Cosmic Star Heroine

Before playing I saw someone sum up Cosmic Star Heroine as a classic Phantasy Star game with a light touch of Chrono Trigger and honestly that is a pretty perfect descriptor. Though of course it is not on the level of those classics, it does find an identity of its own, especially with very brisk pacing, a unique yet simple to get into battle system and four different difficulty options that you can swap around any time. I would actually say that this is a good way to ease people into some classic JRPGs due to that and with how the first two thirds of the game are relatively railroaded. I never got lost or confused which is something that happens to me constantly in the titles that inspired this game.
The soundtrack is particularly fantastic. Clearly the intention was to replicate the feeling of SEGA CD or TurboGrafx CD era RPGs and they absolutely nailed it. Each planet has a unique feel, most characters have a solid introductory theme and the more common tracks like the main battle theme never overstayed their welcome. Do yourself a favor and buy the soundtrack with the game, especially if you are getting this on a discount.
The background art is wonderful across the board, but the character and sparse cutscene graphics were sometimes a bit unpleasant to me personally. The low fidelity look of the space flight segments were very charming though and really nailed the aesthetic of the early 90s CD based RPGs.
My core issue with Cosmic Star Heroine is that the writing is extremely flat and dry. The game constantly introduces new characters and for the most part it just felt like the devs wanted to put every idea they had in without using that time to make any of them more interesting. Most of the cast has special optional segments you can tackle near the end of the game, but I feel like if they maybe halved the amount of major characters that time could have been used to really make the cast and universe feel special. This all really stands out to me because there was a major reveal from someone later on in the game and I legitimately forgot they even existed before then. If story is the most important aspect of JRPGs to you I would say maybe avoid this game outright because of that.
Upon initial boot on Steam Deck the resolution needs to be adjusted, but after that point I had no issues. The game lets you save after every encounter and barely uses battery power at all so I found it to be an excellent portable game that was fun to chip away at.

Good game. I like how most skills can only be used once and the game requires you to defend/pass a turn for your character to regain skills so combat isn't just spamming the same moves each turn and instead feels more like a puzzle. Decent amount of skill customization per character so experimenting is fun for a while and allows you to weed out characters you'll use more for combat. Overworld exploration was still linear overall but there are some areas you can explore for extra content late in the game. Overall cool game and if you want a party-based RPG with some modern quality of life features check this out.

i loved the game,. it was my first indie game and it surprised me. i completed the game and wanted more!

Not very complicated, but enjoyable. Plenty of funny commentary, and references make the story enjoyable.

Word of advice: You get all HP back at the end of battle, and you have no MP, and your special attacks, or "programs" recharge after a fight, so feel free to use all your abilities in battle.

This game is like a pulp novel or decent action flick: not exactly innovative but if you like the subject then you'll probably enjoy it.

* plenty of recruits to choose from when building your party;
* fairly standard turn-based combat but with some timing and meter mechanics;
* decent story and characters. The dev didn't go overboard with the wink-wink, nudge-nudge writing -- this is confined to random NPCs if you want to talk to everyone;
* the music is good. I'm always amazed at the tunes people come up with for these retro pixel games.
* plays perfectly on a Steam Deck

If you have ever played anything by Zeboyd games, you know what you're getting into with this one. It's everything that you might have enjoyed from the previous games, but with a lot more budget behind it. I think it's easily their most complete game and their best that I've played.

The soundtrack sounds great. There are plenty of songs that I'll be listening even after finishing the game. The art is the same pixel style that they have used before, but with a lot more detail and with classic snes style cinematics. These really bring the game together and gives off a more serious tone to the story. That doesn't mean that they dropped the comedy. The game is still very funny. They are just a lot more reserved this time as the game feels like it's trying to be a game that we would have fond memories of if it had been released on the snes when we were kids. The combat is always evolving, both from game to game and within the games themselves and this title is no different. There are a lot of characters and a lot of ways to play them in this game that keeps combat interesting all game long. The story, aside from being more serious, also has a lot of references back to games that those of us who enjoy the pixel art and snes aesthetic are bound to recognize. There is even a very challenging super boss that is far beyond anything else in the game and took me a good dozen attempts to finally squeak out a win on normal difficulty.

TL:DR
This is the best game that Zeboyd games has made so far, The more serious tone, large cast, catchy music, and always evolving combat make this a must play for anyone who has enjoyed their games at any point in the past.

This game is... fine. It's well made. Like a lot of JRPG throwbacks, it's mechanically well-made, but doesn't really "click" or really get what was so charming about old school JRPGs. To be frank, the writing is just kinda garbage. It's a good time, but you won't really think much about it after you're done.