Summoner (PS2) Review

Summoner, published by THQ, is an RPG and has all the expected elements, but there is absolutely nothing in this game that made me love it. I barely even liked it. There were parts to the game where I said "Wow, that is cool", but they were so minor compared to the parts of the game that made me say, "Can I please play something else now?"

You start with Joseph, the Summoner. Under the tutelage of Yago, a monk who pledged his life to look after and train the Summoner, Joseph summoned a demon that destroyed his village and killed his family and friends ten years prior to the start of the game. After this devastating event, he threw the ring that allows him to summon down a well and promised to never use his gift again. Now the evil emperor Murod, in an attempt to defeat a prophecy, has sent his armies to search for the boy with the mark of the Summoner.

After playing through the tutorial, you leave the starting town of Masad and travel to Lenele. Here Joseph meets Flece and adds her to the party. Flece is one of the things that made me say "Wow, that is cool". There is just something about playing a female thief, wearing a cape, wielding a dagger and acting tough. Along the way, you also meet new party members Rosalind, a spell caster (and Yago's estranged daughter) and Jekhar, a warrior serving the King and Queen of Lenele and a childhood friend of the Summoner's. Jekhar's family was murdered by the demon Joseph summoned. Each of Joseph's party members have chips on their shoulders and are none too pleased to be forced along on this adventure.

Combat in Summoner combines real-time and turn-based elements. You take turns swinging at the enemy, but you can extend your turn through the use of chain attacks like Flece's Chain Mug (which inflicts damage and steals gold) or Jekhar's Chain Mend (which restores Health Points to Jekhar). You do not have to wait for your enemy to swing at you in order to turn and run or to target a new enemy for attack. Spells are real time as well, and can be interrupted by an attack. You can control any member of the party you choose and switching between party members is easy. The remaining party members will fight according to whichever AI script, such as Healer or Caster, you choose. There are a variety of spells, ranging from offensive spells like Icicle (which shoots a ball of ice at the enemy), to spells that change the targets abilities, such as Empower (which makes the targets strike harder). In addition, there are healing spells. Death is not permanent as long as you have one member of your party remaining and can revive the other members with spells or scrolls.

Movement between locations in the world is accomplished in two modes. Moving between zones in a city or exiting to the World Map is simple. A wide yellow line indicates where you can leave your current location. On the other hand, finding your way on the World Map can be frustrating. In addition to the random encounters you will face when you travel from one place to another, finding your destination can be maddening. The World Map is a terrain view of the land, with no landmarks on the overview map. I eventually got used to this second mode of movement, but in the beginning it was aggravating.

The Quest Journal logs quests and often contains useful information that was not shared during interactions between characters, such as the location of an important monster. In addition to the main quest of defeating the Emperor Murod, there are side quests that can be completed for Experience Points and Gold. The side quests are actually a lot of fun. In one particular side quest, you meet a beggar with no eyes. He tells you the Apothecary took his eyes and asks you to get them back for him. You seek out the Apothecary, who claims to need the eyes for a special potion, but will part with them for a tongue of a Fire Salamanka, a monster found in the hills to the west of Lenele. These side quests do much to keep the game interesting.

You can use random encounters and side quests to gain valuable experience and level your characters. Your characters gain skill points every time they level that can be applied to each characters skills. For example, Joseph is skilled in Summoning, but in order to summon advanced creatures, skill points need to be applied to the summon skill. There are offensive and defensive skills, as well as support skills, which you can choose to raise and specialize each character in. After a battle, items that are useful to the party, usually for one specific party member, are often found. An axe with a high heavy arms requirement usable by Jekhar (if you used your skill points in that manner) or a pair of gauntlets that the Summoner can wear is just two of the items I found along the way.

You will face a variety of human and non-human enemies, ranging from Gargoyles to the evil Emperor Murod himself. I did not find any of the enemies to be difficult. Puzzles are interesting and sometimes challenging, such as one puzzle where you needed to recall the order of runes. I just wish there were more. There were no puzzles to be found in the latter part of the game.

The writers put a lot of thought in the story and that thoughtfulness makes the story the best thing about this game. In addition to the story of Joseph and his companions is the story of the peoples who populate the two continents, Medeva and Orenia. The detailed history adds an element to this game that is so often missed in other games.

The one thing that makes this game unbearable is the camera angle. The angle was on top of your characters at all times and there is a limited zoom. There was no way to put the camera angle behind your character in order to see what was coming ahead. You had a short range ahead of your character at the furthest angle out, but it was very difficult to see any action, differentiate between enemies and friends, or utilize the combat system from this angle. I constantly had to zoom in and out during game play. Often I found myself craning my head (in real life) in order to gain a better angle. That is how bad this angle can be.

The graphics in this game are generally weak. The cut scenes are choppy and the artwork is poorly done. The lighting in this game is occasionally high quality. One good example involved shadows down a dark hallway that obscured the view. The lighting changed dynamically as you passed through the hallway. However, at times you were blinded by the brightness of the scenery and at other times you could see too little of your surroundings.

The sound effects and music in this game were given a lot more attention than the graphics. The use of realistic sound for the impact of the foot against earth or wood was excellent. The music never got boring or annoying and the voice acting was done well, adding a great deal to the storyline.

The ending was nothing special. I wasn't disappointed because the rest of the game was not that special either. On the good side of Summoner was the presence of an extremely detailed storyline, the abundance of quests and good combat. However, the lack of challenge, poor graphics and horrid camera angle made this game depressingly ordinary. RPG veterans and newcomers alike might want to consider carefully before traveling to the world of the Summoner.

Graphics	5		Summoner PS2 Review by Staci
Gameplay	6
Sound	8
Value	6
Overall	6