Cosmic Fantasy 2 Ranting

[KingDrool]

CF2 was the first RPG I ever completed when I was a kid, therefore my memories of the game were pretty sentimental and misty.  When I began my mission to rebuild my Turbo collection a few years ago (which wouldn't have been necessary had I not been an idiot several years prior), CF2 was one of the first games I bought.

A couple weeks ago I decided to take a jaunt through the game in order to bring back some of the great memories I have of my brother and I sitting in our family's living room for hours on end in order to finish the game.  At first I found the game to be incredibly basic, but fun nonetheless.  All the great scenes with Van and Cadette Babette, with the cool Working Designs touch were enjoyable to experience again.

The game was mostly a breeze, up until a certain area in Babette's quest when I realized how cheap the battle system was becoming.  I was forced to sit around and level up my characters simply to progress through the next mission; a daunting task as leveling up began to take ages.  It didn't help that the battle system required little more than activating a turbo switch on the controller and holding down the 'I' button, checking periodically to make sure your character had enough HP.

Eventually, it became so redundant that I just wanted to get through the game so I could say I did it...again.

I don't really have a point to this long-winded rant.  Perhaps other than this: some games are truly great and stand the test of time.  Others, while having a special spot in your memory, wind up being obsolete and tedious.  CF2 definitely falls into this latter category.

Of course that shower scene is still pretty hot.

[Pcenginefx]

LOL!  Yes, gotta love that strategically placed mist

CF2 was also one of my favorite RPGs when I was young.  I've not played it through again since then, but man, I loved the cut scenes (Babette is still cool!).  

As for leveling up, I did the EXACT same thing....turn on the turbo button and just go through the battles...Tedious yes....just like what I did in Ys I & II (or was it IV?) when you go down to the basement of one villiger's house where he has the hole in the wall with monsters coming out.  Just hold down the spell button and shoot monsters for hours lvl'ing up.

I was so pissed about Laura though (did she die?  Or was she controlled by the bad guy?).  WHAT A JIP!  Van (and I) spent ALL that time just to not get the girl.  Man....I would have gone into depression if I was Van.

[Matow]

I've tried playing that game 2 or 3 times. I mostly agree with many of the points brought up. If it wasn't for the cut scene the game would probably barely be an average RPG.

[Michael Helgeson]

If i remember right,it was voted best RPG of 1992,in EGM,beating Final fantasy 2 on snes.I played through the game,loved it.Felt bad for Van,your right,he got screwed in the end,well,then again,if I remember right he went with Babs to be a space cadet or something didnt he?
Soem of the stuff like having a butter knife for a weapon wa skinda funny,and the coming soon cosmic fantasy3 ad in the game on soem wall.

[DragonmasterDan]

If i remember right,it was voted best RPG of 1992,in EGM,beating Final fantasy 2 on snes.I played through the game,loved it.Felt bad for Van,your right,he got screwed in the end,well,then again,if I remember right he went with Babs to be a space cadet or something didnt he?
Soem of the stuff like having a butter knife for a weapon wa skinda funny,and the coming soon cosmic fantasy3 ad in the game on soem wall.

The encounter rate in spots drove me nuts. Stil it's the most professionally domesticated RPG on the Duo (especially compared to Dragon Slayer the only other traditional RPG with voice acting in English). I always remember the computer Robear speaking with a crazy french accent. It was kind of funny but it was intentional... unlike other games.

[nodtveidt]

Cosmic Fantasy 2 was one of those games that you can't help to think was unfinished. All the promos for it said that your enemies had "great magical powers and can't wait to use them on you", yet no enemy in the game threw even a single Feedus at you. Add some apparently worthless items (Royal Sword, Ball Of Lito, etc) and you wonder just what else was supposed to be added...

[esteban]

Cosmic Fantasy 2 was one of those games that you can't help to think was unfinished. All the promos for it said that your enemies had "great magical powers and can't wait to use them on you", yet no enemy in the game threw even a single Feedus at you. Add some apparently worthless items (Royal Sword, Ball Of Lito, etc) and you wonder just what else was supposed to be added...

Yeah, i think the CF series was developed by Telenet (or at least published by them)... and many, many of their games seem like they could be more polished.  For example, Valis II could have been an awesome platformer, I think, if more time (and creativity) was taken.  

I love the Valis series, of course.  But other games, like Final Zone II, seem completely rushed / incomplete.  FZ II is subpar... it has potential, perhaps, but is totally disappointing (it was one of the first TG-CD games I got... and I could never showcase it to my friends who had Genesis).

What's surprising, to me, is that CF2 still manages to succeed despite all the complaints I have with it.  There's just something that makes it seem worthwhile, despite the fact that it could have been so much better.

[nodtveidt]

What I liked about CF2 so much is the character development, I think that's what others like about the game as well. Van is just plain cool, and Babette is a total babe. And who doesn't like talking cats? (Go Pico! hehehe) The dialogue is very interesting and the storyline is solid. Squaresoft could learn a thing or two from these guys about writing seamless storylines...

The only problem I had with the storyline is the introduction of Cobra and Sayo at the end. It makes little sense how they were the ones to go with Van and Babette after Galam. It should have been Annie and Pico.

[esteban]

What I liked about CF2 so much is the character development, I think that's what others like about the game as well.

yes, absolutely.  I think we have to give Working Designs some credit here, because they took some liberties (i think) with the original script.  I actually don't have any details about the localization of CF2, but I'm sure someone might help us out (dragonmasterdan, we need you).

And Pico kicked a$$.  He's still one of my all-time faves.  You're right, you can't help but love a talking cat

[Keranu]

The gameplay in CF2 is pretty basic, there are only a few songs and they aren't really anything outstanding like Ys, and the ingame graphics aren't so hot. To the typical gamer, that sounds like a shitty game alright, but the story is incredible, the characters had so much personality, and the cinemas absolutely ruled. The game was so ahead of it's time in story, character, and cinema wise and I think this makes up for the poorer aspects of the game. If Telenet put more time on the gameplay, soundtrack, and in-game graphics in CF2, I think it would stand as one of, if not, the greatest RPGs of all time.

[KingDrool]

I actually got the chance to interview Victor Ireland from Working Designs a few years back.  I talked about Turbo stuff with him and, specifically, Cosmic Fantasy 2.  This was back when WD was working on their Arc the Lad compilation for the PSone.  Being a fan of Cosmic Fantasy 2, I asked him what the chances were of WD doing a Cosmic Fantasy compilation consisting of all the Cosmic Fantasy games.  He said that if the demand were high enough he would definitely consider trying to make it happen.

So...start writing your emails to Working Designs!

[DragonmasterDan]

I actually got the chance to interview Victor Ireland from Working Designs a few years back.  I talked about Turbo stuff with him and, specifically, Cosmic Fantasy 2.  This was back when WD was working on their Arc the Lad compilation for the PSone.  Being a fan of Cosmic Fantasy 2, I asked him what the chances were of WD doing a Cosmic Fantasy compilation consisting of all the Cosmic Fantasy games.  He said that if the demand were high enough he would definitely consider trying to make it happen.

So...start writing your emails to Working Designs!

As much as I'd like that to happen the series is dead in Japan and someone would need to actually make that collection for it to be released in Japan first for WD to do it. Second and perhaps most importantly WD is not doing that well, Growslanser hasn't been a massive hit and I've heard rumors (though I myself can't substanciate them) that they closed their office in Redding and are operating Working Designs out of Victor Irelands house.

On a side note when you did your interview with Vic (I'm guessing this would have been around E3 2001 or 2000) did he give you one of those neat Arc the Lad watches?

[KingDrool]

It was around 2001 or 2002, but I can't remember exactly when.  I didn't get a watch, but I did get one of those Arc the Lad books.  

That's a shame about WD.  I do remember a bunch of people from there getting laid off at one point.  I didn't realize things were quite so dire, though.  That's too bad.

[Keranu]

Hey that's quite a cool story about how you got to interview Victor Ireland and all. I'd love to see a ocmpilation, but DragonmasterDan (are you really the dragon master!?!?!?) made good points of the problems.

[KingDrool]

Here's part of the interview.  http://www.teamfremont.com/features/InterviewwithWorkingDesign.shtml

I asked him other stuff too (the stuff I wrote about above) but didn't publish it.