Soul Calibur Series (5 Viewers)

[randomguy]

well I will be getting it the day it comes out. IDK how much time I will get to spen with it but I will try to put my thoughts on it. Personally I never liked Taki so her gone doesn't bug me and other characters I liked that are not in this I will just make. The only thing I don't like is Kilik and Sophitia returning. While I always found Sophitia to be a weak willed idiot I don't think she is as bad as Kilik. Who lead Xianghua on for so long fully aware she carried a torch for him. Though I do like the pole style.

On the uppercut spam note i'm sorry but if anyone complains about that and used Taki, I can't take you seriously

 

[thesteedman]

I'll be getting this game, but only because I have a voucher to spend which runs out before SF x T comes out. So I'll be getting it quite cheaply, thank goodness 'cause I have no intention of paying full price for it. I have to repeat what others day about the new characters, a lot of them just seem like garbage to me personally, from lazy designs to fighting styles that I personally don't think mix well with the rest of the cast. I'm very disapointed to see Agol make the cut over long running characters too, especially given that he was overpowered as hell to fight against online.

The biggest appeal for me in this game is the create a character mode, but even then I have a suspicious feeling there isn't much new to it at all. Sure you can change the height and weight of your character which is a plus, but I reckon there won't be much in the way of new clothing items, it will probably be all the old stuff with maybe the odd outfit here and there slapped in to make characters that didn't make the cut. Who knows, I hope I'm wrong. This game should tide me over until STxT and Mass Effect 3 come out next month at the very least.

 

[onlinehero]

"Personally I never liked Taki..."
This we have heard like 10 times.

"...other characters I liked that are not in this I will just make."
This we have heard already like 20 times. Besides, you will probably fail at this even if you try 50 times (they're not going to look the same).

...I always found Sophitia to be a weak willed idiot..."
We have also heard of your Sophitia hate like 30 times already.

"On the uppercut spam note i'm sorry but if anyone complains about that and used Taki, I can't take you seriously"
This I didn't understand at all though I read it like 10 times.

Anyway, no need to take me seriously! :D

BTW randomguy, do you like Natsu in her alternative costume? I'd say it's pretty tomboyish, yeah?
Soul Calibur 5 - Viola vs Natsu (Gameplay Trailer) - YouTube

 

[randomguy]

to be fair online hero I hear the same complaints with algol repeated and the lack of Taki :P

My point with the taki one is she is very button mash and spam friendly. It was mainly just a sarcastic not

actually yeah I like that and her main outfit. though that was my first time seeing it. Still wonder why she is blonde when she is from japan.

 

[bryanthunder]

My point with the taki one is she is very button mash and spam friendly. It was mainly just a sarcastic not

actually yeah I like that and her main outfit. though that was my first time seeing it. Still wonder why she is blonde when she is from japan.

Natsu fights almost exactly like Taki, so what you don't like about her is still there.
Although to be honest the only character whom I consider button mash friendly is Maxi, and the only major spammer is Cervantes (with his teleport moves) Taki is very tame comparably.
Personally I loved Taki's design (dem abs) though the constant shift between deep speech and high-pitched shrieks wore out their welcome long ago.

There's also a theory going around that Natsu isn't (completely) Japanese... I'll repost it here:

Her light haircolor has also caused speculations that Natsu is not of Japanese descent and might be a child of one of the fair-haired veterans (or even minor characters that had appeared throughout the series). The incongruence is compounded by the fact that the game is set in the early 1600's, when it would have been impossible to dye brown/black Asian hair such a light shade. It seems odder still, because Namco took care to explain that Setsuka's fair hair is a result of her being ethnically European. Additionally, during one of the livestreams from Project Soul, one of the developers suggested that she infact may not be of Japanese descent.

Natsu's eyes are also noticeably less almond-shaped than all of the other Asian characters, even considering the fact that the characters are drawn and modeled in a stylized way. Her in game eye shape resembles more that of European characters (Cassandra, Sophitia or even Setsuka) than Taki's or Xianghua's, who are both Asian.

Take that as you will.

Also, I've decided to pick up my copy as intended, day one. I'll give more detailed impressions once I've gotten time to actually play the game.

 

[randomguy]

oh taki's move set doesn't but me but her players do give me trouble. I think it's her character and design. She doesn't really have a personality and her design is just latex and huge breasts. So I found her rather boring and then the high pitched yells annoyed me more. I usually would make a character with her move set so I didn't have to play her

 

[Unrelated]

On a side note, does someone with the PS3 SC4 want to help me get the honors related to online play? I'm rather anxious about 1v1 competitive play against strangers.

 

[TheCrimsonRisk]

I think it's her character and design. She doesn't really have a personality and her design is just latex and huge breasts

I fail to see the problem :p

 

[randomguy]

it's boring that's the issue I have

 

[onlinehero]

I am also expecting that SC5 soundtrack will also be awesome since the series has some really great music. Some of my favourites are:









How about you?

 

[HyperZealot]

I'll be getting my copy next Tuesday, just as I did when SCIV came out, and the Collector's Edition, no less. Soul Calibur is just a great fighting franchise. Every time I get a new entry, I pour over it for weeks after getting it. The only thing is, Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out next week, as well, so this'll probably be on the backburner until I beat that. Yeah, some of the new characters are meh, I'm bummed Setsuka didn't make the cut, and Taki should've been left in over Natsu (it just feels like they wanted to update her look without having her age, so they just replaced her with someone younger to compensate), but Z.W.E.I. looks like one awesome character to use, I'm a fan of Assassin's Creed, so seeing Ezio playable is great, and Mitsurugi and Yoshimitsu are back, which were my two main concerns for the roster. Some old favorites may have been kicked to the curb, but I'm remaining optimistic. Besides, that character creator looks amazing. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.

As for the most irritating character for me to fight against in SCIV, it was Kilik. People would just spam his longest attacks online. With his reach, if you spam him enough, you can't get close. Of course, I can't fault him for it, as I used to use him, as well, though I didn't just spam.

 

[anotherguttersnipe]

So, I've been thinking. Maybe Edge Master isn't a Charade character, but more of a 'Necrid' type character, who has a singular moveset with moves taken from other characters.

 

[bryanthunder]

So, I've been thinking. Maybe Edge Master isn't a Charade character, but more of a 'Necrid' type character, who has a singular moveset with moves taken from other characters.

While I personally would take it over what we've got. I can say he isn't a Necrid type.
I've seen some gameplay of him and he does indeed switch every round. I'd show the video but it's been removed (it was leaked from an early-release copy about two weeks back.)
Apparently the only difference between the three mimics is he will mimic any style, where as Kilik and Elysium only mimic males and females respectively.
Still seems like two pointless spots on the roster if you ask me.

 

[anotherguttersnipe]

I can certainly agree with this. While it's not gonna make me cancel my pre-order in a fit of rage, I gotta say, it's a poor performance from guys who should know better. I mean, I'm OK with edge master being a charade character-being what he is, whilst Kilik might have been better suited as a necrid character, being his star pupil and all. It looks like Sophitia's gonna be the game's final boss, and the best they can do for her is make her a charade?!

I suspect that we're seeing this because the devs are pretty much out of time now. If the publishers were smart, they would've delayed the game's release so the devs can make proper movesets for these characters. Or perhaps the slots should've been left blank for future DLC(that's right. I'd rather pay extra for properly done characters than have 3 glorified random buttons-as you've so rightfully put it.)

 

[bryanthunder]

I suspect that we're seeing this because the devs are pretty much out of time now. If the publishers were smart, they would've delayed the game's release so the devs can make proper movesets for these characters.

Hit the nail on the head with this one. Though it is speculation and we may never get a clear answer, especially not from NamcoBandai.

Time constraints is the most likely example. Judging solely from their official art alone, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine both Kilik and Elysium were intended to have their own styles after all.
But, Namcobandai has a tendency to hold very high, nigh-unreasonable, expectations for a game's sales. They seem to have considered SC4 a failure (though they have never officially stated this) despite selling 2.3 million copies since 2009.
NB split up Project Soul and scattered them, it was only fan demand that the team was brought back under new lead. Still, SC5 was officially announced in May of last year, and unofficially announced late 2010, giving them little over a year (maybe a year and a half) to make the game.
With only a year to work on the game I would surmise that they had the choice; focus on new gameplay mechanics, or focus on refining old characters. Clearly they chose the former. It's clear they were desperately reaching for time, when the outsourced the story to another company so they could focus on the gameplay.

I love many of NamcoBandai's properties but it's hard to remain a fan when their cooperate expects miracles for doing next to nothing. (Take a look at the "Tales of" series for example, they've done next to nothing to advertise or sell what's easily one of their best products.)

 

[Stiltzkinator]

I love many of NamcoBandai's properties but it's hard to remain a fan when their cooperate expects miracles for doing next to nothing. (Take a look at the "Tales of" series for example, they've done next to nothing to advertise or sell what's easily one of their best products.)

The company acts ignorant, or maybe they really are just ignorant, but by now, most of their former fans are rather painfully aware of how badly the properties Namco Bandai owns are being treated. They don't advertise, and then they leave their fans feeling very put off which precludes indirect advertisement via word of mouth and general popularity, and then they have grand sales expectations that are never met.

If any of you have had the chance to learn a bit about the people who are actually behind the development of series like Soul Calibur and Tales of, you know they're good people who want to make good games, but executive decisions can really curtail their ability to do that. I personally lament the passing of the PS2 era, particularly for Namco, and particularly Soul Calibur 3 (with its rather varied custom classes, more traditional and involved story mode for characters, and the deep and lengthy [if a bit flawed] chronicles of the sword mode). What I had hoped to see in SCIV was an improved CotS mode, but instead we got the lamest story mode yet and a very frustrating and often minimally rewarding tower of souls instead. And the Tales of series, it's one of the best selling series ever in Japan, and had a fine opportunity to overtake Final Fantasy here in the west after its decline of popularity spiking downward between FFXIII and FFXIV, but at that time Tales was nowhere to be found because Namco was on the verge of giving up on it outside of Japan.

All that said, I'm going to give SC5 a chance. But it may very well be my last commitment to the series.

 

[anotherguttersnipe]

The Tales series could sell huge-anywhere. And yet NB are wholly convinced that western gamers are too entrenched in FPS to notice it. What's worse, is the favoritism they play with their devs. Project Soul is given an impossible deadline, and will probably be dissolved again after SCV doesn't meet their sales quota, and yet Tekken's dev team is given all the time in the world because Harada's their MVP or some shit like that. Not to discredit the guy or anything, since he has done well with the Tekken Series. Just that the narrowly-directed favoritism has gotsta be playing hell with developer morale for other teams.

 

[randomguy]

Harada also helped get a lot of people to the games petition

also on a note The Tales of Series never did well here. Symphonia was the only one to do well in sales. The rest that were released here did not do well in sales at all

also on the note of SC5 had the lamest story, I point at Soul Calibur one for the dreamcast. The story of that game only got fleshed out in character bios in two.

here is a comparison list of the previous soul caliburs in sales now I can only list ones I have been able to find. for SC4 I will compare it's sales to some other fighters this gen the reason is sales figures are higher now with more players and compare to the Tekken series. One thing to keep and mind is companies don't care about a game selling in the long run. They care more about ones that sell that period. Not just Namco ALL game companies since the start. That is why several games become cult classics later down the road. Remember this is a business

using multiple sources
Soul Blade(or soul edge to some): 1.07
1: 1.3 million
2: ps2: 1.31 million GC: 1.10 million xbox: 1.00m

3: 1.07m the same as soul blade

4: 2.3 million which is combining both 360 and ps3

compare that to..no not SF4 I'm going to be cute about this. MK VS DC 2.82m funny thing MK vs DC did better then MVC3 with adding ultimate in only sold 1.82m

Now for all the Tekkens

1: 3.24m
2: 5.74m
3: 7.16
tag: 4.05m
5: 3.87m
dark res(psp only): 2.56
6: PS3 2.29 360 1.04 psp 0.25

Oh a fun note. Fighters sell better in North America. huh Kinda surprised

 

[Rakkar]

This game should be awesome as a ryona game if nothing else, but they kind of messed that up by using all the same animations as their last game. It just gets old. Wish they'd do something new with the actual fighting.
If nothing else, at least you'll get to see some new characters and have a vastly improved creation system, which is the only real reason I'm going to get this one. But I have to admit I am a little disappointed with it.

The sad thing about all of this is that they'll probably end the series with this game because it won't do well in the general market. These guys really need to learn some lessons from other fighting series games like the big success of MK9.

 

[bryanthunder]

"The Tales of Series never did well here. Symphonia was the only one to do well in sales. The rest that were released here did not do well in sales at all"
This is fact.
The only reason Symphonia sold as well as it did was because Nintendo made a strong advertisement push for it which has not been repeated (or even attempted) since. Seriously, Tales of Graces f was announced in February of last year simply said to be "coming soon" and was only recently announced to be released in March. Between then and now it's received little to no advertisement, trailer treatment, or even attention from retailers (Amazon still lists it with a placeholder date of December 31st, 2013) it's received little more than passing mention during interviews and press conferences.
Fact: It's bad business to release a product without telling anyone what it is, or where to find it.

"hey care more about ones that sell that period. Not just Namco ALL game companies since the start. That is why several games become cult classics later down the road. Remember this is a business"
Also fact. I don't deny that it's "just business" and companies always want to see a return on their products... That's natural and I'd never say anything against it.
But it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when companies like NamcoBandai and Capcom, whose games constantly push millions of copies and can still be considered failures. Especially against companies like Atlus whom see 78,000-500,000 copies as a success.

"Soul Blade-Soulcalibur 4 sales figures - Tekken 1-6 sales figures"
Also true. Tekken sells better, but that's only natural. Tekken is considered a classic it is THE 3D fighting game to most fans. The fighter they grew up with, and the one they'll stick with.

"Oh a fun note. Fighters sell better in North America. huh Kinda surprised"
Actually this doesn't surprise me at all. Americans tend to be very competitive, and fighting games are all about winning.

Anyway, the topic of NamcoBandai's (hell all game companies) business decisions past and present, would make for interesting discussion but we should get back to Soulcalibur. While sales are a part of that, I think gameplay is what we should focus on in this thread.

Speaking of which; I had a thought recently:
Critical Finishes were removed though the reason is vague as to why (most likely because the developers didn't that you could "instantly win") but the new Critical Edge/Super Combos seem to slow down the flow of the game, and meter management is always a hassle. So I wondered what if they were to combine the two elements in a future installment?
The game already slows down for a moment when you break an opponents guard; so what if during that time you hit the CE combo (236236+ABK) or the CF combo (ABKG) and you launch a flashy and powerful super-attack. But that's the only time it can be done.
I dunno, just a thought.