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I hope this thread is in the right section!
I wanted to discuss this "Summoners" thing because I've seen in other places that (mostly) new players after playing certain games ask around about which archetype do certain specific characters belong to. Then someone mentions the "Summoner archetype" and is followed by people mentioning Puppet characters, projectiles, traps, etc. making the whole thing very confusing!
There are two specific characters who I've seen being regarded as Summoners: Jack-O Valentine (Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator) and Gargos (Killer Instinct).
Why? Because they can spawn entities that act on their own.
I think that's the main difference between them and all the other things that get mentioned. For example:
-Puppet characters: You control two characters, or at least one character and their "puppet". The puppet will never act on its own. For example: Zato (Guilty Gear) or Ms Fortune (Skullgirls)
-Summoner Quan Chi (MKX), yes, he was mentioned as a summoner! But he isn't. He summons an entity that doesn't act on its own. You have to make an input so this entity does something. Like the Head Drones of Robo Fortune (Skullgirls)
Both Jack-O and Gargos have some similarities. They both have command grabs; both have good mobility and they need to control the space. Gargos has better long range options to attack. The entities they summon work differently. In Jack-O's case they are meant to overwhelm the opponent and pressure their defences. In Gargos' case they seem to act more as a distraction to force the opponent to make mistakes. Both are able to give orders to their minions (by input) to change their behaviour, but you never get to control them directly.
One misconception I've read many times about Jack-O is that she is a "braindead" or "spammy" character like if you pick her you automatically win. And that's not the case! I mean, if you go up against a Jack-O and don't care about the minions and little houses, well yeah, sooner or later she will throw you into her army and you'll be done. But this is like letting Kotal Kahn stack up totems and then complaining about getting destroyed.
Another character I've seen mentioned as Summoner is Arakune from BlazBlue, but I wouldn't know since I barely played BlazBlue. From what I read it seems like he can't use his entities (insects) until the opponent is under the "Cursed" state, which also changes the way Arakune plays making him faster and stronger. And I guess the bugs act like projectiles? I'm not sure. This character seems very complicated lol
A character named Karin Son from Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer was also mentioned. I never played this game so I had to look around. It seems that she can summon a cloud that moves through the stage on its own and you can jump on it to gain more mobility; and she is also able to summon a mini-version of herself but I'm not sure if this entity acts on its own or not:
So what do you think? Do they have enough to make up a "Summoner archetype" or are they a very specific type of Zoner?
I wanted to discuss this "Summoners" thing because I've seen in other places that (mostly) new players after playing certain games ask around about which archetype do certain specific characters belong to. Then someone mentions the "Summoner archetype" and is followed by people mentioning Puppet characters, projectiles, traps, etc. making the whole thing very confusing!
There are two specific characters who I've seen being regarded as Summoners: Jack-O Valentine (Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator) and Gargos (Killer Instinct).
Why? Because they can spawn entities that act on their own.
I think that's the main difference between them and all the other things that get mentioned. For example:
-Puppet characters: You control two characters, or at least one character and their "puppet". The puppet will never act on its own. For example: Zato (Guilty Gear) or Ms Fortune (Skullgirls)
-Summoner Quan Chi (MKX), yes, he was mentioned as a summoner! But he isn't. He summons an entity that doesn't act on its own. You have to make an input so this entity does something. Like the Head Drones of Robo Fortune (Skullgirls)
Both Jack-O and Gargos have some similarities. They both have command grabs; both have good mobility and they need to control the space. Gargos has better long range options to attack. The entities they summon work differently. In Jack-O's case they are meant to overwhelm the opponent and pressure their defences. In Gargos' case they seem to act more as a distraction to force the opponent to make mistakes. Both are able to give orders to their minions (by input) to change their behaviour, but you never get to control them directly.
One misconception I've read many times about Jack-O is that she is a "braindead" or "spammy" character like if you pick her you automatically win. And that's not the case! I mean, if you go up against a Jack-O and don't care about the minions and little houses, well yeah, sooner or later she will throw you into her army and you'll be done. But this is like letting Kotal Kahn stack up totems and then complaining about getting destroyed.
Another character I've seen mentioned as Summoner is Arakune from BlazBlue, but I wouldn't know since I barely played BlazBlue. From what I read it seems like he can't use his entities (insects) until the opponent is under the "Cursed" state, which also changes the way Arakune plays making him faster and stronger. And I guess the bugs act like projectiles? I'm not sure. This character seems very complicated lol
A character named Karin Son from Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer was also mentioned. I never played this game so I had to look around. It seems that she can summon a cloud that moves through the stage on its own and you can jump on it to gain more mobility; and she is also able to summon a mini-version of herself but I'm not sure if this entity acts on its own or not:
So what do you think? Do they have enough to make up a "Summoner archetype" or are they a very specific type of Zoner?
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