Summon Night: Twin Age
A touch-based action RPG set in the world of Clardona.
Summon Night: Twin Age is an action role-playing game for the Nintendo DS, part of the Summon Night series. It was developed by Flight-Plan and published by Atlus, released in Japan on August 30, 2007 and in North America on June 3, 2008. The game features a fully touch-based control system and a party-based system of three characters at a time.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Flight-Plan
- Publisher
- Banpresto (JP); Atlus (NA)
- Director
- Takayuki Kinoshita; Hirokazu Kawase
- Designer
- Akira Yamamoto
- Artist
- Tobe Sonaho; Shinichiro Otsuka
- Writer
- Midori Tateyama
- Series
- Summon Night
- Released
- August 30, 2007 (JP); June 3, 2008 (NA)
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Summon Night: Twin Age uses a fully touch-based control system. Gameplay is top-down, hack and slash, similar to Diablo II or Ragnarok Online. The player moves the main character by tapping the screen where they wish it to go, and attacks by tapping a target enemy with the stylus; the character then attacks periodically until given a different command. Skills, spells, and items are accessed through two pop-up windows on the sides of the screen, where abilities can be preset and used by tapping the desired ability then a target. The party consists of three characters at a time: the two main characters and a third A.I.-controlled member chosen by the player. Control can be switched between the heroes at any time when they are on the same screen. Summoned creatures are obtained by defeating a monster, acquiring its creation item, and conjuring it into a flask on the world map; these flasks can be used as items to summon monsters for the team. Other party members act independently, attacking and using skills, but follow the main character's movement. Continued use of a party member increases its rank, improving performance and granting new skills. The two main characters gain experience and levels from defeating enemies, while the third party member shares a level with the chosen main character. Leveling up increases parameters and grants skill points for the main characters to spend on their skill trees to unlock or upgrade skills. All skills have a maximum level of seven and require both a level and skill points to unlock.
Plot
The world of Summon Night: Twin Age is called Clardona, where two main races, humans and the beast-like Kascuza, are in constant conflict. A short-lived peace began after humans pushed the Kascuza onto the island of Jarazi. A third group, spirits from another world, manifest as nature spirits or as Summon Beasts. Humans can summon creatures from another world, and research ways to increase their summoning powers. In one facility, a young girl named Reiha lost control of her powers, causing a terrible accident. She was assumed dead but survived, hidden with the Kascuza on Jarazi along with a young Summon Beast boy named Aldo, the result of the summoning. Seven years later, near their coming of age ceremony, nature spirits began to go wild, and the two leave to discover the reason, which is also an under kingdom.
Characters
The story differs depending on which character the player chooses at the beginning, but both are controlled in combat. Reiha is a human girl raised among Kascuza, cheerful and responsible, who likes gardening and cooking. In battle she uses projectile attacks and sky, wind, earth, water, and fire Spirit magic, curative magic, and buff/debuff magic, with high magic power and SP but low attack and hit points. Aldo is a Summon Beast brought into the world when Reiha lost control seven years ago. He loves Reiha's cooking and listening to the wind, uses physical attacks and sword, axe, spear, and fist skills, and buff magic, with high attack and hit points but weak magically. He is brave and stands up for others.
Reception
Critics gave Summon Night: Twin Age a middling reception, according to Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu rated it 33 out of 40, with one nine and three eights. GameSpot liked the simple, charming gameplay and cute look, but pointed out AI and targeting problems, plus monotonous exploration. IGN highlighted the beautiful art, strong effects, deep customization, and slick interface, noting that touch controls are simple yet varied with spells, skills, and attacks. They also praised the monster battle system, skill trees, item creation and upgrading, and the game's overall flow, while calling the soundtrack simple but effective. GamePro described it as suitably cute and colorful, with shiny, well-animated character sprites and magic spells.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who directed Summon Night: Twin Age?
Summon Night: Twin Age was directed by Takayuki Kinoshita and Hirokazu Kawase.
Who designed Summon Night: Twin Age?
Summon Night: Twin Age was designed by Akira Yamamoto.
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