Support NeoGAF

[AnthonypUK]

Kickstarter gave me Divinity Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, FTL, Shovel Knight, and Hollow Knight just off the top of my head. Yeah. Kickstarter has been worthwhile.

If you're just asking whether this game is good, there are already posts here that say it's pretty great. I haven't actually dove in like I wanted to yet because another certain Kickstarter game completely stole my attention. But I'll get to this game soon.

Hand of Fate and Banner Saga as well as those..hell yeah its worth it.

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

Where are the reviews?

It came out yesterday and there were no prerelease codes. Give it time.

 

[Burt]

Anyone up to start comparing notes for side content? Would love to see what I've missed.

Where are the reviews?

My review is

 

[TheGreenArrow]

About 2 hours in and I just beat the 3rd boss (I think). This game is rad and if anyone has the slightest interest they should pick it up.

 

[Alec]

Sorry, I meant that question mainly for the Devs of CSH. Was Kickstarter the way to go for this project from a dev perspective?*

 

[Conezays]

Does the repeated dialog issue occur on PC as well? Still experiencing it throughout locations 6 hours in on PS4.

 

[wild wild rice]

Reading this thread gives me the impression that CSH answers a lot of the problems I've had with JRPGs.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Sorry, I meant that question mainly for the Devs of CSH. Was Kickstarter the way to go for this project from a dev perspective?*

Well, even with Kickstarter, I ended up wracking up quite a bit of debt making this game so the game would never have even gotten started without Kickstarter.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Well, even with Kickstarter, I ended up wracking up quite a bit of debt making this game so the game would never have even gotten started without Kickstarter.

Damn, hope you guys break even!

 

[MyNameIsRye]

Damn, hope you guys break even!

Break even? Let's hope they make a profit lol.

 

[Alec]

Do you think if you could do it over again, you'd ask for more money on KS? And do you think you'll use KS again in the future?

Edit: Sorry for the questions, just really interested in the "business" side of what you do. No pressure to actually answer.

 

[Amir0x]

Where are the reviews?

Review codes went out late.

But I'm nearing the end i think, so this review of mine is still accurate:

This game is blowing me away. One of my biggest frustrations with retro send ups of games gone by is when they rest entirely on how much of your nostalgic bone they tickle. They may be competent, but they're generally pale imitations of the games they're pretending to be, and so in the end it barely scratches the itch.

Cosmic Star Heroine is a different beast entirely. Yes, there are references, and yes it is a love letter to various jRPGs of yore - but that's where it ends. It playfully toys with genre conventions, subverting trope after trope whilst creating a battle system that in my view creates a dynamic that is akin to what it would have been like if the traditional jRPG genre had continued to be popular and had more developers iterating on it during the SNES years.

It successfully tackles one of the biggest problems with jRPGs in their traditional form - lots of tedious random battles lacking any strategy, and a billion abilities where you usually end up ignoring 2/3 of them in order to fall back on your "end game moves." This game has you carefully analyzing your load outs, considering which ability to use next, when to rest, how to best coordinate with your team mates. Even the item usage is more strategic, making you decide what you need most in any given battle and capitalizing on it appropriately.

If it were that alone, it'd be one of the most engaging retro jRPGs I've played, but this is the total package. The music is clearly inspired by the Sci-Funk of the 80s and early 90s, with in my view clear send ups to everything from Blade Runner to Labyrinth. The visuals are delightful, with little details peppered around the environment and homages to Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star being most evident. It's consistently entertaining to explore every environment that Zeboyd has created.

I'm about ten hours in now, and this is genuinely in my top ten for games for the year. That's a year with Persona 5, Horizon: Zero Dawn, NiOh, NiER. I haven't played Zelda, but I think it would still make my top ten. This game is what I've been looking for, scratches every itch.

Really, phenomenal work Zeboyd Games.

I'd give it a 9.0/10 if I had to score it, some bugs here and there need to be ironed out, could have used a bit more side content to flesh things out, but overall a spectacular effort. Easily the best of all Zeboyd Games products, and a culmination of all their experience.

One of the best games I've played of the year. And this year is fucking packed with games.

 

[Hobbun]

Does the repeated dialog issue occur on PC as well? Still experiencing it throughout locations 6 hours in on PS4.

What do you mean by repeated dialog? You go to talk to them once, and they repeat their entire dialog?

I can see how that could be annoying. Will there be a fix for that?

 

[Indignate]

I like logic puzzles.

I made a graph and everything.

 

[Jeffrey]

Still no ks code lol.

I seem to always have the worst luck with Kickstarter in terms of getting the codes when other people get them.

 

[Conezays]

What do you mean by repeated dialog? You go to talk to them once, and they repeat their entire dialog?

I can see how that could be annoying. Will there be a fix for that?

I detailed it a bit earlier in the thread. It seems to occur when you are close to an NPC: when you select "X" to initiate, the dialog appears but then repeats until you move your character away from the vicinity of the NPC, so you may have to skip through the dialog 3-4x, etc. before being far enough away. If you are far enough away when you initiate dialog, this issue doesn't seem to occur. It doesn't seem to *always* occur, but it certainly has happened to me with the majority of NPC interactions.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Do you think if you could do it over again, you'd ask for more money on KS? And do you think you'll use KS again in the future?

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

 

[noonespecial]

Still no ks code lol.

I seem to always have the worst luck with Kickstarter in terms of getting the codes when other people get them.

I received an email with my KS code. If you haven't received an email (and remember to check your spam folder) then you may want to message Zeboyd Games through KS - don't just add a comment on their KS page.

Haven't had a chance to check this out yet but I've been avoiding spoilers (including videos) and can't wait to dive in when I get a chance. Waiting mostly for the Vita version but I may have to start in on this on my PS4 but I am not sure if will have cross-play with the Vita so I'm afraid of starting on PS4, getting hooked, and then not continuing on my Vita. I love first world problems!

 

[kdoll08]

Hey Robert I backed the game at the $15 tier where you were supposed to get a digital strategy guide and a wallpaper besides the PSN download code. Any idea when those will show up?

 

[Robobandit]

bought it to support Zeboyd. will play eventually!

 

[shark sandwich]

Only had time to play for about hour so far, but this game kicks ass.

IMO Chrono Trigger was one of very few JRPGs that did the "see enemies on screen/no separate battle screen" thing right, and I'm so glad this game emulates it. So many games have the enemies just wandering around at random, patiently waiting for a hero to come by. These enemies actually seem like they belong there, they are either patrolling or waiting to ambush you.

I also love this game's approach to items/shields/abilities. You are constantly cycling through a huge arsenal of abilities, all of which are useful. So much better than just picking "attack" over and over.

Only issue I'm having is that it seems like it registers the X button press multiple times. When I close a dialog box there's like a 50/50 chance it'll immediately open a new one. Playing on a PS4 Pro with the newest DS4 controller.

I also once got stuck in a "1 ass wide" space between a treasure chest in a wall and had to save/reload.

Can't wait to play some more tonight.

 

[noonespecial]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Oh that sucks. I was kind of pissed and disappointed that Sony didn't do a better job of advertising or pushing the game. I had to search for it on PS4 and it wasn't even in the main screen for "new games" - even fricking Bulletstorm remastered was on that "new games" intro screen. I hope it does well for you guys - you always make such high quality and unique games.

 

[Ragnorok64]

Emailed humble support about my code, or lack there of, and still haven't gotten anything yet aside from auto replies.

 

[Peltz]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Damn... Sorry to hear all that. I really hope the game blows up in popularity.

 

[TheChaos]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Man, sounds rough, sorry to hear it. But you can at least take solace in the fact that you produced an excellent product (judging by the reviews here). Once the professional reviews hit, people will start taking more notice.

 

[Orakio Rob]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Sorry to hear that, but it's great that you're being so honest with us.

Well, at least the game looks really good! Congratulations!

 

[Hobbun]

I detailed it a bit earlier in the thread. It seems to occur when you are close to an NPC: when you select "X" to initiate, the dialog appears but then repeats until you move your character away from the vicinity of the NPC, so you may have to skip through the dialog 3-4x, etc. before being far enough away. If you are far enough away when you initiate dialog, this issue doesn't seem to occur. It doesn't seem to *always* occur, but it certainly has happened to me with the majority of NPC interactions.

Ok, it doesn't sound like it's too much of an issue, as you are able to skip dialog. So I guess the word of advice is when done talking with someone, don't hang around.

 

[socksfelloff]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Hoping for the best for you! I bought it to support you guys and when it comes to switch I'll buy it again!

 

[Buckle]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Shit..

I'm so sorry, Robert.

I'd hate to think Cosmic Star Heroine would be remembered mostly for driving one of the most promising indie RPG developers out of the business.

Its a great game and the fact that you're even in a position of wondering if it was even worth it kind of breaks my heart as a fan.

I hope this gets the financial success it deserves.

 

[Fjordson]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Damn. Hope this explodes for you. Your games have all been excellent imo.

 

[Suburban Thug]

Did they fix the PS4 version yet? Not spending a cent until the issues are patched.

 

[levious]

Emailed humble support about my code, or lack there of, and still haven't gotten anything yet aside from auto replies.

Have you tried searching through your library and purcahse list? Key never showed up for me in the key directory, but I could access through my purchase history.

 

[Cornbread78]

Did they fix the PS4 version yet? Not spending a cent until the issues are patched.

it was fixed last night around 8pm est....

 

[purseowner]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

The game deserves to blow up. In a week where I bought six indie games, I've mostly been playing just one of them.

Been championing your stuff since Breath of Death, and will do what I can to shout from the rooftops to make sure CSH reaches the sales it deserves.

 

[Jeffrey]

I received an email with my KS code. If you haven't received an email (and remember to check your spam folder) then you may want to message Zeboyd Games through KS - don't just add a comment on their KS page.

Haven't had a chance to check this out yet but I've been avoiding spoilers (including videos) and can't wait to dive in when I get a chance. Waiting mostly for the Vita version but I may have to start in on this on my PS4 but I am not sure if will have cross-play with the Vita so I'm afraid of starting on PS4, getting hooked, and then not continuing on my Vita. I love first world problems!

Yep did that. I assume switching from pc to ps4 code might have screwed something up.

Hope this game does do well. So rare to see a jrpg style game that cares about gameplay balance.

I'm saying this after losing at the last min of a boss fight in persona 5 after Mc getting wrecked by rng lol.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

We've been giving out the Kickstarter backer codes via Humble Store and it's in a different category than your KS tier (since there are different versions of the game independent of tiers) so it's easy to miss. It's also possible that we missed a few backers and there were also a handful of backers who didn't fill out their reward survey on what version they wanted.

 

[Suburban Thug]

it was fixed last night around 8pm est....

Good. Then I'll buy it today when I get home 😎

 

[JPS Kai]

Review codes went out late.

But just the PC review codes, right? No one I talk to has heard on PS4 ones yet.

 

[Ixian]

Have you tried searching through your library and purcahse list? Key never showed up for me in the key directory, but I could access through my purchase history.

Thanks for this; I was wondering where my PSN code was and it showed up as an Unclaimed purchase here with no notification about it otherwise. Ugh! x_x

I have some spare PC codes; after I check with friends to see if anyone is interested I'll probably end up giving some away here. I really want people to experience this game.

 

[AWizardDidIt]

Glad to see all of the positive impressions in this thread. I really liked CStW and the PA games so as soon as I'm done with Persona 5 I think I'm going to be hopping on the CSH train. I'll probably buy it as soon as I'm home from work today just to support the game up front.

I'm sorry to hear that things have been so difficult with the development of this game Robert. It's really refreshing that you're so open about your game with us here and I hope that things pay off over the long run.

 

[Amir0x]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

I guess I'm going to have to go all in on promoting this game. It'd be a tragedy if this masterpiece was the game that drove you out of development.

I don't know much debt you racked up, but this game demands attention. It is spectacular.

 

[SarusGray]

I'm buying a physical vita and ps4 and digital ps4 ^,^

 

[Teletraan1]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

I genuinely hope this game works out for you. I figured out my controller issues (by remapping keyboard inputs to the controller) and I am around 6 hours in and it has been fantastic. You really nailed it here and I hope more people can experience this game and in turn keep you guys making games because you are great at it. Battle system is sublime. I love the humor, setting, characters and this is easily one of my favorite soundtracks of the year so far.

 

[wtd2009]

Unable to play this for a while, but I bought it to support the effort, and because the looks kick ass. Hope they do well with this one.

 

[DealWithIt]

I got a PS4 code, but I'm gonna grab it on steam too, definitely want to see the devs blow up.

 

[exmachina64]

Honestly, if I was able to do it over again, I would have asked for more money and made a completely different game that would have been smaller in size, scope & ambition. Either that or just given up on game development entirely. I think Cosmic Star Heroine is an excellent game and I'm glad people are enjoying it, but all the years of stress & money problems were too much. And then to have all the launch issues with the Steam version going up late, the PS4 version not getting patched with the pre-release patch, review codes not coming out before launch, etc. And I still don't know if the game's going to sell well enough to pay off development costs, much less support my family while I work on another game or find a better job.

Best of luck.

 

[depward]

Despite not liking the idea of playing on PS4... I'll purchase and remote play it on Vita.

Grats on the launch and hope for success!

 

[prophecy0]

Despite not liking the idea of playing on PS4... I'll purchase and remote play it on Vita.

That was exactly my thought process... that and I want the ability to earn the platinum trophy. I'm considering buying it on Steam as well just to support the devs.

 

[Ragnorok64]

Have you tried searching through your library and purcahse list? Key never showed up for me in the key directory, but I could access through my purchase history.

Yeah I've been checking that too. Even used the key resender feature.

 

[JustSurvive]

I am so torn, been waiting for this game for a while, but also have yet to start Persona 5. I feel like if I wait until after P5 I might be burnt out on RPGs for a while, plus the fact this is about a 20hr experience is enticing.