Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

I really, really wanted to like this game, but it has become impossible. You walk loooong cooridors to find switches in order to open up a path to another switch that opens a door to a room containing a key. With the key, open a door to more corridors, switches and keys. This game is incredibly long, but not because there is much meat on the bones. Only because its grind. It has some interesting concepts, and the art is fine (apart for the lack of models... recycling looked cheaper huh?) but the story does not make much sense and the "climatic" moments are so badly done it's laughable. I was only a couple hours from the conclusion of the game when I discovered, at the very end of the longest dungeon, I forgot a key item somewhere and I could not go on. I gave up... If someone is able to tell me how to hack a Jinam Security Pass in my inventory I'll go on, but only then. All in all, not worth the huge time investment.

This RPG is certainly not without its flaws and frustrations, but it's absolutely worth experiencing. The design of the world, itself, is fascinating, and lends itself to having a lot of ecological diversity, of which it takes great advantage. There are several different societies, each with their own culture, and they're given more depth than is typical; towns aren't just places to restock! Your own party has a great deal of variety, as well; it reminds me of SaGa Frontier at least a little. Said characters are developed pretty well, and even the ones that don't speak human language are pretty entertaining. My favorite is the protagonist, Maya, who doesn't have a very distinct personality, but she's so lifelike - as though they took an actual person, sat her down, and had her speak and react to the story elements - and that's incredible in its own right. Despite having only 2 or 3 sets of facial expressions, she comes even more to life in conversation; the way she furrows her brow when she's about to break someone's jaw, or the way her eyes just light up when talking to her mentor about the world's equally impressive mythology is sheer brilliance. As mentioned, though, the game does have its flaws. There is almost no music, aside from on the world maps, and in battles, and the battle music not only selected randomly, but also usually slow and torturous. This makes the battles seem to drag on, and they don't need any help in that regard; animations are long, and your ATB bar comes to a screeching halt for their entire duration. Now, the battle system is interesting - layers of attacks and ATB bars almost reminiscent of Chrono Cross - and so is the magic system of combining spells to make new ones, but battles get to be frustrating at times (especially with those assassins!) and the only spells that aren't completely useless are buffs and debuffs. Fights can be strategic, but you'll go through long periods where you just want to skip them.

... I got a copy of this game from a German PC Magazine (PC Joke). At this time, I just had a 386 with 120 MHz with 32MB of ram ish (don't remember exactly) and Windows 98se running on it. It also got a Voodoo 2 3D supporter Card. And Septerra Core worked. Well, I had to switch off cinematics and do something to the sound settings with some start up parameters for the game and resting in a Tent (a way to restore health for free in game) took at least 15 Minutes ( I always bought a lot of bread though), but beside that it worked just fine. So I wonder why the requirement now is so high, but ok. The game has a wonderful loverly developed background story plot. The game and storyline really lives from this well made background story. And it was fun playing (consider the loading issues on such a slow PC, you would not take this if the game is not worth it). What else should I write, what other people didn't. May be one hint (I do not know what version gog is selling, I assume the patched one). Without the latest Patch, there was a game breaking bug. You have one main Character Magi (if I remember correctly) and for the story she needs always be in your team, but at one point, a bug removed her and you can't go on with the story. So if you have this issue, you know now why :) Have fun

Definitely worth playing if you have time on your hands (if you want to investigate literally everything, it can take around 90-100 hours, took me 96 hours). The positives: 1. The world of Septerra. The game is set in a very unique, mystical world with its own myths and prophecies. 2. The story & likable characters. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains - although some switch sides or are a delicious shade of grey... I absolutely love Selina's character arc, Maya is a good protagonist as well. 3. The Card system. The magic system in this game is based around 20-25 blocks, called Cards. Cards have combinations that range from simple to ultramax doomsday strong (but not unbalanced). Fire Card burns one foe, simple. Fire Card + Barrier Card protects from fire-bases attacks, simple. But some Cards have very interesting effects (Mirror, All, Chaos), especially if combined with other interesting Cards. This system is also steeped in the in-game mythology. Very cool. 4. Character variety is nice. You have a party of 3 characters out of 9. Some are better with Cards, some have lots of HP or are better against robots. You can choose what better fits your playstyle. The kinda-bad: 1. There is one bug that keeps plaguing the game (it was there in the original version as well). Save often on Shell 7 in the mountain caves as it might save you some time if the game crashes due to this bug. Apart from that, if the bug appears 3-4 times in a row, just use a cheat code to kill the mini-boss, it's an easy fight anyway. 2. You sometimes wish the labyrinths had a bit more to it. Especially towards the endgame, some of them can be a bit of a slog. What kind of saves this from being a real issue is the good pacing of the story, the graphic design and the character progression, simple as it is. You can tell a lot of thought and effort went into making this game and most (not all) systems are well-designed and enjoyable. GOG version works fine (exception is the lava spider bug).

The best part about Septera Core is the unique setting. It's a very long, but linear game. Unlike many RPGs of its time the game has all of the dialog voice acted. It's a great game the first time through, but the combat system is long and tiresome similar to Final Fantasy.