checking out the soul of soul calibur

the original soul calibur on dreamcast is yet another one of the all-time greats that has been on my list of games to play, and it was actually one of my main motivations for buying a dreamcast. i’m not a huge fan of fighters in general, and although i had played and enjoyed soul blade for the original playstation a couple of years ago that game didn’t make me a convert to the series. unfortunately, although there was a lot i admired about this entry, it hasn’t drawn me in the same way that the smash series, or even the street fighter series has.

somewhat surprisingly the game doesn’t feel that different from the original in its fundamentals. the graphics are definitely a leap ahead and hold up extremely well, and the pace is much faster. the animations are all silky smooth, and the new characters are great. the sound and backgrounds are also well done. the addition of the 8-way run makes the game feel more dynamic but didn’t really feel essential, and namco seems to have removed the rock-paper-scissors-like mechanics of the original which took the form of horizontal and vertical moves and sidesteps. but at its core the game failed to engage me for the same reasons as its predecessors: the movesets tend to be repetitive, the stories are given a barebones presentation and are only mildly entertaining at best (although that’s true of most fighters), and being able to chain a follow-up attack whenever a character gets downed seems pointless. the restrictions in the mission mode are entertaining for the most part, although the majority of the 5* difficulty missions feel completely pointless. this time around it also seemed to be too easy to spam one move over and over again. also, even though it’s fairly easy to perform a wide range of flashy moves, the number of moves seems pointlessly excessive. maybe at tournament levels of play they become essential, but even though i can see why most people would love them, for me they just feel like crowd-pleasing padding.

well, certainly not of my favorite games, but i enjoyed the game overall and i can see why others praise it so highly. soulcalibur II is also on my list, so i’ll give that a go, although i’m not sure that i’m going to bother with much more of the series after that. we’ll see. oh, and in case anyone was wondering, i spent most of my time with kilik, who is apparently good for newbie players, although i beat the game (on varying levels of difficulty) with all the characters.

[just a footnote, i tried to find out how to properly punctuate soul calibur, i.e. whether or not it should be soulcalibur without a space. i did a quick survey of links online and on namco's sites and in their instruction manuals, and it seems that the original soul calibur was generally punctuated with a space, and that the subsequent releases were punctuated without it (even though the name of the series refers to a sword in the games that does have a space in its name). so for now i'll go with that assumption unless someone can present a strong case for the other side.]

some soulful soul calibur links:
- soulcalibur.wikia.com
- entry at wikipedia
- good FAQ at gamefaqs.com
- entry at gamerankings.com
- pretty funny “characters that fit snugly into ivy’s bra” feature at gamesradar.com

checking out soul blade‘s caliber

completist that i am, instead of starting in on soul calibur i went back to the very first release of the series, called soul blade for the original playstation. the game was highly praised when it came out, although the series’ first success has since been eclipsed by its hugely popular sequels.

i’ve dipped into some of the soulcalibur games a bit, but for the most part i came into this game without too many preconceptions. i hadn’t played any of the tekken (also by namco) games either, and apparently the two series are similar. both series were part of the time period when fighters ramped up the difficulties of the street fighter games and also when it became customary to include practice modes and command lists in games. i’ve grown to rather enjoy fighters, and so i didn’t have any problems getting into this one. one thing i found annoying is that you have to use separate blocks for low attacks vs high/mid attacks. also, another thing that was somewhat annoying is that this was the first fighter where i felt that the button combinations require you to either hold the controller in an unnatural way or get an arcade-type controller. i’m sure many people find it absolutely normal to use an arcade-type controller for a console fighting game, but i’m not into them enough to actually go out and get one anytime soon.

anyway, i played through the normal level with all the characters and for the most part found the experience to be enjoyable. the graphics are quite good for the time and have actually aged fairly well, and the character design is also notable. i found that in general the actual movesets ended up not feeling like they had that much variety, although there are some definite exceptions, including voldo and cervantes. i was also surprised there were so many korean characters, which i think is the first for a video game that i’ve played.

the game has a weapon gauge where your weapon can break, leaving you to fight with your bare fists, but that mechanic is underused. and i don’t really see the point in the extra weapons you can accrue which for the most part have only minor differences in stats (strength, durability, etc.). the story mode’s challenges added some nice variety, even though the stories themselves weren’t particularly memorable. the only other main complaint i had about the game is that the game puts too much emphasis on knocking down your opponent and then following through with an attack. not being able to immediately recover when you’re knocked down and knowing your opponent is always going to get another hit in just feels like some sort of pointless combo and it slows the game down and makes the pacing of the matches feel jerky. after i played through this game for awhile i tried out soul calibur again and that game has eliminated this long delay after a character gets knocked down, and as a result feels much more responsive and natural. i’ll definitely be exploring that game more in the future, although i enjoyed this one enough to come back to it as well. oh, and if anyone wants to know, i focused on mitsurugi this time around, although i just chose him randomly. he’s pretty cool, but i’m probably not going to continue with him in soul calibur even though it would be interesting to compare the movesets.

soul blade links for the fighting soul:
- good FAQ on unlockables, endings, etc. at gamefaqs.com
- here’s a very thorough movelist including the type of each attack (high, middle, low) and the amount of damage
- review at videogamecritic.net
- entry at wikipedia