Quote Originally Posted by T0rin View Post

Even when there was no dedicated summoner, the summons were still big and impressive, ala FF:VII.
Well, there are some counter-examples like ChocoMog from FF7. Unicorn summons, Carbuncle summons, etc. These are fewer, but "big and impressive" doesn't define Summoner.

Yeah, but at least the Egi's are useful unlike summons in other FFs. I mean, there's a niche use like Phoenix, but pretty much all the time it was better to not summon.