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 AR code and load any save file.

Version	Action Replay code
NA	022ADBE8 0000E000 022ADBEA 00007000
JP	022B7F20 0000E000 022B7F22 00007000

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	00547773 000000BE
	JP	00533073 000000BE
Limpidly Flow	NA	00547773 000000BF
	JP	00533073 000000BF

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. However, this assumes that Japanese characters are used, so it is completely incorrect in the English version.

Unused Enemies

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

Unused Cutscenes

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

Debug Messages

There are various debug messages in dialog 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

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: The Beginning of the Wings 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	Nero / ネロ
Seph	Tista / ティスタ
Thoran	Petz / ペッツ
Ven	Porco / ポルコ

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.

The English version contains a translation of the message and debug information about the skipped gender prompt.

• Name of valuable undefined.
• No comment defined for this valuable,

but the flag is set to on.

• Please select your gender.
• Male
• Female

The player's gender is represented by a blue or pink background on the name entry screen, the camp screen, and the save/load menu. Through hacking, it is possible to switch to a female spirit in the English version and get the pink background, but the pronouns in dialog will not change accordingly.

Female spirit (NA)
042D8760 00000001

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.

Japan	North America

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

Japan	North America

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.

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

Japan	North America

"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

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...".

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.

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.