The soul still burns despite Namco throwing buckets of water at it
The original SoulCalibur for the Dreamcast is in my opinion one of the finest fighting games ever created, actually it’s one of the finest games period. As much as everyone loves to rave on about Street Fighter II, SoulCalibur back in 1999 was a game that made Street Fighter look like a dinosaur by comparison. I had always dabbled in various fighting games throughout the 90′s but it wasn’t until SoulCalibur that I actually sat down and decided to “master” one.
SoulCalibur was the type of game that simply had everything, it was the gift that kept on giving. Long after Sega announced it wouldn’t be making anymore consoles, that SoulCalibur disc kept on spinning inside my Dreamcast. It had amazing visuals, a killer soundtrack, easy to learn yet hard to master gameplay and a stupid amount of additional content. I honestly think I’ve spent more time in SoulCalibur‘s art gallery mode than I have spent playing other games in general. There’s a reason why SoulCalibur is still one of the highest rated games of all time.
Eventually Namco got round to delivering a sequel with SoulCalibur II, this time it would be appearing on three systems so no one would be left out. The addition of Link as a special guest character in the GameCube version certainly helped create awareness for the series and it was incredible to see the ever protective Nintendo give SoulCalibur it’s blessing. During this period the Tekken series was considered to be Namco’s “main” fighter but no one cared about Tekken 4, everyone I knew was playing SoulCalibur II.
As far as the series goes, it’s fair to say that SoulCalibur reached it’s popularity peak with SoulCalibur II. Personally I always preferred the original but since SoulCalibur II was on multiple systems, it was for many their first introduction to the series so they fell in love with it the same way I did with SoulCalibur on Dreamcast. Sadly SoulCalibur II was the last time Namco made the series a priority and these days they are doing everything in their power to make sure the series quietly fades away.
In 2005 we saw the release of SoulCalibur III for the PlayStation 2, for whatever reason the team wanted to focus on one platform this time. The end result was a game that was very ambitous but also one that lacked the polish the series was known for thanks to corrupted saved data issues and the amusing variable cancel glitch. Unlike the prior games before it, SoulCalibur III didn’t have an arcade release before it so all sorts of balance issues showed up to the point where it’s been deemed broken by the community.
After noticing the fan outcry Namco decided to release an arcade version which promised to fix many of the issues players were experincing with SoulCalibur III. Amazingly enough they brought back two characters that fans had been asking for, Hwang & Li long. Fans couldn’t wait to see a home port of SoulCalibur III Arcade Edition but it never came to be. Namco could of simply re-issued the game under a “greatest hits” collection line but couldn’t be bothered and thus we were forever stuck with a buggy release.
This may surprise some readers but I think that with a decent balance patch, SoulCalibur III could be a better game than SoulCalibur II. We’ll obviously never find out though but whatever, let’s tackle the next game.
Shortly after SoulCalibur III was released we had the Xbox 360 show up on the scene so perhaps doing a PlayStation 2 re-release in 2006 wasn’t the smartest idea in Namco’s eyes. Maybe a brand new SoulCalibur for the HD era would make more sense and so SoulCalibur IV was made. I didn’t really care for the silly Star Wars characters but as a SoulCalibur fan I knew their inclusion isn’t wasn’t going to affect my enjoyment of the game in the long run. Well at least until I found out that Yoda couldn’t be grabbed/thrown.
So what’s wrong with SoulCalibur IV? Not much actually although it’s a painfully slow entry in the series with a useless critical finish mechanic and a hilarious final boss glitch. The online mode was awfully laggy but the real screw up came in the form of a broken character, Hilde. Like SoulCalibur III before it, there was no arcade release prior to SoulCalibur IV meaning balance issues once again showed up and none was more game breaking than Hilde. She could pretty much ring you out from anywhere once she got started and this utterly destroyed the SoulCalibur IV competitive tournament scene.
I had been following SoulCalibur IV throughout it’s development and can remember the development team discussing the possibility of patching the game should anything major issues come up. Of course none of that actually happened but we did end up getting some kind of fix via the SoulCalibur Broken Destiny for the PSP. Did they ever bother to bring this over to consoles? Haha, of course not. That’s now two broken games in a row that could of easily been fixed or should I say… WERE fixed but Namco didn’t bother bringing those fixes to where it mattered… home consoles.
For SoulCalibur V things were looking good, unlike SoulCalibur IV it seemed that the development team were eager to bring new life into the series with some radical game changing mechanics. They also decided to do away with a good chuck of the roster and replace them with new fighters so there was plenty of new stuff going around with SoulCalibur V. The game’s director was Daishi Odashima who was a former SoulCalibur tournament player himself so the gameplay was in safe hands right?
Once again Namco promised additional updates and were planning to make sure SoulCalibur V was well supported in response to fan feedback. Somewhere along the way the decision was made to rush out SoulCalibur V in a likely attempt to make sure the game wouldn’t get in the way of Street Fighter X Tekken or Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Dashi Odashima himself took to Twitter to criticise Namco’s decision.
We’d like to take our time to make the game but the company’s always on our back. I’m nothing more than a salaryman
SoulCalibur V launched in early 2012 and ended up being a surprisingly great game for the most part. The visuals were again a sight to behold, the soundtrack was a massive step up over SoulCalibur IV and the gameplay changes made the series interesting again. Somehow the team also managed to crank out a FANTASTIC net code and SoulCalibur V is still often regarded as one of the best examples of how to do an online fighter right. It’s since been topped by Tekken Tag Tournament 2 although that game uses SoulCalibur V‘s net code as a base so we have Project Soul to thank for that.
Despite everything SoulCalibur V did right, many fans were disappointed seeing some of their favourite characters not return. They were also sad to see a bulk of the extra modes such as Weapon Master Mode missing too, both of which had nothing to do with the game’s quality but rather Namco’s decision to rush the development team.
Unlike SoulCalibur IV we actually got a balance patch this time and it took a fairly normal Viola into overpowered territory. As it currently stands, Viola like Hilde is also considered to be something of a broken character and she’s actually banned in some tournaments. There have been no further updates from Namco, no additional DLC despite fan requests and no attempt to help maintain a healthy community even though SoulCalibur V’s EVO 2012 turnout was the best the series has ever seen.
The most pathetic part of this whole thing is how the game was even made in the first place. Namco practically asked fans to beg on their Facebook page for a SoulCalibur V to be made. That’s just great, from one of the most highly regarded fighters ever to fans begging on Facebook for a sequel… yeah f**k you Namco.
2013 marks what has to be the worst year for SoulCalibur fans, the release of SoulCalibur II HD Online. The 2008 port of SoulCalibur was nothing to write home about but at least what was there worked, SoulCalibur II HD Online does no such thing. Despite the Namco claiming it runs off the SoulCalibur V net code, SoulCalibur II HD Online‘s net code is significantly worse and it’s online battles are the worst of any fighting game I’ve played in years. The silly part is that Namco is asking £15.99 for this, that’s about £4 more expensive than what we normally see XBLA or PSN.
The problems with SoulCalibur II HD Online don’t even end with it’s price tag or online net code, Namco have somehow screwed up the performance too. What was once a smooth 60 FPS experience now suffers from various stutters, be at the end of round or even in something as simple as the character select screen. Characters like Taki and Kilik now sport an overly shinny look, hair no longer looks like hair and no, it’s not the transition to HD. I popped in my GameCube version and whilst it wasn’t running in HD, it sure as hell didn’t feature plastic barbie dolls.
Speaking of the GameCube version, where the hell was a Wii U version of SoulCalibur II HD Online. I don’t mean to sound like a fanboy here but why WOULDN’T you do a Wii U version featuring Link? Namco, your entire Twitter and Facebook feed has been bombarded with requests for a Wii U version. How hard can it possibly be to do a quick port on Wii U, it’s not like the HD remaster screams quality to begin with anyway. Did I mention the game doesn’t feature Japanese voice overs either?
As the botched SoulCalibur II HD Online release wasn’t bad enough, Namco are currently working on a free to play version of SoulCalibur V, a game no one asked for. They’re even adding in Sophita as a non clone character which is great… BUT WE WANTED THIS AS DLC FOR SOULCALIBUR V!!!
Namco’s treatment of SoulCalibur fans over recent years has been confusing to say the least. The SoulCalibur series isn’t a niche one and despite Namco’s attempts to stabbotage the series, SoulCalibur V has sold comparably to Namco oh so precious Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Given the rushed development it’s pretty shocking to see SoulCalibur V emerge as good as it did in the end and one could only wonder how much better it could of been had Namco SUPPORTED IT… like they said they would.
I’ve been a long time fan of the Soul series ever since that opening CG intro in Soul Blade/Edge blew me away in the 90′s. I honestly do believe that Project Soul is one of the more talented teams out there and if given the the time they need, can produce wonderful results. The original arcade releases of SoulCalibur and SoulCalibur II were nothing particularly amazing however when the team were given the opportunity to build on their game with the home release, magic happened. Magic that hasn’t been seen since because Namco constantly relegates them to a single release these days. Have you ever played the original vanilla version of a Capcom fighter? It’s almost always sh*t and Project Soul achieves so much more in their initial releases than Capcom ever does.
The SoulCalibur series used to stand for quality, a level of quality that other games struggled to even match. Even now you can put in a copy of SoulCalibur V and onlookers can’t help but be drawn to it thanks to it’s presentational values … and Ivy’s breasts. The art design is some of the best in the business and the characters are always fascinating to me, who knows what Voldo will wear next?
Sadly the SoulCalibur series now stands for rushed development cycles and crappy ports that retroactively hurt the original games. As a fan of the series it pains me to see Namco show such disinterest in anything SoulCalibur related, would it really kill them to make a game and support it? WE WANT TO GIVE YOU OUR MONEY YOU IDIOTS!!
Reaching #1 on the Xbox 360 leaderboards for SoulCalibur V was a special moment for me. Sure it doesn’t mean I’m the best in the world but I’ve never been too good at anything in my life so it was nice to have something to playfully brag about. If I’m going to be good at anything then I’m glad it happened with SoulCalibur because despite Namco’s lack of interest, I will ALWAYS be a SoulCalibur fan. My soul may not burn as bright for it as it once did but IT STILL BURNS!
Screw Namco business executives…
♥♥♥ Project Soul ♥♥♥
