I wouldn't bet money on it. Remember it's a free to play game, so I have no doubt that a huge chunk of content will be managed through a fucktonne of micro transactions(how else is it going to make money-what sort of studio grants their fanbases their full entitlements at no charge)
I never said they wouldn't charge for the story-content, just that the game may be based around it.
Where as Tekken can get away with updates that add characters for free I fully expect SC:LS to charge anywhere from five, to eight bucks a pop for additional characters including a couple cut scenes for a "story" as an added bonus.
As for the micro-transactions, I actually expect a mix between an energy system (like Facebook games, or the token system in Tekken Revolution) as well as charging for better item drop rates, combination rates, or straight up better in-game items.
I've never really minded buying cosmetic items (costumes, weapons, and so on) provided they be reasonably priced, and aren't cut simply for the sake of nickle and dimeing. (Which is why despite my love for the Tales games I've never bought any of the extra costumes that go for five bucks EACH.)
It wasn't my favorite game, but I don't think it deserved all the hate it got. I'll admit that the story mode was incredibly weak, but the online capabilities delivered on my part. Sides, fighting games aren't known for having masterful storywriting.
I feel that Soulcalibur V deserved a lot of the flack it got for trying to be something it's not. Soulcalibur had four games developing it's sense of identity only for all that to get pushed aside in favor of copying Street Fighter's mechanics.
The game's controls were good, and the online netcode was well put together. Very few dispute that. The game just didn't feel like Soulcalibur, and the fact that they cut so many old characters... it felt like the game was trying to be a new IP that was "Street Fighter, in 3D".
And hey, just because fighting games aren't known for their stories doesn't mean they shouldn't try. After all, shooters aren't exactly renowned for their storytelling yet they are capable of telling good ones; just look at games like Portal, Half-Life, and Bioshock.
The mistake most fighting games make though is trying to have an overarching story that involves ALL the characters, when instead there should just be on going subplots that are marginally related to each other. Each goal leading into a new goal. Characters developing over the course of their journey meeting friends, allies, rivals, enemies, and so on. The interviews leading up to SC5's release seemed to hint that this is what they wanted to do... but then we got the creepy incest heavy story of Patroklos and Pyrrha.
As for seeing a new Soul Calibur...... I dunno. We're looking at next gen development being even more expensive than it is now. And there are alot of people saying that if Capcom falls(which looks very likely at this point), it'll start a catalyst effect that'll severely cripple-or possibly flat out destroy the games industry.
Kind of a strawman's argument to say we won't see a Soulcalibur because Capcom is, or may end up, doing poorly this generation...
Sure, game development is expensive, and it's not going to get any cheaper. That's why I think Namco is releasing so many free-to-play games; they want to build interest in these IP's: They release a small game for free to build interest (mostly newcomers) in the series, charge for additional content to justify the release of a free game; gauge interest and profits from the free game then build a bigger one and focus on providing more content for the large game that sold well on the small one.
Maybe it's idealistic, but I really like the Soulcalibur series and don't want to see it turned into a series of free-to-play games until Namco decides to just abandon it.
