Summons are always an important part of each Final Fantasy, therefore they are one of the last things that Square Enix will reveal any solid info about. It’s got to be a good sign that at the recent Square Enix conference at E3, some facts concerning summoning were revealed.

According to Square Enix, each character in the game has their own respective summon. There is no main summoner as in other titles and the summons cannot be changed among party members. So far it has been revealed that Snow uses the Shiva sisters (pictured above). The Shiva sisters are named Nix (younger sister), and Steelia (older sister), but I am not really sure which is which.

It has been confirmed that the sisters can transform into the motorcycle we are all pretty familiar with:

Upon meeting some requirement after being summoned, the sisters combine in battle to form the bike. This switches the controls into “Driving Mode”:

As you see, the gauge to the left has a series of commands that can be performed. They are as follows:

Auto-Drive
Wheelie Flash
Sub Rush
Icicle Turn
Air Edge
Diamond Dust (not selectable)

It looks like in Driving Mode, the main summon skill is not selectable. However, the other commands are said to be extremely powerful. I am not sure what the large “4″ means, but I am guessing Driving Mode is only available for a limited time due to its power. Maybe only 5 commands can be executed?

It has also been confirmed that Lightning’s summon is Odin. This was revealed in the new trailer shown at E3:

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See the image source link for a few more images of Lightning summoning Odin.

Like Shiva, Odin also has a vehicle transformation which can be utilized in battle. In fact, all the summons do, however other than Shiva, they are all unknown at this time. Square also has stated that the summons will play a large part of the game’s story, possibly similar to Final Fantasy IX or Final Fantasy X.

I think this system is pretty cool, it kind of reminds me how summons in Final Fantasy X had their own overdrives. Giving summons an elevated form of attacking seems unfair, but who doesn’t love a little total annihilation? I am also really happy that Lightning uses Odin, I was afraid she would be stuck with some lame summon. Most electric summons aren’t that cool… But I think everyone can agree that Odin is fucking awesome.

So who do you guys think the other characters have as summons? I imagine Vanille using Carbuncle for some reason and Sazh seems like he should summon Choco & Mog. But someone must use Ifrit… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.