Summon Night 5

Editor's Notes

Digital PSP version reviewed on a PS Vita. The review contains no spoilers.

Introduction

In another world, 'Summon Night' might've become an RPG mainstay. Each entry nicely improves on its predecessor, the stories are always fun and filled with likeable characters, and even the spinoffs have remained surprisingly great. The franchise never really rose above niche status, and eventually, the developer of the franchise went bankrupt. That's why it feels like something of a small miracle that 'Summon Night 5' exists at all. Made by a new company containing many of the series' creators, Gaijinworks has taken the major risk of releasing a PSP game at the end of 2015.

This is a digital PSP title for western Vitas, so niche or not, this is a game ripe for review.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Summon Night 5' is, above all else, a thoroughly pleasant game to play. Every single aspect of it, from its lighthearted story to the extremely well-designed combat system is an absolute delight. It feels like a game designed by people who have a lot of reverence for the genre their working with, and that really shines through despite the game being a fairly low-budget affair.

Right at the start, the players can choose to play as either a girl, Arca, or a boy, Folth, as well as pick a "Cross" (essentially a familiar) from one of four options, two male, and two female. While the story the game tells essentially remains the same, these choices will result in some minor characterization differences in a couple of spots, which is a nice touch. Playing as a summoner in the city of Savorle, where beings from multiple dimensions coexist, you essentially work as something of a police officer, investigating and putting a stop to crimes in and around the city. It's a fairly pleasant yarn that steadily grows more interesting as it goes along while still maintaining its sense of levity.

The core gameplay is similarly lovely. It's a fairly traditional grid based SRPG, not unlike last year's great 'Stella Glow', but 'Summon Night 5' sets itself apart in the little details. Experience earned in combat doesn't go straight into levelling up your units, but can be spent by the player in whatever facet they see fit. You can choose to focus almost entirely on upgrading certain skills and weapon aptitudes while ignoring the aspects of a character you never really use. The game nicely dissuades players from grinding, however, using a system called "Brave Points." These points accumulate in combat whenever optional objectives such as "deal the first blow" or "use X skill five times" are fulfilled. BP can be spent on the usage of skills such as swapping units in and out of combat, and it also decreases when you kill enemies who are weaker than your units or when a character is knocked out. If BP hits zero, you immediately lose the battle. It's a system that sounds harsh at first, but balancing the usage of BP and keeping a party from becoming overlevelled soon becomes second nature to players, and ultimately adds an additional layer of tactical depth to everything.

My only major gripe, and it's a fairly substantial one, is that 'Summon Night 5' boots players back to the main menu upon losing a battle. Without saving constantly, a BP loss can mean losing hours of progress. There was a moment where I very narrowly beat one mission, only to be immediately put into another fight without an opportunity to save. I lost that second fight and had to repeat both missions from the start, as well as sit through the dialogue from before the fights had started. Though this is hardly the only game in the genre to be guilty of this sort of thing, it's an archaic design choice that could be immediately alleviated with a simple retry option. It's a shame, as it sits as a major issue in what is otherwise a lovely game. The game does, however, have a manual suspend option, which can be an absolute godsend, so I'd recommend you use it often.