A splendid example of why the GBA is still around....
1) Gamespy reports that there is no record of where to go next, resulting in players stumbling around lost. Obviously they didn’t try hitting the select button…doing this will open up a dialogue with your companion beast, in which they will tell you exactly where you need to go and who you need to talk to next.
2) The swords wear down in battle, but they will completely regenerate as soon as the battle is over. Since you can carry ALL of the swords you construct (and equip up to three at a time for battle), this restriction is hardly noticeable.
3) The magic and equipment switching is incredibly easy to do…hit one shoulder button, it selects a new spell….hit the other shoulder button, it equips a different weapon. How much simpler could it be? Hit ‘A’ to swing your weapon, hit ‘B’ to cast your spell. Not sure why they complained about this...how the heck could it be done any easier?
4) The game isn’t all that short. If you really speed through without taking time to level up by crawling he dungeons, you might get through it in 10 or so hours, but you would be missing out on an awful lot of the game….I am already 20 hours in and haven’t come close to finishing. But then, I’m one of those RPG-ers who likes to seriously buff up my character beyond what is necessary to finish. If you want to explore every crevice of every dungeon, make every weapon available, and see what’s in every house in town, expect this to last well over 20 hours. The plentiful conversations and cutscenes in the game must account for at least 3 or so hours of play time, provided you don't rapidly scroll through the text without reading.
5) The frequent encounters are easily avoided by simply running left when the 2-d battle begins. You can escape the fight in roughly one second, so if you are in a hurry to get through the dungeon, you don't have to fight the lvl1 slugs over and over. Yes, it is a little frustrating waiting the half-second for the switch from dungeoncrawl view to battle view, but overall it isn't as bad as the official review made it seem.
Frankly, I’m surprised to see an action RPG dungeon crawl of this quality showing up so late in the life-cycle of the GBA, a system everyone agrees is getting ready to go the way of the Sega Genesis. Heck, the only reasons I still have mine are (1) so that my son can have it when he’s old enough to express the gamer's-gene he undoubtedly inherited from me, and (2) the games are a serious bargain to puchase relative to other handheld consoles. Summon Night is one title keeping the system fresh, even after all these years.