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Beginning back in 1987, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy series has since cemented itself as one of the most iconic and foundational pieces of gaming history. It's a series that shows no signs of slowing either, with new entries and media always on the way.
Of the many aspects of the series that have defined it, summons and their associated summoners are perhap𝓰s one of the most central to it all. Everyone knows the mainꦉ Summons of Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut, but their history within the series is long, with their roles and how they are summoned changing with each game.
What Are Summons And Summoners?
Very few things tie each Final Fantasy game together outside of Summons. Even summoners themselves are not a guaranteed appearance, being c꧃ritical to summoniဣng itself in as many games as they are not.
Though different in function across each game, Summons are typically self-explanatory: You summon them, and they do something. The effects can be various, from simply perfor🌃ming a devastating attack, a unique status effect, or even being fully controllable.
Though many Final Fantasy games don't require a summoner, there is always some condition to the act of summoning itself. For dedicated summo⛎ners, it coꦫmes more naturally.
In games with dedicated summoners, Summons are bound to them exclusively. In games like FF7 or FF8, there are no strict summoners, and so the act of summoning is linked to items, limiting the diversity of Summons capable of appearing in a battle but granting greater versatility to ea💝ch character.
NES Era
Though Summons are seen as a quintessential part of Final Fantasy, they did not appear as a formal gameplay mechanic until Final Fantasy 3 with the dedicated Summoner class and a host of now-iconic Summons. Of course, later games made changes to thi꧟s.
For one, Dissidia gives a lore reason for there being no summons in the original game - Chaos sealed them away in the Interdimensional Rift, an aspect that lightly ties each Fina🌞l Fantasy game 🃏together.
That said, Bahamut existed in the original game. Now seen as the head and most powerful of the Summons in each game, he was more of a secret NPC in the original Final Fantasy. Here, he can be found beneath the Cardia Islands and evolves the classes of each character when presented with the Rat's Tail item. It is a simple first appearance but establishes him as powerful in some form.
Final Fantasy 3 itself actually establishes Summons and Summoners as a formal system. It introduces eight Summons, many of whom are the staple Summons of the series. It also introduced the idea of dedicated Summoners, with three specific jobs. Evoker, Summoner, and Sage each can perform Summons, though the lat⛄ter two ar𓄧e stronger, with many classing Sage as the strongest due to its versatility.
In FF3, only Summoners can perform Summons. Each Summon has a black magic (direct attack) and white magic (status effect) ability chosen as random at the time of summoning, with later jobs also offering an ultimate attack. A common feature of later title🌃s, the majority of Summons are only obtained after def💖eating them in battle.
I🅰n the 20th Anniversary edition of Final Fantasy 2, a dungeon is added known as the Arcane Labyrinth that features Deumion, who can summon beasts somewhat akin to tra🍨ditional summoning in the series.
SNES Era
The first title on the SNES and the first to introduce the ATB system, Final Fantasy 4 was the first game in the series to feature Summons as important story figures and eve🦩n gave them a game-specific name w꧙ith Eidolons.
In FF4, Summons can only be used in battle by Rydia. As to their story context, Eidolons are a unique race of people who live in a realm separate from humans, the Feymarch. The village of Mist, where Rydia herself is from, is filled with Summoners capable of calling forth Eidolons from the Feymarch.
Like in Final Fantasy 3, you can gain addit༒ional Summons by defeating them in combat, which comes with plenty more context this time. The Summons have their own personalities and are full-fledged NPCs.
In Final Fantasy 5, jobs got an overhaul and became a more significant focus once again. Though it strips the story context of Summons and Summoners away from the previous entry, it greatly expands it in terms of gameplay. By default, any character of the Summoner class can perform every summon they have unlocked regardless of their level, and can even pass the Summon ability onto other jobs provided they've acquired the right abilities. As in previous games, most Summons are attained through defeating them or additional story context.
Returning to the style of FF4, FF6 brings back summons with a significant story context and grants them the name of Espers. Espers are magical beings that are being exploited by the Empire to utilise their power for world domination, a testament to their strength.
One of the playable characters, Terra, is herself half-Esper and can enter a Trance state in which she can unleash this latent power. That said, everyone can Summon Espers using Magicite, crystalised remains of Espers. These also 🔴allow th🃏e holder to cast magic, and some even boost their stat growths.
PS1 Era
For the many systems which Final Fantasy 7 is praised for pioneering for the series, the mechanics of Summons are dramatically downsized in scale. They are given minimal s🐼tory context, save tha🍌t they are ancient beings that defend the planet and have turned into Materia.
Like all Materia in FF7, Summons are equipped to characters to allow them to be summoned, allowing everyone to call upon them for their ultimate attack. The one interesting aspect is that when Mastered, it spawns another Summon Materia, allowing you to equip m๊ultiple of t🦂he same Summon.
In many ways, Final Fantasy 8's Junction system, oft described as overly complex, is inspired by the Magicite system of FF6. Here, the c🍸ommands available to characters are🍌 determined by the Junctioned summon, known as Guardian Forces (GFs). Each GF has a place in the world, obtained by defeating them or otherwise, and some even have relationships with each other.
For example, summoning Ifrit will lower your affinity with Shiva, increasing the time required to summon her. This s🏅hows off th꧙eir animosity toward each other, which is commented upon if you summon Shiva while fighting Ifrit at the start of the game.
GFs grow across the game with you and can even be taught new abilities with items. In terms of story context, they are, like in FF6, utilised by the military as w💫eapons and can cause amnesia in those they are Jꦍunctioned to - though this is not common knowledge.
Final Fantasy 9, intended wholly to be both an homage to older games and a blend of gameplay from newer entries, follows many more traditional structures. Summons can only be used by dedicated Summoners, of which there are only two seen in the game - Garnet, the princess of Alexandria, descended from the Summoners of Madain Sari, andꦰ Eiko, one of the last🃏 survivors of Madain Sari.
Being of the same tribe, Garnet and Eiko can summon, though only Eiko can speak directly to Eidolons - possibly due to retaining her horn. Garnet and Eiko ea🐬ch have access to different Summons, with Eiko having fewer but more complex Eidolons to use in battle. Unlike most other entries, Summons here are learned through mastering items as th🍌ey are spiritually already connected to their summoners; they just need to be awoken.
PS2 Era
In Final Fantasy 10, Summoners are a central part of the story, as are their Summons, known as Aeons. The heroes' entire journey is centered on helping Yuna complete her pilgrimage to defeat Sin, a ✱👍horrific beast that has terrorised the land of Spira for millennia.
Aeons are almost exclusively earned through the story when Yuna prays at each temple along the way. For the first time in the series, Summons are completely controllable after being summoned by Yuna, replacing all other party members for the duration of their appearance. Being a Summoner is a religious role, which the n💎arrative deals with heavily, incluꦇding the pressure put on Yuna by the religious institution.
Having dropped her role as a Summoner in FF10-2, Yuna no longer summons any Aeons despite retaining the ability to do so, reflecting🥃 how she has chosen to live for herself.
The first MMO in the series, Final Fantasy 11, focuses on Summoners in a style similar to FF5, with summoning restricted to a Job. With the move to real-time combat, Avatars, as they are known here, operate differently. Forming a pact with them, usually through discovering or defeating⛎ them, allows players to summon these Avatars to fight alongside them. Aside from this, Summoners also have easier access to elemental Spirits that perform si✃mple attacks and operate independently of the player.
Final Fantasy 12, utilising the setting of Ivalice, handles summons differently than most. For one, all its Summons, known as Espers, are given unique names and designs irrespective of other entries. Being of Ivalice, they have a lore context deeper than the game itself. In FF12, the Espers you acquire are those shunned by thei🗹r creators.
Most Espers in F12 are optional, obtained through finding and beating them in the world. Rather than being tied to jobs or characters, they must be acquired in the Licence board and linked to the character that unlocks them. In gameplay, they function somewhat like FF10, removing all party members but th𝐆e Summoner themself and only being controllable in the Zodiac version of the game.
Because it uses 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the setting of Ivalice, many of the S𒈔ummons featured in Final Fantasy 12 also appear in Final Fantasy Tactics and are intended to be the same.
PS3 Era
Breaking the tradition of three new Final Fantasy games peꦏr console generation by instead releasing three Final Fantasy 13 games summons work, as you might expect at this point, differently than other games.
There is no Summoner job, but each character has a dedicated Eidolon. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Eidolons are messengers of t🦂he goddess Etro, a central figure of the lore, and so they are granted to l'cie to guide them on their path. In gameplay, each Eidolon appears alongside their Summoner, fighting alongside them or entering Gestalt Mode, where they change to another form to fight in uni🧔son with their Summoner.
Though there are two more FF13 games, Eidolons do not appear as a gameplay feature any further. Being granted only to those branded as a L'Cie, Serah, and Noel cannot summon them. While briefly playing as Lightning, however, she does fight alongside her own Eidolon Odin. In Lightning Returns, Lightning herself loses the ability to summon Odin due to her 💫new pla♔ce as the Hand of God, Bhunivelze.
PS4 Era
168澳洲幸运ꦿ꧅5开奖网:Though it was initially released on PS3, A Realm Reborn, the version of Final Fantasy that is actually beloved, was released first on PS4. Three jobs centered around summoning are Arcanist, Scholar, and Summoner. Arcanist is the base♋ form of both, with Scholar leaning towards healing and Summoner towards offense.
Within FF14, you do not summon the Primals themselves, but their essences, known as Egis. For more information on FF14's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:comple🥃x Summons, known as Primals, cli♎ck here.
The only dedicated mainline entry on the PS4, Final Fantasy 15 has perhaps the most unusual Summons. Known as Astrals, they are incredibly important to both the mythos of the world and the ongoing plo🌼t. That said, there is a more limited selection than in previous games, and in terms of pure gameplay, the weakest, as well.
Noctis, invested with the power of the Lucii, is chosen by the Astrals to wipe out the Starscourge, and so after communing with them across the world, he inherits their aid. However, their assistance is quite undependable. They only appear in battle based upon random condit🐻ions and deal a single area-of-effect attack for massive da𓂃mage.
On the flip side, Ardyn also has the power to summon Astrals due to his connection to the Line of the Lucii, and so makes a pact with Ifrit.