How About No
Member
aww shiet I forgot this was coming out so soon!
Cornbread why ur OP screens so compressed tho?
Cornbread why ur OP screens so compressed tho?
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Cosmic Star Heroine |OT| Alyssa's Chrono Phantasy
- Thread starter Cornbread78
- Start date
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Umm... how do you get a key if you backed it? I see it as purchased on Humble, but there's no key associated with it.
Cornbread78
Member
All images were taken from stuff posted here and other sites and resized/hosted on Imgur. Not sure if that answers your question.
Thanks!
Well, long story short, its excellent. I think its fair to say its essentially everything you would hope for with the pitch of Two devs with a modern take on a Chrono Trigger-style JRPG in 2017
First and foremost, I cannot overstate how much I like the combat system. I dont want to misalign expectations too terribly, so Ill preface things by saying that Im much more partial to the strategic/tactical aspects of RPG combat than the flashing of huge numbers and intricate spell effects. With that in mind, I cant think of a JRPG battle system Ive liked better. Maybe a few that I like to an indistinguishably similar degree (Grandia 1 and 2 spring to mind), but I really cant think of any I liked more, and CSHs is so different from my other favorites that its hard to imagine a comparison as anything better than apples to oranges.
Youre not going to be able to mash your way through the CSHs combat, at least not on Heroine difficulty. But thats okay! Encounter pacing and variety is fantastic, and there are no respawns (unless you want them). Instead, with the way combat works, you have to consciously decide what youre going to do, and getting there is basically a great optimization puzzle of attacks, defenses, buffs, debuffs, turn order, and Hyper. It sounds like a lot, but it boils down to, This enemy has that weakness, so whats the best way to get Party Member X to do Attack Y on Turn Z? -- applied across however many enemies and and party members are in battle. Its a refreshing change from the mundanity of typical regular encounter combat, and has about as much depth as any system Ive seen without any of the extraneous or superfluous bloat thats present in so many other JRPGs.
Speaking of party members, theyre all pretty fantastic as well. Each has their own distinct combat niche and support capabilities, which means that regardless of your party, everyones always able to find a use, particularly as your gear and ability options expand. Characters you initially think are terrible become world-breakers with the right skill or piece of equipment if you can figure out how to work them in the right way - which youll have ample opportunity to do, because the game isnt afraid to lock a specific character or two into your party at regular intervals. There isnt an overabundance of it or anything, just a bit more than you see in most JRPGs, but whereas in most others it feels like youre having garbage thrust upon your party, because everyones so versatile and viable here it feels more like a well-timed curveball to keep you from settling in too deep on one set group of characters.
The writing in the game - the characters, the story, the dialogue, the little quips you get about each enemy as you target them, and so on and so forth - is good. Its not going to change how you look at JRPG writing, but the game has a rock-solid understanding of its tone and delivers on it very well. I liked all the characters (/disliked the ones I was supposed to dislike), chuckled a bunch, laughed out loud a few times, and the serious side of the story was well done in that JRPG/anime-y way. I think it's easily the most well-written out of any of Zeboyd's games -- although I'm sure a part of that is just them being able to scale back on Penny Arcade's constant need to be Penny Arcade.
The pacing of the story, and the game overall, is superb. Its propulsive, always pushing you into reaching new environments, meeting new characters, giving you a valuable equipment upgrade, getting you through a comfy Chrono Trigger-esque dungeon at just the right time, etc. And there are definitely a few moments where I did something like this. That being said, theres definitely a healthy amount of interesting side content for players who poke around as well, which I dont want to get into for spoiler reasons. But its good, its funny, its referential, its rewarding, and, occasionally, the most difficult stuff in the game.
Overall, because absolutely literally everyone loves numbers so much, the game is an easy call for the 9.0-9.5 range. There are a lot of games of all genres coming out these days that try to recapture that old game magic, but very few of them have managed to balance classic elements and modern refinements as well what you get here.
I have a save 10 hours into Trails of the Sky FC that I put on hold to play this for. Im more inclined to play this again on Super-Spy difficulty than to go back to that.
Hestisdabest
Member
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Thanks for the detailed write-up! Hype level intact.
~16 hours, although I definitely missed some side stuff and was already familiar with the first couple hours from the beta.
Good point, I'll just take the art portion out all together.
That Frog picture definitely gave me the reaction of "oh shit do we have a winner already" though.
Frog's the best.
DealWithIt
Member
I'm not too far into the game, but I can confirm that the combat is very well designed.
Basically, I'm always inherently skeptical of RPG combat which doesn't feature active positioning of characters, since that greatly reduces the number of tactical permutations available and often leads to repetitive encounters. CSH mitigates this disadvantage on multiple fronts:
On top of that, item design is really good too. Items feel either useless or like a crutch you need to preserve in far too many RPGs. Making them basically per-encounter party-wide Vancian spells you have select a small subset of from a larger list is far more strategically interesting and meaningful.
Basically, I'm always inherently skeptical of RPG combat which doesn't feature active positioning of characters, since that greatly reduces the number of tactical permutations available and often leads to repetitive encounters. CSH mitigates this disadvantage on multiple fronts:
- Battles are not random, and you aren't going to fight the same kind of encounter many times.
- The dificulty level on "Heroine" seems well-balanced, at least so far. I haven't died yet, but I also can't easily cruise through everything.
- Having skills deplete and needing to refresh them, together with the explicit power cycle of each character and the elemental affinities and weaknesses result in basically always having a tactical goal you are working towards.
- Since multiplicative effects stack significantly, pulling off a single well-planned tactical move can be more impactful than 10 standard attacks. This is good design and encourages unique per-encounter and per-character planning.
On top of that, item design is really good too. Items feel either useless or like a crutch you need to preserve in far too many RPGs. Making them basically per-encounter party-wide Vancian spells you have select a small subset of from a larger list is far more strategically interesting and meaningful.
Dandy Crocodile
Member
Lawd the next five hours are gonna be rough.
Putting aside P5 and Yooka Laylee for this.
Putting aside P5 and Yooka Laylee for this.
pock3tmonster
Banned
I'm looking forward to this. I don't even mind the additional week's wait for the AU release; I'm still juggling a handful of games I'm hoping to finish this week.
The naming of the difficulty modes is bothering me for some reason. The progression from Tourist to Super-Spy looks awkward. I think it'd be better if the order was Tourist, Agent, Super-Spy and Heroine. I know it's a silly complaint, I'm just putting it out there.
The naming of the difficulty modes is bothering me for some reason. The progression from Tourist to Super-Spy looks awkward. I think it'd be better if the order was Tourist, Agent, Super-Spy and Heroine. I know it's a silly complaint, I'm just putting it out there.
DealWithIt
Member
For what it's worth it makes sense to me, Heroine is the difficulty they planned the game around, I assume.
Hello? This is Hailun!
Member
Will they be eMailing keys out?
Been so long since I've had a Kickstarter actually deliver I forgot how it works. Looking at all the "Scheduled Delivery for 2014" products on my KS list makes me laugh and cry.
Been so long since I've had a Kickstarter actually deliver I forgot how it works. Looking at all the "Scheduled Delivery for 2014" products on my KS list makes me laugh and cry.
Diablohead
Member
Big congrats on the release zeboyd games!
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
Heroine isn't the difficulty we planned the game around - Bill played on Heroine & I played on Super-Spy. But we felt that Heroine was the coolest sounding of the difficulty names so we didn't want to make it the hardest one and make people subconsciously feel like they had to play the game on the hardest difficulty level or else.
pock3tmonster
Banned
I don't doubt that's what the game was planned around, the naming just bothers me.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
They gave out a Humble link ages ago, which is why I have one. I guess the keys will appear there when the game comes out officially.
pock3tmonster
Banned
Thanks for the explanation. That makes perfect sense. It's not so much that Heroine sounds the coolest to me, just that it sounds more like the pinnacle of achievement/progress, especially given Heroine is in the title.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Would've been there day 1 if not for Persona 5. I'll pick this up next month
On a bright note for the devs, that means you get my purchase at full price, no PS+ discount
On a bright note for the devs, that means you get my purchase at full price, no PS+ discount
I love that they did this (also I mostly love saying Vancian). When they talked about doing this during production it was my favorite idea about the game. Too often items just become mindless buttons to click that allow you to reset your various depleting meters (HP/mana/whatever). Giving them a more wide effect and meaningful use turns them into some kind of extra layer of gear to optimize based on what strategy you want to employ. Really cool idea.
Very excited to play it.
Thanks for the giveaway!
robotzombie
Member
As in you bought it from there and they are giving the keys out already?
Thanks for the chance, the game looks fantastic.
HyperDuck SoundWorks officially released the OST for Cosmic Star Heroine here on Bandcamp for purchase/download:
https://hyperduck.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-star-heroine-original-soundtrack
I highly recommend it! It's huge and epic.
https://hyperduck.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-star-heroine-original-soundtrack
I highly recommend it! It's huge and epic.
HyperDuckSW
Neo Member
Damn I was too slow - don't buy these guys musics man, they is scammers, black hat hackers man don't be trustin their chords n shtuff.
Or do, I dunno, I've been awake far too long
.Kickstarter backer, actually.
baberunisei
Member
Gonna buy it when it comes out for the Vita
Storm Brewer
Neo Member
Which storefront gives Zeboyd Games the largest cut? Kinda up to get the PS version for the cross-buy but it's not a huge difference, so whatever supports you guys more is best to me
Won't get around to playing it for a while since I'm still crazy busy with work, but this looks right up my alley! Impressions seem great too, the string of incredible games continues!
Won't get around to playing it for a while since I'm still crazy busy with work, but this looks right up my alley! Impressions seem great too, the string of incredible games continues!
Thanks so much for the chance!
No cool pictures (though I did buy my husband that amazing PS poster that has already been posted for Christmas last year!) but a memory instead: when I think of Phantasy Star I always think of when my husband and I first started dating.. the first thing he did was make me play through Phantasy Star IV while he watched and guided me. Incredible bonding experience and one that I always back on fondly even though it's been over 12 years since then
--
Gonna have to pick up the OST when we have some spare cash as the few songs I've heard sound incredible so far!
Is it fine to claim them anyway? I'm the impatient kind that would give up a version to have what was readily available but I'd like to make sure I'm not causing a problem.
EDIT: Also backed at $30.
Weltall Zero
Member
Dandy Crocodile
Member
We need a FAQ section of the OP to cover these questions cause they've been asked... Frequently.
-When is the Vita version?
-Potential for a Switch port?
-Limited Run Games physical edition when?
-When is the Vita version?
-Potential for a Switch port?
-Limited Run Games physical edition when?
OniBarubary
Banned
Oh neat. Got my code.
Time to power through Persona
Time to power through Persona
Snakethesniper
Member
pock3tmonster
Banned
Thanks Burt!
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
Yusss I preordered on PS4 a couple weeks back
Some Q and As:
-When is the Vita version?
As soon as we can direct our focus back onto it, start testing the whole thing there and fixing anything that might need fixing (like the file size), and learning any new ropes on the back-end for Vita which itself takes time. But at the very least our game and engine runs super great on it.
-Potential for a Switch port?
We've been in touch with Nintendo so the possibility is there, but we can't even think about adding more platforms at the moment until we take care of the ones we've already promised.
-Limited Run Games physical edition when?
Once the PS4 and Vita versions have been out for a bit, and if there've been any patching to fix weird quirks along the way, that would be the time, given that doing a physical run we'd want any tweaks/updates to go along with the Disc/Card.
-When is the Vita version?
As soon as we can direct our focus back onto it, start testing the whole thing there and fixing anything that might need fixing (like the file size), and learning any new ropes on the back-end for Vita which itself takes time. But at the very least our game and engine runs super great on it.
-Potential for a Switch port?
We've been in touch with Nintendo so the possibility is there, but we can't even think about adding more platforms at the moment until we take care of the ones we've already promised.
-Limited Run Games physical edition when?
Once the PS4 and Vita versions have been out for a bit, and if there've been any patching to fix weird quirks along the way, that would be the time, given that doing a physical run we'd want any tweaks/updates to go along with the Disc/Card.
longlivegaming
Member
Thanks for the chance. I've had my eye on this game but funds have been a bit tight lately.