Although I approached this game with an open mind, I could not bear to play another second of it.
The graphics, while I'm sure must have been at least somewhat pleasing in October of 2000 are just, to me, so very depressing, drab and awful. The only saving grace of the looks of the games are the magic effects and summons. Spells such as Summon: Golem and Fire Wall are very welcome changes from the look of supposedly live people who look either very sick or undead, dark and macabre settings, and indistinguishable locations that make it very difficult to tell if you are where need to be and, if not, how to get there, which leads me to the map. This may be an overlap on game-play but the maps are very hard to read and give no reference points, labels or directions leaving the player to figure it all out on their own.
As for game-play, this game is somewhat similar to Diablo inasmuch as there is a third person view from an angle, monsters appear from offscreen as you move toward them, and the creatures drop objects such as money, weapons, potions and such. The player controls one character and the CPU controls up to four others onscreen at the same time. The battles happen somewhat similarly to Final Fantasy XI: the player selects the enemy, hits the confirm button and the CPU auto-attacks while the player contemplates what to do strategically. In Summoner's own court, there is an option to use a chain command to deal extra attacks before waiting for the next round.
The sound in the game was good enough, or at least it was when it was present. The sound effects are always present and give the dull sounds of battle like a sword hitting armor, magic bolts being thrown back and forth, and the none-too-exciting sound of the end of battle. The main problem I have with the game's sound is that the music was scarce in times where it could be pumping you up for battle. Music can really make a memorable experience for a game much in the same way that Final Fantasy X moved me with the admirable piano rendition of "Zanarkand."
Overall, Summoner was just a great disappointment for me. I only played it for a few days, as that was all I could handle of it, but my brother played almost straight to the end and could not stand it any longer either. Despite our heart-felt tries to warm to this game we just could not seem to stand the depressing mood that this game omits. I am not going to outright say this is a bad game; I am just going to say that it wasn't very fun for us, so please approach this with caution.