Dec 11, 2018

Why is Soul Calibur doomed?

As much as I enjoy the Soul Calibur series, not in a hardcore competitive manner, but on a casual 16th Century Fighter (even before the Create a Soul was implemented) I could say that I spent nearly a thousand hours on Soul Edge, Soul Calibur 1 and 2. I didn't play too much of 3 due to the Memory Card corruption (and it was a borrowed game.) But I managed to make an army of KOS-MOSes before the fike corruption hit me.

I skipped SCIV, but got V. The game had lost me with all the new characters and I basically used it for the Create a Soul and I kinda gave up on it BECAUSE I HAVE TO SPEND NEARLY $50 bucks to get MOST of the Create a Soul Parts...


With VI, things feel REALLY REHASHED seeing that was a retelling of the first two Soulcalibur games with tweaks lile characters from Soul Calibur 3 & Beyond appearing in the game. Then add a reduced roster a sloppily added story mode with pure text and if you're lucky seeing the same images again and again.

Then we have the Create a Soul... in some areas an improvement, others a horrible failure.
And let's face it: The Past AND FUTURE of the Soul Calibur series lies in the Create a Soul.

Hardcore competitive players thinking only of EVO and other competitions think I've gone mad.
Not really: Think about it... REALLY think about it.
If Create a Soul were to EVOLVE beyond its current state, the game could stay relevant and FRESH for years.
Adding New weapons and disciplines attached to them (and new special create parts) we could theoretically turn a mediocre Roster into the Ultimate Soul Calibur experience.
For example a Chinese Sword Discipline that takes moves from both Xianghua and Mitsurugi... congratulations! You have Soul of Hwang (who can theoretically use both Xianghua and Mitsurugi weapons as well as some new swords) or combining moves from Nightmare, Siegfried and Astaroth in order to have a Mace wielding man who wants his Bangoo!

Or taking Ivy's swordwhip and borrowing most of the whip moves (minus the Dominatrix looking moves) and using some new techniques, we could have an alternative Discipline to the Swordwhip, or make it a full whip.
Same thing can be done to her sword moves and birrow from Raphael.

You can go many ways with this. Bringing lost forgotten styles like Giradot and his lance style, or bring new life to some styles... not to mention open up weapon options, which can help the competitive scene.
The Create parts are for the ones that want "the Soul of Rock" looking like Rock... or to have Uganda Knuckles beating everyone with a spear using a Kilik/Seong Mina hybrid. And yes, everyone here knows I'm all about MOTU and POP in Soul Calibur... as shown on this pic taken by a potato:
Yes, it's a Soulcaliburized Spinnerella and Netossa.

But if each passing Soul Calibur game feels like a lesser version of the previous game, then Soul Calibur VI is the Final Whimper of the series. I understand that budget was a constraint. But the series doesn't deserve this fate.
Bandai Namco needs to not pull any punches and go for broke if they want to make VII the Ultimate Soul Calibur experience. (Even if many characters are relegated to movesets and Created Souls parts.)

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