Baten Kaitos Origins

This is the second Baten Kaitos game and it's a prequel to the first.

The story happens 20 years before the original and we play as a soldier from the empire. The characters act very funny but then the dialogs ends up being very predictable, the story is very good tough the pace sometimes is a bit slow, very specially the seconds disc that feels a bit too long.

The game is pretty much the same with a few changes, for example:

- A little change is the magnus mixer, now we can mix the quest magnus which gives many new situations to solve (usually as subquests).

- A big change is the battle system, now it plays differently, VERY differently. At first I had some trouble, but once I got used to it I really enjoyed battles and I prefer it over the Eternal Wings one.

It's a bit hard to explain what has changed on the battle system because there are many things, for example we use a common deck for all the characters, can only equip one weapon or armor per character and it's equipped via a card inside the same battle. It's a brand new challenge.

Visually hasn't improved much either, most of the places are the same as in the first game and the new ones aren't very surprising. Still it looks very original and detailed using many animated sprites (or meshes?) over 2d prerendered backgrounds.

I'm a bit critic on some aspects because I'm comparing it to the first game, but overall is excellent and superior to many other because the setup is very original, fun battles and many things to do.

Did I enjoy it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Liked the first Baten Kaitos
- Like JRPG

I rate my experience with a 8.5 out of 10.

Baten Kaitos

A master piece from two great developers.

This is a "typical" jrpg, with dungeons, shops, many locations and a world to save through turn-based combats, but everything put there very carefully making a very fresh and enjoyable experience.

Combats are turn based, where attack/defense is done through collectible cards that can be found or bought. The player can use those cards to perform Defensive/offensive combos that sometimes can become secret combined attacks. The combat is very fun, bosses are challenging and the card system is very deep.

Graphically looks very detailed using pre-rendered backgrounds with animated details, the art design is impressive with many original and beautiful locations and creatures. Dungeons contain some entertaining puzzles which you don't use to see lately.

The music is awesome, though most of the sound/voices seems recorded in low quality, but still very enjoyable.

Did I like it? Very!
You will like it if you:
- Like jrpgs

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Online

My first online  game! I played for tons and tons of hours though I never got any character to level 100, thats because the lack of content forced the player to repeat over and over the same missions and places.

So the main attraction here was the online gaming, being in a game with so many people, playing with them, making strong friendships in a different way than usual, everything was new and exciting for me as a teenager :P.

The combat system is a bit simplistic but fun and accesible, player can choose between a few classes (ranged, melee and mage), races and a little companion that could be feed and evolved in many different ways improving the character status and giving some special attacks.

The game had high production values so presentation, graphics, music and interface are excellent.

Did I like it? YES!
I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10

Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst

More content added, if this had come sooner PSO would have been saved for me, too bad I was already tired of it and I found some new and bigger MMORPGs.

Did I like it? Nope.
I rate my experience with a 5 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Online Ep3 C.A.R.D. Revolution

Another iteration, this time using card battles, I didn't play for more than 1 hour.

Did I like it? No, I didn't.
I rate my experience with a 4 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Universe

It tried to increase the mmo experience and added many improvements and also a few bad things like separating the online and offline game. To me it felt very dated, I played PSO too much and this wasn't what I wanted on a new MMO.

Did I like it? I got tired very soon.
I rate my experience with a 4.5 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Online 2

I've played the beta and the japanese release, it is entertaining and has improved in many ways, combat has more options and a different pace. Now it depends on the amount of content and customization and when the english version is released.

I rate my expectations with a 6 out of 10.