Summon Night 5 (PSP) Review

Summon Night 5 is a SPRG comparable to Final Fantasy Tactics or the Ogre Battle series of titles. Each title in the Summon Night series is based in the same world of Lyndbaum, with the same premise and themes, but each telling a stand-alone story. Lyndbaum is something of a crossroad of dimensions, connected to worlds of angels, demons, yōkai, robotic lifeforms, and many more. With so many worlds and their inhabitants overlapping, an organisation was founded to try and maintain the fragile peace between the each world. This organisation is called Eucross and is staffed by agents known as Summoners. These Summoners are able to form pacts with beings from across the other dimensions known as "Cross", and together they act as something of a police force within the world of Lyndbaum.

The story of Summon Night 5 follows one of two unique protagonists, either the male summoner Folth, or the female summoner Arca. Similarly, there is the summoner's Cross partner, one of four possible characters to choose from, and each combination has its own character dynamics and relationship. Whichever combination, the overarching plot remains the same, and the Summoner and their Cross find themselves embroiled in a colossal and sprawling story of saving not just this world, but all worlds. It's thanks to the strength of the localisation that the story works so well.

The gameplay is split up into three set sections. Firstly there are the overworld sections where the majority of the story and exposition takes place, along with sidequests, conversations with NPCs, shops, and setting up characters and their equipment. Secondly are the combat sections of the game. These battles will be familiar to anyone who has played Disgaea or other strategy role-playing games; it's the standard fare of a turn-based system on an isometric grid, though it has some unique features which make it stand out. Finally, each chapter ends with a Night section, in which a private conversation can be had with one of the party members to increase the affinity with the character.

The combat of the game is fantastically addictive and deep. At its core it's the same as other tactics style titles, each side gets a turn, and on that turn each character can move and make a single action, whether to attack, use a special ability, use an item, etc. On top of these regular mechanics, however, there are some extra aspects which really enhance the experience. For example, a system called "Brave Points" starts at 50 in each battle and can increase or decrease based on character's actions. Defeating enemies or landing the first attack will increase BP; but losing allies or attacking low-level enemies will decrease it. BP can be used for special party abilities, such as switching a party member to someone not deployed, healing the party, increasing stats, and more. They're also used as a loss condition; if the BP reaches zero, it's game over.

Another unique combat aspect is the system of "Brave Medals". These are a set list of accomplishments to try and achieve for each battle. For example, they could be earned by completing actions like defeating two enemies at once on a stage, or by completing a battle without any of the party members being defeated. It's a system that really helps make revisiting battles more enticing, and adds an extra challenge on top of the regular combat stages. Many tactics style games have a reputation of being very difficult, and while this game poses a decent challenge and requires thought to be put into the choices during combat, it isn't overly difficult. It feels like enough of a challenge to keep the combat interesting, without ever reaching the levels of frustration of something like Tactics Ogre.

The overall presentation of the package is surprisingly good, considering this is a PSP game from 2013, though for the best possible experience it's worth playing on a Vita. The art style is charming, with some great designs reproduced fantastically in both 2D and 3D. One of the biggest issues with the presentation of the game is the lack of voices throughout the story; there is still some voice work during combat, but the story is text only. The reason being a lack of budget to licence the Japanese voices is something Gaijinworks hopes to address with future titles.

There are easily 30-40 hours just for a straight playthrough, and on top of that, there is a ton of side content to keep players going; easily enough to reach around 100 hours of playtime for the completionists out there. Thanks to the various combinations of Summoners and Cross partners to see, there are plenty of reasons to play through again, including fourteen different endings to see! This is the sort of game that players can really sink their teeth into.