Summon Night 5?!
I don't know. To be fair, there was some other stuff going on. I tried a different game for a bit but didn't like it. I'm sure it was fine, but it wasn't for me. I also had to work. I designed an entirely new raid dungeon in Crowns of Power. Or at least the bosses, mobs, and gear. The bossmen (?) did the carpentry. There was also Madden. But...
So, here's the deal with SN5. It's...fine. It's a decent tactical RPG with turns more akin to Disgaea than FFT. That didn't keep my interest for long. I have ideas why, but I found the game to be a bit of a slog. But the battles were fast, and the game was short. I don't know why it took me this long to finish it.
Maybe it was all the visual novel aspects. Outside battles, cutscenes take place over a stagnant background, while character portraits display emotions above text. As you might expect, there's a lot of talking. And none of it is particularly deep. It's filled with all the cutesy and whimsy you'd expect from something like this.
But if you can tread through it, it might be worth it. The characters feel like actual people with backstories, interests, and connections. Even the world feels huge. Summon Night 5 plays off the same worlds as previous entries of the Summon Night franchise, so there's a lot of lore here if you're into that. I might be.
But you play as either Folth or Arca, young but experienced summoners working for the Eucross. Summoners, as you'd expect, can summon creatures to aid them in battle. The Eucross acts as a police force that deals with the otherwordly creatures. Lyndbaum, the world we play in, is a crossroads between multiple dimensions, and the Eucross acts as an arbiter of sorts. That's the best I can describe it.
But your character has a unique cross, unlike any other, especially in how they got them. That cross can be one of four people, so there's some customization and replayability if you want to experience everything. Apparently, they're all quite different. I went with Arca, so I'll be using her pronouns here for simplicity. Arca is a new member of the Eucross, a recent high school grad seeking the origin of her cross. Her first job is to escort an elite police knight named Yung-Hua. Yung-Hua is mysterious and keeps the reason why she's here close to her chest. We also meet her friends: Calis; a gung ho machinist, Souken; a refined beast tamer, and Cyka; the older sister of the group who's "cursed" by a demon. Abert, a police officer, joins them often. There are a few more along the way, some of whom are secret, but I'll save the spoilers. They chase after the Crimson Chain, a long lived group of criminals led by Atosh. There are also plenty of interesting NPCs around.
During travels, you strengthen weapons, magic stones, and even fish. It's shockingly addictive. Another reason it took me so long to finish was because I was interested in the extra battles and fishing mini game to increase my numbers. Love when numbers go up!
The tertiary aspects are fun. The music is shockingly high quality. There's also a lot of extras about concept art and other galleries.
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Plot: fine. There's nothing to sink your teeth into here, but it's worth paying attention to. There's a lot too much "somehow they got away" going on for my tastes. 6/10
Gameplay: repetitive. That might be the crux of my disdain. Most of the cast are mages, so there are minimal differences between them, especially at the start when everyone only has single target spells. The best and more interesting physical attackers don't show up until way too late in the game. I made Arca and Spinel go strength for the sake of mixing it up. They should not have been DPS like that. But there was just enough to keep me around. 5/10
Sound: hard. SN5 feels like an old school budget game. Because of that, I didn't expect the music to be this good, let alone varied. You'll still hear the same few tracks as there are only about thirty here, but there are only fifteen chapters, so go enjoy the OST. 10/10.
Art: meh. Basic, repeated backgrounds, Quest 64 spell animations, and a font that I struggled to read. A lot of that is because I'm going blind, but I think that's another reason I didn't play this as much as I should. But that's a me problem. 7/10.
Charm: cute. It's about what I'd expect from something like this. Neat BPCs, an interesting world, a decent length, and even plenty of reasons to replay. I missed two secret characters! I can go either way on the one ending per game, though. 7/19
The only minus is the writing. I don't mind when the adorable high school girl says cute phrases, but the hardened criminal shouldn't be saying words like "murderize." -2
Add them together, and Summon Night 5 gets 33 points.
I may find this game to be "mid," but I also think it's worth a play. There's some fun to be hard with the characters and gameplay. It's far from offensive. More interesting is that I kinda want to explore more of the world. Where did some of this lore come from, and who are some of these people? That's gotta mean something.
I didn't die yet!
