I remember these games were pretty great:
Yeah, the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series is fantastic! I bought them both new back in '06-'07, and still am hoping that someday the third game gets a translation patch because they're great games. It's really too bad that Flight-Plan, the developer, went under... ah well. But at least there are these games, and they are great. The first game is my favorite action-RPG on the GBA, in fact. The later two (there's also a Japan-only third game) have better graphics, but I like the setting more in the first game, it feels more unique. Swordcraft Story 1 is set on a tower in the middle of the sea, and the dungeon is under the tower. You take a couple of trips to other places, but most of the game is set in the one town and the dungeon under it. It's really a unique setting for a fantasy game, and I loved that. I played it enough to not only beat the game, but finished all the optional dungeon exploring too (you beat the game like halfway through the dungeon); none of these are really long games, but it does show how much I liked it. The other two games are in more generic fantasy settings and aren't quite as original as a result. The female main character in the first game is better than the one in the second game, too. The first game is well-written and is pretty funny, as well. The second game's story was good as well, for sure, but I like the first game the best. It's often funny stuff. It's still a must-play game for action-RPG fans, though, and some people will like it more than the first game I'm sure. As for the third one, I have it, but it's in Japanese so even though there is a walkthrough on GameFAQs it's harder to follow the plot. Gameplay-wise, it's probably the most refined of the three, as you might expect.
The basic gameplay is the same in all three games, and they're all really, really good. They've got top-down exploration for towns and dungeons, random battles in the dungeons/fields (for the later two games that aren't only dungeons), and side-scrolling battles, sort of Tales-esque in that last respect. You make weapons, and have a bunch of different weapon types to make. So yeah, it's got a light crafting element, but fortunately it's simple enough to not be annoying even for someone like me who generally dislikes crafting. The variety of weapon types is great, considering that you've only ever got one playable character in each game (you choose gender, but never have other people to control). I'm not a fan of random battles, but the battle system is really great and a lot of fun, so it works out fine. The second game adds some voice samples and stuff during combat, which is nice.
Wasn't there some dating component in those Summon Knight games?
Yeah, at the end of each day (as determined by the plot) you choose a person to spend some time with, and at the end there are different endings for each character. Since you can choose your character's gender, but particularly in the first game they didn't change the script that much between genders, the result is that the female PC has multiple relationship options of either sex. There's less, but still some, of the same-sex stuff for the female PC in the second game. I'm not sure if the same is true in either game for the male character, though... never played as him. The second (and presumably third) games have more changes to the script between genders, but the relationship system is still fairly similar. All of the games are completely safe as far as the relationships go, of course -- even the endings generally only maybe hint at actual romance (it depends on which character it is) -- but it's nice to have something to add some replay value, if you want to see the other characters' endings. I mostly loved the games for the gameplay and writing, though, not the relationship element. And that gameplay and writing are great.
And £40 sounds very reasonable. Thanks for the reply.
