Summoner

Rating:
Summary: A Few Features Short of Greatness
Review: Although Summoner has been out now for a month or two, I haven't bought it. The reason is, I played the demo, and decided that the good didn't quite outweigh the bad enough for me to commit to this game. My comments refer only to the demo.

With the release of Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the mighty Infinity Engine, the engine behind all the BG games, Icewind Dale, and the awesome but underappreciated Planescape: Torment, has likely gone into retirement, swept away by the winds of time and 3D technology. What the world needs to replace it is either an excellent RPG adaptation of an existing 3D engine like the Unreal or Quake engine, or (better yet) a new, great 3D engine for CRPG's. The new engine driving Summoner, for all its excellent qualities, is not that engine.

For one thing, the Summoner engine only allows you to control one character at a time. This means that your other characters (a total of four player characters and one summoned character) can only follow AI scripts, which rarely do what you want them to do. You can spend a few minutes carefully setting up an ambush, then one of your non-controlled characters will attack, breaking the ambush.

It's understandable why this decision was made, as allowing the player to control five characters simultaneously in 3D requires excellent camera control. Then again, controlling many characters simultaneously was very difficult in 2D, until Bioware showed how to do it with the Infinity Engine.

Second, the camera is virtually uncontrollable. You have exactly two choices on where to position the camera, and in combat you lose one of them. Ideally, the camera control system should allow the player to look where he/she would in real life - mostly to the front, but sometimes behind or to the side.

Another problem (which is probably not fundamental to the engine) is the limited map function. The map shows a very small area, which doesn't help much when you get lost in the large areas of Summoner. It's like getting lost in a big city, stopping to buy a map of the area, and finding that you can only get a map of the city block surrounding where you are. Once again, the BG games showed how to implement the map function: show the player a map of the whole area, with markers to indicate where his/her characters are.

All that said, there is one significant improvement in this engine. The inventory system is a vast improvement over just about any other game. There is only one inventory for all the players, which eliminates the tiresome moving around of inventory items necessary in BG. Those items which are equippable on the character currently selected are highlighted, the others are grayed out to reduce confusion. At any time, additional information, including who can wear it and how much it costs, can be displayed with a mouse click. Very nice.

The limitations of the engine are a shame, because Summoner is a fine game. The graphics are excellent, most of the time. The 3D characters are amazing, the combat sequences are great, the environments excellent. The chain attack feature of combat, while new to me, is quite enjoyable. The gameplay is so good, I got to where I could ignore most of the problems mentioned above.

Most, but unfortunately not all. When decision time came, I found that I could not ignore the poor mapping function. Apparently, I hate not knowing where I am. The thought of wandering through those large areas with no real map to guide me was terrifying, so I just said no. Those who can stand the problems of this game may just say yes, and may enjoy it very much.

Rating:
Summary: Great game but a little buggy
Review: I agree with most reviews on this board, this is a good game, but...

Without covering what (I feel) most others already have, Ill cut straight to the chase. What kept this game from getting 5 stars is the fact that it has bugs. Even after getting the newest patch, I still had a problem with it. Its nothing major though, just that some areas wont let you cross over to the next zone or area the first time. I let this game sit for a month or so because I couldnt get out of the castle and thought it was stuck that way! It took me numerous tries one day while I was bored to get out and start playing it once more.

The good? Graphics, definately. The camera angle didnt really bug me, except in certain exploration areas (in combat I didnt mind). The playability of the characters. They are a great team once you get them all, and thus start using them to full potential. The way the random encounters put you in a 3D terrain with them randomly placed is excellent! And the Final Fantasy-esque world map is what really does it for me. Its a pitty the game wasnt more open ended, but Im sure the multiplayer mode is (which I havent checked out yet).

If anything I hope this brief review encourages anyone with second thoughts on buying this game, to snag it up. It is a great way to spend your free time, and the multiplayer mode offers lotsa replay value. Also keep in mind the makers of this game also put out the recent hit RED FACTION. They know what theyre doing!

Rating:
Summary: You'd Better Have A Fast System If You Want to Play This
Review: I have to say that this is a great game. The graphics are amazing, especially the summons. This game puts together many aspects that create an enjoyable game for the public. First you get options, I dont mean sound and graphics setup options, but choices that make the game fun for different people. There are many many side quests that guarantee hours of extended play and fun. Between the gameplay time and the graphics this game would have been a 5, the only thing that brings the game down a notch is above view camera angle, sometime this angle makes it hard to see around corners or far off enemies that are on the charge. Besides that, great game

Rating:
Summary: Nice game!
Review: I have to say that this is a great game. The graphics are amazing, especially the summons. This game puts together many aspects that create an enjoyable game for the public. First you get options, I dont mean sound and graphics setup options, but choices that make the game fun for different people. There are many many side quests that guarantee hours of extended play and fun. Between the gameplay time and the graphics this game would have been a 5, the only thing that brings the game down a notch is above view camera angle, sometime this angle makes it hard to see around corners or far off enemies that are on the charge. Besides that, great game

Rating:
Summary: Only game I've ever played more than once
Review: I loved Summoner! So much so that it's the only game I've ever played again - and again. I won't go over the story and the graphics and the gameplay - it's all been done.
What I found most enjoyable about Summmoner was the deversity of the main characters and that you get to play each of them at one one time or another. My favourite character was Flece, her theif, stealth and backstab skills made her an extraoridinary and likeable character to play.
The main map exploration and random encounters were a wonderful change from the usual. You could end up battling undead, fire salamnders, samurai, woodsmen, almost anything, and they all added to your XP and made you stonger for the Boss Battles, not to mention dropping great treasure.
The settings were all different, you can find your characters in sewers, in a monastry, a palace, church, town, underground city, tree-lined streets, swamp and even on a ship.
The combat 'chaining' system is a real challenge and you can't help but become intimately involved in this turn-based combat. Timeing is of the essence and your reflexes better be good, the more you chain, the more damage you do and the less chance your opponent has of getting a chance to have a go at you.
Summoner is my all-time-favourite game and I know I'll be playing it again soon.

Rating:
Summary: Only game I've ever played more than once
Review: I loved Summoner! So much so that it's the only game I've ever played again - and again. I won't go over the story and the graphics and the gameplay - it's all been done.
What I found most enjoyable about Summmoner was the deversity of the main characters and that you get to play each of them at one one time or another. My favourite character was Flece, her theif, stealth and backstab skills made her an extraoridinary and likeable character to play.
The main map exploration and random encounters were a wonderful change from the usual. You could end up battling undead, fire salamnders, samurai, woodsmen, almost anything, and they all added to your XP and made you stonger for the Boss Battles, not to mention dropping great treasure.
The settings were all different, you can find your characters in sewers, in a monastry, a palace, church, town, underground city, tree-lined streets, swamp and even on a ship.
The combat 'chaining' system is a real challenge and you can't help but become intimately involved in this turn-based combat. Timeing is of the essence and your reflexes better be good, the more you chain, the more damage you do and the less chance your opponent has of getting a chance to have a go at you.
Summoner is my all-time-favourite game and I know I'll be playing it again soon.

Rating:
Summary: You'd Better Have A Fast System If You Want to Play This
Review: I played this game in multi-player mode with a friend, and had a ball until the lag kicked in. We were playing on a network server using P3 500Mhz PC's, and at one point, the lag got so bad we had to re-boot our machines. We downloaded the patch, and it didn't help. I've played multiplayer mode in plenty of graphic-laden games (new and old) on this PC/network server before, but I've never had this kind of problem. Summoner is a fantastic game, and once you get used to the funky camera angles, you become completely absorbed in the story and gorgeous graphics. I just hope your system is faster than mine, or you're bound to get frustrated. I'll still play this game, but will always have the worry that I'm going to have to re-boot during a battle again.

Rating:
Summary: This Game Rocks!
Review: I tried this game out on a whim, and I am very glad I did. The Interface was a bit tough to get used to, but the gameplay, combat, and magic are just astounding. The graphics, while initally seeming rather basic, do show an astounding amount of detail, especially in landscaping. Also, the look of flames in the game is just amazing. There are a few bugs, though. The biggest one I noticed is that when you are moving the camera around, there can be times where you cant see your characters through some structures. Also, the graphics can drag down a bit and get *really* choppy, especially if you have been playing for a while. I have a mid-grade system (800 Mhz Pentium 3 w/ 128Mb Ram, and a 32Mb NVidia TNT2), so anyone with a high-end system should see this game fly. Overall, I highly recommend this game for anyone looking for a good RPG with an engrossing storyline. Other games you might like include Baldur's Gate 2 (especially with the expansion pack), Icewind Dale (also with the expansion pack), or Diablo 2 (with the expansion pack).

Rating:
Summary: Has its flaws, but still a pretty good RPG overall.
Review: The controls could use some work, the graphics are obviously outdated, and the voice work is terrible. But aside from these flaws I enjoyed Summoner. It's a good game - not bad, not great. I would give it 4 stars but...

In a town near the end of the game I came to a bug that has preventd me from finishing the game. In a place that you normally walk through to go to the next area, nothing happens when I walk there. It doesn't trigger the transition to the next area... so I'm stuck. I tried several things but nothing worked so I eventually just quit playing.

However, I realize that this bug is most likely a rare thing and so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. But I still felt it was worth mentioing... and so I give it 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: This demo is quite something
Review: The demo features excellent graphics and gameplay that is superior to any Final Fantasy (the game that it most closely resembles). The fact that my cousin did some of the monsters makes it even cooler.