Gaijinworks recently announced that they will be localizing Summon Night 6 for the PlayStation 4. Operation Rainfall was given the chance to test out the game during E3 2016. Being apart of the first group of journalists came with a bit pressure, especially when Vic Ireland warned us that only three other groups have been able to get through the demo. My gamer cred was being put on the line with this one; I wasn’t going to fail myself and our readers by losing at some early demo like some normie. What I played was one of the most strategic and intense battles since Tactics Ogre.
Combat began with a dramatic set of dialog where the story was setting up a boss fight. A character has been possessed and the only way to save him is by defeating him and his small group of evil pumpkins and witches. So I’m in the battle and everything is familiar, but one minute into the fight and BAM, a member of my party is already dead. Then I decided it’s time to get serious. I tried to bait the enemies to come to me. Since Summon Night 6 relies heavily on chain attacks (this is when your party surrounds an enemy and not only do you get in two attacks on the enemy, but they are not able to counter you) it’s best not to go rushing in to sure death.
Towards the middle of the battle a new character was introduced and with her came a new objective; each battle is graded at the end and your score depends on if characters die and if these objectives are completed. So when the character appeared on the battlefield, you were told to keep her alive till the end. This was only made possible by manipulating the battlefield with another character’s special skill. Summon Night 6 allows players to place blocks on the battlefield to reach a higher area. In addition to this, you are able to destroy them. If used correctly, the player can get a character out of tough situation and destroy the block to trap the enemy on the cliff.
Towards the end of the battle my skills were put to the test; the possessed boss began killing members of my party with one shot. I could feel my hands begin to sweat but I knew I didn’t come this far to just lose the battle in front of my co-worker and Vic Ireland. So I positioned my troops around the boss and executed their special attacks. You’re encouraged to use these attacks against the boss, but you are free to use them whenever you want. My tactics were successful, and I won the fight! A mini victory song played in my head as the rank of my battle was given as an ‘A’. I figured it was because I am ‘Awesome’.
I knew then that I wanted more; I wanted to know these characters and learn their abilities. This battle was not enough to plan out the perfect way to go about the mission without losing anyone. I need more battles. But I’ll have to wait until Summon Night 6 comes to the PlayStation 4 (the game is also coming out for the PlayStation Vita) and is now one of my most anticipated titles on the console. And to the readers, I was happy that I passed the mission and was allowed to represent this website like the true RPG gamer that I am.
