I was a skeptic at first too, but the "cards" system is not bad and more importantly the rest of the game is v
Gameplay: 9
As I just mentioned everything in this world revolves around magnus, meaning your items, weapons, shields, and everything else are transferred onto cards called magnus. This actually works really well for keeping all your items organized, since they are all in the same place. To level up in this game you have to go to this church and the priest person, or whatever, will turn experience you earned into levels. The puzzles in this game can sometimes get tedious, but for the most part are fun.
The battle system is classic turn based, but with cards. Every character has a deck consisting of attack cards, defense cards, attack/defense cards, finishing move cards, and item cards. You have a team of 3, but combat in this game is always 1 on 1. What I mean is there are no moves which attack or heal multiple targets. So when somebody attacks your character you would use defense cards, and when you're attacking you would use attack cards. If you use a finishing move card you can't use any more cards. How many cards you can use in a turn changes depending on how far you are in the game. Each character will get items that will permanently increase the size of you deck. What cards you get in you hand to use is completely random and comes from that characters deck. You can for the most part control what you get by what the proportion of cards in your characters deck is. If that characters deck is 3/4 attack cards you will usually get an attack card and so on. Elements also play a huge factor in this game, so it is key to pay attention to the elements in your deck as well as the weaknesses of your enemies. My only complaint with the battle system is that combat can become tedious later in the game when everybody can play more cards. Other than that, the battle system is fun and involves a lot of strategy.
Graphics: 9
The graphics in this game are extremely good looking. The backgrounds have a very artistic feel while moving and looking very real. The spells and other battle graphics are also quite exceptional. I was going to give this game a ten in graphics except for the fact that the character graphics could be better. This is definitely one of the high points in the game though.
Sound: 8
The music and sound effects in this game are quite good but the voice acting could be improved upon. I probably would have appreciated it more if the whole game was in text, who knows though, maybe I am just being a hypocrit.
Value: 9
This game is very long and has a lot of sidequests. A lot of stuff also happens over the course of this game, which is something I really put a lot of emphasis on. I would have given this game a 10 in value if it was not for how tedious and unrewarding some of the sidequests seem. It drives me crazy when games needlessly become tedious. That aside, this game is definitely worth your money, It can run around 50-70 hours.
Tilt: 9
In this game you play the role of a spirit traveling with the main character. Using this premise in this world filled with magic and magnus the story ends up being quite entertaining. There are lots of twists and terms which you don't see coming that keep you in the game the whole time. It is definitely sci-fi, it can get a bit unsual, and nothing about it is ground breaking but it executes the story well enough to be entertaining.
The characters in Baten Kaitos are also pretty interesting. They can be cheesy and predictable at times, but they are very lovable. The main character also has a bit of a dark side that is nice to see in a game like this. I had to dock the tilt score a little bit do to how tedious some of the things in this game can be over all, that is a bit of a pet peeve of mine as I may have already expressed.
Conclusion
It is not a fluke, Baten Kaitos is a good game and that is why it reviews the way it does. It executes well on all fronts and as long as you are able to put up with some sub par voice acting you should be pleased. If you have some extra time on your hands and can't find any more good rpgs to play give Baten Kaitos a shot, you won't be dissapointed.