Baten Kaitos Remasters Have Japanese VO Only, Frame Rate, File Size Revealed

"There is no additional content for this title, but there is also no deleted content. "

what absolute gall they have to delete the English voices and then also say this.

Really not pleased with this if it really is the case.

Seems unfortunate, with the english VO for Origins being good, for the dubs not to be available as an option. They're only shrinking their audience by making it Jp (subtitled) only.

I'll still be getting the set, assuming there's a physical release, but I'll be making sure my hard drive of iniquity has still got the rom of the NGC version of Origins too.

Sadly a huge turn-off for me then, I simply prefer to have a dub I actually understand

I couldn’t help but read that as “No, more tin can voices!”

It’s disappointing that preservation of audio assets weren’t considered to be worthwhile back in the day (just as many “shot on film” animated television series aren’t available in native HD/UHD for modern audiences/devices). Those who care about their work should always hang on to the raw assets for posterity. And while the omission of the poor quality dub is understandable, omitting both just stinks of blatant laziness.

“Up to 2K resolution.”

Oh, shut up, Bandai. Call it “HD” like a normal person. It’s bad enough that most call UHD “4K” when both 2K and 4K are cinema standards (which makes things unnecessarily confusing for cinemaphiles) that are generally wider than HD and UHD, which are consumer/television standards.

@mariomaster96 welcome to the world of non-english speakers. We are always like that.

I still have both my GC games so with no added features I probably won't buy them right away. I do like Japanese VO, but I feel the lack of English dub will turn away fence sitters on this who haven't played the series before.

Such weird unique series, loved them!

No english voices?

...why, exactly? That seems like a very dumb choice.

I feel like I will have a much higher chance of dropping the game if its japanese voices only, I don't want to be reading every single line of dialogue in the game.

It's pretty sad. I remember the VA sounded as if it was recorder in the toilet but the VA was quite good.
Maybe they could use a Google app to fine tune the voices?

@Thaswizz I also have both games on Gamecube, but I fell off after a few hours, mostly due to the battle system. Do you have any quick tip to make the battles smoother?

I played the og always in Japanese language.
Same with zelda.
It gives an anime style feeling to it.

And just like that my interest in this remaster dropped from 8/10 to 6/10.

I sold mine like 20 years ago to buy baby formula. I will buy them once again! Just like back in the day, turn off the voices and read outloud in my own narration of voices.

I thought myself lucky to find the undubbed images of both games prior, so I'm alright with this turn of events.😄 Every time I start taking original voices for granted, I get a curveball like the last couple Directs reading English text over Takahashi's voice. Or has it been the US thing all along? Pretty sure the European streams were (or used to be?) subbed.

Naturally, dual audio is the ideal solution here (increased filesize notwithstanding), bit if Bamco is selling the whole package and didn't have the means/budget/motivation to re-record the once botched half of it, the less pleasant option makes bitter sense.

That’s a real shame as the voices had a real “so bad, they’re good” quality about them 😂

While we’re on the subject of remaking GameCube RPGs though…. Gimme Skies of Arcadia HD please someone, anyone…

Fine by me, I and a few other people I know have been wanting to play this for a while and this isn't going to stop us, but I would still like to know who voices people. Does anyone know?

A shame if it will impact some people's ability to enjoy the game, but not something which shall deter me!

This doesn't bother me that much. I'm just glad we're getting a remaster collection in the first place. Excited to check out some of Monolith Soft's pre-Xenoblade work.

Is this getting a physical release? Can’t find a preorder

And, there goes all the interest I had in this game.

WHAT OH COME ON. Seriously they couldn't just use the original voices from the game. I loved the cheesey VAing especially in the first one.

Omg this is a huge blow. I swear Ninty is the only one who can get me hyped up and in the next second just kill it all immediately

All I can say is I am happy this is getting a release. It's not for me, I dislike this kind of setting, but all these remasters and remakes doing well will mean chances are ever increasing of the games I do want to get releases.

Such as Suikoden.

@Great_Gonzalez omg yeah all of this.

@LUIGITORNADO : It appears to be a yes for Japan/Asia, but unconfirmed everywhere else. Play-Asia currently has listings for Japan, Asia, China, Europe, and America, but they tend to jump the gun with a lot of their listings, and add European/American listings by default even if such releases never materialise, so I wouldn't put any weight in that until local vendors begin listing the games for pre-order.

Supported languages are also yet to be confirmed. Play-Asia lists the Asian release as having English support (and this is likely to extend to the Japanese/Chinese releases by default if true), but we won't know for sure until closer to its release date. The best indication would have been the eShop listings, but the games are not yet available for pre-order via the Japanese or Australian (and by extension, European) eShops as of yet. I predict that Japan/Asia will definitely get a physical release, but a Western release is still up in the air (but seemingly unlikely).

So stupid. I won't buy the game now. I wanted to play Origins, but with the english voice acting.

Could not care less. Frankly it's a pro for me as now all discussion pertaining to the game and it's characters will be less painted by a wrong perception created by the dub, looking at you Xenoblade...

What does "works at up to 2K resolution" means? The game is outputing 2k on a full hd console?

Wow okay that is a big disappointment, IDK I guess I'll just settle for replaying the originals instead.

@nhSnork Yes, Nintendo UK's Direct streams are always subbed, and Nintendo America's streams dubbed. At least that's the basic rule. And that's the reason I prefer the European streams. Australian & other European ones I think work similarly to the UK one. I just find it jarring to not hear the person's own speech while seeing them talk. But still, good that there are 2 options (dub/sub) for different preferences.

@nhSnork They're still subbed in Europe. At least this week's was anyway. Yeah, I hate the American dubbed ones.

Maybe it's due to legal rights from actors that were using their voices. It's a trend nowadays. It does make sense. If this is not the reason, then no, it is dumb. I am fine with Japanese audio. No problems..

Such a shame about the removal of the original English voices. Wonder if its something Namco/Nintendo might consider offering as a free update

As an owner of the original NA versions I am excited to try the Japanese VO as I have not heard that before.

Does make me wonder if the magnus will be restored to the original Japanese versions and if they will put Sagi on the cross this time. There were a bunch of regional edits. I just hope Milly/Gullio bicker as much as they do in the dub. I think I remember hearing back in the day that a quest got dropped or altered in english as well.

@EarthboundBenjy to be fair the english was god awfull hope its physical as well

very doubtful i will buy the game now..

Ugh this is such a disappointment... Milly's English VA from Origins is one of my favourite dub performances out of any JRPG I've played. Baten Kaitos Origins is one of my favourite games ever, and this has me seriously debating whether I'll bother playing the remaster.

There was a way to fix the voices in the original, but I forgot what it was. Either way, the original voice acting on 1 was NOT great. Origins was, though. Shame it's not an option on either.

Also, why is it called Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 Remastered? Origins was a prequel...

I never played these games, but reading that there were English voices that aren't going to be in it now is kind of a bummer. Still, I tolerated Japanese VO in the Ryza games and others, so I'm sure I can tolerate it.

@DrewBA77
Turning the sound to mono removes the tin can effect and IIRC it's only the first disc that has the bug to begin with.

The release date would be nice

I don’t understand the resolution going up to 2K, will Bandai Namco use FSR to upscale the image to 1440p?

I’m sure a lot of people saying they won’t buy the game without the English VAs didn’t have any intention to buy the remasters in the first place.

I'm going to take this info with a grain of salt, damn, that official page for the collection is a hot mess, it looks like balderdash and it was obviously thrown together quickly. It obviously needs more time in the oven.

I'll wait for further news, but if it is 100% confirmed that we are getting only the Japanese voices, I'm kinda disappointed. Baten Kaitos Origins had a stunning voice cast. Easily some of the best English voice acting at that point in time.

While the first game had a mixed bag on the voice acting, it still had its charms too. I would welcome a chance to hear it decompressed or redone from the ground up.

Either way, I hope for a physical release. With the game only being 8GB in size, there should be no reason not to put both on a single cart. I'll gladly buy if they do this.

@DrewBA77 Baten Kaitos Origins was called Baten Kaitos II: The First Wings and the Heirs of the Gods in Japan. That's why it's called the Baten Kaitos I & II Collection.

@Sisilly_G they aren't available for pre-order anywhere just yet. Also, that official website is such a hot mess. Like it was clearly cobbled together and quickly, seriously, one of the ugliest sites I have seen for an official game in a long time. So I'll wait for absolute clarification on the status of the dub being removed and a physical release before I confirm whether I'm buying or not. If worse comes to worse, I can import, but if it's digital only everywhere? I won't be buying.

Bad or good, tin-can or not - I like English Voice acting, there is a certain charm understanding it in your language, there is no reason to remove these, unless it is to use less space, and get it on the smaller, cheaper cartridges. I am less likely to get this now and just play the GC versions.

Thankfully, I play Japanese games with original Japanese voiceovers only. Biohazard/Resident Evil games, BLAZBLUE games, Guilty Gear games, almost all of them!(There's some exceptions, though – No More Heroes' original voiceovers are English) I know seiyūs and I can remember their voices(Tomokazu Sugita and Asami Imai, for example).

Hahaha, this went from must-buy to never-buy for me quite fast xD

I tend to read through subtitles quicker than characters talk in games and skip through the VO so have no preference as to what language they speak. These games were on my radar back then so may have to take a look at these come the summer.

I remember when the first game came out and it looked really unique and interesting... and the card mechanic just sucked, I was really disappointed.

The voice acting was atrocious, yes. But they got some funny moments every now and then. Guillo’s dual voice was the best

@Oppyz666 I don't even think there's any games dubbed in any of the official languages of my country. (We have 11, but one is English but you get what I mean) So all games are foreign dubs for me.

Not an issue for me since I usually prefer Japanese voices and they're also a good way for me to practice my Japanese, but it's still a weird omission.

@nhSnork @WiX @RainbowGazelle Can confirm that also the Italian streams are still subbed and it's absolutely how I prefer them, although I'm glad there's an option for those who want them fully dubbed in English!

This is a HUGE disappointment for me. For big scope RPGs I want to play them Englished Dubbed. Glad this was made known, I have both of the OG on GameCube, still haven't played Origins, was thinking of starting it soon. But then Thought I was going to wait. Nope, not waiting for this now.

@Noxide You just made my morning with this comment, thank you.

"You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir. Bravo!"

@Strumpan I haven't played them in quite awhile, but I recommend switching up your cards rather then trying to have a preferred deck or at least. I remember one boss fights had me stuck and it was like I could never get the victory until I mixed it up a little. I think players tend like their own style and stick to it with skills, classes, party members, or in this case certain card combos.

Other then that I can't think of my head cause it's been so long since I played it.

Oh my gawd, I have to read?!? What is this, primary school?!
I'm glad it doesn't make my GC copies completely redundant then. Looking forward to the remaster!

I'm always hunting down undubs so this is great. I've never been one for English dubs. Xenoblade games are especially bad. It does suck for those that want the English VA though. I'm sure it was money issues.

@Strumpan I was kind of the same way. I never fully wrapped my head around the combat system of the game.

I did "okay" but then suddenly got stuck on a hard boss and for the life of me could never get past because...well...I had no idea how to build a good deck for battle.

This news is disappointing - even though the VO in the original game is horrid. I may have to give these two games another go - despite my weak understanding of card-battle systems.

It's much easier finding useful resources for games now than in 2004, should I get stuck.

@Thaswizz Ok, thanks for the tip, appreciate it.

I planned on playing in Japanese anyway so I’m not too fussed.

well i first started playing video games on the nes which had no voices only english text so i guess i will be use to it lol..

This may sound like heresy to some "purists", but I turn off/mute the voices in any RPG that aren't spoken in English. There's simply no context for me to understand or translate what I'm hearing to the text on the screen, so it all comes off as gibberish that's better silenced so I can at least appreciate the music and other sounds. I know RPGs are text-intensive projects, but if you're going to have spoken dialogue at all then not bothering to include voice in players' native language comes across as a bit less than 100 percent effort.

Very disappointing. I wish they had enough faith in the original game to redub it, and enough respect for the performances in the prequel to not throw away their work

This is really a big disappointment. I was really looking forward to enjoying the previous works from Monolith soft but this decision just really lowers my interest.

Too bad there is only Japanese voices. Can't they just audio-rip them from the original games?

They should have redubbed it at least.

Sorry to hear about people being disappointed about not having the English dub but for me I am glad I get to play it with Japanese voices since I tend to only play games with the original voices. I know a little and study Japanese as well so I can tell what’s a good translation and a bad one sometimes 😂. It is weird that bandai didn’t include both as an option. They usually do duel audio support 🧐. Maybe they will put it in as an update later down the line? I am definitely preordering these. Can’t wait to play.

Screen Resolution: TV Mode at 1920x1080 (*works at up to 2K resolution)

What is this nonsense? The Switch only outputs 1K (i.e. 1920x1080) and TVs with higher resolutions can do anything they want with that signal.

Or are they saying that if you plug it into a 4K TV it will explode?

It's okay. I prefer Japanese VO anyway, But why 30fps only? I believe, that they can make 60 fps on Switch easily. It's looks like a "lazy remaster".

The people here defending the original English VA must have been children when the original came out or played it on mute: the voice acting was not good. The quality alone made me turn it off and return it. Thankfully I bought it used so I got a full refund. BUT I will be purchasing this release.

@Oppyz666 yeah exactly lol.

well I don't mind subtitles. not sure why people always can't handle them. definitely not a big loss for me either way. sometimes Japanese voice actors are better.

Shame that they could not include both voice tracks. Seems like they went for a rather bare bone "remaster". That said, I badly wanted this for the better part of two generations and would have been absolutely fine with mere re-release port. As long as it looks and sounds decent, it plays smoothly without any bugs or such (we've seen our fair share of broken "remasters" in the past after all), this is a Day 1 for me. I still have not given up hope on a third entry.

Something else besides Xenoblade would be a welcome change of pace as far as a I am concerned. Baten Kaitos had such a unique tone and flair!

@N64-ROX 2k, 4k, 8k etc are based on the horizontal pixels. 2k can be either 1080p or 1440p

Lotta people complaining, but this is actually a selling point for me lol. Sure, ideally they'd just make 'em toggle-able, but if I had to pick I'd always go original language.

@Henchdog that was my point. Everyone here taking a ***** because it isn't dubbed in english, but every non english speaker is like "welcome to the real world fellow american, every other country which do not speak english says hi"

Physical release?

@DesertRainReads @Anguspuss @Sisilly_G @LUIGITORNADO @gcunit @Vash0125 Physical release is live on Play-Asia https://www.play-asia.com/baten-kaitos-i-ii-hd-remaster-english/13/70g01h

Well, if you wanted to know why Xenosaga isn't getting a remaster, the disappointment here should answer that. 30fps for a turn base RPG remaster, what lunacy is this?

I love the Baten Kaitos series but this really killed it for me... I was so hype for this HD collection when it was announced on the Direct, but now I'm just extremely sad and disappointed about this... I begrudgingly will be passing on this game now. At least until they (hopefully) add the English voices in a patch or as a Free DLC.

@StAmbrosius Lazy is the reason, if it was Monolith they'll handle it just fine but this is Namco the lazy of the lazy. This is the same company that will give us a 30fps Tales of Symphonia with no extra contents. Nope I don't count the PS2 craps as extra contents, there should be more on top of those plus 60fps, the second game, and Phantasia along with it and for only $30.

I am so upset that they won't include the english vo as an option, like people should be able to play it with that option even if it's bad

The dub voices were notoriously horrible so thanks for the service and not bloating the game size with that audio lol

Considering you have to read a lot of text anyway this isn’t a big deal.

While I thought the original game's voice dub was awful I would have still preferred it. I get there a lot of people who seem to think that only having Japanese voices in Japanese made games it the only way to go but I see that as an odd elitist thing and I like the English voices as it helps immerse me in the experience and I don't have to concentrate on subtitles when I could miss something in an action sequence. It's one of the same reasons I can't watch undubbed foreign action movies as I end up missing so much. Yes these games are heavy on just reading text but it would be still nice if the original English dubs were kept in as an option.

Talk about being half-arsed port.

Okay this is a pretty big bummer for me. I liked the English VA for the GC version.

…..what?

thanks Namco for dropping the value of this. what kinda remaster has content excluded?

count me out - it was better to leave this game in the dust then to bring it back and watch it sell poorly again.

@Oppyz666 except the content already exists. the issue isn’t “we don’t get English” it’s that the English dub exists and is being withheld.

@Greenmanalishi it was ass but there’s gonna be a real loss of value not being able to characterize individuals like Guillo or Mizuti. They both had great vocal work and brought something unique to the game.

Same with the battle attacks. Savyna Mizuti Lyude Milly Guillo and Xelha were quite memorable in combat. I can’t imagine this series with none of that battle charm.

What a deplorable decision made by Bandai, yeah email them about this. Absolutely unacceptable for an unknown franchise to get buried even further outside of Japan after getting a very rare second chance. They better not be surprised by their sales numbers if they choose to release it without EN voices even of they were just passable.

I was so stoked to get to see this game get more recognition, but to ship it out without the EN voices is bound to doom the franchise again.

This went from being my favorite announcement of the direct straight down to “nope.”

If they patch it in eventually, then I’ll get it. But this is dumb, stupid, and lazy. And dumb. Really dumb.

@Aerona They're good games. Bk 1 had one of the worst dubs of the GameCube era and voice acting wasn't where it is now so that's saying something. Origins was good, but don't get it twisted, these are 20 year old rpgs from gen 6 consoles. You're going to be reading 85-90% of the time. Voices mostly come in battles or just acknowledging you did something with the cards outside of battle or really major story cutscenes

@BeefSanta I was going to play 1 with voices off if possible. I never want to hear that again

@AnVold It's a 20 year old game. The frame rate is probably coded to the game speed. If you ran it at 60 fps if that's how the game was coded, and a lot were at the time, you'd have a game running at twice the speed and that would render this game in particular unplayable because time is an integral component of the game. Like a lot of the comments here forget that this is an old game. A lot of things were not standardized or really done in the same way 20 years ago.plus it's a turn based rpg. I don't see any benefit from this game running at 60fps.

@Jeremazing I actually don't get these comments. Like the majority of the games were unvoiced anyway. Like 90% of it had zero voice acting. Whether it's japanese or English the only real difference it makes is battle voices. Otherwise either way you're reading. It's a 20 year old jrpg. Full voice acting is barely a thing now in jrpgs, back then it was only for extremely major cutscenes and even then it was brief before going back to being unvoiced.

Well I'm not gonna use those new features. And I really hope their will be a NA physical release.

@Noxide I would agree lol

@Xansies all these people are just whining because that is what the internet is for lol.

@WiseGuy3683 thx love play asia

@Xansies Just yesterday I finished playing the first one on Gamecube, 90% of the game is voice. The main story is all voiced (except for oddly a stretch of the end content they didn't record any voices for) You had the option to turn off the voices if you prefer, so curious if your memory of it not having much Voice acting is because maybe you turned off the voice acting?

@Xansies well, except most plot points in the main quest are voiced, so it's not as dramatically barren as you suggest.

the big thing I don't understand is why people can't appreciate that the voices bring some kind of life to the characters. I get wanting to strip out the terrible VA cuz it's poor quality, but some of that VA breathed life into the characters. For me, that's a large value in playing RPG games built around characterization. there's also nostalgia for some people who have played these before.

It's true that you're already going to read the majority of the game, but it's also true that having Milly's battle cry removed during "Seven Star Dust" is going to be completely bland. I personally liked the voices of Guillo, and in combat they made the gameplay more vibrant and fun. Most time is spent in combat, I can't imagine enjoying the experience the same way now that it's going to mimic the taciturn blandness of Pokemon battles. those who don't know what they're missing likely won't care: those who remember the nice bits from the past will care.

and on top of that, a remaster that has LESS content than the original? why should I spend money on a product that's inferior to the original? on principle alone it's a disservice to the meaning of a remaster and it's a disservice to the consumer.

I'm glad there will be new people who will pick it up, but we will experience different games because of it. maybe for good or for not, that remains to be seen, but there's a sizeable chunk of people who appreciated the little bits of VA that weren't absolutely deplorable and feel kinda jaded now that the promise of reliving these games is going to be squandered and different.

I just wish they'd add the option. keep both Japanese and English and have it toggle-able on or off.

As someone with a visual impairment I can say that my investment in this game whent from day one purchase to not gone buy it ever. Playing with Japanese vo is just unplayable for me. I can't keep up with subtitlesand besides that I miss all the emotion by not hearing it in a language I understand. I played trails from zero recently as in I bought it day one and I am still in the beginning of chapter 4 only because I get so tired (as in physically tired) of reading that I have to stop after around a hour of playing. Meanwhile I completed xenoblade 3 in early August and still play it becouse I love the story and becouse the voice acting ad so much charm. Sorry bandainamco if you don't add the dub to the remaster I am afraid I have to find a way to play the originals. Which since I am dutch and Europe missed origins means emulation is my only option.

It seems like a dumb idea to miss out the English voices. Sure they had a “talking through a tube” quality, but it wouldn’t hurt to have the option! However I think the culprit could be that file size: 8GB. Adding another language would make it bigger…and thus step up the cost of the physical card as that (8 to 16) is a cross over point for cartridge sizes.