Soul Calibur?

[Roto13]

So basically Namco spent ALL their time on graphics and movesets and whatnot.

Like they should. It's a fighting game. Gameplay is everything. There's no argument to be made that the story mode doesn't give you character development or whatever. That couldn't possibly be less important.

True in principle but a lot of the fun in Soul Edge, and SC I and II came in the super-spiffed up globetrotting adventure story modes.

The actual stories in the adventures modes in SCI and II were just random excuses for you to be fighting whoever you're fighting. Those weren't particularly interesting. Even in SC III, they just reused the same stories for everyone. If you were going to fight Sophitia, it's because you heard about a temple that had something to do with Soul Edge/Calibur. If you were going to fight Cassandra, it's because you heard there was a clue in a mansion that was on fire when you got there, but Cassandra got confused and attacked you anyway. When you were inevitably going to fight Zasalamel, it was because he told you to come to the clock tower for information. "You are not worthy to find the sword! I shall kill you here and now!" *flings a giant cog at you* This was the result of them putting actual effort into the story. That's pretty sad.

The missions modes in SC I and II were great fun, but not because of the stories. It was because of the variety of the matches you had to fight, and the general feel that you were doing more than just fighting a string of enemies.

The lack of Team VS was a disappointment, but I never had any problems with CotS. I guess they must've fixed that for the game's Platinum release.

Early versions of the game had a terrible bug that would screw up your CotS file if you basically used your memory card for anything other than Soul Calibur. I can't play CotS mode any more because of it. Not that it was particularly fun.

In real life, some fighters and some weapons just aren't as effective as others. It can take more strategy and more innovation to win, if you're at an inherent disadvantage.

This isn't real life, it's a game. :P It'd be like if you played a game of chess where you can pick whether you want to use the standard pieces or replace all of yours with queens, except for the one king. It would get pretty dull.

If a change of strategy was all it took to even the playing field, it wouldn't be a balancing issue. (Like the n00bs who think Siegfried and Nightmare are cheaper than Sophitia and Cassandra could never come up with :P) The problem is that if two equally skilled players are preparing for a tournament, and one of them trains as Sophitia and the other as anyone who isn't an Alexandria, the Sophitia player is pretty much guaranteed to win.