bit-tech Shopping: Atlus Summon Night 2: Swordcraft Story for Game Boy Advance

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Years

Strengths: Great weapon forging system

Weaknesses: Minimal interactions in town

Summary: Summon Night 2 follows up on the original game with a slightly larger world to travel in, with a multi-level city to explore. The main gameplay components (weapon forging, combat, etc) remain mostly unchanged which should come mostly as a relief to fans of the original game. Much the same length, you can likely get through this dungeon-crawler in about 10 hours or so. Fans of the first would be wise not to miss this one as well. However, it won't change the mind of someone who couldn't get through the original.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Action RPG, graphics, battles

Weaknesses: None

Summary: Summon Nights 2: Swordcraft Story is a high speed action RPG for Gameboy Advance. It has 2 playable characters, a boy named Edge and a girl named Air. Both have the ability of using a special magic sword that can seal a beast named Goura. The story is about your quest as one of these two heroes to find the sword and defeat Gorua. In the quest you can choose 4 support characters with their own special abilities. You can make your own weapons with unique abilities too. The battles are more of high speed actions than the traditional RPG turn-based system.This game is probably one of the best action RPGs available on the GBA platform. If you still have the GBA system with you, do try this game out.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 14

Strengths: Great battle system, weapon customization

Weaknesses: Same aspects as the old one.

Summary: This one of the best action rpg for the Gameboy advance. The game play is very good and the graphics are awesome. The battle system is very fast paced almost as Tales series. The game customization of weapons are great, you can learn all sorts of weapon mastery. The story telling is average. I recommend this game for the rpg fans and those who loved the first version of the game.

Rating: 8

Time with product:

Strengths: Detailed beautiful 2D sprites, fun battle system, humorous dialouge

Weaknesses: Plot is a bit lacking, too much backtracking, voice acting

Summary: While Swordcraft Story 2 is very much a more refined version of its predecessor, it still remains quite a fun game to play. Gameplay is similar to many traditional RPGs and the battle system is more action oriented and plays very similar to those found in Namco's Tales series. There are a variety of weapon types that are available. Not only are the weapons different in combat, but different weapon are important to solving puzzles out of battle as well. The crafting system is back from the original but it is easier to forge/disassemble the different items this time around.The plot of the game is fairly generic (as many RPGs are becoming it seems), but its very lighthearted and humorous. While you can chose whether to play as either Edgar or Aera, there isn't too much which sets them apart story wise; I'm not sure it would be too different to replay it as the other character.All in all, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 is a fun handheld RPG. While its not the most innovative or challenging game out there, its still fun and has a charm of its own.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 4 Months

Strengths: -funny-fun crafting system

Weaknesses: -fights can be harsh sometimes!

Summary: I liked the first summon knight so much, I came back for more! The story is diffrent this time but the premise is the same. You are a young weapons maker going on an adventure with your magic guardian beast. The story is more epic this time, but I miss the simple contest set up of the last game. I think all of the beasts talk this game. This is good because it leads to more funny situations. The game is basicly a dungeon delve and you work to upgrade your weapons. That system is a little more simplfied this time, but is still fun. You have to be careful in battles because they are done in an action style. Not like a menu based game where you have time to breathe!