Garlador if you don't mind me asking why did you like sc3 so much. iv'e yet to unlock/beat everything in sc3. i just find sc3 bit indifferent compared to 2.
i didn't really care for that rpg mode. couldn't even save in that mode. which pissed me off. i only like tira,and zasamel for the new characters. i did like the caf though. i did hear the arcade version was alot better than the home version though alot more balenced,fixed some glitches.

maybe i'm just better at sc2 so i feel indifferent towards 3. i'm not so good at 3. my broken destiny skills need polishing. the small directional pad takes quite some time to get used to. still have some troubles with several commands.

also garlador do you perfer sc4 over sc5 or sc5 over sc4.

My personal opinions, eh?

Okay, the things I like about Soul Calibur 3, in comparison to other games in the series.

For starters, the aesthetic of Soul Calibur 3 continues to boggle my mind. Out of every SC game to exist, I find the visuals of SC3 to be the most impressive from an artistic perspective. The way the stages and backdrops were presented, the way the characters and weapons were designed, the way colors were almost lush and bright and painterly, gives SC3, out of every SC game, a general "upbeat" and pleasing look that earlier, and later, games sorely lack.

Secondly, and this is personal preference, but I found the combat to be a perfect marriage of styles and the best SC movepool since the Dreamcast game. It was a roster that was happily free of Necrid's and guest characters. The main cast was there and they all played great. Nobody was broken, overpowered, or underdeveloped. SCIV was rife with balance issues, especially with the Star Wars characters.

Beyond that, the presentation of SC3 is the most impressive, to me, in the series. Every main character has multiple costumes and multiple, interactive real-time endings that are engaging, amusing, and enjoyable to see.

That ties into the Story Mode, which was AWESOME. You control where your character battles, who he or she fights next. Story events with QTE show up that can alter your health and status prior to a battle. You could wind up going completely different routes if you succeed or fail to dodge a trap or an attack. Hell, the main secret enemy of the game, Night Terror, is only accessible through highly difficult and clever world map navigation and tough battles against clever foes in succession. You had story cutscenes mid-adventure, surprising amounts of player choice, lots and lots of great battles (not just a few), and it ends with an ending you can alter for better or worse. How great is that?

And then the Create a Character mode in SC3 I felt was superior to both SCIV AND SC5. While you can make your character look more extreme in the latter games, the important thing, a playstyle, is just a complete parrot of other fighters. In SC3 you can pick from several highly original, unique fighting styles that nobody else in the main roster possesses and truly make the character feel like somebody unique; not just a clone.

I found the music in SC3 to be some of my favorite too, and add along with that an unnecessary but surprisingly robust single-player strategy game, and you have the meatiest, most feature-rich SC game ever made.

And that doesn't even include the unlockable characters from prior games (Li Long! Hwang!), biographies, weapons, and super-awesome weapon demonstration videos. It's loaded with features, options, and almost as much unlockable content as Mortal Kombat's Krypt.

And then SCIV got rid of nearly all that. And SCV went even further in stripping out those features.

To answer that question, whether I like SCIV or SCV better... that's hard to say.

I feel SCV is a superior fighting game with more balance, yet I feel SCIV had more features apart from fighting that I enjoy (characters have endings, the Tower of Souls). I may be biased too, since SCV, though I feel it has superior gameplay, is still missing characters I've played with since Soul Blade on the Playstation. The lack of Taki and Seung Mina are particularly upsetting, though the lack of Talim is equally bizarre. I don't buy the excuse they told fans, that they're "too old", but that only applies to the women, while Siegfried and Mitsurugi are still out there scrapping it up with the best of them. Though, also, where is Zasalamel? He's entire gig was that he was an immortal that never ages. Why isn't he in the new game then?

SoulCalibur III music is my favorite, especially the intro theme. And speaking of the intro, SCIII intro is my all time favorite.

Although some of the missions in the RPG mode were a real pain (like the one where you fight Talim & Yung Seong plus the wind which is constantly changing direction to blow you off the arena), it was still a lot of fun.

The roster & character design was great (SCIII Setsuka primary costume <3), the arenas looked spectacular, create a character mode was fun, Tales of Souls was great, missions were fun to play, quick arcade mode came in handy... Really good game overall.

I feel like we all can agree that Soulcalibur II was an excellent game. Where I diverge from the rest of you guys seem to be with part III. See I didn't like it at all, so when IV came out I was ecstatic because it was more like the Soulcalibur I wanted to be playing. Meanwhile, it seems for all of you guys who dislike IV, it's because you loved part III and IV was a step in the wrong direction.

I do think SCIV is a step in the wrong direction... but not just because of SCIII. It's because of what every SC game had in the past that SC4 throws away.

Here's something to try; go to SC4 and go to character customization. Remove the character's hair and clothing and then compare them to other same-gendered characters... and try and tell me who is who. Unlike prior games, everyone has the exact same skin-tone and facial features, barring a few minor quirks.

Beyond that, though, they removed things like character bio windows, voice and sound testing, unlockable weapon demonstration videos, ditched the multiple character endings (and the majority of the endings in SCIV were VERY bad), turned the Arcade mode in a series of incredibly boring and very brief fights (only 6 fights?), threw off the game balance in a major way with the Star Wars characters (especially The Apprentice and Yoda), they oversexed all the female characters (Ivy does not have breasts; she has tumors. And that is not an outfit; that is purple floss), the story barely made any sense and didn't seem to flow from SC3's very well-told conclusion at all, Algol is my least favorite SC boss, they removed unique custom character fighting styles and instead forced us to only create clones (of which we had FIVE guest characters like Shura and Scheherazade that were just clones), the challenges in Tower of Souls were more boring and repetitive than any of the challenges in prior games, there were actually LESS playable characters in SCIV than in SC3, Namco Bandai threw in a whole lot of on-disc DLC characters, costumes, weapons, and items, the graphic engine replaced good art style with lots of next-gen glossy smears and bright bloom, there was zero diverging paths in the Arcade Mode that let you choose your own story, they totally removed the insanely robust training mode of SCIII (WHY?!), and unlocking weapons was neither as interesting, engaging, nor enjoyable. I also didn't like the music as much, and that damn announcer talking randomly before every match was the most annoying that he's ever been.

Oh, and the added features, the armor breaks and the Critical Finishers, were so poorly implemented and the window of opportunity to use them so small that they were practically useless and unnecessary.

So, yeah... useless features, less content, poorer storytelling, fewer characters, worse character balance, less interesting art direction or music, bad character costumes, generic modeling, less secrets and unlockables, lack of a good tutorial mode, less gameplay customization for created characters, bad character endings, a less engaging Arcade Mode, and the addition of my pet peeve, on-disc rip-off "DLC" that is just unlock keys for stuff you actually already own, and I felt it was an inferior game in nearly every last single respect, and certainly nowhere near the brilliance of the robust Soul Blade or Soul Caliburs 1-3.

Last Soul calibur game I enjoyed was 2. I have never played 3, but I find 4 very underwhelming and I got that vibe from 5 as well, nothing about that game excites me...none of the new characters.

I saw some of the story playthrough and story mode doesn't look "bad" per se, but it doesn't have me tripping out to see more, though I will watch the whole thing through, maybe it gets much better as we progress.

I do miss the exhibition mode and museum mode where you can read the bios of the characters and the stages. I loved watching the charcters do their demos and looking at the weapons like in SCII. I did like tales of souls mode in SCIII because t kind of gave our creations something to be apart of.

Just read Blistered Thumbs review. While the score is shockingly low, he addresses and gives words to many of the problems I was trying to identify.

Blistered Thumbs Review

The game feels like it's desperately trying to find a new identity without knowing what worked in the past. It's rush-downs and aggressive fast fighting instead of the strategic, methodical elements of timing and spacing. It's focused entirely on the competitive online multiplayer scene at the expense of any sort of content new players or, well, any person who cared about the franchise's lore and characters in the past (raises my hand). Little details that have ALWAYS been a rewarding part of the experience are missing, ranging from character intros to endings to unlockable concept art. They turned "Arcade Mode" into nothing more than a stripped down Time Attack.

This is by far the most disappointing Soul Calibur game I've ever played, and this comes from someone that held the SC series as the pinnacle of great fighting games last console generation. It's a shell now; it's that zombie monstrosity that might still have the same guts and heart as the originals, but time has made it diseased, frail, mutated, weaker, and far less attractive or appealing.

Alright a few things:

- I have no idea why you all seem to think The Apprentice was overpowered. Vader/Yoda (mostly because of his bullshit tiny hitbox) I can see but no way in hell was Starkiller OP. How many of you all making this claim actually played SC IV competitively even at a casual level? For starters, all the Star Wars characters were dependent on a Force Meter to utilize a majority of special attacks. If you attempted a special that used Meter once it was depleted you'd go into a "stagger" state that left you open to full punish. None of the other characters had to worry about this Force Mechanic. Starkiller's primary juggles off of his Force launch could be Air Controlled out of because his moveset was primarily vertical attacks so you're not even rewarded with the sylin Force Jump air combo on launch. The only thing possibly construed as OP might be his Force Throw break but still, it fits his Turtle/Interrupt playstyle and is governed by the Force Meter. Here's a high-level vid of some Apprentice action for reference as well as a player interview.

- I read the review and I agree with multiple points. There really is no excuse to stripdown the offline aspect at the level that many of you are disappointed over. To me honestly though, I never really was that invested in the story as I came to to the series sporadically (SC 2, brief time with SC 3, and then predominantly with SC IV). Arcade mode in SCV is just...barely there at all. That's a huge oversight. The Customization system is more robust than IV but is hampered by the way you unlock the costume options. Another oversight. The Legendary Souls mode is just essentially an Arcade mode with all the Boss characters with the AI defaulted to Hard. Not really a solid Challenge Tower replacement in my eyes.

- In terms of combat, I suppose time will tell with balance issues but overall it feels tighter to me than IV and more fluid. The addition of Brave Edge and Critical Edge is a nice touch and generally implemented well and adds some nice flavor. I disagree with the game not allowing for "defensive and evasive" playstyles as you still have Guard Impact and Quick Move for counter attack offense not to mention the new mechanic of Just Guard (which is entirely meterless). So you can still be defensive, it's just that there's an execution learning curve that might seem to steep for casuals and that you might not notice at first. Which brings me to my next point...

- Training Mode. While the amount of control you have in training mode is extensive, there really should've been a Tutorial mode to introduce some of the new systems and walk you through some basic mechanics for each character. They could've even integrated player point achievements similar to Street Fighter to encourage spending time training and learning the game.

I still think with all of it's shortcomings this is a solid game.

I find it feels really different from previous SCs.

Story mode is bad. Bad isn't the word actually. (Chapter 13 atm) If the story mode for Patroklos/Pyrrha was the norm for everyone, then it would be "Doing it right." Cutscenes are nicely animated actually. But too far and few between.

And I don't give a shit about the Alexandra kids.

You get the feeling they wanted to do an anime/manga thing but they canned it and put it all into SCV.

Graphics and Music are back to previous standards. SCIV was not an ugly game. This game though is gorgeous.

It would be harsh to say this is SCIV: Super Street Fighter IV Edition. But looking at a lot of the things they added, its nicked from SFIV.

It seems to be "Hey there Mr/Mrs Tourney Person! play our game!" No fuck people who want Edge/Weapon Master mode. And fuck people who wanted to play as a constantly resurrecting black man with a scythe.

What put Soul Caliburs 1 and 2 on the map was enjoyable single player. Hell, Soul Calibur 3, might have been a screw up, but it wasn't intentionally a screw up. It wanted to try something different.

Soul Calibur IV was too safe and this one is safer still. Its not a bad game, I'm enjoying it. But I'm looking at Mortal Kombat and I'm thinking this is what Soul Calibur should be. (in terms of single player fun)

If any game needs an "Ultimate" edition its Soul Calibur V.

Also, I'm finding the online really solid. I'm not saying perfect.

I would have to agree with Garlador to a degree... as far as presentation, gameplay and story goes... SC3 did a great job at that.

SC2 will always be number 1 to me. Nightmare's look and gameplay was the BEST!!! So what if he was a Siegfried clone. He was created from Siegfriend. Despite not having a long story mode... the arcade endings were entertaining.

SCV however is a BIG let down! I wanted arcade endings and profiles dammit!!!

Soul Calibur V sure is lacking in content and character information, such as endings, profiles and such, however, graphic wise, character design, stage design and gameplay wise, this is by far the better game of the series. And the Character Creation is the best one yet!

This game is clearly made for the competetive scene and neglects us more casual players who just wants to enjoy a game at home with some friends and complete the game with some nice rewards, such as getting a cool ending after having completed Arcade Mode with a character. Why they chose NOT to make these things is beyond me.

Most likely very rushed development. The game was anounced in previous January and, when I've heard for the first it time its scheduled to be released in January 2012, I have become alrerady suspicious about what kind of game SC5 would be.
I mean it is very hard to believe that they have created a new game from scratch in one year. And if MK tought us anything, its twice as hard to believe that the game created at such rush will be a "complete package".

I hope Namco will rerelease it as Super edition, but I don't really hold my breath to it. Given how much the game lack in terms of single player content it would be impossible to put it in the game via patches and creating such amount of content from scratch to the separate version will take too much time and resources. It would be like recreating arcade Soul Edge into PSX Soul Blade.

Request to Admin: Can we get an admin edit on the subject title to make it clear that this is the SCV thread please?

By the way I just found out on 8wayrun that if you have a ps3 you can save your replay files to a flash drive and upload them to youtube if you wanted.

here is the thread i found it on:
http://8wayrun.com/threads/replays-onto-flash-drives.10533/
EDIT: found out that you can take a screen shot in character creation that saves to the xmb on the ps3 by hitting the ps button and going to the photos area.
Also you can play your own custom soundtrack on soul calibur V.
you can find out about this here http://8wayrun.com/threads/get-hyped-scv-has-hidden-features-on-ps3-version.10232/

So, considering SCIV's poo story mode, I have nothing to complain about in that department. I don't care for the main characters much, but there were certain scenes between Patroklos and whats-her-face were actually pretty decent, and she was much less annoying than I was expecting. Also, Tira was pretty great in story mode.... In fact, I think Tira and Pyrrha were the best things about that mode. I wasn't as disappointed as I was prepared to be when I finished it, though it had tons of cringe inducing moments... Pretty much whenever Z.W.E.I or Viola spoke.

On the other hand, I've found a new main. Viola is so effin' difficult to play effectively, but playing her is more fun than I had playing anyone an SCIV. Fights where Viola is winning tend to be extremely long though, she doesn't do much damage. Like, Patsuka can do 1/4 of the life bar in two hits while a seven hit combo from Viola does less. Still, she's loads of fun. I'm not enjoying Patsuka as much as I'd hoped... Setsuka was my character last time, but for some reason I suck with Patsuka. Why is that?

I wasn't expecting much single player content, considering how there was nothing to do in SCIV either (fuck challenge towers), but I know I'll invest at least 50 hours into character creation. The only real disappointments in this game for me comes in how it's even easier to mash your way to victory than before and the cpu is irritatingly aware of your inputs.

I was going to buy this but I heard from like everywhere that this game is horrible. It's unfortunate.

you can always rent it to see if you like it. for some reason even though there is not much offline stuff. the character creation, online play, and hidden features kept me in.

hidden features are in my last post.

Nah man it's definitely not horrible, it's just that the offline is pretty bare-bones. So yeah if your entire opinion or experience with Soul Calibur is in the offline story modes then yeah...prolly not gonna want to buy this one. Conversely though, the gameplay has been improved from SC IV so...it's really just what you're looking for.

I feel the same way about SCIII. So beautiful, and fun. So much to do & unlock. Excellent variety of CAS styles. I made several knights, vikings, and a dragoon. The lance style rocked!

Here's some old FFVII CASs I made years ago:
SC3 Cid Highwind vs Cloud Strife

Cid Highwind vs SOLDIER

Tifa vs Aerith
Other vids are avaliable on my channel, but I haven't logged into YouTube since I recorded these.



Ka_Tra

I have not played this game, so I was wondering how well ezio was fitting into SC. How is his gameplay style and stuff?

He actually fits in the SC universe pretty well.

Here is a cpu vs cpu battle of Ezio:
cpu battle: Ezio vs Ezio

Thanks, man. I like his playstyle. He does not look broken, so thats a complete plus. Love the combo he did with his hidden gun. If I happen to pick this game up, he will def be one of my mains.

Since this will be my first SC game, are any of you fellow members willing to share some things that will help me out while playing?

Is it like MK9?

Is it fast/slow paced?

How badly can you be punished?

It's not at all like MK9. It's much easier to learn a character in MK9... In fact, MK9 is just an easier game to learn altogether. I find it more fun to actually fight in SCV than in MK9. There is more depth in the combat system itself and each character is more distinct. The cast seems pretty well balanced for the most part, nobody feels too strong or too weak.... Since it's your first SC game, ignore how overpowered someone like Nightmare might seem. A lot of the characters seem overpowered but it's just about figuring them out. On the other hand, a character like Viola comes off very weak and underpowered until you get stuck in some crazy scheme she is pulling out of nowhere.

It's pretty fast paced. A fight can end within five seconds. That is not an exaggeration. Unless you are Viola... In which case, expect to have to spend 30 seconds doing what other characters can do in 5.

Punishment can be extremely harsh in this game. I've lost an entire life bar from a couple of small mistakes quite a few times.