Soul Calibur V announced

So long as Raphael is still in it, and he's still an annoying prick, I'm all good.

Waiting for a price drop though, it's $90 here on PS3. Maybe I'll try to get it imported from the UK.

Pyrrha Omega is kind of weird. It's like they toned back Pyrrha Classic just to make Omega stronger without ruining the play balance. Like they straight up add another hit to her main (underpowered) throw so that it does about average damage. I would recommend everyone play through the story mode, by the way. It isn't all that difficult once you learn to abuse the AI (chain throws and low attacks until it starts ducking, then kick until it forgets to duck, repeat as necessary) and unlocks Alpha Patroklos (which is a LOT like Setsuna but with a sword instead of an umbrella), Pyrrha Omega (which seems to be objectively better than Pyrrha Classic), Edge Master, and Elysium (like Edge Master, but only uses female weapons). I think it might also unlock Kilik but I already got him through leveling (also like Edge Master, but only uses male weapons). All of those new styles are available in character creation.

Raphael is in it, and has a snazzy hat.

So I unlocked a new "route" in Arcade mode last night. It's called "Extra" and includes the cryptic description of, "play through arcade mode from a new perspective." It is literally just "Standard," with a slight change to the camera angle. What a weird unlockable! You'd think that kind of thing would be under options, or a room setting or something.

I have continues to expand my menagerie of badass and/or ridiculous characters. I was dismayed to find that the names, "Prime Time Mime" and "Jeezum H. Crackers" were both too long, so I had to improvise with "Mime Time" and "Big J.C."

Something's happened; I don't think I like Soul Calibur anymore. Along with SC5, which I rented, I got Bushido Blade today. I think that had something to do with it.

1Dgaf wrote:

Something's happened; I don't think I like Soul Calibur anymore. Along with SC5, which I rented, I got Bushido Blade today. I think that had something to do with it.

I'm not a big fan of SC5 at all, and I was really looking forward to it. The changes to guard impacts and the general feel of the game just doesn't jive with me. Glad I rented.

I played some today and I'm not loving it either. Just doesn't feel right to me. I'll play a bit more, but I've always been a street fighter guy to be honest.

I just brought the game to a Soul Calibur party. Really it was just a small gathering for winner-keeps-playing VS mode. Unfortunately, I didn't win a single match. However I left my copy with the hostess, and I think she's going to enjoy the character creation mode.

Rented the game from Redbox today. For something that was billed as this game-changing "Soul Cal: The Next Generation" reboot, it sure does feel pretty same ol' same ol', and not particularly well done at that. Most of the "new" characters are just thinly-veiled reskins of old ones. A lot of the modes (the "Quick Match" may be the most egregious offender) shove a confusing passel of menu options in your face without much in the way of context to tell you what they do or why they're significant. The "cinematics" (if you want to be generous and use the term) in the story mode look like hastily-sketched storyboards that nobody bothered to animate. The new super meter thing is fine, but it feels like kind of a lazy addition.

Also, they screwed up Ivy! Where are her stances? The one big thing that made her awesome to play (as opposed to the two big things that made her awesome to look at), and they took it away!

I dunno. At the end of the day, it's still Soul Calibur, and the core fighting mechanics are still fun, but I've also played this game four times before (five if you count Soul Bledge). I'm getting my two bucks worth as a rental, but I'd've been kind of pissed if I'd dropped sixty on Day One.

hbi2k wrote:

I'm getting my two bucks worth as a rental, but I'd've been kind of pissed if I'd dropped sixty on Day One.

Isn't that sort of how all fighting games have been for the last few years. Unless you are super hardcore into the mechanics and you can get a lot of joy out of them slightly tweaking mechanics it is mostly just the same as the previous 4 iterations.

...I just like making characters.

LobsterMobster wrote:

...I just like making characters.

You should get the Saints Row: The Third demo, Creation Station. That's all it is.

Jayhawker wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

...I just like making characters.

You should get the Saints Row: The Third demo, Creation Station. That's all it is.

But I already have Saints Row 3, and it's more fun making characters in Saints Row 2 because you can pick two or three layers for each part of the body.

Gonna have to sit on the shelf longer than a year for that to happen.

I'm not really sure why you expected the weapons to have different stats. That was new to SC4, wasn't it? If memory serves, one of them didn't even HAVE alternate weapons. What differentiates Soul Calibur from the other fighters is that it's weapon-based and that its special moves are relatively simple and formulaic: as long as you can hold two buttons and a direction down at the same time, you can have some fun with it.

Also the gigantic boobs.

Also: the alternate weapons don't do anything! What the crap is that! I can see not having the equipment give stat bonuses 'cause there's probably a sizeable portion of the audience that just wants to make the characters look how they want the characters to look without worrying about min-maxing, but the weird, crazy over- and underpowered weapons are what have differentiated Soul Cal from every other fighting game series ever since Soul Bledge (and excluding the first SC, but quickly corrected in SC2 and onward).

I'm feeling really disillusioned with this entry. I'd be curious to know how the development went-- IIRC, wasn't this in danger of being cancelled after the hurricane in Japan?-- because the whole thing feels kind of rushed and slapped-together. I have to wonder: what was the hurry? I sort of wonder if it might not have been better if they'd taken whatever good ideas they had for it and put them on the shelf for a year and then picked it back up again with an eye toward coming out as a launch title for the next round of consoles.

Every home console version of every Soul Blade / Edge / Calibur game has had alternate weapons with different effects with the sole exception of the first Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, and now this one. (Unless maybe the PSP game didn't, I dunno, I never played that one.)

LobsterMobster wrote:

Raphael is in it, and has a snazzy hat.

I picked this up, Raphael is in it, and I can confirm that his hat is, indeed, snazzy.

But they replaced Taki! Her replacement is no substitute! Bah!

hbi2k wrote:

Also, they screwed up Ivy! Where are her stances? The one big thing that made her awesome to play (as opposed to the two big things that made her awesome to look at), and they took it away!

They died in SC4 (or possibly SC3, which I never played).

Redwing wrote:

But they replaced Taki! Her replacement is no substitute! Bah!

You don't like Cameltoeki?

hbi2k wrote:

Every home console version of every Soul Blade / Edge / Calibur game has had alternate weapons with different effects with the sole exception of the first Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, and now this one. (Unless maybe the PSP game didn't, I dunno, I never played that one.)

And that's really a dealbreaker for you? Did you know that you can tweak your speed, reach and damage based on your character's size? That's why each style has a "recommended" height.

I've moaned enough about how much I hate Natsu so I won't go over it again. Suffice it to say that she made me miss Taki even more.

LobsterMobster wrote:

And that's really a dealbreaker for you?

Kind of, yes. It added a whole heap of variety to the game, and if there's one thing this entry is missing now that they've cut all those wacky "Beat Lizardman using only kicks!" "Beat three guys in a row while slowly losing health, but your attacks leech health from the enemy!" modes, it's variety.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I've moaned enough about how much I hate Natsu so I won't go over it again. Suffice it to say that she made me miss Taki even more.

Natsu has nothing on the protagonists though... ugh, could they have chosen two more annoying characters?!

I liked Soul Calibur because the characters mostly avoided the more annoying J-game stereotypes, the others were there in full force (hello, giant bouncing boobies), but the characters were almost all full grown adults, mostly avoided being angsty twats and were pretty confident in their own abilities. It actually felt like heroes you might expect to see from around the world all chasing after a pair of magic swords.

Now we have Patroklos and Pyyrha instead of Sophitia and Cassandra. Natsu instead of Taki... I suppose similar characters were always there, but I feel like it was a better balance, and I didn't have to play a whole darn campaign with them. I fully expect Mitsurugi to be replaced by a Cloud clone in SC6.

I'm probably going to stick with Raph once I'm out of the story mode, he's still pretty cool.

I always think they're missing an opportunity by not having a grizzled old Siegfried. Mitsurugi seems to be aging (albeit slowly) as the series progresses.

Cervantes 4ever!

I always use Maxi. I'm kind of a dick.

Good ol "Hit-a-button-do-a-30-second-combo" Maxi.

Only true warriors use Mitsurugi. Even bullets can't stop him.

Grenn wrote:

Only true warriors use Mitsurugi. Even bullets can't stop him.

I don't think I've ever really played him, but I like that he's there. He's a no-nonsense anchor to the series.

Jayhawker wrote:

I always use Maxi. I'm kind of a dick.

That depends: do you actually know how to use him, or do you just mash buttons?

'Cause I LOVE it when people mash buttons with Maxi. Love it. It's so easy to take down a Maxi button-masher if you know how. You just dance away from him and wait for him to get locked into a 30-move combo facing 180 degrees away from you and whiffing at air, and then jump in and murderize him.

Side Note: No disrespect for button-mashers. Soul Cal made its name as a button-masher-friendly fighting series, and if that's the way you have fun, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm maybe 50% button masher, 50% actually-know-what-I'm-doing at any given time myself, depending on which character I'm using and how much practice I've had at that particular entry in the series. Back in the SC2 days I got to maybe 80/20 in favor of knowing what I was doing with some of my go-to characters (Voldo FTW), that was it.

Redwing wrote:
Grenn wrote:

Only true warriors use Mitsurugi. Even bullets can't stop him.

I don't think I've ever really played him, but I like that he's there. He's a no-nonsense anchor to the series.

Yeah. I kind of get the feeling that Mitsurugi's the guy sitting in the back of the room, looking progressively more pissed off, wondering what the hell happened to his game. Probably angry he's got to work with someone who uses a goddamn hula hoop.

hbi2k wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I always use Maxi. I'm kind of a dick.

That depends: do you actually know how to use him, or do you just mash buttons?

'Cause I LOVE it when people mash buttons with Maxi. Love it. It's so easy to take down a Maxi button-masher if you know how. You just dance away from him and wait for him to get locked into a 30-move combo facing 180 degrees away from you and whiffing at air, and then jump in and murderize him.

Total button masher. I really don't know the specifics, never really cared. I know that I do pretty well with him, and I know lots of message boards claim he is a cheesy character to use.

So I imagine online I either get beat down by a pro, or flamed as a cheeser. Niether one really bothers me that much.

I have a theory:

My theory is that the developers never actually played Assassin's Creed when the started developing Ezio's fighting style, so they figured he probably fought a lot like Super Mario would if he had a pair of wrist blades (i.e. very silly, slap stick). Then, one of the developers actually played ACII and realized that Ezio was not comic relief. They quickly redesigned his fighting style, but still had a fighting model for a slapstick loon.

And thus, Dampierre was born and the world was better for it.