Tendo City

Quote:Monolith Software, the company that created XenoSaga, is developing a promising new RPG for the GameCube that is currently scheduled only for release in Japan. In the game the characters travel to five floating continents that are protected by magic. The main enemy has a wicked plan in regards to these places. The turn-based battle system utilizes cards that contain abilities to fight. Its possible to increase damage by using the right combination. The game will be released in December. Here are some pictures taken from a magazine courtesy of GameOnline (Japanese).

Hopefully they decide to release it over here, because it sounds like it could be a pretty good RPG.

N-Philes

Awesome. It looks like a 2D game but it's difficult to tell with those blurry screenshots. The GC needs more RPGs so it sure as hell better come out over here.

GameSpot has much better quality shots.

Its an RPG, but you have a deck of cards for something...

These are large images. :)

http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/bat...71823.html

This reminds me of some old RPGs I've read about with some weird card battle system. I think they were Dragon Ball RPGs.

I'm scared of Card-based RPGs. They either suck or serve as a vessel for cross-merchandising (see Pokemon, Yugioh).

I want another dating sim RPG, a la Thousand Arms. That game was kinda funny.

Card RPGs can be fun... I liked Lost Kingdoms... but this looks nothing like that. I'd say we should wait more to hear how the game works first... :)

I've never played any card-based RPGs so I'll keep an open mind.

Honestly, the reason I've been absent as of late has been a reacquired love for a brilliant RPG on the Playstation called Star Ocean: The Second Story. I implore all Playstation-owning RPG lovers to get this game ASAP. The depth of character development and the item creation system is simply unmatched by any other game, and that's not mentioning the best battle system ever in an RPG without question, the great graphics and awesome soundtrack, the 80+ endings, and the incredibly replay value.

If Xenogears is my all-time favorite game, consider this it's very, very, very close rival for my heart... and it wins in some ways. If SO2 had the story depth Xenogears had, SO2 would unquestionably be it...

Note that Star Ocean 2 has nothing to do with cards (well, it does but in an extremely limited way) and I'm only posting this because I feel so much love for it. :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love:

Quote:The depth of character development and the item creation system is simply unmatched by any other game, and that's not mentioning the best battle system ever in an RPG without question, the great graphics and awesome soundtrack, the 80+ endings, and the incredibly replay value.

You speak the truth.

I've gotten very close to the ending, but I just haven't managed to beat it yet. That hasn't stopped me from playing through 2/3 of it several times. It is a very, very fun RPG to play. And the battle system is simply the best of any RPG ever. The only downside is that some boss battles and even some monsters [especially those red cat things that breath fire on you! I hate those guys!!] are a bit difficult.

KOTOR's battle system is better. :p

Star Ocean 2 really is great though, isn't it?

I ought to pick that game back up. Every time I do so, I start a new game, but I've never really gotten that far before losing interest.

I hated those damned birds that killed your characters in one hit. What was the point of that, other than mindless frustration?

Well duh its better, its based on Baldur's Gate's battle system... which unlike menubased combat never becomes a tedious chore.

Menu-based combat isn't a tedious chore...

Play BG or KOTOR and you'll be in RPG combat bliss. :)

Yeah, a few hours with any BG-style RPG and you'll see what all RPG combat should be like... and why while I can tolerate menubased combat I'll never fully accept it as a good gameplay idea.

Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate/Tales of the Sword Coast
Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal
PlaneScape: Torment (my favorite RPG. Ever. And it really isn't close.)
Forgotten Realms: Icewind Dale/expansion I forget name of (Heart of Winter?)/2nd expansion free online (Trials of the Loremaster?)
Forgotten Realms: Icewind Dale II

Neverwinter Nights (one-character (with NPC henchmen like Diablo) variant of the engine, not as good)/2 upcoming expansions

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic


Why is Torment my favorite RPG? As I've said before... sheer story depth. Torment has OVER 100,000 LINES OF TEXT. That's more than any RPG ever, I'm pretty sure. And I can see disliking the game if you don't like deep stories and lots of detail about pretty much every character you can talk to in the game... or somewhat deemphasized combat... but for me its perfect. Yes, you do less fighting than most RPGs. But thats good... it isn't short by any means, and is by far one of the weirdest and most unique games I've played. And if you really want combat there is a randomly generated dungeon you can fight, with 3 difficulty levels, as much as you want. But that really isn't the point of the game... yeah, you do have to do a bunch of combat. But conversation is at least to more important in this game... and the variation of what can happen based on your stats (this is probably the only D&D game where both Wisdom and Intelligence are REALLY VERY USEFUL SKILLS, because without good scores in those things you'll never even SEE most of the more sophisticated or explanitory or 'avoid-combat' dialog options...

neverwinter nights has the worst combat system i think i've ever played with...you just click an enemy once and then watch the battle unfold...you don't do anything.

Really? I've heard it's great, which makes me wonder how far you got. If it really is just that, then wow does that suck. However, Tactics Ogre happens to be a game where you do next to nothing IN battle but BEFORE battle you do EVERYTHING, and thus it ends up being an awesome combat system. If it's not that, and this is how it is through the whole game (not sure how far you got), then wow that does suck. That sucks even more than games like Diablo where you just click your sword on the enemy over and over until it dies, occasionally using a heal spell. (No offense ABF, and I will say I'm only talking Diablo 1 since I never played Diablo 2.)

Yeah, Neverwinter Nights isn't that great. It takes the great BG system but when you just have one character its just not hte same... its still fun, but not nearly as much so as a true BG-style game. Parties are key!

Oh, but NWN DOES still have a decently deep combat system. Sure, at the beginning (such as the game demo) pretty much all you do is click and kill, but as you go farther you get many more skills and abilities and (with some classes) spells that greatly vary the combat. But of course at the beginning its fairly simple...

Oh, and DJ you got it all wrong. These games don't have seperate battle screens. None of them. You play, talk, and fight all in the gameworld maps. No 'battle mode', and its far better off for it. It works in pausable real-time, and you can choose all kinds of options for when it will autopause. You also have a button on the keyboard that pauses so you can give your characters commands... because while it is topdown 2d and you fight in the gameworld like Diablo the gameplay is NOTHING like Diablo. Nothing. It is deep, strategic, and slow paced... like a D&D RPG should be...

I only was talking about Neverwinter and Diablo, not the topic game.

I also never said Diablo had a seperate battle screen type thing, if that's what you meant (not sure what you meant exactly).

Quote:I only was talking about Neverwinter and Diablo, not the topic game.

I also never said Diablo had a seperate battle screen type thing, if that's what you meant (not sure what you meant exactly).

Funny... I can't really understand you then you misunderstand me...

What I said was that NWN works like Baldur's Gate, except in topdown 3d and with a controllable party of one instead of six. And that it has henchmen sort of like Diablo but isn't much like that game and uses BG's combat system, modified for one player.

I also was talking about big guy's post there... that NWN isn't THAT simple and that he just would have to get farther into the game to see the increasing depth.

Also... DJ you kind of made it sound like you thought NWN used a seperate battle screen, like a Ogre Battle Tactics... it doesn't...

i played about half way through the game, but my roommate beat it, NWN that is.and i'll agree that there are tons of abilities and that i think is great, and i'll admit, i never used spells (i was a rogue/ranger). and i don't think it's a terrible game, but the battles were in my experience, almost entirely hands off, and thus, not very good. maybe i should try playing it again and this time make a magic user, or something...but i really don't feel like going through it again. i was quite far when i uninstalled.

And you didn't keep your savegames? Why not? When I uninstall games I keep the savegames...

Anyway, it has a decent variety of abilities but its just not anywhere near as good with one character as it is with six. Not even close.

i'm not sure if my savegame got deleted or not...but i think i expected to get an option to save or delete saves...and it didn't give me one, so they just went away...but i'm really not sure.

and card RPGs make me uncomfortable...i don't know why really, i just don't much care for the idea.

I think its battle system could be pretty good. It sounds like instead of having magic spells you have cards that do different things.

That's why I back them up beforehand... though usually I don't uninstall games ever... :)

IGN has some new screenshots up and the game looks really good. Fantastic art style and a nice blend of real-time and pre-rendered backgrounds. I certainly hope it comes out in the US eventually.

From Magic Box:

Quote:Namco has released new details on the battle system in their GameCube exclusive RPG Baten Kaitos. The battles are in the form of real time card battles, each command in the battle requires the use of cards, include attack, cast spells, using items and even running away. There will be 1000 cards in the game. Cards can be combined for various effects, such as adding elemental effects to an attack, or reducing damages.

Baten Kaitos will have still CG images as background, similar to Square's Final Fantasy VII - IX for PSone. Here are the development staffs of the project:

Producer: Tadashi Nomura (Saga Frontier II, Xenogears)
Director: Hiroya Hatsushiba (Valkyrie Profile), Yasuyuki Honne (Chrono Cross, Xenogears)
Scenario: Masato Kato (Chrono Cross, Xenogears)
Music: Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile)

You can't go wrong with talent like that.

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/bait...1903_7.jpg

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/bait...1_bg08.jpg

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/bait...1_bg04.jpg

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/bait...1_bg15.jpg

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/bait...1_bg03.jpg

Quote:There are 1000 cards or more used for the real-time battles. They reiterated though that it isn't a card game. And also, as The Magic-Box reports, it has been in development for for 2 years with 20 staff from Monolith and 30 from the company Tri-Ace. It should have about 40 hours of play time, and it's about 85% complete.

Tri-Ace also developed the Star Ocean series and Valkyrie Profile; with them on board I don't see anyway that this game can be anything short of awesome.

Here's some new info from Games Are Fun:

Quote:Monolith Soft recently released some new info on Baten Kaitos, their GameCube RPG. It is said that the game has been in development for 2 years already, with a staff of 20 members from Monolith Soft and 30 members from Tri-Ace hard at work on the game. As it stands, the game is currently 85% complete, and will reportedly have 40 hours of playtime once it's finished.

We recently ran some screens and a short list of notable members of the Baten Kaitos staff, which you can see by clicking here. Check it out, and we'll have more news on this as soon as possible.

Source: Magic Box

Posted by pizzicato on 7.29.2003

That's exactly the same info as I posted...

.....




*cough*


I didn't see that.

You should try READING threads; that helps a lot. :p

You shut up!

Well, sorry!! Geez, can't you take a little joke, OB1? I was just trying be funny and you get all mad! You don't have to be so hostile all the time! I don't think I'll be coming back to this thread anymore!!

*stomps out of the thread*

*comes back into the thread*

I...I forgot my hat...

*stomps on GR's hat*

HA! Take THAT!

Ob1 has said before that he doesn't read all of threads. :D