Cosmic Fantasy 2 Ranting

[esteban]

The quality of games like CF2 are examples of bad game design. This title seemed (like most CD games) as more of a tech demo if anything else. Not necessarily a bad game, but not timeless either. Back then it was "wow! look at that! FMV! CD audio! blah blah blah!". You see it today, and it's more like "meh... let's get this over with." NEC and Sega have a lot of titles like that on their past systems. On the opposite side of things you can take a game like Yoshi's Island, and even today it is more than playable. Everything about it is still good looking, and fun to play. It's a timeless game.

I don't think it's a bad game for its time, in fact I think its an above average classic style RPG. Most games of that era had a high encounter rate and were very linear. It's not an outstanding title like other RPGs of the 16-bit era such as Lunar the Silver Star, Lunar Eternal Blue, Chrono Trigger, or Final Fantasy III in terms of design. But it's far from bad game design either. It's above average to good for a 1992 domestic release.

Preach on, brother!

[nodtveidt]

Would this make it easier?

[doomfarer75]

funny,  I enjoyed CF2 but back then RPGs were my favorite....I kept hoping a game would come out and blow me away,  intricate, non-linear, puzzles the whole nine yards..n then when I phased into other interests,  it started to happen..Zelda Ocarina,  the phenomenal Playstation RPGs, and so on...Dragon Warrior VII is sitting gathering dust right now which I would have gobbled up every spare moment back then....(it was my favorite series..though I loved FF too of course..neverplayed FFVII)  but maybe I should start playing.  
ANYWAY...I have an EGM from 92 or so where one of the reviewers states the CF2 is full o fluff  that it is too liitle too late...so even then those snobs thought it outdated,  (they were shooter snobs mostly anyway) which it was, having been out overseas sometime before.  Why oh why did they not translate FEOE?  k...enough for now...steve,  haven't forgotten my pledge, I will get those mags out buddy!

[doomfarer75]

reminds me...are there any dragon warrior/dragon quest fans out there?  anyone heard about Dragon Warrior eight and when it'll come out?  Square/Enix acts like it doesn't exist these days...how did VII fare in Japan?

[DragonmasterDan]

reminds me...are there any dragon warrior/dragon quest fans out there?  anyone heard about Dragon Warrior eight and when it'll come out?  Square/Enix acts like it doesn't exist these days...how did VII fare in Japan?

Dragon Quest VIII (no more Warrior for the US release aparently) wil be released around Christmas time. VIII is the best selling Japanese Playstation 2 game ever. Dragon Quest VII (since you asked about it) is the best selling PSone title in Japan ever as well. Also SE isn't acting like it doesn't exist, they are just waiting until E3 to announce a firm date. If you talk to their PR people they have been discussing the game's US release since last year.

Why oh why did they not translate FEOE?

TTI planned to release Far East Of Eden/Tengai Makyou II. But as we all know they were massively understaffed and RPGs require a lot more time in localizing than do other genres of games (which for TTI also took a long time to bring over). As a result it simply never got started.

[xolik]

I don't suppose anybody here knows of a site that translated any of the other CF games, do you?

[zborgerd]

reminds me...are there any dragon warrior/dragon quest fans out there?  anyone heard about Dragon Warrior eight and when it'll come out?  Square/Enix acts like it doesn't exist these days...how did VII fare in Japan?

I used to be.  I played all of the NES games back in the day (Dragon Warrior III was my favorite).  I also played a bit of the translated SNES games.  I really tried to enjoy DQ7, but it felt like the series never really evolved.  The mechanics seemed to be quite dated and the game just didn't flow very well (in my opinion).  I really had trouble enjoying it after playing more modern games like Xenogears, Skies of Arcadia, and (more recently) Tales of Symphonia.  Some of the older RPG franchises (like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest) don't seem to be particularly innovative these days.  I know it's all a matter of opinion though.  I know that there are people who still really adore these games.  I used to really like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but they just don't do it for me anymore.

[KingDrool]

Yeah, it's hard for me to go back to playing old RPGs.  I've lost all tolerance for random, turn-based battles.  Especially with games that have random battles every two steps.  That's where I got frustrated with CF2 when I went back to play it again.  It just seems like a way of artificially lengthening the game.

[DragonmasterDan]

reminds me...are there any dragon warrior/dragon quest fans out there?  anyone heard about Dragon Warrior eight and when it'll come out?  Square/Enix acts like it doesn't exist these days...how did VII fare in Japan?

I used to be.  I played all of the NES games back in the day (Dragon Warrior III was my favorite).  I also played a bit of the translated SNES games.  I really tried to enjoy DQ7, but it felt like the series never really evolved.  The mechanics seemed to be quite dated and the game just didn't flow very well (in my opinion).  I really had trouble enjoying it after playing more modern games like Xenogears, Skies of Arcadia, and (more recently) Tales of Symphonia.  Some of the older RPG franchises (like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest) don't seem to be particularly innovative these days.  I know it's all a matter of opinion though.  I know that there are people who still really adore these games.  I used to really like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but they just don't do it for me anymore.

I still find those older games enjoyable though things like battles and leveling up becomes tedious. My only real complaint with Dragon Warrior VII is the battle system is very unfun and non interactive. The scenerio and design of the game is great and it reminds me a lot of Chrono Trigger (you can tell Horii did this game and Chrono Trigger since they share that same feel).

Also on a side note  I quite frankly didn't like Xenogears (just overall poor game design, with boring dungeons, a super linear second disc, long load times, boring battles, high encounter rate, choppy engine, and forces story at you rather than being a game to play) at all and I rate it alongside another Squaresoft PSone game (Chrono Cross) as two of the most overated RPGs in recent memory. I did think Skies of Arcadia was great, I'm also a big fan of the first two Grandia games (Grandia X-treme sucks) so if you haven't played those and like RPGs I highly recommend them.

Anyway, I play a lot of RPGs so I don't have as much of a problem playing older titles as long as they are well designed games. Story and drama don't necessarily make a game great, design does.

[zborgerd]

Also on a side note  I quite frankly didn't like Xenogears (just overall poor game design, with boring dungeons, a super linear second disc, long load times, boring battles, high encounter rate, choppy engine, and forces story at you rather than being a game to play) at all and I rate it alongside another Squaresoft PSone game (Chrono Cross) as two of the most overated RPGs in recent memory. I did think Skies of Arcadia was great, I'm also a big fan of the first two Grandia games (Grandia X-treme sucks) so if you haven't played those and like RPGs I highly recommend them.

Heh.  Chrono Cross was a BIG letdown for me.  I got to the end of the game, where you have the dragon plot-twist, and I just stopped playing it.  I couldn't stand it anymore.

I agree that there is a lot about Xenogears that could be improved, but something about it really grabbed me.  I do agree that disk 2 was absolutely terrible though.

I have Grandia (PSX), which I've played very little of, and Grandia 2 (DC), which I've played to the end.  Both seem to be very good games.

[DragonmasterDan]

Heh.  Chrono Cross was a BIG letdown for me.  I got to the end of the game, where you have the dragon plot-twist, and I just stopped playing it.  I couldn't stand it anymore.

I agree that there is a lot about Xenogears that could be improved, but something about it really grabbed me.  I do agree that disk 2 was absolutely terrible though.

I have Grandia (PSX), which I've played very little of, and Grandia 2 (DC), which I've played to the end.  Both seem to be very good games.

Grandia I is a great game, but keep in mind the US dub is quite frankly horrendous. I originally played through the import Saturn version of the game (which has nicer textures and has a bit smoother engine and better PCM music) so obviously that wasn't an issue for me when I played through it. Grandia II is a good game but not as good of a game as Grandia I in my opinion, its shorter, not as well designed and has a far more predictable story.  I would recommened playing through Grandia I though, bad dub and all.