ZhePrime

Nothing really new, but some people might've missed it: SoulCalibur V First Impressions By Jane Douglas, GameSpot UKPosted May 11, 2011 9:35 pm CET Following the announcement of SoulCalibur V, Hisaharu Tago of Project Soul talks us through some key changes for the fighting game series. The teaser trailer with which Namco Bandai announced SoulCalibur V (out next year for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) was a tease indeed. It offered only glimpses of returning character Siegfried, much older than he was in the fourth SoulCalibur game; new character Patroklos; and the now-shorter SoulCalibur sword. Speaking to the press after the game's announcement, the producer, Hisaharu Tago of Project Soul, was slightly more informative, though plenty of questions went unanswered and were deflected with reassurances of details to come at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in June. With the game set 17 years after the events of SoulCalibur IV, Siegfried is now 39, says Tago-San, and he no longer wields the SoulCalibur but another, unspecified two-handed sword. The new guy, Patroklos, is the son of Sophitia. The SoulCalibur and Soul Edge are no longer two-meter-long megaswords but "short" swords, and the game's story will explain how they came to be truncated. The game's plot follows on from Siegfried's ending in SoulCalibur IV, beginning a generation later. Tago-san explains that this "generational shift" allows for a break from SoulCalibur traditions, introducing new characters, including Patroklos, and setting the scene for a new battle system. This system is "lighter, sharper, and more elegant," says Tago-san, and SoulCalibur V's new characters will play into the new fighting styles. Patroklos' style, for instance, is based on his mother Sophita's, but it's lighter and faster in feel. (We have to take Tago-san's word for it, with nothing more to go on than the teaser trailer.) The faster, lighter fighting styles will be more accessible to new players, Tago-san says, for whom the slower, more deliberate strike-pause-strike feel of the usual SoulCalibur battle system may have been off-putting. By way of improving accessibility, combos will also be easier to perform. Between the lighter, quicker fighting and some improvements in the online system, fighting should generally feel more immediate and reactive; unlike previous SoulCalibur titles, where it felt heavier. Other characters from the previous games will return, though Tago-san wouldn't be drawn on which characters. (Wait for E3, he says.) There will also be guest characters, as with the Star Wars characters in SoulCalibur IV. (Wait for E3 announcements, again.)

Sophitia is pretty much guaranteed to be replaced by her son, since he's supposed to play like her. Since Soul Calibur/Edge are now shorter and smaller swords, the Calibur will most likely be carried by Patroclus while Pyrrha (his sister) will most likely be the one carrying Soul Edge. And to keep the age more spread out, the new characters will most likely be young. This is all speculation, of course.

I kinda doubt we will see all the classic chars return in playable form (like Taki, Ivy, etc.) since they're frankly a bit too old. I don't think they'll go with almost 50 year old women strutting around in skintight suits and straps of cloth, doing backflips and stuff. Since this game is pretty much a reboot it makes sense for them to swap out a bunch of the cast (I also think that the "17 year later" thing was intentional, so if some fans complain they can simply respond with "they're too old").

There is no real trick to it... but this is what I do/did: 1. *236236B hits* 2. I either steer left or right (depending on the spacing) and keep an eye on Hazama's little icon at the bottom, when it moves I know I can input 214D (and that's when I do it). 3. As soon as Hazama has finished saying "Sate" (Jap VA) I press C, that way the Lv2 (charged version) of 214D~C should come out and you should hit even characters like Carl (I never miss the Lv2 214D~C input against Carl doing it this way). Note at point 3: Hazama doesn't always say "Sate" during his 214D (against say Ragna he giggles), so it's not fool proof, but might help you along. Said "trick" also works to let you know when Lv2 of 214D is charged, which might help you during some combos. But as I said, it all boils down to practice and learning the timing, there is no real solid trick.

Earlier than you think, but it mostly comes down to practice, practice, practice. Start with fat characters like Tager and get the timing down on him, then work your way down.

She-hulk, Deadpool (Katanarama) or X-23, maybe.

Most likely because they wanted to balance the characters. And really, what does it matter if they're on the disc or not? Games and DLC fall under seperate development budgets. Heck, we don't even know the real reason why they're the disc and speculating is rather pointless.

Honestly, almost all characters with a Lv3 can deal about as much damage. Some characters like Super Skrull can even land his Lv3 from pretty much anything.

Yeah he canceled his forward dash into barrier, which isn't that strange since you can cancel it into a lot of things.

If you have serious trouble with dash into 3C, you can do this combo (look below). It deals good damage and gives you back a ton of Heat, making the RC almost free. It's also easier to hit with than a 632146C after a 623D, so preferably do this combo if you miss dash into 3C a lot.

Well that's the input and it works, it's a bit tricky though. There's a trick though, do a clockwise 720 motion and then press D.

They will probably not go by most votes. They probably already have some in mind and want to see which one of them people prefer the most. Example, no matter how much some people want Phoenix Wright, he just isn't fighting game viable. Seriously, can you think up an entire viable movelist for Wright? I think most people only think as far as His Hyper could be 'Objection!' lol. In any case, none of the characters I would vote for would be picked anyway.

It can't be used to escape combos, it's closer to a RC and Counter Assault mashed into one in terms of how you use it.

Personally I'm still going to call it XFC or X-cancel, I'm not one for misleading names.

Kicks in after the first. 623B>dash 5B>623B Everything after the 623B in bold suffers from the same move prorate from the move (i.e. 30%). So if a move ends with that move then repeat prorate doesn't really matter.

The usual. Don't do an attack or move without a reason behind it, work on hit-confirm, learn proper combos, tech blue beats, improving his blocking, learn what can be punished with what after IB for example, use Tager's anti-airs more. Basically, fundamentals. He also spammed j.2C and 2D a tad too much and preferably you want to keep your opponent in the corner (so learn and use combos that keep them in the corner, not combos that land them out of the corner when you have them there). And he should be mindful of spacing, throwing out moves that have 99% chance of not hitting the opponent should be kept to a minimum, like throwing out a 4D at almost full-screen. He also doesn't have to throw out Spark Bolt the second he gets it, people will usually notice you have a Spark Bolt ready and will usually result in a whiffed/blocked SB. Sitting on it keeps your opponent a bit wary and will usually cause them to slow down their pace and you can use it to extend combos or as a punish for something if your opponent slips up. Also be mindful of his opponents option at all times, doing stuff like super jump j.D when Taokaka has +50% Heat is risky, to say the least.

Barrier won't stop a crush until you're sitting on your last primer. I only barrier if I'm in the air or if I want to cut down on the chip damage (rarely). You need to avoid her primary primer breaking moves, spike chaser, crescent saber, sword wall (name escapes me), act parser as much as possible if you get guard crushed easily. A Sledge, maybe, depends on the situation. B Sledge will pretty much never hit unless you do it at random and the Lambda player isn't very good at spacing. Usually it will only be baited and punished. That's because it's exactly that

Here's two more vids, any more tips? Or general vs. Litchi tips? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdR9kyF5aWw (one lesson already learned, take it nice and slow when Litchi is in her stance) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bazqwZ1NJs Thanks for the tips! Yes I've started brushing up on my hit-confirm (I still drop som stuff) and I've sat myself down a bit in training to work on combos and execution, that is definately needed. And regarding the "play better Litchis" comment, that's the best Litchi I've fought so far, the ones in ranked never caused me any trouble and in my Player matches that Litchi player is the best one.

Man the Litchi matchup is such a pain. Anyone got some pointers for me? I've been on a short Tager break in CS so I'm aware that my inputs and combo execution is a bit sloppy Only got one vid up for now, but more will probably come up soon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mo9w5LtIwQ

Well they are just tests, basically they just throw some stuff on the wall and see what sticks. Some changes have been a bit odd, but it's too soon to say anything. A lot of stuff can happen. Still a long way to go before the changes go live.

If you're gonna act like that, what's even the point? I'll just ignore you in the future. Pointless to even to try and argue with you. It just seems like they're changing things for no real reason, it's worked for years and no one was bothered by it. So why even change it? It just seems random. For some characters they can result in solid damage and certain setups. Not saying that throws were God or anything, but why make them bordering on useless? Shouldn't throws be a useful tool? Why people act like *sshats is beyond me. But I suppose only "US pros" are even worthy of talking about certain things and people should treat them like gods and not even open their mouths? Heck if you're real picky then they shouldn't even be "allowed" to speak since they're nowhere near as good as certain japanese players. Really, everyone is a person. A person can be right and wrong, no matter who it is. It's a forum, you dicuss things on a forum. There is no hierarchy. Why even drag THIS up? How about stayin on topic? Just because a certain someone has a beef with me. Anyway tl;dr, it is still a loketest, but the changes they're playing around with sure seem like a roundabout way to "fix" things, which was what I was trying to get across. Even someone with basic knowledge of the game and characters in question should be able to see that.

You're overgeneralizing. They made such broad moves that it affected those elements, sure. But the actual moves that needed tweaking were not tweaked. Example, what was so amazing with j.c j.A? Or why some of the other strange changes?

I am calm, what made you think otherwise? And I already said some pages back that "it's just a loketest". You said that the current changes "make sense", which they really don't i.m.o. The changes are not just limited to Hazama, mind you, but several characters have recieved odd changes. Some characters even got pointless changes. Like with Tager they changed his Voltic Charge move input from B to D. And what's the point of making throws useless? Risk a throw for 800 dmg or continue mix/cross up for almost 3k damage and more heat? The changes don't make sense, that's just it.

What made Hazama good was not included in the changes they did, imo. No really, j.A not j.c, why? What was broken about that? If they thought j.Cx 10 gave too much Heat, why not simply nerf the Heat gained from it? Now they nerf the Heat AND damage on a vast majority of Haz's combos. The strange nerf to 214D~C is odd as well (to pull in, only float now), making 66>5C pretty much mandatory (should certain combos or whatever still function). Why change this? etc. Making vanilla throw worthless (800 dmg throw w. no followup apart from in the corner with 50% Heat, really?), no point in not doing 236C over a normal throw at all now and j.B+C is laughable. A bunch of changes don't make much sense. We'll see how he turns out after all the tweaks, but I just don't see the point of most of the current changes.

I seem to recall that I tried out a combo that I did a RC just before the last hit (during the part when they float) and managed to dish out a couple of hundreds more worth of damage when I tried it out real quick a while ago. Could be useful if you do a Mizuchi and you notice that the last hit won't be enough to kill them.