Summons and Summoners

[Depression Moon]

My favorite summon. Hmm... Well overall summons haven't been that useful in the series. Out of the ones I've played VIII and X seemed to have the most use for them. I definitely favor Bahamut for being the strong brooding king of dragons, but there is usually always a summon more powerful than him in each game except for IV I think. I also like Shiva just because I favor ice powers and her appearance in IX and X(especially X) look cool to me. The scene with Alexander against Bahamut will always be in my memory and gave me interest in the summon as well, but I can't place a favorite on any.

As for which game did Summoners best in terms of story I would have to go with X. X gave us a lot of background on the summoner job class and how it is a crucial part of their world and without the summoner the world probably wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. I would have to say that IX handled it second best. It also gave some background info about the summoners in this world and the plot of the story has a lot to do with the existence of said summoners. I had wished only just for a bit more info about Eiko and Garnet's family and more about the life of the summoners because all the game told us was that people had prayed at the Eidolon wall every day. Final Fantasy IX I know had to take a long time to make so I can understand how things can be left out and they had to maintain deadline as well.

In terms of gameplay in IV there wasn't much connection between Rydia and her summons. They didn't provide boosts to her stats and they were obtained either through story events, defeating them, or as an item drop. Boring. In VI they taught the summoner magic and boosted a stat when the summoner would level up. It was more interesting and useful. In VII I can't remember how they impacted the summoner directly. In VIII they were heavily relied upon as you couldn't use or draw magic without them and your overall stats, immunities, and strengths were highly influenced by these beings. I liked this. In IX summons gave no bonus stats to the summoner with a few exceptions of Ribbon, Dark Matter, and Pumice, but for the most part equipping an item that taught you a summon gave you no boost in stats and you were waiting to quickly learn the summon so you could increase your stats with an accessory. Garnet's trance ability Eidolon allowed her to automatically summon a monster sometimes given that you had summoned one already and Eiko provided an ability that caused more jewels to drop that would increase a summon's strength, but I probably used it like only once.

In X Yuna's overdrive gave her summons an extra overdrive bar and it could be a really powerful technique if you build up your summon's overdrive against random enemies and then save it for later in a boss fight when Yuna has her overdrive. This was a good mechanic. In XII I don't believe summoners gained any kid of bonus through summons. I know obtaining something would give you a lot more MP, but I think that was Mist Knacks. Out of the ones I've played I would give to VIII.