Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2

Gameplay

The player explores the world from a top-down perspective. In areas containing enemies, groups of foes will randomly appear to confront the player, switching the game to combat mode. A variety of objects are placed in the areas that the player explores. The player may interact with these objects by striking them with a weapon. Most of these objects are breakable, and the player will randomly obtain helpful items from them. These objects will reappear once the player leaves the area and returns. There are also normal chests, which contain a specific item and can only be obtained once. Different weapon types also have unique uses, such as the ability of knuckles to move boulders, drills to break down walls, spears to obtain items from trees, swords to cut off large grass, axes to destroy stumps, and the character's own hammer to push buttons located on the ground or the floor. Proper use of weapon types is needed to solve the game's puzzles.

Battles in Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 are 2D sidescrolling affairs. All action takes place in real-time. Players may have up to three weapons equipped and may switch between the three at will during a fight. Players may also choose from a pre-selected set of spells and items to use as well. As the player fights, the durability of their equipped weapon will go down. When durability is fully depleted, the weapon breaks and is not usable until repaired. If the player has no more usable weapons equipped, then the player is forced to switch to the hammer.

The health of all enemies is constantly displayed at the top of the screen with numbered red meters. Players defeat enemies by reducing their health to nothing. Some enemies carry weapons like the player. When fighting these enemies, a Durability meter for their weapon will appear in addition to their health meter. These enemies may be defeated by depleting either their health or weapon durability. In the case of the latter, the player will receive the same crafting material their opponent had in his/her weapon, not including the shape stone.

In this game, players create their own weapons through a crafting process. To create a weapon, the player must first have an item, called a Shapestone, of one of five varieties – sword, axe, spear, knuckle, or drill. A craft material is added to a shapestone to create a usable weapon; which material is used determines the strength of the weapon that is created. After obtaining a certain skill level in crafting, the player will gain the ability to upgrade weapons with additional materials. This may result in the weapon gaining special qualities. Players have the option to disassemble weapons they have created to retrieve the Shapestone used to make it. The Shapestone may retain some of the power of the weapon it was disassembled from. Any materials used to create or upgrade the disassembled weapon are lost. Repairing is the most important of all. It recovers all the lost DUR from all the weapons you have. It can also repair weapons which already have a 0 DUR.

Plot

In Summon Night: Swordcraft 2, the player is an orphan from the Colthearts clan raised by a Craftknight (a smith/warrior). The character aspires to be a Craftknight as well. The player character, either Edgar Colthearts or Aera Colthearts, who are Edge Fencers, find themselves at the site of an abandoned ruin, where a violent Summon Beast named Goura is awakened. In order to protect their new family, Edgar/Aera is bound to a wild Summon Beast (stray summon) and embarks on a journey to reseal the ruins.

As the new swordcrafter and his/her Summon Beast goes on their adventure, they start to learn more about the ruins, the monster inside, and most important, his/her father's past, along with a mysterious power infused in his/her body and soul. Fighting monsters, going to strange and exotic places and meeting all sort of creatures, humans and spirits, the quest starts shaping the character to maturity and courage.

Playable characters

Edgar Colthearts (エッジ・コルトハーツ, Edge Korutohātsu) and Aera Colthearts (エア・コルトハーツ, Air Korutohātsu): The main male and female characters respectively. Edgar is very thoughtful of others and tries his best to be useful; Aera is bright, kind, and just a little bit of a scatterbrain. Their mother died when they were just born and their father, Graham Colthearts, died when he saved them, leaving them in the care of their father's close friend, Blaire. Unbeknownst to them, they are part of a family that for generation after generation has protected the seal of Goura with the Daemon Edge. Now a power has revived Goura and it is up to them to find the Daemon Edge and reseal Goura forever. Blaire will help them as much as he can, but he'd be cursed by Goura and it will be up to Edgar and Aera's crafting abilities to get the Daemon Edge and seal Goura. For some reason, they have a problem with machines, and are infamous among their friends for breaking mechanical objects upon handling. He's voiced by Akeno Watanabe while Aera is voiced by Kana Ueda.

Guardian Beasts

Summon Night: Sword Craft Story 2 features four "Guardian Beasts" that assist the hero with magic and items during battle. A Guardian Beast is acquired at the beginning of the game, where the player answers as to what he/she sees lying in the road injured. The chosen Guardian Beast then acts as the player's partner throughout the game, and cannot be changed. The choice of Guardian Beast affects much of the dialogue in the game, but the general plot remains the same for all Guardian Beasts.

EX-e-LD (イグゼルド, Iguzerudo):

EX-e-LD (Exeld) the robot, is a "long-range combat support automaton". It believes in logic above all else, and is frequently frustrated when dealing with the flighty main character. When it is teased too much it begins to overheat, resulting in a system restart. EX-e-LD is from the Mechanical Realm of Lorilal. Voiced by Takahiro Yoshimizu.

Loki (レキ, Reki):

This brash young demon is constantly trying to make himself stronger through combat. He has an abundance of self-confidence – perhaps too much – and violence is almost always his first (and only) option. He sees himself as the player's protector and strives to improve his sword skills at every turn. Loki is from the Oni Realm of Silturn. Voiced by Masakazu Morita.

Dinah (ディナ, Dina):

Dinah is a devil who shares her body with an angel. The devil side prefers to be sarcastic and controlling, while the angel side abhors conflict. The devil controls the body most of the time, but in times of stress the angel is able to take over Dinah's body and speak out (usually to apologize for what the devil side was doing). Dinah is from the Spiritual Realm of Sapureth. Voiced by Jun Shikano.

Arnesse (アルネス, Arunesu):

She is a half-beast from the world of Mae Trope. A self-proclaimed "child of the wind" of indeterminate gender, she can hear the wind's secrets and claims to be able to fly. It is very gentle and peaceful, but sometimes its peaceful nature and lack of tact gets in the way of helping others in dire situations. She can speak with the wind and seems to change its personality with wind. Voiced by Fumiko Inoue.

Other characters

Reception

Reviews for Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 have generally been positive. Reviewers have commented that the game feels more refined than its predecessor, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story. Reviewers have praised the quality of the graphics and the humor of the dialogue. It has been criticized for a lack of depth in its story and having excessive backtracking through only a small number of areas.