Only months after the release of the first Swordcraft Story, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 hits American GBAs. As with any sequel, players expect some things to improve and demand some things stay the same. Having loved the first SK, I leaned towards the latter and just wanted another story of craftknights and summoned monsters with a great battle system. I got all of that, but while not sweeping, the improvements this game makes to the series were just enough to make me fall in love all over again.
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Once again, the player assumes the role of either a young male or female craftknight: Warrriors who use magical techniques to forge their own spectacular weapons. This time, the setting is a rural and aptly named Cliff Village. The village was built to watch over the resting place of an ancient and terrible summon monster. As you and your friend investigate the ruins that surround the village, you come across a man seeking to free the sealed beast. You try to stop him, but inexplicably, your friend turns against you and helps to break the seal. With the monster freed, but still weakened, you must find the Daemon Edge in order to seal the monster before he has the strength to ravage the world. Several themes and a few classic lines (“This hammer not only forges weapons…It can also forge a man!” ) are borrowed from the first game, but you won’t miss a thing if you haven’t played it.
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The first improvement I noticed from the last game is how vivid and bright the colors are. Since the last game was set almost entirely within a steel city, the colors tended to be stale. Cliff, however, is a lush, green village with waterfalls, log cabins and remnants of a lost civilization strewn about. The next thing I noticed was how you get to simply choose the summon monster you want to be paired up with throughout the game, as opposed to the system of irrelevant questions you had to answer that selected it for you in the last one. There are four summon monsters to choose from: A menacing robot, a light hearted beast-boy, a sexy (and schizophrenic) demon/angel girl, and a fiery oni. Each learns an array of support abilities that you can have it cast in battle. But the heart of any Swordcraft Story is, naturally, the sword crafting.
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Swordcrafting, too, has been improved with features that you can unlock through regular crafting of new weapons. There are no plans this time, requiring you to seek out specific materials for the limited number of weapons you could make. This time it’s all up to you to decide what materials to use in making whatever weapons you want. First, you need a shapestone, which defines whether the weapon you make will be a sword, axe, spear, glove, or drill. Then you choose which material in your inventory to make it out of. Every combination of shapestone and material produces a unique weapon, and certain combinations even allow for special attacks. Using a weapon in battle will increase its Tech, which makes it more deadly in battle. When it comes time to create a new model, you can dismantle your old weapon to retrieve the shapestone and carry over half of the Tech to the next one. Through repeated forging, dismantling and reforging weapons, you can eventually level up your crafting ability and unlock customization. Through customization, you can use an additional material to add extra stats or special effects to weapons. Weapons with an added elemental property also gain the benefit of a really cool looking glow effect. The total number of possible weapons plus customized abilities is staggering, and means that everyone who plays will have a unique arsenal for battle, all his own.
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Ah yes, the battle system: That part of RPGs all too often neglected by developers. The attention paid to making battle fun is the main reason I put this series at the top of my list of must-play RPGs. Random encounters on the map turn the game into a side scrolling action game. Your character can run, jump, defend, and perform a variety of attacks. One weapon might be enough for some heroes, but craftknights pack up to three. Using the L button, you can cycle through your weapons to always have the right tool for the job. It’s a good thing too, since there are many types of monsters, each with different attack styles including elusive fliers, ranged strikers and slow, overpowering behemoths. Your health isn’t the only thing to watch, however, as each weapon can break if its durability runs out.
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The R button lets you scroll through spells and items equipped to your guardian beast and are activated with the B button. Eventually, you can equip a XXXX gem that allows you to monoshift and transform into a powerful, fully-armored form with new powers. This form devastates minor foes and can even the odds on a seemingly unbeatable boss. The only catch is that you can only monoshift once before you have to recharge the gem with a certain NPC.
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The music is a delightful mix of great new tracks and appreciated old ones. The new tracks still share the same lighthearted charm as the old ones. There is also limited voice acting during battle that adds drama to combat.
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The dialogue is uncomplicated but a bit wordy at times. It seems like everyone has to apologize to each other a dozen times in each scene. Each character is full of personality and you get to know them well through the game. Every night, you even get to choose one character to spend some quality time with and learn a little more about them, including your guardian beast.
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Challenge was a problem in the previous game, in that there wasn’t enough of it. This game provides a much more trying time, while not being frustrating. The only thing that makes the game easy at points is that I actually enjoy the battle system so much. I level up too often from fighting just to try out different weapons.
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A month ago, I liked Summon Night as a single innovative game. Now, I like it as a quality series. It manages to do what so many other series neglect: Improve while not loosing identity. In a world of big budget, flashy and serious titles, SK is the kind of game that will be an overlooked gem by many. I implore any fan of RPGs, or anyone interested in trying their first RPG to pick up this game.