EoFF Speaks! Favourite Final Fantasy Summons

[Night Fury]

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Welcome to a brand new frontsite feature for Eyes on Final Fantasy, this is EoFF Speaks! the feature which allows you to have your thoughts and opinions on all things Final Fantasy published to the frontsite without having to even write an article! This time around, I asked a few members of the Contributors forum and our Overlords... (Um, I mean Admins) to share their thoughts on their own favourite Final Fantasy summon.

shiva.jpgMy favourite Final Fantasy summon is most definitely Shiva! She’s the Queen of all things ice and the reason she’s my favourite is because she makes this power she has very sexy and alluring, but also look completely effortless. She’s a mystical Goddess and the way that she is animated in every game really reflects her prestige.

I always love her animation sequences – particularly the one in Final Fantasy VIII because it was probably one of the first Final Fantasy experiences I had. I was watching my stepdad play this game in the corner on an old beaten up TV and all of a sudden this jaw-dropping (at the time! Ha) animation started and it just blew my mind. Just to see this icy nymph breaking her way out of an icy spike and clicking her fingers and annihilating her enemies like it ain’t no thang! As a kid I would run around clicking my fingers imagining that I had this power of ice magic and that I was a mystical Queen – so much fun!

Seeing her again almost completely re-imagined for Final Fantasy X was such a nice moment too. They made her this playable summon and she had sass and grace and she was utterly fabulous with that click of her fingers again! She’s so iconic and I love seeing her.

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Clang clang clang clang! The Doomtrain is coming to town! It is a shame that this inventive summon only appeared in one game, Final Fantasy VIII, because it is such an original and enjoyable summon.

A sense of mystery hung over Doomtrain and obtaining him and this was a very well crafted piece of video game design. Snippets and clues would be outlined in editions of Occult Fan magazine and it felt like it was building up to something unique, and the pay off was certainly worth it.

Runaway Train, Doomtrain’s attack, is one hell of an epic – up there with any in the series history. The barriers come up, the bell tolls and the rails light up. You know what’s coming next.

I particularly liked that Doomtrain was Poison elemental, an element often neglected when compared to the more traditional Fire, Ice and Thunder. That he inflicted a number of status effects – the party’s answer to a Malboro! – was not only incredibly useful but again a nice gameplay element as the status effect spells are often overlooked.

I also really appreciated the design – rather than relying on mythological beings and creatures like other summons, Doomtrain mixed the occult with human technology which is something I enjoy, and I think seeing the every day made fantastic is even more astounding.

I'm not entirely surprised to see Mr. Psychotic choose a rather strange and unusual summon to be his pick! Doomtrain is a bit whacky just like our very own Admin here. Whenever I see Doomtrain, I always think of those very old silent movies with a poor damsel tied to the train tracks as a train comes speeeeeeeeeeeding through! Very scary and nailbiting! Thanks for your thoughts Psychotic!

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leviathan.jpgOne of my favorite summons of the whole series is the Serpent of the Sea, Leviathan. It says something about just how much I like Leviathan, because I hate/am terrified of snakes, and Leviathan is one massive snake. Water has always been an element I enjoy, and Leviathan does a fantastic job of providing powerful and memorable water magic in a series where it is not exactly the most common.

He has appeared in many of the Final Fantasy games, sometimes appearing as an enemy and sometimes as a summon. He even held the title of King of Eidolons in the much loved Final Fantasy IV. He has also been confirmed for Final Fantasy XIV as a boss battle and a high ranked summon. His appearance is very similar from game to game, but even so, I think I enjoy his look in Final Fantasy VIII the most.

Leviathan's attack is generally called Tsunami, which deals devastating amounts of water damage to enemies. One of the things I like most about him is that he is certainly a creature I would be afraid of should someone summon him against me. Seeing him appear really drives home how strong summoners can really be.

I actually wouldn't have imagined Leviathan to be shion's favourite summon. I definitely had pictured her as a Carbuncle kind of gal, but it's always nice to be surprised by our members when it comes to all things Final Fantasy!

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While I do love Bahamut (although some of the variations on him are awful), Ifrit, Cactuar and ChocoMog, my favourite summon is Cerberus. This is probably not such an obvious or common choice, and it probably doesn’t help that his only appearance is in Final Fantasy VIII. I like Cerberus for a multitude of reasons.

First and foremost, he looks incredibly badass. This three headed beast has a look of raw destructive power similar to that of the most powerful dragons in the series. That perhaps makes his summon ability seem kind of a letdown when you consider it isn't a massive attack, but rather a buff. However, that buff - Triple and Double cast on all party members - is extremely helpful for either boosting your damage output or rescuing a dire situation. His junction abilities are also excellent and I never found myself wishing I had another Guardian Force on instead.

I’ll also note that most of my favourite summons are from Final Fantasy VIII – I feel that this game is where Square managed to perfect them to some extent. They were interactive, integrated, useful and varied. It had all the true staples of the series such as Ifrit, Shiva, Leviathan etc. while also adding a number of unique summons amongst the main Final Fantasy series such as Brothers, Moomba, Tonberry, Doom Train and of course Cerberus. I feel that Final Fantasy VIII is the game that put so little focus on summons compared to the likes of Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X yet achieved so much more with them.

Oh, and it had a three headed hellhound named Cerberus. ‘nuff said.

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Thanks Loony BoB for providing us with some great insight about your thoughts on Final Fantasy VIII. While the new games are flashy and exciting it's always nice to take a trip down memory lane back to the roots of the series.

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Hidden deep within the labyrinthine Tomb of the Unknown King, an encounter with two fearsome beasts can be had. Well, maybe fearsome isn't quite the right word, but the encounter with Minotaur and Sacred is certainly memorable. Despite not being a series staple, the Brothers Guardian Force has always been one of my favorite summons in any Final Fantasy game.

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These two brothers had a lot of personality, and they made for a pretty funny dynamic. I still remember waiting in anticipation after that first encounter with Sacred when he talked about his big bro, and I found myself laughing hysterically when the tiny Minotaur finally showed up. Their personality still exists even after the encounter and acquiring their aid. The summon animation shows them tearing out the ground from beneath the enemies and then playing a game of Rock Paper Scissors to see who will get thrown head first into the rock in the sky. They felt like real characters as opposed to a lot of summons in the series, and I've always wished that we could see more summons that are as characterized as these two.

The Brothers are quite the pair, and I too think they're massively underrated and I would love to see these guys in a game once again! They tie into the lore of Final Fantasy VIII very well, but I'm sure their story could be re-written for them to make another appearance.

Thanks for taking part!
Psychotic
Loony BoB
shion
scotty_ffgamer

Be sure to drop these guys a reputation point for their contribution to this article!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the thoughts included in this article. If you'd like to have your voice heard then please PM me, Lockharted, with any enquiries. The topic for the next 'issue' of EoFF Speaks! is going to be Character-centric. If you have something to say about your favourite character, then I want to hear from you!

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[Shorty]

This is such a great feature with so many fantastic summons and a great starting lineup! Props on Shiva - she is my favorite of all time.

Well done to everyone who contributed! Please write more

[Jinx]

This is really cool!

[Shauna]

This was a lovely read. Maybe I'll submit something for the next one... Or not? Keep things mysterious.

[Psychotic]

Definitely a VIII flavour to it - that wasn't planned!

[Del Murder]

Very cool idea. Hope to see more of these.

[Night Fury]

I'm really thrilled to have already had great interest in the next edition! still need more though so keep em coming!

[Ayen]

Dammit! I forgot all about this.

Nice work, guys.

[LadyJuxtaposition]

This is a great idea, and I got to learn a lot from the people's favorite summons. Especially from Lonny BoB's, his was very educational.

[Freya]

Carbuncle is my favorite. It's just so cute! But everyone had some really good points of the other summons.

[Night Fury]

Still looking for maybe 2 more people to speak out about their favourite character! just 200-300 words!

[NeoCracker]

As much as I dislike FF VIII, Doomtrain is smurfing awesome.

I mean yeah, Sabin would kick it's ass, as he specializes in smurfing up trains, but still, smurfing awesome.

[maybee]

Agree with all the mods- all those summons are pretty amazing.


Carbuncle is the best though

[Yellow_Magic]

Bit late but kudos for Doomtrain!! Chugga-chugga-chugga