Got round to playing this the other day since my Disgaea 2 addiction seems to be waining at last. Anyway this is the follow up to the first of the games that came out of the deal signed between the two RPG publishers Atlus and Banpresto. Which was to bring some of Banprestos GBA games to the west for rare apearances and namely Super Robot Taisen(wahey!!).
The first Summon Night was a decent little ActionRPG that did have quite a few fans because of its emphasis on old school 2D RPG fun with quite a decent crafting system, but it wasn't without its issues and did have a bit of a game length and linearity problem for some players who are used to these games being huge and free roaming, but considering the game was from 2002 on GBA you can surely forgive it a few of the issues considering how much fun it was.
Although it did only clock in at the 10-15 hour mark, maybe 20-25 at a push if trying for all the different weapon creating and/or level capping your character. To some players 15 hours is way too short, but there's no denying the game was fun while it lasted, and the 15hours would have been so different on each playthrough because of how the story was cleverly put together involving 2 characters and a variety of different summons which meant there was some replay value for those who were willing to give it a chance.
The fun quotient of the Summon Night series is quite well known amongst players of this series and one that is usually always set in a fantasy world called 'Lyndbaum'. Much like the Idea Factory Spectral/Generation games always being set in 'Neverland'. It is also like the Idea factory games because the main games in the series are usually SPRGs aswell. It is a shame it has been little known about in the west unlike the Nippon Ichis of this world, but the first game GBA game did attract some new players. Even though it is made by quite a re-nowned maker of SRPGs in Japan - Flight Plan.
The similarities to classic SRPG mechanics are still quite noticeable in Summon Night: Craft Story 2 aswell, but because they are put to use in an ARPG it does give them a fresh feel even for a game of this style. The developers have also made changes to some of the systems that players of the first game did complain about at the time. Things such as the frequency of the battles(which were/are fun anyway), and also changes to the durability system for the weapons.
The changes made in this game are noticeable from the off for players who played the first one, but are what players of Banpresto games are used to because they do listen to the fans criticisms. They do also make changes to their games accordingly. Which is what they have done here to make Summon Night 2 feel a bit more refined than the first and noticeably larger from the off.
I haven't played enough to offer any major insights into the game really, but those who played the first will notice the changes made to the crafting of the weaponary and items, and what does feel like larger Dungeon and Field areas. There are also a couple of new options entirely called disassembling and upgrading which lets you disassemble your weapons and re-forge them to add extra elements in order to upgrade the various weapon stats and create completely new weapons along the way. These ideas are much like any recent RPG or SRPG, but the playability of the game and its battle system does have alot more plusses going for it than it does negatives - imo.
The cute Anime and 2D style isn't for everyone I know, but playing through Summon night:Craft story 2 initially does have plenty for those old school RPG protagonists to crow about. Even if the game does feel like a mish mash of many different ARPGs already out there (especially so the early 2D Tales series). It still has a quality about it, a large amount of fun, and a nicely told narrative that is more than decent enough for those who do genuinely like this type of thing (even if its not wholly original).
The GBA is certainly going out on a high, and it says alot for the game if the first thing to hold my interest after Disgaea 2 is a little known ARPG for the GBA made by Flight Plan. Especially amongst the recent larger PS2/GC RPG releases.
The first Summon Night was a decent little ActionRPG that did have quite a few fans because of its emphasis on old school 2D RPG fun with quite a decent crafting system, but it wasn't without its issues and did have a bit of a game length and linearity problem for some players who are used to these games being huge and free roaming, but considering the game was from 2002 on GBA you can surely forgive it a few of the issues considering how much fun it was.
Although it did only clock in at the 10-15 hour mark, maybe 20-25 at a push if trying for all the different weapon creating and/or level capping your character. To some players 15 hours is way too short, but there's no denying the game was fun while it lasted, and the 15hours would have been so different on each playthrough because of how the story was cleverly put together involving 2 characters and a variety of different summons which meant there was some replay value for those who were willing to give it a chance.
The fun quotient of the Summon Night series is quite well known amongst players of this series and one that is usually always set in a fantasy world called 'Lyndbaum'. Much like the Idea Factory Spectral/Generation games always being set in 'Neverland'. It is also like the Idea factory games because the main games in the series are usually SPRGs aswell. It is a shame it has been little known about in the west unlike the Nippon Ichis of this world, but the first game GBA game did attract some new players. Even though it is made by quite a re-nowned maker of SRPGs in Japan - Flight Plan.
The similarities to classic SRPG mechanics are still quite noticeable in Summon Night: Craft Story 2 aswell, but because they are put to use in an ARPG it does give them a fresh feel even for a game of this style. The developers have also made changes to some of the systems that players of the first game did complain about at the time. Things such as the frequency of the battles(which were/are fun anyway), and also changes to the durability system for the weapons.
The changes made in this game are noticeable from the off for players who played the first one, but are what players of Banpresto games are used to because they do listen to the fans criticisms. They do also make changes to their games accordingly. Which is what they have done here to make Summon Night 2 feel a bit more refined than the first and noticeably larger from the off.
I haven't played enough to offer any major insights into the game really, but those who played the first will notice the changes made to the crafting of the weaponary and items, and what does feel like larger Dungeon and Field areas. There are also a couple of new options entirely called disassembling and upgrading which lets you disassemble your weapons and re-forge them to add extra elements in order to upgrade the various weapon stats and create completely new weapons along the way. These ideas are much like any recent RPG or SRPG, but the playability of the game and its battle system does have alot more plusses going for it than it does negatives - imo.
The cute Anime and 2D style isn't for everyone I know, but playing through Summon night:Craft story 2 initially does have plenty for those old school RPG protagonists to crow about. Even if the game does feel like a mish mash of many different ARPGs already out there (especially so the early 2D Tales series). It still has a quality about it, a large amount of fun, and a nicely told narrative that is more than decent enough for those who do genuinely like this type of thing (even if its not wholly original).
The GBA is certainly going out on a high, and it says alot for the game if the first thing to hold my interest after Disgaea 2 is a little known ARPG for the GBA made by Flight Plan. Especially amongst the recent larger PS2/GC RPG releases.
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