Septerra Core

Gameplay

The gameplay area has two different depths: the world map and the location maps. On the location maps, the player is given the opportunity of interacting with other characters, visiting stores, fighting battles, and so forth, while the world map serves the purpose of transporting the player from one location map to the other. At some points in the story, such as the beginning, the game is linear on the world map; at other times the player can move to battlefields to gain more experience for the characters. Within dungeons there is a choice of movement to pick up the required magic items in any order, but one cannot rest to full health within. Each combat sequence is accompanied by a random battle-music track, during which the player characters and their opponents leap to their stations on an isometric grid. The player cannot alter their location during the game, not even if the villain directly in front of one is defeated. There is a "dial" for each of the three player characters, which moves past two break points, and ultimately to a maximum power level, as time goes along. After the first break point, the player may choose to have that player attack at a low level, or join with another character for a combined attack. Spells, either for a given character or combo, may be set up and cast at low, medium, or maximum power level as well. While the player chooses to wait until the characters are powered-up, the enemy attacks.

Development

Septerra Core was developed by Valkyrie Studios and released by Monolith Productions in October 1999 for the PC. The game was scored by Marty O'Donnell, and featured minor voice work from Steve Downes.

Release

In 2006, version 1.04 was released, addressing compatibility issues with the game and newer versions of Windows operating systems. In 2009, the digital distributor GOG.com released a version of the game pre-patched to v1.04. In 2013, the game was also released on Steam.