Game 250: Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War (1987)

The title screen doesn't waste any time getting into the story.

    

Judging by western PC releases, 1987 was the year that JRPGs started to rival their western counterparts. Dragon Slayer (1984), Hydlide (1984), and Xanadu: Dragon Slayer 2 (1985) were all goofy affairs best described as "proto-RPGs," but 1987 brought us The Ancient Land of Ys, Sorcerian, and Zeliard. None were contenders for "Game of the Year" or anything, but I found them all fun in their own ways, and they each introduced interesting elements not seen in western RPGs. Ys is the first RPG I know, for instance, to introduce occasional boss battles in which all the rules change and you have to figure out new patterns to defeat them, a dynamic that lives today in games like Dark Souls and Lords of the Fallen. Zeliard is the only RPG/platformer hybrid that I know of. Sorcerian is a rare side-scrolling RPG.

Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War is not up to the level of its 1987 colleagues, though it does have a number of original ideas. The game is the sequel to a 1985 title (Cosmic Soldier) released only in Japan; my understanding is that they feature similar gameplay, though the sequel improves the graphics and interface. They concern the titular soldier, who takes missions from "the Alliance" to stop the evil machinations of the "Quila Empire," somewhere in a star system called "KGD" in the 36th and 37th Centuries.

In addition to the party members he can recruit along the way, the main character is accompanied by a scantily-clad android who offers various types of advice and assistance. In the first game, this included the ability to have sex with her (with accompanying on-screen nudity) in exchange for increases in power. We saw the same dynamic, though with an actual human slave, in the reprehensible Rance (1989), and I wonder if the later game copied from Cosmic Soldier or if there's another origin to this trope.
       

A screenshot from the first game.

    

Either way, I don't see any sex options in Psychic War, although it's possible they were simply removed for the western release. I can tell that the developers changed at least one related element: the android (Kayla), who inexplicably always remains on-screen, is wearing a tank top in the western release instead of a string bikini in the Japanese original.

After a brief character creation process in which the player has no choices but the name, the main character and Kayla dock their ship, Century Parody, at a space station called Samar. I haven't been able to find a manual for the game, but my understanding from various web sites is that the Quila Empire has developed some kind of machine that can read (or perhaps influence) brainwaves. It's on one of at least 5 stations in the same region, and the player can jump among them, hunting for the device and killing enemies along the way.
     

The "full party death" screen. I guess the Alliance only has one Cosmic Soldier.

    

In the hallways of the stations (or, at least, the first one), you run into both NPCs and enemies. The line between them is blurred, as you can attack NPCs and convert enemies to NPCs if they surrender. When you encounter them, the game gives you a nonsense word that I at first took as their names, but I guess it's their races or classes or something, because if they join you, you specify a name. If you're not looking for party members, you can just talk to NPCs (including surrendered enemies), and they might give you a quick line of dialogue.
     

Meeting a "Jiftok" NPC. I can either convince him to join me or ask for a hint.

   
For those who join the party (up to 3), each class of NPC has different psychic abilities, which are basically spells. These come into play during combat and exploration. For instance, the protagonist comes with "Beam," which is a basic psychic attack, and "Teleport," which allows you to escape from battle. Other NPCs might come with "Shield" or  non-combat powers like "Marker" and "Mind Jump," which together serve as a mark/recall spell. I assume some of the game's powers are developed by leveling up. There apparently are guns in the game, but I gather they either serve as amplifiers of psychic energy or alternatives against a few monsters who cannot be psychically damaged.

Mostly, NPCs serve as living shields for the PC. When combat begins, the player holds down the SPACE bar to simultaneously execute the "Beam" attack or ENTER to execute a "Shield" defense. The cowardly PC hides behind everyone else, so all the NPCs take any enemy damage first. Since there seem to be no other combat tactics, I guess you just have to hope that your NPCs and hit points hold out against the enemy's. The dynamic feels more like some kind of tug-of-war than traditional RPG combat. Speed is vital in the combats, particularly as the enemies get more difficult. If you don't realize you've entered combat and hit the SPACE bar immediately, the enemy gets a few free seconds of unfettered blasting.
    

Simultaneously blasting, and taking damage from, a "Paluka."

    
Slain enemies don't seem to drop items, but perhaps I just never found the "search" option. As far as I can tell, there isn't any economy in the game, except perhaps the "yontry" that also serves as a healing potion. Judging by a few sites I translated, inventory also seems limited in the game. Most of it consists of puzzle items like ID badges and VIP cards that you need to progress through the levels.

Kayla seems to be useless at the outset of the game. There's a menu command for "Ask Kayla," but it provides no options. My understanding is that later in the game, you can find special items like mappers, sensors, and decoders that Kayla can operate, but overall a lot of screen real estate is wasted on someone with such limited functionality.
     

The repair shop owner hints that Kayla will become useful later.

    
I didn't hear any sound effects during my session. It does have music, changing from exploration to combat tunes. Both wear out their welcome quite fast, as does the game's fondness for 1980s California slang: "Bogus!" it cries, when describing an attack by an enemy or "Bodacious!" when you find a useful item.
      

"Most outrageous!" upon finding a card.

     
The graphics don't break any ground. The corridors all adopt the same futuristic pseudo-Death Star look, the protagonist and his allies are goofy and cartoonish, and if Kayla is supposed to be attractive, then I congratulate the 1980s teenagers who found her so.
     

A map of the first station level.

     
I started my session by exhaustively mapping Samar. The base level was 16 x 16, but with a lot of unused space. Most of the rooms are generically titled "press rooms" or "radar rooms" and such, with nothing in them, but you run into the occasional "bio room," where you can get healed, and other special places like the space dock.
     

I'm not sure why I have to "think fast" to use the elevator.

     
Elevators went both up and down, but to a variety of much smaller levels (or sections of levels), some only a couple of squares. There was an equipment repair shop on a lower level section and a "relic shop" on an upper-level section where a guy wanted 3 "yontry," basically a healing potion, but I hadn't found any so far. He also suggested that I bring him the "PY map."
     

The weird relic store dealer.

     
During this period, NPC hints told me that the relic shop owner "keeps a secret"; that I can find yontry in "Zellwal's NRS Room"; that I should learn how to use the "bio-sleep" rooms; that I should free someone named Houzz from jail on Sivad; that Sivad also has a "VIP Room" and the station's defenses are weak; and that our mission (or at least that NPCs) is to "destroy Melser."
      

An NPC offers a hint.

      
I burned through a lot of party members during this period and noticed that every new one started at 0 experience points, so I suppose it's probably better to heal the ones you have rather than letting them die as meat shields. As for my own character, I seemed to get exactly 1 experience point for every enemy we killed, but none for those who surrendered and we let live.

When I ran out of places to explore on Samar, I entered the launch pad and blasted off for Sivad, station of the supposed "weak defenses," where I was killed immediately by a much tougher enemy than I'd faced anywhere on Samar--some kind of robot, I guess. Either the intention was that I grind for a while on Samar or I'm missing some other dynamic in the game.
      

Chet levels up.

     
Playing around Samar some more, I finally leveled up when my experience hit 20, doubling my maximum power and ESP. Around this time, I realized that killing relatively helpless NPCs offered the same experience rewards as dangerous enemies, so I just circled the outer rim of the station, blasting everyone I came across. It took me 80 more kills to get to the next level.
    

Sorry--I don't get stronger by you surrendering.

     
At this point, I was able to navigate Sivad without dying. The enemies there continue to deliver just one experience point per kill. In a room past a maze of elevators, I found a safe with a "Map PO." Later, in an "enemy office," there was a "VIP card." About this time, I hit my six-hour minimum and had to decide whether to continue with the game.
      

I guess heroes don't just turn around and leave.

      
Oh, there's a place for games like this, I guess. They offer a break from the standard high-fantasy dungeon crawler, with their swords and armor and magic missiles. The problem is, I like that kind of game, not weird sci-fi titles with bare-bones plots and goofy cartoonish little protagonists. Still, lacking the manual, I might be missing out on some cool features, so I'll at least give my commenters a chance to offer what they know about the game before cutting it off.

      

Blasting off to other ports.

     
You may have noted that this is my 250th game. That's something of a landmark. I probably should have arranged for a more meaningful title to take the spot, but there was nothing obvious in my upcoming list, and I was having a hard enough time finding time to play and blog in May without adding the pressures of some kind of commemoration, too.

Still, it's a big number. When I started this project, I'm not sure I was even aware that this many RPGs existed. I'd probably only ever played 30 by that point--some addict!--which means in the last 7 years, I've increased my RPG experience by more than 700%. At least the blog gives me something to show for it.