#baten kaitos fan project

[bkewtlothedub]

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean [FANDUB]  - Episode 2, Part 3

With help from Palolo III, Kalas successfully breaks into Rodolfo’s mansion, intending to sneak onto Giacomo’s battleship. During his mission, he unwittingly frees two prisoners, a gambling addict named Aljeemo, and Xelha, and not a moment too soon...! Kalas faces his archnemesis at last, but will he be strong enough to best him? Or will he slip away once again?

Had some very large hiccups along the way, but with the Fall 2024 season comes the long-awaited finale of Episode 2! When we meet again, we'll be in Diadem!

I had to render this twice and it took 90 minutes because I accidentally forgot to include a *very important* cast member in the credits, can't have that! Hope you all enjoy, and thank you for watching!

My actors generally do a fantastic job, but they absolutely slayed this episode, and I could not be more proud.

Happy late Spiriter Week, everyone! ＼＼(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶//／／

[theomniplayer]

Guardian Spirit powers - Baten Kaitos comic

At last the Baten Kaitos comic based on the weird spirit attack glitch that I experienced in the celestial alps is complete. Took me a while to finish and kinda annoyed at myself for not figuring out a way to show my spiritsona’s expression at the end but I’m mostly happy with how it came out.

Hopefully we’ll get back into making comics soon, maybe some more fan comics but most of my plans are based on my personal project - Project Paranet

Anyway hope you like my best attempt to convey my confusion somewhat within the game world.

[leilas-digital-scrapbook-blog]

“Your Favorite Game” – Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean

It’s all about videogames this week and I am living. Seriously, if 14-year-old-me had known one day she’d be sitting in a classroom in Edinburgh watching a presentation about the history of gaming, she might have been less emo about her terrible life choices. I’m sure she would have been proud of future-her for tearing up at the Wii picture, at least.

The battered PC I shared with all six of my siblings and a number of different Nintendo consoles have always been my gaming platforms of choice; the mainstream, more toxic-masculinity-oriented worlds of Playstation and Xbox (I’m sure that’s a load of crap, but that’s how they looked to me at the time – and in my defense, their fans did nothing to prove me wrong) held zero attraction on me. As for apps, well, I’ve bought my first smartphone about four months ago and still have to download a single game on it.

But Leila, that is great! You finally have an excuse to try! You love Pokémon! You love augmented reality! Download Ingress! Download Pokémon Go! Blog about those!

That sounds sensible, doesn’t it? (Or it would sound sensible if I hadn’t gone overboard with the exclamation points, at least.) But option #2 is to blog about my favorite game, and I will never, ever pass up an opportunity to gush about Baten Kaitos. Sorry, Pokémon Go. I promise I will give you a chance someday.

So, meet my greatest gaming love and lifelong companion, the game that ruined every other RPG for me and at the same time ensured that I would never really stop playing. Drumroll please.

Just to give you the basic information, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is a 2003 JRPG developed for Nintendo GameCube by Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo. I played it for the first time when it came out in Europe in 2005 and as you may have gathered by my completely chill and detached tone, I’m still very much not over it.

As mentioned in a previous post, in order to fall for a game I have to fall for its story, and boy did Baten Kaitos deliver on that front. The premise is almost banal in its simplicity: a gang of improbable heroes gets together to try and collect a series of magical artifacts that will help them thwart the evil Empire’s plans of domination over their fantasy world. Yawn, right? Except that their quest is filled with mind-blowing twists and shocking reveals, and even before those come into play, the complex, lovable characters, the breathtaking world building, and the perfect balance of heart and humor make for the most compelling epic fantasy I’ve ever come across – not just in the gaming world but on any platform.

What really sets Baten Kaitos apart from other RPGs, though, is the gameplay. Even though I’ve happily played a wide range of genres, RPGs have always been my undiscussed favorite – and in most of them I’ve found the same two fundamental problems: one, the annoying notion that the player has to identify with the main character, which results in cardboard protagonists that rarely engage with NPCs beyond replying “Yes” to everything they say if they’re good guys and kicking their ass if they’re bad guys; and two, a boring battle system, which makes the hours spent leveling up a tedious obligation rather than one of the most fun parts of the game.

Baten Kaitos brilliantly solves the first problem by making the player’s mirror and the protagonist two different characters. In its world, special people can bond with Guardian Spirits that will advise them and make them stronger – and that’s exactly what happens to the protagonist, Kalas, at the beginning of the game. This solution allows the player to identify with the above-it-all Guardian Spirit, to move around and fight as Kalas, and to enjoy a rich, well-crafted story where the main character is allowed to speak his mind, to make mistakes, to grow. And it blurs the line between fiction and reality by making the Guardian Spirit a creature from another world – our world –, not really a character but rather a role for the gamer to play.

As for the battle system, as it often is the case, it’s probably way more complicated to explain than to just play. And it is pretty damn complicated to play in the first place. It’s turn-based (attack and defense), which is great for me because I’m not handy enough with a controller for real-time combat. Just ask the dozens of people who pwned me on World of Warcraft before I ran from that game in tears. And it’s card- and number-based, which admittedly can be a bit of a turn-off on first impact. After all, there must be a reason why Baten Kaitos sold so poorly in spite of being The Best Videogame Ever. But once you get the hang of it, there’s nothing like the rush of selecting the right combo, and even fighting puny soldiers and lesser monsters becomes as engaging as big, epic boss fights. After all, there must be a reason why I keep wanting to return to it even after completing it four times and knowing the story by heart.

Baten Kaitos is special to me for many reasons, some of them really personal, but from a more course-oriented point of view, it’s the shining model I want to follow for my individual project. Because I see videogames first and foremost as a medium to tell stories in a different way – by allowing the audience-turned-player to live them in first person, making important decisions and taking part in the action in a way we couldn’t imagine on a TV screen or in the pages of a book, and Baten Kaitos does it spectacularly. Here’s hoping Breakaway will come close.

More to come...

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: I don't know if I sent this already, but this my Top 12 Video Games I like to see be made into an Anime Adaptation.

What do you think, Darunia?

GKD Here!

RHYTHM THEIF ABSOLUTELY NEEDS AN ANIME AND I WANT IT TO BE JUST AS SENSELESSLY TIED TO DANCE AND RHYTHM AS THE GAME IS. Mystery Skulls Animated style. Characters constantly bobbing to the music regardless of the situation.

I don't know much about Guilty Gear other than the banging character designs and bopping music. But I'd also like to see that one.

I'd be Interested in The Legend of Valkyrie purely on art direction alone from the art shown.

The other stuff I've never heard of and have no particular attachment to, but I hope you get your wish of an animated series for them regardless.

For me, I've always wanted a REAL Legend of Zelda series like the Akira Himekawa manga adaptations. But after the failure of the CDI games and the general disdain most people have for the old cartoons that ran along side the Super Mario Brothers Super Show (which is more beloved in contrast), not to mention the trainwreck of the live Action Super Mario movie I understand why the license-holders in Japan wouldn't want the USA handling it, and with how overworked and underpaid animators are in Japan and how that problem increases with further outsourcing to Korean studios, I wouldn't want to force such a big project on animators. Especially since loads of people would want to participate in such an iconic series and would end up exploited because of it.

Still, with the fan animations you can see online, particularly the labor of love a small team went to for a Majora's Mask short film, I would still love to see a Zelda series handled by fans. I'm just not sure all the love in the world and all the fans there are can ever combine to one singular vision and work with it in the absence of payment in the current economy. Given how many artists are needed for those "reanimated" projects on much shorter episodes, it would take a lot of effort and I think we'd wind up with the same results. Plus, Zelda games are already so good by themselves, and people are working on a bunch of amazing original creations. So I can't be too mad.

Top of my list would be DotNW of course, but I think a short Banjo-Kazooie animated series could be fun! Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon could probably get a short OVA, and if the same studio that handle the opening did the animation, it could be stellar! Baroque (I originally played on Wii but it's been released on several plaforms) could be cool and atmospheric, but I feel like the religious imagery and sparse lore would lead to a really short Evangelion knockoff. But I'd still love to see it. I would kill a man for a Baten Kaitos anime, but with how poorly the game sold over here, even if an OVA or anime was made, I'm not sure the USA would ever get it and I don't know many people still into the series who would do fansubs. But the games are so story-rich with amazing character designs and environments that I truly think an animated series would work. Especially because the gameplay, while fun, isn't the main draw of the game the way it is on other entries in my list. Baten Kaitos could work better as an anime than it did as a game and I would LOVE to see it.

Other than those, I can't think of many other games I've played that I think would handle an animated series that would work as well as or better than the game. Crystal Chronicles surely has amazing character designs, lore, and story, but the game works best with you, the player, as part of it. Even the more railroaded sequel Crystal Bearers handles best as a game. Professor Layton had a movie and a short OVA so I can't really ask for more since I think those were done well.

Pokemon already has a long-standing anime series and several movies. Star Fox could be cool, I guess, but I feel like whatever studio would tackle it would give us something so focused on shoot-em up and adventure that I'd just want to play the game instead, or they'd focus so hard on flexing with the characters' fur textures and making some broody grimdark space opera like Star Wars that I'd just find it an insufferable knockoff. And also I was that weird kid that spent hours in the Game Cube game just throwing the ball with Tricky on the beaches of Cape Claw instead of playing the game. Chibi Robo has potential, but I think it would end up just being a worse Toy Story. I'd rather just play Pikmin. Most other games I can think of either already have animated series (Super Mario Franchise has SEVERAL and so does the Sonic Franchise, most of which are great!) or they work better as games (Donkey Kong 64 is a delightful game to play through, but I would never ever want an animated series, especially with how goofy the cartoon series we got was.)

[aion-rsa]

Why Marvel’s Midnight Suns Gameplay Has Fans Worried

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Marvel’s Midnight Suns arguably stole the show during last week’s Gamescom Opening Night ceremony, but the reveal of the upcoming strategy title’s gameplay has already caused a bit of a divide in what recently seemed to be a pretty enthusiastic fanbase.

If you’re watching that gameplay reveal for the first time, you may be wondering what the big deal is. After all, most people assumed that Midnight Suns was going to be a strategy game set in the Marvel universe, and that’s pretty much what it seems to be.

However, much of the controversy surrounding Midnight Suns‘ gameplay at the moment is based on a brief line in that preview regarding the game’s use of a “card” system. It might not sound like much, but that one piece of information has already triggered a heated discussion regarding the game’s potential, its potential association with some especially unpopular ideas, and what all of that means for the considerable expectations fans had for this project.

How Does Marvel’s Midnight Suns Card Gameplay Work?

The video above offers a fairly comprehensive look at Midnight Suns‘ gameplay, but it does gloss over some of the specifics of the upcoming title’s card-based elements. Whether the developers are trying to hide something about that aspect of the title is really the heart of this particular controversy at the moment.

However, the team at Firaxis has shared additional details about Midnight Suns‘ card-based combat system that do help explain how the whole thing will work. Here’s what Jake Solomon, Creative Director at Firaxis, had to say about the game’s card-based combat mechanics in a recent press release:

“In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, you aren’t learning how to fight or gradually grow stronger – you and your fellow heroes are already legends, and must combine everything in your arsenal to stop Lilith. Cards provide a new and refreshing way to approach tactics, allowing us to really go all-out in designing a combat system that makes every hero feel, look, and play differently.”

Elsewhere, IGN expands upon the specifics of Midnight Suns‘ combat system by clarifying it is not a CCG game in the style of titles like Hearthstone or Shadowverse. Instead, Midnight Suns is closer to a deckbuilding roguelike game like Slay the Spire or even a card-based RPG like Baten Kaitos Origins.

Some of the gameplay specifics have yet to be revealed, but it basically sounds like you’ll be dealt a random hand of ability cards at the start of combat. You can acquire new cards and build your own deck through gameplay and story progression, but it seems like part of the game’s strategy will be based on your ability to make the most of the cards you’re ultimately dealt.

On top of that, Midnight Suns allows you to weaponize parts of the environment and use special “team” moves that will maximize your squad’s damage potential. Again, it’s not entirely clear how much randomization will ultimately impact the combat experience, but it does seem like the idea is to add a little variety to every encounter by requiring you to manage different abilities/environmental opportunities. It’s also not entirely clear how movement in the game will work, though it does sound like it will be relatively limited and not nearly as important as it is in Firaxis’ XCOM games.

Basically, Midnight Suns appears to be a squad-based strategy game where your combat actions are determined by “card-like” abilities that you’re dealt at the beginning of combat. Those combat sequences will also seemingly emphasize managing your abilities over positioning/movement, but the game’s environmental damage mechanics and team-building features may add a little depth to the experience.

So what’s the problem with all of that? Well, I’m glad you asked…

Marvel’s Midnight Suns Has to Overcome the CCG Genre’s Bad Reputation

As digital CCGs have become more and more popular over the years (or at least as they’ve become more successful), they’ve also acquired a negative reputation for perfectly representing some of the shadier elements of the modern gaming industry. Specifically, some gamers have been trained to see cards in a video game and think of two potentially major mechanical turn-offs: randomness (RNG) and pay-to-win features.

There’s a degree to which randomness is an unavoidable part of any card-based game. After all, the entire CCG genre is based on playing the hand you’re dealt. However, most fans are ok with that RNG element of the genre as there’s something satisfying about building the best deck possible and trying to outthink your opponent with the help of the cards in your hand.

The problem is that some card games take randomness too far. The prime example of this problem has to be Hearthstone: a CCG that has piled random mechanics on top of random mechanics in recent years to the point where victory can sometimes feel like a roll of the dice rather than the result of being the one who best played the hand they were dealt. While Hearthstone has gotten better about that level of randomness in recent expansions, it’s clear that CCG developers are still resisting the urge to tap into that sometimes addictive “gambling” quality that comes with such wild randomness.

That brings us to the dreaded topic of pay-to-win mechanics and CCG “loot boxes.”

Many CCG titles require you to build your own deck of cards, and most CCG titles require you to buy packs of cards in order to expand your collection. The problem is that you often don’t know which individual cards you’re going to get in a pack. That means your best “strategy” is to buy as many packs as possible in order to help ensure that you eventually find the specific cards you’re looking for.

It’s an unfortunate element of the CCG genre made that much worse by the rise of loot boxes and the many ways that card packs perfectly represent how frustrating loot boxes can be. While you can win those games without spending a small fortune, it’s hard to deny that spending money makes things a little easier.

Will Marvel’s Midnight Suns Have Loot Boxes and Card Packs?

Thankfully, the definitive answer to that question is “No.” In fact, the Midnight Suns team was quick to address this particular concern via Twitter:

Hey folks, regarding our battle card system, there are no loot boxes in Marvel's @MidnightSuns or related microtransactions to get more cards (i.e. Gamma Coils). We will have purely cosmetic character skins for purchase that do not affect game balance in any way https://t.co/lHhdwbMpSZ

— Marvel's Midnight Suns (@midnightsuns) September 1, 2021

That brings us back to the idea that Midnight Suns is closer to a deckbuilding roguelike/RPG than a CCG game. While there’s always a bit of wiggle room here when you’re talking about microtransactions, it at least sounds like you shouldn’t expect to have to buy a bunch of packs just to be able to play Midnight Suns.

While that’s obviously a good thing, that tweet doesn’t exactly address all the concerns fans currently have about Midnight Suns…

Marvel’s Midnight Suns Already Reminds Some Fans of a Mobile Title

Mobile games are undeniably popular, and mobile games are becoming much more complex/interesting, but it’s hard to fault anyone who thinks of microtransactions, shady mechanics, and generally simplified gameplay when they think of mobile games.

It’s the “simplified gameplay” concern that many are applying to Midnight Suns at the moment. Between Midnight Suns‘ use of a still somewhat vague card system and the title’s seemingly limited free-roam mobility mechanics (at least in combat scenarios), some fans are already worried that Midnight Suns is being developed to eventually become a mobile game or, at the very least, represent the more mainstream mechanics that typically make mobile games more accessible to wider audiences. For what it’s worth, no mobile version of Midnight Suns has been confirmed at this time (the game will instead launch for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S).

While that may prove to be a gross oversimplification of what’s actually happening, it’s hard to deny that what we’ve seen of Midnight Suns‘ gameplay so far does feel a bit closer to what you might see in a mobile game than what you’d typically expect from a modern strategy title made specifically for PC or consoles. That doesn’t mean that Midnight Suns won’t be strategically engaging, and it also doesn’t mean that it will be “bad.” It just means that the first impression many people had about Midnight Suns‘ gameplay seems to be based on what kinds of games the project currently resemble as well as the games it doesn’t resemble.

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Ultimately, Some Fans Are Disappointed that Marvel’s Midnight Suns Isn’t XCOM

One of the first things that Firaxis did after Midnight Suns‘ reveal was make it very clear that this will not be an XCOM-style strategy game. However, reactions to Midnight Suns‘ gameplay reveal have made it clear that not everyone got that message.

Actually, that’s a little unfair. It seems that some people do understand that Midnight Suns isn’t supposed to be an XCOM game, and they’re just not happy about that. There are quite a few people out there who seemingly just want to play an XCOM game set in the Marvel universe, and I sympathize with that desire. Those certainly sound like two great flavors, and it’s easy to imagine how such a game probably could have ended up being a lot of fun.

This is ultimately the burden of introducing something even a little bit different, though. Maybe Midnight Suns‘ will leave us all wishing it had just been an XCOM game, but it’s certainly interesting to see that the Midnight Suns team has had to spend so much time explaining what kind of game it “isn’t” as opposed to really talking about what kind of game it is. Some of the blame there lies with the quality of the initial reveal videos themselves (which didn’t do the best job of properly explaining how the game will actually play), but this might be a bigger sign of how brutal gut reactions can be at a time when having a gut reaction to nearly everything is becoming more of an expectation. In this particular instance, it doesn’t help that the game instantly reminded people of the gameplay/monetization sins of others.

Midnight Suns could be great, could be terrible, or it could fall into that dreaded middle-ground that is hard to make memes about and is therefore useless to a good chunk of the internet. Much as we saw in the case of Saint’s Row, though, first impressions are indeed worth a lot when they’re all we really have, and there’s a degree to which Midnight Suns already faces an uphill battle on the way to its March 2022 release date.

The post Why Marvel’s Midnight Suns Gameplay Has Fans Worried appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3gVQzjE

[bkewtlothedub]

Hello again folks! It is November 30th where I'm at, and we officially have one month left for auditions!

We have received 54 auditions so far, and "King Ladekahn" and the "Lord of the Winds" have received the bulk of those auditions in particular! (splendid auditions, if I may say so myself)

With that being said, I'd love to see more auditions for the Diadem townsfolk, the knights, and the imperial soldiers.

Background characters make up the world and make it interesting! I cannot stress enough that there are no small roles. Every role is a chance to flex your acting muscles, so if any of these roles catch your interest, please do audition!

As a reminder, this project will be open till December 31st, 2023. Thank you once again for your interest! Hope to see you audition!

[bkewtlothedub]

Hi folks, happy last day of September!

On this special day, I've decided to open up our last casting call for the year. It's for Episode 5, it takes place in the land of knights and clouds, and it features a certain King, as well as a certain redhead. 👑

Hope to see you audition!

[bkewtlothedub]

Casting Call is closed!

Hello brighter days! 🌷 Bit of a late announcement, but this casting call closed in late January, and recording for Episode 5 is currently in progress! Thank you to everyone who auditioned!

As always, it's a pleasure to be working with such a wonderful cast, experienced and new talent alike!

More to come soon. Thank you all so much for your support, reposts, and interest!

[bkewtlothedub]

✦ Update ✦ and additional info to ‘What is this?’

Hi everyone!

I realized I’ve updated EVERYWHERE else except for this page, so here’s the update.

The roles in the previous casting calls have been completely filled, and our editor is hard at work on the episodes. Episodes 3 & 4 are coming along nicely!

Episode 2 is being prioritized right now and we’re working to get it out as soon as we can, our schedule permitting. 

Secondly, I felt it important to include a little more information on our “What is this?” page (note: not viewable on Tumblr mobile app), especially if there was any confusion on what exactly this project is and what it’s intended for, so please give that a read if interested! 

Hope everyone has been well. Thank you for your support and patience everyone!

[bkewtlothedub]

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean [FANDUB]  - Part 3

Kalas and Xelha investigate the heart of the ruins but get more than they bargained for. They awaken an ancient power, and as it turns out, quite a few are after it… including an old foe.

And that finally concludes Episode 1! Stick around to the end for a preview of Episode 2. featuring some fresh new faces / voices!

...I really miss Tumblr’s BK community. I hope you all are doing well, wherever you are!

[bkewtlothedub]

Open Auditions for Lead and Supporting Characters!

Hi all, it’s audition season again! And this time, we have two casting calls open this month. If you’re interested in participating in this project as an actor, please see the links below!

The first one is a recast for 2F characters. Xelha, a main lead and Melodia, a supporting-antagonist: https://www.castingcall.club/projects/baten-kaitos-recast-2f-1-main-1-supporting-antagonist

The second is a casting call for supporting and additional characters in upcoming episodes: https://www.castingcall.club/projects/baten-kaitos-ewatlo-episodes-3-4-seeking-supporting-additional-cast

The Deadline is currently set for Mid-March, but I will extend the casting call if I happen to not receive enough auditions.

Looking forward to hearing your auditions, everyone!

[bkewtlothedub]

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean [FANDUB] - Part 2

Happy Fall Season, BK fans! We’re picking up right where we left off with Part 2 of Episode 1 in this Baten Kaitos Fandub!

In part 2 of 3, Kalas and Xelha meet up once again, and Kalas leaves a terrible second impression.

[bkewtlothedub]

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean [FANDUB]

Hi BK fans! Happy Palentine’s Day! It’s been a while, but I’m happy to say Episode 1 of this Baten Kaitos Fandub is out! We hope you like part 1 of 3!

[bkewtlothedub]

You all are fantastic!

Thank you all so much for liking, sharing, and showing interest in our latest video! It had been almost two years since our last one, so I was sure we’d get like 40 views, and that’d be it.

But oh mighty ocean, this fandom is still alive, still posting fan art, memories, and memes (oh gosh the memes), and I’m so happy for that.

On behalf of the cast, thank you!! ♡♡ Hope y’all are still around when I complete the next video in 2 years! (I’M KIDDING lol it won’t take that long haha but just covering my bases)

I went ahead and updated some of our voice talent’s pages in the Voice Cast section in case you’re interested in seeing other projects they’re doing or learning more about them!

[bkewtlothedub]

Auditions for additional characters from Episode 2 are open!

Hi everyone!

I’m excited to announce that auditions for various additional characters are now open on casting call club!

If you’re interested in participating in this project as an actor, you may audition here: https://www.castingcall.club/projects/baten-kaitos-eternal-wings-and-the-lost-ocean-episode-2-seeking-additional-characters

Deadline is set for May 23rd, but I will extend the casting call if I happen to not receive enough auditions. Thank you all, I’m looking forward to hearing your auditions, everyone!

Screenshot taken from a playthrough by NevNeo Plays, whose playthrough is being featured in our dub with their kind permission!

[bkewtlothedub]

HELLO YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS. This game means so much to me (blah blah enter my tragic backstory where this game = my mothers spirit after she died) and seeing people so passionate about it makes me cry, genuinely. It's so amazing to see what people can and will do for the things they love and this whole project is just a testament to that. Thank you for EXISTING this. This!!!!

I was so incredibly touched by this comment when I read this. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Hearing that this game had such a big impact on fans like you, and that subsequently you enjoy our fan project is nothing short of amazing. I am so glad you came across our project and took the time to comment!

Thank you so much for sharing your feelings with us, you beautiful person. Please stay tuned, and take good care of yourself!!