Flight-Plan, now defunct, is one of Japan's under-appreciated secrets.
They developed the Black/Matrix series, Summon Night series, Eternal Poison, Sacred Blaze, and had their hand in Utawarerumono's battle segments.

This thread is for discussion and play of Flight-Plan's catalogue.

During my 2nd playthrough of SN2, I noticed something interesting in this scene in chapter 6 where ルヴァイド loses his helmet.
With ロッカ recruited, he tries to stop ルヴァイド but gets thwarted effortlessly. Afterwards, ギブソン strikes ルヴァイド with summon magic blowing his helmet off.
With リューグ recruited, he faces off against ルヴァイド and knocks the helmet off himself like a badass. Once again proving himself the cooler and better brother.

>>3776790
I don't want to spoil too much of the extra scenario but Ruug has some hilarious interactions with a certain someone there.
It goes about as well as you would expect. Unlike that certain someone I wouldn't say Ruug has a heart of gold or anything.

Morlin alluded to that when she and Ruug sparred, saying something like "you'll never beat me fighting so recklessly". Does he ever become less of a jackass and find a real answer? The game ended at chapter 16 so I don't know.

Previous thread link.
>>3661677

>>3776836
tumma night

After all these years I finally got to and finished the Gaiden Route. Extreme spoilers ahead:
>Monaty, swallowing her pride(?) as a guardian beast, reconciles the fact she's powerless to help Magna up from his slump after the events of chapter 25. So she calls on her former master.
>It's both funny and cool that you enlist the help of SN1's protags to help solve your own issue. Although it's revealed that Mergitos' demon armies have been wandering the outskirts of サイジェント as well - effectively involving The Linker. I chose Natsumi and Claret.
>Everyone meets everyone! This lead to some funny moments. Forte - Edos getting along way too well. Ru telling the orphans stories her grandmother passed down, Yuel defending Monaty from Elka's bullying, Potato Angel and Lipre cooking together, Leonard learning there is no easy way back home, Paffel taking Akane's job. I smiled like a jackass during all of this.
>Two new battles. Once versus a possessed Luvaid and another against the demon leaders + Mergitos. You learn that SN1's demon king summoning awakened both Mergitos and Amer. Apparently the supposed demon king オールドレイク was attempting to call was just some low-level schmuck lol
>You get to use a huge portion of Summon Night 1's cast! You keep them even for free battles and the mugen kairou.

All in all an extremely satisfying alternate end. Some portions are kept as canon which is cool, too.
Still can't be assed to get through Mugen Kairou. This grind is awful even with fast forward.

>>3776963
>chapter 25
Meant chapter 15. The one with the huge reveal.

Not sure what to play now. Narrowed it down to either Tears Crown because more Summon Night drawn by Ootsuka Shin'ichirou or Black/Matrix (Sega Saturn) because it oozes style and always looked interesting.
Listen to this cool shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPf2q_bPYFw

>>3776963
And forgot to add.
>Both protags solve the problem of Mergitos by sealing him away. They accomplish this by screaming their titles at the same time with the help of all four guardians of Ergo. Very anime. Very epic.
>Apparently Mergitos could still revive and regenerate? Outside of Supreth? Despite not becoming a Geil? I don't get it.
>You get to hear SN1's protagonist's voice!

Summon Night 2 is a damn good game.
I should really learn how to speedrun it to get every single ending. This is my 4th time completing it and I'm still not bored. There's an absurd amount of content.
メルギトス even shouts 「このゲームに終わりなどあるものかッ!!」lol
But I need to get SN3's extra scenario and play all the other spinoffs...

I wonder if this scene plays out the same when トリス is the protagonist...

>>3776977
>Black/Matrix (Sega Saturn)
I never heard of this, but it looks cool. Is there a good reason to play the original Sega Saturn release instead of the Dreamcast or PS1 remasters?

>>3777172
I can see it clear as day Toris joining the girls to destroy バルレル here. No way she'd let that little shit go unchecked.
That complacent grin stuck on Magna's face really tells you he's just listening to his own thoughts talk out loud to him in the form of a demon kid lmao.
Worst part is バルレル is right. You know what they say when three 女 get together 姦...

>>3777172
>Is there a good reason to play the original Sega Saturn release
So there's a big to-do about which to go with. One of those situations where each has their own merits and demerits.
I figure original is best (at least to start) because that's how Summon Night 1 and 2 are.
Saturn is also easier to emulate.

博麗レイム

>>3776836
>>3776879
Summon navel

How /yuri/ are the rest of summon night games if at all? Swordcraft 1 & 2 cursed me with not playing any game if I can't goggle the girls with each other.

>>3778496
I'd say all of them are considering you can get any female character ending with the female protagonists.
I couldn't tell you if other games have assertive lesbian dialogue like what Sugar puts out if that's what you're particularly looking for because I always choose the male protagonist.

Probably not any kind of valid metric but Japanese fans enjoy making Yuri Summon Night pairings. So there's at least some material to ignite the imagination. Off the top of my head I've seen:
>Natsumi-Claret from SN1
>Minis-Yuel from SN2
>Aty-Belfrau and Kunon-Ardylla from SN3
>Pomnit-Lisher from SN4
I don't go out of my way to search for it.

>>3778555

>>3778496

>>3778555
Thanks for the names. I'm not too hopeful but I guess I'll have to find out for myself
>>3778561
Nothing has quite managed to scratch the itch ever since.

( • )( • )

>>3778785
Black/Matrix: Double D Edition.
(Over 25lbs of Tits, Pussy, & Ass!)

Apparently that's the last PS1 game ever released. It's a remake of a GBA game.

https://youtu.be/GKr3g5WcEjc?si=UR9aDHBDuiP1FEz-
>half a million views
Holy cow.
It seems 5 falls into that tired excuse of "it's a good game, just not a good X game"

If only I could summon a real Japanese person to talk about what the prevailing reputation of the first games were when they came out. I already know they were liked but it would be cool to have finer details.

Found this nice commentary of the Summon Night series and why 5 and 6 are held in such low regard.
https://youtu.be/SkZA1pxzTnc?si=n19o8KeVGWVGZu2X

I had no idea 4 suffered those criticisms. They make sense. Akane fans had good reason to be pissed off.
The Japanese didn't like how the protagonist's father was a pompous jackass who abandons his kids. I don't either but I guess living in America I'm more immune to that kind of thing haha.

>>3779734
I skimmed some of the video.
>Talking about SN5
>"You can choose the protagonist's sex, but aside from endings and night conversations, the text is virtually the same"
Ouch. That was one of Summon Night's strong points.

>I had no idea 4 suffered those criticisms. They make sense. Akane fans had good reason to be pissed off.
Does 4 not have the same scenario writer as 1-3 (都月景)?

By the way, has anyone read this?
>サモンナイト ー私だけの王子さまー
It looks interesting.

>>3779761
>Does 4 not have the same scenario writer as 1-3 (都月景)?
It does. According to the video - in regard to that story choice - he apparently wrote that "it seemed like something Akane would do" which only added fuel to the fire.

Even I thought it was a bit messed up. She really had no reason to believe the protagonist's wealth was dyed in ill deeds.

>>3779770
I have it! I've yet to get around to it (too much stuff!).
Judging by the cover it looks like a good time. Anything involving Forte is a good time. That princess character is probably some heir to the crown like Forte is.

Also I wish he and Keina would fuck already. To hell with the random Japanese kid who straight shot for her ending. That's the true pairing and I won't be hearing anything saying otherwise.

>>3779786
>2 and 3 still wrapped
Are those new? If so those are collector's items, I'd have a hard time opening them. ( °д° )

I ordered the books for future reading. They're used, but shipping fees weren't outrageous this time so I went for it. All in all they cost $76.82, which isn't bad considering I was looking at $68.28 for just the first one a few months ago: >>3709648. This'll be my first time reading physical Japanese media, not on a screen or phone. It may be tough but I'm pretty excited.

>>3779812
!!! :DDDDD
This made me giddy to see. I hope you enjoy them!

>Are those new?
I think I got them used. Even if they were new I'd still open them because no digital version ever.
That's still a lot of money. Worth it in my own humble, extremely biased opinion.

>spoiler
That's awesome!
They're 縦書き too, so that combined with physical paper will give you a unique experience.

>>3779880
>This made me giddy to see. I hope you enjoy them!
Thank you, I'm sure I will :)
At times I felt the gameplay hindered the writing, for example every chapter needs a battle so some of the combat scenarios felt a little forced. But since these books don't have to conform with gameplay systems or any other restriction, I suspect they'll be really good. I'll probably read Minis's first once I get them, just to go in order.
>They're 縦書き too, so that combined with physical paper will give you a unique experience.
Now that you mention it, that'll be good practice. I've played more games/VNs than I've read books/manga, the former almost always having horizontal text and the latter vertical. There have been times I failed to recognize a common word just because it was written in a different direction than I was used to.

I've been busy IRL but I'm still slowly going through my 2nd SN2 playthrough, at chapter 11 now. Minis is so expressive.

>>3780121
The first book is really nice. I remember closing it pretty satisfied.

I can kind of understand what you mean.
Even so, I personally never saw the story as ever getting choked or lowered due to battles. Even in something stupid like the pirate chapter the writer still made use of it by showing ファミィ's competence as a governor.
I'd love to know which specific examples you had in mind.

As an aside, I always thought it was nice how relationships in Summon Night are either reinforced through fighting or spring-boarded off of it instead of being the ONLY reason characters get close to each other like in too much other media.
The first chapter 1 battle where you meet Forte and Keina, for example, shows Magna and Nesty appreciative of the help but still wary of them.

The first novel has fighting in it. I hope you're not trying to avoid fighting entirely.

>>3780121
>There have been times I failed to recognize a common word just because it was written in a different direction than I was used to.
Interesting. Usually it's the font that does someone in like that. Trying out a physical book will definitely do you good. The more forms of Japanese you get used to the more proficient you'll be.
Soon you'll be wishing all written Japanese was vertical. It happens to everyone and it WILL happen to you too.

>Minis is so expressive.
The beaming eyes and heart mouth is the cutest one. The dumb open-mouth default expression is adorable too. Usually the representative portrait of a character is some epic or dynamic pose with a heroic face. I can't imagine a character looking so natural and lax in something like a gacha game that places heavy emphasis on first impressions.

I remember reading that Minis was Kuroboshi Kouhaku's oshi so it makes sense she has a lot of love put into her portraits.
Although now he has Hasaha as his twitter profile. Even after all these years and fame he still remembers Summon Night. Fucking heartwarming.
https://x.com/kuroboshi

>>3780203
>I can kind of understand what you mean. Even so, I personally never saw the story as ever getting choked or lowered due to battles. I'd love to know which specific examples you had in mind.
There are a few things that bug me, not exclusive to Summon Night but problems with these types of games in general. I'll give some examples from SN2 since it's in recent memory.

1) Predictable outcomes
>Let's go look at the bandit hideout, but only so you'll see how futile attacking it is. We won't actually fight them or anything --> you fight the bandits
>Let's escape through the back door / to ファナン during nightfall, the 黒の旅団 will never see it coming --> you fight the 黒の旅団
>Let's walk around the demon forest, don't worry it's sealed, what's the worst that could happen? --> you fight the demons
When you're guaranteed a battle at the end of every chapter it becomes easy to predict when something will go wrong. Some scenes lose a lot of suspense because of this, though to be fair though, most games suffer from it.

2) <Character> won't listen to reason until you beat some sense into them
>ルウ mistaking the player's party for enemies, refusing to listen until beaten unconscious
>ケルマ refusing to believe ミニス was telling the truth about losing her pendant until you defeat her twice
>イオス and ルヴァイド not listening to reason on multiple occasions until beaten up (especially after the player learns the truth about デグレア and is trying to tell them)
These can be really frustrating, and often makes characters look dense. Especially when the protagonist is trying to divulge some huge revelation and the listening party keeps interrupting with "AAAAA I'm not listening! You're just trying to deceive me!!" or something to that effect.

>>3780203
>>3780509
3) Inconsistent gameplay/story outcomes, AKA "win in battle, lose in cutscene"
>Enemies thought to be incredibly powerful are roughly the same level as you
>Having to defeat villains multiple times in battle until the story decides they're ready to die
This isn't to say that everyone MUST die once their HP reaches 0, just that the disconnect between what happens in-game VS events/cutscenes is an immersion breaker. Some games handle this better by having the antagonist's strength in-game consistent with their strength in the story, like the Black Knight in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. He initially appears at max level in an early chapter, but defeating him is not a clear condition. You have to flee from him initially, until late in the game when you've grown strong enough to fight on equal footing. Another alternative is having the battle end when the antagonist reaches a certain HP threshold (like <20%), then escaping somehow. There's also the unwinnable battles where you're forced to lose, but honestly I don't like those much either. At the very least, I like for the antagonist to be gravely wounded or unconscious if you're able to defeat them. If you've already fought and defeated the antagonist several times throughout the game, it lessens the impact when you really DO defeat them.

Also, to add to these:
><Character> won't listen to reason until you beat some sense into them
>Having to defeat villains multiple times in battle until the story decides they're ready to die
These can be great for gameplay. Fighting ルウ is fun, fighting ケルマ is fun, fighting the antagonist(s) every few chapters can be fun. It may not make a lot of story sense, but fighting them is better than fighting generic monsters, bandits or soldiers every chapter.

>>3780509
That write-up was fun to read through. Lots of valid complaints. Like you say, them's the breaks when developers have to work within the confines of a video game. Hard to avoid. Given that I'd say Flight-Plan did a decent job.

>Predictable outcomes
At least how events specifically unfolded were hard to guess despite knowing a battle would break out.
Like with the first アルメニアの森 (can't remember if that's what it's called) visit. Sure you knew a fight would ensue but not that the barrier disintegrating because of Amer would cause it.
>the 黒の旅団 will never see it coming
Didn't they decide to escape then to not involve Gibson and his wife anymore? Can't recall.

>won't listen to reason
Ruu not trusting the party was understandable. Bunch of clowns walk up out of nowhere into a place no one goes can only mean they know something is there. Ruu is also a dumb hermit unwise to the goings-on of the world.
イオス and ルヴァイド were definitely dense though. They had nothing in their mind except the mission. Wouldn't have mattered how many times you beat them up if メルギトス never betrayed them.

>AAAAA I'm not listening! You're just trying to deceive me!!
If only they did this during the bad end, haha.

>>3780521
>roughly the same level as you
Level difference in these games are pretty significant. So even a 5 level gap can mean one hit death. Considering that, the named enemies were plenty powerful during my playthrough without grinding.
Could be just a playstyle thing. Still, would MUCH rather have this than level scaling.
Losing in a cutscene is stupid, yeah. At leas it's not a real loss if the protagonists accomplished what they initially set out to do, like with the night escape. Not like they went out to go and hunt down the Kuro no Ryodan.

>unwinnable battles where you're forced to lose
I hate those too! That Black Knight you mentioned being level 9999 is basically the same thing IMO. Because if all you do is flee why have it transition to a battle map in the first place?
I like your solution of lowering the boss to a certain threshold.
Also the bangaihen had bosses at level 30 and 40 when everyone is ~22. Luvaid is also visibly bloodied and hurt once you defeat him.
>lessens the impact
I see it as a way of reinforcing how desperate the antagonists are. Like with Luvaid and Ios. You beat them how many times and they're still after you? The hell is wrong with these people they must have something driving them.

>generic monsters, bandits or soldiers
I do wonder why they decided to keep some of the cooler enemy designs stuck in the Mugen Kairou.

>>3780625
>Because if all you do is flee why have it transition to a battle map in the first place?
To clarify, I know there are some games like Code Name Bakery where missions change based on level. Problem is Fire Emblem (I assume) and Summon Night are all battles battles battles.
I think that kind of fleeing objective works better in games like Reverse Collapse.

>>3780611
>Didn't they decide to escape then to not involve Gibson and his wife anymore? Can't recall.
That was one of the reasons, IIRC part of it was also that if デグレア kept attacking and it became a bigger incident, they were afraid the 聖王都? 蒼の派閥? would hand アメル over to settle the dispute. アメル was also afraid of the 聖王都 getting razed like her village was.

Oh, and since we're talking about gameplay interfering with story...
>Also I wish he and Keina would fuck already. To hell with the random Japanese kid who straight shot for her ending. That's the true pairing and I won't be hearing anything saying otherwise.
^ I suppose this might be another one. Characters aren't explicitly depicted in any intimate relationships that might exclude the player (although there are strongly hinted couples). This could also be why Gibson and "his wife" have kind of a vague relationship despite cohabitating, to not exclude players who got their endings in SN1.

>>3780639
>they were afraid the 聖王都? 蒼の派閥? would hand アメル over to settle the dispute
Ah, right!
They really tried to nip any "but why didn't they just..." complaints in the bud. Was cool how they thought that far and it seemed like a logical diplomatic action to take.
Magna and co. really had no choice but to leave Zelam.
Now I'm wondering how things would have gone down if The Holy Kingdom found about the fortress cities falling sooner, somehow knew デグレア's aim was Amer, and immediately decided to take action. They might have chased the party and taken Amer by force to prevent further conflict, completely unaware of Mergitos' intentions.

>not exclude players who got their endings
It's shikatanai in a game with dating sim elements. Miyakozuki was forced to dance around this fact despite his statement about every ending being canon.
Is what I would say if the U:X Novels didn't happen. Gibson and Mimosa DO marry (I shouldn't have wrote "wife" that was a slip up on my part) and adopt Rami as heir to their family! Never heard of any Japanese outburst regarding this surprisingly. The U:X novels have high ratings on Amazon and such.

I think I'll put more points into TEC this playthrough, I love seeing those BIG numbers. Also the sound design is so good.

>>3781157
Wait what the heck? Which chapter is this I don't remember fighting イオス and ゼルフィルド at the same time in any of the fortresses.

And yeah the TWUMP of the bowstrings and sword swings is crazy satisfying. Honorable mention to the SNAP of those enemy ゲイル and シルヴァーナ's explosions.

TEC is unfortunately not as reliable in 2 as in later games.
Also ever notice how Morlin always kicks if an opponent is above/below and punches when they're at the same level? Nice little attention to detail.

>>3781157
Also
>level 19 Morlin
>level 15 enemy
lol
I don't blame you. It took Flight-Plan 4 whole games until they finally started telling the player what level range the enemies will be.

>>3781157
Wait what the heck? Which chapter is this I don't remember fighting イオス and ゼルフィルド at the same time in any of the fortresses.

And yeah the THWUMP of the bowstrings and sword swings is crazy satisfying. Honorable mention to the SNAP of those enemy ゲイル and シルヴァーナ's explosions.

TEC is unfortunately not as reliable in 2 as in later games.
Also ever notice how Morlin always kicks if an opponent is above/below and punches when they're at the same level? Nice little attention to detail.

>>3781171
I dumped a load of EXP into モーリン to get her +1 move early, so she was my highest level at the time with the others around lvl 15~12.
I've said it before but I really do hate the hidden stat requirements for class changes, it makes me not want to level up without double-checking a guide first. Does SN3 at least display the stat requirements or are they hidden still?

>>3781173
>Which chapter is this
It's the optional battle you get from choosing to interfere with シャムロック and ルヴァイド's duel. With this I have doomed ルヴァイド and イオス to a terrible fate.
>Also ever notice how Morlin always kicks if an opponent is above/below and punches when they're at the same level?
I actually never noticed that, that's pretty cool.

>>3781223
I figured the rest of your squad was closer to the enemy's level because of how hard it is equalize your allies.
The stat requirement would be fine if the game had the courtesy to give you EXP so you weren't afraid of dumping stats wrong every level. It really is annoying.

So in SN3 PS2 it's exactly the same as SN2. No indication or help or anything when it comes to class change. PSP (the way better version) makes it so it's only a level threshold.
And what's really cool about SN3 is that classes split kind of like Legendary Names in Etrian Odyssey. Each split specializes in either physical or magical with their own unique skills.

>ビーニャ chapter
Oh that's awesome! You get a whole new fight based on your choice? Even in my first ever playthrough I still chose not to step in there but doomed then in the end with another choice. It seemed like the chivalrous thing to do.
I wanted to post Binya but this is way too relevant.
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/73917887

Looks at these idiots.
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/75176772

I'm sorry but this art is fucking sick.

I think I've actually fallen in love with this artist.

Minis noises.

minis-chan a cute cute
i need to get her ending one day
she and magna have good chemistry

Dug up my old HDD from my old WinXP machine and found old screenshots of me emulating SN Swordcraft Story 2 from 2008. Boy I really miss those days.

>>3782379

>>3782380
I remember abusing the fuck out of savestates to see all the endings and dialogue. Playing as both the male MC and female MC.

>>3782382
>I remember abusing the fuck out of savestates to see all the endings and dialogue
The best way to play. I pity all the Japanese children that played through the entire game 10+ times to see all the night conversations and endings.

>>3782480
I bet they got real efficient at it from all those playthroughs. Any dude who has all 26 something endings on a physical disc has my respect.

>>3782480
Ironically that was the original idea behind a lot of old school PC visual novels as some people actually enjoy finding all the endings and routes. I think the idea falls apart when they limit the number of saves you could have whereas, PC VN's would more often give you an unlimited amount of saves and can save whenever you wanted.

Excuse me, what the fuck is this?
http://sncimg.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-62.html

Where are イオス's breasts!?!?

>>3783891
>イオス's breasts
Anon, I...

Don't worry, I thought _he was a girl the first time I played too.
Thinking about it now they did a pretty good job of hiding it through his speech patterns, mannerisms, outfit, and hot-blooded revenge raison d'etre.
Although it would make more sense if he_ fell in love with Luvaid. Maybe he still did.

Back then I guess 男の娘 wasn't as prevalent. Even if you're used to it the game pulls TWO characters like that in the same game, haha.

>>3783891
Cute girl (male)

>>3783891
I really hope you masturbated to that character before finding out.

>>3784222
I'm used to "draw a girl, call it a boy" and even "voiced by a girl, call it a boy", but nothing about イオス's character screams "male", right? Am I crazy? Just look at this design, it looks like a dress. She's no flatter than トリス or ケイナ. Not to mention girl-voice is almost exclusively a shota trait, and I wouldn't expect a shota to be commanding an army. It makes more sense to assume she's feminine, not a child. Right???

>>3776977
>>3777172
>>3777354
OG Black Matrix having a hidden Yaoi route which includes a wedding for the ending was ahead of its time

>>3784299
>"voiced by a girl, call it a boy"
Hey, Bart Simpson is voiced by a girl. Sometimes it just be that way.

As for イオス's age, I could only find that _he is described as a 青年 - so not a child.
_He has a history in the Empire's army before Luvaid killed his unit anyway. So there's definitely some military experience. Besides, イオス is kind of a unique case in an already special unit (特務隊). Prisoner-turned confidant-commander. I see no reason why he_ wouldn't have some authority. Luvaid is the real one in charge.

Don't worry anon, you're probably just experiencing the same sexual awakening as so many Japanese kids, lmao.

>it looks like a dress
Lol that's just a long coat. Leonard wears a trench coat which is similar. It'd look the same as イオス if it were buttoned up.

Knights are cool.

>>3784318
You played Black/Matrix? Nice. What are your thoughts on it?
>ahead of its time
Might still be. I can't think of a single game even now that does that. Maybe Unicorn Overlord?
Kind of funny that it's a hidden route.

>>3784299
>>3784332
Oh and to answer your question:
You're crazy! You're crazy! Ios is a boy! A cute boy!

>>3784343
It's okay although it feels a bit short. I played the PSX version although the Dreamcast version is supposedly the most complete one.

>>3784354
>Dreamcast version is supposedly the most complete one
That's what I read as well. I think it's one of those situations where you can only appreciate the version differences if you experienced the first OG Saturn one.
It being short is all the more reason to try them all. Good to know, thanks.

Just found a good writeup. 長文失礼.
>■SS(セガサターン)版 『BLACK/MATRIX』
・イラストがつちやきょうこさん
・ドット絵のちびキャラと表情絵
・選ばなかったご主人様は登場しない

>■DC(ドリームキャスト)版 『BLACK/MATRIX A/D』
・イラストの差し替え
・ドットのちびキャラ廃止
・アニメーション追加
・SS版のBGMをアレンジ、差し替え
・ストーリーの補足と追加
・EDの変更と追加
・一章の充実
・選ばなかったご主人様もストーリーに関わってくる

>■PS(プレイステーション)版 『BLACK/MATRIX+』
・内容はDC版とほぼ同じ
・イラストがつちやきょうこさんに戻る
・ちびキャラが復活
・アニメーションからCGムービーに差し替え
・DC版のBGMを差し替え(おそらく一番曲数
少ない)
・DC版で充実していた一章が淡白になり、一部(カイン、ファウスト)イベントカット

>こうして見るとDC版が一番良さそうに見えますが、DC版は二章から立ち絵と会話だけで話が進むようになるので状況がわかりにくいのが難点だと思います。それと鎧のデザインがちょっと…。

>総合的に見て、SS版が一番かなと思いました。
最後の話の流れが自然で曲も多くて、一章の会話もPS版より多いように感じたので楽しめると思います。
http://timecry.blog111.fc2.com/blog-entry-302.html

>>3784354
>Dreamcast version is supposedly the most complete one
That's what I read as well. I think it's one of those situations where you can only appreciate the version differences if you experienced the first OG Saturn one.
It being short is all the more reason to try them all. Good to know, thanks.

Just found a good writeup. 長文失礼:
>■SS(セガサターン)版 『BLACK/MATRIX』
>・イラストがつちやきょうこさん
>・ドット絵のちびキャラと表情絵
>・選ばなかったご主人様は登場しない

>■DC(ドリームキャスト)版 『BLACK/MATRIX A/D』
>・イラストの差し替え
>・ドットのちびキャラ廃止
>・アニメーション追加
>・SS版のBGMをアレンジ、差し替え
>・ストーリーの補足と追加
>・EDの変更と追加
>・一章の充実
>・選ばなかったご主人様もストーリーに関わってくる

>■PS(プレイステーション)版 『BLACK/MATRIX+』
>・内容はDC版とほぼ同じ
>・イラストがつちやきょうこさんに戻る
>・ちびキャラが復活
>・アニメーションからCGムービーに差し替え
>・DC版のBGMを差し替え(おそらく一番曲数少ない)
>・DC版で充実していた一章が淡白になり、一部(カイン、ファウスト)イベントカット

>こうして見るとDC版が一番良さそうに見えますが、DC版は二章から立ち絵と会話だけで話が進むようになるので状況がわかりにくいのが難点だと思います。それと鎧のデザインがちょっと…。

>総合的に見て、SS版が一番かなと思いました。
>最後の話の流れが自然で曲も多くて、一章の会話もPS版より多いように感じたので楽しめると思います。
http://timecry.blog111.fc2.com/blog-entry-302.html

>>3784332
>As for イオス's age, I could only find that he is described as a 青年 - so not a child.
レナード calls him a "小僧", and I feel like I can remember フォルテ calling him a brat or something in chapter 5, but I don't remember exactly what word he used.

>>3784366
Leonard's an old ojisan. I bet he called Magna, Rokka, Ruug, and even Forte a 小僧 too. Can't remember exactly but I really wouldn't be surprised if the dialogue proves this. Coming from old people it's more of a chiding moniker. Minis called Kelma an old hag too despite being hot.

That's just how I see it anyway. In reality Ios is likely similar in age to the protagonists.

>>3784371
Looks can be deceiving, I guess...

>>3784377
Indeed.

Was looking through my screenshots to see if I saved anything with Leonard referring to other characters. I couldn't but I found this instead.
Ruug really is great. I never would have bothered reading any of the brothers' night conversations ever if it wasn't for Anonymous showing me they could be interesting.

Very funny line. Applies to all video games.

>>3784394
>I never would have bothered reading any of the brothers' night conversations ever if it wasn't for Anonymous showing me they could be interesting.
Just リューグ.
ロッカ is still boring

i don't speak nipponese though and there is not translation

>they developed kusoge, kusoge, kusoge and kusoge
Wow they're about as amazing as Idea Factory

>>3784585
Not all of Flight plans stuff is nip only...just basically 95 percent of it.

>>3784510
The only thing kusoge about Summon Night is how you can't choose all 4 Guardian Beasts at once.

These are the kinds of morons we're dealing with.
>I chose the girl named Triss. She’s a member of the Blue-something Summoning Guild but they treat her like trash for no good reason.
>Why do Triss & co. throw everything away to protect a girl they only met five seconds ago? And will the girl with amnesia ever get her memory back?! (Shockingly enough, the answer is no.)

They lack the simple ability to pay any attention and get mad when they can't read. I'd link the review this is from but I don't want to give that guy's page any hits.

>>3784585
The first 2 Swordcraft Story games are translated.

>>3784786
>I'd link the review this is from but I don't want to give that guy's page any hits.
Too bad, I found it by Googling the first sentence you posted. The reviewer has pretty shit taste if he thinks the art is ugly, and it sounds like he gave up reading beyond the first few chapters and skipped straight to the battles. No wonder he was bored.

>>3784786
This sounds familiar but it's not ringing a bell, ah well

If you want to see some more wild japanese reviews for SN here you go

https://www.joko.jp/ps2/review/ti670.html

https://www.joko.jp/ps2/review/ti2090.html

>>3784810
>ロリキャラにどう反応しろと?気持ち悪さがにじみ出ている作品
Wow what a weird thing to say. Guess this is Japan's version of reddit?
Seems a lot of those reviews are based on comparisons to 2 which isn't entirely fair.
Any Japanese game I'm interested in I always go to https://w.atwiki.jp/gcmatome/pages/5889.html
where they detail each good and bad point then give a simple 良作 if it's worth playing or not.
Fan art production speaks louder than any review - good or bad - though. Thanks for those links, they were very interesting.

>>3784809
I realized after the fact I could have just linked the article on wayback machine.
>thinks art is ugly, gave up reading, skipped straight to the battles
I'm a bit bewildered how people like this can exist. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but, like, is it really worth respecting if they don't even respect the thing they're reviewing? This guy even played the DS port with the Brave system, meaning he completely ignored any component that could have made the battles more interesting. With that kind of mindset, I wonder what kinds of games he even likes?

>posting 宇都屁ぷ
You looked through his art! His expressive faces are amazing aren't they (pic not related lol)? For a Japanese guy he leans closer to a Western comic style and I think that's awesome. It's like a blend of both.
I'd upload his entire portfolio at once if 4chan let me.

Made my own patchwork review of 3 built from comments pilfered in those above links.
>シミュレ-ションゲ-ムとしては、それなりに楽しめた作品でした。>SRPGとしては特に穴のないつくり。
>このシリ-ズはほのぼのスト-リ-が売り。主人公が偽善者ですが、ガンダムSEEDシリ-ズ、TOLのキャラ達の偽善ぶりに比べたら全然マシ。(lmao this comment)
>3は会話速度、戦闘中の移動の速さ、召喚術のショ-トカット(これが一番良かった)など良くなっています!
>キャラの魅力も前作に引けを取りません、戦闘に勝利するとキャラが勝ち台詞を喋るのも◎。グラフィックやOPム-ビが綺麗で音楽もいい。キャラ個別EDのグラフィックモ-ド追加。召喚モ-ションがキャンセルできるのも◎。
>スト-リ-はまあゲ-ムだしこんなもんじゃないの?前作の熱烈ファンにとっては賛否両論。シナリオも狭い島の中だけで閉塞感がある。
>こんなにクリアするのに時間がかかるのに何度もやれるゲ-ムはそうないと思います

also
>自分のRPGの作戦は肉を切らせて骨をたつだったので味方めちゃくちゃ死んだ&抜剣覚醒やりまくってたら話の途中で変なエンディングになっちゃいました
Lmao. Play like an idiot and see what happens.

Now I'm interested how Summon Night 2 anon would review Summon Night 2.

Amazon usually has trustworthy game reviews.

This sounds like a cheesy pickup line but is actually a massive spoiler. Funny how that works...

Favorite weapon type in the Swordcraft Story games?

>>3786118
AXE
Big damage, big stun, swings can hit flying enemies. It had good synergy with a lot of skills like pierce, too.

On my 2nd playthrough when I got to the massive lore dumps around the beginning of disc 2, I started skipping dialogue. I was expecting the same event in chapter 23 where キュラー tries to transform the protagonist, but apparently each guardian beast has their own event that chapter, which is pretty cool.

I'd like to see レオルド and レシィ's at some point.

This time, I got the partner ending with アメル. I knew it'd be different from the guardian beast ending, but honestly I was expecting it to be a little more different. It plays out very similarly, except instead of merely stopping the miasma, アメル uses her powers to create a tree(?) to absorb and purify the miasma for a year, then wakes up naked with seemingly no memory of what just happened. I'm not a big fan of weird magical stuff, but this ending did have a touching reunion going for it so that's nice.

Now I'm wondering how ネスティ's ending plays out. I had assumed the partner endings would be largely the same, much like SN1, but it makes a lot more sense for the "豊富の天使" to do the whole tree thing than it does for ネスティ, who is essentially a cyborg. Does he erect some giant air filter machine tower instead? I'll have to look up his ending later.

...and then I jumped straight into 番外編. My books arrived early so I'm trying to finish this weekend, preferably. It's fun to see the SN1 characters' reaction to seeing モナティ for the first time, like "what the hell are you doing here?" except for シオン who fucking GASLIGHTS HER. モナティ is so damn cute.

(Video is a spoiler, no spoiler tag because it would break the sound extension, prease undahstand)

>>3787957
Monaty's CUTE should not be spoilered desu no. Everyone needs to know how cute she is desu no.
I wish I saved a recording of any of the times she went はぇ?because hearing that has the same effect of squeezing a stressball.
Monaty's meeting everyone was great. I especially loved her reunion with Minis.
Also Summon Night is the second time Sugita is featured in a game with an うにゅう~っ子 .
Monaty is a better ninja than Shion because she never once believes his lie.
>no spoiler tag because it would break the sound extension
I don't know how to get sound to work for those. I never heard your sound files a single time.

>>3787919
>apparently each guardian beast has their own event that chapter
Yep.
レシィ growns horns and レオルド gets an upgrade.
バルレル's transformation makes the most sense even though Hasaha has the best one.

>>3787943
>アメル ending
Her ending struck me as totally different from the regular Guardian beast one considering no one dies in those. Amer's was very bittersweet and a bitter conclusion to the sins of the past. Thought it was very poetic how they end up treading the same fateful path their ancestors took.
>weird magical stuff
But the whole game is weird magical stuff. Trees purifying the air isn't too weird. It's what trees do, after all. There are weirder things in Summon Night like the magical contracts and compulsory world emigration.
IIRC Nesty hacks into a weakened 機械魔メルギトス and sacrifices himself that way which is fucking awesome.

Also can we talk about how good the ending theme is? It's so melancholy in lyrics and tone and the note progression hits hard when the drums kick in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnf9JwX9n7E
The ghostly howling and fiddle make me think of some celtc+bluegrass fusion. Never heard anything like it in a game before.
I've heard the style outside of games with bands like Fleetwood Mac and The Doobie Brothers. Maybe this song is their unholy Japanese baby lol.

>>3788117
>I don't know how to get sound to work for those. I never heard your sound files a single time.
Unfortunate, but I can't blame you. I do however blame 4chan for arbitrarily restricting audio on all but two boards.

Extension page is here: https://github.com/rcc11/4chan-sounds-player/releases
You'll need an extension manager like greasemonkey / tampermonkey / violentmonkey first. Alternatively I think 4chanX supports sound posts by default, but I don't use it. Also most sound posts won't work if you can't access catmoe.moe for whatever reason (I've heard some ISPs block it).

>>3788117
>Also Summon Night is the second time Sugita is featured in a game with an うにゅう~っ子 .
The original Summon Night is the 2nd time? What was the first?
>>3788124
>But the whole game is weird magical stuff. [...] There are weirder things in Summon Night like the magical contracts and compulsory world emigration.
Summoning magic at least seems to follow a set of rules, which is good. Casters can summon one creature from 4 different worlds (with exceptions), who are then bound by contract into obedience until returned to their original world by the caster. The games seem pretty consistent about this, and even explained summoning magic's invention and origins which was cool. But too often, "magic" is just a plot device to skip the technical stuff and go straight to the writer's desired result, which can be immersion-breaking. The world starts to feel less real and more like one that exists just for the story. For example the bit about the angel's soul fragmenting and manifesting itself as baby アメル wrapped in leaves. I know reincarnation exists in the Summon Night world, but I assume reincarnated babies are born to a mother, they don't just appear. As for the tree in アメル's ending, I accept her having the power to quickly grow it, and in doing so overexerting herself and dying... but did the tree regrow her body a year later, like a fruit? Or was she still alive (but unconscious) inside the tree the whole time? And what was with that telepathic voice? Only マグナ could hear it, and technically アメル wasn't even awake yet, so who was speaking to him in アメル's voice? The tree? Was アメル herself AND the tree? Did her soul fragment AGAIN??
...Nitpicks like this start to weigh on me.

>IIRC Nesty hacks into a weakened 機械魔メルギトス and sacrifices himself that way which is fucking awesome.
∑(;°Д°) That does sound much more awesome than アメル's ending.

>>3788323
>I think 4chanX supports sound posts by default
I do have that installed but it never plays sounds for me. Thanks for the links. I'll finally be able to hear Monaty's important はぇ? now.
レビット power must all be contained in their hats. I can't believe Monaty is the same species as this thing.

>>3788358
>The original Summon Night is the 2nd time?
You're right, my bad. I conflated both games together like one big happy family because of 2's gaiden end.
Summon Night 1 (1/00) being the first, SN2 being the second, and Kanon being the 3rd. I say 3rd because I believe Kanon was not voiced until the console releases (9/00) despite the initial Windows 1999 release.
Pictured: the うにゅう girl in question. Not to be confused with the うぐぅ girl.

Ahem, onto Summon Night:
I do like the Summoning laws and think they're cool, don't get me wrong. It's just that they can all be swept up under the umbrella of "magic bullshit".
The only thing I don't like is that seemingly any creature can't be summoned out of their life at will with no warning. Like that has to affect their day-to-day and culture in some form.
Although I guess the combined population of 4 outer worlds waaaaay outnumbers the amount Human Summoners can reasonably contain despite all the Summonite Stones in circulation. They do seem pretty rare in-universe.
I also remember it being explained that it takes a great deal of magic (which is explained as life energy brought about by the soul cycle which is also cool) to bind a Summoned creature permanently.
>consistent
Consistency and persistence is always appreciated when it comes to fantasy.
>but I assume reincarnated babies are born to a mother, they don't just appear
My headcanon is that only applies to non-divine beings. What do you think?
>Was アメル herself AND the tree?
!!!
Yes! This is explained in the U:X books. Exclusive supplementary media lore is kind of lame but it turns out Amer is basically the tree's avatar - a projection. Tree goes down, she does too.

I like how you have nitpicks. Means you care enough to nitpick.

>>3788358
>The original Summon Night is the 2nd time?
You're right, my bad. I conflated both games together like one big happy family because of 2's gaiden end.
Summon Night 1 (1/00) being the first, SN2 being the second, and Kanon being the 3rd. I say 3rd because I believe Kanon was not voiced until the console releases (9/00) despite the initial Windows 1999 release.
Pictured: the うにゅう girl in question. Not to be confused with the うぐぅ girl.

Ahem, onto Summon Night:
I do like the Summoning laws and think they're cool, don't get me wrong. It's just that it can all be swept up under the umbrella of "magic bullshit".
The only thing I don't like is that seemingly any creature can be summoned out of their life at will with no warning. Like that has to affect their day-to-day and culture in some form.
Although I guess the combined population of 4 outer worlds waaaaay outnumbers the amount Human Summoners can reasonably contain despite all the Summonite Stones in circulation. They do seem pretty rare in-universe.
I also remember it being explained that it takes a great deal of magic (which is explained as life energy brought about by the soul cycle which is also cool) to bind a Summoned creature permanently.
>consistent
Consistency and persistence is always appreciated when it comes to fantasy.
>but I assume reincarnated babies are born to a mother, they don't just appear
My headcanon is that only applies to non-divine beings. What do you think?
>Was アメル herself AND the tree?
!!!
Yes! This is explained in the U:X books. Exclusive supplementary media lore is kind of lame but it turns out Amer is basically the tree's avatar - a projection. Tree goes down, she does too.

I like how you have nitpicks. Means you care enough to nitpick.

>>3787957
>My books arrived early
Somehow missed this.
Enjoy!
It's only one scene of many but you might get a little more enjoyment out of the gaiden part if you read 帰るべき場所へ first. It's a short book. Took me an afternoon to beat so maybe it's worth considering.

>>3788499
>My headcanon is that only applies to non-divine beings. What do you think?
Now that I think about it none of the rules of the 4 worlds are known, so a lot could be explained by that. According to メルギトス in the bad ending, demons (and angels, I assume) are immortal in サプレス, and if they're immortal there's no need for anyone to give birth. So アメル sort of "regrowing" instead of reincarnating via rebirth kind of makes sense. Maybe they constantly regenerate with サプレス energy (or whatever you want to call it) and only become mortal when cut off from it. Though that still begs the question why アメル could be raised as a totally normal human child. Can food/drink supplement a lack of サプレス energy? Do angels and demons also need food to survive? What is their tax policy?? (At this point, I may be overthinking it.)

>>3788520
>you might get a little more enjoyment out of the gaiden part if you read 帰るべき場所へ first
I figured I've already been spoiled like nuts on that with Minis's night conversations and interactions with ケルマ in the main game, so I don't think it makes much difference now. But as some guy from somewhere at sometime said, "it's about the journey, not the destination." So I think I'll enjoy the book even knowing the basic plot points.

Nearly done now.

>>3788723
>none of the rules of the 4 worlds are known
A bit is explained through those setting cards in the gallery. Mostly what the worlds are like and what kinds of creatures inhabit them.
Some of it is pretty cool like how サプレス's 原罪 created メイトルパ's 魔獣.
>Can food/drink supplement a lack of サプレス energy?
According to 4, yes, funnily enough. You cook different kinds of food specific to summoned beasts only they can eat. Although I'm not sure how credible that is. Was probably only really implemented for gameplay purposes.

>nearly done now
How are you so fast!
It is a fun scenario so I can understand your speed.

>>3788860
Here are more. It's pretty interesting.
Starts at 000418
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17nYKmv-RTBTsOUXS6OFZvN0Bo4cumuGC
Just don't go too far because this gallery is from SN3 and contains spoilers.

The gallery in SN2 has some too.

The 番外編 ending was 10/10, perfect crossover event. I was surprised to hear the SN1 protagonist speak AND people saying her name. I wish this was the standard. There were lots of great interactions between the SN1 and SN2 cast, but this one with シオン and アカネ was probably my favorite. Not to mention ルヴァイド and イオン are spared, ゼルフィルド doesn't an hero, no one turns into a tree... It's the all-around best ending.

I noticed that レイド and レイム had the same voice actor, but apparently he was only filling in because レイド's original VA couldn't reprise his role in SN2 for whatever reason. I wonder what happened.

>>3776963
I chose ナツミ and クラレット too. The group shot CG with all the SN1 characters was really cute, though it's a shame not everyone could show up. Pic related.

>>3789028
>>3789013
>10/10
For sure. I kept a save right before you leave for サイジェント because it was that good. I like how they weren't all silly, too. Nesty and Claret's interaction was sweet.
There's apparently a similar scenario in SN3 with the SN2 cast but you probably already intuited that if you listened to the second drama CD.

At least they had the courtesy of including the missing characters in the family photo. Might be rubbing salt in the wounds of those who wanted to hear their voices but oh well.
I wonder if Flight-Plan chose based on popularity rankings. Although if that were true then ジンガ wouldn't be in...
>all-around best ending
For everyone but poor sealed-away レイム. He just wanted revenge he didn't harm no one.
>only filling in... original VA couldn't reprise his role
Interesting! I'm sure you can find the reason why if you do some digging around. There are cast interviews and such. Japanese people are really good about that.

I can talk about this part now. I found it deeply concerning. It wasn't mentioned or even alluded to at all in any other scenario that the three demons took over クレスメント Summoners.
We know they snatched bodies but not who specifically. Kind of scary レイム was keeping them around this whole time.

I need to know if you laughed as hard at this part as I did.
https://files.catbox.moe/y6qhu0.png
I also need to know which SN1 characters you used for the final battles.

I can talk about this part now. I found it deeply concerning. It wasn't mentioned or even alluded to at all in any other scenario that the three demons took over クレスメント Summoners.
We know they snatched bodies but not who specifically. Kind of scary レイム was keeping them around this whole time.

I need to know if you laughed as hard at this part as I did.
https://files.catbox.moe/y6qhu0.png >>3789052

I also need to know which SN1 characters you used for the final battles.

>>3789054
>It wasn't mentioned or even alluded to at all in any other scenario that the three demons took over クレスメント Summoners.
This confused me somewhat. In the main scenario, didn't レイム want トリス / マグナ's blood so he could steal his/her memories? If レイム already had クレスメント summoners at hand, wouldn't their memories be just as good? I had assumed トリス / マグナ was the last of his/her kind.

Though I may be remembering wrong. Maybe レイム was only after ネスティ's blood?

>>3789073
I'm pretty sure レイム wanted that sweet, sweet 血識 less so to obtain memories he didn't already have and more just to taste the people he hates/loves so much. レイム being what he is would experience all that dread and horror that his kind feed on so parasitically directly from his obsession - much like a vampire preferring the taste of virgins.
This is yet again expanded upon in the dang U:X novels lol. And also a little in the Drama CD.
>トリス / マグナ was the last of his/her kind.
They _are_.
The memories of the summoners he already had were indeed just as good but only for their knowledge. They weren't good as a fine wine or anything.
レイム is a bit of a freak.

>>3789086
>just as good but only for their knowledge
Oh wait maybe not? The entire clan was held responsible for the atrocities they wrought but I can't remember if it was ONLY Nesty and Magna/Toris' far ancestors who directly created the ゲイル. I think they were.
Because surely those ancestors weren't the last of their kind during the war.

I think I'm confusing myself.

I can finally post this.
>>>/wsg/5906395

Rate the openings.
>Summon Night 1
https://youtu.be/pJobTDn-qjk?si=BDeynGWxbgONTCJ5
>Summon Night 2
https://youtu.be/YMMUpckvPC8?si=c-yFQi9VSLYhiWP-
>Summon Night 3
https://youtu.be/f3HKwrbPC9E?si=Druu1KJuL5HoFDah
>Summon Night 4
https://youtu.be/BrVIQk3VLhE?si=s_f_CUtUCdoVoADA
>Summon Night 5
https://youtu.be/jyS94Jmrze4?si=Q7jyv57CW1MYVK8j

For me it's
Animation:
2 > 4 > 3 > 5 > 1
Song:
1 > 3 > 4 = 5 > 2

I don't have much to say but here's a commission of Sarin from Swordcraft 2. The mermaid, poor girl has like zero art.

>>3789196
名言

>>3789850
This is very cute art. Was it your commission? It's nice the artist bothered making a background.

>>3789714
I have no strong opinions on the music, but the animation clearly peaked with 2.

>>3789196
Can I upload this to youtube? Or you if you'd rather.
I just want it immortalized.

>>3789921
Yes actually.

>>3790079
Nice! Thanks for filling the world with more cute mermaids. Usually people want to (understandably) keep commissioned art for themselves so I appreciate you sharing it here.
Saved the fuck out of it.

>>3789971
Oh don't mind me rating the music, I have a thing for opening and ending themes from video games. Summon Night 1's opening song is great on its own though. I urge you to give the full thing a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWhkmZRkNBs
Random others because fuck it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ebBxBh7bE0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsFdgx15fBQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdfU9al-4GA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtGmFFbc2-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhmATlHkpw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMNVQ9qicn4

I was more talking about the overall video presentations and which one people like the most.

Glad we can agree 2's was the coolest. That first scene with the huge blood moon is nice cinematography and overshadows anything else in the other ones. 3 and 4 both had good flashy anime fight sequences but nothing beats the straight sword duel brawl between Shamrock and Luvaid, yep.

>モナティ『よろしくですのー、ミニスちゃん』
>ミニス 『無礼者っ! 貴族の子女に対して、そんな呼び方が許されると思ってるの!? 様をつけて呼びなさいっ!!』
>モナティ『う、うにゅぅぅぅ……っ』
I don't know why, but seeing "うにゅぅぅぅ" in print is really funny to me.

>>3790044
I missed this. By all means, upload it wherever you like.

>>3790960
Poor Monaty. You'd think she'd learn some manners performing for her master all those years.
Although, the pompous overbearing side of Minis is satisfying in its own right...
I remember that part being pretty early on but how are you liking it so far?
>seeing "うにゅぅぅぅ" in print is really funny to me.
It's high literature.

Did your copy come with a cool bookmark too?

>>3791102
>I remember that part being pretty early on
It's on page 60, chapter 2.
>how are you liking it so far?
I'm enjoying it, but as someone who has mostly learned 日本語 from vidya, manga and anime thus far, the descriptive language is proving surprisingly difficult. For example, in the first few sentences of the prologue there are words like 芝生, レンガ, 傾斜, 隆起 etc that you'll rarely (if ever) encounter in dialogue. The furigana is appreciated, but unfortunately doesn't help with the countless variations of mimetic しゃっきり, どっぷり, ずっばり -type words scattered throughout. Most of the time it's not hard to understand what's being suggested from context, but when I'm encountering a new word for the first time I feel obligated to look it up anyways. Oh well, it's a learning experience. I'm impressed you could read the whole book in an afternoon.

>Did your copy come with a cool bookmark too?
It came with that exact bookmark, actually.

>>3791164
>page 60
Ah ok, so about a quarter in. Hayato and friends just rescued the dumb crybaby.

I hope it's the satisfying kind of difficult and it's not detracting from your enjoyment.
Those vocab you listed are rather common from what I've encountered. I always found that interesting how two people's word pools can differ wildly based on the kinds of things each consumed.
Japanese onomatopoeia is fun. There really are endless variations so it's interesting how unique each sound from one another. They all end up settling into a firm definition eventually. Hearing/reading them puts your mind in a Japanese person's better than anything else, IMO, because English people don't talk like that at all.
>when I'm encountering a new word for the first time I feel obligated to look it up anyways
That's a very healthy habit to keep. Be sure to use a JP to JP dictionary where possible for maximum gains. Also, I've seen 煉瓦 used more than the kana variant so it might be a good idea to keep a mental check of kanji spellings even for katakana words.
>I'm impressed you could read the whole book in an afternoon.
Aw shucks, it's all just experience. I read proper books more than anything when it comes to Nihongo and 帰るべき場所へ - being a light novel - was on the far lower end of book difficulty I've encountered. You'll be the same as you continue to read proper books.
If you don't have an e-reader already I highly recommend one. Makes JP books extremely easy to get a hold of. These Summon Night books are a very rare physical-only exception.

>It came with that exact bookmark, actually.
Hahaha, awesome. It got me to read Black Cat.

>>3791164
Also did you mean ずばり instead of ずっばり? I never saw the latter before.

>>3791246
It's not difficult enough that I'm turned off by it. On the contrary I was starting to feel like I needed to try more challenging material, so it's a welcome change of pace.
>I always found that interesting how two people's word pools can differ wildly based on the kinds of things each consumed.
I blame myself for consuming so much fantasy RPG stuff. A lot of it is for kids, and even if it isn't the vocabulary is usually pretty standard across the genre. I played Yakuza 0 not too long ago and it was a real learning experience, especially in learning criminal slang like カタギ, デカ, ドス, チャカ, ドンパチ, etc... it was pretty helping in understanding レナード's dialogue. (Pic related says 刑事 but he reads it as デカ)
>Hahaha, awesome. It got me to read Black Cat.
Was it good?

>>3791261
>Also did you mean ずばり instead of ずっばり? I never saw the latter before.
I just typed sounds that came to mind, I didn't check to see if they were actual words

>>3791274
>カタギ, デカ, ドス, チャカ, ドンパチ
It's always fun encountering those 専門用語. Recently I remember seeing a lot of Yakuza slang in G線上の魔王. If they don't tell you the meanings outright it's usually asked by a character soon after.
It's funny how Yakuza refer to their territory as their 島.
Deka is used everywhere. Still no idea why they call themselves that.
>I blame myself for consuming so much fantasy RPG stuff
Well you know what they say. "A piece of media consumed is better than one not consumed".
What you like >>> things you don't like.
>Was it good?
It was! Made by the same madman who created To Love Ru. Art and visuals alone made it worth going through all 20-something volumes. Recommendations are found in the most random places if you keep your ears and eyes open. Thanks Summon Night.

>spoiler
2/3 were real at least.

I haven't finished the book yet so I don't know if this is explained later, but...
>飛び去ったはずのワイバーンが忽然と姿を消してしまったのは、彼女が気絶したことによって召喚術の効力が消えてしまったせいだろう。
This doesn't sound right. If the summoner has to remain conscious for their summon(s) to stick around, how do はぐれ召喚獣 exist? How do 護衛獣 remain overnight while their master is sleeping? That counts as being unconscious, right?

Summon Night 1 and 2 explained a bit about はぐれ召喚獣, how only the summoner could void the contract and send the 召喚獣 back to their world, and if anyone else tried it could fail and send the 召喚獣 into the void or erase them from existence or something. The details of the contracts are never elaborated on aside from 1) requiring absolute obedience to the summoner and 2) weakening the 召喚獣 from their original state, but I had a theory that the unspoken contracts included conditions for return. For example, the contract for a 護衛獣 might say "protect me indefinitely until I send you home" whereas a normal attack 召喚獣's contract might say "attack this guy, then you can go home". はぐれ召喚獣 would be 召喚獣 who were summoned irresponsibly with no return condition and then the summoner died, leaving the contract valid but with no one to void it.

Anyways, on the subject of return conditions, I have a hard time believing ミニス's summon contract would say "protect me (unless I pass out lmao)". Or is the wyvern bound to any contract at all? If it's not bound by anything, that would be even less reason for it to vanish after ミニス passes out, right? And now that I think about it, there's a moment in Summon Night 2 where you void バルレル's contract so he can get his full power back and he doesn't get sent back to サプレス, so... hmm.........

>>3792728
The contract to affix a summon to a catalyst stone and the contract to summon a 護衛獣 are different. I think the master must be present for the latter and other summoners can use any stone, like how habatsu facilities summon for you.
If I remember right Minis doesn't actually have a contract with シルヴァーナ at all. The book explains at one point how she first got her hands on the pendant and how Minis wasn't the one who summoned シルヴァーナ initially. I forget the exact details but the pendant is an old family keepsake or some such and Minis only used her own mana to call it from the summonite locket. シルヴァーナ more or less acts of its own volition. I think Yuel communicated with it too.

はぐれ召喚獣 and 護衛獣 exist because of the summoning rites and contracts already providing them with the requisite mana to maintain corporeal form in Lindbaum.
>protect me (unless I pass out lmao)"
Kek
>that would be even less reason for it to vanish after ミニス passes out, right?
Why? You still need mana to summon from a stone in the games and I don't see how you'd be able to maintain mana while passed out.
>you void バルレル's contract
That would only make him a はぐれ召喚獣.

I hope your eyes are getting acclimated to vertical text. Reading Japanese is so natural like that.

The concept of a 護衛獣 also might not have been introduced until Summon Night 2 so they had to invent new rules regarding summon contracts.
Can't recall if Monaty and Eruka were considered 護衛獣.

>>3792814
...I was going to respond to a lot of this in detail, but the more I think about it the blurrier the line between the game mechanics and in-universe mechanics of summoning get so I think I'll live in blissful ignorance for now.

>>3792971
Don't hold back anon.

>>3792972
It kind of makes sense but it also kind of doesn't, and trying to "figure it out" is starting to feel like a waste of time. I'm tired and ready to accept that 召喚術 is magic and doesn't got to explain shit.

>>3792971
We kind of repeated that song and dance a lot in this thread lol but I have fun discussing it. Leaving some questions open-ended and not giving clear answers is apparently what the most cherished fantasy works do anyway.

>>3792996
>hatless monaty
l-lewd!

I finished reading 帰るべき場所へ. As a book it was pretty good, not amazing or life-changing, but good. It had a fair amount of action scenes, which aren't my favorite in a book like this when the result is a foregone conclusion. I enjoyed reading about ミニス and the kids' interactions more than I did reading about a bunch of assassins flipping around and throwing knives and stuff. In any case, it was nice getting more of ミニス and a slight redemption arc for フィズ who I always thought was a incorrigible brat in Summon Night 1.

More importantly, I like how the story tied in with Summon Night 2. Like with ミニス's Panic Summon skill, her (warranted) fear of her mother, and also ケルマ getting verbally abused by ミニス just like her brother was. Though in hindsight, it's hard to believe ミニス was able to lose シルヴァーナ's pendant at all considering he(she?) was virtually inseparable from her in the book. If I remember correctly, the game explains this with シルヴァーナ having pity on ユエル and wanting to keep her company? Oh well.

>>3794302
But MOST importantly, I love this cute detail where at the end of the book, ミニス and フィズ exchange ribbons, and this is reflected in their art in-game.

>>3794302
>>3794304
読破おめでとう! Life-changing is only ever found by happenstance, not sought after. If the book was memorable that's all that matters.
I don't really care much for action sequences in written media either. This extends even to manga where I still find it hard to follow. Animation is best on that front.
>the story tied in with Summon Night 2
I believe this was written in the planning stages of 2. It came out a mere year after 1 and Minis was intended to be in the first game, after all.
>who I always thought was a incorrigible brat
Rude. She had a good head on her shoulders for someone orphaned and raised in a slum. I recall multiple instances where she rightfully scolds the protagonist for doing stupid things.

It was fun learning Minis' family, too, and how Minis is the only メイトルパ summoner in her family bloodline. I remember being pretty surprised to learn that the 3 brothers were her uncles, and even more surprised to learn they dote on Minis.
>spoiler
I like to believe that her regular portrait is drawn that way to make it seem she's clutching at the ribbon. It really is an ever-preaent reminder of level-headedness. I bet Minis would have flipped the fuck off at Yuel if she didn't experience the events of the book.

What's next on the agenda? Are you going to start the second book? I'm thinking of doing so.

>>3794528
>She had a good head on her shoulders for someone orphaned and raised in a slum.
Have you seen her night conversations? She's super rude. And the other kids were raised in a slum too so that's no excuse.
>and even more surprised to learn they dote on Minis.
I had thought the three brothers were almost cartoonishly evil in-game, so it was nice that they got some humanization in the book. It's a shame they couldn't fit it into the game.
>Are you going to start the second book?
I want to soon, but probably after a break. I'm tired of reading and there's some anime I want to catch up on first. After that and the book, I'm thinking of playing Swordcraft Story 1+2 before SN3... Do the Swordcraft Story spinoffs reference any characters from the mainline series?

>>3794581
>Do the Swordcraft Story spinoffs reference any characters from the mainline series?
Swordcraft 1 has cameos from the first SN game. The hero/heroines and a few others, Swordcraft 2 has cameos from the second SN game, also hero/heroine and few other npcs. The choices you make in game determine which group you actually meet.

Swordcraft 3 is the odd one out, it has no cameos from any mainline game.

>>3794581
>so that's no excuse.
That means it's not an excuse for ガゼル either.
As aceman said, the SN1 and SN2 protags each have a chapter dedicated to them in CS1 and CS2, respectively.
Hasaha's portrait is EXTREMELY cute and expressive in CS2. So cute, in fact, that she's what got me to first play Summon Night 2 way back in the day!
Ootsuka Shin'ichirou said he looked up to Iizuka Takeshi and I say he knocked it out of the park. His Hasaha is way cuter.
I found out there may be a Craftsword Monogatari book too while searching for an image of her. The ride truly never ends
https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-01-9784087031461
>anime
I've been taking a break from Summon Night to knock other stuff off my list as well. It's good to avoid burnout so enjoy your show. Hope it's something cool.

>>3794585
Cute Hasaha. Has that artist worked on anything before? He kind of reminds me of the Devil Survivor artist.

>>3794604
>Cute Hasaha. Has that artist worked on anything before? He kind of reminds me of the Devil Survivor artist.
https://danbooru.donmai.us/artists/9770

It's this guy, although he seems to have not drawn in years.

Oh my goodness gracious.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/SUMMON-NIGHT-―クラフトソード物語―-JUMP-jBOOKS/dp/4087031462
It's not even available anywhere else. I think I'll just give up on it. It's not written by Miyakozuki anyway.

>>3794605
Thanks. There are a lot of Kochous out there and the website didn't work.

>>3794662
>over $300 with tax and shipping
YIKES

Wow Japanese artists really look up to Kuroboshi Kouhaku.

>>3796420
America, fuck yeah.
Happy 4th!

Please wait warmly.
Summon Night is on vacation.

I started Summon Night X: Tears Crown today.
In a word, it's strange.
It takes place in a world completely separate from Lindbaum which is a first for anything titled Summon Night. Although It still has summoning mechanics, the creatures are summoned from realms not present in the main series. There are only 3 realms - a Fey realm, a Majin realm, and a Genju realm.

The overall production value is very nice. Large portraits during dialogue, main characters are voiced, cool and smooth animations, noticeable music, nice character designs, and the plot gets kicked off in an interesting way.
You're a prince (or princess depending on if you choose the girl?) of a country that has been at war with another for centuries until both rulers agree to peace under the stipulation that each king gives their son as hostage to the other for 10 years. The 10 years pass and your father ends up betraying the other ruler by sending his brainwashed son as assassin to murder his father.

Gameplay starts off simple until new mechanics are added early on. It plays like a typical JRPG most similar to Final Fantasy. Difference here is you have air units and air enemies in their own area, you can attack field objects with varying effects, and of course the Summons.
It's cool. I'm excited to keep playing. Only thing I don't like is that there aren't any chapter title cards!
Night conversations are of course present still. Also, Shin'ichirou's style comes into its own and resembles Re:Zero a lot more.

Real pic because
>emulating DS

>>3800665
>which is a first for anything titled Summon Night
Just learned this is not the case. Twin Age also takes place in Runeheim instead of Lindbaum.

Continued Tears Crown and random battles can have Brave Clear conditions pop up at times which is a cool idea. Helps break the monotony. You're given specific rules of engagement like kill all enemies with stage hazards or don't heal at all or win in 3 turns and if you manage to pass you get rewarded with good items.
I like that a lot.
Battles are involved enough that you actually use your MP on regular enemies instead of normal attacking your way to victory. Still on the easier side overall so far.
You can also exchange teammates whenever so if someone is MP dry you just switch and equip them with the other's Summons.

One enemy formation I thought was interesting was a land group of defensive enemies and a sky group of multiplying enemies who did big damage. The land group was protected by an electric fence stage hazard so not only were you doing pissant damage, you were hurting yourself for 1/4 health every time you went in for a melee strike.
Cool game.

>>3800665
>>3801012
>Summon Night X
>Summon Night Ex-These
>Summon Night Gran-These
>Summon Night Twin Age
Such confusing naming schemes. Are these all standalone or is Gran-These a sequel to Ex-These? Is Ex-These a sequel to X? Is Twin Age a sequel to anything?

>>3801655
At times like these subtitles can guide your way.
Is what I would say if more than two spinoff titles had them.
I can only assume Gran-These is related to Ex-These even though the former has 3D action combat while the latter is 2D top down. Going by what happens in the story, and the fact the protagonists are totally different, I don't really see how Gran-These can be a continuation unless Gran-These takes place in the exact same area which would be weird.

Going by release date, it's:
>Craftsword Monogatari Hajimari no Ishi
>Ex-These Yoake no Tsubasa
>Twin Age
>Tears Crown
>Gran-These (no subtitle lol)
And Twin Age is also an action RPG but I guess it doesn't count because it takes place in Runeheim like I mentioned before.
Also this isn't even getting into how apparently all Flight-Plan games might be related because characters from fucking Dragon Shadow Spell appear at the grand finale of the U:X books.

Byakuya from Ex-These even appear in Summon Night 4 but this at least makes sense.
So basically yeah it's best to treat everything as standalone. No one knew about the OG series going into Swordcraft Story and they didn't need to, as an example.

I should add, Gran-These is last on my Summon Night list. I'm more interested in Twin Age before it.

I only played pratty's game and she was the cutest.
What else should I try?

>>3802904
Swordcraft Story 2!
There are a lot of the cutests there too.

>>3776779 (OP)
cool art

I've starting reading the second book. Inside were the same Black Cat bookmark that the first book came with and this little Trigun card.

Unlike the first book, which took place somewhere in the middle of the game's story, this book is a continuation and takes place 2 years + 2 months after the events of the game (Amel ending). I'm still in the first chapter, but it seems promising so far.

This is a goddess.

>>3808331
I might start reading it too then alongside Tears Crown. I'm still enjoying it but It's slow going. Been busy with other things.
I think it's always more interesting when side material takes place after the events of the source material.

>>3808439
Goddesses look like that?!

So what's this series excuse to not get fan translated?
>It has a bunch of entries.
>A fair few localized.
>Seemingly a dedicated fandom.
>Fan translation scene stronger than ever.
>Relatively good brand recognition.
>Decent amount of systems to choose from.
>Very cute girls.
I see sometimes random stuff being translated like Saturn RPGs or very niche console vns like Sampaguita.
But why is this series still suffering from lack of interest to translate? Engine issues?

>>3808756
>bunch of entries
Maybe people are afraid of commitment. If that Hajimari no Ishi translation ever gets finished I could see others going "now do the rest" and that's a major undertaking. This one by itself is taking 10+ years.
>fair few localized
It might be hard to be consistent with the quality of the first 2 Swordcraft Story games. They're good examples of wonderful localization.
>scene stronger than ever
Is it? I have no reason to follow the scene but that's interesting to know.
>good brand recognition
And voice actor recognition. And artist recognition. Summon Night has insane talent behind it.
>systems to choose from
Between PS2, DS, PSP, PS1, GBA, they can't all be hard to hack into.
>very cute girls
That it has, and cute girls are all the reason you need to play a game.

I feel like I need to hold legislation in my state council to spark some damn interest for a fanlation or something. It's a crying shame no one knows (or cares?).
I went into Summon Night knowing nothing at all about it and it became one of my favorite series of all time. There's no way this would stay as an experience unique to only me.

If Namco ever releases a collection port for Switch 2 maybe that would finally drum up real interest.

Continuing Tears Crown!
Oh boy I was wrong about the game being easy. I still wouldn't call it brutal but some of these boss fights had me sweating.
There was one triple-team battle against 3 bearded wizards who would boost each other's attacks and throw party-wide strikes of varying elements every turn while plopping down ads. At low health they would start meditating for even more damage and they WOULD oneshot even your highest MDF buffed character. It was kind of crazy.
Another boss was against FlameTits McBitch who would shoot down your fliers and dodge your melee units then riposte on your turn. She went down after a game over. Cool thing is you can switch party members mid-battle when someone is about to die or is out of MP.
I still don't grind by the way.

Also, the Summon System is tied to something called Summon Plates. They grow stronger after X amount of battles and In a random encounter game it makes the constant jumpscare screen transitions a lot less annoying because you're rewarded with more than just EXP or money.
Each level threshold grants that summon an extra ability which can be powered up through manastones. Think FFX's sphere grid but the stones are really fucking rare for some reason and there are 40 different summons.

In night conversations, you see your chosen character's neutral faced portrait turn to a beaming smile when you lock in your decision. It's very cute.

Sidequests are handled in a neat way. You don't get them from the tavern or NPCs. Instead you hold court meetings with appointed minister officials and debate whether a topic is worth following through on. You answer questions and if the vote passes only then do you take on the quest. It's pretty funny.

Finally, even the NPCs are cute!

>>3808756
Could it be an issue with the engine? Maybe no one has found an easy way to edit the ingame scripts. Ideally, the text box itself would have to be modified to fit more characters too. Bonus points for kerning.

>>3808966
>tsundere twintails
You have my attention.

How much does Tears Crown make use of the DS's features? I'm not entirely opposed to emulating, but I do have a hacked 3DS sitting around I could use for it. I may have to clean or replace the shoulder buttons though, since they barely work anymore.

>>3808981
She's a real cutie. The other innkeeper NPC is a genki happy girl.
Tears Crown is equal combination touch and buttons. One or the other is never requited, you can make use of either for full control at any time you want for any action. Except maybe the virtual pet minigame but I never bothered with it. It's like those mail messages in the GBA Pokemon games. Friends only type of thing.

I'm using my hacked 3DS as well. They said DS emulation on it would never happen. Look who's laughing now.
>shoulder buttons barely work anymore
I am highly relieved that's not just a me issue. Nintendo products used to be reliable. I never handle any of my systems roughly and the thing still stopped being responsive. If you ever end up fixing it I could really appreciate pointers. I'm lost when it comes to hardware.