Let's Play Summon Night - Swordcraft Story

[Pixelmage]

So, this is a thing! *starts fiddling with the controls and has no clue what's going on*

Summon Night ~ Swordcraft Story is an Action RPG, published by ATLUS, released for the Game Boy Advance. US release date 07/26/2006. Cover art:


In the game you play as a young Craftknight apprentice. Essentially a hybrid between blacksmith and adventurer: Forge weapons, plunge the dungeon to find better materials in order to forge better weapons and then theoretically sell these awesome weapons for massive profit? We'll find it out in due time.

So, first decision, who do we play as? Since they have default names, I'll stick to them.

The boy is called Cleru.


The girl is Pratty.

Mechanically, there's no difference whatsoever between the two. Same fighting capabilities on both ends. The plot is also mostly the same, with a few token and some not-so-token dialog changes. Up to you guys to pick who we go with.

On the same vein, just a few normal humans wouldn't make weapons awesome enough. And there lies the gimmick: Guardian Beasts. As a Craftknight, you get to have a summoned creature to work as your partner, doing magic and helping with the weapon crafting as well. Now, for this game in particular, we have four guardian beasts to pick from, and they're chosen from a (very) short personality quiz. The guardian beast choice, contrary to the main character's gender, does have a rather significant impact on gameplay. Now, I want you guys to pick the beast too! But I want to know how you want to go about it:

1. Blind personality test ~ I'll get on chat when I get to that part, tell you the questions and options. You pick the answers. Then everyone figures out which one we got when I post the update.
2. Deliberate choice ~ I'll make an outline of what characteristics each one has, you tell me which one you want me to go with and I'll just drive the personality test accordingly.
3. Semi-Blind test ~ I'll also tell you about the skills and differences, so you know what's on the table. But the test will still be taken blindly with help from the chat.

And with that, the LP is more or less open! Let's watch the opening of the game!

On the videos: That was done as a proof-of-concept. If you guys want to have videos, that's about what I can record. I can't do much about the resolution because being a GBA game, the resolution of the game itself is that low. Raising the line count would simply stretch the image and make it look bad. No voice commentary because I'm capturing the game itself, not Screen + Audio, so it wouldn't be fun to make it full-video. But I can try and record all boss fights and some of the cool plot moments.

[RotavatoR]

The game sounds slightly Minecraft-y, but maybe that's just me.I think you should go with the girl. She looks absolutely adorable Plus it'd be a fun little nod to the Gender Confusion some people had due to your Profile Pic.

The Guardian Beast gameplay feature sounds really cool! I say let's take the Blind Personality Test, because it adds fun to the game if you don't know what exactly you're going to get Also how would taking the Test Semi-Blind influence the results?

The opening looks... Japanese

[Pixelmage]

Also how would taking the Test Semi-Blind influence the results?

There are quite a few differences from a guardian to the others. While at the end of the day, there are ways to get around their mechanical disadvantages, there are a few differences that would probably make you all more prone to wanting to pick B and just skip the test altogether. They can all be fun, that's not the point, it's just that they're wildly different from each other.

[RotavatoR]

Also how would taking the Test Semi-Blind influence the results?

There are quite a few differences from a guardian to the others. While at the end of the day, there are ways to get around their mechanical disadvantages, there are a few differences that would probably make you all more prone to wanting to pick B and just skip the test altogether. They can all be fun, that's not the point, it's just that they're wildly different from each other.

Yes, I got that, but knowing which Guardian you want won't guarantee getting that one, right? Especially not if the questions are related to the personality of the player instead of the powers of the Guardian...

[Pixelmage]

Ok... So thinking a bit on this matter, it's unfair with you guys if I don't let you know what the options are. So... Here are the four Guardian Beasts:

Kutty

He's cute, he's tiny. He's quick and has Wind powers. His special weapons are Axes and Knuckles. And he can't speak. So, there's no dialog scenes involving him.

Rasho

Big badass Oni with Fire powers. Special weapons are Axes and Drills. He does speak, so we get to chat with our Guardian if it's him.

Sugar

A fairy that's absolutely in love with our Main Character. Yes, before you even need to ask. Her element is Water and her special weapons are Spears and Knuckles. She can talk, so she also has scenes of her own.

Zantek

Another tiny one. Pixel would like to remind you that the robot Guardian Beast is affiliated with the Electric element. Zantek's special weapons are Spears and Drills. He will never betray you, and, in fact, cannot speak. Yup, just like Kutty, he has no voice.

I'll explain the special weapons when we get to that. As for the elements, that's the kind of spell they get the most uses of. I'll also explain the magic part when we get to that in game to avoid massive info dumps here.

For the non-speakers, the scenes that would involve talking with the Guardian are usually just the Main Character mimicking whatever they would say. Rasho and Sugar speak on their own though.

Now, the options are, you guys take the test on the chat without knowing which one of them you'll get out of it... Or you just pick who I should use and I'll go through the test specifically to get that one.

Still open on the Main's gender too. So far, two votes for Pratty. Zero for Cleru.

[RotavatoR]

Damnit Pixel xD I don't think this was such a good idea. Pretty sure everyone will have their favourites now, even me xD

I say go with Sugar. Zantek and Kutty look kinda... stupid to me and Kutty also sounds like a Dutch swearword. Rasho looks like your stereotypical warrior guy. Sugar seems like a fun character

[JackAlsworth]

Gender: Don't care. Pratty, probably, if forced.

Guardian: Zantek. You cannot go wrong with a sentient missile.

[Guyshane]

I vote for Sugar as the gaurdian

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Disclaimer: I am contractually obligated to offer only insupportable or inane suggestions.

That said, I vote the lady character because she's cuter, and Kutty for guardian because ADORBZ (or, in order of first to last, Kutty, Sugar, Zantek, Rasho.)

This message has been brought to you by the seventh dimension.

[Victin]

I vote for the girl because she has a cute design.

As for guardian... I don't know. I was thinking about the Kamina-Oni, but Sugar is also cuter... Hm... I think I'm going to vote for the Demon Kamina.

[Sicon112]

Just be contrary, I'm voting for Cleru. As for the four guardians... I dunno. That fairy? Whatever.

[Pixelmage]

Aaaaand that makes a three way tie. @.@

Ok, so counting Jack as a vote for Pratty, then she's winning by 1 vote. As for the guardians, there's 2 votes for each Kutty, Rasho and Sugar. And 1 vote for Zantek. So, I'll likely start playing tomorrow then. If no one else makes a vote I'll probably just abduct someone on the chatroom to ask for a tie break.

[Lordxana0]

One vote for Sugar

[Sicon112]

Aaaaand that makes a three way tie. @.@

Keikaku Doori.

[RotavatoR]

As for the guardians, there's 2 votes for each Kutty, Rasho and Sugar.

Me, Guyshane and Sicon have all three voted for Sugar, right? Jack voted for Zantek, Qara voted for Kutty and Victin voted for Rasho.

Am I missing something here xD

[eli_gone_crazy]

As for the guardians, there's 2 votes for each Kutty, Rasho and Sugar.

Me, Guyshane and Sicon have all three voted for Sugar, right? Jack voted for Zantek, Qara voted for Kutty and Victin voted for Rasho.

Am I missing something here xD

Votes in PM count too, RR

[Pixelmage]

Votes in PM count too, RR

That.

Anyway, I'll start the game now. Go through the full introduction and then make a post. So... Pratty and Sugar it is... You all have no idea what you have chosen.

[RotavatoR]

Pratty and Sugar it is... You all have no idea what you have chosen.

[Pixelmage]

So... We start the game for real. Bear with me here, since it's the first day there's quite a bit of exposition and nil combat. So that means a LOT of screens and no videos. Let me know if it's too much, I'll try to find a good balance as I go.

[PS.: Since this is HUGE. I'll put a link to the first comment after this post right here once someone posts. That way, if you have to scroll down, you can just click it and skip straight to the the next post without the need to scroll at all. Really sorry about the length.]

Link to the first comment after this post: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1243#p49143


Go go Pratty!


Or... Not?


What are you babbling about now Pratty?


Good question, what's this stuff about making up?


OH! It's WAKE UP, not MAKE UP! Makes sense, makes sense. Only... Oh god what was that noise!?


Something's up Pratty, something is definitely going on. Now, let's run downstairs like every good videogame character and check it out, but first, a small detour to check every nook and cranny of the room.


See? Worth it! Now that we wasted time in the middle of crisis, lets go back to the plan of running down the stairs!


Ouch.


I an alost eel eet. Poor Pratty, off to a bad start. Who placed the stairs in the middle of the way anyway?


snrk.


Uh-oh. Hope she doesn't take that the wron-


And of course she does! >_> Subject change! Subject change! Avoid conflict!


Whew... Disaster avoided. Tournament huh... Interesting stuff. I suppose we can just sit here ad talk all about it.


Or maybe not. XD

But Wait!

It's Dangerous to go alone! Take this!


Good-luck charm huh... Well, not a bad thing to have. Loot acquired!


Moar l00t! Now, time to move, gotta find out about this tournament thing, after all.


Or we would, if weird people didn't interrupt our mad late people's dash to reach the ceremony in time!


Yeah, good one, who is this guy?


Oh! I totally knew that. >_>


Pratty. Weren't you just running late?


Woah, wait a moment there pal what's-


Yeah, you tell him Pratty!





I almost feel bad for you Bron. Almost.


We're here! Finally! Now to kick back and enjoy EXPOSITION TIME!


Eeyup, we get a guy named Sakuro in this game. XD


Gee, wonder why he was the strongest.


Sorry kid. *pats* (Wanted to get a screencap of Shintetsu in, they're pretty rare, after all.)




And that's about why the Tournament exists. There's a lot more exposition on the rules to come, but I can explain these in text as they become relevant.


People won't skip talking though. And Pratty... Stop having such thoughts...


Pratty... Don't go there... Don't tempt fate. XD


Bahahaha. No limes for guessing who these people with ??? for a name are.

<Insert "How the tournament works" infodump> I'll skip that because the post is already frigging long and there's the whole Guardian Beast part to show. So, we're off the long ceremony, and out to see Master Bron.


XD Always running late. No one is ever satisfied.


Of course our Pratty is going to win the tournament! If you don't believe in your self who wi- Wait what? Craftlord of Iron? Not Straw, or Glass or something as easily breakable as the other Craftlords? XD


Oi!


Okay... :s If you say so...


Oh! So, she's not summoning a Guardian on her own? Weird. Given the whole partnership and teamwork and stuff... You'd expect the guardian to be something more personal. Oh well... I guess this works too.


Now now... Come here a moment. No, don't worry, I won't hurt you Mr. Summoner. But, maybe we could skip the Red Tape bit? *slips in a few gold coins* See, there's this little thing going on and there are certain preferences to account for... You know how it goes. I trust that this won't be an issue, right?

Ahem... Continuing... Nothing to see here.

Niiiiiice CGI! XD


Yes, yes it is.


This is awkward...


What do you know Bron... What do you know? *worried*


Wait, what's going on? O.o


Pretty much.


Thumbs up Captain. XD


Hold yer sea horses there matey! Just like that? Business as usual? We got a situation here!


Calm down Pratty, calm down... Be careful about what you do next...



Uhoh... You broke her heart. You know her for two minutes and you already broke her heart.



I... Didn't you just... First... What.

We have a Guardian Beast now. I guess. Yes, focus on the the matters you can handle. Yeah, that's a good one. Focus on the matters you can handle. *mantra* Like going up to see Bron.


Nice, finally we get to the actual blacksmith business right?


Uh... That doesn't sound so good.


Welp. Guess we got a new room. It's also getting late, so Bron is off. Lessons on forging and the tournament stuff will begin tomorrow. So...


Genki Sugar is genki! But yes:


Night Walk time! Of course, the only person we know is Sugar, so Pratty is off to hang out with the obsessed fairy! What could possibly go wrong with that?






Me and my loud mouth. I guess that explains Sugar... This is going to be one long tournament.

[Note on content: Save for that kind of scene and dialog, there's nothing of NSFW nature in the game. If you feel like this is too much for the forums. Let me know and I'll restart the game with Rasho or Kutty. In fact, that's the reason I wanted to do the whole first day in one go. So, specially the mods, if you say the word I'll obliterate this play-through as soon as I can.]

[RotavatoR]

Sugar is adorable xD And that Lubert guy looks like he's gonna be a major ass. Also why do I have the feeling there's something with her dad, like he's turned evil or he has disappeared...

Aye. In fact, she's...

YOUR MOTHER!!
(probably not )

[Endless Sea]

Something tells me RT's gonna enjoy this. :P

[S_o_S]

"Published by Atlus". SOLD.

[Blurred_9L]

I was laughing unstoppably as I was reading this whole thread.

Seriously, everyone did that on purpose XD

[RotavatoR]

I was laughing unstoppably as I was reading this whole thread.

Seriously, everyone did that on purpose XD

Did what on purpose, Blurry?

[Pixelmage]

What you did on purpose? Pick Pratty and Sugar! XD

Anyway, a new day dawns on the game. Lots to do, lots to do...

[Next Post Link] viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1243&p=49157#p49157


That is the question. XD


Excellent idea Sugar. Let's just do that! But before, some sidetracking!


You can rest in the bed to restore HP and MP, and the blue sword thingy is a save point. So far, pretty standard for RPGs.
The other screen is the menu. Obviously at this point I have neither items nor weapons. So, looking at the right side, from top down, that's Pratty's level and HP, the amount of money she has, the amount of each of the 5 types of ores used to craft weapons. And then how many weapons, items and plot items like the Good-Luck Charm and Water Scooter you have. Playtime is also obvious, I'll just note that since I'm taking notes, and saving screens and videos and whatnot, my personal play time might not be very accurate as far as how long it takes to just play the game. Lastly, there's the name of the place you're at.


For the particular windows, the first one is Equipment. Slots 1 to 3 are for weapons and we can cycle through them on the fly in any battle. Given that there are 5 kinds of weapons and they might break, it's a good thing to carry different kinds and backups.
The second is the Support window. In this game, those 4 slots are used for both Guardian spells and consumable items, so, you can only have 4 spells or items available for battle at any given time.
Lastly is the Magic list. Sugar starts the game with Enchant Aqua, with 1 use. You'll see that spell in action soon. But note the 1/1. That means she has 1 total use for that particular spell. Each spell learned has their own counter, which is one of the differences between different Guardians, while they mostly learn the same spells, Sugar in particular gets a lot more uses out of the Heal spell than, say, Rasho.

Now, I won't focus too much on mechanics, but if I I'm going to show screens, might as well show the nuts and bolts at least once. Besides, there might be some interesting things to comment on, or some videos/screens might be of the interface there, so that way you guys have a reference on how to read it. Items and Weapons are just straightforward lists, so I might skip showing these.

That said, we're off to see Bron! Or... Would be, if he wasn't at the door already. <_< Hey, not my fault, Pratty's always late anyway!


It's true, we were.

*beat*

XD


Oh, the people who organize the tournament are there! Breath Pratty. In, and out... No need to be angry now, we're getting news about the tournament!


Loot! This means we can go to that Parista's place now. Greenlight to go on a rampage in the dungeon, cheers! Let's be off now, shall we? We spent long enough without stabbing anything.


Hey, no need to get cold feet now, you'll be fiiiiiiine.


Nope, he gets it. Now let's go stab stuff!


Oh bother... We still need to acquire the stabbing implements. But hey, we know how to make 'em now!


I'm happy for you kid, but he's standing, I don't know... Right in front of you right now, isn't he? XD


Yep. XD


He has a point. We'll have to postpone the dungeon exploration until we manage to acquire a properly pointy object. Let's get on that, shall we? Buy Iron Ore at the shop. Should be easy enough.


What! There's a little girl who wants a kitty?! Clearly this must take precedence. Nevermind not going to the shop and forgetting to buy some boring Iron Ore. Kitty calls!


And the grandpa is ok with it. Mom's wishes, bypassed. Now we just need a kitty, you know, the actual thing? XD Get cracking Pratty!


Aw... But worry not! We know just the person to take care of him for you! :3


Yep, tell the grandpa all about the cute kitten. :3


Happy ending achieved. We're done here.

Well, not really, but the cat is safe. And we even got some sweet loot out of it too! I wonder, we could probably call it a day, let's just go back to the guild and... Oh... The Ore. Well... I guess we can go look at the shop for it, uh? No way a stupid ore will be as cool as cat though.


Oh dang... Figures that would happen. You should have saved the cat faster.

What?


See? Sugar has the right idea, asking nicely is always the way to go. Let's do it.



See? Things aren't going disastrously.


Woah, where did that come from?!


What was that all about? There there Pratty, don't be upset... You'll get stabbing implements soon enough, with or without that girl's help! And then... Err... Well, we should probably go report his to Bron, you know? All about this not finding any Ores totally not because you spent half an hour looking for a cat.


Sanary. Name successfully added to the hit list. 8|


Awesome, this means we not only get to beat her up, we get to do it in front of an audience!


Just nod and smile. At least he didn't ask why you took so long to get to the shop. XD


True.


Also true. How do you expect us to go to the Labyrinth? What are we supposed to use in a fight, Bron?


Pretty much so, you saying this is a weapon? Then why send Pratty shopping in the first place?




Just nod and smile Pratty. One step back. Then nod and smile... Let's... Just do what he's saying? Might be safer that way.


But first a detour to talk to an old man in the streets. Because that makes perfect sense!


Yup, just like I thought. Not gonna work. Let's go back and rethink our strate-


Pratty...


What are you doing?


Pratty.


Stahp!





You're telling me that actually worked?!

Let's just forget this ever happened and go dungeon diving... Or... Not. Looks like Sanary is here. But we can whack her with the Hammer this time! Lack of pointy things will not hold us back from our vengeance!



Don't get carried away Pratty. Focus on the act of hammering!


Yeah, Quiz does not mean Battle. Don't steal our satisfaction of beating stuff up! We've been at this for long enough without a single fight scene!


Of course. Pratty got picked instead of Cleru, that should mean something. XD


That one is tricky... Cleru got votes on account of being adorable. But hey, Pratty still won in the end!


Let's go with yes on this one.


Heh, of course that one was coming up. XD


Lol, nope. You're cute Sanary, but Pratty's taking the trophy home.


See? It even worked out in the end.


A Matchbox? Ha... Hahaha... Muahahahah

Er... Sugar is right, let's move out. Need to find that Iron Ore. And hope nothing gets in the way.

Short video of the very first fight in the game, FINALLY! Just to show off how the battle system works. Also used the Enchant Aqua to show how the spells work. I'll try to keep up and make videos of all the major fights, but I want to stick to forum format for the LP itself. So, yeah, HAMMER POWER!


Mechanics interlude: Whenever Pratty levels up, she automatically gains a number of points to Attack, Defense and Agility, plus 1 (or more, at higher levels) points to spend to further boost one of these attributes. All three add to the maximum health, with Defense adding the most and Agility the least.

As we go further, we find Sanary again. Now, this time there's no excuse! We know how to fight now.

You're being too nice Pratty.





Hum... Interesting...


Yeah, I guess she does have a heart... We can wait to have our revenge. No fair striking when she's like this.


Maybe she is.


Oh Sugar. XD

Well... Aren't we forgetting something?

There we go. Finally have what we need for the stabbing implements! Back to the workshop!


Well, first you have to pick Create Materials, then melt down the Items to get ores. But that's straightforward enough. Then you go into create weapons, that will lead you to the second screen, where you select the type of weapon. Of course, you can only select the types that you have recipes for, so, right now I have Bron's sword recipe, and that Drill I got from finding the Cat. Let's start with the sword to keep up with the plot.


Cool animation completes, we now have a Novice Knife. Pointier than we were just a minute ago, so I'm not complaining.

And Bron enters without knocking again! XD

Yay! (Sugar did most of the work though. Don't let Pratty know I told you guys!)

And of course...

Sanary has to come along to make fun of our apprentice and her fairy. I mean, it's an escalation war or something? How many more people can we fit into the scene!?

One more, as it turns out. XD

Relevant Tournament Rule: We don't get to know who we're fighting until right before the match. So, there's no brackets and no way to predict what kind of challenges we'll have. Pratty is in the Silver Guild, so that Chaves is someone we never saw before.


Good question.


Welp. The guy is not strong and you still say we're not up to par? Way to encourage someone!


Whoo! That's more like it.
Now, Bron teaches Swords along with the plot, for free and automatically. For the other 4 kinds, he'll only let you have one recipe at a time. So, in this case, I picked spear. Until I make that particular spear, he'll not let me have any other technique for the weapons that are not tied to the plot.

That said. This is where I'll stop for now. Go dungeon diving for more materials in order to get all the available weapons from Bron, I'll not do level grinding or that kind of thing, but I'll try my best to get all the weapons I can and to show them to you guys if possible, and that means grinding a bit for materials. Next update, we face Chaves!


Hey, cheer up Pratty.


D'aaawww...