54 replies to this topic

[viperxmns]

In the review they do note the single player battle system in 4 is better than 3's, at least..

also, I just read this news, dunno if anyone heard this, Vader and Yoda may become available for both consoles - http://www.gamepro.c...ticle_id=206157

[Zero-Shift]

Okay, I've had some time to sit down and ply this game for a while and I think I can give a fairly competent early impression of the game. Of course, things can change, but for the time being, here are my thoughts. It's kind of abbreviated since I don't feel like writing a full review. I'm not even going to comment on things like audio, visuals and general presentation. That stuff has always been top notch in the Soul series. I'll just say the English voice acting is terrible.

Okay, on to the most important part, gameplay. In game design there were three things in particular I was trying to be mindful of because they were the three things that made Soul Calibur 3 so terrible in my mind:

-Numerous crappy game modes I didn't enjoy playing and a complete lack of rudimentary Arcade mode
-Horrible AI
-Terrible character balance

SC4 really goes back to basics in single player to an extreme degree. If SC3 had too many modes, SC4 almost has too few. There is Story, Arcade, Tower of Lost Souls, and Practice. Arcade is self explanatory and Tower plays a lot like SC2's Weapon Master mode, a mode I really liked. Story got revamped quite a bit. There's no more of those stupid quick-time events or the pointless branching paths. It's just and introduction, five matches, and a conclusion. I'm glad they pulled back a bit on the solo modes because I hated most of the modes in SC3. Chronicles of the Sword sucked as did most of the modes in Soul Arena, but I do miss some of the simpler modes like Time Attack and Survival.

Create a character is back and while I haven't played around with it too much, it seems to be largely the same from SC3 with a few improvements here and there. For example, you now have some control over body proportion and voice pitch. However, the original styles have been removed. All custom characters are based a the moveset of a preexisting character. Speaking of which, you can customize the main cast to a certain extent as well. One thing that miffed me though was the decision to incorporate the shop into the customization menus. I liked it better when you could just pop into the shop and go on an accessory binge. Now you need to navigate some menus first.

There is a Museum mode but it's been grossly scaled down. All we get are some character illustrations and hi-rez art. No concept art, hardly any promotional art or random character illustrations and exhibition theater is no where to be seen.

Now, multiplayer. This game's online is the most bare-boned online mode I have ever seen in a fighter. You start by picking whether to fight with standard or custom characters and then choose whether to be ranked or not. After that you can click how to get into a match, which boils down like this.

-Quick Match: Cross your fingers and hope to get in an open room. If you don't, keep trying until you do.
-Custom Search: Set three fight parameters then do exactly as above.
-Create a Match: Host a room with your own parameters then wait for an undetermined amount of time until people join.

It's so minimal it's not even funny. However, it is online. Fighters live by multiplayer so online does go a long way. Also, to it's credit, it runs smooth enough. The only times I've had lag or delay issues was on the rare occasions I fought a person with a poor connection.

Other than the dumb as dirt opponents in story mode, the AI seems good. Difficulty is progressive in arcade and there is some challenging fights to be had in the tower. You get satisfying fights out of the computer, not like the craptastic AI in SC3 which would punish you for trying to be inventive, but kept falling for the same cheap tactics over and over again.

We won't know truly how balanced the game is until after it's been played a while, but so far it seems fair. Some characters still feel like they're at a noticeable disadvantage to the rest of the cast, but it doesn't feel as bad as SC3. So long as nobody discovers any game-breaking glitches like variable cancel, balance will likely be satisfactory. Besides, maybe Namco could release patches if there are balance issues.

Now to wrap up the odds and ends. I haven't touched the force users so I don't know how they play. I can only tell you they never seem to appear outside of multiplayer and they aren't tied into the story, period. I was only half right about the manga characters. They are clones as far as moves go, but they have their own unique back stories, endings, and battle quotes. Ashlotte is by far the best in my opinion. Her story is the best and model is awesome in so many ways. On the other hand, Angol Fear looks terrible, like she's made out of plastic or something. Her story sucks too. As for the genuinely new characters, they're awesome. Hilde plays unlike anything I've seen before in SC and Algol is such a badass final boss. He attacks with weapons inside his body that only flick out for the moment he's attacking.

Finally, there is the new game features in the soul crush and critical finish. Honestly, after the dozens of matches I've played and seen so far these almost never come into play. To critical finish you need to soul crush the opponent and to soul crush them you need to wail on them if they guard too much. As long as somebody takes the initiative, they don't need to worry about soul crush since the amount of damage you need to block is tremendous. I like it this way though. I'd hate to see these finishes being abused to the point of them ruining gameplay, not to mention I'd get sick of seeing them over and over again. I rather like them as rarity/way to devastate hopeless turtle players.

On the whole, I still think SC2 is the best Soul Calibur, but SC4 is at least on par with SC1, my second favorite in the series. The combat feels more stable and intuitive than in SC3, but it seems to bank on it's online somewhat to the detriment of other modes an features. At the end of the day, SC4 is a very solid installment in the Soul series that although devoid of some sorely missed bells and whistles, still offers extremely intuitive and entertaining combat that's now online. It may not go above and beyond like SC2, but it at least makes up for the travesty that was SC3.

If anyone has a question about something specific, feel free to ask. Also, if you want to see all of the critical finishes, here's the link.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/244245.html

[DiGi Valentine]

Good review, Zero. Glad to hear that the force characters don't mess up the game too much (that was my main worry).

However, it does piss me off that the art gallery is always so minimal now. Back in Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast it had a huge art gallery. I would spend ages getting enough money to buy pieces of art and that in turn unlocked new features. I think that was a great idea. I wish they would have used it for this game. Oh well, i guess they probably want to save all their art for rare-ass artbooks that they're gonna probably sell sometime in the future and make sh!t loads of money from it.

If you get more time with character creation, can you tell us roughly what the variety of clothing there is in the game? I've been sitting on YouTube checking out character creation but all the custom created characters are boring and bland. Nobody wants to give their characters an bright and vibrant colours schemes. If i had the game i would go nuts with the options for characters. I'm a sucker for good character customization and as unbalanced as SC3 really was i actually enjoyed the character creation feature a whole lot. It's the closest thing i'll ever get to playing an iMAGNi fighting game, lol. XD

Also, i'm glad to hear the Manga characters have their own stories. That makes up for their movesets being copied i suppose.

Anyways, as i said. Good review and thanks for providing it to us.

[Saifer Dracondrali]

Good review, Zero. Glad to hear that the force characters don't mess up the game too much (that was my main worry).

See? wha'd I tell ya?
So in the Long run SC 4 pulls out fine, I agree from the sound of things Zero-shift said the features seem skimped out abit... maybe more art and other things will be released as downloads?
although I doubt it...

It's the closest thing i'll ever get to playing an iMAGNi fighting game, lol. XD

Ever hear of Mugen? lol
I don't recommend it... but ppl make their own characters for that game and ppl who know how to make them overpower them tremendously... I've seen Ronald, DBZ characters (of course ) Peter Griffin, heck I've seen Tom Hanks... obviously some of these characters are vastly overpowered...
ANYHOO! back to subject...
I like the character designs quite creative, imo. How does this game's difficulty spike work with newbies? (me)

[Zero-Shift]

How does this game's difficulty spike work with newbies? (me)

You'll be fine as long as you initially avoid the Tower mode. Story mode is damn easy and arcade has a nice difficulty progression. You can scrape by with a few good moves an/or button mashing, but the sooner you start to learn a character the sooner you start to see results. Just avoid Yoshimitsu and Ivy at first because they are really complicated characters.

Something I feel I should mention is Namco is planning to release downloadable content in the future. I don't know how far they plan to take it, but they've already announced they're going to release a pack that has some SC2 costumes as well as more custom parts.

[DiGi Valentine]

More custom parts sounds like something i wanna hear.

[viperxmns]

Video of some things people have done with the slightly better character creator: http://www.wegame.co...racter_Creator/

[Zero-Shift]

Okay, I've had more time to unlock stuff and play around more with character creation. It's largely the same as in SC3 in most ways. The format is the same as well as the general clothing variety. You've got your light clothing, heavy armor, nutty accessories and so forth. However, the the hardware improvements have resulted in better customizations. The parts generally look better than before and fit together very nicely. There's none of that obnoxious clipping from before. There are more colors to choose and you can control your character's physique as well as their voice pitch. I won't be spending much time in it, but I will say it's satisfactory.

At the very least DiGi, you'll be pleased.

[DiGi Valentine]

Waaaahaha! VAL! XD Thanks Zero man! That's pretty damn funky! Do they still have the capes/cloaks in the character creation? I think i saw one but i'm wondering if there is still a variety of capes to choose from like the last game?

Yeah, i've watched a few video's on YouTube and seen some pretty awesome character creations going on out there.

[Zero-Shift]

Do they still have the capes/cloaks in the character creation?

There are a few, however they either have hoods or they clip onto the shoulders. So far I haven't seen any capes with a high collar like the scarf Val is wearing in the picture.

[Roam]

Figure I should throw my hat in the ring. I had a bit of time with Yoda and Vader's apprentice, having the 360 version. Besides the fact grabbing Yoda is a pain, the Apprentice can be a bit cheap, with one glaring flaw. He has VERY crappy Low attacks. The AI in Arcade mode almost never uses them, it sticks to Mid and High attacks. He has some decent moves. Most of them are ranged attacks, and are fairly easy to avoid.

Basically, The Apprentice makes a decent newbie killer. He'll school you if you're new to the game. (god knows how many times he screwed me up.), but if you know what the AI will do, and understand him, he's a pushover.

Yoda isn't THAT bad, all things considered. Besides the fact he has a bit of an advantage with his height. His running speed isn't exactly greased lightning, but he can bounce around in the air via the force. The other day online, I saw someone use a certain combo that kept Yoda up in the air, kicking repeatedly. I counted about 7 times or so before he had to stop. Besides that, Yoda doesn't seem that difficult to beat. Extremely hard to master, though. Hating Star Wars characters or no, seeing Yoda do a Gremlin Curb Stomp to someone in one of his throws is downright funny.

The good news is, like Zero said, they only appear in Arcade mode. I never see Yoda, just The Apprentice, usually around Stage 7.

Also, Zero, you and me need to go a few rounds. I'm getting decent with Cervantes and Nightmare.

[Snugs]

Ever hear of Mugen? lol
I don't recommend it... but ppl make their own characters for that game and ppl who know how to make them overpower them tremendously... I've seen Ronald, DBZ characters (of course ) Peter Griffin, heck I've seen Tom Hanks... obviously some of these characters are vastly overpowered...
ANYHOO! back to subject...
I like the character designs quite creative, imo. How does this game's difficulty spike work with newbies? (me)

Most of the characters are really buggy though, some of the characters have a ridiculous AI with unblockable sets and stuff, and some and some characters have drop dead easy infinites.

I doubt that I'm ever going to get into this game, or just about any other 3D fighter, since I find 2D much funner, but if I ever do, I'm going to wait a few months so I can see a general idea of who got buffed and who got nerfed.

[Saifer Dracondrali]

Just picked up this game and played it for awhile and I am satisfied that this is a pretty good game
I've unlocked most (if not all) the characters, not that hard to do..., and I'm working on the tower

some of the characters have a ridiculous AI with unblockable sets and stuff

I just found out what you mean... gol dang it that woman was a pain in the arse...
I rather enjoy the character customization option it's very detailed compared to... well all games I've played... I'm getting better at playing this game (though I'm defiantly not an expert) and I will probably buy it in the near future... but for the ps3 as I hate to pay monthly for 360...

[Zero-Shift]

I hate to pay monthly for 360...

You do know you can pay for months in chunks at severely reduced prices right? You can buy a year of the Gold subscription for only 50 dollars. That's almost half as much if you were to pay monthly.

Just out of curiosity, who's your primary character as of now?

[Saifer Dracondrali]

You do know you can pay for months in chunks at severely reduced prices right? You can buy a year of the Gold subscription for only 50 dollars. That's almost half as much if you were to pay monthly.

Yes, But the key word is pay where's I can get online gameplay of (arguably and in my exp) equal quality for free... but enough of that...

Just out of curiosity, who's your primary character as of now?

I have mostly been using a custom character based on Raphael due to his fast attacks and fairly good reach, I have also used a custom Nightmare a few times due to his sheer strength but not often as he is too slow for my tastes and easily countered. I have recently started using a custom Talim who I am starting to use more than Raphael I customized her fast attacks so she would have some extra punch and I can string together a series of attacks without giving the opponent the chance to respond.
I still have yet to play as all the characters heck I haven't even tried a quarter of the roster yet...

I also need to grasp the concept of some of the game terms...
so still a newb