After Two Terrible Games In The Soul Calibur Series, My Soul Does Not Burn!
Aris ON Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 12:21AM 
Harada had some last minute news for us today. Apparently a new Soul Calibur game is now under development and the producer of the series is now Daishi Odashima. From what I have gathered, he worked on SC3 and SC4 and now he is the lead producer of the series. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the franchise, here’s a quick history lesson for you guys.
In 2002 Namco released Soul Calibur 2 in the arcades. This was the first game in the series that was widely accepted as a mainstream competitive fighting game. The game was balanced, easy to pick up, and had a strong competitive scene across the country and the world all the way up until Soul Calibur 3.
In 2005 Namco released Soul Calibur 3 on console only. This was a major mistake because at this point online patching was impossible. The game was riddled with game breaking bugs and balance issues that made it nearly unplayable. The proof was clearly in the pudding as it was never accepted as a mainstream fighting game and its tournament life on a national level lasted no more then a few months.
In 2006 Namco released a arcade version of SC3 but at this point the community was dead and people didn't want to pay for a game that they already bought on console.
In 2008 Namco released Soul Calibur 4 on console once again. Now this game was interesting. The game seemed quite good at first. It had some hope of becoming a legitimate competitive fighting game. However, as the game evolved, certain balance issues were discovered. Namco addressed this with a major balance patch which was a breath of fresh air to the community. Unfortunately, because SC4 wasn't widely played on pad in Japan, Namco failed to realize that the character Hilde had some easily exploitable abilities when mapping multiple buttons to do the same command. This was unfortunately never patched and is what eventually made SC4 arguably one of the most unbalanced games in recent history.
For the record, I attempted to convince the Soul Calibur community to ban Hilde from competitive tournaments in an attempt to save the game from its tournament death. Unfortunately, I was met with a unanimously oppositional attitude. Most people responded with...
"You just don’t know how to beat her."
"Stop bitching and learn how to play against her."
Soon after, I quit playing Soul Calibur 4 because it became clear the game was a sinking ship and a waste of my time.
The community died shortly after I left. A few months ago, they finally decided to ban Hilde. Clearly a case of too little, too late.
This brings me to my opinion of the franchise at this point. After the failure of Soul Calibur 3 and 4, I have personally lost faith. I may sound bitter and that's because I am. The Soul Calibur series is very unique and has tons of potential in today's budding fighting game scene, but I would be lying if I said that I have high expectations for the next game in the series. I would love to see Namco produce a high quality product this time around but I definitely won’t be holding my breath.
My soul does not burn. What are you going to do about it Namco?
Reader Comments (30)
Soul Calibur 2 was the last good SC. Bring back Soul Blade.
Namco should just get the guy / team that produced SC2 and have an Arcade release...Daishi is a homo w/ two strikes against him. The only way that SC5 has a chance to be good is if it is released in Arcade first, it's like a huge beta test....why not do that?
I used to like the franchise up to SCII but lets be honest here, this game needs a huge update, and a complete rethink, they are hitting each other with fucking deadly weapons for fucks sakes. Add some severity to the combat, as it stands it's just silly.
sc4 is super serious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U4aToVoYlI
I think if you can be optimistic about Mortal Kombat, then you can be optimistic about Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur IV is a fixable engine to work with.
I think an arcade version is out of the question. However, I think a DLC beta version that you can purchase to help Namco find bugs in the game would be just as good. With small updates to the beta being free and large updates (like character additions) to cost money. Namco could also reward those who find the biggest bugs in thier reports for a very special edition of the full game. Just an idea.
My Soul Still Burns!
"I think if you can be optimistic about Mortal Kombat, then you can be optimistic about Soul Calibur."
Pretty much this.
Personally, I feel like I can be optimistic without being disappointed if it sucks. There's something magical about beating people senseless with bigass swords that the Soulcalibur games evoke in me. I can only hope that the Soulcalibur team gets some pointers from the Tekken team, or at the very least that they learn to tactfully copy-paste from recent successful fighters.
Big swords? the way this game plays they might as well be big dildo's.
OP BY: ZERO
SC sucks now. I came from Soul Calibur but I dunno if I'll ever go back. HIf there is no arcade release, Namco better know we will have no faith immediately and the game will automatically be dismissed. Ever since the game left arcades it has been ass. You wanna make SC5 good this how you do it IMHO.
1.) Go back to SC2 style and work from there. The characters, the mechanics, and the style.
2.) Release the game in arcades and allow the community to play test the game. I remember SC2 going through like 4 or 5 versions in the arcade before we got to console. That's a good thing.
3.) Remove all these BS minigame mods. No one likes the and create a character too, that crap is garbage. If you wanna spend time on something invest it into a REAL story mod.
4.) Make the game balanced.
5.) My personal complaint and want, bring Maxi back to SC2 style. The ability to be creative with him in that game was amazing which is why I loved playing him.
Everything your saying here is so very very true Zero!!! I remember playing SC2 in the arcade before it came out on counsel and there were move added and balancing as well which made it even better. Whe SC3 came out I was a sad kid!! Namco had changed the game so much and I hated it but people kept saying "give it a chance" so I did and the more I played the game the more I hated it.
Why the hell did NAMCO change Nightmare and Sig so much and HALF THEIR MOVES to go along with the story? This was such bullshit to me. Why did Sig have less moves then in SC1? I know everyone is hooked on how glitchy and slow SC4 is and how glitchy and crap SC3 is but truth be told my main problem with the game was the fact that the new games felt less like SC1 and 2. They gave the last two games a sort of combo system like they want to be like Tekken. My friend and I would alway say how SC was the most technical, strategic and in depth fighting of all time untill SC3 and 4 came out.
Do you guy remember all the "little moves" that where in SC before 3 and 4? I DO!! The problem is that NAMCO along with other companies like Capcom pay more attention to the major players of whatever game they make and buildoff of what they see people doing in tournaments. They say let take out this and add that and sometimes they ask these major players to share their point of view and then we end up with games like SC3 and 4. "Where is he going with this", is what your saying right now. Iv seen some of "THE BEST" SC2 players and they are shit. I dont want to come off as pampas but I and many I know would rape these so call SC god as soon as they steped off their clouds. I know many of you know what im tallkng about. want proof. here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjntrRTBOOE
and just for good measure here is another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUOvNRyw8UI&feature=related
In the second Vid Aris vs Dan the Nightmare, Aris Wins 5 to 1 becoming the first SC2 World Cup Champion. Aris tell the truth. Was Dan realy a challange? With the arsenal of moves SC2 had to offer to every character not to mention the fact that we were able to move around while soul charging and all Dan could do was a bunch of slow heavy hitting move ignoring all the very fast knock down quick attacks and the over powered high low game Nightmare has to offer. It hurt to watch.
So then they come out with SC3 and all the fast little moves that counted are gone and there's just a bunch of slow heavy moves making SC a much less strategical game. I know im coming off as a know it all but I played the shit out of this game and the one before it and I played a lot out of SC3 before my heart truly died with SC4. For the record, there were many glitchs in SC2 that people and even with these glitches I had so many option to counter them and the glitches didnt matter. In SC2 Cervantes was so fucking broken.
Many people didnt like SC2 cause it wasnt that different from SC1 and they biched about it. LOL then SC3 came out and they wanted SC2 back. SC2 was a clone of the one before it. All they did was avance off of what they already had. that all they had to do. But the combo of bithching and Shitty players force the creator to try something different to please their fans and that where SC3 and 4 come in.
Eg: Imagine Ryu from Street Fighter with his Hadouken. Now imagine him wth out one in the next game. Ya I know Capcom would never go that far but Namco did. They changed the game and got lost somewhere and it makes me sad to say that SC5 may be the same old shit we say from SC3 and 4. We ca only hope that they read what we are saying.
This next piece was posted by Malice:
"I know people think SC2 is the greatest thing since sliced bread and free hookers, but that game is so boring competitively. SC4 has its issues but it is nowhere near terrible. My suggestion for those who may be interested is to find out for yourself and come to your own conclusion. That's what I do for any fighting game that I play and not to just solely go by the word of people from the net."
Malice! You are right!!! SC2 was boring competitively! And its because most people didnt play the game right! There were to many move for them to remember and they used the same boring moves over and over again! But you know what? The rest of us had a choice to use the other moves and bring an A-Game in mant different ways with the same character. I felt like SC let me choose from many paths and my friend who play the same character was just as good with his own path. When I watch tourneys and see everyone doing the same fucking slash 5 times in a row with no fucking sucsess and then get knocked down to get up and try the same fucking move 5 more times it makes me want to cry. Then I play SC3 and 4 and they took so much from the game I have no choice but to play the way everyone else does. Look at the links I posted which bt the way are ony a very few of many on Youtube and see what im talking about. Look at the way Aris is toying with Dan cause he is using a bounch of moves in different and stategical situations while Dan keeps trying to do the same ol thing over and over and over .............and over and over again. ITS CALLED MIX UPS!!! And guess what? SC used to have the most mixups compared to any other game and now thats gone. If any of you think SC4 had pontential you might of sucked at SC2. Most of the SC4 fans are the one stuck in Nostalgia and im sorry for that. I play Tekken now and I used to be the guy saying to all my friends, " Tekken sucks, Soul Calibur makes way more sense". This was true untill Namco took SC and started putting in combos and released a game with way to many glitches and released an Arcade version of the game when the fan base died down. Im ok at Tekken, just "OK". I cant compare myself to 75% of the players I see on youtube playing Tournaments.
Im sorry my post was so long. This is just rage that has been in me for years. I have so much more points id like to get across. Again, I know im coming off as pampas but im one of those guys that rocked the shit out of SC and YA I was more then "ok" at this game. Let see where Namco takes this new game. I want you all to go play SC1 to SC4 and be real true to yourselves about what you "feel" made these games so great and where it started to go wrong cause I realy dont think Namco is going to do that. I hope that they read what we all have to say and take it to heart so that the sunken ship can be salvaged, cause I dont know about you guys but I cant hold my breath any longer.
I hear you, LostMySoul. I put in so many hours into SC2, then SC3 came out and it sucked.
I played the series since Soul Blade, I love Siegfried on first sight; but I didn't start playing seriously till SC2 when the community grows big and we need to improve to keep winning...
SC2 was the most played SC ever, even without online gaming; the key was the arcade release (everybody went to arcade in that time) and the really incredible port on PS2 (and the fact that the game came out in every system); the game was just an extension on SC... added some extra modes, improved step system and extended command list. Everybody that love SC loves SC2 even more.
SC3 was an extension from SC2 also, but they didn't release in arcade... so never fixed the balancing issues... they never took game testers from the community to test the game, and the game came out with the biggest bugs in fighting game story... they want to make a new game more than an upgrade, so they took away all the good things and start adding some stupid stuff as "stores" and "character creation"; but if you take away all the bugs and shitty game modes the game is very good and fun to play... as a casual game... but anyway I play in every tournament organized in my country.
They launch different versions, one for Europe, one for USA and one for Japan/Asia... the best was the last, lesser bugs and improved balance, is a shame that USA didn't have a japan version available.
SC4 added critical finish, that most people don't like... take away all the good modes, and used new boring modes that nobody cares to play... but online was a major add even with all the lag issues, people keep playing SC4 online and is community that grows more and more. SC4 add to the roster the most broken character of any fighting game of history of fighting games: Hilde. This character didn't kill the mood to play SC because most people didn't care cause is to hard to play her online and more with a stick...
It was really disappointing to watch the curse of this game... I hope that Namco take Capcom as model and start doing a SC2:HD Online as Capcom did with SF3:3S and MvC2. Even Tekken team is releasing Tekken Tag 2 in HD plus online mode to please all the old school players...
Edd Boon took MK to its roots, just add better graphics, online mode and a lot of game testing and voila! a game that is worthy of play casual and pro. I just hope this time Soul Project forget about what players want and start thinking what is the right thing to do... back to Soul Edge? I think is a good way to re start things again.