My save has 53 hours on it, but I'll bet the end sequence was another hour. That matches up sorta with the game's claim of "over 60 hours" of gameplay. Of course, you don't get to save after beating Malpercio and rolling credits (THANKS AGAIN), so I can't really tell how long it lasted. Nor can I see how my magnus collection ended, or everybody's final stats. Seriously gang. Let me save after beating the game. It's just better that way.

Here's some spoilerish thoughts. You could bail out now, but come on, simple probability suggests to me that you're NEVER going to play this game.

Lyude sucked. I'm kind of annoyed that he's this big internet fanart thing. I never thought he was worth sticking into the combat trio, except when I found a new card for him that I wanted to see animate. He just never seemed to do enough damage for my tastes. I also had huge problems with Savyna. Even though I wanted to use her just out of sheer hotness, her time limit was so punishing that I'd miss half of her final attacks while computing my most advantageous numerical poker card combo. I stuck with Kalas and Xelha for most of the game, with either Gibari or Mizuti picking up the third position.

Speaking of Xelha, what a way to go. So, like, you're the lost ocean? Again, when you're stuck with watching the scene play out in a lousy zoomed-out view with overbearing and unstoppable subtitles, the drama gets a bit watery (pun not intended). Like most of Baten Kaitos, the big character moments just sort of drop in out of nowhere, but at least Xelha's big coda gets the bulk of the finale to play out. However, I was incredibly disappointed to see her live. Come on! Can no one just sacrifice themselves dramatically anymore? Has Aerith scarred an entire generation? At least all those ugly little schmoos seem to be gone. Sque-EEEK.

It was nice to see the Player-as-Character thing played out to the bitter end. I did, I confess, speak my part aloud when Xelha, Kalas, and I had to do the little chant speech together. That was the closest the game came to immersion and it worked aces. I felt that. Namco, I would have liked to feel more.

I was even okay with the silly ending with all the game's characters standing in a grove waving goodbye to me.

I ended up really enjoying this game. Like all long-winded adventure games, there was plenty of areas that dragged and plenty of backtracking, but there was enough bright spots to keep me interested, and I found the combat system simple yet engaging. (Choosing your card's number value with the C-stick was ingenious, don't you think? Especially when your character was hit with a confusion spell, making the numbers rotate around the card's edge.)

Considering that I only paid $5.50 for it, this was one of the best values I found on the GameCube. Even if I played it on the Wii. Maybe I'll find the sequel(prequel) for just as cheap someday.