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Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean

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Baten Kaitos<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;">
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Baten Kaitos game box
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Developer(s) tri-Crescendo
Monolith Soft

<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)</th><td>Namco</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Designer(s)</th><td>Yasuyuki Honne</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Engine</th><td>Unique</td></tr>

Release date(s) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Japan December 5, 2003
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:North America November 16, 2004
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Europe April 1, 2005
Genre(s) RPG
Mode(s) Single player

<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>CERO: Free
ESRB: T (Teen)
PEGI: 12+
OFLC: M</td></tr>

Platform(s) GameCube

<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media</th><td>2 × GameCube Optical Disc</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Input</th><td>Standard GameCube controller</td></tr>

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (バテン・カイトス 終わらない翼と失われた海?) is a role-playing video game that was developed by tri-Crescendo and Monolith Soft and published by Namco for the Nintendo GameCube. First released in Japan in 2003, the game is the first entry in the Baten Kaitos series, and tells the story of a young man named Kalas and his companion Xelha, who live in an aerial island-based kingdom in the clouds.


Contents

Synopsis

The story begins with Kalas, the main character, waking up in a hospital run by Larikush, Cebelrai Village's local doctor. At the moment, he seems to recall little more than a desire to seek revenge against the Empire, who murdered his family and burned down his home. The player acts in the role of the Guardian Spirit, a mystical being from another world who is bonded to Kalas, lending him strength and wisdom. After greeting his rescuer, an odd, but intelligent animal named Meemai, Kalas decides to investigate the area where he was found unconscious, Moonguile Forest. There, Kalas encounters, and reluctantly rescues, Xelha from a Sabre Dragon. Although seemingly naive, Xelha convinces Kalas to bring her along into the ruins where she was originally intending to visit.

Within the ruins, the two come upon a spring, and Xelha's medallion inadvertently releases a giant serpent, aptly named the Lord of the Spring. After defeating it, a shining golden magnus appears. Almost immediately, an airship from Alfard comes from out of nowhere, and out comes Giacomo. Recognizing Giacomo as his family's murderer, Kalas attempts to kill Giacomo. Unfortunately Giacomo is too fast, quickly proceeding to kidnap Xelha, take the golden magnus, and knock Kalas out cold. When Kalas wakes up, he quickly sets off to track down the airship by any means possible. Hurrying to Pherkad, Sadal Suud's capital, Kalas sneaks into the Lord's Mansion. Picking up Xelha on the way, Kalas rushes onto the airship and tries to fight Giacomo again. After a heated battle, both Kalas and Xelha are blown off the airship by Giacomo's magic. Now on the run from Imperial Soldiers, the two escape by getting on a ride to Diadem at the last moment possible.

In Diadem, a cloud-covered island, they meet Gibari, a fisherman, and Lyude, the ambassador to Diadem from the Empire. After lowering the water level of Diadem's Lesser Celestial River, they leave with Gibari for the capital where they are welcomed by its King, Ladekahn. They soon figure out that the Empire is after the "End Magnus", Magnus cards that have the power of an evil god named Malpercio. Kalas, Xelha, Gibari, and Lyude find one of the five End Magnus in Diadem, but it is stolen from them. In Diadem, the party also learns of an ancient race of wizards, who originally defeated and sealed Malpercio thousands of years ago.

They then travel to Anuenue, a neutral nation devoted to magic and knowledge, to find the next End Magnus; while there, they confront the emperor of Alfard, Geldoblame, and meet Savyna, an ex-mercenary for the Empire. They beseech the queen Corellia for aid, but she refuses on the grounds of political neutrality. However Savyna agrees to aid the party in obtaining an End Magnus. The party also encounters one of Giacomo's henchmen, Folon, barely escaping from him with their lives.

The group then tries to travel to Mira, Kalas' home nation, through the Trail of Souls, a border between dimensions. On the way, they encounter Giacomo again in his flying Goldoba and are shot down. Falling through the trail lands them in the Outer Dimension, an area where no one has been known to return from. Yet somehow they find help from a strange and androgynous being named Mitzuti who leads them to a warp hole exit. Making it to Mira, the party enters Detourne, the Mystical Garden. After making their way through the garden's illusions and tricks, the party encounters the shadow of an End Magnus, essentially a swarm of leftover bits of the power of the real End Magnus. Defeating and collecting it, the party goes back to Parnasse to try to find some more clues to the location of the real End Magnus. They are then arrested for the kidnapping of Lady Melodia, a local noble. Escaping from the town of candy by eating their way out, the party flees to the dark forest called Nekton. There they encounter Giacomo again holding Melodia as hostage. Before they are able to begin battle, the forest spirits respond to the hostility between them and a dimensional rip appears allowing a creature of darkness to attack the party. Giacomo and his comrades flee leaving Kalas and his friends to fend off the monster. Melodia intervenes and calms the creature down, convincing it to go back to sleep. Afterwards, Kalas is stunned to find that the only End Magnus that they had is gone, somehow stolen or dropped. The party retraces their whole route to try and find the lost End Magnus, but it is found nowhere.

Inviting the party to her home in Balancoire, the party meets Duke Calbren, Melodia's grandfather. Explaining the dire situation to Calbren, it is revealed that the End Magnus of Mira resides under Calbren's mansion inside Coccolith, the Labyrinth of Mirrors. Giacomo rudely interrupts again and dashes downstairs to claim the End Magnus. Trailing him, Kalas and co rush downstairs only to be confronted by the End Magnus' guardian, Phantasm. After defeating it, the End Magnus starts to react with the shadow End Magnus picked up earlier. Mizuti draws off the excess energy and Kalas seals the End Magnus with its shadow. Giacomo then in turn snatches the End Magnus and runs off. In Balancoire, the group also hears an old woman's tale of why the ocean disappeared and the islands rose into the sky so many years ago: when Malpercio was defeated by the wizards, his evil had already ravaged the Earth. The ocean was lost, and the Taintclouds formed above the earth to seal away Malpercio's taint from the islands in the sky.

Finally, the group of six heads to Alfard, where they intend to stop Geldoblame once and for all. After witnessing the state of the Empire firsthand, they confront Geldoblame in the Lava Caves, where the last End Magnus lies. Geldoblame summons the power of the five End Magnus to transform him into a godlike being, however, the resulting creature is horribly misshapen and deformed (though still quite powerful.) After defeating the twisted Geldoblame, it is revealed that Melodia, a relatively insignificant character up to this point, has been the one behind the Empire's plot the entire time, and that Kalas has been working for her from the start. The power of the five partially unsealed End Magnus transforms Kalas, replacing his single black wing with two beautiful white wings. Now "whole", Kalas rejects the Guardian Spirit as he has no need for it anymore and helps capture his former allies.

Xelha awakens in an Imperial cell separated from the rest of the party. She rediscovers and bonds with the lingering Spirit that Kalas rejected earlier. Escaping with the help of three witches, Xelha is able to return to Anuenue and contact Queen Corellia. After rescuing the other members of the party, Xelha decides to search for a means to break the hold Melodia has over Kalas and save the world. The forgetten ice nation of Wazn, which has not had contact with the other lands for several centuries, is determined to be their last possible source of salvation. After breaking through the wards placed around the nation, the party enters Wazn and it is revealed tha Xelha is actually the current Ice Queen of Wazn. Once inside Wazn, the Ocean Mirror, an ancient artifact which is said to have to power to purify evil forces, is claimed by Xelha after passing a test by the past Ice Queens of Wazn.

With the mirror in their possession, the party journeys to the Imperial Fortress to confront Kalas. After facing their old comrade in battle, Xelha attempts to use the Mirror on Kalas, but quickly discovers that doing so will kill him instead of merely purifying the evil within him. Eventually, Kalas realizes the value of his friends and attempts to break the End Magnus' spell on himself. He finally manages this by tearing off the white wing given to him by Malpercio.Revealing her motives for keeping the party alive, Melodia then steals the power of the party's friendship and trust to completely unseal the End Magnus. This in turn revives the evil god Malpercio in a physical form. Mizuti then tries to stop Malpercio by calling on the help of her fellow wizards. However, even with the combined strength of the Children of the Earth, Malpercio is able to barely escape with Melodia to Cor Hydrae, his demon-filled castle that he summons from a different dimension. From behind Cor Hydrae's defensive shields, monsters appear and begin to attack the five islands.

Retreating to Alfard, Kalas offers an apology to the party for deceiving them. Quickly accepting this, Xelha then returns the Guardian Spirit to Kalas again. Putting on his old Winglet, Kalas rejoins the party and starts making plans to somehow counter Malpercio's attacks. Mizuti's origins are brought up as a possible source of support. Revealing her homeland to be under the Taintclouds, Mizuti explains that she is one of the Children of the Earth, a tribe of humans that remained on the ground even after everyone else left for the sky. The Children of the Earth are all descended from the great ancient wizards that originally sealed Malpercio away. The party agrees to seek out the rest of the tribe in hopes that at least some of the power of these wizards could help in the fight against Malpercio.

After a great deal of convincing on the part of Mizuti, the party descends to Duhr through the Taintclouds, and arrive in Mizuti's hometown, Gemma Village, by way of the Labyrinth of Duhr. After arriving at Gemma, and being introduced to its leader, the Great Kamroh, the party learns of a third magical artifact, the Sword of the Heavens, kept in the nearby Capella, Garden of Death. Upon arriving in the Garden, however, it is discovered that the sword is no longer present. After travelling to Algorab Village, Kalas and everyone learn that Krumly, mayor of the village, has stolen the sword and is currently heading to Zosma Tower, where he intends to break the seal on Durh, summon Malpercio, and offer him the Sword in return for a new home above the Taintclouds, in the sky. Kalas and co. rush to the top of Zosma, but are too late to stop Krumly from breaking the seal. However, when Malpercio shows up, he and Melodia attack Krumly, and fly off to Algorab to kill the villagers and destroy the descendants of the wizards who originally destroyed him. The party follows Malpercio to Algorab, and manage to defeat him. He and Melodia then retreat to the Cor Hydrae, but not before destroying the Sword of the Heavens. He then flies off, leaving everyone weary but alive.

After the battle, Kalas returns to Cebalrai to visit Larikush, the doctor who saved him in the beginning of the game. It is here that he finally learns of his past: he was created in an experiment conducted by Larikush and the man he thought to be his grandfather, Georg, in the Empire. He was born from a magnus, as was his brother Fee, but after the emperor ordered Georg to kill Kalas, he staged his own death and fled to Mira with Kalas, Fee, and Larikush, who later went to Cebalrai. It was two years later that Giacomo came to Mira and murdered Georg and Fee. Kalas is then directed to the Celestial Alps, where Larikush says Georg left him something.

After climbing to the top of the Celestial Alps, Kalas and company face off against Giacomo and his lackeys, Ayme and Folon. After a long and heated battle, Kalas comes out the victor, but the battle is not without casualties; Giacomo is killed. With his dying breath, he commands Ayme and Folon to drop their grudge with Kalas and help him save the world. The two meet him halfway; after Giacomo passes, they leave in peace, vowing not to fight Kalas again. Kalas also learns that the reason he survived his wounds after Giacomo's attack is that Fee, who was created from a pure and divine magnus, the Magnus of Life, was absorbed into him as he died. So now, Kalas contains within him the Magnus of Life which is the opposite of Malpercio's End Magnus.

After traveling around the islands once more to tie up loose ends and discover more of the pasts of the party members, Kalas and the party together with the world's leaders, Rodolfo, Ladekahn, Corellia, and Calbren decide that it is now time to attack Cor Hydrae, Malpercio's demonic castle, and end the war for good. However, the Cor Hydrae is protected by a near-unbreakable forcefield. In a stroke of genius, the leaders decide to use the residual power left in each island by the End Magnus to destroy the forcefield; their attempt is successful, and the group enters Cor Hydrae.

After battling through Cor Hydrae's many traps, and defeating five evil gods, the group finally reaches the main chamber of Cor Hydrae, and face off against Malpercio. They defeat him, but just before he was about to be destroyed, Melodia fused herself with Malpercio, not only restoring him to full power, but creating a whole new form, even stronger than before. Atop Cor Hydrae, Kalas and co. face off against Malpercio one last time, and after a long, grueling fight are able to immobilize him. While Mizuti holds Malpercio off with her magic, Kalas enters Malpercio in an attempt to save Melodia. After doing so, Melodia instructs the Guardian Spirit to use its power to recreate the three artifacts, the Sword of the Heavens, the Ocean Mirror, and the Earth Sphere. The three artifacts are then made whole by the power of the End Magnus, the Magnus of Life, and the Guardian Spirit together, and Malpercio is destroyed once and for all. The islands then descend to the Earth, righting the wrong that was made when Malpercio originally was destroyed. However, one component is still missing; the ocean is absent.

After an emotional conversation in which Kalas and Xelha reveal feelings for each other, Xelha tells Kalas that the Ocean is contained within her, and that it had been the duty of the Ice Queens for generations to protect the Ocean until the time was right for it to be released onto the world again. Immediately after Xelha reveals her purpose to Kalas, Geldoblame reapears as a manifestation of the earth itself. He is easily defeated by Kalas and Xelha, after which Kalas and Xelha agree to release the ocean from Xelha, an act that could end Xelha's life. After a tearful prayer between Xelha, Kalas, and the Guardian Spirit, Xelha collapses, and disappears, leaving Kalas alone. Almost immediately, salty rain begins to fall from the sky, and does not stop until the space between the islands is filled with the Ocean; it has finally returned to the world.

In the final scene of the game, a young boy (Cedr) is running along the shore when he finds a metal object that intrigues him. Bringing it to Kalas, he identifies that it is Xelha's pendant in which her voice can be heard through. Kalas takes the pendant and observes it, when immediately the pendant gives off a burst of water, which then takes the form of Xelha. The two tearfully embrace, and then say their goodbyes as Kalas severs the bond between himself and the Guardian Spirit, allowing it to return to its home world, for the world of Baten Kaitos has been saved from the evil of Malpercio.

Cast

Playable characters

Guardian Spirit

A creature (in reality, the player) that watches over Kalas and his party. Kalas occasionally addresses the spirit by turning toward the screen and asking him/her to make a decision. The decisions the player makes affect the amount of Spirit Magnus Kalas (and Xelha, for a small part of the game) receive in battle. As the player can create the Spirit's name, it is left out of voiced dialogue, in an awkwardly direct manner, as in; "You can hear... 's voice too?"

Kalas

(Age: 18, 19 towards end of game) (Voiced by Eric Kelso in the English version and Kosuke Toriumi in the Japanese Version)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Kalas, the main character of Baten Kaitos
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Kalas, the main character of Baten Kaitos

Due to being born without one of his Wings of the Heart, he is considered to be malformed and monstrous. Because of this, he was scorned by many, and this left him a somewhat bitter young man. His grandfather built him a custom Winglet that would grow with Kalas as a functional substitute for his missing left Wing of the Heart. After his little brother and grandfather, the only lights in his life, were murdered, he set out on a quest for revenge. Kalas' recklessness and desire for vengeance made him vow he would do anything to kill the one who murdered his family, Giacomo. To this end he allied with himself with Melodia, who helped him contract a Guardian Spirit, who would lend him the power to achieve his revenge. In return, Kalas would aid Melodia in resurrecting the evil god, Malpercio. In addition, Melodia promised Kalas beautiful white wings once the god was resurrected. The spirit he contracted eventually rebels against this, but its memory is erased by a spell so it would lend Kalas its power once more.

For these manipulative purposes, Kalas keeps most of this a secret for the first half of the game, and says that he is focused on revenge for his family. Eventually Kalas and Melodia succeed in their goals of releasing the End Magnus. However, when Xelha and his other friends come to try and stop them from fully allowing Malpercio to be brought into the world, Xelha's final prayer before her death by Kalas' hand and his old guardian spirit rejecting him, makes him realize that she was trusting and supported him even though she knew he was lying. With this realization Kalas is capable of escaping his own bitterness, and releases himself from Malpercio's grasp, a feat that a normal mortal could not hope to accomplish even with the help of sacred items. Kalas rejected the power of Malpercio by tearing his left wing, his new wing, out of his back. After the battle with Malpercio, Kalas rejoins the party, this time honestly seeking to undo the wrongs he has done.

Afterwards, the group of heroes spend their time looking for any means to stop Malpercio. Then Larikush, an old colleague of Kalas' grandfather who was a great genius, revealed that Kalas was born not from a human, but from magnus. Because of this, the fortuneteller (earlier in the game) couldn't see his 'magnus', in this context the part of a lifeform which becomes lost when storing it inside a card, making that process impossible. It was an attempt of his grandfather to unravel those cards' secrets and the secrets of life itself. However, Kalas himself was imperfect, which is why he had only one soulwing. Further experiments finally birthed Fee, Kalas' little brother, who was the perfect lifeform, and referred to as the 'divine child'. Kalas, in a final showdown with Giacomo, the murderer of his Kalas' family, had an epiphany himself. He discovered that he would have died the night of the murders, were it not for his brother who used his powers to save Kalas from the brink of death, and in the process transferred the powers to him, making Kalas the new 'divine child', destined to face off against Malpercio. It is because he has the power of the 'divine child' that Kalas is able to escape from the hold Malpercio has on him.

After the battle had been won, and man returned to the earth, the unleashing of the ocean also made everyone's wings of the heart disappear, in effect also releasing Kalas from his handicap. This, and the relation with Xelha he ends up in in the end, leaves Kalas with everything he needed and strived for during the game.

Xelha

(Age: 17) (Voiced by Bianca Allen in the English version and Chiaki Takahashi in the Japanese Version)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Xelha, the heroine of Baten Kaitos
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Xelha, the heroine of Baten Kaitos

She is actually the Ice Queen, of the royal lineage of Wazn, the rumoured Ice Kingdom, which floats on the cold edge of the world. The royal line has the ocean sealed inside them, protecting it, but are destined to have to sacrifice themselves when the earth will be regained, to return it. This fate is one which Xelha seems to accept, but wrestles with none the less.

The witches of Wazn had sensed the disturbances as two major occurrences towards Malpercio's resurrection were taking place: the resurrection of Melodia and her alliance with Kalas a few years afterwards. At the former they sent out three witches to investigate. At the latter, Xelha herself was haunted by a dream that made her lose all her magic power and motivated her to set out herself, in line with what she promised her late mother. The head witch suspected the dream to have been most terrifying, but in reality it had been a dream of Kalas, covered by a veil of darkness, clutching his little brother. Xelha's sympathy for this young man is what drove her to set out on a journey.

She infiltrated the empire, and found out about its plans of releasing the end magnus to lay its hands on the power of Malpercio. To counter this, she stole a pendant which appeared to be important to the empire's plans, and went to Sadal Suud to find out more, where she encountered the boy from her dream, bearing witness as Melodia put a spell on him to erase his spirit's memory. She realized that Kalas was somehow involved in a dark plot, and wanted to support him and help him escape from what he had gotten involved in. And so, mostly by Xelha's efforts, the two of them come to travel together, making friends along the way.

However, despite her best efforts to bond with Kalas, he betrays them, leaving Xelha devastated. But the fact that his former spirit is willing and capable of contracting with her makes her realise that, as she suspected, she and Kalas are in many ways the same, and that manages to cheer her up a bit. Eventually Kalas redeems himself, and the two of them come to be travelling together again, with their shared experience as spirit guides deepening their relationship. But during their travels, time and time again, Xelha finds herself faced with her own fate. That even should they win and live through the ordeal, she will likely have to sacrifice herself in the end.

When the final battle's won and the race of man has reclaimed the earth, she finds herself with Kalas, the both of them coming into grips with their relationship and her fate. Despite not really wanting to, Xelha manages to convince Kalas of the necessity of her sacrifice, and together with the spirit that binds them, they unseal the ocean. But they are faced with a physical manifestation of Xelha's latent power, her more selfish desires, her fears and hatred, as it violently attempts to prevent Xelha's sacrifice. By working together the three overpower this desire. Xelha then dies, her body disintegrating on site, and heavy salty rain pours down on the world and the earth is returned to its former state.

Kalas promises to keep her in his heart forever. However, at the end, Xelha was resurrected by the whale, one of the ancient gods that had secretly been living amongst man in the shape of a race of creatures called 'greythornes'. This is out of thanks for her efforts without which Malpercio would undoubtedly have triumphed.

In battle, Xelha's magic can be absolutely devastating. But, like most spell-casters, she is going to need protection and healing. Near the middle of the game, Xelha will become your lead party member, and by the time the entire party is reunited, she will be even stronger than Kalas. BUT Kalas will easily catch up to her level if you train a lot.

Gibari

(Age: 34) (Voiced by Jeff Gedert in the English version and Kiyoyuki Yanada in the Japanese Version)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Gibari, a fisherman from Baten Kaitos
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Gibari, a fisherman from Baten Kaitos

Gibari is a fisherman from Nashira, a small fishing village in Diadem. Its population is rather set in its ways and believes that it is best not to help outsiders. Gibari views this as superstition and breaks the rules when it suits his purposes. This sometimes causes friction between him and the locals (including the fisherman and later friend, Reblys) who view his defiance of custom as selfish and headstrong. Gibari is on good terms with the barmaid Anna.

He meets Kalas and Xelha at a time when the village is in trouble because the overflowing sidestream of the Lesser Celestial River is preventing everyone from catching enough fish. They ask him to give them a lift to the capital, where they wish to talk to the king, a personal friend of Gibari's from his days as a knight. He allows this, only if Xelha and Kalas agree to help him with finding the cause for the overflowing river. After they kill a monster causing the damage, an invasion of the kingdom by the empire gives Gibari motivation to accompany Xelha and Kalas to the capital to sadve his country in distress. During their time together, Gibari slowly learns of The Empire's evil motives, and that Kalas and Xelha are trying to stop them, and becomes so invested he decides to accompany the two for the duration of the game.

Later, disaster almost strikes, as Anna leaves the village alone to search for seaweed which has curative properties in order to save one of the children of the village who has contracted a bad disease which might lead to death. Reblys, the leader of the village, had followed her to make sure she was safe. Gibari was in the neighbourhood searching for clues on a legendary fish of "Moby Dick" proportions, the river lord. He follows and catches up with them on the banks of the Lesser Celestial River. The river is flowing too wildly however, making it impossible to retrieve the weed. Gibari and Reblys then attempt at catching a fish with the weed still stuck between its teeth. They manage to hook none other than the river lord, and through the hardship of having to catch it together, a friendship develops between Gibari and Reblys. It's a relationship supported more by competition than mutual interests, but it does offer Gibari a way out of his inner conflict between sticking to his own rules and giving way by adapting to others for social considerations. He seems to enjoy alternatly conversing with and argueing with Savyna.

Gibari wields an aklys-like weapon. He is usually used as a strong physical sweeper, with high Attack and Defense. His Finishers, though somewhat uninspired compared to the others, are nonetheless powerful. He is capable of effectively using all kinds of elemental weapons, though about three fourths of his magnus are wind or water based.

Lyude

(Age: 18) (Voiced by Thomas Meleski in the English version and Daisuke Kishio in the Japanese Version)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Lyude, an imperial officer from Baten Kaitos
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Lyude, an imperial officer from Baten Kaitos

An ambassador of the empire in Diadem. He is forced by his own moral convictions to regretfully betray his country during the invasion of Diadem. This was however, not entirely unexpected. Lyude was member of an aristocratic family in the empire and had already expressed displeasement with the empire's methods when he boycotted a genocidal operation against a small mining village, Azha, which rose up against the hard work which was pressed on them. So The Empire used him, by controlling him through magical means, to lay its hands on the end magnus of Diadem. This left Lyude an outcast, a traitor to his own country who didn't feel he was worth the trust of others, and on many instances thought himself to be the main suspect when matters of trust were involved.

Lyude is faced with a bigger dilemma as the party infiltrated into The Empire, where he is forced to take arm against his fellow countrymen, and against his family. He is unable to do this, but his surrogate mother saves him, leading to her own death. Lyude was now totally a moral wreck, but managed to suppress his inner conflict on whether he should leave his past behind him or not for now. He started looking to other cultures for answers to his question on what to do, as is apparent from his continuous interest in how others live.

Once the empire had entirely crumbled away, he was faced with ghosts portraying to be his dead comerades and family, as they attempt to persuade him to join them in death, as a redemption for the fall of his country which he had caused. Lyude almost agreed to this, but was pulled from the brink of despair by the memory of his surrogate mother, who had taught him that answers were only found by oneself, never bestowed. And so he stands up against his inner ghosts, still not certain on what to do, but confident to look for answers himself.

At the party celebrating the end of the war against Malpercio, Lyude lets himself be persuaded by Kalas to help rebuild a new empire, and perhaps lead it himself. The fact that he follows up on this advice appears to imply thadt Lyude has found his answer, and also laid his inner conflict to rest.

Combat-wise, Lyude is a popular choice. His weapon appears to be a gun, modified from a trumpet. All of his offensive Magnus fall under either Neutral, Light, or Dark elements. Since most bosses and a sizeable chunk of monsters fall under either Light or Dark elements, Lyude makes an ideal party member to take along. In keeping theme with his bizarre weapon, all of his Finisher Magnus are named after musical terms (Sforzando, Intermezzo, Overture, Rhapsody, ect).

Savyna

(Age: 25) (Voiced by Rachel Walzer in the English version and Mayumi Asano in the Japanese Version)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Savyna, an ex-mercenary from Baten Kaitos
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Savyna, an ex-mercenary from Baten Kaitos

A former elite soldier from the Empire, who goes by the nickname 'Lady Death'. She used to be part of the Mad Wolf Unit, but quit some 2 years ago, after having witnessed the murdering of Kalas, Fee and Georg. She led a wandering life since then, making a living with jobs as bodyguard, mercenary and hunter. She was also involved with the genocide operation in Azha. Despite being raised as an emotionless killing machine, she had gotten to be emotionally troubled with killing, especially of innocent children. Incapable to deal with these emotions she scoured the land, looking for a way to deal with herself. There she met a fortune teller, who told her she should wait in Anuenue, for a girl and her friends, which would signal the opening of the curtains of a battle that would fill the void within her and smooth the agony inside her. Since it was all the same to her, Savyna followed up on this advice and waited.

Half a year later, Xelha and co. arrived, and Savyna recognised them as the ones foretold to be coming. She stalked them for a while, and helped them out as they were facing certain doom at Folon's hands. She told Xelha and co. where to meet up with her and then disappeared again for a while. After meeting up again, she guided the team to the Celestial Tree, where the End Magnus of Anuenue was hidden. They retrieved the End Magnus, but then Lyude accused her of being an imperial, which she didn't deny. A fight broke out between her and the team, but afterwards she put all at ease, saying that she was not an imperial, that she merely was looking for the fight promised to her, which she gathered was besides the rest of them, against the empire and the power of Malpercio. And so she joined the team.

During their travels, Savyna came upon former friends and victims alike. She became more and more convinced of the futility and needlesness of battle. So much that in the end, she decided to leave her life as a warrior behind and explore other interests such as cooking. In this way, she was able to escape her inner conflict between life and death, the only two parameters which actually matter in battle.

Savyna is a hand-to-hand combatant. In battle, she is easily capable of landing the most hits on an enemy, yet her relatively poor Defense means she needs healing/reviving more often than other characters. Her Magnus are either Neutral, Fire, or Water based, which makes her comparable to Lyude in terms of usefulness in boss battles.

Mizuti

(Age: 14) (Voiced by Yuko Yunokawa in the English version and Eriko Nakayama in the Japanese Version)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Mizuti, a masked character from Baten Kaitos
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Mizuti, a masked character from Baten Kaitos

One of the Children of the Earth, the descendants of the Great mages that warred against the gods 1000 years ago. Over the last millennium their power has waned, and Mizuti is the only one that has power comparable to their forefathers. As a side-effect, she is also a lot more aware of the tides of the spiritual world and when it was sensed that evil things were afoot in the world above the clouds she took it upon herself to help out and went there, but she got lost along the way, and stumbled upon Kalas and friends in the cleft between dimensions when both were on the way to Mira. The great Mizuti helps them out and they part ways. Mizuti later often serves as a Deus ex Machina as well, for she saves everyone many times and gives solutions seemingly out of the blue. They meet up again in Mira at the End Magnus which Mizuti was there to protect, where she joins the team. Mizuti often tags 'The great' in front of her name so that any threat would first go after her, allowing her to protect her friends better with her stronger powers. Her inner conflict revolves around her inability to trust others to take care of themselves, but this is put to rest as she witnesses her best friend and parents stand up for her against great adversity, despite their being weaker than her and making her attentive of this flaw of hers when she attempts to intervene.

Mizuti is probably the oddest character in the game. She always speaks in a very confusing manner, and always refers to herself in the Third Person. Even the descriptions on her Finisher Magnus reflect this language.

Non-player characters

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Almarde, Skeed, Vallye, Fadroh and Azdar.
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Almarde, Skeed, Vallye, Fadroh and Azdar.

Locations

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Kalas watching the Goldoba land in Pherkad
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Kalas watching the Goldoba land in Pherkad

The world of Baten Kaitos consists of several floating islands in the sky. They are listed by the order in which Kalas visits them. (* means the Nation's capital)

Interestingly enough, all of the locations in Baten Kaitos are also the names of stars. The only exceptions are the village of Reverence in Mira and Anuenue and its place names, which are all Hawaiian words.

Sadal Suud Frontier

Ruler: Lord Rodolfo

Sadal Suud is the island in which the game begins (specifically Moonguile Forest). It is known as the Frontier nation, or the Ancient Frontier. Unlike the other nations, Sadal Suud seems to have less of a defined culture, unless one counts the countryside feel to it (mostly inspired by Cebalrai).

Locations:

Diadem, Land of the Clouds

Ruler: King Ladekahn (also known as the White Flame of Diadem)

Diadem is famed for its beauty, inspired by the clouds of which the island is made. The clouds are so dense that they comprise the entire island and are able to support a considerable amount of weight. Diadem and Alfard's long rocky relations are well-known, bordering on hostile.

Locations:

Anuenue, the Rainbow Nation

Ruler: Queen Corellia

Known as the Rainbow Nation, ruled by the enchanting and wise Queen Corellia, Anuenue is a center of learning and magic. It is protected by a powerful magic shield, and remains carefully neutral in its dealings with other nations, but this neutrality comes to an end when the threat of Malpercio is presented. The capital, Komo Mai, houses a university where all are welcome to study for free. Central to the island and its beliefs is the Celestial Tree, a magnificent plant that blooms only once every thirty years.

Locations:

Mira, City of Illusion

Ruler: Duke Calbren

The Island of Illusion and Kalas' homeland. Mira exists on a boundary between two dimensions, and shifts between them occasionally, causing the island to partially "disappear" at times. Perhaps due to this dimensional shifting, there are many strange and fantastic things on this island, such as a two-dimensional maze (reminiscent of the Namco game Tower of DRUAGA,) a village made of pastry, and a plant which vanishes when pulled (the Mirage Weed). Interestingly enough, the people of Mira find nothing strange about their home, instead finding the people of the other nations to be the odd ones.

Locations:

Alfard, Empire of the Flame

Ruler: Emperor Geldoblame

This is the homeland of Lyude and the powerful Alfard Empire. Savyna originally was a head figure in a military squad called the Mad Wolf Unit of the Imperial Army. The citizens of the Empire lack Wings of the Heart (using mechanical inventions called Winglets to substitute), and look down upon the members of other nations. The people of the Azha Village, however, are not considered citizens of the Empire (much in the way that Romans living outside of the actual city of Rome were not considered citizens), and are considered as inferior as the peoples of other nations.

Locations:

Wazn, the Ice Lands

Ruler: Queen Xelha

A "missing island" of sorts that has had no contact with the other islands for several centuries. Wazn is a snowy land and home to powerful witches of legend. Because Wazn "disappeared" for a time, its name had faded mostly into legend.

Locations:

Duhr, the Earth Nation

Rulers: The Great Kamroh and Sir Krumly

This is a land beneath the Taintclouds, the last inhabited area on the earth's surface. Mizuti is from the city of Gemma, one of two villages in Duhr. The Taintclouds are toxic, so the people took to wearing special filtration masks, which eventually became fashionable and traditional. The people of Duhr have begun to resent their fate of living on the polluted and barren earth, and long to join the people of the sky, where the air is clean and water is pure. For some reason, certain Children of the Earth (another name for those born in Duhr) float a short distance off the ground.

Locations:

Celestial Alps

A cluster of mountains floating northwest of Sadal Suud. Georg kept a cabin there, and Kalas can find (among other things) several powerful Magnus, presumably left as gifts for him.

Greater Celestial River

Here is where Gibari fights the Master of the Greater Celestial River, which is a variation on the thunderfish at the Lesser Celestial River. This creature is also stronger and Gibari must be in the battle against him.

Illusionary Fortress of the Book

An ancient fortress inside a magic tome that has some connection to Xelha.

Cor Hydrae

The ancient castle of the Gods and their minions, protected by a powerful magical barrier. Malpercio waits here along with the five sibling gods, waiting for Kalas and the party to fight him. Before "returning" to the Sky, it seems to have existed in another dimension.

Magnus

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is marked by a unique card-based system using "Magnus cards." Magnus cards can magically absorb the "Magna essence" of real-world objects for storage and later use. Everything has a "Magna essence" inside of itself, even living people, yet living people cannot be contained inside Magnus. There are four varieties of Magnus: Quest, Camp, Battle, and Equipment.

Types of Magnus

Quest Magnus

Quest magnus are used to trap the magna essence of various items, storing them in a card. Kalas obtains four blank quest magnus very early in the game, and will get more as he progresses. Quest magnus are used for carrying items related to puzzles and sidequests. The contents of a quest magnus will sometimes change over time. For example, lava will eventually harden to a hot rock, which will eventually cool to become a pebble. Once the contents of a Quest Magnus have been exhausted, they can be refilled with any other appropriate contents.

Camp Magnus

Camp Magnus are one-use items that can only be used outside of battle. Camp magnus come in two general types: Healing items (including revival, poison curing, and flame curing), and magnus that give permanent bonuses such as increased maximum HP or attack.

Battle Magnus

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean:Lyude using Battle Magnus
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Lyude using Battle Magnus

Battle Magnus can only be used in battle. Outside of battle, the player assembles a deck of Magnus for each party member, from which he or she draws random hands. Hand size, deck size and maximum combo size go up as the player upgrades the party members' Class by finding character-specific Magnus and having them applied at the Church. However, as the character's class go up, they are also given less time to choose their initial magnus during each turn. At the highest class level, for example, only five seconds are given to choose the first magnus, and the character misses their turn if they do not choose one in time. Weapon cards are used to fight with, Armor cards to block with, and Effect cards cause a variety of things (food cards, for instance, heal HP and can be applied to both allies and enemies).

Each Magnus has a Spirit Number in the corner ranging from 1-9. As the game progresses the player will encounter Battle Magnus with more than one Spirit Number (up to four). The Spirit Numbers are utilized during battle in order to create straights and same-number groupings (pairs, three-of-a-kinds, etc), thus resulting in an increased effect. On cards with multiple spirit numbers, the player can select which number they want to use with the C-stick. Battle Magnus are removed from the active deck in the course of a battle until A) the character runs out of cards in his/her deck and loses a turn in order to reshuffle or B) the battle ends. In this manner, Battle Magnus are replenishible, as opposed to Camp Magnus.

Finishing moves are a special type of attack magnus. They have some restrictions on their use: they can only be played after a certain number of magnus have been played in a combo, and they immediately end a combo even if it has not yet reached maximum size. However, they are very powerful and visually impressive. Finishing moves are character-specific, and each playable character can collect nine of them throughout the game. All bosses and most enemies use finishing moves as well.

Equipment Magnus

Equipment Magnus are character-specific Magnus, which are found throughout the game, that can be equipped to enhance a character's parameters (ATK, DEF, Agility, HP, as well as resistance to various status effects). Characaters can only have one Equipment Magnus equipped at a time.

Other Magnus notes

Some of the Magnus change over time, gaining a stronger, weaker, or all together different effect (e.g. healing items may rot and turn into items which cause poison).

Magnus can also be combined during battle. When certain Magnus are played (sometimes it must be in a specific order), Special (SP) combos are formed, thus creating a new Magnus. When an SP combo is performed, it will be listed in the "SP Combos" section of the menu. Some Magnus can only be found through the use of SP Combos. For example, Sacred Wine is formed by combining the Holy Grail and Sacred Wine or Holy Grail and Japanese Rice Wine magnus. No other magnus besides the required ones can be used when forming an SP combo.

There are seven types of damage: physical, light, dark, water, fire, wind, and chrono. Each of the elements has an opposite: wind vs. chrono, water vs. fire, and light vs. dark. Every enemy is aligned with at least one element. Damage of the element(s) an enemy is aligned with will be reduced, and damage of the opposite element(s) will be increased. Using two opposite elements in the same turn will cause their damage to cancel. For example, if a player uses both a wind and chrono magnus, and deals 40 chrono damage and 60 wind damage, then they will cancel to 20 wind damage. Magnus aligned with an element generally deal some physical damage as well - for example, a Fire Burst Level 1 deals 10 fire damage and 5 physical damage.

Side quests

In addition to some minor "fetch quests", there are three long major quests that span all the continents.

Constellation

In addition to being used to level up, the church found in the blue flowers also is the location of one of the game's primary sidequests. In the church is a star map that once displayed every star in the sky. However, it was destroyed years ago, and the pieces were scattered across the world. The keeper of the starmap asks Kalas to find the pieces and bring them to him. These pieces come in the form of "constellation magnus", and every time Kalas brings him one the keeper will add that constellation to the starmap and reward Kalas with a magnus. Certain Magnus cannot be obtained in any other way. At some points the keeper will reward Kalas with an additional magnus, such as when all twelve constellations of the zodiac are restored and when the starmap is completely rebuilt. After a certain point in the game, the keeper will give Kalas clues to the location of some constellation magnus. There are fifty constellation magnus that must be found to complete the map.

Quzman's Relatives

In Pherkad, on Sadal Suud, Kalas finds an old man named Quzman. He claims to be nearing death, and asks for Kalas to bring him all his relatives so that they can be with him when he dies. Members of Quzman's family are identified by a bracelet that the family has worn for generations. Quzman presents Kalas with a family tree quest magnus and asks him to have his relatives sign it and come to see him. Quzman's family members are scattered across all the continents. Often they will refuse to sign the family tree and go to Quzman unless Kalas completes a task for them.

Animal retrieval

On Wazn, in the castle Kaffaljidhma, Kalas finds a woman who is concerned over the lack of diversity among the animal population in Wazn. She will ask him if he would be willing to pick up any animals that he may find and bring them to her. From that point, simply talking to an animal or its owner will be sufficient to pick it up, and the player can drop off any collected creatures at in the woman's room. In the end, it becomes quite noisy.

Other features

In Baten Kaitos, the player is an active participant as a Guardian Spirit who guides Kalas on all of his decisions. If the player maintains a good relationship with Kalas, additional powerful attacks known as "spirit attacks" become activated during combat. There is one spirit attack for each element: Distorting Wind, Lingering Time, Shining Seraph, Demons of Darkness, Sacred Spring, and Hellfire. Spirit attacks only appear at the end of a maximum-sized combo and are the strongest individual attacks in the game.

Saving the game and leveling a character up occur in a straightforward manner, albeit the latter is done in somewhat of an unconventional manner. Red and blue flowers are scattered through the game. The player can save when he directs the character to stand over the flower (both red and blue). Saving can also be done when navigating the Sub-World Screen. Leveling up can only be done when a blue flower is present. The player can then visit the Church (alluded to above) where he/she can Pray to the priest in order to level up, as well as to upgrade their Class. A level up results in an increase in the character's primary attributes such as HP and Attack and Defense, while a Class up results in an increase in the character's deck capacity. The latter can only be done once a certain item Magnus is obtained (one per character per class).

Money is primarily obtained in an unusual way. One of the Magnus that can be put in a deck is a camera, which comes in three types of varying efficiency. When in battle, the character can use the camera to take a picture of an enemy. After the battle, that picture will develop (takes 10 minutes). As it develops, it gains in worth (worth can also depend on how fast an enemy is moving). Photos can be sold at any magnus shop. Other magnus can be sold as well, but with the exception of a few specific items, they generally sell for meager amounts of money. Photos of rarer enemies (i.e. bosses) are worth more. If the enemy blocks a camera shot, the enemy in the photo will appear somewhat distorted and will be worth less. Using light or dark attacks along with the camera will make the photo lighter or darker, respectively. A photo will sell for less if it is too bright or too dark. Photos of PCs normally have very low sellback value, but there is a small chance of getting "rare shots" that are worth a decent amount.

The plot of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is one that is enveloped in the ideas of humanity and what it means to be human. Baten Kaitos takes a very positive look at humanity unlike its cousin, the Xenosaga series. Many speculate that Kalas is the embodiment of the human, while Xelha is the anti-human, or rather a perfect being. Baten Kaitos also looks at the ideas of what it means to be alive and what it means to be dead.

Baten Kaitos is the name of a star in the real-world constellation Cetus, the Whale. It translates to "The Belly of the Sea Monster/Whale" in Arabic. In fact, many locations in the game (islands, towns, etc.) are named after stars.

The star Baten Kaitos is thought to have become a dead star, though we see it in the twilight of its life. Given the focus of this game upon the oceans that have been lost beneath the clouds, and a whale-god, the choice of name seems quite apt. The art, done by comic artist Nakaba Higurashi is observed by some people as having a very Arabic appearance, which adds to the premise and feel of the game.

The fact that many of the characters (from NPCs to most of the people who join the party) in Baten Kaitos have "soulwings" or "Wings of the Heart" is a fairly central focus of the plot. However, it is difficult to define exactly what the soulwings are, for the only comprehensive description of them given to us in the game is related in a flashback sequence by Georg, Kalas' grandfather: "The Wings of the Heart are the visual manifestation of the energy, willpower, and aura that any person has. They are strongly affected by an individual's emotions. As emotions are involved, so is the mind. That is to say, the electrical signals from the left and right hemispheres..." By this definition it would appear as though the people of Baten Kaitos' world have somehow evolved to produce the wings from their minds and spirits to adapt to life in the clouds, but the idea still seems open to interpretation.


Trivia

See also

Categories


Namco games | GameCube-only games | 2004 computer and video games | Computer and video role-playing games | Card battle computer and video games

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