Cosmic Star Heroine

So right off the bat I must stress that this game has no key rebindings. I found the default buttons for my controller to be not optimised but could not change this. That said, let's get to the meat of the game. You're playing as the female protagonist Alyssa who works for a space agency and get sent to a mission to retrieve something on a remote planet and the fun starts from there. The story is 'okay', nothing to write home about. The dialogue feels very indie and reminds me of the time I tried making my own RPG. You get a lot of party members along the journey which can be swapped in and out depending on your liking. None of them are that interesting in terms of background story, but the real meat of the game is the combat. People have compared the game to Chrono Trigger in terms of combat. While you do start fights like in chrono trigger the combat is quite different in comparison. Yes It's tactical and turn based, but each ability expires for the remainder of the combat unless you defend a turn. This forces you to be extra strategic. I played and beat it on hard which meant that each fight felt very tough and in the early stages of the game I could JUST scrape by. About halfway through the game you do start to get that edge and the fights become less challenging. Fortunately you can switch the difficulty at any time. There are many abilities, weapons and armour to choose from. Each with extra combat abilities and perks. The graphics are a throwback to the old days and look decent. I do wish there was a bit more animation in the cut scenes though. The score for this game is quite good, but unfortunately some tracks could've done with more exposure in the game. Still, the soundtrack delivers and sets the right mood. In short, the game was quite enjoyable, had excellent combat but the writing and the story could've been better. If you like turn based JRPG games with interesting combat mechanics, this is a good enjoyable experience.

Cosmic Star Heroine has a good pedigree, being from the talented minds at Zeboyd games. Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII are fun, reference-heavy homages to older RPGs, and I expected a great experience from CSH. I have seen many comparisons to Chrono Trigger. The only comparison I can draw is that enemies on the over world transition into a battle if you collide with them. The protagonist, Alyssa, can get equipment that allows her to do a combination skill with another party member, but it's not like the dual-tech system. If anything, I would compare CSH to Breath of Fire 2, in that you get a large cast of characters pretty quickly, many of whom get some bearing on the story and their own little story beats, but otherwise join your party just because. The battle system focuses pretty heavily on status buffs for your characters and status afflictions for your enemies. It uses a conditional turn-based battle system, similar to that of Final Fantasy X. Higher difficulties give enemies higher stats if you feel that the general game-play is too easy. As they level, characters will gain new skills, of which you can equip 8 at a time. And while there are 8 battle item slots, you are only ever allowed to carry 4. (A UI flaw.) The story has an odd-pacing, tied in with characters often joining your party for purposes of that specific act. Some segments are frenetic, while others are going through mini-dungeon areas to get to the next plot dungeon. There are several optional-side quests that give your characters special equipment, which is where they get much of their characterization. The game does have a tendency to glitch in several ways. Occasionally the game will lock up when you trigger a battle, or a quest will pretend you have a required item when you don't. Save often. Overall, the game is a fun romp, but I feel a step down from other Zeboyd games. But, just for Robert Boyd: I enjoyed this game more than I enjoyed Tecmo's Secret of the Stars.

This game is very enjoyable and really reminds me of old SNES jRPGs. Combat is fun and fast paced, there are interesting dialogs and hidden secrets everywhere. Story is a bit cliche, though, and includes some cringy moments. What kills the enjoyment are constant freezes and crashes. Make sure to backup your save games often (outside of the game!)- due to crash while saving the game, all my save files were deleted from the game. Weird freezes happen during the combat - sometimes you have to minimize the game and return to it to continue the battle. Strange glitches like speedups during the combat are also apparent. If it was more polished, I would give it 4/5, but in this buggy state 3/5 is what I can give at most. Last update was 3 years ago, so I believe these bugs won't be fixed, unfortunately.

I need to get this out of the way quickly -- no, this is not as good as Chrono Trigger. It is very obviously inspired by CT. CT was a for-the-ages dynamite blend of gameplay, visuals, music, exposition, and exploration. It's those last two where CSH falls short. CSH follows the exploits of a disgraced agent as she tries to prevent a hostile takeover of the human race by those would exploit alien tech. For lovers of pixel-art (guilty!), this is a treat for the eyes. Gameplay is handled by strategic stacking (not quite comboing) of various abilities that you unlock throughout your adventure. Skills are acquired in that tried-and-true FF4/CT way: simply by levelling up. Abilities are used once and then go inactive, requiring a "rest" (defense) round to reactivate. Characters can also acquire programs unlocked by Armor, while Accessories and Weapons provide the usual bonus attributes. Towards the end of the game, if you know what you're doing, your party becomes comically overpowered as you blitz through the last few areas of the game. There are a handful of secrets scattered throughout for those who take the time to explore. Music is handled by Hyperduck Soundworks, and I really enjoy them. They also did Dust: An Elysian Tail, another game whose music I really enjoyed. As for the exploration/exposition, it's... not entirely there. CSH happens at a breakneck pace, and it feels as if there's this entire book of lore that I should have read before playing this game. Characters are flung at you for recruitment, but then I don't really get to know too much about them; closer to Pokemon or Suikoden than to SNES-era FF or CT. In a way, this feels like 2/3 of a full game. I enjoyed it, for sure, but I wish they spent more time on exposition. I didn't find myself fully connecting with the characters or the plot. If I could give halvesies, this would be a 3.5, but I can't. Enjoyable, good-not-great JRPG-style game. Would get another game from this dev group.

No gimmicks - but a true classic RPG with some very thoughtful design tweaks. In the direction department, the characters are likeable and lifelike. Thje dialogue, even for the background NPCs, is not clicheed and fills out the world nicely. The story pacing is playful and lively, without self-referential loreholes or endless belaboring tirades. The music is quite good and cutscenes are frequent and enjoyably cinematic. In the game design department, the core system is good. Unique and with enough depth but not overwhelming or opaque. The enemy encounters do not repeat almost at all. I mean, it is like Dark Souls wher the game doesnt make you face the same problem twice. There is no grinding or annoyance anywhere - every decision has been thoughtfully made to use your playtime well. Efverything is handcrafted, hand placed and adjusted to feel just right. Every NPC is unique, every piece of scenery, every enemy encounter - there is no redundancy - just a groovy flow of RPG adventure exploration story and combat well combined. It is very nice to see people can and do make such a game these days: lovingly built from basic principles and talent to just be a fun, solid, classic RPG experience.