Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

"A high quality console style RPG, for the PC!"

I'll be honest, when I first saw Septerra Core in stores, I wasn't expecting much. I eventually decided to go out and buy it, and in the end the old phrase ''Don't judge a book by its cover'' rings true, at least in my eyes. Too bad I waited so long to review it...

Gameplay 7\10: The gameplay is certainly not one of the stronger points of Septerra Core, I sometimes found the combat to be tedious. Then again I was never a fan of ''Final Fantasy's'' real time yet turn based combat system, which is pretty much what Septerra Core uses. The difference is Septerra Core has three checkpoints where a character can attack, unlike Final Fantasy where you had to wait until the bar was filled up entirely. In Septerra, the higher the checkpoint the more damage you do... It's a nice feature, but it's actually smarter to just wait for the bar to reach full. Other than the combat, (Which is nice because it's not random, you fight battles when you run into enemies rather than having battles pop up out of nowhere.) the only other real gameplay is exploring the shells of the strange world where Septerra Core takes place and solving puzzles, as well as talking (or listening rather) to citizens.

Story 8/10: The story is not really original, but not much is these days. The introduction to the game explains a bit of background on the world of Septerra Core. As soon as you start a new game you're thrown right into observing a lengthy conversation, then soon after you meet the main character, Maya, who is a Junker that lives on a shell that is commonly used as a dump by the shells above it. The story begins to become more epic as you progress through the game, but it's basically like your average RPG, a group of nobodies become some bodies by defeating the big bad guys. There are numerous plot twists and some nice character development along game interesting.

Graphics 8/10: The backgrounds are pre-rendered and the characters are sprites, so if 3D graphics are important to you, this is not your type of game. Personally, I like the 2D sprites and the pre-rendered backgrounds, they make the game look nice and clean. The portraits when characters speak are not very nice looking though, they could have used a bit more detail.

Sound 7/10: The sound is good, there's attack sounds and such. The voice acting is not the greatest voice acting ever, but it's not the worst either. I'd say the voice acting is satisfactory, I had no complaints in that area. As for the music, what little music there was, was rather good and usually fit the mood.

Overall 9/10: While Septerra Core is not even near perfect, and not the greatest RPG I myself have ever played, I'd still say it's one of the best (and few) American RPG's that tried to go console-style. Should you buy it? If you liked any of the Final Fantasys, or Squaresoft RPGs in general, then you should give Septerra Core a run through. If you absolutely despise Final Fantasy and Squaresoft, well, stay away from it because that's what this game is... except the battles are not random.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/04