Soul Caliber III E3 Preshow Hands-On

Gamespot has a look at Soul Caliber III in anticipation of next week's E3. From the article: "Besides the tale of souls mode, your single-player options will include 'chronicle of the sword,' world competition, soul arena, museum, and character creation. Character creation is the mode we're most excited for, because it lets you create an original fighter you can then take to the chronicle of the sword mode to see how he or she fares."

Comments

Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[timford]

Aside from the character creation, I don't see much difference from Soul Caliber 2. The graphics don't look particularly good, the arenas look pretty standard, the effects are nothing special, the gameplay looks standard. Is there much reason to get excited about this game?

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[Anonymous Coward]

For the hardcore community, there's hope that the game system will be fixed or at least changed so that tiers will be shaken up and the "undocumented features"/bugs will be fixed. Whether or not that hpapens isn't quite clear because SCIII seems pretty rushed to me. SCII only came out on console, what less than a year ago?

The addition of new characters and modes should make it appeal to the more casual players as well. But, the fact that it's PS2-exclusive is puzzling, I know SCIII is supposed to have "no guest characters" so I guess Namco decided to screw over the GC and XBOX. Also annoying is there's no word of an arcade release? I guess arcades aren't worth the effort anymore?

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[AzraelKans]

"Is there much reason to get excited about this game?"

Yes, first of all, the stages now are interactive and multi-tier like those in DOA or Mk: Deception, second you can fight online now, and third is soulcalibur! in case you missed it, soul calibur 2 (specially in art) is the closest to videogame perfection you can find, forget tekken, soulcalibur is simply amazing (go and give SC2 a rental if you dont believe me)

Hint: (theres strong rumors, both tekken and soulcalibur will be released in all consoles soon, they just need to be ps2 exclusive for a few months first ala GTA )

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[DeadScreenSky]

There is no online play in SC3. That's according to the Namco devs themselves (apparently because all regions can't take advantage of it yet - that's their claim at least). Go find the Namco video they released a while ago to show off the game

The multi-tier stages is news to me - you got a link? The Gamespot preview doesn't mention them either - it would seem to be something important to mention.

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[badasscat]

Yes, first of all, the stages now are interactive and multi-tier like those in DOA or Mk: Deception,

Somehow I doubt this, as it flies in the face of everything Namco has ever said about Soul Calibur.

The lack of such stages in SC and SC2 was intentional. Namco has always felt that these sorts of gimmicks take away from the one-on-one fighting that makes a good fighting game what it is. It makes them less based on fighting skill, more based on luck and cheap throws.

In fact, nothing I've read in the preview linked here suggests there are now interactive stages. Nothing says anything about online play either.

I certainly hope SC3 stays true to its fighting engine and does not go the DOA/MK route. The good thing about Soul Calibur is that it's always been (going back to Soul Edge/Soul Blade) sort of a "Virtua Fighter Lite" with weapons - it's more accessible than VF but is still focused squarely on the fighters and the fighting rather than gimmicky stages, "fatalities", costumes or cute girls.

Not that there's anything wrong with cute girls, of course.

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[Ritontor]

No one will want to play SC3 by the time it comes out for xbox, the gamers will have moved on to the next big thing. This is yet another stupid move by game publishing companies, and indeed microsoft - how could they let a deal get negotiated where they are left in the cold like this? I thought they had more industry muscle than that.

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[DeadScreenSky]

The lack of such stages in SC and SC2 was intentional. Namco has always felt that these sorts of gimmicks take away from the one-on-one fighting that makes a good fighting game what it is. It makes them less based on fighting skill, more based on luck and cheap throws.

Ringouts don't have that exact same quality? :D (Luck and gambling is a factor in all good fighting games.)

And DOA is more of the "VF Lite", actually. It's too bad you haven't been able to appreciate what the environments bring to the game yet, as they are far far from gimmicks. Hopefully DOA4 will catch you - I can always use more competition. :)

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[Anonymous Coward]

I really hope it comes out for other systems. The PS2 version of Soul Calibur 2 was pretty bad compared to the others.

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[toad3k]

You know, I always hated that. I watched people at my college plug quarter after quarter after quarter into the sc2 machine day after day. They almost always played the single player modes.

They never played against each other because when they did, one of the dumber of the crew would always button mash his way to victory an uncomfortable amount of the time. Not always, I once witnessed a short black kid use nightmare to knock off about 30 people in a row, but that was the sole exception.

In tekken, on the other hand, luck was not such much a big deal. The better player was going to win 90% of the time, and that's what I loved about it. No one ever played the single player mode. No way, it was all about the one on one action.

I really did try to like sc2, but in the end it just seems like another game for people who have no time.

Re:Pretty much Soul Caliber 2?

[datajack]

SCIII seems pretty rushed to me. SCII only came out on console, what less than a year ago?

My UK GameCube Version is Dated 2003 (ISTR it being about April/May time) - that's two years.
I also have the Japanese version on PS2 - dated 2002 ... many, many months before the UK version came out, it certainly wasn't late 2002.
It was in the arcades long before then.

I've been waiting for three for a long time.

PS2 Exclusive

[calikahuna]

Why? The previous iteration was cool having a unique character on each of the 3 consoles... What is the benefit for the publisher to make it exclusive? And why on the PS2? It's gonna have a hard time with all the pretty visuals that the SC series is known for.
As for Sony, why would they even bother trying to get this exclusive to the PS2? Its on the way out... if they were just trying to keep the game from going to the 360 and Revolution, why don't they try to get the Tecmo guys to postpone until they can release it for the PS3 with PS3 quality graphics?

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[calikahuna]

When I say Tecmo, I of course meant Namco.

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[superpulpsicle]

No offense to the Soul Calib fans, but this series is as unoriginal as any other fighting game in the market now.

Namco just need to assemble this SUPER fighting game with every character from Tekken, Soul Calibur. And call it SoulTek. That would be a game of 70 fighters.

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[Golias]

It's just sad.

Soul Calibur for the Sega Genesis is what got me into console gaming in the first place. It blew me away. Nothing prior to it, going all the way back to the original Nintendo, looked like anything I would want to spend money on.

When my friend with the Genesis console explained to me that the next version of Soul Calibur would be on the X-Box, that's what I set my sights on. Even when they said it would be on the PS/2, I still bought the X-Box because it was the better graphics platform to run Soul Calibur II on.

In the end, it turned out that both the gameplay and the graphics of Soul Calibur II were overshadowed by Dead or Alive 3, which came out considerably earlier and was in many ways a better game. ... That said, now that I have an HDTV, SC-II does look really good on it in 720p mode (though strangely, not available in widescreen.)

If the GTA series didn't get me to buy a PS/2, I doubt this game will.

(For the record: I'm not a platform bigot.. I'll choose between the XBox360 and the PS3 sometime after both have come out... unless I skip this console generation entirely.)

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[Given M. Sur]

No offense to the Soul Calib fans, but this series is as unoriginal as any other fighting game in the market now.

Yes, because 8-way run and parry just doesn't set it apart from the others.

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you Soul Calibur of the Sega DREAMCAST?

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[Anonymous Coward]

you're an idiot

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, thank you. Not being the person who owned it, my memory of it is slightly foggy.

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, I hate to resort to such childish tactics, but I'm forced to.

You're an idiot. This post is one of many idiotic posts I've seen your name attached to. You don't bring anything of value to any conversation.

Please quit posting.

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[DeadScreenSky]

Umm yeah, it doesn't (especially since the environments don't really take advantage of the 8-way run). Go play some more fighting games! :)

Re:PS2 Exclusive

[JustJon]

Soul Calibur was never available for the Sega Genesis.

Soul Edge was a playstation game.
Soul Calibur was a Dreamcast game.
Soul Calibur 2 was XBox/GameCube/PS2.

Re:Where is Nightmare!?

[Given M. Sur]

Oh and what is with this ps2 exclusive deal?

Yeah, that's pretty lame if you ask me. I thought SC and SC2 were the best fighting games ever and I'm sure SC3 will kick ass too, but it won't be worth buying a PS2 over.

The only game I'd consider buying a system for is Perfect Dark 0, but that doesn't look like it'll be out until X-Box 2, so I'm glad I never bought an X-Box.

Well, I guess I'd buy a system for any Zelda game, but I'm pretty much a Nintendo fanboy, so I'd be buying the system anyways.

I wonder if Namco thinks they will make more profit by releasing it on only one system. Sure the development time would be reduced some, and they'll probably get some perks from sony, but it seems like they'll be missing out on a large portion of sales.

I wouldn't be surprised if a GC and X-Box version end up coming out several months after the PS2 version though. It's happened before in the video game industry.

Character Creation

[Dreamwalkerofyore]

Ah, I can see it now...

Gender: Female
Breast Size: +30
Skirt Size: -20
Skirt Flap in Wind: Yes

Calibur

[JonBob]

Not "Caliber." http://www.soulcalibur.com/ Fix it. Please.

It's "CALIBUR" not "CALIBER"

[Anonymous Coward]

Even the URL of the link says so, please fix it.

I say this everytime I see a Street fighte clone

[CrazyJim1]

Can't wait til they make it internet play, and allow more than 2 players at the same time. Add an internet ladder, then you're set. Every so often poll the top rated players stats, and rebalance moves.

Re:I say this everytime I see a Street fighte clon

[CrazyJim2]

That's dumb! Like a Carnegie Mellon Scientific Computing degree!

SC3 == feh.

[supabeast!]

If this game were playable over Xbox live I might care about it. Instead we get another game with great potential and no internet multiplayer, because the guys at Namco took a pile of money from Sony to keep the game on a console that has never had a coherent online gaming strategy.

Excuse me while I go fire up some games made by companies with a clue on my Xbox instead of sitting around fighting the AI...

I'll pass

[MilenCent]

I got all hyped up over the sequel game, and yet despite the inclusion of Link in the GC version, I didn't think it measured up to the Dreamcast Soulcalibur. It just didn't have enough extra there except for the extra weapons. We played the DC game for months and months (and we don't even *like* fighting games), but SCII got lots less attention from us.

Sounds more like Dead or Alive...

[Man In Black]

Although Soul Calibur had more than it's share of T&A, the Dead or Alive totally took the cake in that department. I don't even know how people can take that series seriously anymore, especially with that ridiculous volleyball game.

But you know full well that tons of dorks will make both themselves, and some nude (or as close as you'll be able to get) woman and make them continously fight each other.

Re:Sounds more like Dead or Alive...

[Datamonstar]

Actually, from a marketing viewpoint, the vollyball game was a good idea. You couldn't ignore it, because of the T&A factor (It's not like they tried to disguise it, or anything), and that T&A component is a large part of the fighting game series, too. So the vollyball game as an extension of the original series was an excellent idea, in my opinion. And the fighting game is just trash. BUT I'm biased to that view because I'm a very avid fighting game player. The sidestep and counter system took away the "game" part of the game for the most part. But I'm sure that someone ignorant to these features the game has some playability.

Re:Where is Nightmare!?

[LewieP]

obviously they just worked out that if sony will pay them more for not releasing a game on certain consoles, than they would make for releasing it on those consoles, then it is more profitable to make is a PS2 exclusive. it is a sad example of how screwed up the gaming industry is, with sony spending money to stop people from being able to play a game, when i thought they should be doing the oposite.

Re:I say this everytime I see a Street fighte clon

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with you 100%. XBLive-enabled Soul Calibur is the one and only game that could ever convince me to buy an XBox and a Live account.

When I had flatmates, we played SC on the dreamcast for hours every day, because it was so much damn fun. When SC2 came out and I was living with just my wife, it just wasn't the same. Being able to play against a large number of opponents is the only thing that SC really needs.

Re:I say this everytime I see a Street fighte clon

[CrazyJim3]

There is nothing wrong with that! Your stupid. A Carnegie Mellon Scientific Computing degree is what all top designers need to succeed!