Summoners

[Wolf Kanno]

I have a confession to make, I feel that summoners are overrated in this series. Granted they are not too shabby in gameplay but that largely depends on the game. Still it seems that Square/Squenix has an unhealthy obsession with this particular job class with no less than three games featuring them as a major plot element whereas all the other classes get maybe one if they are lucky. So do you love how the series makes summoners a major elements of plot or do you wish some other job class might get a moment to shine in the sun?

[Ayen]

I never really thought about it to be honest. I know they're important plot points in VIII and X. What was the third? Because outside of those games Summoners never really stood out to me and they were compressed into Material like any other spell in VII.

[Wolf Kanno]

FFIV though not as prevalent as in FFIX and X. :onnanoko:

[VeloZer0]

Well, if you count Meteor and Holy as summons....

Anyways, yeah. Especially when I don't really find summons all that powerful compared to every other form of magic. Though I can understand why from a plot perspective they are easier to write for. All the different types of magic can all kind of blend together, however a summon is a distinct creature that you can write around and make appear in story scenes.

[Mirage]

I'd say "generic fighter" is a much more common job for an important playable character to have.

[Psychotic]

Summons have always been the backbone of my assaults and I blame VII.

Also I think they should flip things round like they did with Lightning and have a male summoner.

[Karifean]

Summons are a superconvenient excuse to have all kinds of boss fights or calamities from god knows where.

That being said, would be interesting to have another class take the spotlight.

[Depression Moon]

Summons have always been the backbone of my assaults and I blame VII.

Also I think they should flip things round like they did with Lightning and have a male summoner.

I thought the whole cast in XIII could summon

[Sephiroth]

Land of Summons
Hydra and Dragon becoming summons
Esperville
Ultimate Destructive Magic Meteor and Holy
Guardian Forces causing amnesia and Griever being drawn out of imagination
Ramuh, Atomos, Bahamut, Odin, Alexander, Madeen
High Summon
Eidolons challenging L'Cie

Final Fantasy Summons and their Summoner always are a major element.

There are enough classes in the spotlight.

[black orb]

>>> It cant be helped because: FF Awesomeness = Bahamut, Shiva, Ifrit, Odin, (any other popular summon)..:luca:

[NeoCracker]

They don't really do enough with the summons for a summoner.

It's basically no different then black magic.

Maybe if they had other uses then simply group casts they could be awesome.

FF X did the combat with them, which was a neat Idea, but not executed very well. They didn't have a big variety of what they could do, and they were pretty overpowered.

Perhaps you could call Summons either into yourself altering your stats and abilities, kind of like the Persona main characters? Not to the extreme that persona goes mind you, but having a character that can infuse himself with a variety of creatures like that could be fun. :p

[VeloZer0]

Or in a conventional turn based game you could have it just spit an extra character out on to the map.

[Mirage]

They don't really do enough with the summons for a summoner.

It's basically no different then black magic.

Maybe if they had other uses then simply group casts they could be awesome.

FF X did the combat with them, which was a neat Idea, but not executed very well. They didn't have a big variety of what they could do, and they were pretty overpowered.

Perhaps you could call Summons either into yourself altering your stats and abilities, kind of like the Persona main characters? Not to the extreme that persona goes mind you, but having a character that can infuse himself with a variety of creatures like that could be fun. :p

They do more with summons in FFXI, but of course, everyone forgets about that!

[Skyblade]

Perhaps you could call Summons either into yourself altering your stats and abilities, kind of like the Persona main characters? Not to the extreme that persona goes mind you, but having a character that can infuse himself with a variety of creatures like that could be fun. :p

There is actually a class Square has made which uses Summons to infuse the caster with powerful buffs, rather than as raw attacks. It's in Bravely Default.

I would love to see a Persona styled summoner though. 'Twould be awesome. You can only set one monster to actually Summon, but which one you chose determined your spells and abilities. So you set Shiva to yourself, and it turns you into an Ice Mage, etcetera.

[NeoCracker]

You say that as if you're giving me some kind of new information I didn't already have. :p

But yeah, the Conjurer is kind of nifty, but eh. Just a buff isn't really all that different then just group nuking.

[Pumpkin]

I enjoy a lot of the plots involving summoners so I'm fine with it staying.

I do not actually like summoner job classes very much BUT I love summons themselves. Heck, if there was a Final Fantasy game where the characters are some of the classic summons and you play as them (pls make this Square) I would buy the heck out of that game and play it all of the time.

Also, some of my favorite characters are summoners, Yuna and Garnet. But yes, when it comes to games like Tactics, I am really not a fan of the summoner roles. I mean I don't hate them but there's a long list of preferred jobs.

[Mercen-X]

I would love to see a Persona styled summoner though. 'Twould be awesome. You can only set one monster to actually Summon, but which one you chose determined your spells and abilities. So you set Shiva to yourself, and it turns you into an Ice Mage, etc.

Maybe summoning would transform you into the summon (gender would be character-dependent and the default weapon would remain as the primary means of attack), elemental or debuff-based attacks and spells becoming part of your repertoire and you would also attain specialized defenses. Going again with Shiva as an example and suggesting your character normally wields a sword, you sword-attack would be ice-based, you would have access to ice magic and a certain level of immunity to ice magic (and frozen status if it appears in the game). If the summon was Carbuncle, you would have access to buff spells and your attacks would deal random buffs like barrier and haste while, if Malboro (I know, it's never been a summon but I've often thought it should), attacks would deal poison, and you would have access Bad Breath.

[Loony BoB]

I never really bothered much with summons. They were alright in VII and VIII because they were just strong magic for the most part. Other than that... barely touch 'em. And even with VII and VIII after a while they become fairly pointless.

[Kalevala]

Summoners are useful in that they allow for mythological references, I guess. Which... is probably not that essential to most players. It's something I've always appreciated, though.

As far as their role plot-wise, I could take them or leave them. As long as it doesn't feel shoehorned. I would like to see them change it up a bit, though. Maybe play with our expectations a bit.

[Jiro]

I think that in job-based games, summoners cop a raw deal, but it has been elevated a few times, yeah. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the class, but the summons themselves I do not have a problem with. They can be important plot elements; it's always nice to have a little bit of mystery.