Who else loves summoning in games?

[StaceyPowers]

In games like Skyrim and Oblivion, I am totally hooked on summoning—not just to help with combat, but because I like having these transitory extra companions tagging along (whom I conveniently don’t have to keep track of). Who else loves summoning?

[killamch89]

I have built several characters in Skyrim and Oblivion with summoning and with mods, you can get a pretty functional build that actually works and is fun to play. I also love summoning the GFs in Final Fantasy 8 except they can't follow you around and only release their attack and then disappear. I prefer the summoning mechanics of the Final Fantasy 7 remake where they appear and actually help you out in combat before doing their Special attack after a period of time. Bahamut is always my favorite.

[Withywarlock]

I very much like the idea of summoning, but I've seen it done poorly and incredibly well over the years.

In games such as The Elder Scrolls summoning is done mostly well, because on the one hand you're typically limited to a single summon, but on the other hand your magical power is limited by mana rather than cooldowns. In games like World of Warcraft, Demonology-specialised Warlocks can periodically summon up to 12 Wild Imps in addition to four other creatures to control, but a lot of these are limited by cooldowns rather than resource management. Other WoW classes can summon pets and minions but they're glorified damage-over-time spells thanks to the lack of maintainance required with them (see the Happiness removal for Hunter pets in Mists of Pandaria).

Gothic is one of the few games that gets summoning right: you're limited only by how much mana and processing power your computer has. You can summon virtually infinite hordes of skeletons and destroy any semblence of balance with magic. That's what I call wizardry, none of your sterilised 'balance' malarky.

[Fractured_Veil]

If at all possible, I like others to fight my battles. 

[killamch89]

2 hours ago, Withywarlock said:

I very much like the idea of summoning, but I've seen it done poorly and incredibly well over the years.

In games such as The Elder Scrolls summoning is done mostly well, because on the one hand you're typically limited to a single summon, but on the other hand your magical power is limited by mana rather than cooldowns. In games like World of Warcraft, Demonology-specialised Warlocks can periodically summon up to 12 Wild Imps in addition to four other creatures to control, but a lot of these are limited by cooldowns rather than resource management. Other WoW classes can summon pets and minions but they're glorified damage-over-time spells thanks to the lack of maintainance required with them (see the Happiness removal for Hunter pets in Mists of Pandaria).

Gothic is one of the few games that gets summoning right: you're limited only by how much mana and processing power your computer has. You can summon virtually infinite hordes of skeletons and destroy any semblence of balance with magic. That's what I call wizardry, none of your sterilised 'balance' malarky.

I do like Gothic's summoning as well - if we were to follow media, extremely skilled summoners can summon hordes of creatures because they'd have a huge mana pool. In the name of "balance", most games impose too many restrictions. It feels balanced but it's not really fun because you can't really live out your fantasy of being a summoner who can conjure an army in an instant.

[Heatman]

On 3/21/2021 at 9:58 PM, StaceyPowers said:

In games like Skyrim and Oblivion, I am totally hooked on summoning—not just to help with combat, but because I like having these transitory extra companions tagging along (whom I conveniently don’t have to keep track of). Who else loves summoning?

If you are a big fan of Final Fantasy, then there is no way you wouldn't be in love with summoning. I do love it a lot.