Cosmic Fantasy 2
~ COSMIC FANTASY 2
~
Working Designs (US)
/ Laser Soft / Telenet
CD-ROM
1992 (JPN: 1991)
CF2 is
one of the games that convinced me I really needed to
acquire the Turbo CD unit. I'd wanted a true RPG for
my TG-16 from the day I bought the system, and this
one looked absolutely awesome in Electronic Gaming Monthly's
previews. And here I am now, having just played through
it for the tenth or so time (which is probably my "record"
as far as traditional-style RPGs go), and I still love
it for all the elements that appealed to me years ago:
the characters are a wonderful bunch (the Van-Babs-Pico
fellowship is legendary among Turbo circles), and the
story is absolutely unforgettable, culminating with
one of the most memorable and emotional endings to be
experienced in a video game.
While the awesome
cinemas constituted one of the main reasons I wanted
the game so badly, CF2's tale has more going for
it than just fancy interludes. It contains lots
of unforgettable twists that don't even get the
cinematic treatment (the dramatic unveiling of imposter
city leaders, for instance), and cool characters
are constantly joining your party and aiding you
in completing the tasks you're charged with, providing
you with some nice little backstories along the
way (Jiela in particular has always struck me as
a badass minor character). With so many intriguing
story elements and appealing small-part players,
the game achieves an epic feel that other episodes
in the CF series (and many of CF2's contemporaries)
lack.
But even with such
a great story, the game takes its knocks, mainly
because of its unintuitive battle system. I acknowledge
that said system is completely obsolete, and it
doesn't help that the encounter rate is quite high.
However, it should be noted that fights can be won
quickly and easily; I can think of a number of games
flaunting "fancier" systems that are much more irritating
to play due to combat proceedings that unfold so
much more slowly. And I've always been a big fan
of the CF2 enemy art; having cool-looking monsters
to slaughter helps ease the pain of dealing with
an outdated fighting setup. Plus, the drum-driven
battle tune is pretty darn cool.
In fact, the music
on the whole is quite good, even though there's
a very limited selection of tracks. Among those
tracks are some extremely effective "sad" pieces.
One somber town tune accompanied by wind effects
makes matters seem very bleak indeed, and there's
an incredibly sweet melody that plays when you arrive
at a certain significant hut late in the adventure
(and at other important spots). The end-credits
track is also excellent.
My only complaint
at this point in time is that I don't particularly
care for many of the townspeople mutterings. WD's
"pop culture" references are occasionally effective
(particularly a clever Twilight Zone allusion),
but when everyone in a village including the resident
chicken is trying to be a fucking comedian, I don't
find it amusing and I start to get annoyed.
Even with those scripting
stumbles, the story is simply brilliant. CF2's money
moments make as much of an emotional impact as any
other game's.
Some folks have made
a big stink about the lack of status effects and
enemy elemental powers in the US version of the
game. Personally, I'm just fine with those omissions.
Status effects in console-based RPGs often do nothing
but force the player to partake in time-wasting
busy work: pulling out an antidote or casting a
cure spell doesn't involve much "strategy" or contribute
much "depth" to a role-playing experience if you
ask me. Such effects are much more interesting in
games like Might & Magic and Ultima, as those
efforts strive for engaging intricacy, and any given
effect can make a significant impact. Elemental
effects also don't matter much to me, as damage
is damage, and again, the "strategy" elements in
games that do implement these sorts of attack and
defense types are usually minimal enough to be practically
negligible. However, I do think Working Designs
screwed up by leaving in all the items that are
supposed to relieve or defend against these non-existent
hazards and documenting them in the instruction
manual. For years, I didn't know whether or not
it was only my copy that lacked the effects.
In any event, I eventually
picked up and played through the Japanese version,
as I wanted to find out how much of a cumulative
impact would be made by status effects and other
things that Working Designs is said to have "removed"
when they "mutilated" the game.
Well, I didn't get
hit with a single status effect. Not one. I was
never poisoned. I was never paralyzed. I was never
turned to stone. And if the enemies used any magic
spells or "elemental powers" while I was zipping
through the fights, I certainly didn't notice.
In fact, the PCE game
plays out exactly like its US counterpart. WD did
not "shaft" us; the product they gave us plays just
like the original, despite the inclusion in both
of all those items apparently intended to combat/remedy
things that aren't even in the game. I don't know
what the hell happened during the making of CF2,
but that's the way it is. Again, I think the effort
is better off without that crap anyway. But it's
very strange that said items wound up being included.
Anyway, for those
who are curious about the JPN release, many of the
names it uses for characters, enemies, places, and
pieces of equipment can also be found in the US
rendition. Obviously, there are some notable exceptions:
Rim and Yuu became Cadet Babbette and Cobra, respectively,
for instance. In a Robotech-esque moment, you can
see the word "RIM" in the US version on a monitor
during a cinema in which Cobra and Sayo are being
told of Babbette's plight.
Babs gives her AI
ally the finger during a cinema in the PCE game,
but you can check that out just by finding a picture
of the back of the case or, uh, looking at this
screen cap:
And while we're on
the subject of Babs, the rumors that you can see
more of her in JPN CF2 during the famous shower
scene are completely false. The shower scenes are
identical. (However, the scene actually was redone
in more risqué fashion for the Cosmic Fantasy Visual
Collection.)
Moving on to admittedly
less-interesting matters, I expected that the PCE
version would feature voice acting when characters
are having conversations and a portrait of one of
them appears in a corner of the screen. That's how
PCE RPGs often work, after all. But the JPN one
goes with text alone, just like the US game. And
I prefer it that way: I hate not being able to skip
pointless bits of voice acting.
One thing I'd always
been looking forward to was hearing the end-credits
number as sung in Japanese. The dueling versions
feature identical music and melodies, but I believe
the US got the better vocals.
There are posters
in US CF2 that mention the then-upcoming Cosmic
Fantasy 3, which many figured to be another instance
of "WD tinkering," but JPN CF2 actually has the
posters as well, and it doesn't stop there with
game namedropping.
One rather odd difference
involves a lost floppy disk that can be found in
a strange town hidden behind a waterfall. An elderly
fellow wants the floppy, so you have to locate it
and bring it back to him. In the English version,
the old dude rewards you with experience points,
but in the original, you get treated to... two screens
of Japanese text!
So there are shower-scene
similarities and floppy-disk-related differences,
but the bottom line is you can rest assured that
the gameplay wasn't hideously adjusted for the title's
US release. And so I say what I've always said anyway:
get the English one. The story is an extremely important
part of the experience, and US CF2 is incredibly
cheap these days anyway. (And if you dig this title,
make sure to pick up CF4 Chapter 2. You'll want
to find out what eventually happens to Van and crew.)
