finalark
SNORLAX
Link to original post: [drupal=1709]Soulcalibur Retrospect[/drupal]
I enjoy fighting games. If I didn't I wouldn't be a member of Smash World Forums. One series that I've always liked in particular is the externally misspelled Soulcalibur series. I decided to type up this retrospect on the series because I was bored.
The first game, Soul Blade, was on the Playstation. I'd tell you my thoughts on it but I never played the game. And if I were to find a copy the price would probably be my left arm.
Okay, so Soulcalibur, the first "real" game in the series, and I actually played this one. But my memory is a bit blurry because of how long it's been since I last played it. And seeing how my friend with the both the game and a Dream Cast doesn't live here anymore I really can't go back and play it. But from what I remember Soulcalibur was a load of fun, had a subtle underline of self-parody and was it was semi-cartoony.
Soul Calibur II was my favorite game in the series. A handful of new characters were added in this installment, along with some new game play modes. And it still had that awesome underline of self parody that I love about the series, and everything still feels slightly on the cartoony side. My only real problems with the game were that in most of the modes when you paused you didn't actually pause the game, you just brought up a menu asking if you wanted to quit the game or not, while the game is still going on in the back ground. A number of weapons and costumes in the shop were really over priced and some of the characters were a bit on the cheap side.
For some reason, Soul Calibur III is hated by most people, I don't see why but it is. In fact, Soul Calibur III was the best game in the series. The roster was greatly expanded, a whole number of game play modes and additional challenges were added and I remember the first time I played this game, as Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw once said, "it deliriously humps your eyeballs and ejaculates spurts of wonder across your slack-jawed face. By that I mean it looks nice." Yes, Soulcalibur III had some of the best graphics that I've ever seen on the Playstation 2, the stages, characters, everything all looked great. And the stages were also interesting with a wide verity of options for places that can beat the stuffing out of your buddies on. Although I hate how level of sex appeal in the game jumped from "some, but not too much" to "a lot, but still not over-the-top." And the custom characters, while they may be fun to play as and such, make all of the other characters in the game somewhat null and void. Why would you want to play as one of the pre-made characters when you can play as one you made yourself? But regardless, Soulcalibur III was the best in the series.
And finally, we come to Soulcalibur IV. Here's where the series ended for me. During development they decided that the game needed to be more serious and pretty much all of the self parody found in the previous games in gone. Now the sex appeal has gone up to the point where it's more persistent than even the Dead or Alive games, and not to mention that at this point the story (which is more forced on you now than it's ever been) is so overly complex that you need a freaking flow chart to understand it all (which the game provides, by the way). The number of modes and game play options have all been cut down from Soul Calibur III, and although the game looks great, this still can't replace the cartoony feel from the previous games.
There comes a time when a series must end, and here it should have been around the time that Soulcalibur IV was in development. As far as I'm concerned, the Soul Calibur series is over. And if Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny or any other future titles convinces me otherwise, I will eat my own shoes.
I enjoy fighting games. If I didn't I wouldn't be a member of Smash World Forums. One series that I've always liked in particular is the externally misspelled Soulcalibur series. I decided to type up this retrospect on the series because I was bored.
The first game, Soul Blade, was on the Playstation. I'd tell you my thoughts on it but I never played the game. And if I were to find a copy the price would probably be my left arm.
Okay, so Soulcalibur, the first "real" game in the series, and I actually played this one. But my memory is a bit blurry because of how long it's been since I last played it. And seeing how my friend with the both the game and a Dream Cast doesn't live here anymore I really can't go back and play it. But from what I remember Soulcalibur was a load of fun, had a subtle underline of self-parody and was it was semi-cartoony.
Soul Calibur II was my favorite game in the series. A handful of new characters were added in this installment, along with some new game play modes. And it still had that awesome underline of self parody that I love about the series, and everything still feels slightly on the cartoony side. My only real problems with the game were that in most of the modes when you paused you didn't actually pause the game, you just brought up a menu asking if you wanted to quit the game or not, while the game is still going on in the back ground. A number of weapons and costumes in the shop were really over priced and some of the characters were a bit on the cheap side.
For some reason, Soul Calibur III is hated by most people, I don't see why but it is. In fact, Soul Calibur III was the best game in the series. The roster was greatly expanded, a whole number of game play modes and additional challenges were added and I remember the first time I played this game, as Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw once said, "it deliriously humps your eyeballs and ejaculates spurts of wonder across your slack-jawed face. By that I mean it looks nice." Yes, Soulcalibur III had some of the best graphics that I've ever seen on the Playstation 2, the stages, characters, everything all looked great. And the stages were also interesting with a wide verity of options for places that can beat the stuffing out of your buddies on. Although I hate how level of sex appeal in the game jumped from "some, but not too much" to "a lot, but still not over-the-top." And the custom characters, while they may be fun to play as and such, make all of the other characters in the game somewhat null and void. Why would you want to play as one of the pre-made characters when you can play as one you made yourself? But regardless, Soulcalibur III was the best in the series.
And finally, we come to Soulcalibur IV. Here's where the series ended for me. During development they decided that the game needed to be more serious and pretty much all of the self parody found in the previous games in gone. Now the sex appeal has gone up to the point where it's more persistent than even the Dead or Alive games, and not to mention that at this point the story (which is more forced on you now than it's ever been) is so overly complex that you need a freaking flow chart to understand it all (which the game provides, by the way). The number of modes and game play options have all been cut down from Soul Calibur III, and although the game looks great, this still can't replace the cartoony feel from the previous games.
There comes a time when a series must end, and here it should have been around the time that Soulcalibur IV was in development. As far as I'm concerned, the Soul Calibur series is over. And if Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny or any other future titles convinces me otherwise, I will eat my own shoes.
My favorite from all the games is actually Xianghua. <3 using her.