Final Fantasy’s stories and gameplay depend on one crucial skill

Summoners have been a staple of the Final Fantasy series for decades. More often than not, they’re the spiciest magic users in your party, calling forth supernatural entities to dole out splashy elemental attacks, like Shiva for ice and Ramuh for lightning. Depending on the game, these monsters are known as Espers, Materia, Eikons, or just capital-S Summons. Whatever we’re calling them, they create a compelling link between gameplay and narrative that’s been persistent throughout Final Fantasy from the early ’90s all the way up to the modern era. They’re also a clever way to justify some of the series’ most jaw-dropping plot twists.