Summon Night: Swordcraft Story (Part 1)

Whooo! This is one of my favourite games (every game I do here is one of my favourite games but shhh). I hope someone will appreciate how many screen-caps it took to get one where "press start button" wasn't visible. Anyhoo, just a couple things. The story is divided into different "days" (I forget how many exactly, I think 8 including the prologue) so I will try to do one day per post, except in this one since the first two are so short. I may have to split later ones into two posts because most days have their own unique dungeon and obviously they get longer later on. Let's dive in!

These are the two characters we get to choose from. Aren't they cute? The default name for the female character is Pratty and the male is Cleru, but you are able to change these when you start. I am going to be playing as Pratty this time because... well, I just always do. It doesn't really change anything significant, just some dialogue. Character interactions are more or less the same no matter what.

Ah, yes. The "jrpg protagonist" is strong with this one. When you finally haul yourself out of bed, walk over to the closet on the right and get the Entrance Ticket. Your character starts off his/her day by falling down the stairs and doing a face-plant into the floor. Encouraging! The dialogue for the male is a bit clearer here, but it's suggested that they fell down the stairs because there was an earthquake (which have apparently been occurring frequently in our city recently).

Your mother gives you the Father's Charm, and before you leave go ahead and inspect the funny-shaped red/blue thing in the bottom right corner to acquire the Water Scooter. Start heading west through the city and you'll be approached by a man for some more dialogue.

When that's done, head north and speak to this mysterious woman on the east if you wish. She won't have anything interesting to say really, but we'll meet her again later. Continue north and enter the tower. Head up the steps on the left and talk to the man standing by the door along the north wall. Talk to the people on each side of you (you can't move at all, just face different directions) and then the ceremony will start. We meet three of the Craftlords here; Lubert, Ureksa and Sakuro.

Also, I'm not 100% sure but this might be the only time we see our character's father. He looks like a pretty good guy though, doesn't he? No wonder everybody seems to like him so much.

It took me forever to understand that when he says this he means that a sword cannot be considered a replacement for any of these things, that they are all equally as important. I don't know why I never got that until literally about three days ago. Oh well. Now we all know!

When the ceremony has concluded, head back east to the big dome-like building between your character's house and the central tower. This is the Silver Guild, your character actually pointed it out earlier. Go inside and head north along the western side, where you will find Master Bron. He'll usher you into a room over to the side so follow him and speak to him there.

You will now have to answer a series of three questions, each of which have two available answers. The answer you give will determine what the next question will be, and at the end, the answers you've chosen will determine which Guardian Beast you will be paired with for the remainder of the game. There are four options - each one has their own particular element as well as different dialogue (though two of them don't actually speak, which is a bit disappointing). They also each have two types of weapon that they will not be able to upgrade with elemental properties, though you can get the techniques for these anyway through sidequests.

Zantek
Element: Lightning
Can't Forge:  Axes and Knuckles
Answers: 1-1-1 or 2-2-1
Dialogue: No - Zantek's dialogue just appears as a bunch of stars. Only the main character can understand them, and you can often get a hint at what they're saying from that but I still find it kind of uninteresting.


Rasho
Element: Fire
Can't Forge: Spears or Knuckles
Answers: 1-1-2 or  2-1-1
Dialogue: Yes - Rasho is kind of arrogant, and he is especially rude to the male character. I'm assuming he gets over it eventually, though.

Kutty
Element: Wind
Can't Forge: Spears or Drills
Answers:  1-2-2 or 2-2-2
Dialogue: No - Kutty can only say its own name. Again, you're given hints to what its trying to say from its expression and the main character's reactions, and it's awfully cute as well.

Sugar
Element: Water
Can't Forge: Axes or Drills
Answers: 1-2-1 or  2-1-2
Dialogue: Yes - this is the one that I see everyone picking. There's some rather funny dialogue between her and the player character, especially the female, with Sugar wanting Pratty to be her "husband". However I kind of find her annoying because she doesn't take the hint that the character isn't interested and gets jealous of them having other friends and it just stops being funny after a while.

You will receive the Summonite here and then your Guardian Beast will be revealed!

You may have already guessed from the way I described them, but I'm going to go with Rasho this time. When you're done being introduced to each other, head upstairs (find them south of you) and talk to Bron again. He'll show you the workshop where you will be staying for the duration of the tournament, and then he'll leave. You and your Guardian Beast will go out for a walk and then the day will end.

~ End of Prologue ~

Day One 

Go to leave your room, but you will be stopped as Bron comes barging in. A man from the Central Tower will also show up and give you the Labyrinth Key 1. Bron will also give you your first Sword Technique (he gives you a new one every day). He'll also give you 300b to go and buy some materials. Let's be on our way!

The item shop is located directly west of the Silver Guild, there is a sign on the building showing two satchels (but they kind of also look like boots). However, when you talk to the man at the counter you will find out that he is sold out of materials already. You ask the person who bought them all if you can have some, but you get shot down. Oh, well. Return to Master Bron and let him know what's up.

This is one of my favourite lines in the game. Anyway, let's head over to the central tower.

Talk to this man left of the bridge and answer "yes" twice in order to receive 3 Mystic Ores. Enter the tower and go into the room on the right. Talk to the man to the north and he will give you access to the labyrinth. Head south and Sanary will show up again; this time she offers to give you some materials if you pass her degrading pop quiz. Choose the second answer for the first two questions, then for her last one pick the first one if you're playing with Pratty and the second answer if you're playing with Cleru. Either way she will give you a Matchbox which we need for a sidequest soon-ish.

Hit the chest on your right with your hammer to get a Bandage. Continue along the linear path (I suggest fleeing from battles for now - tap left or right twice to dash, and run up against the edge of the screen) until you get yet another scene with Sanary. She is much kinder this time around, though. When you're done, hit the chest on your right to get an Iron Ore. Your character won't let you go any further right now, so leave the labyrinth and central tower altogether.

Let's do some sidequests!


Go to the west end of town and go north to the port. Talk to this man (woman maybe?) and then go back to town. As you head south you may see a building on the right with a sign on it showing the bed. This is the inn - unlike other games we won't be resting here to restore our hp, since we can do that for free in other places. However you can buy HP recovering drinks here - right now they just have Silturn Water for 100b.

Two houses east of the inn you will find an old man looking for a cat for his granddaughter. Tell him about that person at the port and he will reward you with a Technique (its type will depend on your Guardian Beast - it will be one of the ones they cannot forge normally). This old man will give us a special technique near the end of the game. I'm not sure if you have to talk to him every single day to get it, but I do anyway because it only takes a few seconds.

Next you can go to the item shop. They still don't have any materials, but they have Bandages for 300b, a Mineral Ring (raises attack when equipped) for 1200b and a Mineral Bracelet (raises defense) for 1200b. Note that you can only have one accessory equipped at a time.

Use your water scooter to reach this house southwest of the Central Tower (you will have to go around a large metal pathway) and then talk to the man inside. Give him the Matchbox we got from Sanary and he will give you our second Technique for the day. You can also go to the second and third floors of Wystern. There isn't really anything useful there, but on the second floor there is a house at the south end (on the right) where a man and woman will tell you about their son who has gone away to sell weapons. Again, talk to them often because they will give you a technique later (though it isn't as valuable as the other one). Now return to your workshop.

If you're unfamiliar with the method for crafting and don't remember the game's explanation earlier, here is a summary of the details;

• Each weapon is forged from a "technique" - you cannot make any weapons without first acquiring its technique except for the weapons your Guardian Beast specializes in.

• There are five types of materials, with each weapon requiring certain amounts of certain kinds to be forged. Basic weapons will require only lightning, fire, water, or air materials.

• Once you have forged the "basic" form of a sword, or the two weapons your guardian beast specializes in, you can then use Mystic Ore to re-forge the weapon and attach an elemental property to it. These elements are pre-chosen for each weapon, you can not assign them manually. For the two types of weapon your Guardian Beast is not as proficient in, you will have to acquire techniques to forge the elemental versions.

• To create materials, you must gather items and bring them to the forge, then select "create materials". You may also break down unequipped weapons to get half of their materials back.

• Once you have all the materials you want, go back to the forge's main menu and select "create weapons". Then simply select the technique you want.

Anyway, create the Novice Knife and a scene will take place. Bron lets you choose another technique - I recommend the drill.  We can now return to the Labyrinth to explore it a bit further.

Go down to the second floor and head south. Use your water scooter to cross the water going southwest, and then climb the stairs you find there. North of you are some crates and barrels that you can break with your hammer, these will sometimes give you items that can be broken down into materials. Go north from here and then cross the bridge on your right. Open the chest here for another Iron Ore. Go back and up the steps, then head right and through the door here. Open the chest here for an Iron Ore once again. Go left and down the stairs.

On the third floor, ride your water scooter south to reach an area with a bunch of other stuff to break. Follow the path around and you will find a guy blocking your path. Smack the green circle nearby to activate the warp panel - you can now teleport freely between here and the first floor. Note that all barrels and crates will respawn once you leave the labyrinth.

As a sidenote, I recommend putting off trying to forge all the techniques until we can get a bit further into the labyrinth. Getting enough materials just from those few barrels and crates is going to take a long time.

When you are ready to proceed, head to the central tower and save. Speak to the guy in the northwest corner of the first floor. Note that once you talk to him, you  will have no more opportunities to do any of today's side-events. To recap, they were;

- Talk to the old man near Central Tower to get Mystic Ore x3
- Talk to the old man in the house east of the Inn and tell him about the cat-owner at the port to receive a technique
- Give a Matchbox to the man in the southwest house for a technique

There is a trick to beating human opponents in this game, so don't jump in and start wailing on him if you want to complete everything 100%. Every single person you fight has their own unique weapon, and in order for you to obtain the technique to forge it yourself you must win the battle by breaking it. This guy moves slowly and tends to get locked into a simple, repetitive attack pattern. However, breaking his weapon before he breaks yours can be difficult if you don't have experience with the game.

The best weapons for breaking are Axes and Drills. Axes tend to be super slow and many of the human opponents you face will be too quick to handle, which is why I generally stick to drills. If you hit them with a basic attack they will usually block, and then you can do a drill spin (hold the "down" directional button and press the attack button) which will knock off a good chunk of the weapon's durability. If you manage to do this a few times, you should be good to just block for the rest of the battle so you don't get the stuffing beat out of you.