Soul Calibur III

[EdenMaster]

Anyone got it? What are your impressions? I have it, and so far I'm barely able to put it down (note the drop-off of my number of posts since last week :D).

They've improved some aspects, and a couple seem a little bit of a step down since SC2. First off, I'm enjoying the custom character creator a lot more than I thought I would. It's really quite a versatile tool, and you really can create just about anything you can envision (within reason, and somewhat within Soul Calibur's time setting). The arcade mode, relabeled as "Tales of Swords" is a nice diversion, but it's a bit long. It's the same basic fight your way to Soul Edge concept, but this time you've got choices on where in the world to send your character (and thus, who they fight) and a bit of reading to fill you in on the progress of his or her journey. The reading helps alleviate the load times which can be a bit of a pain.

Chronicles of the Sword I kind of ignored at first while still playing the crap out of the main game, but now I'm really into it. It's a fun real-time strategy/fighting genre bender that really works well. You Blizzard fan should dig it. I find it seems, in some ways, much like Warcraft.

Then there's Soul Arena, a fun little bunch of diversions with some interesting mission-based fights. One of them even pits you against the giant statue of Hephestus from Sophitia's stage. Not an easy fight.

All in all, it's a solid sequel. Some of you who are so familiar with SC2 (moi) may have trouble adjusting to your old favorites new (though very similar) movesets. It's definitely worth buying if you have the money, it just has so much to offer.

[Dark Jaguar]

I've played it, but I don't own it yet. The character creater is limited in one major way. Everything I read gave me the false impression you could actually design how your character fought, including moves and stats and so on. Turns out, just appearence. Now, if you wonder why I would expect that, it's because I have played fighting games, well, wrestling games, that had that very exact feature, to a startling degree of customization. Now, those old games sucked in terms of actually fighting it out, but the customizing was solid. Now, getting the balancing perfect when it comes to custom may be a challenge, but I'll easily allow something like that to slide. A simple "no custom characters" rule would eliminate cheap manipulations of the mechanics anyone might come up with.

All in all, I wanted to recreate Link, down to the moves, due to his absence in this installment. Turns out, I can't.

[A Black Falcon]

The Gamecube version of Soul Calibur II sells best of the three, so of course Soul Calibur III is PS2 only...

[EdenMaster]

In the games defense, I highly doubt they could have fit everything in the game on the a GC disc. They'd have to remove features and we'd get an inferior game.

No, you can't customize entire movesets, I never got that impression that you would, DJ. It's simply creating how your character looks and what weapons they fight with. There are a total of ten classes and just as many weapon disciplines. The weapon you use is determined by the class you choose, and each class can unlock two other disciplines to use, as well as the very disciplines of the Soul Calibur cast. The one exception is Sword Master, which can use any type of weapon (excluding the SC characters disciplines).

[A Black Falcon]

In the games defense, I highly doubt they could have fit everything in the game on the a GC disc. They'd have to remove features and we'd get an inferior game.

You can always find a way.

[Dark Jaguar]

I have seen the features. They aren't full length movies. So, why couldn't they fit the TBS game on there exactly? Again, you really need to appreciate the difference in size, the sheer scale of the thing, when discussing different data types.

And, ABF, it is a fallacy to assume SC2 sold best on the GCN last time means it will this time. There are two possible explanations. One is more lovers of fighting games own Gamecubes than other systems. The other, which seems more likely, is Link was a playable character, and most GCN owners will buy anything with a Nintendo character cameo, especially Link.

Since the PS2 version sold very well indeed, even if it didn't match GCN sales, and since they likely don't want to worry about porting the game to 3 different systems again, they opted for the one that, given consumers would only have a single choice anyway, was most likely to yield results. If the game was only on Gamecube, even with Link back on the pile, do you think it would sell more than if it was released only on the PS2?

It's hard to say, but consider this another test. Let us see how well the game sells compaired to both the PS2 version of SC2 and the GCN version of SC2. We can also compare it to total sales across systems. One thing to note is this. Corrollary does not mean causation.

I will note that while multiple fighting disciplines is interesting and all, it's just not full moveset customizing. The TBS game in there managed to catch the interest that left when I noticed the lack of that feature though. I may well still pick up this game.

I'm still hoping for full customization in the next incarnation of the series though. It's still the only game that really lends itself to both the beginner and the fighting game expert outside of SSB.