Final Fantasy: Building The Perfect Sequel (1 Feature From Each Game)

Summons are a huge part of the Final Fantasy lore. Whether known as espers, eidolons, guardian forces, aeons, avatars, primals or astrals, the likes of Ramuh, Shiva, Ifrit, Leviathan, Titan, Bahamut and Odin have been omnipresent throughout the series’ storied history since their initial inclusion in III. Other names (notably Alexander and Carbuncle) have bolstered their ranks in subsequent releases.

In some games (VII, for example), summons are just ‘there’, usable in battle but playing no major part in the story. In others (most notably VI, VIII and X) they were a central part of the plot and battle system and it is in these where they were arguably used best.

Espers in VI could be equipped to different party members, allowing them to learn magic over time. The esper equipped also determined which stats would be extraneously boosted upon levelling up, making their usage a lot more strategic than it initially appeared.

This could complement the aforementioned job system in a number of ways, with summons dictating stat growth and potentially teaching support abilities (as they did in VIII) instead of magic that would otherwise be learned through job development.

Regardless of the mechanics, a whole host of summons is always welcomed, giving players a host of different offensive and defensive options in battle. VI had a whopping 27 (31 in the Advance remake) to choose from, beaten only by Type-0 (which had many duplicates). This is arguably excessive, but a good bar to aim for.