I have just beaten this game and here is my review on Baten Kaitos: Origins.

Story: This game takes place 20 years before the 1st game. The main character, Sagi, works for the Alfard Empire in an elite unit that reports directly to a powerful politician, Lord Baelheit. He is joined by Guillo, who is apparently a Paramachina, a type of mechanized puppet built to assist members of the Empire's army. At the start of the game, the unit is given a dubious assignment to kill Emperor Olgan, although the ultimate source of the order is unclear. Before the two have a chance to actually carry out the assassination and reflect on the morality of this act, Olgan is killed by a third party. Blamed for the murder, Sagi and Guillo are then forced to flee, and in the process of doing so, meet up with the third member of the party, a young woman named Milly. The three of them must work to clear Sagi's name while trying to uncover the nature of the threat caused by the maneuvering of Alfard's various power-hungry politicians, as they work under Alfard's Quaestor Verus. This story is great and will for sure will keep people playing.

Gameplay: The gameplay is like most rpgs, level grinding and turn based action. But like the previous one, the battle system is a card based system which allows the character to make multiple attacks to form diffrent combos. Sounds cool eh? Well this is countered with other bad things. Your party in the beginning is Sagi and Guillo but then you get Milly soon after, only 3 party members! This is odviously a downgrade as the party members were a whopping 8 last game(i think). Also there is a dash meter for gliding which is like dashing but honestly, i just hate that meter. The characters themselves are pretty balanced. Sagi is for strength attacks with a katana, Guillo is a spell caster, and Milly is a speedy character who dual weilds......clubs......yea odviously a weapon of choice for an aristocrat -.-, while they seem balanced it turns me off because there is such little veriaty.

Presentation: Graphicwise, the game is very pretty. It is probably the best looking gamecube RPG out there. Characters on the other hand are ok, but can be incredibly annoying. Sagi and Guillo being like best friends is fine but i hate it when Milly and Guillo start bickering. I hate it when those two start hating eachothers guts! Oh yea and Guillo is a friggen cannibal! WTF?! He frequently asks if he can eat the children that come near him but everyone ignores that statement like he never even said it! On top of that, he has no mouth! Graphics in the game are top notch, but character progression is so in so.

Overall: Great RPG on the gamecube even today. I highly reccomend it as a last Gamecube RPG, hell even a last gamecube game!

8.5/10

YES!  Definitely my favorite on the GCN as well and a marked improvement over Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. (especially in the VA department)  Speaking of which, my favorite points of dialogue in the game are those that have anything and everything to do with Milly and Guillo bickering.  Although the game doesn't have some of the more notable twists and turns you got so often in the first game, I will say the point regarding Milly's identity (both in body and by blood) and revelation regarding the true nature of Malpercio were pretty excellent.

I played through the game twice and both times it was a rather lengthy endeavor; this thread makes me want to give it another go but no way would I have the time to invest.

YES!  Definitely my favorite on the GCN as well and a marked improvement over Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. (especially in the VA department)  Speaking of which, my favorite points of dialogue in the game are those that have anything and everything to do with Milly and Guillo bickering.  Although the game doesn't have some of the more notable twists and turns you got so often in the first game, I will say the point regarding Milly's identity (both in body and by blood) and revelation regarding the true nature of Malpercio were pretty excellent.

I played through the game twice and both times it was a rather lengthy endeavor; this thread makes me want to give it another go but no way would I have the time to invest.

i personally found their bickering annoying mostly and sometimes it gets old :/

Battle System beats the crap out of FF 4-6's....well not rly but pretty damn close
to me the system is innovaitive

i personally found their bickering annoying mostly and sometimes it gets old :/

Aw man...that's what made the relationship between those two interesting to begin with consider Guillo's affiliation with Sagi and Milly's growing affection for him.  Especially so when Guillo "sacrifices himself" in Milly's place to save Sagi on Tarazed.