Review of Summon Night 6: Lost Borders

The Summon Night franchise has been around for quite a while now thanks to a rich blend of tactical RPG and visual novel aspects. While it certainly is not for everyone, its 6th entry is accessible on both your PS Vita and PS4.

Let us begin with Raj, about as ordinary a character as you can imagine except he keeps seeing things drop from the sky above and is doubly curious as to what that is all about. After meeting some people in a field that had actually dropped from the sky, he gets to know the world he lives in a little better. Magna happens to be a lot keener on combat rather than philosophy and so Raj enlightens both him and his sister, Hasaha through his own summon. All things considered, this story contains summons, magic and the general principle of meeting new people and receiving them for who they are.

There is plenty of diversity to go around in the Summon Night blends. Compare it for instance, to the Utawarerumono series which is almost entirely a visual novel that gets a light sprinkling tactical RPG. Summon Night not only features more tactical RPG but with added depth as well. The challenges are quite interesting even in a relaxed SRPG and the battles have run smoothly at a pace that even gives Final Fantasy tactics a run for their money.

The visuals of Summon Night 6 are simply gorgeous. The artwork for story sections is inspired by anime and there are actually brief anime interludes here too. Unlike many other visual novels, there is some real animation to look forward to here. That said, the RPG portion is pretty sweet too. Even with the caveat, it can look aesthetically pleasing albeit bearing some resemblance to an up-scaled Vita game. Thanks to flat shading on the characters and backgrounds, there is a uniformed appearance between RPG and visual novel segments.

The sound design for Summon Night 6 is good too. However, it is not quite clear of a few criticisms. The vocals are a bit bland and do not really drive home the intended emotion necessary to advance the plot. Not to say that it is complete rubbish but it does hint a bit at those god-awful anime dubs of the last decade. Anyways, on to the good news, the sound design for the story as well as the battles keeps your interest peaked. You will hear all kinds of immersive environmental sound effects during the novel and a faster, more intense soundtrack during battles.

So let us sum up then. Summon Night 6: Lost Borders brilliantly combines tactical RPGs and visual novels. While some fans may not take kindly to the English vocals, the actual story is rather intriguing. While it is still too soon to call it a classic, you will not regret the time you spend immersed in it.

Playing it on the PS Vita with a PlayStation TV, you are guaranteed to not encounter any issues with compatibility. After all, there are not too many differences between the two releases except of course when it comes to their relevant consoles. The PS Vita offers slightly lower resolution and horsepower compared to the PS4. But to be frank, you will not miss it that too much.

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