Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

Classic, by the books turn-based RPG with a few novel mechanics/systems and a great use of the Active Time System that Final Fantasy rode to nominal success through the 90's. The world is so evocative by its very design and the story compliments it well in many places. Navigating it is more burdensome than it should be, and the level/map design leave a lot to be desired. Some of the puzzles are laborious to a fault, and tedious in a bad way; while the solutions reward attentiveness and world engagement here and there, the game still 'feels long' due to the excessive backtracking and maze-like stage layout, amplified by combat that is fun but lengthy and somewhat repetitive (like many turn-based RPG's of the time). There's a lot to love about Septerra Core, but outside of the conceit of its setting and the overall texture of its world, it may fail to impress a modern audience. If you like exploring the ruins of old RPG game design, this is a worthwhile gem to polish...just watch out for all the rough edges.

Septerra Core would be an average game on consoles, but the lack of JRPGs on PC make it someway "special". The graphics don't look specially good, the voice acting is pretty much terrible and the gameplay is nothing you haven't seen on Playstation or Super Nintendo, but the interesting story and this console-like charm make it still a good game. And not only a good game, but a unique game for rpg lovers who don't have a console. Well... you can always play Square crappy ports of Final Fantasy VII and VIII.

I first played this when I was young, back in the 90's, for Win98 and a few more times later. It's battle mechanics work much like Fallout 1 and 2 where it takes time for attack bars to fill and have three tiers of strength with assorted skills in each tier. This has a great story that keeps you moving between floating continents called Shells collecting different companions from each to save the world from a guy bent on becoming some kind of god-like being using the planet's core. Honestly, well worth time and money.

This game is even better than other more mainstream RPG games.

WINDOWS 8.1 users DO NOT BUY THIS. I love this game, but it has HUGE frame rate issues on Windows 8 and there are, apparently, no fixes for it. I've dug around for about an hour and found zero help with these glaring issues. Sure, I'm only out a couple bucks, but I'd rather have spent them on an ice cream sandwich.