Soul Caliber V [Review]

[Empire]

Alright not much to do here so:


Good:
Best looking fighting game to date.
Best customization in a game. Any game, ever.
Simpler to play than the others.

Meh:

Some characters got mixed into one.
New characters with even more annoying names.
Simpler move sets really cut down on some characters usefullness. Siegfried has like 10 attacks.

Bad:
Ai is "input based" so, yeah, you are outright FUCKED against higher levels. Forget the just guard of SCIV. You cannot win if you don't fake the damn controls that can't be seen by normal people.
Ai also does the "level boost" a level1 AI about to die, will rise 2 levels.(3). A ai down 2 to 0, will rise 3 levels.
Ai is a knockdown/juggle whore. 75% of the damage you take, will be on the ground/air. Since SC has by default a bad get-up system, its not surprising, but it is shameful that team soul went this way.

Knockouts no longer an option. If you played SC3/4, its as if everyone by default has knockout reduction A. Unless you grapple you are just pure luck on knockouts.

Main character is a pussy, has the worse weapons(setsuka), and dear god does he suck. Just to PROVE it he has the least viable "to play as" in the game. AND YOU MADE HIM THE MAIN CHARACTER?

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Things that annoy the hell outa me:

Comeback system. I cannot tell you how many times i just "miss" the last hit on an enemy i swear this game is made for choking. Online i can make a comeback 90% of the time down 2 out of 3 win.

[Empire]

Thought i could edit but guess not here is more stuff i like/dislike.

Good: Customization. I said before its the best ever. Well.....its just amazing. I have 3 pretty damn close anime characters right now, 4 just fucking awesome characters, and 2 characters i made just to fuck with people. Its INSANE how no other game has this. Its actually kind embarrasing from an RPG standpoint how a fighting game beats them so badly. I mean dear god NO ONE has this? Its so fucking GORGEOUS. GOD.

Bad: God do i miss my move sets. I wasn't even aware of how many moves i was missing till i played online. I have like 10 moves per character. FUCK. It just feels so limited when i face another person. Its like mortal kombat really. Cept with 8 way run.

Good: Well....... i can pick up and win with almost any character. Training is like 5mins max. I'm serious, you can learn all the combo's in like 5 minutes and be done.

Bad: The story.....is so stupid. I'm missing a lot of characters that have no reason to not be there. I mean Xinghua isn't there, for what reason? Kilik isn't even a playable character really, he's just a "random weapon" character, why? Why does he not have a face? Who the fuck is edgemaster. What the hell is with the brother sister bs in story. I mean wtf. More to the point, why can the angel use here special(which is 2nd highest after nightmares charge), on people on the ground (its instant), does a little under half your hp. Its pretty much a garaunteed hit 2, since you can't block on the ground.


Good: Online isn't too laggy day 1, thats a huge success for a fighting game.

Bad: Limited moves, as stated b4. This is fucking annoying when i know every move but only 1-2 willl work on a guy online. Its beyond mortal kombats simplistic style, but it still fucking annoying as hell to know that at any given range i have TWO options. I want like 5-6.

Good: New special bar lets you charge up MOVES or a special cutscene attack.

Bad: This cutscene attack is pretty much pointless as it requires 2 rotations, instead of a full tilt. Making your guy MAYBE hit it. Then its pretty much hit or miss. Because you CAN block it, its a bit easy to read if you aren't playing nightmare(only counter in the game/charge if you don't) or angel simply because its just like any other attack, you'd have to not block. This leaves me to using it willy-nilly. I don't give a fuck if i miss, its 50/50.

GOOD: This special bar also lets me do prolonged attacks. Simply push the button during a certain combo and you do a longer combo. Your bar will drain.

Bad: only for certain combo's. This is ok but it really hits home when you realize you can't juggle/down people as much, if you are not AI.

Good: You can't juggle/downhit people nearly as much.

Bad: The AI can. And since i knows your inputs and reacts accordingly, prepare to lose on higher difficulty. No joke its not about skill with AI, its about luck and finding the ONE attack you can spam over and over till you have to switch.

Good: Some characters movesets are easier to perform.

Bad: Some characters are really only limited to spamming 1-3 attacks. Lizardman, siegfried, xinghua, any close range fighter cept maxi. I mean its basically the same attacks at the same speed. Meaning whoever is faster wins. WHICH IS NOT THE CASE WITH THE FASTER CHARACTERS. For some reason certain non-fast characters are given fast attacks.

Good: Ezio from Assasin's creed, Devil Jin from Tekken.

Bad: Ezio is a ranged whore. Reallly showing why assasin's creed fails so fucking hard right now. Outside of that he has like 3 spam moves and thats it. So its spam range or the same 3 moves.

Bad: Devil Jin is BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I love tekken but if you make the only fist fighting character slower than the sword wielding characters, you will fail. I PERSONALLY do not like devil jin. ANY other character would be better. Fucking Asuka, Jin, Kazama, KING(dear god would that be cool)<<, Lin xiao(my main), FUCKING ANYONE besides devil jin.

why not devil jin? Because in tekken he was the most boring character with the most boring moves. All his moves were jin's hard hitters, maybe 1-2 fast punches. He is worse than jin and only playable because he has the ONLY ranged attack in the game.

Why he sucks in SCV: He's slower than the original devil jin, no same combo's or utility, i mean you'd have to be fucking lucky to win vs. anyone with medium range weapon.
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Think about this: Guy with only his fist.

I have a giant sword. SWEEEP SWEEP SWEEP. He just died.

I mean even the AI can't play him well. Its just silly.

[Empire]

Ok final post:

What keeps you from playing online.

1. Ground "punish". You can lose almost half your life with any given combo + a ground hit.
2. Low spam. Impossible to block. Most characters have entire moves that hit from high to mid to low in one sweep. Meaning blocking low is pointless.
3. LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG

Team soul did a good job, but REALLY obvious when bad players get hundreds of wins. You can't defend, attack, or anything with 3 secs+ of lag behind the host. Its stupid. They covered up lag just like they do in modern games. Take out any screen tearing, motion gliches, and stop play and wala you got a "lag free" match. Even though that isn't the case.

4. Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah characters are boring after 2-3 matches. No. I don't wanna play anyone.