Fortunately, the plot leaps to Septerra Core's rescue. Neither the combat nor the puzzle elements get in the way of the story, which advances with the aid of cut-scenes and plenty of dialogue with the people you meet. The combat isn't as random as some other games and only occurs when you see the enemy on the screen. In theory, you could pass through the game with only the minimum of fighting. Septerra Core gets around this to some extent by making the enemies you do have to fight extremely tough. The first chapter is almost too hard and you'll need to train your characters up quite a bit before cracking on.

An otherwise good game is spoiled somewhat by some outrageous pathing problems. The characters in your party will repeatedly get stuck on the surrounding landscape or steadfastly refuse to cross a bridge without galloping off in the opposite direction. This is especially problematic on the world map screen, where coaxing your characters into the next location almost becomes a game in itself.

Inevitably, you have to compare this to Final Fantasy VIII. While Septerra Core has a reasonable story behind it, it just doesn't match up in any other way. So, if you only want to buy one RPG then FFVIII has to be the number one choice. Sadly, Septerra Core is rather disappointing. It might have looked quite nifty a year ago but it simply can't hold its own in the genre today.