten Kaitos I & II are not the best from Monolith Soft, but they are both still way better than Xenosaga: Episode II and are roughly on the same level as Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Even without the boosters, there are better retro JPRGs out there, but few of them will look as nice as these.

Opening the time capsule that is Baten Kaitos reveals a hodgepodge of gameplay ideas, story beats, and even visual styles from island to island that reaches for the stars but doesn’t land among the clouds. Instead, it crashes back into the earth with the rest of the mortals. Although it is more fallen angel than god, there are definitely parts that shine, such as Mizuti meeting with her family—but they would have shone even brighter if they weren’t lost amidst the game’s weaknesses.