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Summon Night: Swordcraft Story Review
Written by Justin Davis on Monday, August 21, 2006
Realtime combat is a nice change of pace. Cool crafting system.
Storyline is more annoying than engaging. Weak magic system. Crazy-ass encounter rate.
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story is one of those games that RPG buffs just assumed was never going to make it to American shores. Originally released over three years ago on the GBA in Japan, Atlus picked it up along with a bunch of other quirky GBA and DS releases, which have been trickling out in the US for a little over a month now.
The storyline follows either a young man or woman (you pick your protagonist), who... wait for it... lives alone with their mother after their father, a "Craftlord" known throughout the kingdom, died three years before. If it sounds pretty interchangeable with RPG plots you've heard in the past, just know this: the game opens with the protagonist in bed, having overslept for a very important event. Yeah.
The entire storyline is filled with characters that have unclear motivations, and the adventures feel more trite than anything else. I think you rescue one of your friends who has been kidnapped something like five times. Atlus has gotten a lot of praise for the game's localization, and a lot of that praise I just can't agree with. Yes there are a lot of genuinely humorous moments, but there are also times where the dialogue is downright confusing. Things are brought up in conversation and then just as quickly dropped. Characters request things, but as the conversation continues and veers into another topic, the request is forgotten, never to be mentioned again. Most importantly, a lot of the dialogue just seems stilted and unnatural.
Anyone playing Summon Night for it's plot is getting into the game for the entirely wrong reason, though. The game's realtime battle system is among the most fun I've ever played in an RPG. Battles play out in 2D sidescrolling fashion, and you're given a whole host of moves including the ability to jump, dodge, dash, and of course attack with a wide variety of weapons you've crafted yourself. During random encounters the battles can be a bit shallow - is mindlessly mashing "attack" repeatedly really any better than selecting "attack" mindlessly from a menu over and over? The true fun comes out during the boss battles. These fast and frantic encounters will have you and your opponent dashing and leaping all over the screen, trying to sneak in hits where you can, while blocking or dodging all incoming blows. They're fantastically fun, and an unlockable boss rush mode makes for an excellent extra.
It's too bad, then, that the random encounter rate is so incredibly INSANE. Honestly. I'm not a massive RPG fan, but I've played my fair share, I don't think I've seen an encounter rate so high. See a treasure chest up there? Expect to fight 2-3 times on your way to get it and back.
In addition to the battle system, the game's "crafting" (weapon-making) system is the other star of the game. As you progress through dungeons you'll find items that can be broken down into materials once you're back at your forge. These materials can then be synthesized into new weapons, assuming you've come across some new recipes. The system is a little lacking in depth - there's no creativity or weapon combining - but the drive to earn the materials to make the newest and latest sword proved to be a strong one, and kept me playing.
Summon Night's biggest fault is that it just isn't epic enough. The majority of the game takes place in one town, and in the one uber-dungeon below it. There's no overworld, no armor system (just weapons), and very little to buy with the money you'll rack up over the course of the adventure. The storyline runs a little on the short side, to boot. Although to be fair there is a tremendous amount of post-game content I won't spoil here.
I don't mean to come down on the game too hard, however. Ultimately Summon Night was an enjoyable RPG thanks to it's excellent, intense battles and the ability to actually create and take responsibility for your weapons, instead of just buying them from a shopkeeper. Here's to hoping the sequel, due out later this year, fixes the issues present in this release.
posted August 22, 2006