Who's picking up Soulcalibur IV on Tuesday?

[koda]

Man, I've always been a big SC fan... but my excitement for this game is pretty much through the roof. It's strange, but for some reason I'm more pumped up for this than I have been for anything in... years, probably. I guess the timing is just right.

Is anyone else going to be picking this up? It'll probably a take me a good length of time until I get decent at it, but I plan on rocking this one pretty hard... it'd be cool to have some peeps to play with.

I'm tossing around the idea of getting another custom stick made.

[Bruhaha69]

I can't decide yet. I loved Soul Edge, Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II, and then Soul Calibur III kinda took it down a notch for me. I still might get IV, I just can't make up my mind.

[koda]

I believe 1up claimed that it is the best fighting game Namco has made. :wtf:

[Bruhaha69]

I think they really liked III, too, so I won't hold that review in high regard. I'll most likely be getting it. Let's just hope there's no bug that will jack up our 360 HDD's

[Conjoshus]

A bug that jacks up the 360 HDD???

[Bruhaha69]

In Soul Calibur III there was a bug from the mission mode that could effectively corrupt all of your memory card saves from the date you created SCIII's file onward. Even trying to copy saves to another card would not always work. Somebody here actually brought it to my attention. I'm hoping they QA save files this time so we don't need to worry about that kind of shit again.

[Advocate]

Most stores sold the game early ...

(glares at Target, KMart, and Wal Mart).

[DarthArcturus]

I wasn't planning on it. Huge fan of SC I and II but III never looked interesting and the fact they added so many non related sc characters it kinda made me lose interest.

[Advocate]

I might buy SC4 ... and I don't have a system to play it on. Its going to be auwesome!

[Luminous]

Fighting games are way too low on my gaming interests and have been for the last bunch of years, but I really liked SC 1 & II and this one does have Yoda and the Apprentice in it. Still no way am I paying $60 for a fighting game. Maybe when it is cheaper.

[ngt]

Maybe when it is cheaper.

That's what I'm thinking. I want it, but don't need it right now.

[Hunter]

Not gonna get it. Want it for Yoda and Vader. But that's not enough.

[koda]

Tough crowd. :p

Oh well.

[Advocate]

don't give up ...

You may be defeated .... BUT THE SOUL STILL BURNS!

[Conjoshus]

Playing it right now.. don't know what the hell is going on in Story mode... still cleared it with Nightmare...

For some reason, it seems they made him slower and his moves are REALLY strange from what I'm used to... Ah well, I'll get used to it.

[koda]

What are the 'vs.' modes like? Is there some sort of ranked/unranked filter?

Are the special abilities on by default in those modes most of the time? I really don't like the idea of them being active in online play, especially if there's some sort of tracking/ranking going on. Hopefully they'd be disabled by default.

[Bruhaha69]

What version did you get? If the LE, are the extra's worth it?

[Conjoshus]

@ Koda: I can't fight online as no one has it (comes out tomorrow). So I don't know how the lag is.

Yes... the special abilities seem to be on by default in most of these modes... for online play though, you can select a mode either with, or without the special stuff... (leveled up characters, etc). Granted I've only played Story mode and Arcade mode now...

I got the regular version...

And sidenote: the Apprentice is a whore. He can do force grabs, shoot lightniing, do ground waves, and energy bubbles... and juggles the hell out of you when you can't block it...

[koda]

Thanks for the info.

It seems that you can maneuver midair to help yourself escape juggles, but maybe it doesn't make a huge difference. :p

[Conjoshus]

Not against the Apprentice... he does energy bubbles that explode all over the place.

Yoda... is weird... his "standing" attacks has him jumping all over the place... I think it's to help balance him out. But Astaroth couldn't hit me at all... I see people going to Yoda instantly when I pick Astaroth from now on :(

[shinjirod]

ill get it. probably not tomorrow, but this week or next.

[Bruhaha69]

How's the cheesiness factor? One of my gripes with SCIII was that they seemed to take a Team Ninja approach and make the AI more ruthless and cheesy like in Ultimate DOA - DOA4. Are we talking Soul Edge - Soul Calibur II AI or is it the cheesy AI straight out of a Team Ninja game?

[Conjoshus]

Well.. when I was playing as Ivy vs The Apprentice in Arcade mode, it was Team Ninja BS (he'd pin her down and keep doing juggles that would destroy me without allowing me to do anything)... But when I was playing as Nightmare and Yoda... it was like SCII.

Yoda = ultimate cheapness... let me put it this way... when I got to Algol (the last boss in Arcade mode) with Yoda, I handed the controller to my wife... she beat him the first try.

As far as I can tell, you can't select a difficulty for Arcade mode... but you can for Story mode... it's difficulties are Normal, Hard, and something else...

[koda]

Yoda... is weird... his "standing" attacks has him jumping all over the place... I think it's to help balance him out. But Astaroth couldn't hit me at all... I see people going to Yoda instantly when I pick Astaroth from now on :(
Bleh. Well, CPU Astaroth is one thing... but he's always been a beastmaster, so I'm hoping that he'll still be capable of punting that little fucker. :p His style has always been to keep the faster characters at a distance or on the ground. I'll be upset if Yoda really is that imbalanced.

I'm still a bit bitter about them having Star Wars characters in the first place.


ill get it. probably not tomorrow, but this week or next.
Added you. =)

[Conjoshus]

Yes... Yoda really seems that unbalanced... most attacks sail over his head... for example.. if you're doing Nightmare's dashing kick combo, Yoda can block the first hit, the others sail over his head leaving you wide open to anything.

I think Namco and Lucas Arts should have just teamed up to make a Star Wars fighting game and leave Soul Calibur to itself.

I've already unlocked all but two characters....

EDIT: the oddest thing for me was the Story mode having the odd-ball battles (one against three, two against two, etc). I guess I'm just not quite used to it yet... I never played SoulCalibur 3 but I played all the other games... I haven't tried the Tower of Souls mode yet (which is where I expected that type of odd-ball stuff), but I'll give it a shot tomorrow :)

[Newport420]

Well I played this over the weekend ona P$3 at Cystics place. So I gots to try out Vader and the rest of the default unlocked characters. I liked the game overall but not sure how I feel about the Star Wars characters balance considering they have force powers. The game looked beautiful and played quite good and felt like SCII to me. I will be picking this up today if BB has it.

I didn't see the LE version of the game even listed on the EB web site... just an LE strategy guide. What gives? Does this game have an LE or not?

[koda]

Yeah, there's an LE... I don't know how most stores are handling it, but my store sold out of the preorders for it several days ago.

[Newport420]

Just got back from Best Buy after lunch. They never did mention they were getting LEs in house and even two weeks ago they had no sku in the system. However there were a good 10 copies or so of the LE just sitting out in the normal display area.

I picked up the LE and a couple 4.99 DVD's for good measure. :) I can't wait to whoop up with yoda and the rest of the SC crew later tonight! ;)

[Conjoshus]

Overall, it's a good game. I just have to completely re-learn almost every character in the roster (other than Kilik, Cervantes, and Sigfried... everyone else seems changed too much, keep in mind I never played 3).

I HATE the Tower of Souls mode. The early previews I read compared it to MK Deception's Konquest mode. Uhhhhh... not...even....close. So I was expecting it to be all kinds of fantastic, and then I realize I should never believe any preview publication that compares anything to a MK title.

MK Deception's Konquest mode was a 3d adventure game where fight and training scenes were in the MK fighting engine. The Tower of Souls mode is a piece of shit where you have to clear a couple "floors" of the tower of enemies between each save point. By "floors" they mean fights. You may select two characters at times, but each "floor" may have 3-4 opponents and each checkpoint may have 2-3 floors. Oh, and you don't get any health between fights and that lifebar is all you get until you reach a checkpoint. You can also earn tresure chests by doing lame things like, "perform the soul crush on floor 14!" or "win with a ring out on floor 9!" What are in these treasure chests you ask? Pants... shirts... etc. for your custom fighter. It is a total waste of menu space.

Anyway.. Koda and I are gonna fire up some online vs sometime this week... will let everyone know how the lag is then.

[Advocate]

Here's the Tower of Lost Souls Armor, straight from the guide:

1f soldier's hat , clear stage while taking no damage
2f warrior trousers clear stage with no ring outs from either side
3f pauldron, switch with ally more than 2 times
4f warlord's belt perform 3 attack throws
5f clergy clothes defeated an enemy with a ring out
6f wonder jacket, threw an opponent
7f warrior trousers, cleared the stage without missing any attacks
8f armor ring: ice mirror, switch characters twice
9f scarlett blossoms gaurded the opponent's attack 3 times in a row
10f silver boots gaurded the opponent's attack 10 times in a row
11f grim horn , defeated all enemies with a critical finish
12f magus cloth defeated all enemies with ring out
13f pegasus sallet, destroy all the walls
14f stage: phantom pavilion- seesaw , performed gaurd impact more than 3 times
15f submissions belt, clear the stage using only the A and G buttons
16f Warlord's belt, clear the stage with 0 time remaining
17f Arm Bandages, execute a 5+ combo
18f Kouchu Kabuto, Stood on all corners of the stage
19f Longhua qippo, switch with ally more than 5 times
20f Life gem:sun, Cleared the stage with a critical finish
21f Longhua Qippo, Voluntarily performed a ring out
22f Honor boots, perform more than 4 counter hits
23F Frilled skirt, Guard more than 3 times in a row
24f Protect Gem:Cardinal directions, Perform a combo with more than 240 damage
25f Zhuque Changpao, Threw more than 5 times
26f Warthog Cuirass, Executed a 10+ combo
27f Iron Gauntlets, Cleared the stage with no damage taken
28F Aculeus Suit, Opponent guarded a guard break attack at least twice
29f Menghu Boots, Switch with ally 5+ times
30f Spirit Gem: Noniple Heads, Clear stage without guarding
31f Longming Qippo, perform 5+ Just Inputs
32f Vane Mask, perform a low throw
33f Battle dress, perform 3 attack throws
34f Power Gem: warrior Princess, perform guard impact 3+ times
35f Warthog Pauldrons, clear without switching
36f Parlor Blouse, clear stage with 0 time remaining
37f Siren's helm, Defeat all enemies with critical finishes
38f Gorgon Fauld, Defeat all enemies with ring out
39f Kingfisher Greaves, Clear the stage without changing position
40f Deer Head, execute a 5+ combo
41f Minotaur, perform 5+ Just Inputs
42f Demonic Gloves, clear the stage without letting opponents invoke a skill
43f Repel Gem: Iron Shell, perform an over the back throw
44f War Cloak, No ring outs either side
45f Tiger Lily Kabuto, Defeat enemies without using any skills
46f Butterfly salet, Same as above
47f Succubus Boots, Throw 5 times
48f Life Dem:Jade, Clear stage with a character equipped with the "invisible" skill
49f Horns of Calamity, clear stage with no attacks missing
50f Tiger Lily Breastplates, execute a 10+combo
51f Tiger Lily Fauld, perform more than 4 counterhits
52f Feathered Wings, clear stage with a critical finish
53f Blade Ring: Demon Lord, defeat all enemies with a ring out
54f Leviathan Paoldron, destroy all the walls
55f Priestess Kimono, perform 3 attack throws
56f Leviathan Burgonet, perform a combo with more than 240 damage
57f Voodoo Armlets, Voluntarily perform a ring out
58f Tiger Pauldrons, Defeat all enemies without any skills equipped
59f Voodoo Greaves, Guard an enemies attack 10 times in a row
60f Voodoo Breastplate, clear the stage without switching characters


Now Descending The Tower

B5 Dark Knight's Cloak
B10 Blade Ring: Raging Thunder
B15 Lapin Chapeau
B20 Repel Gem:Fox Demon
B25 Succubus Guantlets
B30 Demonic Armor
B35 Demonic Pauldrons
B40 Voodoo Crown

Credit goes to Topcat269 from GameFAQs.

about the Tower of Souls.

[Bruhaha69]

Played at my cousin's friend's house today. Like Conjoshus said, it seems they changed characters a lot. Many moves and combo's I once knew from SC - SCIII are now changed or gone. Weird. It also seems much more user friendly, meaning any old person can pick up and button mash to victory. I used to think of the game as more of the VF of weapons based games but it now seems to be the Tekken weapon game instead. Not overly impressed.

Graphics look sweet, though. Nice backgrounds and character models.

[MAD.MANTIS]

Too many games, too little time. :(

[Conjoshus]

Too many games

Nonsense! Crazy talk! Well.. I can see that. Only one game a month for me at the moment :(

@Bru:

Agreed. Though I look forward to playing more to see if my opinion changes or not...

[koda]

I don't know. To me, Soulcalibur games have always been masher-friendly... even on SC1 and SC2, someone could pick up the controller and push a lot of buttons and win. That doesn't mean they can win against someone who's good and knows how to play the characters, though-- as evidenced by the ranked mode online. If you hop on there and get all mashy on a high-level player you're going to get danced-around and destroyed. So-- that's good enough for me, and certainly enough incentive to practice the game as far as I'm concerned.

I like it, I've been having a lot of fun. =)

[The Bastard]

The LE isn't really worth it. The T-shirt feels cheap, the "artbook" is okay at best, the tournament bracket/poster feels durable and the LE exclusive custom stuff is good if you want people dressed up in a suit.

The game looks good at 720p (PS3 version). The story mode is very short (5 stages LOL!!!) The Apprentice and Algol are quite the pain in arcade mode. Darth Vader is cool, but clearly not as insanely chessy and badass as Yoda. Haven't played too much of it, but yeah most characters have been changed up a lot from previous games. Not as masher friendly as 2 or 3.

[Bruhaha69]

Weird that you say that (not as masher friendly). You've obviously played it more than I have (only played like 5 matches today) but my first impression was that it was way more masher friendly. I probably just need more time to play it. With all the changes, I felt like I'd never played the series before. Thanks for the LE info, too.

[Newport420]

I think some characters are more masher friendly than others is all. I have been playing through and completing the absurdly short story mode with every character. Some I find I can button mash with easily others I can't seem to do shit with unless I read up on their moves. Granted when you know a fighting game system... like street fighter and quarter circles or MK games and simply tapping a couple times in any direction with a button press and you should be able to pull off some moves for every character.

I also finally figured out that both versions will have both SW characters. Only P$3 users will have to DL Yoda and 360 users will have to DL Vader. So in the end everyone can be happy. I have yet to play online but this seems a very solid game. I do think the original DC Soul Calibur is the best. Partially for being the best game... but also for being the best game and being released when it was. Simply amazing. :)

[The Bastard]

The only reason I say it's not as masher friendly is because from what I can tell (Maybe it's an illusion and I'm just looking at them darn bouncing pixel breasts way too often), attacks aren't tracking that well and the game feels kinda slow in comparison to DC Soul Calibur 1 (It could just be LOL Sony). Sidestepping seems to work good. Also a lot of big damage attacks seem to have a ever so slightly increased start up time (Parrying is scrub killer). I'm wrecking little kids who like to smash and mash my Tekken Anniversary Joysticks so I think this all can be at least somewhat accurate. It's not a competition fighting game like ST or VF, but this isn't quite as horrible as I thought it would be. In the end, there are way too many staff and hammer like characters and it's really lame.

P. S: If you didn't get to play Soul Calibur with a VGA box, you missed out on a graphic explosion. It was fucking crazy for 1999.

[Bruhaha69]

Yeah, it definitely felt slower. In fact, I went and played DC Soul Calibur right after and was shocked at how much quicker it seemed than IV.

Also, I can't play fighting games with the 360 control.....that's one thing SCIV has made me 100% certain about.

[Newport420]

P. S: If you didn't get to play Soul Calibur with a VGA box, you missed out on a graphic explosion. It was fucking crazy for 1999.

I agree with this 100%. Soul Calibur on the DC was one of the best launch titles ever in the history of consoles. I mean that game looked good years later. I used to get hypnotized watching the characters perform their move sets solo style. :drool:

[Advocate]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2008/20080730.jpg

[bahn]

I don't know. To me, Soulcalibur games have always been masher-friendly... even on SC1 and SC2, someone could pick up the controller and push a lot of buttons and win. That doesn't mean they can win against someone who's good and knows how to play the characters, though-- as evidenced by the ranked mode online. If you hop on there and get all mashy on a high-level player you're going to get danced-around and destroyed. So-- that's good enough for me, and certainly enough incentive to practice the game as far as I'm concerned.

I like it, I've been having a lot of fun. =)

I'd have to agree with you, but this is nothing new for 3D fighters overall. The VF series is actually one of the few franchises in the genre that can't be easily written off as a button masher.

Like you said though, a very skilled player can pretty much still run circles around any random button mashers. (No sorry that isn't me -- I haven't played Soul Calibur seriously in years). I wish that I was still good -- it's going to take me some time to get back to my previous skill level.

Have you defeated The Apprentice yet? Yesterday I kept losing and Donald Trump called to tell me I am fired. :\ :lol:
____________
[post updated]

The LE isn't really worth it. The T-shirt feels cheap, the "artbook" is okay at best, the tournament bracket/poster feels durable and the LE exclusive custom stuff is good if you want people dressed up in a suit.

The game looks good at 720p (PS3 version). The story mode is very short (5 stages LOL!!!) The Apprentice and Algol are quite the pain in arcade mode. Darth Vader is cool, but clearly not as insanely chessy and badass as Yoda. Haven't played too much of it, but yeah most characters have been changed up a lot from previous games. Not as masher friendly as 2 or 3.

Yeah... I definitely felt ripped off when I got the LE. Thankfully I don't purchase a ton of games, but I can say for a fact the previous versions were a lot more enjoyable to me. Oh, and the game rocks on the 360 as well (especially if you have an HDTV of course).

[oneironama]

I agree with this 100%. Soul Calibur on the DC was one of the best launch titles ever in the history of consoles. Maybe the best ever. It literally hypnotized my friends and had them all wanting dreamcasts!

But SC4 doesn't interest me at all outside of create a soul. i like cheese in some things but not here.

[Conjoshus]

Well.. in my opinion... both Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur 2 are pretty even as the best

[Bruhaha69]

My top two are Soul Blade/Edge and Soul Calibur