Cosmic Star Heroine Review
Recently, while working on articles for my other websites, I've realized just how much longer it takes to beat RPGs compared to watching movies, listening to albums, or listening to an audiobook—even with a game as short as Cosmic Star Heroine. So, sorry to anybody who has been waiting patiently for another article here! I don't have much else to say to precede this review, so... Thanks so much for joining me on RPG Ranked today, and I hope you enjoy this review!
Combat - 8
The combat is definitely my favorite part of this game! This game's combat is so unique and a blast to get the hang of! The battles have a unique rhythm that I haven't really seen before. Each of your assigned abilities can only be used once before they're on cooldown. To use them again, you must first use the Defend command. This leaves the player in a constant state of wondering whether to defend to regain their best abilities, or to use their turn doing something weaker over and over until, inevitably, they have to defend because they can't do anything else.
Each character that joins your team feels fundamentally different, which is always a huge bonus, and not always the case in even some of the best RPGs. A character like Sue is all about building up combo after combo to increase damage, often at the expense of his defenses. Chan uses her weapon for various magical effects (à la Magitek in Final Fantasy VI), whereas Arete builds up damage over time by utilizing her drone for various abilities. Every character has a completely different tempo and battle progression that simply can't be understood until you check out the game... It's awesome! If you like CTB systems like Final Fantasy X, but want a wholly new experience that you haven't seen before, this is the game for you.
So, why only an 8 out of 10 with how unique it is? The balancing and pacing. This game feels very unbalanced sometimes. You'll be in a dungeon where one battle is practically one-shot, then you'll fight a boss you destroy in a few turns max, and then you'll fight some randos who take eleven attempts to defeat because they keep one-shotting you. This lack of balance is akin to a cosine graph, and it's only amplified by playing in harder modes, where the enemies are walls of HP that often take an unruly amount of time to destroy.
The only other gripe comes from the pacing of battles. Since they aren't avoidable and often take a long time to complete, there are a ton of times where you could skip through them a little faster with some sort of Auto-Battle. Even the best battle systems can always use an Auto-Battle system, or a way to avoid enemies, even in a more tactical game like this.
Customization System - 5
Unfortunately, the in-menu character customization here isn't my favorite. It's definitely more interesting than a standard equipment system, but I don't quite think it's better. The first thing you can mess with is the Items you can equip. These Items are basically abilities that anyone can use, but only once per battle. This mechanic isn't offensively bad or anything, but it's pretty rare that these Items really do anything useful for the majority of the game.
Second are the support characters—simple, but my favorite thing to tweak in the game. On top of your four playable characters, you can recruit NPCs (like Suikoden) and equip them for various bonuses. While none of them do that much, they're still a fun mechanic that rewards exploration and talking to NPCs.
Finally, the most unique yet most problematic: shields. Every character can equip a shield, which can give the character a couple of bonus abilities that they can use on top of their innate ones. However, my disdain for this system stems from the Hacktitude mechanic. Basically, if you don't have an adequate hacktitude stat, you can't use your shield's abilities. It simply became annoying to get new shields and not be able to use them—it makes the whole system feel convoluted and unrewarding. The abilities gained through shields already feel underpowered without the whole mechanic... Removing Hacktitude would be an excellent change for the game.
Music - 8
The music in this game is an absolute vibe! It has an electronic quality that feels unique and epitomizes the game's objective of being a sci-fi RPG. While I don't listen to the songs outside the game enough to name specific songs I love, the soundtrack is great and memorable.
Story - 4
While there are a couple of nice plot moments here, this is not an RPG story that'll be blowing anybody's minds anytime soon. While I don't want to spoil anything, there's a solid twist a couple of hours in, and a better one at the very end of the game. However, in between, stuff practically happens just to happen, and the twists aren't really built up to in a memorable way. While a lot of indie games do struggle in the story department, this one is regrettably especially mediocre.
Characters - 4
Same with the story, the characters here aren't much to write home about. While all of them look absolutely awesome artistically, I struggle to remember any defining traits about their personalities. I can remember their names, but nothing about their motivations. While it can be harder to convey great characters in 2D, especially without voice acting, many games have done it wonderfully for years. To make an RPG memorable for me, you need memorable characters: that's just the fact of the matter.
Locations - 5
For a game about interplanetary travel, this game feels unusually small and suffocating. I hate to say that about a lovingly-made indie game, but this game felt more like a railroaded game like Final Fantasy XIII than a planet-exploring extravaganza akin to Jedi Survivor. While there are some beautiful areas at times, I more often felt annoyance at the dungeons' mandatory encounters than I was entertained by exploring. Quite the unfortunate truth.
Quality of Life - 6.5
For a smaller game that doesn't have that much exploration, I was surprised by just how often I had no idea where to go. While I'm not a fan of guiding stars or companion characters that constantly beep at you in the direction of where to go, I shouldn't forget where to go every time I boot up the game again. This is the first game I've ever played where I've needed to look up YouTube walkthroughs to know where to go each time I play... It's an unfortunate sign of how this game lacks real direction in character dialogue and a dungeon map. It feels like all the care for this game went into the wonderful battle system, art style, and music, not into how satisfying the game actually plays.
Sidequests - 5
Honestly, the only main sidequest here is collecting NPC supports. I always love character collection in RPGs, so while the exploration and collection here are mediocre and underdeveloped, it's still interesting. However, fellow indie game Chained Echoes displays how a character collector can be done on a small scale in a more fun way, all while still having plenty of other brilliant sidequests as a briskly paced RPG. I absolutely wouldn't say I want padding in this game, but plenty of short RPGs do sidequests better than this.
Art & Graphics - 9.5
I absolutely adore the art style in this game! While I would've enjoyed a bit more personality in some of the sprite animations, this game just takes the retro art style into a modern era in a unique way. It looks a little bit like Chained Echoes, but I honestly slightly prefer the look of this game because the UI and menu design are just a lot more elite. If this game had spent time on its other aspects as much as the battle system and art, it would've been one of my favorite RPGs.
The Verdict
Fun Factor: 6
Overall Score: 61%
Letter Rating: B-
Cosmic Star Heroine is one of those games that feels like it's so close to greatness, yet it's one that I often struggled to finish, even with how short it is. The combat is awesome, and the game is really well done from an artistic standpoint. However, with weak exploration and mediocre menu surfing, I can't help but say this game is a bit of a disappointment.
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