Now that I've taken some time to play both, I think the new version is an improvement. Whether or not to summon is a meaningful choice, it takes resources you care about (MP, but more importantly, turns) instead of an exclusive resource.
However, now it is even more of a pain to grind for more advanced summons than it was before. What is it, 200 summons before you get stage 2 options? 150 of which you can skip through sidequest potions, but by the time you've summoned in 50 different battles, your summons are nearly obsolete (sure, they can take a hit or two, but you spent one turn and several cross strikes worth of MP for that). Without burning through MP items, you get 1-3 summons per rest, and that means leveling up summons takes way longer.
I suggest that you let the main character get access to new summons earlier. It's a really cool system, and it's a shame that you're probably better off just focusing on making your character a beefy fighter instead.