Baten Kaitos: Origins for GameCube Reviews by Gamers

First, if you didn't like the first BK, then don't bother playing this one. The biggest changes in this game is of course the new battle system. You no longer attack with individual weapon cards you can equip them to boost your attack power during battle, which helps out a ton), but instead with either Weak 1 or B, Medium A or B, or strong A or B attacks. It sounds somewhat boring at first, but you're no longer limited to one special/finisher card per turn: you can use 3/4 ( not all have a level 4 finisher) if you have enough MP, which you gain by simply using cards. You can also do relay combos, which are the key to getting high card/hit combos and doing major damage to one enemy. You do this simply by ending someone's combo with a finisher, while having another character ready to act, and having them use a weak attack card.

Defense and healing are now redone too. As with weapon cards, you have to equip an armor card for it to have any effect. For the most card, they're really useless. You'll spend most of your time fighting with weapon cards equipped, since you regain all your HP after each normal battle anyway. Now instead of being able to use multiple healing cards in one turn, you can only use one. Again, very useful for boss battles and some of the tougher normal battles.

Another big change is in quest magnus. In BK1, you were limited to simply 8 blank magnus. But now you get upwards of 24 (that's how many I currently have) and the ability to mix quest magnus together to form new ones. And quest magnus now affect your stats, some increase your attack or defense simply by having them.

Though, if you're expecting a lot of new areas, you'll be disappointed, as there aren't all that many new areas ( some new ones are Hasselah, the Coliseum, Sedna). Some old areas do look different from before though, so they don't exactly feel like the areas you went to in BK1.

All in all, BKO is certainly a more challenging game. I'd say more...but I'm out of characters.:(