If they made them into summons...

[Mercen-X]

Squee made Ultima, Chaos, Zeromus, and Mateus Palamecia (also technically ExDEATH) into summons for Final Fantasy XII.

If they continued this trend for future installments, who would you like to see become a summon and what do you think they would look like?

Villains are pretty much the easiest to guess for since they summon would probably just look like whatever beast they could transform into (i.e.
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120322121254/finalfantasy/images/3/3e/Safer_sephirothFFVII.png,
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120229214859/finalfantasy/images/6/63/GenesisAvatar_TCG.png,
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120229204327/finalfantasy/images/a/a8/AngealPenance_TCG.png, even though it's more or less Maduin
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130315162900/finalfantasy/images/4/4f/Griever-Ultimecia_FFVIII_Sketch.jpg,
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130516074415/finalfantasy/images/b/b7/Meltigemini_FFIX_Art.jpg,
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130110045627/finalfantasy/images/6/62/Lifeform_Hojo_Artwork.jpg,
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090325002656/finalfantasy/images/2/26/Arch_Azul_Artwork.png,
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120428155151/finalfantasy/images/d/dd/DC_Omega_Weiss_1.jpg,
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131004021713/finalfantasy/images/5/5e/Seymour_Natus-enemy-ffx.png
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131004021712/finalfantasy/images/d/d2/Seymour_Flux-enemy-ffx.png
http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131004022006/finalfantasy/images/9/92/Seymour-Omnis-1-.png,
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140412180726/finalfantasy/images/9/9e/Braska%27s_Final_Aeon2.png,
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130626034156/finalfantasy/images/1/16/TheUndying-ffxii-battle.png, etc.) Some characters already resemble summons. Vayne Novus resembles Titan.

Some characters don't seem as though they'd be as passable as summons. Some still have transformations (http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121104061644/finalfantasy/images/1/1f/Galian_Beast_FFVII_Art.jpg
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130203043327/finalfantasy/images/7/7b/FFVII-Chaos_sketch.jpg, http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111020222515/mightandmagicheroesvi/images/5/56/Seraph.jpg

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/212/b/6/rinoa__beautiful_sorceress_by_mercymurrain-d59au2m.jpg, IX's Trancers, Black Wing Cloud, Esper Terra) others don't even have that.

What other kind of summons would you like to see?

[Wolf Kanno]

With the exception of Sin and maybe the Judges from XII I can honestly say I'm not interested in any major villains getting the treatment to become a summon. Bosses on the other hand are a different story and I would love to see Ultros, Ultima Weapon, Shinryu, and Warmech become summons.

[Jiro]

The Judges should totally replace Arthur and his knights in Knights of the Round.

[Mercen-X]

Bosses on the other hand are a different story and I would love to see Ultros, Ultima Weapon, Shinryu, and Warmech become summons.

Interesting point. Not just bosses though. Maybe some less popular enemies like Stilva from Final Fantasy VII (don't remember it occurring in other fantasies) and Midgar Zolom.

[Pete for President]

The Judges should totally replace Arthur and his knights in Knights of the Round.

Yes.

Also villains no, bosses yes.

Evrae maybe?

[Wolf Kanno]

Bosses on the other hand are a different story and I would love to see Ultros, Ultima Weapon, Shinryu, and Warmech become summons.

Interesting point. Not just bosses though. Maybe some less popular enemies like Stilva from Final Fantasy VII (don't remember it occurring in other fantasies) and Midgar Zolom.

Actually Midgar Zolom has been a summon before. ;)

53340

[Mercen-X]

Which one was that? Did it use Beta or fire magic of some kind?


With the exception of Sin and maybe the Judges from XII I can honestly say I'm not interested in any major villains getting the treatment to become a summon.
What if past characters (be they protagonist or villain) began to appear, perhaps in expy form, as recurring bosses for a while? Let's say toward the end of the game, you had to fight bosses such as Seraph Sephiroth or Kuja, and they used this treatment for a number of entries in the series. Would change your mind about them becoming summons? Would you even at all approve of them being used as bosses, optional or otherwise?

EDIT: Ansem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZtDgY9H5Vg)... to clarify, if the character from KH were to become a recurring boss or a one-time summon in FF, I'm pretty sure they would just call him him Ansem and not Xehanort's Heartless.

[Wolf Kanno]

Which one was that? Did it use Beta or fire magic of some kind?

He debuted in FFVI and was an Earth Elemental summon that taught Quake.


What if past characters (be they protagonist or villain) began to appear, perhaps in expy form, as recurring bosses for a while? Let's say toward the end of the game, you had to fight bosses such as Seraph Sephiroth or Kuja, and they used this treatment for a number of entries in the series. Would change your mind about them becoming summons? Would you even at all approve of them being used as bosses, optional or otherwise?

EDIT: Ansem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZtDgY9H5Vg)... to clarify, if the character from KH were to become a recurring boss or a one-time summon in FF, I'm pretty sure they would just call him him Ansem and not Xehanort's Heartless.

I would hope that SE would never reduce their main villains to that to be honest. I don't mind them getting used like that in say Kingdom Hearts or the TheaterRhythm games, but those games are built on the very premise of fanservice so I can't really argue. The main series to me though is sacred and unless the game flat out states it is a bit of a fanservice/throwback title, I have a hard time rectifying re-using past major villains like that except as shameless promotion. The Ivalice titles only kind of got away from it because outside of a few nods to the originals story or abilities, the Lucavi/Esper versions of past villains are largely original beings whose connections to their former bosses tend to be more of a fanservice shout-out than a serious attempt to say summon Sephiroth into battle.

While I feel their are certain things created specifically to be passed on between game to game, I feel that trying to bring in something as iconic as a major villain or hero from a previous game largely undermines the basic foundation the series was built on which was not to rely on past successes to score easy victories and instead always strive to create something new and fresh. Bringing back a major character like that tends to throw everything else out of focus. Ehrgeiz is a wonderful example of an interesting 3D fighter that got completely undermined by kneeling to fanservice because it's more well known as the "fighting game with Cloud" than it is for what it was actually. I would hate to play through FFXV and see the only people would talk about is the rematch fight with Kefka or how Kain Highwind became a summon. How can the new series shine when it is getting overshadowed by past successes?

[Mercen-X]

If I implied something along the lines of "Summon Cloud Strife" then I apologize because that is the furthest from what I intended. I loved the XII Espers, Mateus, Zeromus, Exodus, Ultima, and Chaos and it was the reimagining that was so great about it. Frankly, I don't know how someone would draw conclusion that I want the original character himself to become a summon when the first characters I mentioned were the espers from XII. That's why I went through the trouble of mentioning the altered states of the characters. I don't want to summon Sephiroth. I want to summon Seraph Sephiroth. These transformations are not critical to the stories they came from. I can understand not wanting to transfer characters between worlds, but that is not at all what I intended. Point of fact, I don't want any summon that looks human. Summons should be huge, other-worldly things. Odin, Ramuh, and Shiva got the other-worldly going on. I would probably make an exception for Goldor though... perhaps Xande because of his pitch skin. Imagine Cloud of Darkness sweeping in looking like http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130901044146/finalfantasy/images/9/9d/FFXIV_ARR_-_Cloud_of_Darkness.png

One of the reasons I mentioned Vayne Novus looking similar to Titan is that failing the all out decision to include Vayne as a summon, Titan could still be included and have his physical design strongly resemble Vayne Novus (for the fanservice). Maybe if they made "Kuja" into into a summon or sub-boss, they would just call him Terran.

How do you feel about Kraken or Garuda as a summon?