Favourite Summons

What it says on the tin. Plotwise and Gamewise, which game did you think did summons the best.

Gameplay-wise, I think X did it well, because it actually had them on the field with you while keeping the nukiness from previous games. Also, summon meatshield saved me too many times to count

Plotwise, I'm stuck between FFVI, FFIX, FFX and FFXIII. I liked the idea of magical beasts and them being the 'MacGuffin' the villains were searching for, but I also liked the idea of the pilgrimage and Fayth in X, and the emotional nadirs of XIII (although some of the 'summonings' in XIII were just random

My favorite summon is Anima, both in terms of battle usefulness and backstory. FFX summons had one of the best storylines, on par with FFIV and FFVI.

Second favorite is Diablos, because he's just cool. FFVIII are my favorite summons aesthetically.

FFXII is my favorite FF and yet i think it handled their summond the worst in the series. The back story the espers had were good, but they didn't fit into the plot entireley well (considering you fight most of them as storyline battles) they didn't look amazing and they were terribley unbalanced which discouraged you from using them.

FFX i agree with, they looked at their best, they were fun to use, very well balanced and worked beautifully with the plot.

VI suffered from having too many espers, you tend to quickly learn what you need from them move on to the next one. It was hard to integrate them into any strategy because you could only use them once per battle.

VIII had if i remember a compatability mechanism which was something i never cared for, and the summoning scenes couldn't be skipped which again discourages you from using them. Their "involvement" in the "plot" was just terrible.

I was excited when i learned the classic summons would return in FFXIII but i was greatly disapointed by what we got. The beasts look far too mechanical, and having them turn into vehicles feels like spitting on their original designs. Again TP issues discouraged you from using them and in regards to the plot i can't say i really cared for the plot or their involvement

I can appreciate the effort in recent games to make summons behave appreciably different than flashy AoE magic spells, but quite frankly I haven't seen an implementation of this that I like better than the classic summons.

I do like when summons have a big role in the story, such as FFVI or FFIX. Seeing the summons in FF9destroying whole cities as part of awseome FMVs was something I felt really added to the game. Added a nice sense of scope.

Knights of the Round (ffvii), I freaking love that one, they just keep coming, honourable mention to Hades as I always forget about it and enjoy it when i get it.
Siren (FFVIII) was pretty
Alexandra (FFIX)
Anima or Shiva (FFX) the summons were great in this game
Ultima (FFXII) pretty skirt, but i love all the espers
not sure on FFXIII yet as i only have three so far

I would say FFX because this is the only FF game I used summons regularly (excepy IV and, to a lesser extent, VIII). The backstory was amazing and that the aeons have techniques and you can contril them blew me away (and it still does). And they made Shiva and Ifrit look cooler than ever in FFX.

My favorite summons are Phoenix and Carbuncle. And Golem in V. I use summons to put buffs on the party more than attacking. I liked it in IX where you could change what Carbuncle does by equipping different stuff on Eiko.

Plot wise, I like how they did in X.

FFX's summons were so fluid and gorgeous. Shiva looked absolutely amazing in that game. They were the best!

Someone mentioned the game they used them the most, and I thought about it, and I used summons most frequently in FFVIII.

Which is horrifying to think of. I must be self-abusive or something, for putting up with those summons.

Wasn't a big fan of them. But I used them when I had to. No reason to have a favorite because of their high-cost one time nature.

X was probably the best at incorporating them into the plot. VI and IX almost get honourable mentions for their plot relevance.

Gameplay wise, I'm not fussed. I rarely use them, though I suppose they got a bit more use in X than any other.

FFX, definitely! Not only were they gorgeous and extremely useful, but they were tied deeply to the plot in a wonderful way :3

The Bahamut vs. Alexander fight in FFIX is a highlight for me with summons. Very cool. Speaking of cool, the transforming ones of FFXIII are neat too, but I think the game that incorporated summons into the game the best was FFX. The way they were implemented into the battle system was to my liking too. Out of them, I'd say Anima is my favourite as well, but Shiva ought to get an honourable mention.

I will say this about FFX's summons though. Worst. Bahamut. Ever.