Summon Night 5 isn’t a terribly difficult strategic RPG, so there’s a good chance you’re near the end of Folth or Arca’s journey. That is, provided you haven’t completed it already. For those thinking about taking another trip around the world with a different Cross, the game does a lot to encourage additional playthroughs.
In most JRPGs, things like skills, recipes, and money carry over. With Summon Night 5, so much stuff is still available to your characters on their second (or third, or fourth…) run through the adventure. Money of course sticks around, as do Brave Medals earned. What’s even more helpful are the return of things someone has unlocked as they play.
Investing in Skills is a big deal in Summon Night 5. Same with Classes and Summon Clusters. You can take so much time trying to get the triggers that make things happen, which can be really difficult with classes. It’s not like you get clues. All of those items are retained in a New Game Plus run. Same with foods.
Though, I’m a little disappointed in some of the things that do carry over. You get to keep all accessories and most of the other, consumable items in your inventory. I suppose it makes sense. Both Arca and Folth are long-time residents of the city when Summon Night 5 begins, but it almost feels like you’re missing some of the point of playing when the items for upgrading weapons and summon stones, fishing poles, bait, food, and other items from a previous playthrough are still in your inventory.
At least your weapon and summon stone upgrades don’t carry over. Neither do levels or affinity, so there’s still some motivation to go through every battle again. Though, some missions will still be unlocked from the first go around. I found that the first 20 missions I earned with Arca were still available after I started my second game with Folth and Pariet.
There are two other benefits to replaying Summon Night 5. You earn more experience points on the second go around. You get 1.5 times the experience, rather than the standard about. It seems each time there’ll be a larger bonuses, as the first volume in a “series” of books is added to your inventory after each completed run. You also get 12 party points instead of 9, which helps unlock things much faster.
With Summon Night 5, efficiency is the name of the game. The more you play, the quicker you’ll get through it when you play again. Which is presumably designed to make it easier to see all those different character endings with party members. There are over 10 of them, after all.
Summon Night 5 is immediately available on the PlayStation Store. It’s playable on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation TV.
