Buy Septerra Core

Ok, I remember playing this title back when I was much younger and I was gifted this by a very good friend from Amazon VGF. First off, if you get this game, get it from gog. The fix for many issues in the steam version is uninstall the Quicktime that Steam installs and to torrent the executable form a gog download. If you're going to need to get the file from gog in the first place, you might as well purchase it outright from there unless it's deeply discounted on Steam. If you do get from steam, be sure to uninstall the quicktime that was auto installed and install the version that is in the game folder as this will fix some of the issues.

First off, anyone needs to realize that this game was originally released in 1999 so don't expect a mind blowing graphical experience. Also, the manual link on Steam doesn't populate anything so you'll need to go to the following link if you don't want to kludge around to see what works.

http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=20172&tab=controls

Combat revolves around an ABT that has different sections that fill as time moves on during combat. Enemies appear to have the same ability but they usually seem to only utilize their weak/quick attack from what I've seen since starting the game. The voice acting is pretty decent when you consider the age of the title.

Alright, now that we have all of that out of the way, we get down to the nitty gritty details of whether this game is worth your money and your time and the answer is No. If you're like me and have fond memories of playing this at a younger age, this will rip the blinds from your eyes and make you realize that not all games are worth the time invested in. The story is ok at best, the controls take a while to adjust to and never actually feel 'right' and the game doesn't give the option to remap them to where they feel more comfortable. If you enjoy jrpg's and can get past the technical issues, I would still recommend looking elsewhere as there is a decent collection of titles to choose from.

This JRPG style game isn't bad but it's held back by several flaws.

THE GOOD : the voice acting for the main characters, especially Maya is outstanding. The spell cards are fun to combine and the graphics for the time are pretty good. The character models aren't the best but I did like the backgrounds and lighting effects. What music is there is good although there's mainly over world and battle themes. Dungeons are generally silent. Sound effects are pretty good as well and satisfying to hear. The story isn't bad either. Sometimes you have to bring a certain character to an NPC to get them to say something specific or get a key item. Think about which character might be useful with a certain NPC or on what shell. Your battle attack/spells have 3 levels of power leading to some strategy involved. Enemies can potentially be bypassed as in games like Earthbound and Chrono Trigger and there are no random battles, enemies are on screen almost always.

THE BAD: The dungeons get monotonous really fast, mainly because it's mostly about flipping switches to open doors that often lead to more switches. You're either opening doors or making new pathways and at the end you find a key item or fight a boss. Then you have to usually backtrack out of the dungeon manually which can get annoying if you just want to get out of there and don't care about exp and gold. An option to teleport out would have been helpful. There's also a lot of backtracking, and clues to what needs to be done next can sometimes be confusing to figure out. Again, bringing the right character along on the right shell can be a big help in this aspect.

Another major glaring problem for me was the slow animations during battle and the sound effects often took even longer, still playing even when the animations were done. This is especially a problem with the zombie enemies. I found myself using machine gun characters when I could, just because their attacks are faster.

Characters take one turn at a time or combine turns during spells. You can't input commands usually until the character is done with their attack or spell/item usage unlike say a Final Fantasy game. This stuff is a bigger problem during the first half of the game, once you get a spell card that lets you attack all enemies it helps cut down on this some, but it's still a problem. I found myself running away from battles towards the end, just to get to the end of the game.

Overall I enjoyed Septerra Core for the voice acting and story/setting. The battle system isn't BAD as an idea, and the card concept is neat, it's just feels slow as heck, at least for me. The switch flipping and backtracking got on my nerves fast. If the battle system was just faster, I might not have minded the rest, because that's mainly what made the dungeons more of a chore than anything else. If you're the patient type you might find the battles less grating than I did.

I got it on sale here for a buck so it was worth the price. I'd give Septerra Core a 7/10. I'm going to overall recommend the game. Just be aware of the issues above if you decide to play.

Still a great game like it was during the Win 95/98 era. The same bugs persist but these are easily fixable. The Steam version is only 1.02v though when the final patch for the game is 1.04v. You can however still patch it yourself to run the 1.04v version. The cutscenes didn't work at first but installing the version of QuickTime that comes with the game and tunring off the DirectX boxes (not the circle) in the QuickTime options has fixed this issue. (I"m running Windows 7) Other then that running the game in Windows XP SP2 compatability and I've had 0 issues since.

This game is a gem for its price with minor flaws. Don't expect anymore patches though because like I stated earlier this is a Windows 95/98 era game and the only real flaw left is sometimes how fast the text plays during minor moments.

Septerra Core is a JPRG style PC game which developed by, surprisingly, an USA based company Valkyrie Studios. The style itself isn't very popular in PC environment, because of almost all JRPG only released in console at that time, so the introduction of SC becomes a quick attention to PC gamers, especially JRPG enthusiasts. The game itself is very special for me, because I played the demo version (which I got from computer magazine CD) with my friend in a very early age. Despite didn't understand the story, we had a very good time :)

The main plot is cliche, it's not far from an usual heroine act, "to save the world," again! But I can guarantee that the environment, the world idea, the legend and tale which made the whole stories, is way amazing. In Wind City, there's a library which has many many books tell the story in a very long written about Septerra: what is the core, the prophecy, conflict between shells, the war of gods, the creator, and all the history about the SC world, you gotta read them. You really need to sap the stories, because it will helps you to maintain the motivation to survive the boredom which becomes the true challenge of this game :P

The combat system is very very SLOW. The character's attacking animation basically consists of: She/he needs to jump, in a very funny way, to get close to the enemy - doing an attack - and jump again into his/her place. It will take around 8-10 seconds! Even more bad news if the char using projectile, especially laser weapon which sounds "humm..", because we need to wait that SFX finish (add another 5 seconds) before the char moves into the next frame.

This game really teaches you how to become patient o_O!

Despite of that issue, the battle is really balanced but sometimes can be challenging, especially when encounter a special skilled enemy, mini boss, not to mention the secret boss (They are scattered everywhere!). You need to prepare the selection of party members, equipments, healing items, and of course magic power. Magic in SC world is very interesting, the char need to collects some kind of "Fate Cards" - with a very unique Godly characteristic in each of them. The card can be used by utilized the core power, individually or combined. The combined effect is depend on what cards being used: from attack, defense barrier, healing aura, elemental attack, super mega god bringer power attack, the possibility is almost endless.

Well, after all this is a 1999-released game, the first game released by a new developer, and unfortunately was the last game as well (Valkyrie Studios went bankrupt when developing its second game), so despite many cons, especially in combat system, but still, with a not really bad visual, awesome voice over, interesting magic system, and a very amazing storyline, the game is still worth to buy, especially if you had played this game before.

A creative RPG that knows how to tell a story. Great characters and even decent voice acting give this game it's unique charm. The battle system is good enough, if a little slow, to allow for some interesting gameplay. The main draw, however, is the world of the game, which encompasses seven different, attached worlds (I have only been to two so far, but from what I've seen, the other five should be just as interesting).

Overall, the game is easy enough to get into without feeling like a walk in the park. Battles are not truly random, which is nice, and can be avoided if desired. Also, this game features a strong female protagonist, which is fairly rare even today, as well as a dog-like robot! So pick it up and enjoy the ride.

The game it self is a great blast from the past for any old school rpg gamer but sadly Steam has once again blindly released the flawed download for a quick money grab and a nice ♥♥♥♥ You to its loyal customers leaving you with all the headaches trying to fingure out how to make this before 2000 era game run on modern op. systems. Far more of a hassel than its worth this game will simply have to remain a fond memory as it wont run properly with Steams complete lack of effort.

Where to begin? It has a great story, the characters are varied and interesting, the graphics are what you expect from a late 90's JRPG PC game, it is a JRPG (because why the hell not), and overall, the battle system is unique. If you are down for giving the "Old" games a look-over, I'd highly recommend Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator.

I really enjoyed this game. Good story, interesting world, original system of combat. It has its flaws of course but most of them are just matter of my preferences. And that is the problem - I can clearly say why many people would not like it. But for me let's say 70 %.

The upper is not supposed to describe the Steam version. If you expect Steam to be your easy acces to working, updated games: this is not the case. Steam version is disgusting. With Steam you are doomed to play with the installation for a while and repair the game with files from different sources.

I played this game in my childhood, i never beat this game because my sense of directions was terrible, and needed the cd to play, today it is broken.
Now i have the steam version, finally i can BEAT THIS ♥♥♥♥ING AWESOME GAME.

Great game, newer RPGs could learn something from it.

It could really use a time-fix patch though, which makes it so that the texts won't skip and you get more storyline.

its a old rpg but its fun

oldie but goldie

OMG SOOOOO GOOOD!!!! BUY OR DIE!!!

It's an old school RPG with turn-based party combat. Interesting story & setting but the ending screams for a sequel that we won't see. It has problems with modern OS (Windows 7/8) but it can be easily fixed. Combat gets tedious, Dungeon design is just "get the key/ flip the switch and open the gate" and backtracking to it sucks. But once you get past the cons...it's a good game in its time of release.

Wonderful RPG. Spell effects and battle system are very cool, as well as enemy models, artwork, and the whole concept and epic focus of the game. A walkthrough might be necessary to not get frustrated trying to figure out when and where to pick up certain items, and what to do with them, but besides that i had an amazing experience with this game. Great dialogue and cutscenes too!

Septerra Core is....a difficult game to recommend. I should preface this review by saying that it is MOST CERTAINLY not for everyone. Septerra Core is an older turn-based RPG from a time where these sorts of games were common on consoles but rather rare on PC. I played the game to completion back in that era, and found it rather enjoyable - however, even then it had its rough edges, and for modern sensibilities it will be rather archaic.

The combat engine is location-based, similar to how Chrono Trigger is. However, the speed/pace everything works at is exclusively suited to when you have 3 members in your party, so combat is QUITE clunky in the early portion of the game, which makes it a bit of a hurdle to overcome.

The cast is varied, and the story was decent for the time (from what I recall - details are fuzzy). The concept of the WORLD itself is rather imaginative, and wholly unique from what I've run into in gaming. Aside from that, level design as the game progresses becomes....extremely maze-like. Lots of wrapping corridors which look same-y and form literal mazes.

Effectively, I'm recommending this because I enjoyed this game when I played it. But anyone who purchases it should know what they're getting when they're going in - a game that was a little rough around the edges when it came out, and which probably won't appeal to most modern gamers. Only purchase if you really enjoy turn-based RPGs, or are interested in very imaginative sci-fi worlds.

This reviews is in "English/Portuguese"

English:

Ahhhh, Septerra Core, the nostalgia... This game is one of the most unknow and underrated games of PC, hell, but it has an amazing quality! I could say this is one of the best RPGs on PC, but people would shoot at me on sight, since it is very unknow...
Hey, this games has an amazing quality, amazing characters personalities, awesome CGs, craziest and most awesome history of all time in a RPG, wow... it is breathtaking, and wen you discover to do the right uses of the magic cards? WOW
I must say, this is a true JRPG in it's best qualities, it is a shame it was sold so little and it is so ignored from the public!

This game does worth all the spotlights! Try it! This old RPG is awesome! You will fell the same inpact of Final Fantasy VII or VIII, but as a PC game!

Portuguese: Ahhhhh, Septarra Core, a nostalgia... Este jogo é um dos mais desconhecidos e subestimados do PC, mas ele possui uma qualidade incrível! Eu poderia dizer que este é um dos melhores jogos do PC, mas as pessoas apenas atirariam em mim à primeira vista, sendo que o jogo é tão desconhecido...
Hey, mas este jogo tem uma qualidade incrível, incríveis personagems com incríveis personalidades, CGs imrpessionantes, e uma das histórias mais doidas e incríveis de todos os jogos de RPG, wow... é de tirar o fôlego, e quando você descover como usar corretamente as cartas mágicas? WOW
Eu teho que dizer, isso é um verdadeiro JRPG em suas melhores qualidades, é uma vergonha que tenha vendido tão pouco e que fora ignorado pelo público!

Este jogo merece todos os holofotes! Tente! Este velho RPG é demais! Você vai sentir o mesmo impacto que um Final Fantasy VII ou VIII, mas como um jogo de PC!

This is one of those games that's either going to be a nostalgic thing for you or you're going to have issues with the way it works and the glitches with newer operating systems and hardware that the game wasn't designed to run on.

That said, for me, it's the nostalgic side and I'm willing to put up with some hoops to jump through to get it running smoothly, though it does work as is from Steam with some minor issues (see the forums). It's one of those games that I'm glad to see being raised from obscurity since I have been wishing to be able to play again but could not find my old install discs.

The game itself is a solid RPG with for its time a fiarly inovative combat system and quite a well done story and fairly memorable cast of characters. The voice acting is not specacular given new gaming standards, but they are pretty good given the age of the game. Expect to do a little bit of grinding in order to afford items and have easier times with later fights. There are serval cut points in the game where you can no longer go back to old areas after you reach them due to story progression so I'd recomend saving often and saving in multiple slots in order to be able to back up to points.

I have great memories of the game, but the Steam version is unfortunately a buggy mess. I can't even play the game for more than a few minutes because of problems with cutscenes, dialogue, and crashes.

Buy the GOG version instead. It doesn't have all of these issues and is $2 cheaper (as of writing).

One of the best JRPGs I ever played. Gripping story, plenty of charm and character development, addictive and best of all a very decent combat system that is not too overwhelming but still leaves a lot of opportunities to explore, combine and exploit.

On the cons side, I need to warn you it's damn hard, you will be doing a lot of backtracking (the only really annoying parts are when you are missing an item and you won't find out until you hit a brick wall - literally - and need to go all the way back to fetch the missing item, not to mention figure out where to find it). The game could have used a map/teleport system for already visited places. No biggy though, just look up online when you get stuck what next, and continue enjoying the game.

Thoroughly recommending this gem in the rough.