"It could have been a better game..."

Septerra Core, Legacy of the Creator is a role-playing game developed by Valkyrie Studios for Windows 9x. The minimum system requirements for the game include Pentium 200MHz, 32Mb RAM, 4x CD-ROM drive, 2Mb DirectX compatible video card, 10Mb of minimum free hard disk space and a mouse. The game is published by Monolith in North America and by TopWare Interactive for rest of the world.

This review is written based on the English version published by TopWare Interactive with update patch 1.02 installed. I am a fan of role playing games, but I have been busying myself with Japanese style console RPGs lately and I have not played a single PC RPG for a long time. Hence, I shall be making comments about this game based on my experience with console RPGs. (Just to give readers some idea, these are the most recent console RPGs I have played: Wild Arms 2nd Ignition, Chrono Cross and the Legend of Dragoon.)

If anything I really like about Septerra Core, it is the world design. In this game, floating islands, called World Shells, orbit the Core of the planet. There are seven World Shells, each with its own unique people and ecosystem. The Core of the planet is a living computer that holds the secret of an ancient prophecy. In other words, the world in Septerra Core is a true fantasy world.

You play Maya, a young, pretty and tomboyish girl from World Shell 2. Maya is a Junker whose job is to scavenge through trash dumped from the layer above to find useful things to sell. As it is the case in other RPG, Maya will get herself tangled up with some bad guys, whose evil intentions not only threaten Maya's home, but threaten the very existence of the whole world. Of course, Maya's mission will take her to different locations in the world, where she will be joined by friends and allies. Together, they will overthrow the bad guy and finally bring harmony back to the world. I am sorry if it sounds a bit standard, but I think the story does not carry much depth for me to describe in detail here. In fact, I think there are parts of the plot that are not making any sense at all. In any case, I do not think there are many surprises or memorable moments in the plot, but nonetheless the story of this game will serve its purpose to keep your going on through to the end.

The developer has done pretty well in terms of the backgrounds graphics. The maps of the World Shells are drawn very nicely in much detail. The camera angle is such that you will always be looking at the world map from the top, and so you will also see the worlds that are below the current World Shells. If anything, these backgrounds are nicely animated with good use of colouring and lighting effects. By looking at the backgrounds of the World Shells, You will develop an instant picture about the habitat of the Shell and the general mood of the residents in there. Field maps are drawn using layered pre-rendered isometric backgrounds. These backgrounds are also drawn in beautiful details with full effect of light and shadow.

The same cannot be said, however, with the graphics of the characters in Septerra Core. Although the characters and monsters are drawn (using a 2D technology) in much detail, their animations are on the poor side. They look quite OK if they are stationary, but they simply look awful when they move. In addition to that, I also think that it is pretty awful to have black lines surrounding the figures of the characters and the monsters. Even for the age old PlayStation, many console RPG developers have done at least that much to get rid of the black lines surrounding their characters - that is, if they are still using 2D technology for their characters. I have expected much more on a PC game. To give the developer some credits on character graphics, I think they have spent much time on lighting so that all the characters have proper shadows, but then it may probably take you some time before you will even realise that. Not to mention the fact that some recent console RPG titles are already doing the same with fully renderable 3D polygonal characters.

On the other hand, Septerra Core features nice 3D animations of their facial features when the characters talk. Personally, I think this is done very well, and in any case, it is much better than any 2D equivalence. Moreover, the game also features some nice animated CG graphics every now and then. Although these movies are quite short, they are at least as good as the ones drawn by the top game developers.

Unfortunately, the music department of Septerra Core is on the poor side. There are very few tunes in the game and they are played while you are on the World Shells or when you are fighting enemies. While the tunes on the World Shells are generally good and mood enhancing, the tunes played during battles are only slightly better than noise. It can be so annoying at time that you will want to have your speakers switched off. The problem is that you will find yourself fighting battles almost all the time, but you will not spend too much time on the maps of the World Shells, so you will have little choice but to listen to the rather repetitive ''noise''. Console RPGs usually perform much better in this area.

Although the music department suffers, the sound department of this game is actually quite good. During exploration, if any characters talk, you will hear a voice acting. Even though it can get rather repetitive in time, this is a nice feature nonetheless. (I have been complaining about muted characters in console RPGs for some time...) Apart from voice acting, I think the background sound effects are mostly quite good as well. Having said that, however, I think the developer has probably forgotten bits and pieces in some area. For example, I am pretty used to hearing footsteps when characters walk, but in this game characters have the ability to ''move silently''. In addition to that, I have also expected to hear speeches during battles, but once again the characters are completely muted when they are fighting. No battle cry or anything, only the sounds of their weapons. There are many console RPGs that feature limited voice acting during battles, and since this game has characters talk in other areas, the developer could have done a bit more to make battles more fun. Next time, perhaps.

As in other computer / console RPGs, Septerra Core can be divided into exploration and battle. On World Shell level, you can travel from towns to dungeons freely as you will not encounter any enemies on the World Shell maps. It is quite easy to explore on the World Shells, as all the locations are clearly visible. If you can enter the locations, a special icon will show up if you place the cursor over it. There are some secret locations on the World Shells, and they will be accessible once you have acquired a ship, but that's really all you can do. Consequently, you will spend most of the time playing the game on the Field Map level, i.e. towns and dungeons.

In general, you will not encounter enemies in towns, but there are some exceptions in this game. As in any other RPGs, there are shops, bars, inns and other permanent structures in towns. You can buy / sell equipment and items in shops. You can recovery by sleeping at an inn. You can talk to the folks in town to gather / exchange information. Some information may be important for the progress, but some is just simple information. And so, this is just very standard in a RPG. To give it credit, the game has a rather nice feature when you enter the conversation sub-screen. All your active party members will also be able to express themselves as individuals. This takes the ''role play'' concept one step back to what it should be - unlike most console RPGs where the leading character is the only person who can do the talking. A nice feature indeed.

Dungeons in this game are real mazes. Most of these consist of large areas of twisting corridors and chambers. Since you can switch to a map mode in all field maps (including towns), most dungeons are actually pretty straightforward. Although many of these areas are massive, there is usually only one way to go. This makes dungeon explorations in this game rather tedious and yet linear. Most of the time, you will go into the dungeon, go through to a far corner, get a key / press a switch so that you can open a gate on the other side into a new area with more keys / switches. This is not really what I have in mind, not for a modern RPG anyway. Most newer console RPGs, with the exceptions of Action / Semi-action RPGs, are already featuring better and shorter dungeons. (Of course, you can do a lot more then finding switches / keys in an Action / Semi-action RPG.) These massive and mindless dungeons actually look impressive for the first few times, but they can become increasingly annoying over the flow of the game.

The other problem with dungeons in this game is the frequency of encounters. Unlike most console RPGs, Septerra Core does not feature any random encounters. Instead, you will find yourself in battles when an enemy discovers you. This may sound great at first glance, but the developer seems to have placed just a bit too many enemies on your way. Many of the massive dungeons in the game are packed with enemies, and inside these dungeons, there are many areas that contain nothing but enemies. Making matter worse, the corridors in the dungeons are usually too narrow for your party to sneak away from your enemies. In addition to that, all enemies will be back if you exit the area and come back. At the end of the day, you will be fighting as many enemies as any console RPGs that feature random encounters.

In Septerra Core, combats are fought on the part of the field map where you are discovered by your enemies. The game will switch to battle mode on the same screen automatically. In battle mode, each of your character will have an ''Endurance Bar'' that charges up individually to 3 different levels in real time. Your characters will be able to perform more powerful attacks if you wait for the ''Endurance Bar'' to charge up to a higher level. Each character has 9 different attacks, 3 on each ''Endurance Level''. The basic attack on each ''Endurance Level'' does not require any ''Core Energy'' (the MP system in this game), but most other attacks will draw Core Energy from its pool. Other than normal attacks, you can also use magic attacks and items during battle. The game will also allow you to escape from the fight, but like many older console RPGs, it is usually easier to kill your enemies than to escape from them. The main problem with battles in Septerra Core is that they can be quite boring at time, because the animated actions of both the characters and the enemies are quite slow. Enemies attack a lot and they are usually quite tough so they usually require a few good hits until you can kill them. The number of ''miss'' attacks can make life more miserable as well. At the end of the day, there is not much you can do in battles except waiting for your turn all the time. (In fact, many new console RPGs have systems to reduce / elminate random encounters. Some developers have also tried to speed up the pace of fights so that they are less annoying. I think the developer for this game will need to catch up on this.)

As for standard RPGs, you gain Gold and EXP for the whole party after each battle. The former can be used to buy new equipment / items from shops in towns. Since a lot of character advancements are based on their equipment, Gold in this game can probably be treated as an alternative form of EXP. I have a good reason for saying this as well, because the same EXP will be awarded to the whole party. In fact, all members of the party have the same amount experience, but different characters require different amount of experience to advance to higher levels. It is a good thing to some people, but to me the system does not make much sense because you are only allowed 3 active party members (out of 9 player characters) at all time. This is OK, if the inactive members are actually following closely behind you. But no. In this game, you can only change your active party by going to specific places where your party members are currently located. This means inactive members are not participating in battles at all, so why would they gain EXP from these battles?

The magic system in this game is called Fate Card. These Fate Cards are collected through the game from bosses and from treasure chests. There are 21 of them in total. Once you have acquired a Fate Card, you can use it on its own or in conjunction with other Fate Cards - provided that your party has enough Core Energy in its pool. You can combine up to 3 Fate Cards at any one time. At first glance, the Fate Card system seems to have much potential, but it is actually rather limiting, because not all Fate Cards will combine. It is also a shame that none of the spells look particularly impressive. Casting a Fate Card requires Core Energy from the party's pool. Each of your active member has a Core attribute. These are added together into the party's pool. Although it does not seem to make much sense, I think the Core Energy system is actually quite good as it makes life a lot simpler.

The controls are pretty simple in the game. Almost everything can be control by the mouse. You can control characters to move around simply by pointing and clicking. You can even have them move around continuously by dragging the cursor. There is a shortcut bar for items and the sub-menu at the bottom of the screen and most commands can be executed with only a few clicks of the mouse. There are also plenty of keyboard shortcuts, but they cannot do everything yet. If anything, my only complaint is the lack of support for joypads. (Being a gamer of console games, I really miss the joypad while playing this game. Playing a game with keyboard and mouse does not allow you to sit back and relax.)

To summarise, I cannot say that Septerra Core the best game out there, but there are moments when I have enjoyed the game. The background graphics are nice, but are rather incompatible to the poor animations of the characters / enemies. The choice of music is limited, but the developer has done quite well in the sound / voice department. The game-play is just on the average and the game system is pretty straightforward. The controls are well, but could have been better. If this game resembles any of the console RPGs, it is the older games that it resembles. Modern console RPGs, (especially the ones from the big developers), usually feature better game play than this. OK, I may have much to complain about this game, but nonetheless, it has kept me entertained for over 60 hours. Buy this game if you are a person who like simple RPGs.

Graphics: 7/10, Sound and Music: 7/10, Game Play and System: 6/10, Story: 6/10, Overall: 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/00, Updated 04/13/00