Kaffaljidhama was designed with such exquisite detail and care, like a painting, or a set for a ballet. Not only do games rarely portray absurd environments anymore, but there are few really beautiful, fantastical ones. Modern graphics in games have come a long way into the realms of realism, but I’m thinking of what you said in Mira. There isn’t a room in Kaffaljidhma or Cursa that isn’t completely stunning. They set up the reveal very nicely, by covering it with blowing snow and wind, allowing Xelha to clear the way and reveal a pristine, sparkling ice castle covered in ornate detail. I love Wazn, because the designers obviously wanted the player to be in awe of its beauty just as the characters are. Her high status still requires that we trudge through a tedious mountain of snow and winds that never go our direction to get to her homeland, but that’s a small price to pay for the beauties that are Cursa and Kaffaljidhma. Not merely the pendant-wielding damsel in love with the hero, Xelha is queen of the ice lands, witch of once-great power. Our next stop is Wazn, where Xelha finally gets some plot love. Melodia’s plan seems to backfire, we escape, and we’re now carting around the energies of four continents with us. It’s a weird segment, but important later. Each visit to the Cracks hearkens us back once again to each continent’s “theme”, matching it to a hero from our party. They’ve been bound to weird Y-shaped crosses and are guarded by monsters, apparently so their power (which rivals that of Malpercio?!) can be fed by the respective continents. Of course, this falls to us.Īs instructed by Corellia and Ladekhan, we accompany Xelha to the four continents minus Sadal Suud, where our friends are trapped. Given that a dead god is being resurrected, it’s about time that someone figure out which of the legends involving him are true, and which are not. We don’t get another real dungeon until the Imperial Fortress, and our protagonists have to spend a lot of time talking to each other to set everything straight. This section of the game is structured oddly, as if the game itself has to recover from what just happened. You find Xelha trapped in the Imperial Fortress with Meemai, and it is only through your intervention that she finds the strength to blow up the door of her cell (wait, what?) and escape. This week, we join a new protagonist, venture to a snowy city, and experience another “fake” ending. Rebekah’s letter is first:īaten Kaitos immediately restores the player’s agency, lost to Kalas, as you join Xelha. In these letters, we will be discussing in-depth the GameCube RPG Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean as we play through the game together. Baten Kaitos Letters is a correspondence with our Rebekah Valentine and Sparky Clarkson of Ludonarratology, and originally posted there.