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[teiresias]

OK, I know there are a million RPG's coming out for PS2 in the next few months, but I don't feel like paying full-price for anything but Ratchet and Clank, so I was thinking of picking up Summoner and Summoner 2 used at Gamestop or something.

I had Summoner at the PS2 launch and played through it and remember it being alright, but I spent most of my launch time with SSX so I didn't give it too much attention and went through it like a zombie. Then I traded it in.

In any case, did anyone play Summoner 2, did it improve upon the first? Is it worth a play through? I know it's no KOTOR, but still what did people think?

 

[Brandon F]

I picked up Summoner 2 on GC not long back for dirt cheap, played about 5 hours and quickly pawned it off. Not much good I can say about it other than it seems to be a REALLY long game to dig into. That camera...egads it was HIDEOS.

 

[ferricide]

both hideous (in completely different ways, which is a feat) and neither has particularly compelling gameplay. at least, neither does anything you can't find somewhere else done better.

 

[Mejilan]

I have Summoner on the PS2 and Summoner 2 on the GCN. They're both completely different, but I liked both a lot. I think I liked 2 a bit better, however, less buggy, more balanced gameplay, and a much more interesting and fun sense of exploration. They're pretty typical "pc" type RPGs, but the fact that they're on a console somehow make them a bit more refreshing than usual. Summoner 2 is more of an action RPG, by the way.

 

[ced]

I really enjoyed the original, and didnt care for 2.

Same goes for Red Faction, no idea what Volition was trying to do.

As they said though, theyre both very different.

 

[Drek]

The first one was, in my opinion, definately better. It is a very PC-ish RPG, but kinda simplified (in good ways) to make it on PS2. Visuals aren't too bad except for the blatant pop-up, but I never particularly minded it. I'd give the first a 7 out of 10, good story, some nice new ideas for a console release, etc..

The 2nd one I'd give about a 5.5 out of 10. They threw out some of the better ideas from the first one (summoning monsters, not transforming into them), and the art direction and storyline deviates very much from the traditional style of the first. It is still enjoyable for the most part and has pretty decent graphics, so its got merit, just not compared to the better new RPGs coming out.

As for Red Faction, I'd give the first an 8, the second a 6. The second gets some bonus points for cool vehicle modes and duel wielding, but it totally squanders the Geo-Mod engine on what is mostly useless graphical touches. Very little practical use. The first, while in many parts rough, made great use of vehicles and the Geo-Mod system, making it very innovative for its time, plus it had a pretty decent storyline for an FPS.

 

[Gorey]

Really liked Summoner 1- kind of surprised it has fans here, it's usually pretty heavily panned. Didn't care for the sequel; they made it into more of an 'action' rpg, and it didn't click with me. Summoner 1 has some neat locations, and I found the backstory interesting.

 

[Mejilan]

One thing I REALLY liked about the Summoner series was the world building and sense of history to it. It was very rich by RPG standards. It felt like there was more than enough material to turn the stories and various cultures into a solid series of fantasty genre pulp novels.

 

[Gorey]

Yep, Mejilan pretty much nailed what I liked about it. There's a level early in summoner 1 relating to a dead god that still sticks out in my mind as being pretty original for console RPG standards, both in backstory and in actual representation.

 

[Mejilan]

Urath?

Still, Laharah >>> Urath!

 

[teiresias]

Well, with the first summoner going for like $6 used at Gamestop and Summoner 2 going for like $12 used I can probably take the risk that the second one might suck and still enjoy replaying through the first one.

 

[kaching]

Basically agree with everything Drek said. Summoner and Red Faction weren't the pinnacle of their respective genres at the time but they were generally competent titles for that period attempting to take their genres in interesting directions. Sequels simply would have needed more refinement and polish but instead deviated from the path Volition started on in the originals.

 

[Catchpenny]

I liked Summoner 2 more than the original, though to be fair I haven't spent much time with the first game.

Red Faction >>> Red Faction II, though.