Soul Calibur V

[MrPopo]

So does anyone else think Natsu and Pyrrha(any version) is cheap? I played Devil Jin as well but he doesn't irritate nearly as much as the former... They remind me of Amy LOL!!!

Natsu distracts me with her form fitting hot pants. I wasn't aware clothing could do that.

[the7k]

I'm sure there's going to be some responses about how nothing is more important in a fighter than balance and everything else is unnecessary nonsense, but perfect balance won't hold my interest if there isn't enough stuff to do in the game.

I wouldn't say everything else is nonsense, but a fighting game with a ton of good single-player content without a good gameplay system is going to go nowhere in a hurry. Look at Soul Calibur III for the proof. It's single-player was excellent, but it's gameplay outside of that was, gently put, a fucking train wreck. What did people do? They went back to SCII.

Bottomline - If you're a huge fan of the Soul Calibur series, you're going to feel ultimately underwhelmed with this game! Buy it only if you must go online and play the newest Soul Calibur entry with others online. However, if you're anything like me, and you just want to sit down with a beer and play single-player for awhile, save your money. The price of admission here is 75% invested into online features, and a paltry 25% into Story and single-player experience.

You don't have to go online. You can play it with other people offline as well. That's what fighting games are all about.

The story mode is there. It's better than the story mode in SCIV, that's for damn sure. Could it have been done better? Oh, hell yeah (I personally would have wanted some optional path branches as well as being able to select appropiate characters before battle - like, after Patroklos recruited Maxi, Xiba and Leixia, I think you should have been able to use them in his episodes, or be able to use Viola and Siegfried in ZWEI's episodes, or Tira in Pyrra's episodes), but it's still better than what we got with SCIV. It's not very often that you get a centralized, focused story in a fighting game - usually the story is all over the damned place because it tries to tell how 30+ characters managed to all defeat the final boss and everybody else along the way.

I'll also take Quick Match over SCIV's god damned Challenge Tower any day of the week. I hated that Challenge Tower. It required exploiting of the clothing buff system just to get anywhere respectable with it, and I ended up dropping it like a rock.

Compared to SCIV, this game is superior in almost every way. Not only was SCIV's single-player content lackluster, it's multiplayer was atrocious. Absolutely terrible, some of the worst netcode I've ever dealt with. Meanwhile, I've played people in Japan, South America and Europe on SCV's online and it felt like I was playing them right in my damn room.

Ya see, this is the thing: fighting games are COMPETITIVE GAMES. That is THEIR WHOLE REASON FOR EXISTING. And SO MANY have phoned in their netcode, making the online experience TOTALLY UNPLAYABLE.

Is it good to get strong single-player content? Yes. At the expense of the multiplayer? NO. There are TONS of other genres out there that are built on providing single-player content - just as you won't want their single-player content to suffer because the phoned in some multiplayer (Bioshock 2, anyone?), the same should not be done to fighters. Multiplayer in a fighter IS ESSENTIAL. ESSENTIAL. THAT IS WHY THEY EXIST.

I also always find it a bit ironic when people say that a fighting without single-player content won't last long. ST, 3S, MvC2, CvS2, SCII, TTT, KOF'98, KOF'02 - do you think any of these games lasted long because of their single-player content? Hell, most of those games didn't even have a story to speak of. If the focus is on single-player content, the game will last exactly as long as the single-player content. So, at best, two weeks, because if it takes longer than two weeks for you to do everything that exists in the single-player of a fighter, I feel back for ya, son.

[Flake]

I don't know if any one would be interested but I ended up writing the review for it over at Sega Addicts.

http://sega-addicts.murnaumusic.com/?p=25910

I was kind of surprised how my opinion of the game changed a little bit over the last week. I still like it a lot but it ended up being less the 'second coming of SCII' and more 'just a good game'.

[noiseredux]

great review Flake!

The lack of Sophitia and Cassandra means i don't think I need this game. And in fact, I'm fairly certain I'm going to get rid of all my SoulCalibur games now, except IV because at least I enjoy that one online.

[the7k]

great review Flake!

The lack of Sophitia and Cassandra means i don't think I need this game. And in fact, I'm fairly certain I'm going to get rid of all my SoulCalibur games now, except IV because at least I enjoy that one online.

But Pyrra and Pyrra Omega play almost exactly like the sisters - they're also ridiculously OP. I'd think you'd enjoy it.

[Flake]

great review Flake!

The lack of Sophitia and Cassandra means i don't think I need this game. And in fact, I'm fairly certain I'm going to get rid of all my SoulCalibur games now, except IV because at least I enjoy that one online.

But Pyrra and Pyrra Omega play almost exactly like the sisters - they're also ridiculously OP. I'd think you'd enjoy it.

I have also heard rumors (completely unsourced and taken with a grain of salt) that Cassandra and Sophitia are being considered for DLC.

[the7k]

I have also heard rumors (completely unsourced and taken with a grain of salt) that Cassandra and Sophitia are being considered for DLC.

The game was supposed to be Soul Edge II, so I was disappointed that there weren't more Soul Edge characters. Aside from Sophitia, Taki and Seong Mina should have also been present. They have been in every single Soul game since the beginning. It would only be appropriate.

Hwang was another Soul Edge vet who should have been in the game - you could argue that Sophitia, Taki and Seong Mina are all being represented by Pyrra, Natsu and Xiba, but Hwang had his own fighting style.

For DLC, I'd put my bets on Zasalamel and Amy - both are popular, and both are immortal, so there's no reason they shouldn't be here. I'd also really like to see a 20+ year old Talim in the game, I think that'd be really interesting.

[MrPopo]

If they released DLC characters I'd hope they'd release movesets we don't have, like the aforementioned Zasalamel and Talim.

[Rurouni_Fencer]

I have also heard rumors (completely unsourced and taken with a grain of salt) that Cassandra and Sophitia are being considered for DLC.

I really hope this isn't the case - it's completely unnecessary. As the7k said, Pyrra and Patroklos play identical to Cassandra and Sophitia. That being said - was it really necessary to have Kilik in the game..?? All he is is an alt skin of Edge Master.. Why couldn't they have given that slot to either Rock or Hwang?

You don't have to go online. You can play it with other people offline as well. That's what fighting games are all about.

Again, I was talking about the extreme lack of single-player content - I understood full well you can play multiplayer offline, but that wasn't my point. What if I just DON'T want to play multiplayer at all?? My initial problem with the game was that 85% of it's content is centered around multiplayer of some sort, (offline or online.) That's not worth the full price of admission, if you ask me, and I know plenty of other gamers will agree with me.

I've been a fighting game fanatic since the early 90's arcade scene, so I think I'm more than well aware of how important competitive multiplayer is to the genre. But in this day and age of $300+ home consoles, if I want to come home from work and play alone against the computer for awhile and unlock content, I should be allowed to. But no, instead, game companies have done away with the concept of "unlockables" in single-player modes, and now require you to purchase the content via the online marketplace. That is absurd. That is my complaint. And Namco is notorious for doing this.

Look, all I'm saying, is that when I spend $60 for a game, (or $85 in this case,) I'd expect a little more content to justify my investment. And multiplayer does not do that, because honestly, in about 3 years, when the new Microsoft/Sony console is out and they've moved on from the 360/PS3 and Live/PSN isn't available for those systems anymore, how am I going to play mulitplayer on Soul Calibur V then and get my money's worth out of this game?? Single-player will be it; and there's not much there...

[Flake]

I'd also really like to see a 20+ year old Talim in the game, I think that'd be really interesting.

This where the game has disappointed me the most. I liked the 17 year jump in the narrative - until I realized the developers were terrified to age any of their characters. Some, like Ivy, they came up with BS reasons to keep the same age. Anyone they couldn't (or wouldn't) do that for got written out. What a wasted opportunity.