Baten Kaitos Origins

Baten Kaitos Origins
Also known as: Baten Kaitosu II: Hajimari no Tsubasa to Kamigami no Shishi (JP) Developers: Monolith Soft, tri-Crescendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: GameCube Released in JP: February 23, 2006 Released in US: September 25, 2006 This game has unused areas. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

Baten Kaitos Origins is a card-based RPG set 20 years before Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, the first game in the series. This game is also notable in that it wasn't released in PAL territories, despite the fact that the first Baten Kaitos was.

Debug Room

Just like the first game, Origins has a debug room containing a variety of menus such as a map select and a sound test. To gain access to it, activate the appropriate Action Replay code and load any save file.

Version	Action Replay code
NA	042ADBE8 E0007000
JP	042B7F20 E0007000

Unused Areas

The battle menu in the debug room features the Moonguile Forest map that originally appeared in the first game. Despite being more polished in Origins, it went unused as there are no enemies in Moonguile Forest.

FILE_E00078FF (or FILE_E0007149 in the Japanese version) is an overworld map of the Endmost Bethel, the church found in both games. A small version of the island graphic is seen on the world map.

Unused Music

Among the music files on both discs, there are two leftover songs from Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean: "Chaotic Dance" and "Limpidly Flow". They can be played using these codes:

Song	Version	Action Replay code
Chaotic Dance	NA	04547770 70004FBE
	JP	04533070 70004FBE
Limpidly Flow	NA	04547770 70004FBF
	JP	04533070 70004FBF

Unused Voice Clips

Both releases have unused battle announcers on disc 1.

FILE_50004030: Japanese Sagi

FILE_50004031: Japanese Milly

FILE_50004032: Japanese Guillo

FILE_50004033: Other Japanese voice actor

The only announcer that skips level 5.

FILE_50004034: Japanese announcer with an alternate audio filter

FILE_50004035: Japanese announcer heard in the game

FILE_50004036: Japanese announcer with another audio filter

FILE_50004035 (English version)

In the English version, FILE_50004035 was replaced with a pitched and slowed down version of the announcer used in the game. Many of the clips are noticeably cut off at the end.

Note: In the actual game, the announcer never says "Ready?", "Relayǃ", or "Final Round".

Milly: Sagi's mother? Why is she here?

This line would have played just before a fadeout during the election speeches. It was translated into English despite not being used in the game.

Sagi: Milly, come outside! You won't believe it. The mist has cleared!

Milly: OK, I'll be right there!

This dialog is not part of any cutscene seen throughout the storyline. According to its filename (FILE_3000416B), it would have been heard between the ending scene in Mintaka (FILE_3000416A) and Geldoblame's final appearance in the game (FILE_3000416C). The scene has a debug room entry labeled "(Missing)", which is located between "EV10250 A new journey" and "EV10270 Geldoblame". This suggests the scene was either removed or never put into the game.

Unused Magnus

The debug room allows the player to obtain any quest magnus, including some that were never found in-game.

593-609 X: Unused values filled up with a placeholder image and no title or description.

670 X (Black Leather Notepad)	671 X (Scoop Notepad)
The description suggests it was going to be used for a mix.	Perhaps this was going to be the result of a mix with Black Leather Notepad.

At magnus index 0, there is an explanation on how the menu screen displays magnus descriptions. It assumes that Japanese characters are used, making its English translation rather useless.

Unused Enemies

There is an unused enemy named "Mr. Quintain" that uses the same model as Dark Service Swordsman. He seems to serve as a dummy target, judging by his very low stats and lack of EXP, TP, gold, or magnus drops.
His Japanese name is 木人 (mokujin), which could be either an abbreviation of the martial arts training tool mokujinto, or referencing the animated training dummy from another Bandai Namco property.
Enemy set 156 consists of three Mr. Quintains.

Unused Cutscenes

There is an unused flashback scene that was supposed to play upon the last forced return from the other world.

Debug Messages

There are various debug messages in text boxes that cannot be seen during normal gameplay.

Hidden Game Elements

Details hidden from the player include Famicom and GameCube controllers, an imperial flag, and a Guillo palette swap obscured by a sepia effect.

Regional Differences

Names

In Japan, the game is called バテン・カイトスII 始まりの翼と神々の嗣子, which translates to Baten Kaitos II: Wings of the Beginning and the Heir of the Gods.

Some character names were changed from the Japanese version. These four names in particular ended up being very different in the localization:

North America	Japan
Verus	ネロ (Nero)
Seph	ティスタ (Tista)
Thoran	ペッツ (Petz)
Ven	ポルコ (Porco)

Player Gender

Upon starting a new game in the Japanese version, the player is asked to select if they are male or female. The English version skips to the naming screen and the player is always addressed as male. The reason for this omission is unclear.

A translation of the gender prompt is present in the English version:

Please select your gender.
Male
Female

The selected gender is represented by a blue or pink background on the name entry screen, the camp screen, and the save/load menus.
In the Japanese version, dialog options use different sentence endings depending on the selected gender. Interestingly, this includes Daimon's dialog options. According to this page, Daimon's gender is the opposite of the player's choice.
Changing the gender variable through hacking reveals that the pink background is also present in the English version, but this doesn't seem to affect any English dialog.

Pink background (NA)
042D8760 00000001

Censorship

In the Japanese version, Sagi ends up tied to a cross at one point in the story. This religious reference was heavily toned down for the English release by replacing the cross with a block. The final ability needed for the "Apotheosis" combo is obtained after this scene, showing the symbolism was intentional.

"Chaotic Dance 2", Giacomo's battle theme, was remastered after the Japanese release, shifting the emphasis from the vocals to the synth bass and kick drum. Also, the section with lyrics resembling the words "praise the lord" (starting at 1:37) was redone with unintelligible singing.

Japan	North America

Miscellaneous

The crowd screams during the election speeches were changed from "Machina" to generic cheering for the English release.

Japan	North America

In the English version, any sets of three Imperial Swordsmen encountered in Mintaka were reduced to two Imperial Swordsmen. Consequently, the player only has to fight two of them when Milly first appears in the game, whereas three of them spawn in the Japanese version.

Some of Guillo's EX combos deal more damage in the English version because their offense factors were increased:

Japan		North America
Name	Factor	Factor	Name
陰陽の黒	1.65	1.8	Black Yang
陰陽の白	1.7	1.8	White Yin
氷と炎の女王	1.5	1.8	Fiery Ice Queen
氷と炎の女王＋	2	2.1	Blazing Glacial Queen
絶対零度の女王祭	1.55	1.85	Frigid Queen's Parade
絶対零度の女王祭＋	2.1	2.5	Frigid Queen's Festival

(Source: BKO Documentation)

The following enemies can be instantly defeated with the magnus "Bomb" or "Tarot Card: Death", but only in the English version:

• Saber Dragon
• Hercules Dragon
• Dragon
• Arma Prototype M

The battle results screen was altered in the English version. Most notably, "RESULT" was made plural, and a color overlay covering most of the screen was removed.

In the Japanese version, when the battle announcer says the round number, it is also shown as text on-screen.

The Japanese startup screens use different logos and a black background instead of a white one. The logos also stay on-screen longer before they can be skipped with the Start button. The Dolby Pro Logic II logo only appears in the English version.

In the Japanese version, save files are numbered 000 through 126 in the menu. In the English version, they are numbered 001 through 127.

Errors

Before the boss fight at the Veinroots, there is a choice between the options "You mustn't kill it!" and "......". In the Japanese version, picking either option increases the spirit score by 2. In the English version, the first option increases the score by 3, while the second option decreases the score by 3.

The Japanese version of the game ends with the words "The story continues to Baten Kaitos". This grammar mistake was fixed in the English version, where it reads "The story continues in BATEN KAITOS...".

Bugs

There are multiple revisions of the Japanese discs because the original release apparently had some game-breaking bugs. Details can be found here.

After the cutscene outside Olgan's residence, the player regains control of Sagi in the middle of the screen transition, but also at the end of the screen transition. This allows the player to dash into one of the off-limits zones to the left or right, and then walk around while Sagi's text box is on screen. This glitch was fixed in the English version.

Using a glitch, the player can leave Albali Sandhollow through the west exit when they're supposed to follow Seph and Thoran. In the English version, the save flower required for this trick was moved slightly to the right, rendering the glitch impossible.

In the Japanese version, attempting to leave through Albali's west exit causes the game to crash under specific circumstances.
Thoran's text box saying "Hey! Marno!" is spawned from where Thoran is located on the screen. If the map is loaded again before going to the next area (e.g. by loading a file at the save flower), Seph and Thoran will be gone, and so Thoran's text box will spawn from one of the caracals instead. Killing that caracal makes it so triggering Thoran's text crashes the game.
In the English version, the glitch was fixed by simply skipping right to Sagi's text box if Thoran is not present.

After getting the Coliseum Dog Tags at the Mintaka port, the player can't interact with NPCs, doors, or enter a loading zone until "Wussy Guy" disappears from the map. If the player quickly mashes through the dialog boxes, this takes about five seconds. This glitch was fixed in the English version.

In the Japanese version, magnus pack coupons lying around in the following places can be picked up again after redeeming them in a shop:

• Dark Service Headquarters (1)
• Sheliak (2)
• Nashira (1)
• Vega (5)
• Tarazed, B block bedroom (1)

In the Japanese version, when buying a coupon from Sanya, the magnus trader in the School of Magic, the amount of gold in the player's possession doesn't actually decrease. This results in an even more handy source of infinite free coupons because the player can hold up to 8 trader coupons at a time. It only works if the player has at least 25000 gold, though.

If the player chooses "Edit this deck", "Change members", or "Rename this deck" in the deck selector and then returns by pressing B, they can control the magnus selection while in the deck action menu. This glitch was fixed in the English version.

In the Japanese version, the field guide shows the type of each character or monster in the top right corner. The types are Ally, Human, Undead, Dragon, Aerial, and Other. Due to a bug, this information is not displayed in the English version, and it only reads "Type: ". Adding the control code %s through romhacking will fix this.

Using travel log glitches during the final cutscene causes the game to freeze when returning to the title screen. This only applies to the Japanese version.