A Summoner possesses a power greater than magic. With rings of channeling, one can call forth elementals, demons and golems. Summoners are looked upon as saviors but also feared as destroyers. The chosen ones bear a mark on one hand, but the origins of this gift were forgotten long ago.
Joseph has the mark and the power. As a child, he tried to save his village from attackers, but his will wasn’t strong enough to control the summoned creature, and Joseph watched helpless as the demon killed the villagers, and his loved ones were slaughtered before his eyes. Joseph then promised himself never to summon again.
But over the years, and under the counseling of Yago, Joseph prepared to fulfill his destiny and he sets off on a quest to find the rings of channeling.
Summoner is a 3rd person single player fantasy RPG with a lot of fighing, a ton of magic and a big dose of reading and questing. The story is very in-depth, and it is worth talking to everyone just to learn a bit more. It does get confusing though, you will have to remember where people are and who they are for certain quests, and the world is just so big! Lenele is one of the bigest cities I have ever seen in a game, it has 4 distinct areas to explore? – or is it 5? Maybe, if we count the sewers? – Anyway, on with the comments!
On his journey, Joseph will find some companions: Flece the thief; Rosalind, a novice mage from the Order of Iona; and Jekhar, a warrior at the King’s service, whose family perished long ago, when Joseph summoned the demon he couldn’t control.
You can control all of the characters individually and switch between them, or you can organize your party members to do certain things (like set some of them on range fighting) and mostly control Joseph. Fights are not just hack and slash, the combo system is pretty good, but takes a bit to get used to timing the attacks and get high combos.
As you level up, you get points to customize your characters and have them with a wide range of skills and spells.
Graphically, it’s not the best looking game ever. There isn’t much detail on people’s faces, and in the animated sequences you can see that the shading on the characters is poorly done. And the camera angles get really annoying sometimes. However, the voice acting is pretty good, and the music adapts to the different areas or situations throughout the game, making it always suitable and pleasant. Personally, I prefer music that doesn’t override other sounds, like footsteps or battle sounds, something that doesn’t explode through the speakers, and that’s what the music in Summoner is like. I was constantly humming the tunes, right from the title screen.
The storyline is complex, but very, very good. I bet you won’t be expecting the little plot twists with Yago and Fleece! No, I’m not spoiling it. Yes, you’ll need to play it to find out.
And if you’re the type of person who always skips through game intros, DON’T! You’ll be missing out on a hilarious animated sequence where the game’s characters try to play a D&D game. There are also a couple of outtakes afterwards that are really worth your time.
Most importantly, the entire game will be worth your time.