What game used the Summons better (gameplay)?

Members see less ads - sign up now for free and join the community!

  • This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more.

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
28
Argentina
#1
Summons having a gameplay mechanique and staple in the franchise since Final Fantasy III (1990) up to this day, in light of FFXV coming in a few weeks and bringing the Summons to this new generation FF games, which game do you think executed this mechanique the best? This can range from how you obtain them to how they play.

EDIT: This topic includes all games within the franchise with the exception of FFXV due it not being out yet.
 

DrBretto

Warrior of Light
Mar 18, 2016
1,605
1,436
41
#2
FFX by a million.

They were a big part of the story, and really genuinely balanced right to be often useful without making you rely on them all the time. Plus you could build and customize them to your heart's content. They were more than just a big move, too. By far the best for me.
 

ChingleeTribal

SOLDIER, First Class
Mar 27, 2016
955
815
#3
I never really used summons in FF that much. I just liked collecting them and having them be part of sidequests or story/lore.

They were pretty cool in FFVIII as their abilities for junctioning, refining and modding really made the game fun(I broke this game so hard and loved doing so xD).
 

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
2,826
28
Argentina
#4
Generally summons has always come in two flavors:
  • One use/Multiple use Overglorified White Spell/Black Spell.
  • Temporary Party Member.
Out of the two the later has been the most sucessful execution of the mechanique, the former had the problem of crippling the white mage/black mage performance as the summons were tied to their MP, for the case of Black Mages they tend to be slightly stronger than their base spell but cost more MP and for the White Mage case they tend to shorten their healing and support capabilities.

For the second flavor, FFX was definetely the most success execution thus far as @DrBretto pointed out.
 

LeonBlade

Administrator
Administrator
Moderator
Site Staff
Oct 25, 2013
2,026
1,864
32
Blossvale, New York
#5
FFX is unique in the way it presents summons, however, I feel like the way they're also broken. Summons will allow you to cheapen a lot of fights. Even SE knew that, as they had to design certain bosses to destroy summons just so you won't cheapen the fights. FFX has a lot of these sort of things though, it's a good game but it's kind of broken.

Like @ChingleeTribal said, I too don't really use summons in FF games really. Same for magic honestly, my attacks are usually more than enough.

I feel like FFXV will have a great use of summons more than other games because they're more accessible.
 

Edda

Balamb Garden Freshman
Nov 5, 2016
30
13
29
#8
Knights of the Round.

Not FFVII.

If you can't guess, why haven't you played it?
 
Sep 1, 2016
64
91
#9
I haven't played all of the FF games, but from what I can remember, summons have been utilized in about 3 different ways:

1) They appear for one attack and then disappear (FFVI)
2) They replace the entire party and become controllable (FFX)
3) They replace your other party members except you and fight alongside you but cannot be controlled (FFXII)

I think summons are best utilized based on your needs and how you like to play. When I played FFVI, I always used them during boss fights - either as an opening move to shave off large amounts of HP thus making the remainder of the fight easier or as an ending move in the hopes that it would be the final attack needed to kill the boss. When summoned, they were in and out and didn't take you away from the action. The only thing I found was that although they were important to the story, they kind of lacked presence, maybe it was because of the SNES 2D graphics at the time. They were beautifully drawn, but I guess they were missing the oomphf that could make me go "WOW".

When playing FFX, I mostly used them as meat shields and it was great to be able to control them for the first time. They were important to the story, had fantastic designs and had presence. And with the introduction of 3D graphics as from VII, summoning and attack animations took a lot longer. It's nice and pretty to watch the animations once, but after continued use, I found that this took me away from the action for too long. Sometimes that made me not want to use the summon because I'd have to sit and wait for the summon to wrap it up and go (I'm looking at you VII). If I remember, I think FFX had an option in which you could shorten the summon animation, which helped a lot to get me back into the fight.

I found the summons in FFXII to be utterly useless. I used them once, learned how terribly they adapted in battle and never used them again. They would attack enemies that I didn't need help on or they'd die really quickly because of they'd make dumb decisions based on their gambits. Maybe I didn't know how to properly utilize them, but I relied mostly on the quickenings as a substitute for the summons.

Although the game hasn't been released yet, I can already tell that FFXV is going to be the game that best utilizes it's summons - both in gameplay and presence. I didn't play the Duscae demo, but from what I could tell, you could only summon Ramuh when you were in danger. I really like that because it forces you to fight battles by yourself instead of spamming summons as an easy way out. And only when you are in serious trouble, can you summon an Astral as a last attempt at survival. I hope this mechanic stays in the final game. Although FFXV is a gorgeous game, I like that SE didn't go too crazy on the animations for the summons. I've only seen Ramuh and a bit of Titan, but it didn't take too long for them to enter the battle, do their thing and leave which was nice.

In terms of presence, I think FFXV gets everything right. Firstly, they're hella important to the story and secondly, they are HUGE. Just the sheer size and design of these Astrals give them that wow factor and remind you that that's not a meat shield, that's a GODLY SUMMON that could save you in your most desperate situation...
 
Last edited:

Rogue-Tomato

ShinRa SOLDIER
Jan 17, 2016
166
98
38
Worcester, UK
#11
I think FFVIII was my favorite for using summons. I always prefer them to be a one move thing, rather than fighting with them. I always only really used them if I absolutely needed to, because generally they caused way more damage than normal attacks of course.

I hated the way summons worked in FFX and FFXII.

From what I have seen from FFXV, the summons look like they're going to be to my liking.
 
Likes: LeonBlade

Edda

Balamb Garden Freshman
Nov 5, 2016
30
13
29
#12
How does summoning Ramuh, or any other summon, work anyway? I saw a few videos but couldn't figure out what the conditions were.
 

buddhafied

Sphere Hunter
Sep 30, 2013
241
126
Vancouver, BC
#13
It's XI! Kidding, although it was a fun game to play as Summoner though. But I guess that might not be what you were looking for as an answer.

I personally prefer how the traditional summons are, like in VI. That said, in all of FF games, XI and XIV aside, it was X I used summons the most. It was fun to use as well as effective I find. It was cheating a bit, as they are so powerful, but like others had pointed out, it fits the story.
 

Rogue-Tomato

ShinRa SOLDIER
Jan 17, 2016
166
98
38
Worcester, UK
#14
How does summoning Ramuh, or any other summon, work anyway? I saw a few videos but couldn't figure out what the conditions were.
Well, for Ramuh, you can only summon him when you're about to die (That was the case in the demo anyway) - You have to hold a button down and hope you don't die before it's summoned - He completely kills everything too.

As for the other, i think there are varying conditions as to when you can summon them but I don't know specifics... I'm not sure anyone else does either as yet.