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Final Fantasy summons - Carbuncle, I choose you!

Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
Paul le Fou said:
I have to say Summoner is still one of my favorite [classes/jobs]. It's a caster, but summons are such iconic FF features. Even from a purely mechanical standpoint, you get such a wide variety of cool spells as a summoner, and typically quite powerful ones.
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Summoned monsters did not appear in the first 2 Famicom FF games but were introduced in the 3rd and final one. They were also added to the first entry of the series on Super Famicom / NES and have been a staple of the series since then. They just provide so much character and personality to the magic in the games. And on top of that they have also been integral parts of the story and/or characters in their own right in some of the games.

So what are some of your favorite Summoned Monsters*? This can be when they're just spells and/or when they're characters. And what game has your favorite version of that Summon?

(*Or Aeons or Eidolons or Espers or GFs or whatever...)
 
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Paul le Fou

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I've always been partial to Alexander for some reason. He's a giant castle, or castle-mech creature, and he does holy damage?? Like, yeah, that's awesome. I go mainly for his classic look in FF6, but getting a starring role in FF9 was pretty great too. Really you can't go wrong, although apparently one or two portrayals of him stand on 2 legs and that is unacceptable. He's always a torso rising out of the ground with two huge pillar arms.
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Regulus

Regulus

Sir Knightbot
Alexander is super weird to me. He's clearly based on Amano's art of the Giant of Babil. In Amano's art, the giant is partially obscured by billowy clouds and mist, which also features in the FFVI version of Alexander. But later designs drop the mist, so I guess Nomura just kind of ran with it and decided he's some kind of elephant castle tank instead of figuring out what the extremities should look like.
 
nataeryn

nataeryn

Discovered Construction
(he/him)
I think the aeons in FF10 were really great since they had their own turns and health bars. I always liked how Valefor came down and nuzzled Yuna a bit. I also like Ixion a little more than old man Ramuh.

And I'll give a shout out to the FFXIII Eidolons. The transformations are unique.
 
Mogri

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
Summons are a major part of the plot in 6, 9, 10, and 16, and they're a notable plot point in 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, and 15. You can't shake a ROD these days without hitting a summon. I think the series has leaned into them a little too heavily, personally, but at least they found a way to make them more than just a flavorful black magic spell in 10, 12, and 13. (Presumably 16, too.)

8 has the best summons in the series with Jumbo Cactuar and Tonberry King. Honorary best summon goes to Gilgamesh in 6A and 8.
 
gogglebob

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Life don't get much better than this, mon ami.

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While by no means are any of them my favorites, I very much appreciate that Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 went out of its way to create like seventeen different variations on Bahamut. Commendable dedication to a bit there.

Aside from some of the old standbys, I have always had a soft spot for Final Fantasy 12's Cúchulainn the Impure. He is basically a big, slobbering snorlax, and his bio is the right level of melancholy and tragedy to match Final Fantasy 12...

Scion created to rid the world of its impurities by swallowing them within himself, in opposition to Nabriales the Majestic, scion of light. The world, however, was more filled with impurity and corruption than even the gods dared imagine, and having swallowed it all, the once beautiful Cúchulainn was transformed into a hideous thing, a deity of filth, and so did he turn against his creators. Wherever his feet should fall, there all life withers to dust.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Well, I, uh... *gestures at screen name and avatar*

Though, back in BBS dial-up days, I was Bahamut. Had to let that one go cause it was too popular on the wider web and I refused to just put random numbers after it.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
True, as bob just pointed out there are a lot of in-universe options for variations! Still hard to find one that's likely to be available on every platform though. Granted, it's not like Kirin is never taken but more often than not I can just double the n and get it that way.
 
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
Doomtrain - One of the more out there ideas for a summon and I am all aboard for it.

Golem - A big stone monster or mech that protects your party. I think I mostly like it for the animation of its hand blocking attacks like a big old "nope".

Odin - Zantetsuken is a really cool attack which usually provides a unique death animation for enemies. But it generally never works against anything that you would really want to use it on. :(

Fenrir and Phantom in FF6 - I really like the unique ways they provide protection to your entire party.

But this is also one of my favorites:
Paul le Fou said:
I've always been partial to Alexander for some reason. He's a giant castle, or castle-mech creature, and he does holy damage?? Like, yeah, that's awesome. I go mainly for his classic look in FF6, but getting a starring role in FF9 was pretty great too. Really you can't go wrong, although apparently one or two portrayals of him stand on 2 legs and that is unacceptable. He's always a torso rising out of the ground with two huge pillar arms.
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Lokii

Lokii

—
(He/Him)
Staff member
Moderator
I wonder if Sin is meant to somewhat evoke Alexander with his general hunched quadrupedal design and castle bits. I'm thinking specifically of this moment when he looms over the blitzball colosseum.

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Speaking of his head castle, did yall know when the party falls through the ice at Macalania and are taken to Bikanel it's cause they've landed on Sin's head without realizing it?

yYkA5OV.png
HeQDZ2n.png
 
Mogri

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
Ah, that's really cool! I always thought that sequence felt a little off.
 
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