Summoner (video game)

Summoner is the name of a small series of action role-playing games with adventure elements. The first part of 2000 was developed by Volition as one of the launch titles for the release of the Playstation 2, and later for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh ported. The sequel, Summoner 2, a year later appeared also 2 for the Playstation in 2003 it was after minor changes under the new name Summoner: A Goddess Reborn released for the Nintendo Gamecube.

Action

The plot of Summoner takes place on two continents: Orenia and Medeva. The main hero of Joseph Ciran, a Summoner ( German: " Summoner " ) is able to conjure up with Beschwörerringen demons, elementals and other helpers. When he was a child, Ciran was attacked. Using his gift did Joseph save his village, but it failed. The demon he called, not protected the villagers, but killed them. Since then, he was afraid of his power and went into exile in Masad, he vowed never to summon his creature again. A few years later Masad was attacked and Joseph fled to the capital Lenele. He learns that his old mentor Yago as advisor to the Prince Sornehan, the king's brother, works. From Yago Joseph learns that he must find all 4 Beschwörerringe to fulfill his destiny. On his quest he is helped by Rosalind Flece and Jekhar.

Gameplay

In this game you control a party of up to four heroes from different origins from the perspective of a third person through a 3D environment. It moves you through small, be distinct cards that are loaded when zoning. The gameplay takes place in real time, with the environment rather static in nature. Battles take place in the current environment ( in random encounters on the world map is a random map of the current environment uses ). The game itself is fairly linear, but has an extensive collection of side quests and background information for each character in the group.

The heroes in the game are in their rough development (class, learning the skills ) already defined as for console games common, and can still be changed by the player, especially on skill points in basic skills. Skill points define in this game, among other things, what kind of equipment you can use. Magic exists in two forms. On the one hand as Elemental Magic, which can cause typical effects such as healing, direct damage and the like for role play, on the other hand, in the form of incantations. It is different monsters which can act for a short time as an additional group members, and depending on the type of monster has several additional capabilities.

A special feature in the fight are called combo chains. Each character in the game has a collection of his own, combinable attacks, which can be used in combat. These combinations must be activated by the player for the character that is being controlled ( it is always a change in the active-controlled character possible, the necessary shortcut keys for the chains differ depending on the controlled character ), and are an extension of the otherwise in Action RPGs usual just click and strike represents system which is used when the player inadvertently omitted intentionally or on the combo system.

Development

After the release of Conflict: FreeSpace Volition began work on four new titles. In addition to the fixed work on the series titles FreeSpace 2 Descent 4 and crystallized according to a survey among the employees, the interest in fantasy role-playing game out. Since volitions longtime partner Interplay Entertainment pursued numerous role-playing projects themselves, the company needed a new distributor for Summoner. After discussions with the U.S. publisher THQ signaled that interest in a complete takeover of the studio, which was finally sealed on 31 August 2000. Summoner was designed as a launch title for the PlayStation 2 and therefore came at the same time for the launch of the console in the U.S. on 25 October 2000 on the market. It was also the first console title of the developer.

After the bankruptcy and subsequent destruction of the rights to THQ's Summoner and Summoner 2 went to an auction on April 15, 2013 together with 150 other titles for a total of 4.9 million U.S. dollars to the Swedish publisher Nordic Games.

Summoner 2

2002 was published with Summoner 2 for the Playstation 2 is a sequel. Under the name Summoner: A Goddess Reborn a graphics and content slightly modified version was released in 2003 for the Gamecube.

Settled content around 20 years after the first part, the player assumes the role of Maia, the mortal incarnation of a goddess this time. Their main task is to restore the legendary tree Eleh, who is blamed for the evil in the world. In this way one moves through a total of more varied and more extensive areas than the previous, because of the rather short time interval, this results in encounters with characters of the first part. Unlike in Part 1 Maia is evocative of its demons not directly as a companion, but becomes completely or partially to them.

The basic concept of the game is identical to its predecessor, also in the presentation and graphics, there was only moderate improvements. In the game itself the number of available heroes for their own group is significantly greater than in its predecessor. The main change in the game is the combat system, which has been simplified, resulting in a easier access to the chain system and faster, more action- based battles. The possible combos were assigned to the different classes instead of special heroes, and expanded to include different options.