So, I finally got around to picking up and playing through the Japanese version of Cosmic Fantasy 2. I love the game so much that I'd happily experience it over and over again regardless of what language it's in, but this time, I particularly wanted to discover the role and impact of status effects, among 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. Nothing.
And if the enemies used any magic spells or "elemental powers" while I was turbo-switching my way through the fights, I certainly didn't notice them. There's one area in the US version where magicians show up and always do zero damage to my characters. I thought for sure that this was because WD had removed their magic spells and left them without a proper attack, but that simply wasn't the case. In the JP version, they did zero damage to me, just like they do in the US one.
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 in the game. I don't know what the hell happened during the making of CF2, but that's the way it is.
For the record, for reasons I've stated many times on this forum, I think the game is better off without that crap anyway. But there's no doubt that the situation with the items being included is very strange.
Anyway, for those who are curious about the JP one, WD was faithful to many of the original names of characters, enemies, places, and pieces of equipment. Obviously, there are some notable exceptions: Rim and Yuu became Cadet Babbette and Cobra, for instance. IIRC, in a Robotech-esque moment, you can see "RIM" in the US version on a monitor during a cinema in which Cobra and Sayo are being told of Babbette's plight.
I'd expected that the PCE version would feature voice acting during the parts where the characters are having conversations and a portrait of one of them appears in a corner of the screen. That just seems to be the way PCE RPGs often work. But the JP one sticks with the text alone, just like the US game. And I prefer it that way: I hate when you can't skip pointless bits of voice acting.
One thing I'd always been looking forward to was hearing the song during the end credits as sung in Japanese. It's the same music and melody, but honestly, I think we got the better vocals.
Remember those posters in US CF2 that mentioned Cosmic Fantasy 3? They're in the JP one as well. There's also a guy in this one who mentions Valis 3.
You can see Babs giving the finger during a cinema here, but you can check that out just by finding a picture of the back of the case.
Black Tiger mentioned a floppy disk in another CF2 thread, and that was indeed included. It's in that crazy town hidden behind a waterfall. Some old dude wants the floppy, so you find it in another house and bring it back to him and get treated to... two screens of Japanese text. That town is definitely in the US game, but I don't remember what the old dude wanted or if the floppy disk was in it. It might seem like something that would stand out, but that whole village is wacky, so I might've just shrugged it off. I'll pay more attention to that part next time I play the US one.
In any event, now that I've experienced the JP one and know that the gameplay wasn't hideously adjusted for the title's US release, I say what I've always said anyway: get the English one. The story is so important to the experience. But if you insist on getting the cheaper one instead, know that it is indeed quite playable despite the language barrier. There are three or four spots where you might get stuck, when you have to search a tree here or find a hidden staircase there, but there shouldn't be anything that folks around here wouldn't be able to help with.
Topic: Cosmic Fantasy 2 (JP) and its LACK of status effects (Read 330 times)
