Tonight, for the first time in over eight years, I played Summoner... Perhaps I was in a particularly self-hating frame of mind.

You start out woodenly moving through a burning village, chopping down weak foes until it all mercifully ends. No, wait! It's not merciful...now you're in the overworld where you have to find some castle-town base of operations. And, for your solo character, any random encounter monster is best avoided unless you're patient enough to save after every single fight.

When you get to said castle-town, prepare to waste a gazillion hours. This is a massive, multi-sector place containing a ton of mini-quests waiting to be found. The first time (and, quite frankly, any other time) you visit, you'll likely be dialing the suicide hotline long before you get the cutscene that takes you into the sewers for your first real plot-action mission. Unless your memory is so photographic that you instantly can recall where Bhaordhs the Hwieornwsld happens to be stationed at whenever you're told to find its ass!