Cosmic Star Heroine has the best jRPG combat

[Arthandas]

 

[Rahdulan]

I have it on GOG and still haven't gotten around to playing it. Isn't it heavily Grandia inspired, though? I mean that as a positive.

 

[Arthandas]

Isn't it heavily Grandia inspired, though?

Nope, as far as combat goes it isn't inspired by anything, the mechanics are fairy original. It has one similarity with their previous game though - enemies are getting stronger with each passing turn.

Here's a quick summarization:

Actions are divided into Skills, Items and Programs:
Skils are character based. Each one can be used only once before going on cooldown (with small exceptions). To refresh your skills you need to select the Defend option (which has some variations depending on character) which reduces incoming damage.
Items go into limited item slots and can be used by anyone but only once per battle.
Programs are equipment based, each one can be used once per battle.

Each action rewards the characters with "style points" (% under the hp number). More style = increased damage. If your character dies while having more than 100% style his/her hp goes into negative value, he/she loses 100% style and enters desperation state. It reduces incoming healing but increases damage. If you end your turn in desperation state with negative hp, the character dies. It gives you the choice of using one last empowered skill before dying or trying to get hp above 0 with reduced healing modifier.

Enemies also accumulate style but they don't have desperation states.

Each character has hyper slots (the squares under the hp bar). You automatically get 1 hyper square each turn. When they're filled, your next attack deals 200% damage. Optimally, you'll want to use your best skill/program so you need to plan ahead to have it available.

Everything is turn based with no movement on battlefield.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Just looking at this picture and the hero with the soyboy beard and glasses, I know it is a soyboy decline game and it cannot be good.

 

[Arthandas]

Just looking at this picture and the hero with the soyboy beard and glasses, I know it is a soyboy decline game and it cannot be good.

Focus on waifus:

Spoiler

 

[aweigh]

the game's combat is alright, in fact i started it on HARD and had to lower it to NORMAL because it was too much for a first-try, which is always a good sign.

too bad i stopped playing cos of the ultra shitty ultra banal ultra boring plot, characters and setting. it is rpg maker-tier in those areas. there's a reason why the game's hype died down super fast after release... no one enjoyed it.

 

[Arthandas]

there's a reason why the game's hype died down super fast after release... no one enjoyed it.

Hype? This is just a small indie game, there never was any hype to begin with. Even though, it must sold well since they just released a Switch port and it got a new patch with some bonus content and fixes not too long ago.

too bad i stopped playing cos of the ultra shitty ultra banal ultra boring plot, characters and setting.

I disagree, it's nothing to write book about but compared to typical japanese autism like moe girls, bikini armors, teenage heroes, tsunderes etc this is Pulitzer quality.

 

[LJ40]

there never was any hype to begin with

BULLSHIT.

They all but stroked the fucking cocks of Chrono Trigger fanboys leading up to the release.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

This is from the guy who made shitty joke games like CTHULHU THE TERRIBLE DEMON MEETS THE WORLD.

When you are raised in a soyboy environment, you are condemned to be mediocre, FOREVER.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Those games actually had cool combat systems from what I've seen. Bad, lazy writing though.

 

[baud]

Is it like other games of the devs where you get back all the health lost at the end of a fight?

This is from the guy who made shitty joke games like CTHULHU THE TERRIBLE DEMON MEETS THE WORLD.

Well the combat is good enough that I wouldn’t call it a joke game.

 

[Arthandas]

Is it like other games of the devs where you get back all the health lost at the end of a fight?

Yes, also, there are no random encounters*, all enemies are visible.

*You can force random battles if you want to grind. You simply select "battle" option after clearing an area to instantly start a random battle.

 

[Valestein]

Nice to see another CSH fan on here, it's a pretty fun little JRPG, and they recently added some bonus dungeons to it (which I haven't tried yet). There's never a dull moment in the game given how fast paced the story is.

Oh and the music is great too.

 

[aweigh]

I mean the game isn't utter dogshit... there are certainly much worse things to play. It is just aggressively average, sometimes dipping below the average line into banality. I just don't see any reason why anyone would play this knockoff over an older JRPG they haven't yet played (trust me, there is always some older JRPG you haven't yet played somewhere), or hell one of the newer knockoffs like Lost Sphear and Setsuna, both also average games but still much better than this one.

 

[Arthandas]

I just don't see any reason why anyone would play this knockoff over an older JRPG they haven't yet played

Because the combat is actually fun and challenging (unlike 99% other jrpgs), there's no grinding, no random battles every five steps and zero typical japanese autism? And if you play jrpgs for story or characters then you're beyond help.

 

[aweigh]

lol

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Isn't it heavily Grandia inspired

Zeboyd Games should rename their company Grandia Rip-off Games.

 

[taxalot]

I played Cthulhu saves the world from the same developers and that was absolutely terrible despite the funny premise.

Fun fact : speaking of rpgmaker, I also played Doom and Destiny 1 and 2 and they are very very very good games despite their engines. Good enough to be worthy of a lengthy forum review post I should get around to do someday. Truly an incredible surprise. But that is off topic for now.

 

[Arthandas]

I played Cthulhu saves the world from the same developers and that was absolutely terrible despite the funny premise.

CSH is completely different (both in tone and mechanics), I also hate CStW so maybe give it a try.

 

[Suicidal]

Interesting. Never heard about this one. I'll have to check it out myself to see how 'good' the combat is.

 

[baud]

I played Cthulhu saves the world from the same developers and that was absolutely terrible despite the funny premise.

What's so horrible about this game? The gameplay, the emptiness of the world, the writing, the characters?

 

[J1M]

Isn't it heavily Grandia inspired, though?

Nope, as far as combat goes it isn't inspired by anything, the mechanics are fairy original. It has one similarity with their previous game though - enemies are getting stronger with each passing turn.

Here's a quick summarization:

Actions are divided into Skills, Items and Programs:
Skils are character based. Each one can be used only once before going on cooldown (with small exceptions). To refresh your skills you need to select the Defend option (which has some variations depending on character) which reduces incoming damage.
Items go into limited item slots and can be used by anyone but only once per battle.
Programs are equipment based, each one can be used once per battle.

Each action rewards the characters with "style points" (% under the hp number). More style = increased damage. If your character dies while having more than 100% style his/her hp goes into negative value, he/she loses 100% style and enters desperation state. It reduces incoming healing but increases damage. If you end your turn in desperation state with negative hp, the character dies. It gives you the choice of using one last empowered skill before dying or trying to get hp above 0 with reduced healing modifier.

Enemies also accumulate style but they don't have desperation states.

Each character has hyper slots (the squares under the hp bar). You automatically get 1 hyper square each turn. When they're filled, your next attack deals 200% damage. Optimally, you'll want to use your best skill/program so you need to plan ahead to have it available.

Everything is turn based with no movement on battlefield.

Sounds like one could get roughly the same combat experience with superior writing by playing Penny Arcade's Rainslick 3.

 

[Arthandas]

Sounds like one could get roughly the same combat experience with superior writing by playing Penny Arcade's Rainslick 3.

From what I've seen it has completely different mechanics and is basically a Dragon Quest/FF clone with added timing mechanic so I don't know what the hell are you talking about.

Interesting. Never heard about this one. I'll have to check it out myself to see how 'good' the combat is.

Be sure to start on the highest difficulty where desperation costs 100% style and enemies have additional abilities

 

[Theldaran]

Those games actually had cool combat systems from what I've seen. Bad, lazy writing though.

Just a friendly reminder that you can't have it all in a single game. At least I've never tried any game like that.

Apart from that, I'm not really interested in this game.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm playing it right now. On Heroine difficulty, combat is fun. It feels like you actually have to plan ahead a couple of turns for each encounter. Most abilities/actions you make can only be used once, before needing to be recharged. You have a boost mode that occurs every three or four turns. Plan ahead, and weaken enemies and then let off a powerful attack once it is your turn in boost mode. It is challenging in a good way, and a lot of the times, I come out of fights with very little HP or one or two characters knocked out.

I'd say that everything else below average. Characters and writing aren't interesting, graphics range from bad to good. I will give the soundtrack a nod, though. It has some good tracks.