Cosmic Star Heroine made me realize that relying on pure creativity and energy doesn't work for a video game. Anyone who is a fan of Rick & Morty (and not a part of the crazy fandom) is probably aware that the main reason the show has hit a stride is due to its blatant creativity- it's not that the stories are particularly original (although a number of them certainly are), it's more that the animators beautifully pastiche so many cool visual gags/action beats into a single 23 minute episode that you can't help but admire the fiesta on screen!
The same applies for movies. Avatar is most notorious for this, but how many films have garnered high praise (or at least strong cult followings) for their imaginative bliss despite not being the best storywise? The answer is a lot, even for flicks I genuinely love like Dredd.
Cosmic Star Heroine tries to do the same. In a lot of ways, I consider it a 2D version of Mass Effect 1. Both are space operas centered around a galactic law enforcement officer; both feature vast mythologies and races; both contain narratives/gameplay systems reliant on building a team, and both contain elevator loading screens!
But it's really that second one that hammers home my point. Drawing a comparison to Mass Effect is a big thing, and I stand by it 100%. CSH may very well be the most creative 2D turn-based RPG I have ever had the privilege to play. It throws set-piece after set-piece at you; artistic monstrosity after artistic monstrosity; new setting after setting. It truly lives up to the first two words in its title. And yet, it just isn't fun. The comparisons to Mass Effect are purely aesthetic as the gameplay and story don't equate at all.
Let's begin with the narrative. CSH casts you as Alyssa L'Salle, a member of a law enforcement agency called the API. Like an atypical cyberpunk tale, L'Salle is sent on a mission that causes her to question the API and her part in it. Story developments happen and a grand conspiracy is revealed, sending L'Salle and her comrades on an intergalactic journey to discover the truth.
I'm being vague to avoid spoilers, but the story ultimately isn't anything to write home about. Part of the issue is it plays all its cards within the first act- in Mass Effect, you were kept in the dark about Saren until well past the halfway point. In CSH, you'll already know what everyone is up to (or at least have a very strong idea based on past tropes/tales implemented in other games of this nature).
The bigger flaw, however, has to do with how short the game is. You should expect a minimum of 50 hours from a JRPG, even with the grinding aside. CSH has no grind, but it clocks in at less than 17 hours (the amount of time I took anyway- others may vary). This is not even close to the clock needed to expand on the world or side characters.
With the former, that's a big issue overall as CSH isn't really interested in fleshing out any of its aspects. You'll see tens of new concepts, races, species, abilities, pieces of lore, histories, etc...and only get glimpses into their intricacies. To be fair, Mass Effect did the same, but it made up for this by providing an encyclopedia and side missions/characters whose dialogues expanded upon these things when the main narrative didn't. CSH doesn't have an encyclopedia, and its NPCs give quick blurbs. Things like the Nuluupian's views on the afterlife, the existence of vampires, the logic behind gunmancy (all character powers in general), or the desolate history behind Araenu are barely imparted to you.
Your partners are the biggest letdown. Zeboyd Games was so focused on making all of them likable that it forgot to give them distinct personalities. They're either bland smartasses or bland straight-shooters, with no in-between. In Mass Effect, you were encouraged to seek your partners throughout the ship via their personalities being so distinct, enjoyable, and interesting. I didn't have that same draw here, with the exception of a cool bounty hunter who joins later on. This hurts considering that most of them give information about a new side mission - information that is time-sensitive.
But the gameplay is what the majority of JRPG fans will be most interested in, and that's sadly where CSH falters the most. I mentioned that there was no grind, which may remind some folks of Chrono Trigger- a title that was acclaimed for removing the grinding nature atypical of its genre (especially at the time). It did it through providing just enough enemies in an area that you could level up comfortably, as well as making boss fights strategy-based over bullet sponges.
CSH fails to do both. There are no respawning enemies: when you clear an area, it remains cleared unless a new narrative threat is brought in down-the-line. In its place, you have monsters that are essentially bullet spongey. Status affects like poison, stun, and charm exist, but most of these beings contain a resistance factor that negates this ability. And even if it does hit, it only lasts one turn, barely giving any advantage, especially if you're up against multiple thugs (poison being the exception- it lasts the entire battle [minus heals], but it barely does any damage on its own, so it doesn't matter). There's really no strategy to any fights the way there was in Chrono Trigger- you essentially have to use most of your team members to attack whilst the other one(s) heals. Even elemental advantages (which hovering over an enemy reveals) maybe rack up an extra 200 damage max, which is peanuts for these fights.
The only other option is buffing. To clarify, CSH has a charge or style meter that builds up over each character's turn- if it fills up, your character's damage is extended (not even inherently doubled, although it can be depending on external factors like element). You can increase a character's attack power through partner boosts or item boosts, thereby buffing them to do a ton of damage. But again, this is a one-time thing, and the enemy will more than likely have more than enough health to batter you.
It's not that CSH heroine is hard, it's that it's only hard or easy. There are 4 difficulties: the bottom two make the game way too simple and the top 4th makes it too hard. The middle ground is theoretically the 3rd (which is what I did it at for most of my playthrough), but you will run into so many parts during the game (particularly after the first third) wherein a miniboss or specific group of enemies are capable of spamming high damage on ALL your members, causing you to get mowed down easily. Your only choice? Turn down the difficulty. While CSH lets you restart a battle from there, you are only able to turn down the difficulty outside of the battle mode. And considering the spikes are inconsistent, you could very well not plan your saves well, meaning it's best to just save after every major encounter. Oh, and unlike Chrono Trigger, you’re unable to do combo-attacks between characters (L’Salle is the only exception, but she requires a specific item to be equipped on her).
Each character has a diversity of unique powers at their disposal that can make fights fun if only to try them all out, and leveling up gives you new abilities that you swap around (7 slots total per a character). Enemies, on the other hand, are very limited outside of boss fights- they'll have 1, if you're lucky 2, attacks, showcasing a surprising lack of initiative from a team that was brimming from head-to-heel with imagination.
Overall though, this combat system is very frustrating and makes fights not fun. I like a challenge in my games, but when you have no way to either strategize or grind to level-up, it leaves you with a system full of difficulty spikes that can only be alleviated by permanently keeping the difficulty low, which makes the game too easy! And considering there is no New Game+ mode, I don't see how it is possible to play CSH at higher difficulties. Hell, there is even a dungeon that is insanely hard on the EASIEST mode. With no way to level up, how in the world are you expected to beat it on any difficulty?
The short length of the game provides an additional harbinger onto the story- throughout the 13 chapters, you’re often forced to take on a new partner who, while matched to your current level, has abilities that flat-out suck in the battle scenario. Yet you’re forced to use them over the other partners you have been dedicating time to upgrading/customizing.
The loot/equipment system is abysmal as well. It's ridiculously old-school in that every new planet you explore contains a store with the latest equipment, meaning you'll want to buy it out to give your characters the best of the best. Or will you? See, immediately continuing the story/exploring after visiting that store will, 9 times out of 10, give you a weapon that is EVEN BETTER than the one you just bought from the store. I have no idea what the developers were thinking here. Thank goodness money (credits) is easy to come by, otherwise this would be a serious design flaw. Also, some idiot decided to put an Arete lootbox in the very last level (when you play the game, you’ll realize why this is idiotic).
Equipment can provide decent stat boosts, but it’s usually minimal (and doesn’t change the character sprite on-screen). You can also recruit people onto your ship that provide team boosts, but the majority of their recruitment is shoved into the third act, and there’s no way of knowing how to get them besides revisiting past planets Metroidvania style and TALKING to them (which you probably won’t be inclined to do since the majority of them don't stand out).
Graphically, the game is very beautiful. I loved the anime-esque style utilized for the human characters, while the aliens are all unique- again, it really is a 2D Mass Effect. Unfortunately, CSH has a serious problem with portraying 3D spacing, particularly verticality (read my review of Verdant Village and imagine that verticality issue 3x worse [https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/09/video-game-review-verdant-village/). Also, for all the creativity of the different cities/societies, I couldn’t help but feel that the color palette was lacking at times. Araenu is the one exception- every other place tends to be built around a three-hue scheme max.
The music OST is good- it tends to not stick out much, but when it does it’s excellent and when it’s not it’s soothing. The problem is there isn’t enough- a lot of areas, especially later in the title, have the same motifs playing through multiple stages despite them being different parts visually. Also, the battle theme is kept the same sadly.
Sound effects, on the other hand, are very lacking. The same elemental sound is reused for every attack of the same nature, despite them being radically different (ex. a laser sounds like a slap).
So yeah, overall I did not enjoy Cosmic Star Heroine. It has a lotta zaniness going for it, and throws so many things at you that you’re bound to be invigorated by the action viscera. But it doesn’t have a story strong enough to carry your interest (with an ending that tacks on a potential sequel), the characters are likable but bland, and the combat system gets atrociously inconsistent and, with the lack of strategy, VERY repetitive. And considering you’ll have to go out of your way to find the side missions, it sucks that there is no motivation to go out and talk to people, especially those on your ship (and even then it’s time-sensitive, and without in-game journal to jot down what the character said, you’ll have to write it up separately lest you forget it and lose out on a semi-invigorating action beat).
Like I said, it took me around 17 hours to beat it (Steam shows 19, but I fell asleep for about 1.5-2 of those hours, meaning they don’t count). This includes me going out of my way to find the side content (or rather, looking up how to find it since the game is so obtuse with regards to directions). Regardless, at $15.00, you’re getting your money’s worth since there is definitely at least 8 hours from the story alone.
But my issue here isn’t with the amount of content, it’s with the lack of funness. CSH wasn’t enjoyable because of all the reasons listed above, and due to that, I personally cannot recommend it.
The same applies for movies. Avatar is most notorious for this, but how many films have garnered high praise (or at least strong cult followings) for their imaginative bliss despite not being the best storywise? The answer is a lot, even for flicks I genuinely love like Dredd.
Cosmic Star Heroine tries to do the same. In a lot of ways, I consider it a 2D version of Mass Effect 1. Both are space operas centered around a galactic law enforcement officer; both feature vast mythologies and races; both contain narratives/gameplay systems reliant on building a team, and both contain elevator loading screens!
But it's really that second one that hammers home my point. Drawing a comparison to Mass Effect is a big thing, and I stand by it 100%. CSH may very well be the most creative 2D turn-based RPG I have ever had the privilege to play. It throws set-piece after set-piece at you; artistic monstrosity after artistic monstrosity; new setting after setting. It truly lives up to the first two words in its title. And yet, it just isn't fun. The comparisons to Mass Effect are purely aesthetic as the gameplay and story don't equate at all.
Let's begin with the narrative. CSH casts you as Alyssa L'Salle, a member of a law enforcement agency called the API. Like an atypical cyberpunk tale, L'Salle is sent on a mission that causes her to question the API and her part in it. Story developments happen and a grand conspiracy is revealed, sending L'Salle and her comrades on an intergalactic journey to discover the truth.
I'm being vague to avoid spoilers, but the story ultimately isn't anything to write home about. Part of the issue is it plays all its cards within the first act- in Mass Effect, you were kept in the dark about Saren until well past the halfway point. In CSH, you'll already know what everyone is up to (or at least have a very strong idea based on past tropes/tales implemented in other games of this nature).
The bigger flaw, however, has to do with how short the game is. You should expect a minimum of 50 hours from a JRPG, even with the grinding aside. CSH has no grind, but it clocks in at less than 17 hours (the amount of time I took anyway- others may vary). This is not even close to the clock needed to expand on the world or side characters.
With the former, that's a big issue overall as CSH isn't really interested in fleshing out any of its aspects. You'll see tens of new concepts, races, species, abilities, pieces of lore, histories, etc...and only get glimpses into their intricacies. To be fair, Mass Effect did the same, but it made up for this by providing an encyclopedia and side missions/characters whose dialogues expanded upon these things when the main narrative didn't. CSH doesn't have an encyclopedia, and its NPCs give quick blurbs. Things like the Nuluupian's views on the afterlife, the existence of vampires, the logic behind gunmancy (all character powers in general), or the desolate history behind Araenu are barely imparted to you.
Your partners are the biggest letdown. Zeboyd Games was so focused on making all of them likable that it forgot to give them distinct personalities. They're either bland smartasses or bland straight-shooters, with no in-between. In Mass Effect, you were encouraged to seek your partners throughout the ship via their personalities being so distinct, enjoyable, and interesting. I didn't have that same draw here, with the exception of a cool bounty hunter who joins later on. This hurts considering that most of them give information about a new side mission - information that is time-sensitive.
But the gameplay is what the majority of JRPG fans will be most interested in, and that's sadly where CSH falters the most. I mentioned that there was no grind, which may remind some folks of Chrono Trigger- a title that was acclaimed for removing the grinding nature atypical of its genre (especially at the time). It did it through providing just enough enemies in an area that you could level up comfortably, as well as making boss fights strategy-based over bullet sponges.
CSH fails to do both. There are no respawning enemies: when you clear an area, it remains cleared unless a new narrative threat is brought in down-the-line. In its place, you have monsters that are essentially bullet spongey. Status affects like poison, stun, and charm exist, but most of these beings contain a resistance factor that negates this ability. And even if it does hit, it only lasts one turn, barely giving any advantage, especially if you're up against multiple thugs (poison being the exception- it lasts the entire battle [minus heals], but it barely does any damage on its own, so it doesn't matter). There's really no strategy to any fights the way there was in Chrono Trigger- you essentially have to use most of your team members to attack whilst the other one(s) heals. Even elemental advantages (which hovering over an enemy reveals) maybe rack up an extra 200 damage max, which is peanuts for these fights.
The only other option is buffing. To clarify, CSH has a charge or style meter that builds up over each character's turn- if it fills up, your character's damage is extended (not even inherently doubled, although it can be depending on external factors like element). You can increase a character's attack power through partner boosts or item boosts, thereby buffing them to do a ton of damage. But again, this is a one-time thing, and the enemy will more than likely have more than enough health to batter you.
It's not that CSH heroine is hard, it's that it's only hard or easy. There are 4 difficulties: the bottom two make the game way too simple and the top 4th makes it too hard. The middle ground is theoretically the 3rd (which is what I did it at for most of my playthrough), but you will run into so many parts during the game (particularly after the first third) wherein a miniboss or specific group of enemies are capable of spamming high damage on ALL your members, causing you to get mowed down easily. Your only choice? Turn down the difficulty. While CSH lets you restart a battle from there, you are only able to turn down the difficulty outside of the battle mode. And considering the spikes are inconsistent, you could very well not plan your saves well, meaning it's best to just save after every major encounter. Oh, and unlike Chrono Trigger, you’re unable to do combo-attacks between characters (L’Salle is the only exception, but she requires a specific item to be equipped on her).
Each character has a diversity of unique powers at their disposal that can make fights fun if only to try them all out, and leveling up gives you new abilities that you swap around (7 slots total per a character). Enemies, on the other hand, are very limited outside of boss fights- they'll have 1, if you're lucky 2, attacks, showcasing a surprising lack of initiative from a team that was brimming from head-to-heel with imagination.
Overall though, this combat system is very frustrating and makes fights not fun. I like a challenge in my games, but when you have no way to either strategize or grind to level-up, it leaves you with a system full of difficulty spikes that can only be alleviated by permanently keeping the difficulty low, which makes the game too easy! And considering there is no New Game+ mode, I don't see how it is possible to play CSH at higher difficulties. Hell, there is even a dungeon that is insanely hard on the EASIEST mode. With no way to level up, how in the world are you expected to beat it on any difficulty?
The short length of the game provides an additional harbinger onto the story- throughout the 13 chapters, you’re often forced to take on a new partner who, while matched to your current level, has abilities that flat-out suck in the battle scenario. Yet you’re forced to use them over the other partners you have been dedicating time to upgrading/customizing.
The loot/equipment system is abysmal as well. It's ridiculously old-school in that every new planet you explore contains a store with the latest equipment, meaning you'll want to buy it out to give your characters the best of the best. Or will you? See, immediately continuing the story/exploring after visiting that store will, 9 times out of 10, give you a weapon that is EVEN BETTER than the one you just bought from the store. I have no idea what the developers were thinking here. Thank goodness money (credits) is easy to come by, otherwise this would be a serious design flaw. Also, some idiot decided to put an Arete lootbox in the very last level (when you play the game, you’ll realize why this is idiotic).
Equipment can provide decent stat boosts, but it’s usually minimal (and doesn’t change the character sprite on-screen). You can also recruit people onto your ship that provide team boosts, but the majority of their recruitment is shoved into the third act, and there’s no way of knowing how to get them besides revisiting past planets Metroidvania style and TALKING to them (which you probably won’t be inclined to do since the majority of them don't stand out).
Graphically, the game is very beautiful. I loved the anime-esque style utilized for the human characters, while the aliens are all unique- again, it really is a 2D Mass Effect. Unfortunately, CSH has a serious problem with portraying 3D spacing, particularly verticality (read my review of Verdant Village and imagine that verticality issue 3x worse [https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/09/video-game-review-verdant-village/). Also, for all the creativity of the different cities/societies, I couldn’t help but feel that the color palette was lacking at times. Araenu is the one exception- every other place tends to be built around a three-hue scheme max.
The music OST is good- it tends to not stick out much, but when it does it’s excellent and when it’s not it’s soothing. The problem is there isn’t enough- a lot of areas, especially later in the title, have the same motifs playing through multiple stages despite them being different parts visually. Also, the battle theme is kept the same sadly.
Sound effects, on the other hand, are very lacking. The same elemental sound is reused for every attack of the same nature, despite them being radically different (ex. a laser sounds like a slap).
So yeah, overall I did not enjoy Cosmic Star Heroine. It has a lotta zaniness going for it, and throws so many things at you that you’re bound to be invigorated by the action viscera. But it doesn’t have a story strong enough to carry your interest (with an ending that tacks on a potential sequel), the characters are likable but bland, and the combat system gets atrociously inconsistent and, with the lack of strategy, VERY repetitive. And considering you’ll have to go out of your way to find the side missions, it sucks that there is no motivation to go out and talk to people, especially those on your ship (and even then it’s time-sensitive, and without in-game journal to jot down what the character said, you’ll have to write it up separately lest you forget it and lose out on a semi-invigorating action beat).
Like I said, it took me around 17 hours to beat it (Steam shows 19, but I fell asleep for about 1.5-2 of those hours, meaning they don’t count). This includes me going out of my way to find the side content (or rather, looking up how to find it since the game is so obtuse with regards to directions). Regardless, at $15.00, you’re getting your money’s worth since there is definitely at least 8 hours from the story alone.
But my issue here isn’t with the amount of content, it’s with the lack of funness. CSH wasn’t enjoyable because of all the reasons listed above, and due to that, I personally cannot recommend it.