I recently purchased the Xbox version. Fantastic game, and the new Weapon Master mode is a really worthwhile addition. For those who haven’t heard of it, Weapon Master mode lets you travel across a world map fighting different opponants, earning experience points and gold which can be used to buy new weapons (their are 200 in total according to the box). I’m not very far into the game, but so far it improves on almost every aspect of the Dreamcast Soul Calibur. I’m not much of a fighting game fan, but this series is something really special.
Since I have the Xbox version, Spawn is the additional character (Link and some Tekken character for the Cube and PS2 versions). He doesn’t really fit into the Soul Calibur world, but somehow his story has managed to be entangled into the quest for the Soul Edge.
Who else owns this game? I’m interested in hearing how the additional characters for PS2 and Gamecube fit into the game.
Well I just wanted to say the weapon master mode is an improvement of Soul Blade’s weapon master mode rather than Dreamcast Soul Caliber’s Edge Master mode or a new addition to the series.
And since I bothered posting I might as well give my opinion on some of the characters that weren’t in SC1
I don’t have any next gen console but yeah, I really love this series, the new characters (I’ve only played PS2 version so I can’t commend on Spawn and Link) are for the most part really good:
Talim seems to be my new favorite! Great fast attacks and sweet leaps/dodges, it was really enjoyable to try her out!
Hwang’s “replacement” character Hong Yung Sung is a failure in my opinion. Hwang was a much more fun character to play with. Oh well atleast Xianghua is still in, she rocks too!
Cassandra plays GREAT but I’m glad they have Sophitia still in as well as they have quite different more advanced moves even tho initially they appear very very similar. I still prefer Sophitia but Cassandra is deffinitelly superior to Soul Calibur’s Lizardman in every aspect and more than just a copycat of Sophitia
I haven’t played as Charade so I don’t know what to say about him/it…
I really don’t like Necrid’s fighting style…didn’t play much with him but yeah, first impression isn’t good…
Raphael…good character I love his fencing style of sword fighting I think he’d get to be one of my faves if I had the game at home, great range and speed!
Oh and about Heihachi, well I’ve gotten sick of him from Tekken but truth be told he’s more fun to play in SC2 than he is in any of the recent Tekken games which, to me, are, well, bleh
Ok these are the new character’s I’ve played with, if there are others I haven’t seen them
I also love all the improvements in the characters that have remained from SC1, it’s a real joy to try all their new tricks, SC2 is deffinitelly GREAT!
(however not as great as SC1 was for it’s time…but still it IS better than SC NOW and is the best fighting game one can get on X-box and if we count all consoles then it’s second only to VF4 Evo! - Imho ofcourse)
Here is how Link fits in the game btw: Click here
Not too bad, I hear he’s real fun to play with too
And as a last note, I noticed that the ps2 version gets slowdowns during fights at times, guess it can’t handle SC2 as well as X-box
It’s nothin that ruins the game tho so don’t worry too much if you have a PS2, it is a little annoying when it happens tho as it kinda breaks your rhythm…
I’ve spent a little bit of time with SC2 (GCN version) and i must say link is a pretty fun character to use. Especially since he can use bombs, arrows, and of course his sword. The game didnt seem like a major improvement over the first soul calibur but it is a great game, and is better then the first title but only because of the new characters and the added gameplay modes.
It says something about the beat em up industry when they can do so minor changes to a 4(?) year old game and still have one of the best fighters around.
That makes sense. I haven’t actually played the original Soul Blade, but I can imagine a simular mode like that in the game. I wonder why collecting weapons was not included in the Dreamcast version.
Yeah, it’s a shame that fighting games seem to add very little to their sequels compared to other genres. At least Soul Calibur II has an all new background story (rather than another tornament based story like many other fighting games) although it is basically the same as the Dreamcast Soul Calibur.
This is why I said SC 2 is not as good as SC 1 was in it’s time(but is better than it now).
Soul Calibur 1 was a HUGE improvement over Soul Blade, they play totally different, and it added a ton of new things (however removed weapon master and put in edge master mode ) while SC 2 is only an improved/refined SC 1 as far as gameplay is concerned.
You should check out Soul Blade jus to see how the series started (ok so it started with soul edge at the arcades but blade was basically the same with added options and modes etc) . I wish they had kept Soul Blade’s character endings style… zillion times better than a few drawings and text… (for those who haven’t seen it, it basically has cut scenes using the in game engine. The neat thing is that in more than a few of the endings you could press buttons and change it’s outcome! For example when siegfried beats the last boss and he then closes in on the evil sword, if you don’t press a button he picks it up and turns into Nightmare. However if you press the vertical attack button he will instead shatter Soul Edge with his own sword and then continue to go home and say some things about/to his father, I don’t remember well it’s been ages. But even without that I still loved the endings of SB… Graphics are outdated now but yeah for the time they were sweet
I have only played SC2 a few times, but tbh I love SC1 to bits and i think its a better game overall.
Although this will probably change if i played SC2 more.
Funniest Character is Lizardman hahahaha he rules.
Kilik has always been my fave tho.
I don’t the the addition of characters like Link was all that good tbh. I mean - imo its kind of devaluing the great Soul Edge storyline if you know what i mean.
[quote=“Scott”]I have only played SC2 a few times, but tbh I love SC1 to bits and i think its a better game overall.
Although this will probably change if i played SC2 more.
Funniest Character is Lizardman hahahaha he rules.
Kilik has always been my fave tho.
I don’t the the addition of characters like Link was all that good tbh. I mean - imo its kind of devaluing the great Soul Edge storyline if you know what i mean.[/quote]
The inclusion of Spawn and the Tekken character wasn’t “devaluing” to the Soule Edge storyline, but including Link was? Please do explain.
And yes, Lizard Man is the best character in Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur 2. He is my absolute favorite. Lizard Man rules. Plus he had the the best ending in Soul Calibur (an army of reptiles under his command, heh i love it).
He said characters like Link, not just Link, so I assume he meant Spawn and Heihachi as well…
To me it’s not devaluing it at all however as they have made neat little mini background stories for each making them fit very nicely within the main Story. And after all this isn’t a game you play for the story anyway
And let’s not forget Yoshimitsu in SC1, he too was a new addition to the series and he too comes from the Tekken franschise(sp).
[quote=“Al3xand3r”]He said characters like Link, not just Link, so I assume he meant Spawn and Heihachi as well…
To me it’s not devaluing it at all however as they have made neat little mini background stories for each making them fit very nicely within the main Story. And after all this isn’t a game you play for the story anyway
And let’s not forget Yoshimitsu in SC1, he too was a new addition to the series and he too comes from the Tekken franschise(sp).[/quote]
Thats a good point, i forgot about Yoshimitsu. He was/is a pretty fun character to use. Oh well i dont mind the extra characters, plus i kinda like when there are differences between a game released on all systems.
What do you all think of the new English voices?
Some of them sound ok except when you’re fighting they seem to say the same things over and over (I don’t keep using the same moves either) Ah well, you can go back to Japanese voices in the options menu.
I think my favourite new character is Talim.(Though she has the biggest eyes ever) It’s pretty easy to flow her moves together. My old favourite is still Kilik, I got some great combos out of him, though he looks different from SC1 when the other characters look pretty similar.
Taki seems to be less fun now (And she needs more support in the chest area. Keri was commenting on how painful that bra-less leaping about could be)
I like Ivy more, I could never get he sword to extend in the previous game.
That’s all the characters I’ve tried so far, I’ve only recently started on the game after finishing StarWars KotoR.
Well, i don’t know much about spawn/heichie (sp)
but when namco include an elf character that goes around fighting dogs and getting killed by chickens and store clerks into such a good serious game i think it devalues it a bit.
No mean to offend any passionate supporters of the game - its just that imo Link doesn’t suit the game - even though they made the storyline try to fit in
Link doesn’t look any weirder than some of the other characters (in fact he looks more “serious” than some of the other bunch), and I don’t think there will be dogs and chickens in SC2, I believe it’s just Link by himself, looking his best and fighting with as much style as any other character in the game (same as there aren’t any other tekken characters cos of heihachi or spawn comic characters cos of Spawn) so I don’t see why those were even mentioned or why anyone would think Link is devaluing the game in any way since he looks and fights damn good and that’s all that’s needed in a game like this…
As for the series’ storyline, it’s no masterpiece for sure…Can you honestly tell me what has happened in the games’ storyline up to SC2 without looking it up on the net? Didn’t think so…
All it has going is the evil sword and various fighters going after it for their own reasons each, I don’t see why Link doesn’t fit in with that bunch. It’s not like he’s ruining the continuity of a series or whatever by being included.
if there can be demons and magic weapons and gods and a general mix match of various fantasy/mythology concepts then there can be elves as well…
yeah i know what you mean - its just that to most people Link is seen not as the powerful sword swinging, beast slaying fighter that he is - but more of a nintendo kid type character.
So you can see why some people may see that a kid type character doesn’t seem right in SC2
[quote=“Scott”]yeah i know what you mean - its just that to most people Link is seen not as the powerful sword swinging, beast slaying fighter that he is - but more of a nintendo kid type character.
So you can see why some people may see that a kid type character doesn’t seem right in SC2[/quote]
Meh but thats a lame reason. Link isnt a kid. Look at him in SC2, its the adult version of Link from Ocarine of Time. But i see how some people would be turned off by Link because Nintendo only prodcecs “kiddy” games (which is completely not true).
People underestimate Link. He actually really good…especially with the Great Fairy sword:) if ya have played the old zelda games, any of them, ya going to want to try him out and come on, how hasn’t played a Zelda game at least once???
) while SC 2 is only an improved/refined SC 1 as far as gameplay is concerned.
Hes accutally quite a power house.