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Rumour Exputer claiming Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is getting a Switch remake launching this summer

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I'm biased due to being a Monolith fan but I'm inclined to believe this because

  1. They gave it a pretty short time limit. If we haven't heard or seen of this game by summer we can just disregard it.
  2. Circumstancial evidence points to Monolith developing a game in addition to Xenoblade 3 (Honne leaving Kyoto years ago, several absences in Xenoblade 3's credits)
  3. Why the fuck would you stake your site's reputation on something as random and left field as Baten Kaitos. If you wanted clickbait you could just go to the common predictions like Zelda remasters or whatever.
So yeah, I'm in. I really, really, really want to see another game from Honne, I was starting to worry he would retire without ever having another chance.
 
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It will be interesting to see the game’s sales potential, probably landing somewhere between 1 million to 1.5 million. If they changed the battle system into action (just based on Bandai Namco and Monolith Soft’s individual recruitment drive) then I could see it comfortably north of that. However, I’m not too confident they will drastically change into action as the card-based battle system seems to be one of the core elements of the series. I think it’s more likely for an unrelated project outside of Baten Kaitos, Xenoblade, or Zelda.
 
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Yeah, I believe this for a variety of reasons.
  • Yasuyuki Honne hasn't had any major game development credits for a while and Baten Kaitos is his passion project and directorial debut as a video game director.
  • Bandai Namco have been on a remaster spree with their SD 3D titles, the Klonoa duology and the Pac-Man World remaster are notable examples of their efforts.
  • Monolith Soft are experienced with enhanced remasters, just look at Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. Expect Baten Kaitos to have brand new character models, better sound design and enhanced pre-rendered backgrounds.
The Monolith Soft of 2023 is not the Monolith Soft of 2003, enhanced remasters of the Baten Kaitos games aren't going to break the bank for the developer. They can still rely on the Xenoblade games with the Tokyo studio whilst having the Kyoto studio support development for Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing and Pikmin.
 
Modern Monolith Soft has definitely earned the chance to pursue a remaster or remake of a twenty-year-old game really only remembered by a subset of GameCube owners. The fact that this site has a track record of several accurate leaks definitely lends credence to this being true, as well.
 
If the game gets remastered, please balance out the card system, just tweak it a bit.

I remember when pulling new cards from the deck would make it somewhat difficult when the completely wrong cards were dealt and bosses would wollop me
 
Bandai Namco registered some trademarks for Baten Kaitos in China in May 2022. The game name they registered is a new translation(拔天海拓史), while the previous translation is 霸天开拓史.

Source: link

Imo they won't register a new translation of the game title if there's no new game coming.
 
It would be great if this rumor ends up being true. Skipping on Baten Kaitos was one of my biggest regrets when it comes to the GameCube and it would be nice to rectify that on the Switch.
 
Sadist said:
If the game gets remastered, please balance out the card system, just tweak it a bit.

I remember when pulling new cards from the deck would make it somewhat difficult when the completely wrong cards were dealt and bosses would wollop me
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If it's really a remake I can see them tuning and adding things to an extent, for sure.
 
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I really hope the game will feature lots of QoL like Xeno 1 DE did.

The concept of having items that deteriorate over time was original for a Turn based Card-JRPG but it also felt a bit clumsy at times.
If you didn't liked weapon degradation in BotW, oh boi you're going to love food and restoration items that rot and can make your life worse.

Baten Kaitos was also very linear with, IIRC, no side content at all.
 
hope this is more of a reimagining if it's gonna involve Monolith Soft considering how good they are at making fully explorable worlds.
Just being a standard remaster would seem like a waste of resources imo.
 
Adulfzen said:
hope this is more of a reimagining if it's gonna involve Monolith Soft considering how good they are at making fully explorable worlds.
Just being a standard remaster would seem like a waste of resources imo.
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I wouldn't expect the scope to become "Baten Kaitos in a Xenoblade-style world". BK has its own identity and it should remain distinct.
 
Kysen said:
Bandai Namco registered some trademarks for Baten Kaitos in China in May 2022. The game name they registered is a new translation(拔天海拓史), while the previous translation is 霸天开拓史.

Source: link

Imo they won't register a new translation of the game title if there's no new game coming.
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They also registered Baten Kaitos Origins in Europe despite the game never releasing there.
 
Renmazuo said:
Why the fuck would you stake your site's reputation on something as random and left field as Baten Kaitos. If you wanted clickbait you could just go to the common predictions like Zelda remasters or whatever.
So yeah, I'm in. I really, really, really want to see another game from Honne, I was starting to worry he would retire without ever having another chance.
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Yeah this my reasoning as well, why lie about Baten Kaitos of all things?
 
There are people out there who are puzzled as to why Baten Kaitos is getting the remaster treatment whilst Xenogears and Xenosaga isn't? It just boils down to financial convenience.

Xenogears was made before the incorporation of Monolith Soft which makes it a Square Enix property whilst the Xenosaga games have distinct character models for each entry hence why Harada deemed it financially unfeasible to remaster.
 
King Kingo said:
There are people out there who are puzzled as to why Baten Kaitos is getting the remaster treatment whilst Xenogears and Xenosaga isn't? It just boils down to financial convenience.

Xenogears was made before the incorporation of Monolith Soft which makes it a Square Enix property whilst the Xenosaga games have distinct character models for each entry hence why Harada deemed it financially unfeasible to remaster.
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we don't know why Xenosaga was turned down. Harada just said it was financially unviable

Baten Kaitos is a worse selling IP than both Gears and Saga, so the only other possible reason for a remaster is personal desire
 
ILikeFeet said:
we don't know why Xenosaga was turned down. Harada just said it was financially unviable

Baten Kaitos is a worse selling IP than both Gears and Saga, so the only other possible reason for a remaster is personal desire
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Something can be a worse performer and still be more financially viable, if it's cheaper to make. We don't know the scope of what they considered with any of these, but if for Xenosaga they were considering anything beyond higher res and some fancier models/textures, I can imagine redoing the sheer mass of audio and hours of non-interactive scenes could be pretty daunting.
 
So odds are that this is being remade because Baten Kaitos is Honne's baby much like how Xeno is Takahashi's. But let's extrapolate further and look at this from another angle.

Why remake a niche JRPG that will be lucky to sell 1 million units? Are they making a new game? But is MonolithSoft big enough to have another project in the wings. They have a dedicated Xenoblade team and another team working on the new IP. Unless, the "new" IP is a real time combat Baten Kaitos game or at least a successor to it similar to what Xenoblade was to Xenosaga.

So is this actually a Baten Kaitos game
f5b5f91b0u371.jpg
 
Shadow said:
I just finished the first game, and... So... I hate to ask it, but...

What is this supposed amazing twist?! :unsure:
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For Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean specifically, I'm pretty sure it's
a particular element that caught a lot of people by surprise
but which actually does have some obvious clue if you look in the right place at the right time,
before it reminds you that you are very obviously not playing Kalas because
he betrays you and the party and the world and
you have to fight him.

It actually worked really well in the context of playing a video game and how story can work with that.
 
I never played BK but it always looked inviting. I just wasn't into that style of game back then. I'd be willing to give it a shot if it reviews well.
 
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Supreme Overlord said:
For Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean specifically, I'm pretty sure it's
a particular element that caught a lot of people by surprise
but which actually does have some obvious clue if you look in the right place at the right time,
before it reminds you that you are very obviously not playing Kalas because
he betrays you and the party and the world and
you have to fight him.

It actually worked really well in the context of playing a video game and how story can work with that.
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Guess I was ahead of the game...

The moment that card disappeared which he, pinky swears, he safely put away and not a single person could ever have gotten.

I was already like:


giphy.webp
 
Shadow said:
Guess I was ahead of the game...

The moment that card disappeared which he, pinky swears, he safely put away and not a single person could ever have gotten.

I was already like:


giphy.webp
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that's what's being referenced, anyhow. Its greatest power, I think, is in
the intrinsic assumption in most players that
something like that could never happen because that's my character here -- essentially me! -- so he could never be that shady against and betray me
Again,
the use of these narrative conventions in a a video game context.

Come to think of it, I do recall using this game for reference in a presentation about the use of Point of View in narrative, which makes the Baten Kaitos series academic, actually.
 
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Kysen said:
Bandai Namco registered some trademarks for Baten Kaitos in China in May 2022. The game name they registered is a new translation(拔天海拓史), while the previous translation is 霸天开拓史.

Source: link

Imo they won't register a new translation of the game title if there's no new game coming.
Click to expand...
As a Mandarin speaker, the translations are just new phonetic spellings that better reflect how it sounds in English. (In case anyone was going to think it was a new game or something).
 
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JoshuaJSlone said:
Something can be a worse performer and still be more financially viable, if it's cheaper to make. We don't know the scope of what they considered with any of these, but if for Xenosaga they were considering anything beyond higher res and some fancier models/textures, I can imagine redoing the sheer mass of audio and hours of non-interactive scenes could be pretty daunting.
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I suspect Baten Kaitos is financially viable to Bamco because Nintendo would be footing some of the bill.
 
ILikeFeet said:
we don't know why Xenosaga was turned down. Harada just said it was financially unviable

Baten Kaitos is a worse selling IP than both Gears and Saga, so the only other possible reason for a remaster is personal desire
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If Nintendo is funding it as an exclusive, and Honne is the one backing the project, it is at most a 2 game remake, with the original director on board, who also made most of the physical assets scanned in for the original game(and either still has them, or has the skills to make new versions), which makes the scope tremendously different.
 
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I wonder if Monolith is making this themselves? I can't say I ever expected this series to return or get a re-release. I'm surprised!
 
Clov said:
I wonder if Monolith is making this themselves? I can't say I ever expected this series to return or get a re-release. I'm surprised!
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If the article is accurate Monolith Soft are developing it themselves. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Koh Kojima isn't involved in Xenoblade 3's story expansion (unlike Torna, where he stuck around) and Yasuyuki Honne has already been absent for awhile since he left Monolith Kyoto to go back to Tokyo. I imagine the latter would be the main driving force behind this in the first place, if it is happening, so it at least makes sense logistically.
 
MondoMega said:
If the article is accurate Monolith Soft are developing it themselves. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Koh Kojima isn't involved in Xenoblade 3's story expansion (unlike Torna, where he stuck around) and Yasuyuki Honne has already been absent for awhile since he left Monolith Kyoto to go back to Tokyo. I imagine the latter would be the main driving force behind this in the first place, if it is happening, so it at least makes sense logistically.
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Don't forget though that Xenoblade 2 and 3 IIRC only had like 40-ish Monolith folks involved IIRC? They've been relying on external devs (like Tri-Ace and others) to fill the gaps. I'd be surprised if they didn't get others like maybe even tri-Crescendo back to help on any BK projects.
 
MondoMega said:
If the article is accurate Monolith Soft are developing it themselves. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Koh Kojima isn't involved in Xenoblade 3's story expansion (unlike Torna, where he stuck around) and Yasuyuki Honne has already been absent for awhile since he left Monolith Kyoto to go back to Tokyo. I imagine the latter would be the main driving force behind this in the first place, if it is happening, so it at least makes sense logistically.
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I'd be interested in trying it out if it gets a re-release, though I seem to remember a lot of people telling me it wasn't that good. Impressions of Origins seemed to be a lot more positive.
 
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Hero of Legend said:
Don't forget though that Xenoblade 2 and 3 IIRC only had like 40-ish Monolith folks involved IIRC?
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75~ for Xeno 2 and 120~ for Xeno 3. The former is still abnormally small due to all the Monolith staff pulled away to work on BotW, but not as low as 40. With a scope as large as Xenoblade relying on outsourcing is natural, but Monolith themselves aren't that small on their own.
 
MondoMega said:
75~ for Xeno 2 and 120~ for Xeno 3. The former is still abnormally small due to all the Monolith staff pulled away to work on BotW, but not as low as 40. With a scope as large as Xenoblade relying on outsourcing is natural, but Monolith themselves aren't that small on their own.
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Was it that much larger for both? I remember 40 being tossed around, at minimum for XB2.
 
Xenosaga is 3 games, thats the game problem, 3 games with differnt graphical styles and a chapter 2 that aged terribly, you have to spend A LOT for do good with Saga

A remastered of BK cost like 1/4 probably especially if the game and Origins are the same but with better graphics and new voice acting
 
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A remake by Monolith does sound amazing. I’d imagine Honne will make necessary changes to issues people had with the original GC release.
 
Hero of Legend said:
Was it that much larger for both? I remember 40 being tossed around, at minimum for XB2.
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It was a Takahashi interview that said a little over 40 or so members of Monolith Tokyo worked on Xenoblade 2 (the rest were on BOTW and a few were doing R&D). Monolith Soft does have other teams outside of their (2 I believe?) teams in Tokyo, and considering Honne's credited it's likely at least some of the additional 35-odd Monolith Soft members came from their Kyoto studio. Monolith grew a lot in between XC2 and XC3's release, so it wouldn't surprise me if a bigger proportion of the Monolith team members credited for XC3 were from Tokyo this time around.

EDIT: IIRC Monolith's support for BOTW was mostly level design and art, though apparently the XC2 team did lose 3 programmers who were working on UI (could have been poached by BOTW, could have just quit or been fired). I seem to recall their Xenoblade team is their like "flagship" team, so I doubt they lost too many programmers and designers to BOTW, but IDK.
 
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AoiHana said:
It was a Takahashi interview that said a little over 40 or so members of Monolith Tokyo worked on Xenoblade 2 (the rest were on BOTW and a few were doing R&D). Monolith Soft does have other teams outside of their (2 I believe?) teams in Tokyo, and considering Honne's credited it's likely at least some of the additional 35-odd Monolith Soft members came from their Kyoto studio. Monolith grew a lot in between XC2 and XC3's release, so it wouldn't surprise me if a bigger proportion of the Monolith team members credited for XC3 were from Tokyo this time around.

EDIT: IIRC Monolith's support for BOTW was mostly level design and art, though apparently the XC2 team did lose 3 programmers who were working on UI (could have been poached by BOTW, could have just quit or been fired). I seem to recall their Xenoblade team is their like "flagship" team, so I doubt they lost too many programmers and designers to BOTW, but IDK.
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the two teams in tokyo was after BotW. that was started up so they can make a dedicated Zelda support group
 
Koren Lesthe said:
Oh, sweet, sweet innocent child.

Where have you been when random websites claimed that a new 2D Turrican was coming long before a studio pitched one ?
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I have no idea what Turrican is, so no clue what you're referring to. For the larger point, sure anyone can lie on their own blog. But the website that leaked this news has at least revealed some things in the past. If the site is just a scam, why lie about Baten Kaitos. There are a million other game rumors that would get you more clicks.
 
Thiefcoal said:
I have no idea what Turrican is, so no clue what you're referring to. For the larger point, sure anyone can lie on their own blog. But the website that leaked this news has at least revealed some things in the past. If the site is just a scam, why lie about Baten Kaitos. There are a million other game rumors that would get you more clicks.
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all you need to know is that Turrican is big with old heads. and some website, not dissimilar from this, kept bigging it up. Turrican is a name that would do well on sites like resetera, which is why it gained traction
 
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