Soul Calibur Series (4 Viewers)

[TheCrimsonRisk]

Fair enough, I think we just have different definitions of what makes an idol. I think it's determined by character popularity and that's that. How does one determine who is a "poster kid"? I guess what I'm asking is whether or not an idol is based on what is presented rather than what is chosen. For example, Alex from Street Fighter III was pushed heavily as the new protagonist for that game but you'd be hard pressed to find any Street Fighter fans who consider him to be an idol or icon or whatever.

Again, this could just be me showing my lack of knowledge regarding Soul Calibur culture. I don't know anything about the canon ending and thus, have little awareness of why Hilde is important. From the outside looking in, it appears Taki is much more well known than Hilde (a difficult statement to back up, I know). Doesn't notoriety trump whatever intentions the creators may have had? That might sound ridiculous, but I feel that once the product is out there it's always the opinion of the consumer that matters above all.

This was a long way of saying that I agree to disagree :)

 

[HyperZealot]

Now that I've finished and Platinum'd Final Fantasy XIII-2, I'll really be digging into this. I want to unlock every create part primarily, so I'll be playing a heavy amount of Quick Battle. I still have around 140 opponents left, so that should take me a while.

Also, did anyone else catch Game Informer's review? They're entitled to their opinion of stating that this is the best SC yet (which I highly disagree with), but the fact that they referred to Viola as "Fiona" and said that Kilik was "cheese" shows that it lacks credibility. I found it funny, honestly. I only get the subscription for the Rewards card, anyways. It's just disappointing to see reviews with misinformation in them.

Anyways, I just thought I'd throw that out there since I found it humorous.

 

[randomguy]

oh lord Game informer is famous for bad reviews. I can't wait for the likes of many of the TGWTG people to get called out for the same. Like that epic fail guy and Angry Joe

 

[Red_Scare]

Sorta getting bored with slamming out quick battles to level up. Anyone with a Ps3 copy of the game want to play some casual matches for the purpose of leveling up faster?

 

[anotherguttersnipe]

but she isn't that is the point I was making. Yes she has fans, yes Taki has fans but they are not the poster kids and thus the idol. She is just a popular character. Several of the other characters are closer to icons including Hilde who in 4 was the canon ending. Too bad she kind vanished story wise in 5

It really is a shame, because Hilde is supposed to be Project Soul's poster child for political correctness. What, with her being the only female clad in full armour around her scantily dressed peers, AND the only character to break Namco's 30 rule.

 

[Mardion]

I think that's part of the reason. If you aren't going to change how a fighter plays, why change the character at all? You even say that yourself actually.

Well sure it's ridiculous as heck, but if I was a Taki fanboy, I'd be happier to be able to play as her in another name&form than not having her in the game at all. Heck, I'm even happy that ωPyrrha exists because she reminds me of Sophitia, eventhough she has huge differences with her!

They really don't explain anything in the damn story. Patroklos kills Pyrrha; the implication is that Elysium took control of his body/mind to do so. Then without explanation he's in the Astral Chaos, then is suddenly *poof* he's back maybe an hour before he was taken over by Elysium. What? How? Did Edge Master send him back? Was his desire to fuc- err, "protect" his sister so strong that it broke time and space? Was this a Mortal Kombat "He must win!" thing?

LOL @ the Mortal Kombat reference as that's what I thought at the time as well. But like you said, that part made so little sense that it made me hate the game instantly (a fact I only realised last night while playing with a friend of mine ; now that I know it I'll try to get past it).

The reason SCV feels more sluggish, and has a harder time connecting moves together, is because of the reduced move-lists and the new combo-heavy nature of the game. Now you're supposed to rely on the combo set-up moves (usually stun attacks) which are supposed to be followed up with the same series of moves every time. (As an example: Xiba's "Shen Ba" 66B or 22B, is pretty much supposed to be followed up with "Kong's Ryui Bang Tail" B+K)

Thanks for the analysis, I was baffled last night because I felt the game was sluggish but my friend kept saying that it's faster. Your explanation, alongside with what I call the "memory moves" ,is what created this divide. Explanation : Let's say I rapidly press forward and grab, but while my character moves forward (and obviously before the grab animation is initiated) s/he is hit by my opponent. In all previous SC games, that meant I was now free to follow up with whichever move I wanted (which in this instance would be a Guard) , but in SC5, after being hit my character will try to perform the grab that I pressed BEFORE being hit, as if keeping that button combination in memory and executing it whenever possible, eventhough the situation has since changed. I absolutely hate that ; it throws improvisation out of the window and leaves you open to the simplest of attacks, especially when trying to get up! I can't for the life of me understand why they implemented that. And what's the deal with the Guard Impact now diminishing half the Super Bar? O_O

 

[bryanthunder]

Sorta getting bored with slamming out quick battles to level up. Anyone with a Ps3 copy of the game want to play some casual matches for the purpose of leveling up faster?

If I still had my copy I'd play, but I don't.

oh lord Game informer is famous for bad reviews. I can't wait for the likes of many of the TGWTG people to get called out for the same. Like that epic fail guy and Angry Joe

I actually like Angry Joe because he gives his honest opinion on what he's reviewing. Though I admit sometimes you need to take his reviews with a grain of salt as he doesn't fully understand the series he's talking about (like Soulcalibur) and is prone to blind love on occasion (Skyrim got a 10/10? Really?) but he's nevertheless passionate about games, which I can respect.
Plus, it's not like he speaks for all of Blisteredthumbs, others have their own opinions as well, take this review for example.

Thanks for the analysis, I was baffled last night because I felt the game was sluggish but my friend kept saying that it's faster. Your explanation, alongside with what I call the "memory moves" ,is what created this divide. Explanation : Let's say I rapidly press forward and grab, but while my character moves forward (and obviously before the grab animation is initiated) s/he is hit by my opponent. In all previous SC games, that meant I was now free to follow up with whichever move I wanted (which in this instance would be a Guard) , but in SC5, after being hit my character will try to perform the grab that I pressed BEFORE being hit, as if keeping that button combination in memory and executing it whenever possible, eventhough the situation has since changed. I absolutely hate that ; it throws improvisation out of the window and leaves you open to the simplest of attacks, especially when trying to get up! I can't for the life of me understand why they implemented that. And what's the deal with the Guard Impact now diminishing half the Super Bar? O_O

While the character won't attempt a move after being hit, hit animations are about as long as they were in SC4, but because enemies can attack faster this means being able to guard after a counter is that-much harder. Add to this that ukemi has a smaller window to work, you'll usually be unable to roll out of the way once you hit the ground.

They felt no one used Guard Impacts so they traded it with the "Just Guard" mechanic. They figured the JG would be easier to use as there's not nearly as much risk in attempting it; except that it requires insanely specific timing and has no tutorial in-game so newcomers can pick up on it.
The metered Guard Impact acts as a "super" GI countering high, medium, or low attacks. This of course doesn't help much, because at the beginning of the match you don't have access to GI's meaning you can't counter an overly aggressive enemy.

 

[randomguy]

I've read that review and I knew the guy had no idea what he was talking about when he complained about Siggy being used for rush down...he always could do that. I think the reason a lot of you found it sluggish is because of it being more combo heavy. I always have been decent at combos and memorized set ups. So I think because some of you don't have as good of a memory skill the game felt more restrictive and less fun...that or some of you button mash lol. But yeah I understand where you guys are coming from in terms of gameplay though I disagree but that is mostly because of my play style.

Joe lies and misses the point in his reviews and regardless of if he stands for all of blistered thumbs he likes to act like he speaks for all gamers and no gamer speaks for all of us. HELL look at this thread. While some of us liked the game for what it was some of us are in the middle and some down right hate it. I know he speaks his opinion but it flip-flops. In his top worst/disappoint/best game list he contradicted himself. He complained about This one RTS being a buggy mess on release and thus it got ranked on one of his bad lists, he put Rage on there simply because the PC port was bad but Skyrim which is a buggy mess and unplayable after awhile on fat ps3 is his game of the year. I also liked how he missed the point of saints row 3 being sillier. It was because that is what fans wanted and the reason there where not multiple gang wanted is because all the gangs are technically one in story. Hell a friend of mine played 3 and played 2 after since he got it free with the game and said 2 was slow and was boring to him. I kind of agree. The only thing I miss form 2 are the throw attacks the ai does and the fight clubs. The rest they scrapped can stay in the scrap heap. Ten there is the UMVC3 thing he and many other bitched about the DLC fighters in MVC3 then when they did the disc thing he bitched asking for DLC. If you if you don't like what was added that is fine just don't flipflop. Also I foud it funny how BAD him and NC were when they had their match. It was painful to watch. BTW I don't think all of TGWTG is bad, Sage, Linkara, the NC, Phelous, benzaie and several others are great and entertaining. Then there is the epic fail guy and blockbuster buster..how did they get on the site?

 

[HyperZealot]

Man, Quick Battle is starting to get rough. I have 192/240 defeated so far and all that's left are A-rank fighters, I believe. The difficulty is so erratic now. They're either ridiculously hard or amazingly easy. At least I already beat Harada-TEKKEN, who wasn't that hard when using Mitsurugi. I'll see if I can finish it tomorrow. Then, it's on to online, which I've already dipped my toes in.

 

[randomguy]

i learned i must just be that good i played online which btw imo has the best fighting game lobby and scared people away from a lobby after winning every match. Btw Lexia style is what i won legends with

 

[HyperZealot]

So, I'm two Trophies away from Platinum. I'm experience farming my way to Level 99, which should have all create parts unlocked, as well. I have a method that will make me level up every 8-10 minutes, since after Level 60, it takes 1800 points to level up. The other Trophy is having to walk a total distance of 87,600 meters. Considering I only had 10,997 after finishing all but these two Trophies (and 34 hours of play time) means that requires extensive farming, which I've already done some. I'm up to a little over 34,000 now. The things I do for a Platinum Trophy lol. These are easily some of the most ridiculous.

Once all is said and done, I'm going to really start digging into the Creation Mode. As for my opinion of the game itself, I can say after playing online and finishing Quick Battle that 1) it does have it's share of connection problems during matches, so online is far from perfect, 2) I've grown to hate Critical Edges after playing online, 3) Leixia is the most annoying character in this series' history, bar none (her voice is ATROCIOUS), and 4) when all is taken into account, this is easily the worst in the series, in my opinion. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but it simply falls short of it's predecessors in just about every facet except character creation. If Namco-Bandai does choose to make another sequel, I can only hope they will take a good look at what went wrong with this one and make the necessary fixes so that the series can return to its former glory.

 

[randomguy]

Lexia's voice is fine It's Phrryra that makes my soul burn with rage. She hits the higher pitch more then ANYONE in any game and she is ironically voiced by someone who is usually pretty good. Those whiny little squeals are the worst thing and to make matters worse I know she is a murdering cunt bag who should die. I do like her Nooo when she dies it makes me think she is so flustered she was beaten and can'tmurder thousands of people. Going to guess and I am going to sound like and ass Leixia players killed you a lot online and pulled off her critical edge on you a lot.

 

[HyperZealot]

No, just one A2 ranked A.I. Leixia in Quick Battle. The funny thing is, as soon as I turned the volume all the way down, I beat her. Her voice just irritated me. There actually aren't very many Leixia players at all online. I rarely if ever fought them.

 

[randomguy]

I use her though I use a custom character. I like her but I like my custom fighter more :P The same thing happened with me and the demon seed(going to figure out a nickname one of these days for Phyrra) and yes I hate Phyrra more then any character ever. You know Taki really is just in my don't like so is Sophitia, Jill, Kasumi(doa), Christie(tekken) and Juri. Other then being "cute" in appearance (but other then I think Setsuka I can't think of any female who is legit unattractive in some way.)Phyrra has NO likeable traits and is an evil creature just pure evil. Yet the story makes us try and feel sorry for her. To be fair I did until she was super easily switch to evil when she turns demon and scares the fuck out of her brother. "Why are you running away I only have glowing yellow/red eyes speak in a weird voice now and have a claw for a hand. THAT IS NORMAL!!" Also how could she NOT figure out Tira was killing all the people around her? I mean after doing it she'd come to Phyrra and go "hey you should kill people blood is awesome" dumb fucking blonde. You know you are a SUPER idiot if fucking TIRA can out smart you.

 

[bryanthunder]

I use her though I use a custom character. I like her but I like my custom fighter more :P

Ah ha. This would explain why you don't mind Leixia that much. I understand now; I did the same thing with Yun Seong in SC4. I loved his style but found his personality to be quite grating; so I created characters with his style.
Quickly became my main style; and of course, it was dropped in SC5.

Other then being "cute" in appearance (but other then I think Setsuka I can't think of any female who is legit unattractive in some way.) Phyrra has NO likeable traits and is an evil creature just pure evil.
Yet the story makes us try and feel sorry for her.

I have to disagree just a little bit on the subjects of Pyrrha being pure evil and unlikable. Not completely disagree, just feel the need to point a couple things out:
She clearly doesn't want to fight, but is convinced there's no other way, which is a likable and tragic trait. Remember; "pure evil" is Nightmare and Tira who enjoy killing, who relish in spilling blood. Pyrrha is just stupid because she never looks for another way out.
Hell, right after her physical transformation she still is the good intentioned Pyrrha from before, and just wants Patroklos to accept her. What she seemed to forget is that Patroklos has spent his entire life hating, hunting, and killing malfested making accepting her on the spot nearly impossible. Again, not "evil" just really stupid.
I concede that once she willingly grips Soul Edge, she crosses the line becoming damn near irredeemable.

Hell, you can make a point to say ALL of the characters are dumb as shit.
Seigfried just tosses some punk-ass kid Soul Calibur like it was any other weapon, just expecting him to know "what to do" with it.
Patroklos runs about for several years apparently being a martial arts prodigy, mastering two fighting styles; one of which is extremely complex, and uses his skills to murder anyone who even looks a little odd. "Fear my SKILLS" indeed.
Ivy just accepts that this irresponsible kid has Soul Calibur, and despite seeking it during SC3 and SC4, just leaves it with him. Then decides on a whim to make it stronger despite that she has to suspect it's true nature.
Kilik just apparently gives away his most scared weapon and treasure, the Kali-Yuga to someone who can't even remember it's name.

Good-lord I hope this story is retconed, or just treated as non-canon. I refuse to believe the characters are capable of those levels of incompetence.

 

[randomguy]

well no I still pick her instead of my oc cause I DO like her just my oc is my recurring favorite one.

IDK I still say it is an act and she is a murderer :P

He gave it to him cause he was the only one it responded too, He murdered people by the lords order and what he described as malfested and unlike his whorish sis when he learns they were innocent he blue screens and feels remorseful. At the end Whore McSlut don't give a fuck bout the MILLIONS she has murdered

Ivy also knows only some people can make it work and if is working for him it's kinda like well there isn't shit I can do. She is a very logic based person.

I kinda hope so too though I think this maybe the last game

 

[bryanthunder]

He gave it to him cause he was the only one it responded too, He murdered people by the lords order and what he described as malfested and unlike his whorish sis when he learns they were innocent he blue screens and feels remorseful. At the end Whore McSlut don't give a fuck bout the MILLIONS she has murdered

It's been stated, several times in canon that Soul Calibur and Soul Edge take the form of whatever their user is most comfortable with. So the whole: "Changed into a short sword one day" doesn't make much sense. Unless Soul Calibur has telepathy or some sort of awareness of the world around her, there isn't much way she should know about how useful Patroklos would be, or even who he is. And considering how simple-minded Seigfried is, I imagine it would have just been easier to keep using him as a host.
But then again that would make sense so maybe that's why they threw it out the window.

Ivy also knows only some people can make it work and if is working for him it's kinda like well there isn't shit I can do. She is a very logic based person.

Oh I have no doubt Ivy understands generally 'how' the swords work, and that she's rather logical. But wouldn't leaving a weapon of that power with an irresponsible person be illogical? I'm just sayin' it doesn't make sense for her to find what she's spent several years looking for, and just walk away from it.

I kinda hope so too though I think this maybe the last game

I doubt it'll be the last game, SC4/BD was supposed to be the last in the series due to "poor sales" but fan demand got us SC5.
Fans will demand another game I'm sure, so I won't count the series as out, but it may take a long time for a sequel to arrive.

On another note; with the CAC mode they tried to push gender neutral equipment, which is awesome. But there's something that bugs me: why are hairstyles not available to both genders?
It's not like they can't do it, in fact it's proven they can with the SC4 custom character editing tool.
Anyone think there should be a patch or something to allow both genders access to all hair-styles?

 

[randomguy]

Soul Edge takes form of who grabs it Soul Calibur usually just appears to people. The first person it appeared to was Xianghua in SC1 and she beat Soul Edge then it vanished. In two it never appeared again in story till when sigfried freed himself and it appeared to him and that is when he stabbed soul edge. So Soul Calibur was always choosey about who can use it. And it could not fully control Sig since he broke free in his final battle with Soul Edge when it was able to control him for a bit. It probably chose Pat because he would be easy to control. (I swear I am the only one who played SC1 sometimes)

again she can't do shit with it, think of it like the sword in the stone. Just because one guy tried for an hour to pull it doesn't mean it's his rather then Arther's. Or hell Ben 10 did a what if where Gwen got the watch and was much better then Ben with it.

yeah but if this one didn't do well it would be the last one.

I kinda agree the male ponytails looks like it should be female and vise verse though it's not a big deal imo but I would like it

 

[bryanthunder]

Soul Edge takes form of who grabs it Soul Calibur usually just appears to people. The first person it appeared to was Xianghua in SC1 and she beat Soul Edge then it vanished. In two it never appeared again in story till when sigfried freed himself and it appeared to him and that is when he stabbed soul edge. So Soul Calibur was always choosey about who can use it. And it could not fully control Sig since he broke free in his final battle with Soul Edge when it was able to control him for a bit. It probably chose Pat because he would be easy to control. (I swear I am the only one who played SC1 sometimes)

Hm, yeah I suppose you're right. I was drawing from memory of Soulcalibur 2's weapons. I was under the impression that everyone had a "Soul Calibur" weapon as well as a "Soul Edge" when in fact there were only what, three or four characters with SC?
I even checked the description to double check: "Just like the dark sword, it can change its form."
So, yes. You are right, it does seem to be more picky.
But I imagine it has many of the same properties as Soul Edge, such as it can take control over whomever uses it as it is after all Soul Edge's counterpart. And if I have my lore correct, it was made from Soul Edge, or atleast made in a similar way. It's also it's implied it took over Patroklos in a similar way that Soul Edge does to Raphael and Pyrrha. So it does stand to reason that it could do the same to others.

again she can't do shit with it, think of it like the sword in the stone. Just because one guy tried for an hour to pull it doesn't mean it's his rather then Arther's.

Ivy is an alchemist which apparently in Soulcalibur-land means she knows how to do magic. As such, she doesn't need to use the sword, if she studies it enough I imagine she'd learn how to duplicate it's purification effects. She could have just as easily tagged along following that brain-dead kid for a while simply to study it, even at a distance.
Hell if it were an RPG you can bet you'd be seeing a message saying: "Ivy joined the party!" not three minutes after they met.
... Actually a "Tales of Soulcalibur" would be amusing. I'd be game for that.

yeah but if this one didn't do well it would be the last one.

There's no way this is the last we'll see of the series. It may die down but, if anything Namco will bury the series for a while. Remember, SC5 was only created because of fan demand, and very few fans were satisfied with this one as far as I can tell. Even if it goes quiet for, oh, five-or-so years I'm sure sooner or later there will be fan demand for a "real" Soulcalibur again.
Of course, I'm still expecting a "SUPER Soulcalibur 5: Second Impact Edition" by this time next year.

I kinda agree the male ponytails looks like it should be female and vise verse though it's not a big deal imo but I would like it

True, it's not the biggest deal but it is a bit baffling when you consider they made sure male characters could wear skirts.
I was just wondering, if people were vocal enough maybe we could see a patch for that. It'd be the least they could do considering there's no reason not to have them available. (Though somehow I get the feeling they'd release it as "DLC" just to fuck with people.)

 

[Raden]

Super Soul Calibur, and DLC, etc... we're talking about Namco, not Capcom. lol.