So I always loved Soul Blade and Soul Calibur. I had SC2 on Gamecube long ago and enjoyed it somewhat.
I recently acquired SC2 and SC3 on PS2 in an attempt to catch up on this series, to prepare for the surge of media and character development SC4 will undoubtedly bring, even though I don't have a current gen system. I gatta say....this is my favorite fighting series now. 2 and 3 are really solid entries. 2 has a tiny bit of slowdown on PS2 now and then. I conquered it 100% over the weekend and moved onto 3, and...wow.
At first I found SC3 to be way too flashy, with explosions and lightning all over the place. Not to mention, my favorite characters were changed up quite a lot. But when I sat in the amazing tutorial for 90 minutes, I began learning the purposes of all the effects, as well as many...many...many other extremely minor but amazing aspects to this battle system. Guys, this game is fucking deep. It's like...Virtua Fighter 5 deep, or at least going by what people say about VF5. The difference here is SC3 remains easy play casually before you want to start learning the advanced stuff. The tutorial does a great job of laying the cold hard terminology in your face, and demonstrating all of it, while usually having you perform it. It doesn't expect you to invent names for anything, which I love. Overall, very refined since the Dreamcast entry.
After that I dove into the new RPG mode, which is like an elementary clone of Fire Emblem. I'm really loving it too. The AI seems scripted on the fields, but still challenging, and has made me its bitch more than once when I dare leave my HQ undefended.
The Create-A-Soul mode is also impressive, but it seems like it's best put off until you unlock most of the weapons, clothes/armor, faces, and hairstyles.
There's a mission mode that sets certain challenges on you, some being pretty unique, like you fighting a huge statue.
The rest of the modes are more familiar, though usually improved in some way. There's a kind of revised arcade mode that's more story heavy, with branching paths and more realtime cutscenes. There's still a more traditional arcade mode thats simplistic. And a tournament mode thats pretty fancy.
Oh, also the music seems to be 25% SC1 remakes, 25% SC2 cut and pastes, and 50% original works. A very good set of music, that is solid and natural sounding, but doesn't quite garner your attention as much as previous albums did, aside from the intro and end credit themes, which rock my balls.
Good stuff.
Soul Calibur 3 ~ Thoughts?
Soul Calibur 3 ~ Thoughts?
Last edited by Mozgus on Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Well it does need to be stressed that unless you have a full memory card to dedicate to the game, DO NOT BUY THE US OR UK VERSIONS!. They have a well known memory card corrupting bug. I downloaded a patched version of the game that ported the ELF executable from the fixed re-release in Japan, so it's safe to play.Abras wrote:Yeah, I think SC3 has always taken more flak than it deserves. When it all comes down to it though, I still prefer the first one, if only because it's on the DC.
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peace4myheart
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I agree with Abras. I like SC1 on Dreamcast the best because of the massive leap from the previous one with its gorgeous graphics and great refinement. SC2 is pretty good, but just more of the same IMO. SC3 is just a rush job with not much new for me to get excited about. Though I do own all three games, I play SC1 and 2 more often.
SC3 added a substantial amount of content man. I really don't know what all these reviews are talking about. This is more content than NAMCO typically adds to each Tekken sequel, and certainly 10x more than Capcom adds to any sequel to anything.peace4myheart wrote:I agree with Abras. I like SC1 on Dreamcast the best because of the massive leap from the previous one with its gorgeous graphics and great refinement. SC2 is pretty good, but just more of the same IMO. SC3 is just a rush job with not much new for me to get excited about. Though I do own all three games, I play SC1 and 2 more often.
Oh, I formed a quick youtube playlist of all 4 introduction videos, if anyone wants a quick trip down memory lane.
http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=683A4ABC0B349E00
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peace4myheart
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- Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:34 am
- Location: Deep In The Heart Of Texas
Obviously, there are changes but I am not really interested in all that extra stuffs added in SC3. I just want the one on one fighting. I guess I have played the hell out of SC1 and SC2 and by the time the third one came around, I just got a bit bored. I just feel like the fighting mechanics were more of the same, that's all. Not trying to knock SC3 down. I guess I am just more of 2-D fighting fans, with the exception of SC1 and VF4:Evolution. Street Fighters For Life Baby!!!
I really like SCIII. I'll never have the love affair with it that I had with II, pouring hours into the single player mode, staying up till all hours with friends in epic multiplayer duels. But it's still Soul Calibur, and there's a massive amount of content on that little disc. I wish I didn't have to spend so much time fighting boring AI opponents just to unlock new body parts for create-a-player. I also wish I dug Tira, Zasalamel and what's-her-face-umbrella-ninja as much as I did Raphael and Link when they debuted in II.
SCIII has a lot going for it. She's a great gal; she's just not quite the gal I fell for back in 2003. I'll hang out with III, we'll have some good times...but my heart belongs to II :p
SCIII has a lot going for it. She's a great gal; she's just not quite the gal I fell for back in 2003. I'll hang out with III, we'll have some good times...but my heart belongs to II :p
"Oh, no, not in Utica, no. It's an Albany expression."
I really love the Soul Calibur series, but I felt SC3 was a bit of a let down. Much of the new material I thought was good, but I took issues with a few key points of the game.
Of course, I will have to agree with Mozgus about things like the Mission Mode. I felt many of the games were well-designed, challenging without being impossible, and extremely innovative. I haven't seen something that really grabbed me like that since I was able to smash the car in the Street Fighter series(Ok, I have, but it didn't impress me as much).
The Create-A-Soul mode was well-designed in terms of items. I created a few things on my own, even made characters from other series to joke around with(Chun Li and Raiden, anyone), as well as a few famous figures(look up Chuck Norris vs. Hitler on ytmnd.com to see some of the stuff people could do with the engine). Unfortunately, there were a few parameters that I wanted to change that I didn't get, mainly based on physical specs. I disliked that I couldn't change the height or weight of a character, for instance. It's nit-picking, I know, but it's something that I've come to expect, and it really kills it when I can't make someone as big or as small as I want(like Conan the Barbarian).
As for the RPG mode, I quickly discovered that was my preferred way of getting money to spend unlocking items, art, weapons, whatever. The story was ok, and I liked seeing how impressive the create-a-fighter system could be. Also, I thought it was nifty that a few of the characters from there were unlockable for the game. But after a few levels of it, I grew bored with it. It's got a little depth to it, but it gets old moving my fighters in slow lines to take down the same buildings and fighters over and over again. I suppose that that's not the point, however, seeing as this is a fighting game, so I don't detract from it too much. It was still a pretty nifty idea.
Then there was the actual fighting game. This is where my experience got killed. I don't like making this argument, but Soul Calibur 3 suffers from something that has been happening in the longer running fighting series: there are just too many characters. The game suffers from balance issues, sometimes not so bad(my favorite character, Mitsurugi, works very well, though I wasn't such a big fan of some of the new moves he got). Sometimes, however, the character really suffers, and it's annoying seeing this happen to characters I like(Rock is particularly bad in this game, with slow speed and no range). It seems to be setting them up to get axed for the next installment. I believe all of this could have been fixed by making tweaks following more testing, and an arcade release would definitely have served Namco well on this title. In fact, I'd say that's what ultimately kills this game for me. It should have been released in the arcade so Namco could have seen which characters were broken.
Also, Mozgus is right about the memory card corruption. My SC3 saves are currently corrupted, though only the RPG section is actually affected for me. Everything else is fine.
Of course, I will have to agree with Mozgus about things like the Mission Mode. I felt many of the games were well-designed, challenging without being impossible, and extremely innovative. I haven't seen something that really grabbed me like that since I was able to smash the car in the Street Fighter series(Ok, I have, but it didn't impress me as much).
The Create-A-Soul mode was well-designed in terms of items. I created a few things on my own, even made characters from other series to joke around with(Chun Li and Raiden, anyone), as well as a few famous figures(look up Chuck Norris vs. Hitler on ytmnd.com to see some of the stuff people could do with the engine). Unfortunately, there were a few parameters that I wanted to change that I didn't get, mainly based on physical specs. I disliked that I couldn't change the height or weight of a character, for instance. It's nit-picking, I know, but it's something that I've come to expect, and it really kills it when I can't make someone as big or as small as I want(like Conan the Barbarian).
As for the RPG mode, I quickly discovered that was my preferred way of getting money to spend unlocking items, art, weapons, whatever. The story was ok, and I liked seeing how impressive the create-a-fighter system could be. Also, I thought it was nifty that a few of the characters from there were unlockable for the game. But after a few levels of it, I grew bored with it. It's got a little depth to it, but it gets old moving my fighters in slow lines to take down the same buildings and fighters over and over again. I suppose that that's not the point, however, seeing as this is a fighting game, so I don't detract from it too much. It was still a pretty nifty idea.
Then there was the actual fighting game. This is where my experience got killed. I don't like making this argument, but Soul Calibur 3 suffers from something that has been happening in the longer running fighting series: there are just too many characters. The game suffers from balance issues, sometimes not so bad(my favorite character, Mitsurugi, works very well, though I wasn't such a big fan of some of the new moves he got). Sometimes, however, the character really suffers, and it's annoying seeing this happen to characters I like(Rock is particularly bad in this game, with slow speed and no range). It seems to be setting them up to get axed for the next installment. I believe all of this could have been fixed by making tweaks following more testing, and an arcade release would definitely have served Namco well on this title. In fact, I'd say that's what ultimately kills this game for me. It should have been released in the arcade so Namco could have seen which characters were broken.
Also, Mozgus is right about the memory card corruption. My SC3 saves are currently corrupted, though only the RPG section is actually affected for me. Everything else is fine.
I really love Soul Calibur. It's great fun, but it's no Virtua Fighter. There is incredible depth in terms of moves and move variations, but I just find that the controls are a little... unpredictable. Sometimes the subtle difference between the joystick motion for one move and for another is little enough that the system doesn't even get it straight, and I'll often get as many as 3 different moves from what I can only assume is the same joystick motion.
Virtua Fighter has the same kind of subtle control distinctions and yet the results I get playing it are VERY different. I never accidentally get the harder moves when performing easier ones. When I learn the harder moves I can't always reliably get them out (my failure) but I never fail to get the basic move I expect.
So, in summary, Soul Calibur is flashy and fun but has little value as a tournament fighter, and while it has complexity and depth it's very hard to tap into that depth due to sometimes unreliable input code.
Virtua Fighter has the same kind of subtle control distinctions and yet the results I get playing it are VERY different. I never accidentally get the harder moves when performing easier ones. When I learn the harder moves I can't always reliably get them out (my failure) but I never fail to get the basic move I expect.
So, in summary, Soul Calibur is flashy and fun but has little value as a tournament fighter, and while it has complexity and depth it's very hard to tap into that depth due to sometimes unreliable input code.