to the point that he sat in on her, and only her, voice acting recording sessions. Main characters were generally given a central color in their design, to help identify them from a distance. Early character designs initially had larger, anime-styled eyes, but more realistic eye proportions were eventually given to better meld with the 3D character designs, and to better appeal to Western markets. {{listen | filename = Vitriolic a stroke.ogg | title = "Vitriolic a Stroke" | description = One of Baten Kaitoss boss music tracks. }} The soundtrack was composed and arranged by Motoi Sakuraba, with Sakuraba personally performing on every track. Over sixty songs were created for the game. He noted the song's opening theme was particularly difficult to create, as the accompanying video has so many frequently changes and movements that needed to be synced with it. The soundtrack album was published by Team Entertainment on December 17, 2003. Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster In February 2023 Nintendo Direct, an HD Remaster of the game, Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster, was announced for the Nintendo Switch for release in mid-2023. The release bundles Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins (originally released as Baten Kaitos 2 in Japan) together as one release. The remaster does not add or remove any story content from either title, although it only features Japanese voice acting; the English voice acting has been removed. The game features improved graphics and resolution, widescreen display, and a stabilized framerate of 30 frames per second. New features include new options to alter the battle system, including eliminating random battles, an "auto-battle" function, a "1 hit kill" option, and a simplified, faster post-battle results screen. Other new features include two new game plus options that allow the player to retain materials from a prior playthrough or set up new restrictions to make a second playthrough more difficult, the ability to skip cutscenes, an auto-saving feature, and the ability to speed up both battles or general gameplay by up to 3 times the original speed.https://gamerant.com/bandai-namco-baten-kaitos-remasters-qol-improvements/ Reception The game was generally well received by professional critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the game has an average score of 80 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 48 reviews. Game Informer praised the game's level of immersion created through the game's