As much as I love Baten Kaitos.....
I'm really dumbing it down, but I find this scenario hard to believe........
- "Hey, I want this really obscure series that barely anyone's played or heard of to get a fully funded remake/remaster. And it probably won't sell very well."
- "SOLD."
-VERSUS-
- "I want the Xenosaga series, which has had petitions and high fan demand for years, to get a remaster and will likely sell reasonably well since interest has gone up from the success of it's spiritual successor series Xenoblade. What do you think?"
- "Nah."
I know bizarre situations like this do happen, but with the official reasoning being Xenosaga wouldn't be profitable enough, I'm calling some kind of bullshit here.
They better learn to animate some fluffy fucking 3D clouds!! 🤣 I need the game to be beautiful (or heck, can you even imagine Mira?)
I'll definitely miss pre-rendered backgrounds. I was hoping some nostalgic indie RPGs would have done something with that by now haha
Nope, the only thing being rendered real-time are the character models, and the fruit cart for some reason. That's the power of prerendered backdrops. Same reason REmake still looks so damn good.These must be emulator shots, right?
My brain can't comprehend this running on a GameCube
They're pre-rendered 2D backgrounds with some effects added over the top so not very taxing on the hardware.These must be emulator shots, right?
My brain can't comprehend this running on a GameCube
It was expensive back then! I wanted to play it, but the one game store that had a copy wanted like 2022 money it.
Pre-rendered backgrounds put in the work.These must be emulator shots, right?
My brain can't comprehend this running on a GameCube
Exclusively for a console (which I own) that will probably struggle to maintain 30 FPS...
disappointed.
why don't you wait to see if the game even exists before complaining about the possible performance problemsExclusively for a console (which I own) that will probably struggle to maintain 30 FPS...
disappointed.
why don't you wait to see if the game even exists before complaining about the possible performance problems
Because I can be disappointed in such a rumored choice if I want to be, and believe it or not, I'm not the only poster in this thread discussing a game that may or may not exist!why don't you wait to see if the game even exists before complaining about the possible performance problems
no, because Honne likes cardsDidn't like the cards gameplay. Does it have sense to change the gameplay mechanics?
double post but this is a interesting comment. Honne is too big within Monolith to be missing from being a part credits for several years. Unless he is not involved for personal reasons this means he is neck-deep in an unannounced project.
There are some definite difficulty spikes in the series. Particularly the first game, but they're pretty manageable for the most part. The biggest curve really is the deck building as you need to get a feel for how many of each card to have in order to consistently get a good hand. It's easy to have an out of balance deck that feeds you bad cards. First game is pretty straight forward as you have a dedicated Attack phase and Defense phase to combat. Poker rules kind of apply as the cards have numbers on the corners you can select when using the card and elemental aspects too so if you get like 4 cards with 4s on them or a straight 1, 2, 3, 4, etc you get bonuses to attack or defense, and if you play an Ice card and Fire card the damage will negate each other.I normally dislike card based combat systems, but would be curious enough to try this at some point
Does the card system/combat system take a while to get to grips with?
How hard is the game in general?
- "I want the Xenosaga series, which has had petitions and high fan demand for years, to get a remaster and will likely sell reasonably well since interest has gone up from the success of it's spiritual successor series Xenoblade. What do you think?"
I'm not quite sure what you mean, but I'd say Xenosaga is a more straightforward series of games than Baten Kaitos.
As much as I love Baten Kaitos.....
I'm really dumbing it down, but I find this scenario hard to believe........
- "Hey, I want this really obscure series that barely anyone's played or heard of to get a fully funded remake/remaster. And it probably won't sell very well."
- "SOLD."
-VERSUS-
- "I want the Xenosaga series, which has had petitions and high fan demand for years, to get a remaster and will likely sell reasonably well since interest has gone up from the success of it's spiritual successor series Xenoblade. What do you think?"
- "Nah."
I know bizarre situations like this do happen, but with the official reasoning being Xenosaga wouldn't be profitable enough, I'm calling some kind of bullshit here.
Check out Fantasian by Mistwalker. They actually built physical miniature sets and digitized them as pre rendered backgrounds. It's super neat and a shame that it's trapped on Apple ArcadeI'll definitely miss pre-rendered backgrounds. I was hoping some nostalgic indie RPGs would have done something with that by now haha
...You do know who was the main developer of the original games and where they happen to work now, right? Also you know who funded and published worldwide the second game, right?Exclusively for a console (which I own) that will probably struggle to maintain 30 FPS...
disappointed.
These must be emulator shots, right?
My brain can't comprehend this running on a GameCube
Check out Fantasian by Mistwalker. They actually built physical miniature sets and digitized them as pre rendered backgrounds. It's super neat and a shame that it's trapped on Apple Arcade
View: https://twitter.com/Baust528/status/1609010365051830274?t=XGqVq8h5lS2v_DJ-9tthFg&s=19
It's not like Nintendo hasn't funded niche as hell games destined to sell poorly. And MonolithSoft does a lot for Nintendo, with a premiere rpg series, major assistance on the legend of Zelda, and asset assistance on other games. If anyone earned a small budget for a passion project, it's them. Not to mention one of the founders directed Baten Kaitos and desired to return to it.
Meanwhile, Bamco says Xenosaga wouldn't be profitable; and they don't want to do it without Takahashi, who doesn't even want to return to it
This is what I want to believe. I also 100% agree on the "BK1 is nice, BKO is FIRE". BKO really shines because it is 100% built over BK1 (both from a technical, a story and a lore point of view) AND BK1 get even better when you have played BKO. This is a great duology which definitely feels like "Part 1 and 2 of one single great game" and I'm amazed at how they pulled Origins. The guy who wrote the scenario was an intern of the first game, this is insane! Sharing your love here.Yeah tbh I don't really care much for BK1 (I'd still replay it if anything else for unique it feels) but Origins really deserves more exposure. It's an insanely good game and it's hard to believe it only sold like 15k copies.
And yeah I can see "A new spin to a classic from the Xenoblade developers" do pretty well, especially since it will basically be like a new game for most people, not an exactly popular series, for better or worse.
Nothing in video games has topped the pure adrenaline blast of hearing "Relay Combo".Anyone who rejects BKO on the basis of it having cards is missing out on the glory of activating an MP Burst and unleashing a 125-hit combo while a fighting-game announcer goes fucking mental
It takes some. BK1 has a slow progression in its battle system, it's very repetitive and slow at first but then you reach a point in the game when you can use way more cards in a single turn and it becomes REALLY GOOD. It's still missing the best feature of the sequel : the ability to throw away the cards you don't want to build better combos. That's frustrating.Does the card system/combat system take a while to get to grips with?
Pretty medium overall until some seriously damaging fights. But basically pretty okay.
There would be an insane scrubbing of characters that would need to occur, similar to what mario party superstars did to mushroom townI feel like TTYD is an easy remaster.
Or are they too scared of the backlash when you compare it to modern Paper Mario?
I dunno — this feels like simplifying things a bit. Of course Xenosaga holds a special place for him but that doesn't necessarily mean he would want to go back and work with Namco on a Xenosaga remaster given what was a very fraught relationship and, you know, what happened with Soraya Saga. I don't think anyone doubts that Takahashi cares about Xenosaga in some way, I'm just doubtful given how episodes 2 and 3 went down that he'd be that keen on revisiting the trilogy — though who knows, time is funny. But I would guess it's a much more complicated relationship than Honne's relationship with Baten Kaitos.In the Gamekult interview many years ago https://www.gamekult.com/actualite/...on-createur-tetsuya-takahashi-3050796525.html
Takahashi clearly states he would do it if someone can fund it but this was many years ago when Xenoblade 2 wasn't even released yet! However, Xenosaga has a special place for him and that's clear. Plus with all the Xenosaga/Xenogears references in Xenoblade 3/the Xenoblade games it's really impossible for him to not want Xenosaga.
Honne tweeted all the way back in 2018 that he had his last day at Monolith's Kyoto office:
View: https://twitter.com/honnesan/status/1055804419856465921?
I think Monolith's growth to a genuine prestige studio for Nintendo is an even bigger factor, really. Advertise it as "the underground classic from the developers of Xenoblade" and you'll definitely get some eyes there.You know, since the rise of card-based indie games, maybe a Baten Kaitos re-release would have a chance of selling better.
Plus it's beautiful as heck. Especially if Honne goes ahead and restores all the source artwork and possibly even replaces some of the rendered assets. Heck imagine if the artstyle for the characters got a stronger watercolor shader like Valkyria ChroniclesI think Monolith's growth to a genuine prestige studio for Nintendo is an even bigger factor, really. Advertise it as "the underground classic from the developers of Xenoblade" and you'll definitely get some eyes there.
Also helps up their brand label, they haven't had an international release that's personally their own outside of Xenoblade in over a decade. Especially something that's unique like this gameI definitely think the market is in an infinitely much better place for a game like Baten Kaitos today than it was 17-20 years ago. Whether it's the card battle system, the visual style, RPGs on a Nintendo system, or just simply Monolith's pedigree/renown. They've all drastically changed since 2003/2006.
There's simply a much larger and diverse market in general and on the Switch and a more mature and aware market at that. Shit was pretty dire back in the day and the GC was plagued more than ever before by the kiddy label for Nintendo systems. A super bright and colorful game like BK I doubt helped with that at first glance for many gamers at the time. The system barely had any RPGs, and to say Sony dominated that genre is an extreme understatement, only Tales of Symphonia found any real success on the GC.
And yeah Monolith now is a much more well known and respected a developer. Social media certainly has a lot more power and influence to get eyes on a game and to get people aware of projects from a favorite devs. It would totally make sense to market the remake playing up Monolith's fame and recent successes.
"Relay Combo!!"Anyone who rejects BKO on the basis of it having cards is missing out on the glory of activating an MP Burst and unleashing a 125-hit combo while a fighting-game announcer goes fucking mental
I imagine that at an absolute minimum, all the improvements from BKO will be the default.This is a game that could really benefit from a remake, it had a beautiful art style but the game play could use some quality of life improvements.