Hunt the Daemon Edge in Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2

Near the end of 2006, I stumbled upon Summon Night: Swordcraft Story for the Game Boy Advance. The front of the box showed adorable anime artwork filled with color and personality. The back of the box showed equally vivid screenshots. As these stories often go, it ended up being an impulse buy. It also ended up being a lot of fun. Sadly, I can’t remember if I reviewed it or if the review somehow ended up getting lost. (I’ll have to do a replay of the game soon.) What’s even more sad is that the series is still incredibly niche here in the states. Ask a casual RPG fan what they think of the Summon Night series, and chances are they will ask, “What’s Summon Night?” I’m excited to review a Summon Night game again. It took me a while to return to the world of Lyndbaum to play the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. This game improves upon the first in some ways, but of course, there are a few issues that come with a title as old as this.

One thing that stayed consistent from the first Swordcraft is the look. The first was a solid looking game, so it was pleasing to see things get kicked up a notch in the next. The classic sprites, the character portraits, the massive variety of unique weapons, and the locations are really punched in. Speaking of locations, unlike the first game, there are actual dungeons and vistas to explore in Swordcraft 2. You’ll find yourself battling through beaches, temples, abandoned factories, and snowscapes. All of this is enhanced with some kick-ass anime cut-ins that make the frequent battles a bit more varied. There are small snippets of voice acting to keep things spicy. The soundtrack doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, but it works. Music on a portable console is rarely anything to gush about and that’s the case here.

Another feature that’s consistent is the way the game opens. Once again, you can pick from a boy (Edgar Colthearts) or girl (Aera Colthearts) and almost immediately after selecting that, you’ll make a decision that determines which Guardian Beast follows you. There are four choices. Ultimately, this means that you can play through the game eight times with none of those files being the same. I doubt even the most diehard Summon Night fans will do that, but it’s a neat concept. I started the game as Edgar and ended up with Loki: an oni-type Summon Creature from Silturn as my Guardian Beast. Afterwards, the narrative began. Swordcraft Story 2 takes place in the village of Cliff, a town appropriately nestled on a massive yet sturdy precipice. There are ruins by the village where an evil Summon Creature named Goura is sealed. Edgar and his friend Ryouga are visiting these ruins. Unfortunately, yet expectedly, Ryouga breaks the seal and releases Goura’s dark, destructive power. Edgar, an apprentice Craftknight, teams up with Loki to put a stop to Ryouga. He needs the powers of the legendary blade Daemon Edge to do so.

While still taking place in Lyndbaum and referencing the many worlds of the Summon Night universe, players can hop into Swordcraft Story 2 without any knowledge of the series. A new narrative and new cast means a gargantuan amount of new dialogue. I’ve said this about certain RPGs before, and I’ll say it for this one: you really get to know the characters as if they’re actual people. It’s something special that the series is known for. Nighttime chats have also returned. These are a classic Summon Night staple that add even more depth to your main character and the bonds he/she forms with the rest of the cast. I can only speculate how much data was used to fit all of this text in one tiny cartridge.

When you’re not reading, you’re exploring, forging weapons, or battling. There’s more, but those are the big three. Your homebase is in Cliff. Here, you can chat with the locals, shop, fish, and do menial errands for some of the villagers for modest rewards. The most important thing you’ll be doing is forging weapons. The massive weapon count in this game can be summed up in one word: varied. There are swords, axes, spears, fists, and drills. Each type has a unique move-sets in battle, some come with special abilities, and all have use outside of battle during dungeon exploration. Drills break down cracked walls. Fists move boulders. The list goes on, and it really helps make the otherwise basic exploration a bit more fun. Sadly, the later monster-infested areas can be tedious to navigate. There are teleporters and shortcuts, but getting to these requires more patience when compared to the first Swordcraft Story. I think the biggest issue is that you can no longer perform a quick save. Instead, there are items you need to purchase/find called Anywhere Diaries that allow you to save outside a save point. This was a bad move. Especially for a game like this with longer, more mazey dungeons.

And while the dungeons do have recovery points and save points, it’s worth noting that Swordcraft Story 2 is more challenging than the first game. Entering a new area without upgraded weapons will likely have you heading back to town to refuel or getting a game over. Combat uses the same 2D action format. Using the control pad, you’ll move your character left, right, and up. There’s a dash, a guard, and a backstep. You can equip up to three weapons that can be swapped with a button press. While weapons have durability, it’s rarely an issue since durability recovery items come easy. Your Guardian Beast can be summoned, too. Speaking from my experience, Loki learned a variety of fire magics, some healing magic, and some support magic. Both spells and items can be preset in Support slots. They can be used up to six times per battle. Near the middle of the journey, one of the Support slots can be equipped with the Mono Shift. This will turn your character into a powered up, Saint Saiya like version of himself/herself. The downside to this is that you won’t have access to the rest of your Support abilities, and you can’t swap around your weapons. Battles are both random and frequent. The veneer of shiny, new weapons freshly forged dissipates pretty quickly in the later areas that have more corridors and dead ends. Still, it’s an impressive combat system that worked before and works again. It just requires some patience.

While often repetitive and filled a random difficulty level, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 didn’t take me long to finish. I was watching the credits go by a little before the 20-hour mark. Finishing the game unlocks a seemingly massive but phoned in post-game. Looking at some game data online, it looks like the post-game involves refighting powered up versions of old bosses and getting even more weapons added to the catalogue. More dialogues would accompany all of this. Since these are a highlight of the game and series, they could be reason enough to partake in the post-game content. But, as you probably figured out, I was done when the final battle ended. Going through more of the tiring motions with more interactions between Edgar, Loki and the cast as a reward just weren’t enough. I wanted to end the game on a high note, so I did when the main scenario ended. I hope more RPG fans take the time to investigate both this game and the Summon Night series. There’s a lot to enjoy here. Most notably, if you’re one of the few that played and enjoyed the first Swordcraft Story, then there’s no doubt that you’ll like this follow-up.

Overall, 7.5/10: Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 is a fun RPG that showcases the series’ important aspects and has just the right amount of improvements.