Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean

BACK IN 2003...

Definitely my top favorite game on the Nintendo GameCube, which is why it has its own shrine (because there will most likely be a GC shrine in the future). I played it for the first time a long, long time ago (around 2010?) and it was my first experience with a double disc game. I borrowed it from a friend and played the absolute shit out of it. Gave it back, bought it again to replay a few years later, and then replayed it again on the Dolphin emulator, and then, FINALLY, it was released on Steam remastered with both EWATLO and Origins in 2024. So, yup, you guessed it, I played it again. lol. And I still haven't played Origins. Someday! ...After the nth replay of Eternal Wings. The music and the visuals stood out to me the most when I first played it. To the end of the Journey of Glittering Stars is still one of my most favorite soundtracks of all time (shout out to Motoi Sakuraba whom has composed for many games I've liked).

To briefly describe what it's about, you (the player) are a Guardian Spirit that follows along the journey of the characters and they do reference you quite a bit. They'll call you by the name you enter and ask for your input sometimes. As for the game itself, it's a turn based JRPG but you use a deck of cards, called Magnus, to land combos for attacks. It's fun lol. There's six elements and many, many cards for each one. Some elements are stronger against some, weaker against others. If you do a combo in a certain way, you'll unlock a stronger attack. You also have to use healing Magnus which spoil after a while as it sits in your deck, if they're food items... and then they can be used as offense cards :D some Magnus change over (in-game) time too. Btw, the deck is randomized. All the characters have wings. Oh, and currency system, you ask? Yeah. You take pictures of the various enemies you come across or your party members to sell them for money. I always liked that aspect. Say cheeseburger!

For me personally, I think it's my favorite because it was the first JRPG I actually played through and the combat style is unique compared to other JRPG titles. The world itself and the way it's built is so very creative, maybe not so much the story lol, but I still like it. There's also so many side quests. I don't necessarily want to spoil the story :P so, play it on Steam!! or use Dolphin, either way, it's still a fun experience. Here's the game trailer intro, if you're interested. I will admit it does get really frustrating at times, but it never felt too difficult to give up on. One of my plans in the future is to get my right forearm tattooed with my fave characters or all six party members.

Lastly, the best thing that I love about this game above everything else... the horrible audio quality of the voice acting! LOL I'm not joking. It sounds like they recorded in a bathroom. In the remaster, they removed them and I was very upset about it :( like yeah it sounds bad, but it's nostalgic. To me, it was a staple of its time. Baten Kaitos is definitely overlooked and if somebody read through all this, I hope you'll give it a chance, if you like JRPGs. It's a 10/10 from me.

FAVE SOUNDTRACKS ♪

FAVE CHARACTERS ♥

I enjoyed all the characters!!! I'll do my best to not mention any spoilers. My most favorites are The Great Mizuti and Xelha. I like The Great Mizuti because the character design is amazing and they're just all around very interesting, but also, they were my instant favorite back when I first played as a teen. Their card combos are fun. Xelha is a great protagonist, she's couragous, cares for the people around her and the impact of the Empire on common folks lives. I've always been drawn to that type of woman and characters in general, ones who stand up against injustice regardless of consequences. In that same vein, that's also why I'm a long-time shipper of Xelha/Savyna, because they're similar but opposites. And, well, women.

Kalas is also a contender for one of my faves because his character arc is really good. He's a jerk though (for understandable reasons), a trait which I personally don't care for, however, the growth is why I ended up liking him quite a bit. Lyude is also a great character for turning his back on the Empire because he doesn't agree with what they're doing but most of all, his attack combos are awesome. I respect that kind of character a lot. Gibari is an all around great character too, so is Savyna. I really like all of their individual decks and building them and changing them to play better with whichever ones are in the party.

Some NPC's I enjoyed are, of course, Meemai ♥ ♥ ♥

https://www.tumblr.com/batenkaitosproject/163642946516/a-pair-of-true-heroes


https://www.tumblr.com/demonbunny5/728725380561862656/meemai-photobomb

And some other notable favorites: Queen Corellia (not so much for her character but for her design), Mayfee, Ayme (for her design), all the NPC's from Wazn, Mira and Duhr, and Anna (because she is cool and she looks cool).

FAN CONTENT

The smallest batch of web icons I've found while browsing old livejournals and Tumblr

sources:
https://users.livejournal.com/-one-winged/
https://batenkaitos-fic.livejournal.com/
https://sticky-wins.livejournal.com/
https://urbsaeterna.livejournal.com/9689.html#cutid1
https://www.tumblr.com/komo-mai/173556690141/i-made-some-ewatloewlo-icons-feel-free-to-use-one-of

++
Some fan content I like that I've found on Tumblr ^_^
BTW HUGE SHOUT-OUT!!! to these artists and fans that have made lots of wonderful art for this game!!!
I won't save and upload them myself, you'll have to check em out in a new tab and show em some love

Artist: saginoko | Mizuti fan comic, the friendship between Mizuti and Kee (Japanese): part 1, part 2, part 3
Artist: giantratbf | Rendered art of Melodia (spoilers): here
Artist: pupusukka | Funny meme art of Xelha: here
Artist: yamsgarden | Rendered art of the Whole Squad in celebration of the Remaster release: here
Artist: allisonchinart | Black and white illustration of Komo Mai: here
Artist: tsukiyumi | Rendered art of Xelha: here
Artist: u72ac | Rendered art of Savyna: here
Cosplayer: pyllymursu | Two cosplayers cosplaying Xelha and Kalas: here
Tumblrs (inactive) that have made edits, icons, gifs and shared assets: komo-mai | potionxshop | batenkaitosproject

pssst: saginoko, yamsgarden and tsukiyumi all make more Baten Kaitos art than the ones I've linked as well!

CLOSING WORDS...

I probably will not update this shrine after it goes live, as the game is old and there aren't many fans posting about Baten Kaitos in grand ol' 2026. Although, I did see a Yaoi comic posted on Pixiv in 2025 between Ladekahn and Gibari, so... Hey!! Who knows? There's hope for my Xelha/Savyna ship after all!! If another fan comes across my shrine, HI, same hat!! Regardless if I update my shrine or not, it is likely that I will once again replay Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean in the future, I gotta 100% the achievements on Steam after all (which means I gotta play Origins at some point). If I collect any fan-made merch in the future, perhaps I'll share that. All I have as of right now is a framed ad I found in a 2005 Game Informer magazine.

pretty cool, huh?