Septerra Core
Published By: Monolith

Reviewed by Atari
11/8/99

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First Impressions:

I've had my eye on Septerra Core for a long time. I was first attracted to this game when I saw it in PC Gamer several years ago. This role-playing game has richly painted japanime style artwork with a strong, fully-clothed female lead character. I was excited.

Then I played the game.
It's games like these that make reviewing games hard.

Although I loved the storyline, characters, and artwork, I was really disappointed in the gameplay. These people had a great idea, and I'd love to see "Septerra Core - The Movie" if they ever decided to make it, but their RPG design was really bad. And yet, I couldn't help but get sucked into the game because of it's great storyline. I suffered through the horrible fight scenes just to see what would happen next as the story unfolded. So I ask you, how does one grade a game like this? A game that sucks you in, and yet bores you to tears during the "action" scenes.

Graphics:

The 2D in-game artwork was pretty good, but I would have liked to see a little more of the surrounding area than what was shown. I love anime style artwork so the characters and backgrounds really appealed to me.

The cut scenes were a bit bland for me. The characters in the cutscenes seemed to move a bit like dolls, and did not seem convincing enough to me. The in-game characters move a bit funny when they fight. Sticking with the japanime style fighting may not have been the best choice here.

Sound:

The music was a little irritating. The sound effects seemed a bit canned. There was nothing that WOWed me about the audio, it seemed fairly average in comparison to other RPG games on the market.

Gameplay:

Where to start...
The interface was unintuitive. Even figuring out how to equip myself with new armor was a pain. And as far as the interface for fighting goes, I couldn't figure out how to attack for the longest time, much less figure out what my health was.

Fighting is somewhere between real-time and turn-based. Although that may sound cool, it's really time consuming to battle. Not only does it take forever, but it's also very tedious. There is some strategy but not much. It's more like a chore than fun.

The RPG element of this RPG was a bit lacking as well. Armor, items, weapons... why bother getting different stuff for different people? If that medium vest is the best armor they sell (out of the whole 3 choices they give you) then you are going to end up equipping all of your people with it. Money is not even a problem. Just getting from one shell to the other usually gives you more than enough gold. In a good RPG, there are many many choices as far as armor and weapons go. You usually do not stick the same types of armor on your characters. But in this game, there is no question, no differentiation, between what each character has (unless you happen to be equipping a robot instead of a human). No point in even calling this an RPG really. A true RPG lets you create unique characters. There is nothing unique about the people in my game, and the people in 99% of the other Septerra Core's being played out there.

The game was also extremely linear. Here they have 7 different shells of the world to work with, and yet they force you to play out a very clearly marked path. This made the game a bit too easy, and sometimes unnecessarily frustrating. (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) For example, I had to buy one of my key items. I did everything I could think of to keep going in the game, and I was stuck. By chance, I noticed one store selling the key item I needed to keep the story flowing. This is unusual. Usually important items are something you get when you defeat a tough opponent, or find a secret room etc. Buying it in a store was the absolute LAST place I would think of looking (and frustratingly enough, it WAS the last place I looked!). In that respect, it felt like a badly design adventure game.

Had they had put in some side quests or alternative paths to reaching the goal, I would have been a lot happier. Playing this game took very little amount of brainpower because there really weren't many choices to go by. Reminds me of the design of some of the adventure games from over 5 years ago. Very disappointing.

Enjoyment:

Now here is the part that I can barely explain myself. The storyline to Septerra Core is excellent. It's like watching a movie. I really enjoyed watching the storyline unfold, yet I didn't enjoy playing the game (if that makes any sense). The storyline was enough to make me ignore the obnoxious interfaces and the tedious gameplay. I wanted to know more about the history of Septerra Core. I wanted to know more about my characters. Basically, I want to buy the book! :)

The person that came up with the storyline did a really good job. I was impressed. It's not often that I would play a bad game just to find out what will happen next. In fact, I can't think of another game like that.

Multiplayer:

Not Applicable. This is a single player game.

Overall Impression:

If I were to make a suggestion on whether you personally should go out and spend money on this game, I would tell an RPG-loving person to forget it. But if you like adventure games with a good plot and aren't all that familiar with RPGs (enough to dismiss the fact that this isn't one), than you might enjoy the storyline enough to get a real kick out of Septerra Core. You will find certain parts of this game annoying. But if you have been craving a good story, you might be able to get over the bad gameplay.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

The leader of your group in this game is Maya, a strong fully-clothed female character whom I personally like. Maya is on the box cover as well as the magazine ads. They have pretty much marketed her as the "logo" for Septerra Core. She doesn't come across as a sex object at all, yet she is attractive in attitude and composure. She is a kind and confident leader. I will be writing up more about her and Led (another female character you get to play) in the Digital Women section of this site later this week.

Cheats, Hints, and URLs:

In the market for a great cheat book? We highly recommend Septerra Core Official Strategies & Secrets. Usually ships within 24 hours.