Summons suck

[Shoden]

the whole of ff9 sucked there were no weapons.

the summons looked very gay compared to the ones in 8, they are all weak and there arent 99 of all gems though as there are only in chests for the better summons.

Bahamut in 9 looked totally crap, 9 had no heart at all

[m4tt]

What's so wrong with the summons looking happy? Bahamut looked pretty mean to me.

[Shoden]

no comment at all

[Narcissus Reborn]

I wasn't terribly fond of the summons in that game either.
For a game where only two characters can summon in your team they should have been more dominating in strength. In FF6 everyone could summon so it's not odd that they weren't extremely powerful. But in FF8 everyone could and they were very necessary for alot of things, plus they were strong. In 9 they had a small amont of power (even with boost) they didn't skyrocket your skills or health (mostly like 6 and 8) they just did moderate damage that were overshadowed by strong magic that didn't take up half a minuet to deal damge and strong Sword Skills like Shock.

On the bright side, they did deal a fair amont of damage to all enemies and the gems like Pumice, Ribbon, Dark Matter were usefull for you stats.

[Halenite]

I usually don't use them unless Garnet's in Trance.

[la monk]

another way to beat the ff4 bahamut is to have kain jump when the counter is at like 3. he comes down right after the attack. it takes awhile but you cant really lose unless you count wrong.

[blue_midget192]

another way to beat the ff4 bahamut is to have kain jump when the counter is at like 3. he comes down right after the attack. it takes awhile but you cant really lose unless you count wrong.

urm...me thikns you have the wrong thread :riiight:

[Flamethrower]

Phoenix was pretty much the only useful summon.

I, for one, was happy with FFIX toning down the power of summons. FFVII and FFVIII made summons too powerful, in my opinion. They made you too dependant on them to get you through the game, expecially FFVIII. Sure, summons are fun to watch, but they are waaaay too time consuming. I'm glad you can get through FFIX without ever using a summon.

[Narcissus Reborn]

I agree with Flamethrower. It's very uplifting when you can rely on your own strength in a battle and not on the strength of your summon. If my Zidane can attack dealing 6000-7000 damage then it's a waste of time to have Garnet spend 150 seconds summoning Ark which deals some amount near that. Summons like Phoenix were useful for a backup plan incase you battled so poorly that you need your whole team brought back, saying that you have Eiko in your team. Though I usually had her with me, but only once did I need Phoenix.

[Edgar]

Darn, you guys don't really see what summons are for don't you?

Equip auto-regen to all your characters and when you are dying, have Garnet/Eiko summon the summon with the LONGEST animation. You see those little green numbers popping at the background? Look at your characters' HPs.

Wow, they regened back to full health by the time the summon animation ended...so in this case, you have dealt damage and fully healed yourself AND give you some time to go to your kitchen and cook a bowl of noodles.

[Alexander]

Am I the only one that got Eidolons doing a very good damage?

Ramuh, Shiva, Fenrir, Leviathan and Ifrit deal something around 4000 ~ 6000 damage, Phoenix deals 1800 damage plus reviving everyone, Bahamut, Odin and Madeen deals 7500 ~ 9500 damage and Ark (at least to me) almost always deal 9999 damage.

It's all about the jewels. If you play Chocobo Hot and Cold you get enough jewels to do a passable amount of damage with summons. Even if you don't play Chocobo Hot and Cold, you can make jewels from Ore at Daguerreo.

I use Summons as much as I use Black Magic, as both deal almost the same damage for almost the same MP.

[Zeldy]

i dont use summons much, really they use up to much mp and i never have enough ethers e.t.c so i end up stuck.
Im stuck at the moment, im on the 4disk the bit in the memorial tower
and im up to the stairway with the huge eye above but i keep dieing to the dragon there because it takes all my mp and it also throws Zidane out and i need Zidane with his powerful attacks every turn.I end up relying on Auto regen.

[FallenSilence]

How can I get the Ancient Aroma, to use Odin's Sword?

Ipsen's Castle.

[Yuffie514]

i thought the summons used to be pretty useless , until i found out what those gems i collected are supposed to do . funny how i wondered for so long why i had to carry all these gems with me :rolleyes2 . n-e-ways, i've been trying to find new ways to get more gems . at Daguerro, i transfer Ore for some Aquamarine at the fountain , and then i go to the Synth master to have some gems made . before all that, i just go into battle and try to extract as many Ore i can from each monster w/Eiko's jewel .