Soul Calibur retrospective

I've made mention of the Soul Calibur series in the past and with Soul Calibur 5 just been released, now would be a good time as any to sit down and talk about my experiences with this franchise.

I first became aware of the Soul Calibur in the mid-nineties through the arcade game Soul Edge. I just happened to wandering through my local arcade when I noticed a 3d fighting game wherein the combatants were fighting with weapons. At the time, I wasn't too keen on fighting games: During the early to mid-nineties I recall so many of them around - no doubt made by people hoping to cash in on the success of the untouchable Street Fighter 2. Needless to say, seeing yet another fighting game didn;t really appeal to me.
Nevertheless I think I might have tried Soul Edge once but somehow it didn't make that much of impression - in retrospect this may have been attributed to graphics that looked unappealing and an announcer speaking in a very muffled voice. I tried the first character I saw, Sophitia, and proceeded with my usual fighting game tactic (ie button mashing) but somehow this game didn't set my world alight. Later I heard a friend say that one of combatants (either Sophitia or Seong Mi-na) apparently didn't have an arse - although how he noticed I don't know.

Nevertheless I came the recognise the brand of Soul and the character of Sophitia. This would come in handy years later when I would discover the Playstation conversion Soul Blade and that fantastically rockin' intro:



Around the same time as I saw that intro for the first time (2000) I was aware of the game Soul Calibur. At the time, I was aware this was a big deal for the Dreamcast and enough to achieve the rare gaming distinction of being a system seller. I'd seen the intro and recognised some faces - even if I was puzzled by the name change.
It was only years later that I actually got to play the game in question: First on the Dreamcast and then on the XBLA. I recall being impressed by the graphics, the 3d nature and the music. Plus the fights were both intense & fun and I loved the Mission Mode as well. Indeed, everything about the game came across as being a labour of love and it really showed with the replay value and inclusion of extra features like the art galleries and the opening direction.
And even now, Soul Calibur would have to be one of the few games that have actually age well: when I play Soul Calibur on the XBLA I'm still impressed by how well it holds up against more recent titles and how beautiful it all looks.

But I'm getting ahead of myself: Around 2006 I got a PS2 and eventually I came to Soul Calibur 3. There was no plan to get it: i saw it selling for cheap and I recognized the name. And although I was baffled to see so many unfamiliar faces, I still strapped myself in and invested many hours into the game.
This was more or less my true beginning with the Soul Calibur series. True, it was indeed strange to come into the series when so much has happened and I lacked the prior knowledge, but I eventually picked it all up. It was also kind of interesting to go back through the series and see faces I grew accustomed to in an earlier guise.
So yes, I played through with everyone and built up some favourites with Misturugi, Setsuka, Astaroth, Cassandra, Kilik, Voldo, Nightmare, Xianghua, Raphael and, of course, Sophitia. It did indeed seem odd to see such a seemingly epically story in a fighting game - one kind of got the impression it came from a different game and was shoe-horned into Soul Calibur for some inexplicable reason. Nevertheless, I followed it all - somehow!!! - and even looked back over previous games to pick up what I'd missed.
Also, I found Soul Calibur 3 to really good for social element. I found it a great excuse to sit down with a bunch of friends and crack some heads together: It was fun to see two people duke it out with an attentive audience and even do a tournament.
So yeah, Soul Calibur 3 was great fun to play and enough to win me over. I may not be a big fan of fighting games but Soul Calibur 3 was enough to show me there were some diamonds in the rough. And that is an impressive feat indeed.

And then there was Soul Calibur 4. This was a game I avoided. Yes I saw other people play it and yes I eventually ended up playing it at a friend's place but somehow, this just didn't hold any appeal for me. I could say that from what I saw, there didn't seem to be much different from the previous iterations(s) but I think the main reason was what had happened to the characters.
Most of the problems can come down to the designs. Now I can imagine the more powerful hardware of the PS3 and 360 may make for a bigger canvas upon which to work from and yes indeed the character models in Soul Calibur 3 look light years better than their Soul Edge counter parts but I didn't like the character designs in Soul Calibur 4. I enjoyed those in Soul Calibur 3 so to see them in Soul Calibur 4 made them look completely different in comparison - but the changes weren't for the better. Some of them looked silly and, in the case of the female fighters, sexed up to the point of ridiculous. In particular, Setsuka: I liked Setsuka in Soul Calibur 3 and there wasn't anything wrong with her design but to see her in Soul Calibur 4 looking completely different makes me wonder: 'Who are you and what have you done with the real Setsuka?'!
Also I think the character design of Sophitia in Soul Calibur 1 is far better than those in Soul Calibur 4 AND Soul Calibur 3.
And Kilik! What did they do to you man?! I loved Kilik for his heroic integrity so to see him, in the cut scenes, acting like an emo was indeed painful to watch.
In addition, the inclusion of characters from the Star Wars universe was, to me intrusive and enough for a deal-breaker.

So with a new Soul Calibur game now available, what do I make of it? Well I like the idea that the game is set seventeen years after no.4 and as a result many of the returning characters have aged to some degree. But I don't know: I enjoyed Soul Calibur 1 and 3 so maybe that is enough for me.