Final Fantasy Games With The Best Summon Systems

Summons are one of the most iconic things that appear in most Final Fantasy games including spinoffs. They were first introduced in Final Fantasy 3 in 1990 on the NES which is also the first game to introduce an interchangeable Job system for Final Fantasy. North America would not get to experience Final Fantasy 3 until the DS remake came out in 2006.

As for Summons, North American players would experience them in 1994 with Final Fantasy 6 which was coincidentally renamed Final Fantasy 3 on the SNES. Confusing names aside, again, Summons is a cool part of any game in this series. Some entries have integrated Summons into their gameplay mechanics better than others, so here are some top examples ranked appropriately.

6 Final Fantasy 12

Replace Party Members Temporarily With Espers

Final Fantasy 12’s Summons are called Espers and they are tied to the Zodiac signs. Zodiacs play a big part in the Ivalice games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 12. Through the story, players can unlock new Espers and in battle, characters can summon them to their side temporarily.

The other two party members will be replaced and only the summoner and the Esper will remain. For example, the main character Vaan can summon Belias, and the two can pal around together to fight monsters. Their time will be short, but if players use their summoned creature effectively, then they can get through any tough situation.

5 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Power Up Summons Through Tomb Raiding

Final Fantasy 7 introduced Materia to the series. These crystallized orbs contained passive abilities like HP+, spells like Fire, and even summonable creatures called Summons like Ifrit. In the first remake, most Summons could be rewarded through VR-simulated battles.

In the follow-up, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, players could find relics of Summons in the lands they traveled to. One of the NPCs, Chadley, would then convert discovered data into VR battles so that players could get a piece of Materia after they were victorious in battle. For example, the Summon of the Cosmo Canyon region was Bahamut Arisen. Once summoned in battle, these creatures would fight alongside the whole party and they could be issued commands along with following a basic AI set of abilities.

4 Final Fantasy 6

Learning Spells From Gods

Final Fantasy 6 had a prototype version of Materia from Final Fantasy 7, but many could argue it was actually better. Like Final Fantasy 12, Final Fantasy 6’s Summons were called Espers. When a new one was acquired, a character could equip it and then use it in battle for a random effect.

Shiva, for example, would attack all enemies with ice as she always does in these games. Besides their use in battle, characters could learn magic from Espers. Once learned, characters would know these spells forever which was a unique way of using Summons up to this point.

3 Final Fantasy 8

Draw Magic And Boost Stats

This game has a completely unique name for their Summons which had never been replicated. Guardian Forces, or GFs, were obtained through Final Fantasy 8’s story and optional boss battles. The first one players could acquire was Ifrit. Once obtained, players could link that GF to a character and then equip unlocked commands to that character.

For example, the universal command each GF dished out was called Draw. Characters could absorb magic through this command from monsters to use in battle or they could equip spells to stats linked to their GFs like Strength. It was a wild system at the time and it is still odd now, but that doesn’t mean it was bad. Quite the contrary, as the GFs were an interesting way to handle equipment, magic, and Summons all tied to one system.

2 Final Fantasy 10

The First Big Upgrade To Summons In Ten Games

Final Fantasy 10 was a big upgrade for the series in many ways from the graphical upgrade on the PS2 from the PS1 to the voice acting. Summons got a big boost too, called Aeons, as they were directly tied to Final Fantasy 10’s story which was not new but it was still a different approach. Yuna was a Summoner who had to go on a pilgrimage to get as many Aeons as possible to battle a world-destroying creature named Sin.

While characters could share skills via the leveling-up system called the Sphere Grid, only Yuna could summon Aeons. When she did, the rest of the party would be replaced and players could then only issue commands for this Aeon until they called it back or it died. Even after an Aeon died, Yuna could summon another one onto the battlefield from classics like Bahamut to oddities like Yojimbo. It is kind of like the Esper system from Final Fantasy 12, but Yuna’s close bond with these Aeons makes it stick out more as if she were a Pokemon Trainer.

1 Final Fantasy 16

Square Enix Borrows Heavily From Naruto To Give You Direct Control Of Eikons

Final Fantasy 16 was a divisive entry but one thing no one can argue with is how it elevated Summons for the series. In the game, nations had champions called Dominants who carried the souls of Summons within their bodies called Eikons. The main character, Clive, was the Dominant for the Eikon Ifrit, for example. Clive could also absorb the powers from other Dominants to gain their powers from linked weapons to spells thus opening up a variety of skill trees.

This was a cool system for leveling up but the main draw of Final Fantasy 16 was the Eikon boss encounters which played out like giant Kaiju battles. This put players in the role of Ifrit to tear through other gigantic Eikons. There were some other surprises too but that would require more spoilers. It’s hard to tell if Summons will or could ever get this epic again from a gameplay angle.