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| Pollyanna 3180th Post
  
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
    
    
    
    
     
|  "Re(1):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Thu 2 Feb 16:54:  
Post edit pre-edit:
I was just thinking, "I hope Maou likes this!" since you always speak fondly of the SCII days and not so fondly of the sequels. I'm not into SC enough to pinpoint what I don't like about 3 and 4, but somehow I agree.
I'll paste what I said before:
In case any of you are on the line about Soul Calibur V, it might be worth mentioning that the story mode is told with tons and tons of storyboard-esque illustrations. Kind of reminds me of Yasuhiko Yoshikazu's Joan d'Arc manga.
I don't know if this is a selling point for everyone, but if I had known this beforehand, I wouldn't bought the game with triple the enthusiasm (my initial enthusiasm was admittedly fairly low). The soundtrack is also extremely impressive and I haven't liked a Soul soundtrack since Khan Super Session. It's a shame that the LE comes with a "Best of" CD rather than the V soundtrack.
My time spent with the game is limited, and although I've bought all the main games, I wouldn't consider myself qualified as a Soul Calibur fan...but at this point...I would certainly consider it the best in the series and the only one I haven't felt sour about since II. I'm not sure how much that really counts for, but I'm pleasantly surprised for sure.
Added:
Patroklos has one of the best renders I've seen in any game. His facial expressions are really impressive. You hardly notice them in the fight itself, but when you watch the replays, you notice little things, like his eyebrows moving at just the right second, or teeth clenching or whatever. I haven't spent enough time with the game to notice faces from everyone, but it adds a nice touch of drama to the fights.
Some of the characters don't match their artwork very well, though. I think Ishmael mentioned this a while back, but Siegfried is kind of stupid looking. Zwei's face isn't right, but his back muscles look amazing, so I guess that's something.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
[this message was edited by Pollyanna on Thu 2 Feb 17:03] |
| karasu99 843th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(2):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Fri 3 Feb 02:04
Honestly, I decided to hold off a bit before I buy. I've got so many games on my list to play that buying SCV will just add to my backlog, or more accurately it will push a bunch of games I've been meaning to play further down in my backlog. And if that means I won't get Dampiere as a bonus for preordering, so be it-- he stank in he PSP version, and I can't imagine he's that different here.
I'm glad to hear that it's good-- I loved 1 and 2, like most people, and felt 3 and 4 were real stinkers, again like most people, and I think it's too good of a franchise to go out on a sour note. I'm also happy that they decided to change up the cast, but I'm curious to hear if, for instance, the Taki replacement plays exactly like Taki or not.
Out of curiosity, other than Soul of Devil Jin, is there any way to add customization of style to any of the create a soul characters? As I've mentioned before, I tend to view this mode as a glorified 'dress the doll' kind of thing, since a female character with blue hair wearing a cowboy hat and jester suit that plays like Siegfried is still just Siegfried, as far as I'm concerned. Not that I find anything wrong with it, in principle, I just never got why 4 gave the player a choice between 'customize Mitsurugi' and 'Create a Soul' using Mitsurugi's style. It would be great if they threw in extra styles to give this mode a little more purpose.
I have to say though, I love that Story Mode is heavily illustrated-- I actually read a review (I think on Kotaku) that was talking about that aspect as a 'con'. Crazy talk!
www.secret-arts.com
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| Pollyanna 3180th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Fri 3 Feb 05:43
quote:
Out of curiosity, other than Soul of Devil Jin, is there any way to add customization of style to any of the create a soul characters? As I've mentioned before, I tend to view this mode as a glorified 'dress the doll' kind of thing, since a female character with blue hair wearing a cowboy hat and jester suit that plays like Siegfried is still just Siegfried, as far as I'm concerned. Not that I find anything wrong with it, in principle, I just never got why 4 gave the player a choice between 'customize Mitsurugi' and 'Create a Soul' using Mitsurugi's style. It would be great if they threw in extra styles to give this mode a little more purpose.
There aren't any other "extra" styles, but your characters do change a bit depending on their size. Smaller characters are stronger because they have less range. I don't know how much difference it really makes, but it's an interesting idea.
Although I'm extremely pleased with the way they executed story mode, the overall lack of story content will probably be a big disappointment to
a lot of players. The game obviously shipped before it was finished. It seems the only way to find out the scenarios for half of the characters is to get the LE artbook, which is more of a story guide with a few pictures. It's pretty clear that some characters were omitted as well...or at least clumped into mimic territory.
Although I'd rather see a butchered release than no release at all, this is an upsetting trend. I still have a positive impression of the game (that a lot of people share), but there's a sad sense of "we'll never get to play the SCV that should've been."
It sounds like I'm recommending, then un-recommending the game, huh? Despite the holes, it still looks sounds and plays better than anything else in the series, so that counts for something.
quote:
The instant kill moves aside in SC4, I don't actually know what the gameplay issues of 4 were simply because I was so far removed from SC1 and SC2 and had never played either very deeply to feel that SC4 was much worse than either. If anybody could explain it to me that'd be great.
I'm almost in the same boat, as I'm not a SC expert, but SC4 just rubbed me the wrong way. I played it, but in the end, I didn't feel good playing it. SC3 was even worse. I haven't felt good playing a SC game since 2. I feel great playing SCV...or at least I will until the bitterness over it's incompleteness sets in.
Again, my opinion doesn't count for much as far as recommending or not recommending the game, but a lot of SC fans seem to share it, for whatever reason.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Maou 2299th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Fri 3 Feb 06:33
quote:
I was so far removed from SC1 and SC2 and had never played either very deeply to feel that SC4 was much worse than either. If anybody could explain it to me that'd be great.
Let's see. Coming from a group that has probably put in literally 1500 hours into SC 1 and 2 over the years, I think what's so crucial to making me actually like a 3D fighting game is how well it can remember that, like Street Fighter and other 2D champs, a good 3D fighter is essentially an extremely sophisticated mind-game of janken or rock-paper-scissors. This means that you truly need workable attacks that hit at all heights (low, middle, high) and while weaving in and out of the background. Low knockdowns, especially in 8-way run, just aren't there after 2, reducing the game to tedium.
It sounds so simple, but if you mess it up, like 3 and 4 did, you are reduced to people just slugging each other with mids and blocking, over and over and over again. As a simple example, I played a mean Nightmare/Siegfried in 2, weaving in and out of the field with alternating low knock-down Axle Kicks and tracking mid-hitting Rook Splitters, among many other things. The man does not have a single viable low/knockdown in 8-way run starting in SC 3. All he does is hit mids, block, hit mids, block...it's total chanbara.
SC 3's gaudy awfulness in its color scheme and its generally sloppy movement, and SC 4's astounding sluggishness (feels like I'm playing SC 3 underwater) are bad, of course. But even my favorite to play, SC 2, has the beginnings of gaudiness with stupid characters like Necrid, but it's just more fun and fluid than the aesthetically perfect SC 1.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
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| Megane 559th Post
New Red Carpet Member
|  "I have SoulCal questions" , posted Fri 3 Feb 18:36
- I have not yet owned any Soul Calibur game for consoles. I now want to own one.
- I have played several sessions of the previous Soul Caliburs in arcades and in my friends' company. I do not believe any of us has reached high level play of any sort in the games.
- Our main source of entertainment in multiplayer is selecting Random (female CAC) and laughing at the results. Poofy shoulders + Afro + Armored legs + Katars = wtflulz
- That said, I enjoyed playing Soul Calibur 4, but I have not touched the single player mode.
- I liked using Kilik, Amy, Setsuka, Taki, Talim, and Zassy. Of them, I am most comfortable with Kilik's and Amy's play styles.
With those under consideration:
- Should I go on and buy Soul Calibur 5, or should I settle for SC4 for now?
- They say CAC is more robust here. What has changed? Has anything changed?
- Given that Namco releases forms of expansion packs in some of their series, how likely is the coming out of Soul Calibur V: Intelligible Subtitle?
Thank you Cafe.
PSN:BlakeMaxwell3
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| Pollyanna 3182th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(8):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Fri 3 Feb 23:59
quote:
- Should I go on and buy Soul Calibur 5, or should I settle for SC4 for now?
I really feel like the system for SCV is better. Actually, everything about it is better except for the single player options, which weren't that hot in SCIV anyway. If you were going to buy SCIV this late in the game, the only advantage is price, in which case you might as well just wait for SCV to get cheaper.
BUT
A lot of characters you like are missing from SCV, so depending on how much that bugs you, maybe you should pass. I like learning new characters and never expect my favorites to return, so it doesn't bother me...but I know some people can get get pretty bent out of shape.
quote:
- They say CAC is more robust here. What has changed? Has anything changed?
A lot has changed. You have more slots to apply items, you can change the size and placement of accessories (which makes for some crazy options), you can change colors on practically everything as well as apply patterns, and you have more options for just about everything from voices to body types to faces (with tons of makeup options to further edit). The ability to make "cards" for each character with "print club sticker-like" options is fun, too.
BUT
It takes some effort to unlock all the equipment. I assume since you're buying the game, you'll want to actually play it, but if you're looking to make the coolest character ever right off the bat, you might be out of luck. By the time you finish story mode you should have quite a few options at least.
quote:
Given that Namco releases forms of expansion packs in some of their series, how likely is the coming out of Soul Calibur V: Intelligible Subtitle?
Although Namco has done this with Tekken 5 and 6 in the arcade, I haven't known them to do it for home versions (correct me if I'm wrong). This would be the game to do it for... though I don't know if the demand will be high enough/they'll bother. The best people can probably hope for is more "Souls" to edit their characters with to cover some of the non-returners from SCIV.
I guess what I'm saying is that while I would like to see an add-on to clean the taint of an otherwise good game's incompleteness, I wouldn't count on it actually happening.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Nekros 410th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(9):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Tue 7 Feb 23:23
Palyed this every day since the release.
I somehow got to enjoy online matches, but I think this game is lacking again most of the depht that makes a fighting game a great experience.
It is truly a janken-based combat, a bit sad considering that every noob with some luck and poor effort can make advantage of this and beat almost easily a most-experienced player (try to spam the same moves in a 2D fighter against a stronger opponent and you're dead meat).
This is got worse in every episode, with the exception of 3, the worst one of all (I enjoyed 4 better, even it's a mess too).
To me is still SE > SC > SC2 > SC5 > SC4 >SC3.
To a very extensive side-note, the single player is boring. Nothing real to add to the story, the edge master mode is completely absent (like 4, but this time the story mode follows only a bunch of characters completely ignoring others). The characters are not introducted by anything, except for Patroklos and Pyrra, you don't know who they are and why they are fighting for. The new entries are quite interesting and useless at the same time, being only a variant of style than a new one from scratch (ZWEI and Viola excluded). Is like having the EX-version of characters like Kilik, Xianghua, etc. Most of player-favourites are absent, too (Zasalamel, Talim). Also, giving Patroklos an hittoryu version is stupid and with absolutely no clue at all.
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| karasu99 844th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Wed 8 Feb 01:42
quote:
To a very extensive side-note, the single player is boring. Nothing real to add to the story, the edge master mode is completely absent (like 4, but this time the story mode follows only a bunch of characters completely ignoring others). The characters are not introducted by anything, except for Patroklos and Pyrra, you don't know who they are and why they are fighting for. The new entries are quite interesting and useless at the same time, being only a variant of style than a new one from scratch (ZWEI and Viola excluded). Is like having the EX-version of characters like Kilik, Xianghua, etc. Most of player-favourites are absent, too (Zasalamel, Talim). Also, giving Patroklos an hittoryu version is stupid and with absolutely no clue at all.
Soooo, question for anyone who knows the answer: are there multiple weapons for each character still? If so, absent something with all the characters like Edge Master mode or a more comprehensive story mode, how are they unlocked? The negative effect weapons were always some of my favorites in the first SC.
Guh, I'm guessing I'll just swallow my pride and buy this sooner or later, like I always do with SC games, no matter how bad they look to me.
www.secret-arts.com
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| Pollyanna 3183th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Wed 8 Feb 07:44
quote:
It is truly a janken-based combat, a bit sad considering that every noob with some luck and poor effort can make advantage of this and beat almost easily a most-experienced player (try to spam the same moves in a 2D fighter against a stronger opponent and you're dead meat).
I have fun doing fancy pants combos with Viola, but it's discouraging to put a lot of work into a character only to get wiped out by someone pounding on one button. I think the bigger nuisance is that these people are completely invincible to mind games. You put together a strategy and it just doesn't work on them because they aren't thinking at all. This isn't just a SC thing, of course.
Speaking of online, I like the setup quite well! There's usually something incredibly annoying about every game's online, but this seems very promising. The window-in-window view of the fights is nice, the chat interface is nice, there isn't too much down time between fights, I love the player "trading cards" (I need to make them for all my characters) and there's very little hiccuping, it seems. I've only played Nekros, but he's across the ocean and I had less lag against him than I have against people two states away in other games. Of course, I'll have to play with it more, but it seems quite promising.
I want to get all my costume pieces before I really dive into online, but I'm lacking an effective way to do it that's still fun. Maybe arcade mode 2 rounds, if you can do that. I don't want to just set it on easy and jam on B all day.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Grave 1428th Post
PSN: Drakee
XBL: Mikelson
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(2):Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Wed 8 Feb 11:53
So I said I wasn't going to buy it, but then I saw the things possible in character creation and I threw the cash down. Sure, the horse heads are fun, but everything else is way better than expected!
I knew what I was getting into re: light single player content, but that's fine. It's as everyone says, the netplay is wonderful. I was having connection trouble today, matches would sometimes hang at the beginning or drop, and almost everyone was showing at 1 bar... yet the matches themselves were almost completely smooth and it ran better than KOF XIII at 3 bars the entire time. Amazing! Also, yes, the live chat box while spectating is gold. Really good stuff.
Some more modes would be good, sure, but since this is the first SC game I've owned my own copy of since SC2, the game itself is more than enough for me. Outside of some goofing around with 3, this is my first major experience with the series in years and I'm struggling quite a bit. It's quite frustratingly different from anything else I'm used to, but when I pick something up and it works or I do something right it feels great. Still, I can't help but wish there was more tutorial - especially in what to do when you're defending. The second I'm downed I feel like I'm completely and utterly boned... and I'm legitimately surprised by how irate it makes me. I don't usually get mad at games and I certainly don't when playing other people. Losing while I'm in control and can see my mistakes is one thing, but when I just get completely swept away by the computer and am helpless to do anything about it and don't learn a thing the entire time, the fun starts to slip away. This game is awfully foreign to me and I want to understand how I can avoid this stuff.
Thinking about picking up the guidebook to read a bit more about the game's systems. Anyone take a look at it yet?
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| Nekros 412th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(2):Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Wed 8 Feb 19:43:
Yes, about the online with Polly (I enjoyed that, especially the double vacuum moment with Violas), we actually had some problems in a room with many different connections working. Many times I've experienced a flood when the game hosts different types of connection.. hope they will fix that. The game was fine with her when we were the only players in the room even if we are very distant and her net icon had 1 bar, but was litterally unplayable (never get to a stage) when we were in a room with other players.
About the weapons and unlocking edit parts: you will get all the "normal" equipment around level 50-53, so you have a full collection of custom parts to make your own character. However, other parts, (the most "silly", "strange" or "special") are unlocked until level 100. They consist in patterns and stickers for the most part, but you'll also get the funny weapons: definitely the most hard-to-get-due-to-grinding thing of the game!
And no, for what I've seen, choosing a weapon over another does not improve/weakens anything in you character. SC4 was heavily influenced by equipment, especially with the custom chars, but SC5 makes it only aestetic.
I really miss Hwang and that invisible blade.
[this message was edited by Nekros on Wed 8 Feb 23:03] |
| Pollyanna 3184th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Thu 9 Feb 08:18
quote:
The second I'm downed I feel like I'm completely and utterly boned... and I'm legitimately surprised by how irate it makes me. I don't usually get mad at games and I certainly don't when playing other people. Losing while I'm in control and can see my mistakes is one thing, but when I just get completely swept away by the computer and am helpless to do anything about it and don't learn a thing the entire time, the fun starts to slip away. This game is awfully foreign to me and I want to understand how I can avoid this stuff.
Thinking about picking up the guidebook to read a bit more about the game's systems. Anyone take a look at it yet?
Although I don't have the guide myself, I've only heard good things about it. Unlike most other fighting games, somehow I can mostly understand the SC community internet lingo well enough to stop me from buying it.
As far as "getting completely boned on the ground", it's one of those things like when you lose two characters in one shot in MvC3, or make a bad guess and never get off your feet. Some matches...you just get boned. I think that's why most people set it to 3/5 instead of 2/3.
Just try to quick recover more and ah...I don't know what it's called...air tech or whatever, to avoid getting locked into combos that aren't really combos.
I do really hate those "I spent the whole round rolling on the ground" matches.
I'm really eager to play you, though! I'm not at the "improve by playing good players" stage yet, so I'm glad to have a few rookie friends.
SIDE NOTE RANT
I hope I don't end up with a lot of disconnects. Thanks to AT&T internet service, I now have NAT3 on my PS3 connection (even though it's wired). They have some garbage on their (required) modem that messes with you no matter what you do with your router. I was able to put my old router into bridge mode, but every time I try to do anything with my new one, AT&T does this flip out "we are taking over your internet" thing that takes an hour to get out of.
Yesterday was the most angry day of my life.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Pollyanna 3185th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Sat 11 Feb 09:32
quote:
I dont have the game but I have watched those.
No b*lls, no pain!
Pyrrha has pretty much the best combo ever with the "knee to the groin followed by repeated stabs to the head" (but only on men).
quote:
Ah yes, one more thing about single player: it is ridicolously poor.
It's funny...I wasn't a great fan of Soul Edge, but I got the home version because of all the extras (and the incredible opening). Similarly, I was lukewarm on Soul Calibur, but spent a lot of time with it simply because there was so much to do. Soul Calibur II I actually liked a bit, but 3 and 4 were just barely justified by their extra content.
SCV on the other hand, I like a lot and play for the joy of playing, not because it's packaged well. Of course, it's not a good thing that it's packaged poorly, but it's good that the game isn't crap on top of being obviously incomplete.
I've heard sales have been pretty mediocre and I suppose if it sold extremely well it would send the message "it's okay to sell an incomplete game" (though studios are going to do this anyway). However, I can't help but be reminded of Devil May Cry 3's sales in reference to DMC2, where they actually improved the series, but sold less thanks to the last game being poorly received.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Grave 1429th Post
PSN: Drakee
XBL: Mikelson
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(7):Re(10):Let's talk about Soul Calibur V" , posted Sat 11 Feb 14:23
So for anyone else struggling with the basics of the series, I highly recommend the video that the Cross Counter guys did with Floe!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR0ezRdtMZE
quote:
SCV on the other hand, I like a lot and play for the joy of playing, not because it's packaged well. Of course, it's not a good thing that it's packaged poorly, but it's good that the game isn't crap on top of being obviously incomplete.
Yeah - while I find myself disappointed about what's not there, the game plays well enough that I don't mind anywhere near as much as I thought I would have. Weird! But not really that weird, when I think about how many hours I spent playing SNES SF2 with nothing but arcade mode, and how that probably cost my dad $80 back then. Maybe we're just spoiled brats? Maybe.
quote:
I've heard sales have been pretty mediocre and I suppose if it sold extremely well it would send the message "it's okay to sell an incomplete game" (though studios are going to do this anyway). However, I can't help but be reminded of Devil May Cry 3's sales in reference to DMC2, where they actually improved the series, but sold less thanks to the last game being poorly received.
Honestly, I had no intention of picking up the game because of how gaudy-looking the series had become over time, how uninterested I was in 3 and how 4 didn't even register on my radar... but then I saw the character creation. And I will buy any game with a good game of dress up in it. And I'm not disappointed by the creation tools here, not at all! Well, a little. Hair selection seriously needs upgrading and 50 slots will never be enough. If there's any DLC I'll buy for this game, it'd be a set of new hair. Oh, who am I kidding? I already bought the Soul Edge music pack and the first clothing DLC. I'm a bad person.
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