Developer: Shin-Nihon Laser Soft Publisher: Working Designs Release: 09/92 Genre: RPG
I desperately wanted a Turbo CD when I was young. But the damn thing cost $400 at release and it would remain a dream until I would become an adult. Titles with elaborate cutscenes like Ys Book I & II and Exile only made my financial situation even worse. But the one title that I wanted to play the most was Cosmic Fantasy 2. As I became a RPG fan its anime cutscenes made it look like the final frontier for the genre. Oh to be young and dumb. But I would only get around to the game recently. There is something to be said about you had to be there. But that does not apply in this case. Cosmic Fantasy 2 is a bland game today and was bland at release in 1992. This one is average at best.
Van is a carefree teenager on the planet Idea. Idea is an underdeveloped world yet its people enjoy an era of peace. Van’s peaceful life shatters when his childhood sweetheart, Laura, is kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Galam because of her mysterious powers. What begins as a simple rescue mission evolves into an adventure involving space travel, time travel, and an expansive cast of allies.
The plot is Cosmic Fantasy 2’s best element. While it is simple it has many unexpected plot twists. I will say the game takes many turns that are unexpected. The ever growing cast cycles in and out yet most have a few emotional character moments throughout the journey. There is a decent amount of voice acting although its quality is questionable. The dialogue is humorous without relying on the pop culture references Working Designs would come to be known for. In fact the localization gives the game plenty of personality and trust me the game desperately needs it.
Cosmic Fantasy 2 follows the typical Japanese RPG formula to a tee. You explore towns and dungeons, talk to NPCs, fight random encounters, gain experience and purchase new equipment. Even though it follows the traditional format it bungles some of the basic functionality. The menu system is basic and lacks simple functions such as trading equipment and such. This one is especially annoying; you find a lot of unique equipment and if you do not give it to the right character you are shit out of luck. This makes the instances when you receive new party members suddenly bad as they often have no gear and end up a burden. It is especially bad near the end game but that is getting in to spoiler territory.
Combat is turn-based and easy to understand. Or I should say basic. You have the standard commands like attack, magic, defend, and using items. However there are a number of factors that make battles boring. Magic outside of healing is near useless. The majority of attack spells use significant chunks of MP. On top of that there are no elemental weaknesses and such. In fact there is no real strategy to combat outside of selecting turn order which is cool. Every enemy, including bosses, does nothing but regular attacks. They do not use magic, status effects, nothing. What is funny is that there are spells that clear such effects although you will never see them. The same goes for the trinkets that reduce elemental damage. It is like the game is unfinished.
Unfortunately Cosmic Fantasy 2 suffers from atrocious pacing. Random battles are frequent, literally every few steps. The dungeons are long and with the constant battles feel dreadful. You will have to tolerate the innumerable battles because Cosmic Fantasy 2 requires constant level grinding. There are no permanent party members until the last 15% of the game. New party members cycle in and out as the story dictates. Some accompany you for a few dungeons. Others leave after thirty minutes more or less. That means the protagonist spends large stretches of the quest alone. Yet the game is not shy about throwing enemies in groups of three or four in your path. The slow battle flow, frequent encounters, and lengthy dungeons make the game an absolute slog. You will suffer a lot of tedium to see this game’s good points.
Were it not for the grinding and high difficulty Cosmic Fantasy would be incredibly short. I estimate this is a ten hour game that they stretch out to twenty or more. Without grinding you will end up sleeping at inns every few random battles. At least it is free but still. An odd consequence of grinding levels is that there are break points where you overpower the enemies in the area. You will notice immediately, the problem is the tedium of reaching these points. The difficulty is in reverse; the game starts very difficult but near the end it is insultingly easy. There is one particular boss battle near the mid game that is harder than any in the game. After that it is smooth sailing. The grind becomes less egregious in the last third and the game becomes…..bearable. Few will stick around to reach that point however.
Despite being on a CD Cosmic Fantasy 2 is visually bland. Most of the environments are a dull brown for the majority of the game until its Sci-Fi element kicks in and it gets a little better. What would garner this game most of its notoriety is its cutscenes. Like Lunar Cosmic Fantasy 2 has a smattering of cutscenes for important story beats. These are fully animated with voice acting as well. These cinematic sequences gave players a level of storytelling that few console RPGs could match in 1992 and are a treat for putting up with the game’s numerous flaws. They are also pretty lengthy and frequent, especially in the second half of the game. Together with the varied and enjoyable soundtrack these are the only aspects that justify this being a CD game.
In Closing
Cosmic Fantasy 2 is a mediocre RPG that gets by on its novel use of CD technology at the time. The story is charming and has its moments but you would have to tolerate hours of grinding and frustration to see it. Even at the time of its release the game was a bit bland and is only more so today. I question EGM giving this game RPG of the year in 1992, they were smoking something. In a way my procrastination was a blessing in disguise. It was a slog playing through this one and I know I will never do so again.
