Soul Calibur V

[Vivica Kang]

Sophita's son is the main character and it takes place in the future!!http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/11/soulcalibur-5-coming-to-ps3-xbox-360-in-2012/

[Meadow]

The series has been getting progressively worse since II, so I can't say I'm expecting much. Hopefully they scrap the character creation system (really, it's useless) and bring back team battle.

[C-Cool]

This series, gameplay wise, has downgraded since Soul Calibur 2. Soul Calibur 3, for me, being the worst... if you don't count having to deal with Yoda last game.

The story lines... have done nothing to improve the series.

The graphics, however... have been improving every game... except 3.


4 was an (small) improvement on 3, but this series needs to pick it up big time, especially after the horrible side games. Namco already has it's eggs on Tekken Tag Tourney 2 and Street Fighter vs. (or is it X) Tekken. Soul Calibur REALLY needs to step up.

...And if you can't do it right, bail on the CAW system. Completely. In fact, I'm close to saying bail on the Tales of Blades story mode stuff, as well.

Take it from Midway, you fix the game play, you fix a lot of problems. Just don't make the entire game bare bones either, like a Virtua Fighter game.

[Xero Kaiser]

What is this madness I'm reading? The character edit was awesome and SC4 was the shit. The Soul Gauge/Critical finishes weren't a great idea and they do need to step up the story mode, but I'm hyped for it either way.

[Siriel]

I preferred SC3 myself. Chronicles of the Sword, while hilariously bugged in term of savegame corruption, kicked ass. (Though the final boss was bullshit if you didn't exploit the AI.)
And Night Terror was fun, as much as "getting destroyed by the guy over and over again" can be fun. At least he looked cool.

4 was...lacking, comparatively. Given that they removed all the fighting styles they'd added, and had no story mode. (Two-three cutscenes shared by just about everyone does not make a story mode.)

I suppose I'll see if they can do better with 5.

[C-Cool]

What is this madness I'm reading? The character edit was awesome and SC4 was the shit. The Soul Gauge/Critical finishes weren't a great idea and they do need to step up the story mode, but I'm hyped for it either way.

The character editing was good. Not over the edge, like Tekken and Virtua Fighter, but good.

Create A Character, on the other hand? You couldn't even edit the body shape of the character for 3 and (maybe, I forgot) 4. Not even the height.

Soul Gauge/Critical Finishes need to go, especially the Soul Gauge. Critical Finishes sounds great, if they had different conditions for it.

Chronicles of the Sword? If the character editing system wasn't so... lacking, that mode would have been half decent. The save game corruption and the... boring set up hurt that mode more than the other bonus modes in the other games in this series.

On the plus side, Night Terror's a keeper. More so than stupid Inferno, though Soul Calibur 4's last boss wasn't so bad.

[Xero Kaiser]

The character editing was good. Not over the edge, like Tekken and Virtua Fighter, but good.

Create A Character, on the other hand? You couldn't even edit the body shape of the character for 3 and (maybe, I forgot) 4. Not even the height.

That's because your body type has to fit the animations, unless you want the game to look like absolute shit in motion.

[C-Cool]

That's because your body type has to fit the animations, unless you want the game to look like absolute shit in motion.

Yep... which was the problem in Soul Calibur 3, when a small person had the large axe and the Rock/Astheroh move set.

But if you mean specifically, then I agree. That tends to happen in wrestling games, when people don't fit correctly with the animations of the moves they preform, most prevalent in PS2 era games (WWE SD: HCTP being the prime suspect, though the game itself is great).

I just feel that that idea was just a path they didn't need to travel. They could have used another idea for something like that. But they tried, they tried.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

Yep... which was the problem in Soul Calibur 3, when a small person had the large axe and the Rock/Astheroh move set.

But if you mean specifically, then I agree. That tends to happen in wrestling games, when people don't fit correctly with the animations of the moves they preform, most prevalent in PS2 era games (WWE SD: HCTP being the prime suspect, though the game itself is great).

I just feel that that idea was just a path they didn't need to travel. They could have used another idea for something like that. But they tried, they tried.

Here's the thing though, the WWE games have just about fixed that now (as in, for SvR2011), so I'm not going to spare Namco on this.

[Young Avenger]

The series has soured on me since SC2 as well. While SC3 and SC4 are good games I never has as much fun with them as I did with the earlier games. If they bring back Chronicles of the Sword it would be so much win

[Vivica Kang]

IGN asked some questions.... and just confirmed GUEST Characters are coming!!!:biggrin:http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/116/1168008p1.html

[Xero Kaiser]

Guest characters could be cool...depends. If they bring in manga artists to design characters again, I hope they do a better job than the shit they puked out in SC4.

[Vivica Kang]

I hope they do a better job than the shit they puked out in SC4.

That Yoda, Vader, and "The Folllower" was a joke!They should at least bring some real game characters in the game!

[Xero Kaiser]

They were a strange choice, but I was mostly referring to shit like this

http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/sc4-angol-fear.jpg
http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/kamikirimusi.jpg

[Vivica Kang]

They were a strange choice, but I was mostly referring to shit like this

http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/sc4-angol-fear.jpg
http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/kamikirimusi.jpg

:eek: Whoo that's even worse! They are dire need of a revamp with these lame characters!!!

[MKTerra]

This could be interesting. SC is my favorite 3D fighter.

Not so enthused by a timeskip, but they were running out of story options for the previous generation of chars.

Never got a system for SCIV (and probably won't for V), but I enjoyed character creation in SCIII.

[AnarCHris]

I'll agree that SC and SCII were the strongest games in the series to date, I had a ton of fun w/3 & 4 as well. Granted there's a lot of things that need to be tweaked for V, I hop create a character mode comes back, and that we get a little more story this time around. Nothing like Blazblue's visual novel nonsense, but a few extra cutscenes between rounds would be nice.

[Forgotten Entity]

I agree, I played Soul Calibur III and loved it, the Story was good, Chronicles of The Sword was good, but Soul Calibur IV was lacking in Story Mode, it seems they were extremely focused on the online experience, and forgot about Story Mode.

As for the guest characters, please, please, please at least let them fit the setting! Star Wars characters seem to just be a promotional stunt for the new Force Unleashed game, some characters that would make sense would be nice.

Such as Link, he at least fit the time frame for when the game took place.

Kratos could be a nice guest for the game, I know he appeared in Broken Destiny, but Soul Calibur IV got the short end of the stick. Kratos actually fit the timeframe and setting quite nicely.

I'd love to see some deities get involved as well, whether greek, norse, whatever.

[MKTerra]

Never got a system for SCIV (and probably won't for V)Well well, change of plans: Microsoft is offering free Xbox 360s for students who buy a new computer for $699 or up (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/freexbox).

Perfect timing*, too; My old comp has been feeling its age in CPU/RAM/disk-space. I used to be able to handle 720p, but newer videos all lag on me. Maybe people are encoding with higher bitrates now.

*: Well, almost perfect. A month or two later would've been ideal, so I could compare AMD Llano against Intel Sandy Bridge without worrying about Xbox supplies running out. Then again, the offer supposedly runs through 9/3 (varying by retailer), so maybe there's plenty.

[DC Fan Xman]

http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/sc4-angol-fear.jpg
http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/kamikirimusi.jpg


:eek: Whoo that's even worse! They are dire need of a revamp with these lame characters!!!

But it's sad that I heard that Shura's not going to be in it.

[MrHalfawake]

I didnt really like 4 at all.

it jsut seemed for all the ehananced graphics and crate a cahracter mode it was awfully lakcing in content.

the tower was dull and CAS was basically jus a fancy cahracter editor

and guest characters are the cancer killing the series.

the game should be allowed to stand on it's own merits and cast and not feel the need to force anyone in

[Simbob4000]

Soul Calibur V Guest Revealed: It’s Ezio, Baby! Plus More Characters!
(http://www.thelonegamer.net/fan-service/soul-calibur-v-guest-revealed-its-ezio-baby-plus-more-characters/)

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5085/scvezio.jpg

[Vivica Kang]

Soul Calibur V Guest Revealed: It’s Ezio, Baby! Plus More Characters!
(http://www.thelonegamer.net/fan-service/soul-calibur-v-guest-revealed-its-ezio-baby-plus-more-characters/)

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5085/scvezio.jpg

OHHH!!! EZIO!!!:eek: SCV I'm scared of yall!

[Simbob4000]

Ezio Trailer
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111021074612/soulcalibur/images/b/b0/Ss_preview_8075sc5_pub_2d_ezio1.jpg.jpg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT8ykAVAwKQ&feature=player_embedded)


Dampierre Trailer
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090508164850/soulcalibur/images/thumb/e/e3/Dampierre.jpg/300px-Dampierre.jpg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX8yTIXXL7s&feature=player_embedded)

[FalconX2000]

http://sunfizz98.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/kamikirimusi.jpg

I actually like this one.

[Wjowski]

I wasn't much impressed with Strip Calibur 4, honestly.

[C-Cool]

Okay... after seeing this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLRaHJ-D5g

First day purchase for me. Big time.

Half of my complaints have been answered. Now if the gameplay is efficient, then this is a keeper!

[Kid Kamikaze10]

Okay... after seeing this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLRaHJ-D5g

First day purchase for me. Big time.

Half of my complaints have been answered. Now if the gameplay is efficient, then this is a keeper!

Wow...


Yeah, that CaC system has got to be the best I've ever seen in a fighting game.


Totally turned my perception around for this game.

[Vivica Kang]

Okay... after seeing this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLRaHJ-D5g

First day purchase for me. Big time.

Half of my complaints have been answered. Now if the gameplay is efficient, then this is a keeper!

I approve of that!!! That shocker was PURE FUN AND WILL HAVE ME BUYING THIS GAME!!! All I need to see now is Setsuka!

[MKTerra]

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090508164850/soulcalibur/images/thumb/e/e3/Dampierre.jpg/300px-Dampierre.jpgWHY does this guy exist?

[FalconX2000]

Soul Calibur V will be coming out in a few days, and from everything I've seen it is gonna be awesome. The music is epic, the stages are gorgeous and memorable, the new fighting system looks amazing.

I'm going to be mastering Hilde and Xiba.

I love Hilde's proud, noble knight vibe and that she's wearing plate mail armour. She even has the sense to wear a helmet! We can still see her face because, like everyone's else's wardrobe, it gets knocked off if she loses rounds.

As someone who loved using Kilik, I anticipate having a ball with Xiba, who seems like a more fun, innocent character with a similar fighting style.

[The_Dork_Nut]

Boobs V the game.

[Xero Kaiser]

No Zasalamel makes me mad.

[Vivica Kang]

I'm pissed about that too you would assume that they would put the big three (Tira, Zasalamel, and Setsuka) from SC 3 BUT THEY ENDED up putting just Tira in there....Setsuka, Tira and Zasalamel was my main reason to jump back in the Soul SERIES with their nicknames.

[FalconX2000]

No Zasalamel makes me mad.

He might be inside. There are a few character slots that haven't been revealed yet.

During an IGN Q&A preview show, they were asked if Setsuka was inside and the way they danced around the answer makes it seem like either Setsuka or someone with her fighting style is one of the unannounced characters. Zasalamel...really no idea one way or the other.

[Guest_1001]

I think it'd be better if more fighting game developers decided to leave out a few characters in one game and then brought them back in the next (although with the way things are these days, they'd probably end up as DLC). It encourages the developer to be more creative with new characters. Tekken could do with leaving out a few more too and not just the ones nobody cares about, like they did for a few games (Bruce, Baek, Wang, Ganryu) because look at how few new characters they introduced in Tekken 4 and 5 (two and three respectively, not including alternate costume characters or similar moveset characters, like Forrest Law, Julia and Christie).

So if Zasalamel and Setsuka aren't in there, I won't be too bothered.

[Xero Kaiser]

I think it'd be better if more fighting game developers decided to leave out a few characters in one game and then brought them back in the next. It encourages the developer to be more creative with new characters.

This makes no sense. Leaving out characters isn't going to somehow make new characters better or more creative. The 2 aren't at all related.

Damn near all of the "new" characters in this game are just old characters with a new look anyway.

[Vivica Kang]

He might be inside. There are a few character slots that haven't been revealed yet.

During an IGN Q&A preview show, they were asked if Setsuka was inside and the way they danced around the answer makes it seem like either Setsuka or someone with her fighting style is one of the unannounced characters. Zasalamel...really no idea one way or the other.

*Crossing my fingers* because I noticed Alpha Palktros and he had Setsuka's fighting style and soo help me god if they screwed her over....NAMCO will get an angry uproar.

[blackpariah]

Any news on Talim in this game? This is the only game I've gone to the trouble of preordering in the last few years. I have Wednesday off from work so... :biggrin:

[Guest_1001]

This makes no sense. Leaving out characters isn't going to somehow make new characters better or more creative. The 2 aren't at all related.

How would you know unless they try? I didn't say it was a certainty that new characters would definitely be better or more creative, just that leaving characters out would give the developer and character designer an incentive to try. It'd encourage them to come up with something remarkable.

The thing is, you can only judge a horse by the races its run; Tekken 3 left out a stack of characters from 2 and that's when we got Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, Eddy, Gon, Bryan, Boskonovitch, the two Ogres and possibly more I'm forgetting. Tekken 5 just brought a ton back and we only got three completely new characters (Feng, Asuka and Raven).

It's the same in lots of games. Street Fighter, a series I dislike but have a huge amount of praise for because of the direction they went in with III/Third Strike. Mortal Kombat didn't shy away from leaving out characters until Armageddon, where they brought back everyone, and IX, when they went with the most definitive bunch.

Soul Calibur, it's difficult to tell. In Soul Calibur 1, right after Soul Blade, most of the characters were just what you said here:


Damn near all of the "new" characters in this game are just old characters with a new look anyway.

And it's the same in lots of fighting games, unfortunately. But basically, in Soul Calibur 1, they skipped what I'll temporarily refer to as "the even better sequel characters" and just went straight for the characters who mirrored previous characters movesets. They improved on that by SC2 though.

[Xero Kaiser]

leaving characters out would give the developer and character designer an incentive to try. It'd encourage them to come up with something remarkable.

Yeah, except that's not what happened.

I'm not necessarily against leaving characters out. But doing so just so you can replace them with a character who's exactly the same (or even worse, just leaving a void) is pointless. I'd also point out that characters like Zas, Hilde, Algol, Tira or Setsuka managed to be unique additions to the series and no existing character had to be sacrificed for their inclusion.


But basically, in Soul Calibur 1, they skipped what I'll temporarily refer to as "the even better sequel characters" and just went straight for the characters who mirrored previous characters movesets.

What? SC1 had a ton of brand new characters. Nightmare, Maxi, Xianghua, Maxi, Astaroth, Ivy, Yoshimitsu.

Some of them were replacement characters, but since Soul Calibur was a massive change from Soul Edge it was less obvious, since even those replacements were very different from the SE versions of the people they were replacing.

[FalconX2000]

Any news on Talim in this game? This is the only game I've gone to the trouble of preordering in the last few years. I have Wednesday off from work so... :biggrin:

According to aforementioned IGN show, it seems she might be one of those unannounced characters too. I'll find out for sure in 2 days. Buying the game tomorrow, bringing it to my cousins's house the day after.

[Guest_1001]

Yeah, except that's not what happened.

I'm not necessarily against leaving characters out. But doing so just so you can replace them with a character who's exactly the same (or even worse, just leaving a void) is pointless. I'd also point out that characters like Zas, Hilde, Algol, Tira or Setsuka managed to be unique additions to the series and no existing character had to be sacrificed for their inclusion.

I didn't say replace them with a character who was exactly the same -- in fact, I was dead against that -- or have no characters. I actually said it would encourage the creation of more new characters.

And again, Zasalamel, Tira and Setsuka were the only new characters in III when I think there should've been more. Hilde, Algol and the Force-users were the only new ones in IV (and honestly, should the Star Wars characters really have been in there?). Buying a new fighting game for three or four new characters just seems odd. Not as much in Soul Calibur as in Tekken though, I have to say, since SC has always been quite unique with the extra features (Chronicles of the Sword, Tower of Lost Souls). Speaking of which, does SCV have anything other than the main game, multiplayer and character creation?


What? SC1 had a ton of brand new characters. Nightmare, Maxi, Xianghua, Maxi, Astaroth, Ivy, Yoshimitsu.

Some of them were replacement characters, but since Soul Calibur was a massive change from Soul Edge it was less obvious, since even those replacements were very different from the SE versions of the people they were replacing.

You must've noticed something I didn't. Maxi, Nightmare and Astaroth might as well have been called Li Long, Siegfried and Rock. In fact, it was only due to Nightmare's moveset being the same as Siegfried's that I was able to complete SC1 the first time I played it, in the arcade.

Xianghua, Ivy and Yoshimitsu were unique, sure (well, perhaps not Yoshimitsu, for obvious reasons) but it wasn't until SC2 that an effort was made to differentiate between new characters and older ones.

[Xero Kaiser]

According to aforementioned IGN show, it seems she might be one of those unannounced characters too. I'll find out for sure in 2 days. Buying the game tomorrow, bringing it to my cousins's house the day after.

The game and the roster leaked days ago. There is no Talim

[FalconX2000]

The game and the roster leaked days ago. There is no Talim

There were lots of grey slots in the IGN show, so I myself wasn't certain. Having checked, it seems you're right. Oh well.

[Xero Kaiser]

You must've noticed something I didn't. Maxi, Nightmare and Astaroth might as well have been called Li Long, Siegfried and Rock. In fact, it was only due to Nightmare's moveset being the same as Siegfried's that I was able to complete SC1 the first time I played it, in the arcade.

Well Nightmare/Siegfried actually was basically the same person so of course he's going to be similar.

Maxi and Li Long were completely different though. Weapons aside they have little, if anything in common.


I have to say, since SC has always been quite unique with the extra features (Chronicles of the Sword, Tower of Lost Souls). Speaking of which, does SCV have anything other than the main game, multiplayer and character creation?

No, not really.

Doesn't even have arcade mode endings.

[C-Cool]

I've gone through a bit of the Story Mode...

Incoming rant. Don't spoil yourself reading this if you don't want to.

Sophitia's family must have screwed the pooch a lot more than implied in this story mode, because those two head cases should never come back for another Soul Calibur game. At least have Pat get killed in the intro to the next game. So damn annoying, I'll even forgive Namco for stupid Lars in Tekken 6: BR if these two kids never return to the series.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

I've gone through a bit of the Story Mode...

Incoming rant. Don't spoil yourself reading this if you don't want to.

Sophitia's family must have screwed the pooch a lot more than implied in this story mode, because those two head cases should never come back for another Soul Calibur game. At least have Pat get killed in the intro to the next game. So damn annoying, I'll even forgive Namco for stupid Lars in Tekken 6: BR if these two kids never return to the series.

Lars and Alisa were really annoying, so I don't know about that.


I totally expected Namco to whip out a Tekken 6 on Soul Calibur 5's story mode.


Why does it ALWAYS seem like a great idea to just throw in new main characters in the midst of a better storyline?

I mean, if Lars and Alisa weren't in the story mode, hey, maybe we could focus more on the Jin/Kazuya war?

Or, if Sophitia's kids weren't the main characters, hey, maybe we could focus on either Siegfried's crew or *shudders* Leixia and her friends? You could still use the same antagonists. Heck, you can even still have Sophitia's daughter hang out with Tira and all that entails.

Point is, they had better stories waiting the background.



This is why fighting game fans are so accustomed to not giving a damn about stories. They never put enough effort, and when they do, their craft is horrendous.

[Vivica Kang]

You would assume that Mortal Kombat would make fighting games step their game up....BUT instead I was very dissapointed by the Sophita kids running the story mode it's sick. I will try it but I won't buy it.

[Yun Lao]

Gameplay is nice as always, but yeah, not a big fan of Patroklos. I like the fact he flat-out tells Siegfried, the guy who gave him the Soul Calibur that Nightmare doesn't exist, yet he easily believes in the malfested.

I'm also kinda wondering how a kid who resides in Hungary managed to learn a Japanese sword-style.

[Cheesedique]

Picked this up today, been playing offline mode and character creation. Haven't tried the story mode yet.

Solid graphics and gameplay--though lack of about any extra modes make this a tough sell. How are you supposed to unlock shit? Oh wait that's what paid DLC is for now.

Liking Viola's powerset so far--made a nice character modeled after her ability.

[Jadeskies]

A lot of reviews say the single player story mode sucks the wind right out of the game. I personally would of preferred better single player game (which underperforms with its voiced over storyboard illustrations) than to have any kind of 'create your own character' mode in the game.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

Gameplay is nice as always, but yeah, not a big fan of Patroklos. I like the fact he flat-out tells Siegfried, the guy who gave him the Soul Calibur that Nightmare doesn't exist, yet he easily believes in the malfested.

I'm also kinda wondering how a kid who resides in Hungary managed to learn a Japanese sword-style.

Setsuka taught him?

[FalconX2000]

Setsuka taught him?

Alpha Patroklos apparently plays nearly identical to Setsuka.

[C-Cool]

Alpha Patroklos apparently plays nearly identical to Setsuka.

And that's also really annoying. Complete style shift mid-story with no primer (from the story or otherwise).

Playing through the story mode, and having to deal with that style shift sucked, mostly because I am not a Setsuka user. Okay... I also don't use the Sword and Shield family style either, but still.

There really needs to be a DLC so that we can ignore this story mode and get the unlockables. It's not hard, but playing through it to get characters is boring.

[FalconX2000]

Ok, I finally got to play it today, and the game does feel rushed. They focused on creating a good foundational fighting system, stage and character designs and character creation system, which is all very well and good. It even has this awesome feature to select the background music when choosing the stage (Hilde's Daybreak theme is so epic)

But the lack of any ending stories for characters in arcade mode totally sucks. And no team battle? Dammit.

It's a great game, but it really needs an expansion pack. It should've been left to develop another 6 months to incorporate more characters, fighting modes and some sense of story for the other characters. I don't play fighting games for the story, but it helps the immersion when I'm playing Street Fighter to know what Makoto and Ibuki are doing there.

[ceroxide]

I love the fighting mechanics but the lack of extra modes, character intros and endings, all the old characters probably coming back as character creation dlc, the inclusion of a challenge tower, chronicle mode, and survival mode it makes me think it won't be long before
Super Ultimate Soul Calibur V Turbo Arcade Edition 2.5 Version 2012

[heretic]

AKA, what I honestly suspect they left out due to the deadline.
More Stories: I can see the appeal of what they did with the Story Mode, however there are tales for others beyond the Alexandria sibs that are missing (Mitsurugi's Quest For Competition, What the Senior Cadre for Schwartzwind is planning, & Maxi's Babysitting Service, for starters)

Minor fleshing out of Arcade Mode: Some actual endings (even on the level of SC1-SC2) and cutscenes rather than the blink-and-you-will-miss-it matchup-specific trash-talk would work wonders.

Backstories/profiles on the disk itself. Want to toss in artwork along with it go wild.

If you must bring back characters, Talim (should be in her early 30s and look it) and Zasalamel (immortal) are at the top of the list.

Note, I actually _like_ the game, and the char development in Story Mode salvaged the Dolt.


I'm also kinda wondering how a kid who resides in Hungary managed to learn a Japanese sword-style.Setsuka taught him in Istanbul. Seems fair enough.

[Apathy Lad]

I haven't played a single SC game for more than five minutes since 2. How's this one?