Baten Kaitos meme
Oct. 8th, 2013 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigozealThe more I read about the second Baten Kaitos game, the less I like it. Only three characters? Yet another wing-ripping scene in a story featuring pseudo-angelic characters - are they all required to have them now? And apparently Origins thinks Geldoblame got the job because he was "the only one left" after its events who knew how to run the Empire? What? Christ, Dweeb'll be Emperor within a week of his return. I recall Alfard falling into alleged disarray and widespread famine unbelievably quickly after Geldoblame's assassination (assisted by most of its armed forces being transformed into hellbeasts, admittedly, but still). Is it just a North Korea-esque failed state, putting up a stiff front militarily but with its infrastructure on the brink of perpetual collapse?
Anyhow, here's a meme that originally included questions on both Baten Kaitos games, with the questions about Origins cut out.
Favorite character from Baten Kaitos?
I think that's been quite obvious.
Least favorite character from Baten Kaitos.
I'd ultimately have to go with Kalas here. As I've banged on about, I don't think the game came properly to grip with his villainy before moving past it, and I do get uniquely frustrated when a game elevates characters who're less-interesting but better fit the hero archetype at the expense of other, more-interesting characters. Granted, Kalas is much more interesting than most RPG main characters (not that that's a high bar, honestly), but he had the poor grace to tick me off.
(Geldoblame et al. kind of don't count; I mean, you're supposed to hate them, right?)
How did you discover Baten Kaitos?
I don't know. I saw screenshots of it somewhere and was impressed by the beauty and imagination of the locales. The impression stuck with me, and I had it in the back of my mind for the longest time to get a Gamecube just to play the title. I eventually did, albeit far later than I should've.
Were there any bosses you had particular trouble with?
Giacomo the second and third times, as mentioned. I had a harder time in an actual 3-on-3 fight against enemies with healing and stat buffs than I did against Malpercio's final form. Geldoblame, just because of his frequent use of instant death attacks. (It's tough to recover from losing characters in this game, given the random element at play in the availability of healing items and lack of resurrection items that restore an appreciable amount of HP.) Fadroh took a few tries, too, but I forget exactly why; I think he was just hitting too hard at the end, and I was losing the damage race.
I also had to replay Lyude's character quest a couple times, once due to the boss; Gibari was the only person standing at the end of the fight due to its instadeath attacks, and I didn't think it right for Lyude to be KO'd at the end of his own special boss fight. (The first replay was sparked by my accidentally triggering the boss fight early; you have to visit all the rooms in the phantom Goldoba and then go back to the central chamber, but there's no clue that this is the trigger for the no-return dungeon to end, and I did so without having thoroughly explored one room. What if I could've gotten a neat new weapon from an encounter? What if I missed a unique dialogue scene?! Fortunately, the scenario weathers replays well.)
Did any of the plot twists throughout the game come as a surprise to you? Or could you see them coming?
I saw Melodia as the real villain coming and figured out that she had taken the End Magnus, albeit too late for the little Guardian Spirit Q & A on it. Considering how selfishly and amorally Kalas behaves in the first half of the game, I did have "is he gonna turn?" in the back of my mind, but I didn't expect that he had been colluding with the enemy since before the game even started. "I *am* the ocean" was also a surprise, though the whole ocean thing had surprisingly little, if anything, to do with the actual main story.
Which character could be your best friend in real life? Would any of them be your complete opposite or enemy?
It'd be nice if Lyude would. And Xelha seems friendly with everyone. I tend to think that the videogame characters I like deserve better friends than me, though.
Who’s your favorite pairing, canon or not?
I don't think I have one. I didn't want Kalas and Xelha to be parted at the end of the game, but I'm kinda not convinced he deserves her.
You had to have a favorite team in Baten Kaitos to fight with - so who were/are your three best fighters?
I mentioned throughout my play reports that I found Xelha to be the real protagonist of Baten Kaitos, so she was default party leader once Kalas split. Mages are pretty powerful in Baten Kaitos, and the various Light-elemental finishers Xelha has are quite useful; I stocked her up with Light, Fire, and Wind cards and let her go to town. (Mizuti's powerful, too, but her affinity for Dark and Chrono isn't as useful, and there's that voice with which to contend. That said, she was pretty much rocking it at the end of the game - but her voice didn't get any better.)
Naturally, Dweeb was in my party most of the time - personality favoritism aside, his affinity for Light weapons is very useful in the game, and he has pretty good offensive power (and decent agility) even without it. Plus, attacking with brass instruments: that's just classy. He actually wasn't doing quite as much damage consistently as other choices in the endgame, even with his Light weapons, but then the other choices in the endgame weren't somersaulting into giant cannons made of light for their finishing moves.
From there, either Savyna or Gibari. I actually used Gibari with Xelha & Lyude for much of the second half, as the enemies you're facing at any given time zip about in their vulnerability to ice or fire, so it's easy for Savyna to take a cut in attack power. Gibari's wide range of elements/slight Wind concentration was more useful.
Were there any scenes or moments that were totally sad / epic / hilarious / aggravating to you?
Sad: The whole thing with Lyude on the ghost ship, particularly the "I always wanted your love! I did my utmost to earn it!" and "I tried... I tried..." breakdowns. Giacomo's death, in that he really did care for Ayme & Folon and last wishes were for them to be safe and happy, and that they really did care for him. "I don't think I can see the whale with you...", even though the larger context of that scene does not lend itself to sympathy from me. Xelha choosing death at the end. The last goodbye.
Also, this doesn't qualify per se, but I did let out a pathetic "Ohhhh! Meemai!" when he (she?) jumped in front of Kalas during the confrontation with him to try to get him to come back.
Epic: That final-dungeon music certainly was epic. Kalas's heel turn was epic in that it left me with a big sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I guess Ayme & Folon taking charge of their continent's End Magnus energy was kind of epic, even though the scene surrounding it is sort-of low-rent.
Hilarious: The whole argument about who was going to eat their way out of the candy house. The sheer magnitude and out-of-left-field quality of Lyude's drama and character tics were a constant source of hilarity ("Who the hell do these dangly, sparkly earrings go to?").
Aggravating: That bit in the Celestial Alps where I had to fight Giacomo twice in a row after losing twice. The subterranean Zosma levels.
Aside from the moderately horrendous voice-acting of random people and a lot of the NPCs, what did you think of the voice-acting for the main characters and some of the other bigger ones (such as the leaders of the continents)?
Kalas and Xelha came across to me as a bit cartoony first, but I adjusted to them fairly quickly; I think they're fine, and Kalas's actor adds some likable panache and casual character to his lines, particularly in some of his special-attack battle cries or when he's being kinda jerky. Gibari's pretty good, and though he can be goofy at times, that's OK, 'cause the character himself is kinda consciously goofy. Savyna is pretty excellent, always all-business and genuinely menacing when the occasion calls for it; probably the most consistently strong voice in the game. I've gone on about Lyude before, but I thought that the "weak points" in his performance actually ended up effectively underlining aspects of Lyude's character, and the actor does a good job with Lyude's breakdowns on the phantom Goldoba; I wouldn't have traded him in. The only main character whose voice I really didn't like was Mizuti; that giggly, pidginy, kiddy, processed voice is hard on the ears. I greatly prefer her unmasked voice, which is actually rather pleasant in its singsong quality.
Major supporting characters: Ladekahn's OK and has his moments but is kind of stiff. (Again, though, the character is kind of stiff, but that doesn't excuse the total performance.) Corellia is stagey. Calbren is stagey and a bit cartoony but all right, I guess; Rodolfo is all right. Melodia could be a little more natural. Geldoblame is actually pretty menacing and focused, commanding yet quite obviously spoiled and overindulged; one of the better voices, even though he doesn't get many lines.
I've mentioned this before, but Giacomo, despite having one of the smoother, more professional voices, falls so squarely into the Disney Villain archetype vocally that he ends up sounding, at least on first listen, rather trite and derivative and slightly miscast. Ayme is kind of hokey at times, particularly when she's making pompous threats; she's better when she's speaking more normally, such at the end of the confrontation in the Celestial Alps. For Folon, they were consciously going for an actively annoying voice, and I can only say that in that objective they did indeed succeed.
We never see Lyude with wings in the game - do you think he hides them (from the Empire), or do you think he has none? What do you think they would look like?
I'm partial to the idea that Lyude has wings he just doesn't show that're in a bad state due to his bad mental state. I know the artbook says that the people of the Empire have lost their wings, so he probably just doesn't have them, but eh. Fanart reveals a lot of ideas for a winged Lyude; I think I like this one the best, as it nicely fits his palette. That, or simple black or grey traditional bird's wings.
Favorite and least favorite towns and/or continents.
Favorite: It'd be easier to say what I don't like. I love the celestial heaven of Diadem, with its airborne rivers, and the vibrant colors and plant life in Anuenue and Komo Mai in general. I love the look of Mira overall, with the continent's scintillating, phantasmic brilliance and the piecemeal craziness of its towns and dungeons.
Least favorite: Sadal Suud is extremely impressive when you first start the game, as Moonguile Forest with its insects that hop through the lush, lowlit foliage and Cebalrai with its thick waves of windtossed grain in rainbow colors are so lovingly rendered, especially when compared with the locales of other titles. But then you start wandering to other continents and discover places that are not only beautifully rendered but have truly original ideas behind them, and Sadal Suud just can't shake the feeling of genericism in its starting-townness. That said, it still beats to heck 75% of what's out there in other RPGs.
In Baten Kaitos, when Kalas seems to have lost an End Magnus, they make it seem as if someone in the group stole it. Were you convinced you thought you knew who it was?
No; I dismissed the whole "one of us is a traitor!" idea out-of-hand as just a red herring.
Any favorite animal(s) from the Baten Kaitos world?
Well, everyone answers "Greythornes" to this, don't they.
Favorite finisher?
Finale for sheer overblown, hilarious spectacle; Intermezzo has a nice sense of timing and drama, Lyude being underlit and all. Crescendo looks cloudy and flashy and makes a good deal of noise. Blue Storm isn't a bad basic special. (And, no, this question wasn't in the original meme, but I'm including it.)
Do you have any theories, about anything? Continuity, a character’s past, the librarian’s fate, what becomes of Sagi and Milly, will people continue to have wings of the heart, etc…
See above re: wings & Lyude. Also the previous post about the age at which Gibari left the knights; if events have to unfold as Origins presents, I'd like to think he rejoined after emotions cooled and just left again for whatever reason several years before the first game.
Which dungeon did you enjoy?
The whole optical-illusion/"multiple fractured perspectives" dungeon that led to the Mira End Magnus was kind of a pain in the neck but had a refreshing idea; I could've stood a few more levels of it, a few more variations on its very good themes. Detourne was also all right, I suppose, with the Tower of Druaga bit and the puzzle element involving the blocks and inverted gravity.
Which dungeon do you absolutely dread?
The subterranean floors of Zosma; good Lord. If they'd put a few fewer enemies in so you didn't have to fight so much when you reset the tower, maybe it'd have been better. I actually do dread the Mira mirror maze I mentioned in the previous question, as keeping track of where you're going in the fractured-perspective bits is tough, but the idea is so smart and unique that I wouldn't want to pull it.
Not a dreadful dungeon, actually: the so-called "Labyrinth" of Duhr. Map it, and it's easy-peasy. I actually went back there near the end of the game looking for remaining quest items and had lost my original map, but it took no time at all to make a new one.
Do you have any favorite quotes from the games?
Whenever this question comes up for any game I like, I can seldom think of any. I like, say, how much of the stuff in Lyude's character quest, but it's not phrased in any pithy, self-contained way that lends itself to snappy quoting. I suppose, then, I prefer dialogue that has a natural back-and-forth feel rather than lines constructed to call attention to themselves. If I had to choose, the one that's actually coming to mind is Kalas's "Why do I gotta be in charge of all our stuff?!?"
Which song(s) did you like the best?
To copy from my previous Baten Kaitos post: the Mintaka theme; the overworld theme; several of the boss-battle tunes. And "Chaotic Dance" will always be with me, like Phantasy Star III and eyelash mites.
Which continent would you like to live on?
Diadem, I think; Kim Basinger seems the most on-point of all the rulers, and living in the cotton-candy the background of a '80's airbrushed unicorn painting seems appealing. I like clouds and water and stars. I'm not partial to fishing, but nothing can be perfect, can it.
Did you ever collect ALL the magnus, in either/both games?
I don't have the patience for or interest in that sort of completionism. I can just look stuff up on the internet if interested.
Who was your favorite boss?
I'm trying to think here, and all I can come up with is the Iron Beetle that guards the entrance to Sheliak/Diadem, perhaps just because the fight takes place in a beautiful location and comes at a tense point, when the game is starting to get good. I'm not partial to the Iron Beetles themselves over other enemies, though they look nifty and all.
Y'know, I'm almost tempted to say the trio of Giacomo, Ayme & Folon, just for the novelty and genuine challenge of fighting a group of distinct personalities that behaved like an actual RPG party, healing and buffing each other and whatnot. I'm gonna do that, before the part of me that remembers that three-hour slog in the Celestial Alps comes along to slap me upside the head.
If you had wings of the heart, what do you think they would look like?
I think I'd be like the people of Alfard who don't have them.
It got a prequel; do you think Baten Kaitos should have a sequel, too? Why/not? What would you like to see in a sequel, such as glimpses of old characters or not, a different battle system, etc.?
I think there's a lot more you can do with this world. (For example, maybe in a sequel, they've begun building in the sky again?) I might like to know a *little* bit of what happened to the characters, if it's handled gracefully, but I do think the new tale should be far enough in the future where the main cast can't reappear. Lowers the chances of new material upstaging or messing with the first game.
What is the state of the team that made the original game, though? Any key figures get fired, leave, pass on, etc.? Lunar has taught us all about "be careful what you wish for" sequel situations; you can't hand these things over to just anyone.
.
Anyhow, here's a meme that originally included questions on both Baten Kaitos games, with the questions about Origins cut out.
Favorite character from Baten Kaitos?
I think that's been quite obvious.
Least favorite character from Baten Kaitos.
I'd ultimately have to go with Kalas here. As I've banged on about, I don't think the game came properly to grip with his villainy before moving past it, and I do get uniquely frustrated when a game elevates characters who're less-interesting but better fit the hero archetype at the expense of other, more-interesting characters. Granted, Kalas is much more interesting than most RPG main characters (not that that's a high bar, honestly), but he had the poor grace to tick me off.
(Geldoblame et al. kind of don't count; I mean, you're supposed to hate them, right?)
How did you discover Baten Kaitos?
I don't know. I saw screenshots of it somewhere and was impressed by the beauty and imagination of the locales. The impression stuck with me, and I had it in the back of my mind for the longest time to get a Gamecube just to play the title. I eventually did, albeit far later than I should've.
Were there any bosses you had particular trouble with?
Giacomo the second and third times, as mentioned. I had a harder time in an actual 3-on-3 fight against enemies with healing and stat buffs than I did against Malpercio's final form. Geldoblame, just because of his frequent use of instant death attacks. (It's tough to recover from losing characters in this game, given the random element at play in the availability of healing items and lack of resurrection items that restore an appreciable amount of HP.) Fadroh took a few tries, too, but I forget exactly why; I think he was just hitting too hard at the end, and I was losing the damage race.
I also had to replay Lyude's character quest a couple times, once due to the boss; Gibari was the only person standing at the end of the fight due to its instadeath attacks, and I didn't think it right for Lyude to be KO'd at the end of his own special boss fight. (The first replay was sparked by my accidentally triggering the boss fight early; you have to visit all the rooms in the phantom Goldoba and then go back to the central chamber, but there's no clue that this is the trigger for the no-return dungeon to end, and I did so without having thoroughly explored one room. What if I could've gotten a neat new weapon from an encounter? What if I missed a unique dialogue scene?! Fortunately, the scenario weathers replays well.)
Did any of the plot twists throughout the game come as a surprise to you? Or could you see them coming?
I saw Melodia as the real villain coming and figured out that she had taken the End Magnus, albeit too late for the little Guardian Spirit Q & A on it. Considering how selfishly and amorally Kalas behaves in the first half of the game, I did have "is he gonna turn?" in the back of my mind, but I didn't expect that he had been colluding with the enemy since before the game even started. "I *am* the ocean" was also a surprise, though the whole ocean thing had surprisingly little, if anything, to do with the actual main story.
Which character could be your best friend in real life? Would any of them be your complete opposite or enemy?
It'd be nice if Lyude would. And Xelha seems friendly with everyone. I tend to think that the videogame characters I like deserve better friends than me, though.
Who’s your favorite pairing, canon or not?
I don't think I have one. I didn't want Kalas and Xelha to be parted at the end of the game, but I'm kinda not convinced he deserves her.
You had to have a favorite team in Baten Kaitos to fight with - so who were/are your three best fighters?
I mentioned throughout my play reports that I found Xelha to be the real protagonist of Baten Kaitos, so she was default party leader once Kalas split. Mages are pretty powerful in Baten Kaitos, and the various Light-elemental finishers Xelha has are quite useful; I stocked her up with Light, Fire, and Wind cards and let her go to town. (Mizuti's powerful, too, but her affinity for Dark and Chrono isn't as useful, and there's that voice with which to contend. That said, she was pretty much rocking it at the end of the game - but her voice didn't get any better.)
Naturally, Dweeb was in my party most of the time - personality favoritism aside, his affinity for Light weapons is very useful in the game, and he has pretty good offensive power (and decent agility) even without it. Plus, attacking with brass instruments: that's just classy. He actually wasn't doing quite as much damage consistently as other choices in the endgame, even with his Light weapons, but then the other choices in the endgame weren't somersaulting into giant cannons made of light for their finishing moves.
From there, either Savyna or Gibari. I actually used Gibari with Xelha & Lyude for much of the second half, as the enemies you're facing at any given time zip about in their vulnerability to ice or fire, so it's easy for Savyna to take a cut in attack power. Gibari's wide range of elements/slight Wind concentration was more useful.
Were there any scenes or moments that were totally sad / epic / hilarious / aggravating to you?
Sad: The whole thing with Lyude on the ghost ship, particularly the "I always wanted your love! I did my utmost to earn it!" and "I tried... I tried..." breakdowns. Giacomo's death, in that he really did care for Ayme & Folon and last wishes were for them to be safe and happy, and that they really did care for him. "I don't think I can see the whale with you...", even though the larger context of that scene does not lend itself to sympathy from me. Xelha choosing death at the end. The last goodbye.
Also, this doesn't qualify per se, but I did let out a pathetic "Ohhhh! Meemai!" when he (she?) jumped in front of Kalas during the confrontation with him to try to get him to come back.
Epic: That final-dungeon music certainly was epic. Kalas's heel turn was epic in that it left me with a big sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I guess Ayme & Folon taking charge of their continent's End Magnus energy was kind of epic, even though the scene surrounding it is sort-of low-rent.
Hilarious: The whole argument about who was going to eat their way out of the candy house. The sheer magnitude and out-of-left-field quality of Lyude's drama and character tics were a constant source of hilarity ("Who the hell do these dangly, sparkly earrings go to?").
Aggravating: That bit in the Celestial Alps where I had to fight Giacomo twice in a row after losing twice. The subterranean Zosma levels.
Aside from the moderately horrendous voice-acting of random people and a lot of the NPCs, what did you think of the voice-acting for the main characters and some of the other bigger ones (such as the leaders of the continents)?
Kalas and Xelha came across to me as a bit cartoony first, but I adjusted to them fairly quickly; I think they're fine, and Kalas's actor adds some likable panache and casual character to his lines, particularly in some of his special-attack battle cries or when he's being kinda jerky. Gibari's pretty good, and though he can be goofy at times, that's OK, 'cause the character himself is kinda consciously goofy. Savyna is pretty excellent, always all-business and genuinely menacing when the occasion calls for it; probably the most consistently strong voice in the game. I've gone on about Lyude before, but I thought that the "weak points" in his performance actually ended up effectively underlining aspects of Lyude's character, and the actor does a good job with Lyude's breakdowns on the phantom Goldoba; I wouldn't have traded him in. The only main character whose voice I really didn't like was Mizuti; that giggly, pidginy, kiddy, processed voice is hard on the ears. I greatly prefer her unmasked voice, which is actually rather pleasant in its singsong quality.
Major supporting characters: Ladekahn's OK and has his moments but is kind of stiff. (Again, though, the character is kind of stiff, but that doesn't excuse the total performance.) Corellia is stagey. Calbren is stagey and a bit cartoony but all right, I guess; Rodolfo is all right. Melodia could be a little more natural. Geldoblame is actually pretty menacing and focused, commanding yet quite obviously spoiled and overindulged; one of the better voices, even though he doesn't get many lines.
I've mentioned this before, but Giacomo, despite having one of the smoother, more professional voices, falls so squarely into the Disney Villain archetype vocally that he ends up sounding, at least on first listen, rather trite and derivative and slightly miscast. Ayme is kind of hokey at times, particularly when she's making pompous threats; she's better when she's speaking more normally, such at the end of the confrontation in the Celestial Alps. For Folon, they were consciously going for an actively annoying voice, and I can only say that in that objective they did indeed succeed.
We never see Lyude with wings in the game - do you think he hides them (from the Empire), or do you think he has none? What do you think they would look like?
I'm partial to the idea that Lyude has wings he just doesn't show that're in a bad state due to his bad mental state. I know the artbook says that the people of the Empire have lost their wings, so he probably just doesn't have them, but eh. Fanart reveals a lot of ideas for a winged Lyude; I think I like this one the best, as it nicely fits his palette. That, or simple black or grey traditional bird's wings.
Favorite and least favorite towns and/or continents.
Favorite: It'd be easier to say what I don't like. I love the celestial heaven of Diadem, with its airborne rivers, and the vibrant colors and plant life in Anuenue and Komo Mai in general. I love the look of Mira overall, with the continent's scintillating, phantasmic brilliance and the piecemeal craziness of its towns and dungeons.
Least favorite: Sadal Suud is extremely impressive when you first start the game, as Moonguile Forest with its insects that hop through the lush, lowlit foliage and Cebalrai with its thick waves of windtossed grain in rainbow colors are so lovingly rendered, especially when compared with the locales of other titles. But then you start wandering to other continents and discover places that are not only beautifully rendered but have truly original ideas behind them, and Sadal Suud just can't shake the feeling of genericism in its starting-townness. That said, it still beats to heck 75% of what's out there in other RPGs.
In Baten Kaitos, when Kalas seems to have lost an End Magnus, they make it seem as if someone in the group stole it. Were you convinced you thought you knew who it was?
No; I dismissed the whole "one of us is a traitor!" idea out-of-hand as just a red herring.
Any favorite animal(s) from the Baten Kaitos world?
Well, everyone answers "Greythornes" to this, don't they.
Favorite finisher?
Finale for sheer overblown, hilarious spectacle; Intermezzo has a nice sense of timing and drama, Lyude being underlit and all. Crescendo looks cloudy and flashy and makes a good deal of noise. Blue Storm isn't a bad basic special. (And, no, this question wasn't in the original meme, but I'm including it.)
Do you have any theories, about anything? Continuity, a character’s past, the librarian’s fate, what becomes of Sagi and Milly, will people continue to have wings of the heart, etc…
See above re: wings & Lyude. Also the previous post about the age at which Gibari left the knights; if events have to unfold as Origins presents, I'd like to think he rejoined after emotions cooled and just left again for whatever reason several years before the first game.
Which dungeon did you enjoy?
The whole optical-illusion/"multiple fractured perspectives" dungeon that led to the Mira End Magnus was kind of a pain in the neck but had a refreshing idea; I could've stood a few more levels of it, a few more variations on its very good themes. Detourne was also all right, I suppose, with the Tower of Druaga bit and the puzzle element involving the blocks and inverted gravity.
Which dungeon do you absolutely dread?
The subterranean floors of Zosma; good Lord. If they'd put a few fewer enemies in so you didn't have to fight so much when you reset the tower, maybe it'd have been better. I actually do dread the Mira mirror maze I mentioned in the previous question, as keeping track of where you're going in the fractured-perspective bits is tough, but the idea is so smart and unique that I wouldn't want to pull it.
Not a dreadful dungeon, actually: the so-called "Labyrinth" of Duhr. Map it, and it's easy-peasy. I actually went back there near the end of the game looking for remaining quest items and had lost my original map, but it took no time at all to make a new one.
Do you have any favorite quotes from the games?
Whenever this question comes up for any game I like, I can seldom think of any. I like, say, how much of the stuff in Lyude's character quest, but it's not phrased in any pithy, self-contained way that lends itself to snappy quoting. I suppose, then, I prefer dialogue that has a natural back-and-forth feel rather than lines constructed to call attention to themselves. If I had to choose, the one that's actually coming to mind is Kalas's "Why do I gotta be in charge of all our stuff?!?"
Which song(s) did you like the best?
To copy from my previous Baten Kaitos post: the Mintaka theme; the overworld theme; several of the boss-battle tunes. And "Chaotic Dance" will always be with me, like Phantasy Star III and eyelash mites.
Which continent would you like to live on?
Diadem, I think; Kim Basinger seems the most on-point of all the rulers, and living in the cotton-candy the background of a '80's airbrushed unicorn painting seems appealing. I like clouds and water and stars. I'm not partial to fishing, but nothing can be perfect, can it.
Did you ever collect ALL the magnus, in either/both games?
I don't have the patience for or interest in that sort of completionism. I can just look stuff up on the internet if interested.
Who was your favorite boss?
I'm trying to think here, and all I can come up with is the Iron Beetle that guards the entrance to Sheliak/Diadem, perhaps just because the fight takes place in a beautiful location and comes at a tense point, when the game is starting to get good. I'm not partial to the Iron Beetles themselves over other enemies, though they look nifty and all.
Y'know, I'm almost tempted to say the trio of Giacomo, Ayme & Folon, just for the novelty and genuine challenge of fighting a group of distinct personalities that behaved like an actual RPG party, healing and buffing each other and whatnot. I'm gonna do that, before the part of me that remembers that three-hour slog in the Celestial Alps comes along to slap me upside the head.
If you had wings of the heart, what do you think they would look like?
I think I'd be like the people of Alfard who don't have them.
It got a prequel; do you think Baten Kaitos should have a sequel, too? Why/not? What would you like to see in a sequel, such as glimpses of old characters or not, a different battle system, etc.?
I think there's a lot more you can do with this world. (For example, maybe in a sequel, they've begun building in the sky again?) I might like to know a *little* bit of what happened to the characters, if it's handled gracefully, but I do think the new tale should be far enough in the future where the main cast can't reappear. Lowers the chances of new material upstaging or messing with the first game.
What is the state of the team that made the original game, though? Any key figures get fired, leave, pass on, etc.? Lunar has taught us all about "be careful what you wish for" sequel situations; you can't hand these things over to just anyone.
.
