Soul Calibur VI!

[Ertrick36]

41 minutes ago, Edgelord said:

game comes out in a couple days, looks like a bunch of people did get early copies on consoles. Reviews are hovering around 85% if you put any stock in that (on par with other fighting games)

Holy shit, I read that number as "55" and was about to fly off the handle about how lame all the journalists are.

Anyway, pre-load is available for SC VI on Steam now.  I was beginning to wonder if it'd ever come.

4 hours ago, B.Leu said:

Raph with that expression look like the love child of Dio and Camus.

He's gonna go and steal Siegfried's body so that he can take over the world, yet he also doesn't want to fight you but is honor-bound to do so anyway.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Ertrick36

[Tryhard]

6 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Holy shit, I read that number as "55" and was about to fly off the handle about how lame all the journalists are.

Even if it was, I wouldn't mind, even though it would be puzzling because the Soulcalibur series is generally one of the more accessible fighters for newcomers. But well, a metacritic score doesn't matter. Or at least it shouldn't, but because developers can actually get bonuses depending on if review average hits a high enough score maybe not so. Fallout: New Vegas (which is generally considered a good game) fell shy of the 85% metacritic review and Obsidian's developers weren't paid a bonus... for getting 84%.

https://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/obsidian-missed-fallout-new-vegas-metacritic-bonus-by-one-point/

Edited October 17, 2018 by Edgelord

[Florete]

11 minutes ago, Edgelord said:

Even if it was, I wouldn't mind, even though it would be puzzling because the Soulcalibur series is generally one of the more accessible fighters for newcomers. But well, a metacritic score doesn't matter. Or at least it shouldn't, but because developers can actually get bonuses depending on if review average hits a high enough score maybe not so. Fallout: New Vegas (which is generally considered a good game) fell shy of the 85% metacritic review and Obsidian's developers weren't paid a bonus... for getting 84%.

https://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/obsidian-missed-fallout-new-vegas-metacritic-bonus-by-one-point/

I remember that. I think that's about when the conversation around review scores and Metacritic and how we need to put less stock in it all really took off.

Reviewers are people, too, so I don't believe their opinions should just be thrown out, but an average score alone doesn't tell the whole story.

[Ertrick36]

21 minutes ago, Florete said:

I remember that. I think that's about when the conversation around review scores and Metacritic and how we need to put less stock in it all really took off.

Reviewers are people, too, so I don't believe their opinions should just be thrown out, but an average score alone doesn't tell the whole story.

It's why I try to listen to lots of different opinions.

I prefer when I can have something to actually read, hear, or see out of a review than a simple number.  And the more they have to say that's relevant, the better.

That being said, it's one thing to be an individual person, and it's another to be an organization or corporation.

[B.Leu]

Early copies of game already, filthy rich peoples who make the economy runs. :p
Seriously though, I'm surprised, that was super fast.
 

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

He's gonna go and steal Siegfried's body so that he can take over the world, yet he also doesn't want to fight you but is honor-bound to do so anyway.

... Huh.
Can't wait for his Stand, The Loli, or The Lolitta, or The Gothic or... ? RIP the dignity of the hero's stand of Soul Calibur VIII in VIV then. Look forward for the Over Heaven version. And the Ultimaito. With infinite... Gravidius range ?
Holy crap, I just realized, Over Heaven is so fitting for Raphael ! It's actually his character !

Heavy lore and spoilers bro. :p

Edited October 17, 2018 by B.Leu

[Slumber]

1 hour ago, Edgelord said:

Even if it was, I wouldn't mind, even though it would be puzzling because the Soulcalibur series is generally one of the more accessible fighters for newcomers. But well, a metacritic score doesn't matter. Or at least it shouldn't, but because developers can actually get bonuses depending on if review average hits a high enough score maybe not so. Fallout: New Vegas (which is generally considered a good game) fell shy of the 85% metacritic review and Obsidian's developers weren't paid a bonus... for getting 84%.

https://www.engadget.com/2012/03/15/obsidian-missed-fallout-new-vegas-metacritic-bonus-by-one-point/

I think a lot of places scrapped this practice, and I'm not sure if Japanese developers ever did it. 

New Vegas is kind of the one high-profile example of this, especially since the game was most commonly docked points for bugs, and the game's QA was handled by Bethesda... the company who would have given Obsidian a bonus if their game wasn't docked so heavily for having bugs. 

Also, I feel like a lot of the SC6 reviews are a little... off. I think it might just be because a lot of them never got super into the series, but a ton of them cite it as a "return to SC2" for the franchise, gameplay wise.

Do I not live in a world where SC3 was highly regarded? By critics of the time and by fans of the series to this day? Because that's the world I remember living in. 

... But who am I to say I'm a bigger fan? I never even bothered with 5.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Slumber

[Tryhard]

11 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Also, I feel like a lot of the SC6 reviews are a little... off. I think it might just be because a lot of them never got super into the series, but a ton of them cite it as a "return to SC2" for the franchise, gameplay wise.

Do I not live in a world where SC3 was highly regarded? By critics of the time and by fans of the series to this day? Because that's the world I remember living in. 

... But who am I to say I'm a bigger fan? I never even bothered with 5.

SC3 was actually quite derided for its poor competitive gameplay and balance in general, glitches, and the one were the game started to go down its more overt "anime" style that some folks weren't a fan of. It also had no online play when that was starting to be expected from fighting games. Most people consider 2 the highlight of the series although 3 is generally polarising and some prefer it.

Great singleplayer content, though, and I would still prefer it to 4 and 5.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Edgelord

[Slumber]

6 minutes ago, Edgelord said:

SC3 was actually quite derided for its poor competitive gameplay and balance in general, glitches, and the one were the game started to go down its more overt "anime" style that some folks weren't a fan of. It also had no online play when that was starting to be expected from fighting games. Most people consider 2 the highlight of the series although 3 is generally polarising and some prefer it.

Great singleplayer content, though, and I would still prefer it to 4 and 5.

Fair. 

It's just weird to see all of these reviews and see the general consensus(Among the reviewers) be "SOULCAL 6 IS THE FIRST NOTEWORTHY GAME IN THE SERIES SINCE 2!"

Not sure how I feel about 3 being "the anime one", though. Maybe it was a slight change in art style, but I've always felt that the series as a whole has always been pretty anime. 

Talim and Siegfried are some pretty anime. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Slumber

[Ertrick36]

1 hour ago, Slumber said:

Not sure how I feel about 3 being "the anime one", though. Maybe it was a slight change in art style, but I've always felt that the series as a whole has always been pretty anime. 

Talim and Siegfried are some pretty anime. 

Yeah, I'd dare someone to look at Soul Edge Siegfried and tell me his design doesn't scream "anime protagonist".  It was never not anime, around half of the characters in the first game came from Southeast Asia and were as anime as they came, and even the western characters either were anime or had some cheese to them.

In regards to SC3's place in the series, I don't think it was overly hated but it was where the series started showing its cracks.  And SC3: Arcade Edition seems to have been highly regarded, since it revamped the movesets of Li Long, Hwang, and Amy, fixed the bugs, and generally balanced the game better.

I haven't heard too many people talk about Chronicles of the Sword.  I've heard a few say they liked it, and a few more say it had a lame story and lacking strategy elements.  While I've personally had fun with it, I think it wasn't particularly a good mix; the fact that you could just fight the enemies yourself instead of relying on the strengths of the units diminished practically any strategy elements it had.  Weapon Master Mode was better handled, though we have never had a version where one could use custom characters until this game; SC II and every game before had you playing as one of the main cast.

Even so, I'd take another Chronicles of the Sword over whatever the hell story we got in SC V.

[Tsunami922]

Soul Calibur 3 is one of my personal favorites. It has my overall favorite OST and the single-player content is enormous.

But yeah, gameplay-wise, it definitely had some issues. 

And Chronicles of the Sword was one of my favorite single-player modes in the series.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Tsunami922

[Ertrick36]

1 minute ago, Tsunami922 said:

Soul Calibur 3 is one of my personal favorites. It has my overall favorite OST and the single-player content is enormous.

But yeah, gameplay-wise, it definitely had some issues. 

It was also one of my favorites, personally.  It and SC II were my favorite entries, though I still gotta give Soul Edge credit for that rockin' theme.

Just the fact that I was able to create a custom character without having to spend hours upon hours in a system like Fighter Maker was great for me.  And being able to make an army of them to fight corrupt kingdoms was even better.  And the extra modes were good, frustrating fun that definitely didn't have me throwing my controller across the room.

[Slumber]

I really enjoyed SC3's single player content. 

Some of it was a ton of horseshit, but it was still a lot of fun. 

Glad that this game at least has the "Create a monster and go on a whacky adventure" aspect. 

[Tryhard]

13 hours ago, Slumber said:

I think a lot of places scrapped this practice, and I'm not sure if Japanese developers ever did it. 

New Vegas is kind of the one high-profile example of this, especially since the game was most commonly docked points for bugs, and the game's QA was handled by Bethesda... the company who would have given Obsidian a bonus if their game wasn't docked so heavily for having bugs. 

I missed this - but yeah this was the biggest scenario of this mattering, which is good. And yeah, New Vegas was rough at release. But I gotta say, Bethesda really shouldn't be the ones complaining about releasing a buggy game considering their track record.

12 hours ago, Slumber said:

It's just weird to see all of these reviews and see the general consensus(Among the reviewers) be "SOULCAL 6 IS THE FIRST NOTEWORTHY GAME IN THE SERIES SINCE 2!"

Not sure how I feel about 3 being "the anime one", though. Maybe it was a slight change in art style, but I've always felt that the series as a whole has always been pretty anime. 

Talim and Siegfried are some pretty anime. 

Art style and some characters. Tira is very much in that direction even though I like her. Zasalamel is a time-travelling immortal - I know the series is fantastical but it was getting a bit much.

Some of this was more understandable, but it felt like the style was a little more grounded in reality in SC2 despite the fantastical tone. A German with a buster sword that you call a Zweihander. 'Greek' goddess style Sophitia who looks more like a Swede. Talim was probably the best example of anime in SC2.

That said SC6 has Grøh which is about the personification of anime, especially strange for a Scandinavian, so it's not like that has really changed. Which is weird, because I would in general call Soulcalibur the least "Japanese" of the japanese-developed fighters that I know of.

[Slumber]

3 hours ago, Edgelord said:

Art style and some characters. Tira is very much in that direction even though I like her. Zasalamel is a time-travelling immortal - I know the series is fantastical but it was getting a bit much.

Some of this was more understandable, but it felt like the style was a little more grounded in reality in SC2 despite the fantastical tone. A German with a buster sword that you call a Zweihander. 'Greek' goddess style Sophitia who looks more like a Swede. Talim was probably the best example of anime in SC2.

That said SC6 has Grøh which is about the personification of anime, especially strange for a Scandinavian, so it's not like that has really changed. Which is weird, because I would in general call Soulcalibur the least "Japanese" of the japanese-developed fighters that I know of.

I have a hard time calling Tira "anime" when her closest analogue is a western comic book character, and her design and personality don't really resemble any anime characters. The only thing that really makes Tira anime is the fact that she's in a Japanese game. Zasalamel is more anime, being the "tortured immortal villain that wants the evil power", and his overall design evokes more of an anime aesthetic. And he wields a scythe, which is the most anime weapon after giant swords, and he's basically an inverse grim reaper, another concept Japan is in love with.

Tackling the rest of 3's cast, Setsuka's not very anime. The most anime thing is that she's a street thug in feudal Japan who happens to be a woman. Amy's kinda anime, mostly due to her dress, but I'd rather forget she ever exists.

And Siegfried is literally every shounen protagonist from the mid-90s to today. "The pretty boy hero whose life was ruined by the main villain of the series. He's a 5'5 16 sixteen year old and wields a sword that weighs twice much as he does. But as it turns out this main villain is actually part of him and he has to deal with his dangerous super powered evil side!" Zweihanders were usually pretty close to claymores, and usually didn't get much heavier than about 6lbs. Siegfried's zweihander has to be over 200lbs, which really only happens in manga/anime and anime-adjacent video games.

The only difference for Siegfried is that Nightmare never comes around to actually helping Siegfried and powering him up to deal with THE REAL VILLAIN! That's the only thing that stops him from being the BIGGEST anime cliche, way bigger than anything in 3, and even bigger than Talim.

And yeah. Groh's straight up just a Fire Emblem character. Actually, he's like if you mixed a Fire Emblem character with a Valkyria Chronicles character.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Slumber

[Punished Dayni]

I'll say that I was never interested in getting 4 and 5. And I say this as someone who thinks Ezio's the most fitting guest the series gave us.

I got 3 first and liked it, even if Chronicles of the Sword got annoying as it went on. I ended up getting 2 after it and I did like it, though 3's singleplayer was always a big pull for me.

The fact I'm even considering 6 should say something, right? I'm not getting it for a bit though.

[Ertrick36]

Game's out on Steam.

I gotta do some other things before I can go and play it, but it's now out.

[Slumber]

Went with the PC version.

[B.Leu]

On 18/10/2018 at 3:51 AM, Slumber said:

I really enjoyed SC3's single player content. 

Some of it was a ton of horseshit, but it was still a lot of fun. 

Glad that this game at least has the "Create a monster and go on a whacky adventure" aspect. 

I remember, I helped my cousin with a particulary nasty boss of SC3 solo adventure. It was challenging as heck, couldn't even beat it, but I could at least, drop the health bar of the boss below half.
Man, those were fun days.

It was kind of like SC2's, balanced with the foot, but some game don't need to be balanced to have fun.
 

[Ertrick36]

2 hours ago, Slumber said:

Went with the PC version.

1v1 me, bro, I got the same version.  Final Destination, Fox on- oh wait, this isn't Smash.

 

So having played... *looks at Steam records* about eight hours of SC VI, I have some thoughts.

• Story mode is as anime as one could expect.  After beating the main story, I went on to do Mitsurugi's; for such a serious and violent character, he always manages to be so fun.  I'm so glad we're back to the Mitsurugi that's trying to defeat rifles, and it's an added bonus that he kept calling Nightmare "the Knight of Mares".  It's so dopey, but I just love Mitsurugi being unintentionally funny.
• Libra of Souls is also pretty anime in writing.  You don't get input in the story too often, but honestly I wasn't even expecting there to be this other mode in the first place after SC V so it's a refreshing return to form.  It feels like an expanded version of SC II's Weapon Master mode, and I like that I get to put my custom kitsune girl OC that I made, like, yesterday right in the thick of it all.  Hurray for having a hyperactive imagination that goes a mile-a-minute.
• Disappointingly, lizard customization is limited.  Same with some of the other races.  The most disappointing thing here is that I can't make a sexy lizard maid like I really wanted to.  Though I at least made some kind of lizard sorcerer who uses Geralt's moveset, so it's not a total loss.
• Aside from the limited beast customization, the character creator seems to be maybe a slight less expansive than SC V or about the same.  Either I'm remembering SC V having a lot more clothing options than I should be, or they removed some outfits from the previous game; I know for a fact that a number of DLC items from that game aren't present here.  There are more hairstyles, though.  I like the broken armor version of Seong Mi-Na's hair, which is its own hairstyle available in character customization along with other broken armor hairstyles.  And I also know there are more options to come; I just hope we'll see a return of all the older outfits.
• Game plays quite well, for what I know.  It's locked at 60 FPS, but that's okay by me as long as it isn't any lower than that.  Reversal Edge is... interesting.  So often when playing against the CPU, I pick the vertical attack and it usually works.  The AI's so dumb that it keeps trying to either guard or do a horizontal sweep in the clashes.  Though it's basically a gamble; you risk losing it all, but succeeding in the clash could turn the tides for you.  The Critical Edge mechanic is pretty much the same as in SC V, though I'm a little disappointed the CaS characters don't get the special victory animation for defeating a foe with it.
• Overall...  Yeah, I'm liking it more than SC V.  There's more for a loner like me to do in it.  And the writing, while still not of the highest caliber, is no longer in that weird fan-fictionesque realm that I disdained so much.  If you read the combat tutorials pages in the pause menu (specifically the quotes and quote sources), I think you can tell rather quick the kind of tone the game is going for, and it's a tone I can appreciate.  In the end, it does feel like a return to form, but with a more modern paint job and finishing.

[Slumber]

6 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

1v1 me, bro, I got the same version.  Final Destination, Fox on- oh wait, this isn't Smash.

ANY TIME BRO

You'll probably kick my ass because I haven't played SC seriously in over 10 years, haven't played many fighting games in general over the last 10 years, and... Have about 2 hours in the game.

[Tryhard]

More or less agreed on all the points.

Though it's funny to imagine that SCV had a lot of problems, but the gameplay was pretty good for the most part. It was just everything else. Here everything else is a lot better and it seems like it will be more competitively viable too (as opposed to dying 3 months after release like SCV)

This game does seem like it has a clear budget showing at times, but it does better with what they had. I just hope it means more support further down the line and future games because it reminded me that Soulcalibur as a weapon based fighter franchise is unique while hand to hand fighters that get more attention like Tekken are dime a dozen.

Edited October 20, 2018 by Edgelord

[Slumber]

Okay, I just went 50 matches with one of my buddies. We figured we should both practice a bit before going online.

I think... I think I like Maxi. Seems like he's got a reasonable skill floor and a high ceiling. I really need to learn his stances. Really feels like I'm missing half of Maxi's set. The game's starting to feel a lot more natural, though.

Edited October 20, 2018 by Slumber

[Ertrick36]

I definitely like the feel of Seong Mi-Na in this game.  In SC III, she felt a bit clumsy.  Kilik's more the combo-maker, and also isn't really oriented towards long-range combat (he can do that, but it's not his focus).  Seong Mi-Na has good singular attacks, pokes, and low sweeps, and also has a strong emphasis on range.  Either way, I can't tell you how many balls I've busted between the two of them.

17 hours ago, Slumber said:

Okay, I just went 50 matches with one of my buddies. We figured we should both practice a bit before going online.

I think... I think I like Maxi. Seems like he's got a reasonable skill floor and a high ceiling. I really need to learn his stances. Really feels like I'm missing half of Maxi's set. The game's starting to feel a lot more natural, though.

I feel like Maxi's less button-masher friendly in this game.  But he's still an absolute monster in the right hands.

And maybe it's simply because I made no effort in actually exploring him beforehand, but playing through both the story and Libra of Souls made me like him and his crew a lot more.  I like how so far, Libra of Souls has made the main characters really feel like good travel buddies.  And Mitsurugi continuing to mishear things ("Astal Fishies" instead of "Astral Fissure") gives me life.

Gives me hope that if Cassandra makes it into the game as a proper fighter, she'll be oh-so charming.

[Tryhard]

I kinda want to try to play Yoshimitsu. If I don't know what I'm doing, my opponent doesn't know. But I'm still trying to decide on a character to take online. I like Kilik, but might need to spend more time with him. Maxi is kind of hard to play at a higher level with his six stances or so.

Nightmare and Siegfried are the real low-level crushers you need to watch for online, especially the former. Nightmare's ranged attacks are pretty ridiculous, but up close his horizontals aren't so good.

Edited October 21, 2018 by Edgelord

[Slumber]

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

I feel like Maxi's less button-masher friendly in this game.  But he's still an absolute monster in the right hands.

And maybe it's simply because I made no effort in actually exploring him beforehand, but playing through both the story and Libra of Souls made me like him and his crew a lot more.  I like how so far, Libra of Souls has made the main characters really feel like good travel buddies.  And Mitsurugi continuing to mishear things ("Astal Fishies" instead of "Astral Fissure") gives me life.

Gives me hope that if Cassandra makes it into the game as a proper fighter, she'll be oh-so charming.

Maxi's button-mashiness is definitely super toned down from what I remember.

I remember him just being able to chain moves together with a pretty small pause. The pauses here are much longer, and it seems like if you want to feel like "old Maxi", you really have to get his nunchaku stances down and know what to combo into and out of.

He's still plenty mashy, but I've noticed that when I'm playing somebody better than myself(Quite often), I do much worse when I panic and start hitting buttons as opposed to using the few tricks I've taught myself over the last two days.

And I hope Cassandra gets enough to really differentiate herself from Sophitia. I remember they were working on that with 4, where she was much less of a clone of her big sister. Similarly, I hope Lizardman gets his super feral moveset again. I imagine he will, no reason to have him go back to a third character with Sophitia's moveset.

Edited October 21, 2018 by Slumber