Soul Calibur (Series)

[Ayen]

I couldn't help but notice there were some Soul fans on here so why not make a thread about the franchise as a whole?

I had the pleasure of being introduced to the series through the original Soul Blade which I played with my brother. I remember when the pirate was the main boss and turned into Ghost Rider! Okay, so he wasn't Ghost Rider but my child brain made the connection anyway. I loved playing that game and I vaguely remember another mode on it that was like a storybook kind of thing I watched my brother play that even had some different endings for some of the main characters.

I wouldn't come back to the series until Soul Calibur III for the PS2, and you already know my opinion of that. It's my personal favorite of the franchise. After that I played IV and honestly didn't care about it much. Never played I, II or V. I wouldn't mind owning each port of Soul Calibur II because I really do like how each console has its own exclusive character, that was something unique about the series and I thought II did it the best.

Discuss.

[Mirage]

SC2 and 3 are great, SC4 is ok and SC5 is good, but i miss way too many characters/styles.

[Vyk]

3 was utter perfection. The created characters weren't just clones of the main cast. There was still some symblance of a story to be had. And then there was Chronicles of the Sword. My favorite thing in a fighting game ever. I know most people hated it, but I always wanted an RPG where encounters played out like a fighting game. And aside from Legend of Legaia, this was as close as it was going to come. But I've been around since Soul Blade/Edge myself as well. But I've played and owned most of the games in the franchise. Played it in the arcade, enjoyed it on PSOne, and followed it into the Dreamcast, and kept up with it through the NGC/PS2/XBox, and now I hate what they've done with it. At least 5 isn't as garbage as 4 was. But I still hope they take their foot out of their mouth and make something decent again with the franchise

[Mirage]

While 3's CAS characters were different from the main cast, many of their styles were poorly balanced,and the game had some annoying glitches and bugs, including a "wipe your entire save file" bug. I mostly used standard character styles for my CASes in SC3.

[Calliope]

I love this series! My brother and I spent hundreds of hours having Hwang vs. Taki battles in Soul Blade, and Spuuky and I have a few of the more recent games. I forget which one we're up to though, maybe IV?

[Aulayna]

For me

Soul Blade: Awesome
Soul Calibur: Eh, alright, missing some of the single player magic of Soul Blade
Soul Calibur 2: Great line-up, I had it on the Gamecube, so LINK FTW! Also fantastic adventure mode
Soul Calibur 3: The pinnacle, very indepth character creation, fantastic single player challenges
Soul Calibur 4: Massive let down, just felt like an advertisement for Force Unleashed
Soul Calibur 5: Great online modes, but at the expense of pretty much everything else

If they continue this series I really hope they put as much effort into offline as they for their online offerings. The adventure modes in 2 and 3 were highlights of the franchise for me.

[Mirage]

I really wish they would make a SC that takes the best from all the games, and also gives us all the fighting styles of the characters through the entire series.

[Pete for President]

I rock everybody's socks with Yoshimitsu

Great games, although the glory of Soul Blade/Soul Calibur 1's story mode has never been matched. That feeling of journeying the world has been lost for a while.

[Night Fury]

I LOVE this game! One of my favourite fighting games - such a diversity with the characters. I can own anyone with Seong Mi-na.


Omg we should totally do SC sets!

[Ayen]

I know most people hated it

wat?

Alucard voice: I will never understand humans.

[Vyk]

The people I've seen in the fighting game community (including a few members here, when the topic has came up) consider Chronicles of the Sword to have been a huge waste of time that could have been spent polishing the balance in all the fighting styles. All that apparently truly matters is how legitimate a competitive "tournament" style game it can be. Which I believe is all these people care about. One player modes be damned, we better be able to settle arguments with a brute force show of skill where nobody can complain that someone is OP because the developer spent all their time working on balance rather than gameplay o.O

I love fighting games. But I am not a hardcore fan. And I have no fighting game fan friends, nor do I ever feel the need to settle anything with a fighting game match. I like to play through what constitutes story in these games. Usually it's ridiculously lame. Chronicles of the Sword, and Mortal Kombat 9 are about the best examples of one player joy someone can get in a fighting game

[Sephiroth]

Anyone who wants to play online, just add me in PSN.

[Calliope]

Omg we should totally do SC sets!

I would do this!

[Mirage]

The people I've seen in the fighting game community (including a few members here, when the topic has came up) consider Chronicles of the Sword to have been a huge waste of time that could have been spent polishing the balance in all the fighting styles. All that apparently truly matters is how legitimate a competitive "tournament" style game it can be. Which I believe is all these people care about. One player modes be damned, we better be able to settle arguments with a brute force show of skill where nobody can complain that someone is OP because the developer spent all their time working on balance rather than gameplay o.O

I love fighting games. But I am not a hardcore fan. And I have no fighting game fan friends, nor do I ever feel the need to settle anything with a fighting game match. I like to play through what constitutes story in these games. Usually it's ridiculously lame. Chronicles of the Sword, and Mortal Kombat 9 are about the best examples of one player joy someone can get in a fighting game

I really dislike that group of players. It seems to me like they wouldn't be able to argue against a statement like "ideally, fighting games should be untextured monocolored rectangles that correspond perfectly with hit boxes with no music, just sound effects to let you know when a character attacks and defends". Now, I wonder why fighting games aren't like this, if competitive viability truly is, as they claim, the only thing that matters.

What the "hardcore" fighting game players seem to often forget is that it usually is not commercially viable to make a game that caters only to highly competitive people, because there simply isn't enough of them. They need to make game modes that utilizes the assets made for competitive play, and also that utilizes the game's balance, that also caters to a lot of other players. I would not have bought TTT2 if it was versus mode only. I would not have bought most of the SC games if they didn't have the cool extra modes that they had. Weapon master, Chronicles of the sword, team battles (i miss you ), character creation, character galleries and weapon exhibitions are all things that made me feel like the game was worth my money. I loved being able to play around with weapons that had varying properties in weapon master. However, I also love being able to just smack down my friends in standard versus mode.

[Slothy]

Soul Calibur 2 is 3D fighting game perfection. Everything before it was merely building up to its mastery of the genre, and everything after it was trying to steadily destroy its legacy. (Okay, so I made that last part up. SC3 was okay, and I haven't played any past that).