Summary
One of the genre's foundation stones
The Good
Cosmic Fantasy was one of the leading Japanese RPG franchises of the early 90-ies. The Japanese RPG genre was hardly three-four years old at the time, and the first Cosmic Fantasy game was only slightly younger than such classics as
Final Fantasy II (the real one, for NES), and the second
Phantasy Star.
After
Tengai Makyou: Ziria, "Cosmic Fantasy" was also the first RPG to use the new CD format. Those two games were the great pioneers of multimedia age. And I must say that "Cosmic Fantasy" used the new technology more efficiently than "Ziria". It has real animated sut-scenes. For the time it was released, those cut-scenes were ground-breaking. They could have easily made an animated intro and ending and be done with it; that would have been enough to impress the player. But instead, many very cool cut-scenes appear at different points of the game. The result is even more impressive than in
Tengai Makyou II: Manjimaru. The camera work is not bad at all, the animé art is solid, the technical quality of the drawings is high, and the voice-overs are surprisingly good - maybe not as good as in "Manjimaru", but good nevertheless. It was really a great feeling to crawl through an ominous dungeon and to be rewarded by a nice cut-scene.
"Cosmic Fantasy" is probably the first truly cinematic Japanese RPG, but the innovations don't end here. The game had a unique style that was quite different from other Japanese RPGs. Phantasy Star series was the first that introduce animé style to the genre, but "Cosmic Fantasy" was the one that took full advantage of it. Typical light sci-fi angle, "cute" characters, big-eyed girls, the whole "teenager" feeling makes "Cosmic Fantasy" hundred per cent animé, more so than Phantasy Star. In a particularly charming way, it combined light-hearted adventure with a bit of humor and slight erotic elements. Except adult RPGs, which were more adult than RPGs, there was no other Asian RPG at the time that had sexual innuendo. You won't find it either in Phantasy Star or Tengai Makyou, also not in
Digital Devil Monogatari. There is nothing explicit in the game, but two-three scenes with Saya are enough to create an erotic tension that adds so much to the game. The famous lake scene is the first example of nudity in a mainstream RPG, and what an example it is! Beside being sexy, it is also humorous and very sweet. The famous bathing scene in
Lunar: Eternal Blue was clearly influenced by it.
But if you think "Cosmic Fantasy" is all about cute naked girls, you are wrong. The game's story is surprisingly strong. Because of the overall light atmosphere, you can't expect the serious tone and the tragic depth of contemporary Phantasy Star games or "Final Fantasy II", but in fact those are the only two games that come to my mind that could beat "Cosmic Fantasy" in story-telling at that time. While the main story line is the usual "you are the only one who can beat the evil" kind of thing, it is told pretty well and has enough suspense to make you keep going. But what makes the story interesting is the fact it is composed out of smaller quests. Basically, in every location you visit there is some problem which you must solve; afterwards, you move to another location, closer to your ultimate goal. Those little tasks are rather versatile and include such things as helping a princess to marry the right guy or saving your girl from the clutches of a Snow Queen-like witch.
"Cosmic Fantasy" also had an above-average character cast, which is one of the game's strongest points. The characters are rather charming and are portrayed with detail that was unusual for the time. No other Japanese RPG of that epoch could compete with "Cosmic Fantasy" in this aspect. Your hero wasn't a silent protagonist, but a charismatic boy with a kind heart and a lot of energy. Saya beat every other Japanese RPG girl in terms of sex appeal and cuteness, and influenced many other female Japanese RPG characters of next generations. And of course, the most interesting character was Sylph, who had nearly as much depth as Leon from "Final Fantasy II". The character cast was also pretty large, and most important characters also joined your party. Despite the lack of dialogues typical for early RPGs, there were a couple of scenes in "Cosmic Fantasy" that attempted to go deeper into the characters' hearts. The night scene between Yuu and Saya is a classic example, probably the first truly melodramatic scene in a genre that later became famous for them. And even though the overall tone of the game was rather light, there were also a couple of dark and tragic scenes.
The gameplay of "Cosmic Fantasy" was solid enough to guarantee a genuine old-school experience. Of course, the basic premise is the same as in all Japanese RPGs of that time: fight random turn-based battles until you feel strong enough to tackle the next dungeon. There were some nice touches, though. Your characters' HP was restored when leveling up - an excellent feature I wish every RPG had, it makes leveling up a much more enjoyable and rewarding process. There were many spells (mostly useless, but still there to try) and a lot of items that could make your life easier: and items you could try out.
"Cosmic Fantasy" requires a lot of old-school leveling up, which might please hardcore gamers. The game can get
very brutal. A double dungeon with enemies who can turn your entire party into stone in one hit or a tower which the hero has to complete alone, without any healing spells, are examples of the challenges the game poses to you. In most areas you have no choice but to run around and to level up persistently.
The Bad
Since this is an old-school RPG, expect to level up a lot - and I mean
a lot. In most occasions ferocious bosses await you who will tear you to pieces if you don't level up until you puke. There is one place where the hero must go alone through a tower, and I honestly can't see how it would be possible without insane leveling. What's worse, you can't even access an item shop, so if you overwrite your last save without having reached a very high level and without loads of elixirs on your hands, you might as well restart the game. I can't even begin to imagine the frustration that would have packed me if I weren't careful and didn't save the game in another slot.
The interface is pretty bad, instead of having a menu that shows you all the statistics at once you have to press separate buttons for magic/item/equipment management and character status screen. This becomes particularly annoying when you acquire a new weapon and have to go through the menus three times just to find out how it affects the character - as in most early RPGs, when you buy weapons and armor, the only thing you know about them is their names.
The hero will be painfully alone for too long in this game. Even though various people join the party, they don't fight, so a large chunk of the game is dedicated to boring one-on-one battles, like in the first
Dragon Warrior. This issue was thankfully corrected in the
Sega CD edition.
Unfortunately, while the game boasts fantastic cut-scenes, it looks bad - in fact, it is one of the worst-looking games on Turbo CD. The graphics are NES quality and have really aged badly. They are bland and have nothing of the charm so characteristic for second-generation consoles. For the record, the visuals have significantly improved in the
sequel. The Sega CD version also looks much better.
The nicely composed, charming music also fails to have the needed effect because of the low quality of the MIDI synthesizer. As you might have guessed, the quality of the music in "Cosmic Fantasy Stories" is by far superior.
The Bottom Line
I was pleasantly surprised by "Cosmic Fantasy". Its semi-sci-fi setting, great cut-scenes, distinct animé style, bits of humor, and slight erotic flavor made it a one of a kind RPG of its generation. With a solid story, refreshing character cast, and old-school challenge, it was a very important early contribution to the genre, a game that helped to define it in many ways. "Cosmic Fantasy" is one of the grandfathers of Asian RPGs, and in my opinion it deserves more recognition and respect than it has gotten.
The recommended version to play, however, is the
Sega CD one, that (despite some weird changes) has much better graphics and sound and also considerably freshens up the gameplay.
