Soul calibur (DC) appreciation

[nakamura]

Soul edge is right up there too! Another stunning piece of software.

I just prefer it because Calibur felt too button mashy. Killik is cheap and due to the enhanced radius of play, it made sidestepping less worthwhile.
I've been playing Edge a lot lately and it's a very deep and clever game, just a bit rough looking sadly.

[dvdx2]

I just prefer it because Calibur felt too button mashy. Killik is cheap and due to the enhanced radius of play, it made sidestepping less worthwhile.
I've been playing Edge a lot lately and it's a very deep and clever game, just a bit rough looking sadly.

i think its roughness is part of its charm - the music selection is amazing too; its not as fluid as calibur though

I remember importing it on release (?80!)

[speedlolita]

So fluid means button mashy to you Martin? No wonder you don't like Third Strike.

[nakamura]

Visually fluid yes it is. As for Third Strike, it's the horrible characters I don't like there.

[speedlolita]

I think I'll never understand the love of this game as I wasn't there to experience it at the time. Soul Calibur 2 was my game, though I did enjoy Soul Edge on the PlayStation too. Going back to this after 2 makes it look rough and seem a little rigid. Still, a nice title to have in my DC library.

You guys were fawning over this before I owned my first games console though so what do I know?

[Asura]

I just prefer it because Calibur felt too button mashy. Killik is cheap and due to the enhanced radius of play, it made sidestepping less worthwhile.
I've been playing Edge a lot lately and it's a very deep and clever game, just a bit rough looking sadly.

The balance in SC was a bit off (I'm not sure it's been so good in any of the SC games, honestly), but I don't think Kilik was the unbalanced one. His movements are large and grandiose; the two parries are very useful against him.

Mitsurugi is the powerhouse in SC1. A good Mitsurugi player is VERY difficult to beat. He was definitely toned down in the sequels.

[Team Andromeda]

Aahhh. The days when a console would launch with a title you just HAD to have....

Hardly . The Dreamcast didn't launch with SC that game came months after the DC hit the streets for the 1st time

[baad bwoy]

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[baad bwoy]

Soul Edge is better IMO. Single player Edge Master mode was better and the radius of attacks made gameplay tighter.

Its not you know.
SC is clearly the don of the series and probably hasn't been bettered yet by any other game in the genre.

[speedlolita]

In the series maybe.

Genre is pushing it.

[baad bwoy]

Perhaps, but I've fond memories of many hours spent playing SC with mates when I was younger...out of curiosity what game would you say exceeds SC in the genre?

[speedlolita]

So you have an affection for it on the same kind of level that I do with Tekken 3.

There's one right there.

Edit: I should add that came out before SC mind.

Err, Soul Calibur 2.

[Asura]

Perhaps, but I've fond memories of many hours spent playing SC with mates when I was younger...out of curiosity what game would you say exceeds SC in the genre?

I would argue a fair few fighters do, but it depends on the means with which you judge.

Soul Blade, Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur 2 were the most "complete" fighters I ever played for their respective eras, in that they offered a huge number of features and were very solid games. Comparatively, titles like Virtua Fighter 2 were amazing but they were barebones; if you didn't have a friend who was prepared to master them too, you only got so much out of them (this was always my issue with VF - Soul Calibur and Tekken, I had no shortage of people to play, but no-one else I knew got into VF).

I actually think that whilst it lacked the sheer impact of the first one (due to being quite similar in many respects), I think SC2 is the better game. It brought back the imbalanced-to-hell-but-really-fun weapon master mode that actually unlocked weapons in-game, and I think it had better game balance between the characters (though there were still a few outliers - Talim was too easy to use considering how good she was, and Ivy was a bit crazy when mastered as she had a variable range weapon). Other than that, it's very similar to the first in the ways that matter.

3 was the start of the decline. It had too many extra modes and a character generator that allowed you to make... Well, cheap knockoffs of Soul Calibur characters. 4 didn't have the Edge Master mode, Broken Destiny didn't have an arcade mode (!!!) and V changed the parry system and added super combos - neither of which were necessary at all.

If it's just raw fun of combat, personally, I think Virtua Fighter 5 is still the apex of the 3D fighter genre. Its only problem is that it's no different to the older VF games in one respect - it takes a bit of work to "get into" and you need to play it with real people. Also the nature of it means that I don't feel it works so well online. That being said, VF isn't for everyone because not everyone wants a fighting game where you only get out fun after putting in quite a bit of effort.

Maybe that's SC1/2's best quality (Edge, too) - they have an element of VF's gameplay (certainly closer than Tekken) but they're fun irrespective of skill level. A beginner can mash with Maxi and an expert can go crazy with Voldo's stances; either will have a good time.

[baad bwoy]

I see we all have our favourites be it VF, SC or Tekken. Its a pity that Fighters have fallen so far from favour and have become quite niche. Cant see them ever regaining popularity on the scales enjoyed in the 90s and early 2000's, such a shame.

[Asura]

I see we all have our favourites be it VF, SC or Tekken. Its a pity that Fighters have fallen so far from favour and have become quite niche. Cant see them ever regaining popularity on the scales enjoyed in the 90s and early 2000's, such a shame.

On the contrary - and this is going to seem very controversial - I believe in the UK, fighting games were only popular twice.

>> The heyday of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat
>> The heyday of Street Fighter IV

I've always believed that we thought fighters like VF, Soul Blade, Tekken 2 etc. were popular here because they featured very prominently in games magazines, but that was just because the staff of the mags at EMAP and the like were really into their fighters, and less so the genuinely popular stuff like FIFA.

I mean going by mags at the time, you'd be forgiven for thinking Virtual On sold ****loads in the UK. CVG had huge features on it. Despite that, it's one of the most niche titles ever for UK gamers.

Fighting games certainly are less numerous than they used to be, though.