XII Ruined Summoning

Do you like the Espers in FFXII compared to other FF games

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 30.8%

  • No

    Votes: 18 69.2%
  • Total voters
    26
I really enjoyed how the makers attempted to give their summons a new look, and new names and stuff, I even liked the airship names of the old ones too... But as has been said, they were just utterly useless in a battle, they had absolutely no HP worth mentioning and in a sense they made a battle harder b/c now your only hitting the enemy twice, at best! They were far too complicated to get(without the book and the web, I NEVER would have figured out how to get Chaos, Ultima, or Zeromus, without the book I never would have even known of his existence... and b/c of that I never could have gotten Zodiark... They were fun to fight against, they really did present a challenge that most of the bosses lacked, but they're just no use after you've obtained them... That's my two cents worth...
 
I can see why they did it... They were Ivalices own gods / things and they were pretty much unique to that planet. Some of them apeared in Tactics Advance as Totemas as well so they are essentially Ivalice's own special summons and they were tied in more with the story.

However, that said, I prefered the classical summons and most of these Espers / Totemas didn't strike any chords with me. They just looked manky.

That's not to mention the actual battle system, which I disliked anyway, which made it incredibly hard to control these things and I don't think I ever really saw what they could do in full.
 
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I ennjoyed battling them but after we have them you carn't really use them effectivly as the battle system is intense and you carn't decide hard important decisions on using the open battle system - if you use the wait system you can do it - BUT then you cannot make the most of battle system so its pointless being on wat. maybe for a few fights go on wait at the start but then change to active
 
I liked using them sometimes, it depended on the time lol
Some Espers were just to weak or slow, so it was annoying. They should have made it so where each character could switch between them and summon them like in FFVI or any other FF game. *sigh*
 
i don't like Espers.. they are totally useless and too weak for me. So i never used them before, except Belias, only to open Giruvegan's gate. But i'm trying to collect them so i will have a 100% ending..

But my friend said that Ultima and Zodiark are powerful. They can deal 9999 damage to each monster. But still..until now i never used them on battle.
 
I did like them... but they lose in comparison to summons from other games. Most of them didn't seem any more useful in battle than normal spells and attacks. I don't mind summons that appear for a limited time and attack like a partner team member - FF10's Aeons are probably my favorite system - but I rarely felt like I'd just gained the upper hand in a battle when I summoned an Esper in this game, even after its final attack.
 
I didn't really care for the espers. They were fun to fight, but they were useless when I summoned them.
 
I um'd and ah'd for ages about merging these two threads

So I merged them anyway

Pretty much the same topic

So...threads Merged
 
As nice as it was to have the stories from FF: Tactics and FFXII match up a bit, I really did not like the Esper's system. At that, it made you realize just how many spelling mistakes there were in FF: Tactics (EX: Cuchulainn aka Queklain?).

I missed half naked Shiva and badass Bahamut. T__T
 
I never used them. Belias the Gigas was the only one i liked and i only used him like once or twice in the game.


the rest i dont really remember. it wasnt like in IX where you have to get all the gemstones and stuff. i love all the summons in IX especially Atomos
 
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The Espers in FFXII take a lot more effort to master.
My parents -- both in their 60s -- have gotten very good at using Espers wisely.

There are strategy guides out there which can help you learn to use them well.

I think the problem with FFXII is that there are so many different ways to win, it's easy to find one of them useless!

I liked FFXII summons for a few reasons:
-- Different Espers are really really useful in different situations. They vary widely. They have strengths and weaknesses.
-- The summoner is not magically immune to attack. That makes more sense than having the summoner standing there without taking any damage. But you can step behind or away from the battle, letting the Esper take most of the damage.
-- The summoner can also INTERACT WITH the Esper, healing/helping/aiding the Esper while the Esper does the work of fighting.

I did NOT like summons in FFXII because:
-- MP, Mist Charges, and Summons all drew from the same well. Using one meant not using the others. (Except you can draw MP off an Esper to get them back.) That tended to limit one's use of Espers, especially since Mist Charges were so powerful.
-- The Espers were ugly. Seriously. The ones in FFVIII and X were so beautiful, given the graphics of the time!
-- The Espers in FFXII do take more work to master and use effectively. I didn't really get how to use them until I read a strategy guide. And now I've kinda forgotten. On the other hand, many gamers like challenges of that sort. How many people enjoyed breeding Chocobos in FFVII?
 
Yeah the Espers were pretty useless to me. This comes back to me not liking summons in general in any FF game. I can usually do more damage with a regular attack than an Esper with fire or something like that. I just don't like Espers or summons. It's almost to the point where I hate them as much as Dean Ambrose. Anyway, I still collect all the Espers! XDXD
 
In my opinion, the Espers are more of a liability during battle than an aid. First reason, they're slow, second, if the summoner died, the Esper died as well, and third, it takes some time before the Esper will unleash its Ultimate attack. How I miss the Arrive-Attack-Depart type of summons that was last seen in FF9.
 
I was unaware you actually "summoned" anything in any of the games beforehand. "Summons" were just another offensive spell and had absolutely no need for their own class. VIII made the most use of it beforehand, to my knowledge, by making them an item with growing stats. Based off of that, what is there to compare?

The idea in XII was poorly deployed, but made summons worth having in terms of a category.

I haven't played X, X-2 or XIII enough to include them in this. Don't know how they work in those titles and admit they were omitted. XI was also omitted for obvious reasons, though that is where summons were worth calling "summons".
 
Pockets said:
I was unaware you actually "summoned" anything in any of the games beforehand. "Summons" were just another offensive spell and had absolutely no need for their own class. VIII made the most use of it beforehand, to my knowledge, by making them an item with growing stats. Based off of that, what is there to compare?

The idea in XII was poorly deployed, but made summons worth having in terms of a category.

I haven't played X, X-2 or XIII enough to include them in this. Don't know how they work in those titles and admit they were omitted.
Click to expand...

In X they replaced the party as they did in XII except you had full control of their actions. Add in the customize with the abilities you could give them most of the same abilities as your party got. X-2 had no summons to use and well XIII ruined summons as well in that they only had 4 attacks really...so yeah.
 
The battling in FFXII is so freestyle-ish that a better system of summoning would be too convenient alongside a clever gambit setup.

I think the designers realized this, and that's why the summons aren't as great as they could be. The fun is in fighting and collecting them, and from time to time sabotaging an area for the awesomeness.
Like taking your god-pet out for a walk :ohoho:
or some shit like that
 
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