2 was good, but it was worse then 1. They’ve pretty much gotten progressively worse since 1 with a huge drop off coming at 3. I like Edge more then 2-4.
Soul Calibur 1 remains my favourite fighting game of all time. I remember the first time I played it, I ran out and bought a Dreamcast the very next day. Later I started a club at uni, with the specific goal of playing Soul Calibur on the big projector screen. We played the hell out of that thing. It’s the most competitive I’ve ever been in a video game (I was maining Xianghua)
Soul Calibur 2 was OK, I had the PS2 version. I didn’t have a stick for my PS2 so I didn’t play it much. It didn’t take off at the video gamers club like the first one did.
Soul Calibur 3 we spent more time sitting around making custom characters than actually playing. I never owned it, just played it occasionally at club. I do remember a very ahem… animated discussion on whether to ban Link at a tournament.
Soul Calibur 4 I haven’t even looked at yet. I’ve had a big break from fighting games (SF4 has dragged me back in).
This thread is making me tempted to bust the Dreamcast out. Although then all my VMU’s will be corrupted and I’ll have to unlock all the MVC2 characters… again… again. And I think I’ve lost my DC stick.
I’m a former SC1/2/3 tourney player (even got invited to worlds for SC2) and a current VF player, and I’m of the opinion that VF is about 2 light years ahead of SC.
See what I did there? 
I myself prefer SC 1 hands down. Everybody in my area played SC II but I didn’t like it too much. even though I played it in my area where people preferred SC II. I still enjoyed SC I 1 more than the other ones. Every since they take out hwang i stopped playing it.
They didn’t take out Hwang! He and Rock, in an effort not to be seen in what they thought would be an inferior game to SC1, went incongnito taking on the identities of Assassin and Beserker, respectively. I think the fact that McFarlane was involved made them leary to be seen publicy supporting the game.
They are both good. I have playlists on my account for both.
The only difference is that VF has more or less kept its quality over the years, while SC has fallen prey to mainstream ideals and has not.
Oh yes.
For a second, I thought the site was still thriving, my spirits dropped when I saw it was off of the web archive. 
Like I said, this game is great. And it holds up well from a graphical standpoint; I remember looking at SCII and SCIII, and being dissapointed; the graphical improvements aren’t all that great, SC for DC is still a beautiful game. We had casuals before I left for TX a few weeks back; the soul still burns: [media=youtube]jRjubTCPCac&feature=PlayList&p=5071A70A8F080675&index=19[/media]
Link wasn’t in SCIII.
It hasn’t fallen from grace to me. I’ve enjoyed every incarnation of the game.
SC1 obviously is the shit. I don’t think I need to explain why.
SC2 is the worst for me. I think I’ve played this version the least. First ps2 version had wack ass Heihachi as the guess character. Compared to Link and Spawn, that was weak sauce. Second I spent a bunch of time getting those weapons so when me and my friends played versus mode, we play the versus with special weapons. Now this wouldn’t be a problem if everyone had decent weapons. Some people were just unplayable compare to the people with strong weapons like my favorite character Xianghua. I was so pissed to find out all her weapons were garbage. So sc2 is at the bottom for me.
SC3 I think I’ve played the most. Beating the story, creating a bunch of characters, and completing the chronicle of swords thing. Me and my nephew would play versus mode all the time. Xiangua actually has decent weapons this time around so I was back to playing with her and since she was already top, I was in heaven. For a while my nephew could never beat me when I picked her. Those were the good ol’ days.
SC4 is all about online. Unlike street fighter IV online competition which drives me up the wall, I dominate most of the time I’m online with SC4. Going on 30 and 40 win streaks at a time. Because of that, this game is probably my favorite. I like winning a lot and easily. shrugs
This is why a lot of people like SC4.
Once again, the game is fun but it is merely a derivative of SC3’s losing mentality.
Yeah but I don’t like clones.
DUDE! You speak the truth!
I love playing SF4 too, and imo better than SC1 and SC2. I also like 3. SC1 and 2 is overhyped in my opinion. Seriously, SC2 was boring and I sold it for SC3 soon Sc3 came out.
The SC series is the perfect case study of what happens when you prioritize scrubby fans who only care about the extras and the cut scenes, and not the core gameplay.
While VF is the perfect case study of what happens when you only prioritize the gameplay, and do not acknowledge the scrubby fans who care about the fluff.
That’s why SF, KOF, Guilty Gear, and Tekken are still so successful. They always tried to strike a balance (nobody nailed it absolutely perfect, but they came closest).
SC needs to focus on the gameplay again, and VF needs to focus on their side story.
And the best SC ever was the one that came out for the Dreamcast. Nobody in their right mind who played that game properly would ever put the other games (save probably for SC2) above it.
Seconded! You are quite correct that both of those series would be excellent case studies for the respective problems (maybe too narrow focused). We really should try to compile something, maybe reaching out with other SC communities, and submit it to Namco. I mean I really love the series and I’m more than a little disheartened to see the direction the game is going.
this
kinda sad too, because i actually think the game was a step forward for 3-Ds in a number of ways. i’ve never liked the fact that in just about every 3-D game, most characters have the same basic gameplan, and they took some interesting risks in 4 with characters like algol/hilde/yoda/apprentice. even kilik to an extent since he nullifies a lot of mid/low mixup and forces you to find other ways to beat him.
i especially like how some higher-tier characters lose to certain ones below them (asta/yoda over hilde, yoshi over algol, apprentice over asta), which is something you only see in 2-D games usually.
but yeah, there are some issues that killed the hype within the community so whatever.
Mostly it was character imbalance in the beginning I think that killed it. Plus people overhyped the game.
From a mechanic point of view the game is fine and actually encourages active/aggressive play which alot of people like.
People just get super hyped up and when a game doesn’t deliver they wanna blame the game.
Just play the game for what it is. Or don’t play it. It’s a simple choice really.
Bewbs anyone?
http://www.caffiene-fueled.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ivy-tits.jpg
They just getbigger as the series goes on, SC5 is going to be funny as hell, there’s probably going to be breast physic as well, just like in DOAX2
I won’t get into why you’re winning. For all I know, you’re very good at SC4 (i’m not). But I find this downright hilarious because SC4’s netcode is horrible. Even on 4-bar connection sidestepping becomes a chore and moves like Mitsurugi, Nightmare, and Siegfried’s 1A become impossible to see although you can see them, and more importantly punish them, offline. I would like seeing you explain how you enjoy playing a game with such horrible netcode.
Because if you get a bunch of mates with good connections and mics and get a lobby going it’s a very fun way to spend a night.
And with the CaS system you usualy have something to talk about as well on the mics(Having a Captain Falcon CaS mirror match with both players yelling out “Falcon Paaauuunch” whenever they do their unblockable is worth a laugh)
I play Sophitia and Taki so I actually benefit from the bad netcode more than I don’t. I rarely play offline so I hardly notice it really. I’m used to it now because I’ve played it so much.
Personally I think 4 is amazing despite it’s flaws with hitboxes and such. I just think the majority of the forum fighters follow hating trends and play what’s socially more acceptable (sf4, whatever’s hot right now). The game is just fun, and DOES require skill/knowledge. I see a lot of people in here who were either bias before getting into 4 or didn’t play it enough/play it offline enough, to really say much of anything.
And SC4 is one of the worst fighters I’ve played for online. Have no idea how people can judge the game based off that and or manage to enjoy it.
If it was overhyped, people would be playing it, and not just reminiscing about it.
I like the coup-out people are doing; where they say to treat “SCIV as its own game”. Its got Soul Calibur in its title, comparisons to earlier titles is unavoidable.