Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator Contents: Setting Up The Demo Known Issues General Gameplay and Controls Title Screen Exploration Mode Inventory Subscreen Mode Shops Keyboard Short Cuts Statistics And Hints Ordering Information Setting Up The Demo To set up the demo, you will need approximately 105 MB of free hard disk space. Extract the files from the zip file to a directory on your hard disk. To play the game, run scdemo.exe In order to play back movies Septerra Core also requires Quicktime 4 to be installed (download from http://www.quicktime.com). If Quicktime is not installed, the game will simply skip playing back the movies. Follow the directions on the Quicktime Web Site to install Quicktime. Known Issues The armored crabs in the desert have a fairly strong attack and extremely good defenses, so you should kill them as quickly as possible, and be prepared to heal your characters with spells or items. It is possible to cause the game to lose its cursor in certain situations. If this happens to you, Alt+F4 should exit the game, and you can start again from your previous save game. It is possible to cause a "Panic" (fatal error detected by the game engine) if you attempt to equip a gadget or gun component by double clicking the item to be equipped without selecting a "destination" box for it on the large character image. Selecting the box first will keep this from happening. Once the "Panic" has happened, the game will exit and you must start again - either a new game or loading a saved game. General Gameplay and Controls Welcome to the world of Septerra. You will start your adventure with one player character, named Maya. She is the main character of the Septerra Core story, however, during the demo you will have the opportunity to gain two other companions, Grubb and Runner. We have included the entire first chapter of the game, and added several skills, spells and effects from later chapters. Enjoy! The following is a general overview of the interface and gameplay. Title Screen: New Game: Select New Game to begin a new game. Continue: If you have previous save games, select Continue to reload the most current game. Options: Select Options to go to the options screen and load a specific save game, or change any other options. Quit: Select Quit to exit the program. Exploration Mode Whenever Maya and her companions (The Party) are not engaged in combat or conversation, they are free to explore their surroundings. Use your mouse to: Walk Left Click once to make the party walk to a desired location. Left Click and hold to make the party walk and continue to follow the cursor. The arrow keys can also be used. Run Double Left Click to make the party run to a desired location. Left Click and hold to make the party run and continue to follow the cursor. The arrow keys with the shift key can also be used. When the cursor is moved over areas in the game that are explorable, it will change to show you what your party will do if you click the left mouse button. These are some of the exploration icons that you will see: Look (An Eye): Clicking will allow the party to examine the object in question. Most of the time you will then see a picture of each of your current party members at the bottom of the screen. You may click these portraits to have each member of your party examine the object using his or her own area of expertise. For example, Grubb has much technical and scientific knowledge that may come in handy. Talk (A Word Balloon): This option is just like examining objects, but works on people. It is usually best to start off a conversation using the character icon at the far left of the interface bar. Try having each of your characters talk to the townspeople and other Non Player Characters. Use (A Hand): Clicking this icon will allow you to use various objects and / or pick them up. Exit (A Gold Gate): This cursor will take you through an exit to the next environment. World Exit (A Globe Icon): This cursor will take you through an exit to a World Map. From World Maps you can travel across larger distances and visit new locations. The players Core Energy Bar and Current Health Points are displayed when the mouse cursor is moved into the interface section at the bottom of the screen. Core Energy is a measure of how much "Magic" energy the party has, and is a combined pool of points that the entire party can use. Inventory The party inventory appears at the bottom right of the screen when the mouse cursor is moved into the lower interface area. There are two buttons that can be used to switch between Heal Items and Key Items. Heal Items are all of the items that the party can use to refresh their Health, Core Energy or otherwise help their current status, especially in combat. Key items are items that may come in handy in exploring the world around you, or in solving puzzles. Simply select an item from your inventory to make it the mouse cursor. Try using it on things in the environments, or if a Heal item, use it on the portrait of a party member to heal them. To put any unused inventory items back and return to the explore icon, click the Right Mouse button or hit Escape. Subscreen Mode The subscreens allow you to examine the statistics of your characters, use skills outside of combat, and equip new items. Enter the subscreens by clicking the Subscreen button in the main interface (Or hit the space bar). On the left is a portrait of each of your current party members. You can click these portraits to examine each one in turn. In the lower left are some Options icons that can be selected to examine specific areas of the characters. Skills (A Sword Icon): Displays the Skills that the current character has. Some Skills can be used in the subscreens (such as Grubb’s Repair Skill). Simply select the Skill and then target a player character to use it on. Remember that some Skills require Core Energy to use, even when not in Combat (See below). Fate Cards (A Card Icon): This option can be used to build Spells from the various Fate Cards that you have collected. Spells can be built just as in combat (see below). The only Spells in the Demo that can be used in the subscreens are Heal, Heal + Summon and Heal + Summon +All. Remember that Spells cost Core Energy even outside of Combat (See Below). Inventory: (The Backpack): This works just as in Exploration Mode above. Equipment (The Gloved Fist): This option can be used to change the equipment of your characters. Each character has several open slots that can be assigned different equipment, and some characters can share equipment. If you select a character equipment slot, a list of the equipment that can be used in that slot is displayed at the bottom of the screen, along with the number owned. Grayed out items are already equipped. To change equipment, simply select a slot and then double click the item you want to equip into that slot, (or press the Equip Icon that lights up). Notice any changes in a characters stats are displayed before you actually click (Green Stats will go up in power, Red Stats will go down in power). Use this information to select the right equipment choices for each character. While some skills are learned when a character advances in level, some characters gain new skills based on the equipment they have. For example, Maya’s rifle has an upgradable power source called an Engine. This component draws in energy from the world and converts it to ammunition for various attacks. However, Maya can also upgrade her gun with Components that give her Beam attacks, Grenades, and Napalm, to name but a few. Once these items are equipped, their related skills appear in Maya’s skill list and can be used in combat. The Demo includes several goodies, so don’t forget to experiment. Form Party (A Triple Sphere): Not available in the demo. This option is used to change the current make up of the party when you have more than three characters to choose from. (In the main game you will have NINE total characters to choose from thoughout the game). Exit (A Red Arrow): Use this (Or spacebar) to return to the Game. You may also get to the Options Screen from the subscreens (A picture of a CD), and from here you may Save, Load, Adjust Audio Settings or Quit. Shops Shops work very much like the subscreens. Each item for sale is displayed with a price. Each character is represented by a portrait, just as in conversation mode. Select an item, and then a character portrait to see what it will do to your characters if you were to buy it and equip it. To buy an item, select it and change the quantity number to the number that you want to buy, then simply select the Accept icon to confirm the sale. You may also sell your items back to shops by selecting the Sell icon. Combat Mode While the party never gets attacked on World Maps, once they enter a location environment they are in danger of being spotted by hostile characters. If they see you, combat will begin. Each character in combat has a meter called the Endurance Bar located just below their portrait on the left hand side of the screen. This meter is split into three sections and gauges the relative speed of the characters, telling you when they can act. A character cannot be activated until at least one third of a bar has been allowed to fill. At this point, he can be activated by clicking his portrait. This stops the progression of time and allows you choose his action. However, the more sections of a character’s Endurance Bar you allow a character to fill up, the more lethal their attacks are, and the more Skill options become available. Once a character is activated, the following options become available: Skills (A Sword): Allows you to select a Skill. Skills are usually attacks, but some (like Grubb’s Repair) can help the party. Skills are divided into three columns, one for each level of Endurance that has been built up. This means that you need to build up three levels of Endurance to use Skills in the third column, and so forth. Some Skills require Core Energy to cast. The amount needed is displayed on the Core Bar at the top of the screen when the Skill is selected. When a character is first activated he defaults to his best Skill that doesn’t require Core to use. Skills that require more Core Energy to cast than you have available are grayed out. Fate Cards (A Card): This option can be used to cast Spells. Each fate card is a Spell by itself (except "All"), and can be cast by simply selecting the card, and assigning it to the character you selected by clicking it into the gray box next to his portrait. Then simply select your target to cast the Spell. All three of your characters can work together to cast bigger and badder Spells by throwing cards together. When a character is activated you will notice that any other characters that also have at least one Endurance Bar of power built up, also have a gray box ready for a card. If you assign a card to the character you selected, any cards that can be used in conjunction with the first card are displayed. Select one of those and give it to another character. Now select a target. Both characters use their Endurance and the Spell will proceed. Remember that you can use the cards as many times as you wish, as long as you have enough Core Energy. However, some characters are better than others at casting Spells, so pay attention to their Core Stat in the subscreens. Cards that need more Core Energy to cast than the party has available are not shown. Inventory (A Back Pack): Use these items just as in Exploration Mode. Exit (A Red Arrow): If you change your mind and want to go back to waiting for your characters to build up more power, select the Exit icon. When your party wins in combat, they will gain experience points and money, and sometimes receive other items. If a character dies in combat, don’t worry, they are really just unconscious, and will get back up when combat is over, with 1 Health Point. However, if ALL THREE of your current party members get killed, the game is over and you will have to re-load a save game to continue. Keyboard Shortcuts Q - Select Player 1 in Combat A - Select Player 2 in Combat Z - Select Player 3 in Combat W - Select Skills in Combat E - Select Fate Cards in Combat R - Select Inventory in Combat U - Exit back to real time. Escape - Exit out of menus for Conversation and Combat, as well as most scenes. Space Bar - Enter / Exit Subscreens. X - Enter Options Screens. F7 - Quick Save F8 - Reload your Quicksave. Statistics And Hints Each of the players has five stats that are used to govern combat. Strike - Measures the ability to hit targets. Armor - Measures the ability to absorb damage. Power - Measures the damage potential of a character. Core - Measures the amount of Core energy that a character adds to the Core Bar, plus the ability to cast Spells. Speed - Measures the relative quickness of a character. These stats are made up from various combinations of the other stats that appear on the character subscreens. For example, Vitality is one of the stats used to determine Armor, along with the character’s current equipment. It is also used to figure out the character Health. If you equip better armor you get a better armor score. However, if you find an item to raise Vitality, it will raise your Armor AND your Health Points as well. Runner is a mostly mechanical character, but he has some organic parts as well. He does not regain as much health from normal Healing items as Maya or Grubb. Don’t forget to use Grubb’s Repair Skill to keep Runner in top shape. Try using the Bed in Junker’s HQ (Maya’s House) to heal and rest up, gaining full Health and Core overnight. Also, there are Bread items in Uncle’s fridge that might come in handy. Ordering Information To order your copy of Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator, visit the Monolith Website at www.lith.com/septerra For more information on Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator, visit Topware's Septerra Core Website at www.septerracore.com, or the developer's website at www.valkyriestudios.com