SoulCast Episode #2: Esom

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MLG and NCR are now behind us, and continuing on our merry path we HAVE to talk with some folks who were at these events, right? This episode we're focusing on the MLG experience and had a chat with a very well known player, Esom. (Before you ask, that is his real name.) Esom has a ton of knowledge not only from the fighting game community but specifically with Soul Calibur.

Funked and I were really excited to sit down with Esom and grill him on the MLG experience, as well as his matches with the top placers that happened outside of MLG. And, of course, we talk about a lot of random stuff with Calibur, even making a surprise appearance in the 8wayrun chat to take a couple questions.

Some notes on the actual video/audio tracks: I did upload the original audio file onto our Buzzsprout account, so if you're just looking to download the mp3 and put it on to your mp3 player, phone, or whatever, you can. I also used a different converter program, so hopefully the audio on the YouTube video is better for everyone this time around. Lastly, I think there are a couple moments where the sound either cutout or some background noise made it in. I tried my best to make it as smooth as possible. I am but human. :(

[Warning: NSFW/EXPLICIT]


8wayrun thread: http://8wayrun.com/threads/a-soul-calibur-podcast-soulcast.12186/
VGF site: http://www.videogamingfederation.org/
Buzzsprout page: http://www.buzzsprout.com/3308/45068-soulcast-2-esom

Thanks again to the 8wayrun crew for letting us do this, and thanks to everyone listening. STAY FREE!... just like us. :)
 
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First again... was agood listen. Step guard would be fair if moves were under 10 frames but since its not and everything is pretty easy to react to step guard is pretty boring. Guard breaking doesn't make sense in a lot of ways, lot of unbalanced moves as far as guard breaking goes, its like actually attacks and force mean nothing when a scrawny little girl can guard break someone with a giant ass sword easily and usually faster
 
Not much research into MLG, But I guess that's expected from a biased podcast. MLG hires from the community to run their games. That's what they have always done with the games they've picked up. MLG themselves expected this event to be a disaster even though they hired ppl from team spooky and other ppl from each of the scenes within the FGC.

Give em feedback
 
I gave them feedback weeks ago when the rules were announced and they didn't change the rule until the very last minute which is too late. That rule shouldn't have been in place to begin with.
 
I can understand 100% why plenty of people/players would be absolutely flabbergasted on what happened at MLG this yr...i feel for you all, and MLG SHOULD have been on the ball with fighters and how seeding for brackets work etc. I say this because MLG has actually been around since(as far as i remember) at the least since Soul Calibur 2 days(2002-ish i believe) that's over 9 yrs running.

I attended one of their events and own 2 of the original MLG t-shirts they sold back then...i suppose that is just a heads up for those that believe they've only been around just a couple of yrs...they have actually been around longer than ANY other major tourney/event here in the US(except EVO, which has i think only a couple more yrs, LOL... don't quote me on that, it could be more yrs) running than MLG for a major with a high pay out)... and this fact is what bothers me the most... and like i said, they should've been on the ball with seeding/brackets...everything.

Outside of this, the payouts were very nice and the player base was wide, so grats to all that made it and played the best they could, given its a new game...and grats to those that made the top spots.
 
Final Round, NEC, MWC have been around longer than MLG, but MLG has been around long enough to not use such a rule for SCV, and to do things proper for the fighting games that they are running.
 
^^ Correct Malice... and please forgive my ignorance, i meant to say one of the longest running Majors with such a large payout..but yes, my point was directed towards the fact that they have been around long enough to know/realize how this shit is supposed to work.
 
Yo Esom, tell them to give Voldo back his Taunt Cancel out of his CR and Guard Cancel out of his CR, and I'll be back on the Voldo train so fast.

But about MLG, I can see why Esom was personally upset about MLG because it effected him personally, but I think MLG was one of the better ran tournaments. And when I say that, I mean better ran then... every community ran tournament.

1. Tournament ran on time.
2. Plenty of setups for casuals before, during, and after tournament.
3. Big tournament area for our game.
4. Had monitors to see who you had to play next, and if your bracket hasn't been updated, you can ask one of the tournament booth people at the little kiosk to see who you play next with no fuss.
5. Big money prizes.
6. A SICK stage for featured matches.
7. Did I mention the tournament ran on time and continued to run on schedule the whole time?

Other grassroot tournaments run late, cramped tournament area, sometimes wait hours in between matches, annoying T.O's, a lot of the times not enough setups, etc. Tournament area is understandable because it is a player ran tournament and can't get venues like MLG, but there is no excuse for having pre-reg for tournament and still having the tournament run real late and so on. What is the point of online pre-reg? Also, seeing as the tournament ran on time you don't need to hear your match being called. You just need to keep an eye on the clock and be in the tournament area around the time of the next round because every match was called within 5 minutes of the scheduled start time, if you got DQ'd you have nobody to blame but yourself. Most FG players are just too used to simply waiting for their match to get called and have the tournament held up for hours for them because they have yet to see an event run on a schedule and see the advantages it gives.

I also don't see what the big problem is for using pre-patch for MLG. The patch just came out days before MLG. Why would they use it? They obviously wouldn't use pre-patch for their next MLG SC5 tournament. It's a rule they also hold for when a patch comes out days before MLG for Starcraft 2.

Only minor problem that MLG had was the whole thing with the rules with Esom's situation and the T.O's not knowing the rules, (even though the T.O's were on point with everything else) and no region seeding. I had to play everyone from Texas in the tournament and the whole france thing being in the same bracket. These are problems that can be fixed for next time. Also, you can't complain about the price of entering MLG when they DON'T CHARGE A VENUE FEE. Pretty much paying around the same amount as you would other grassroot majors.

All and all, MLG was a huge success and can't wait for the next event.
 
I'd also like to say one more thing. When talking to one of the head people at MLG, he acknowledged the fact that in the past they messed up in the FG division for MLG. He also said that MLG is, "Trying to win the FGC back." They are trying to win US back. Not the other way around where we need to beg them to put our game in MLG, they want OUR respect. I'd say with the current MLG event, they did everything to cater to the FGC and by him saying that, it truly shows me that MLG really cares about doing events for us and wants to keep doing events with our genre of games. Take it from me and I'm sure a lot of others at the event, it was not this disastrous event as Esom made it out to be. This was run very close to flawless.
 
Thanks for all the comments, guys; this is exactly why we wanted to do these podcasts.

Unfortunately, no guest is going to be objective, so you ALWAYS have to take what they say with a grain of salt; remember that these are interviews with people who have their own perspective and opinions that won't always agree with what everyone else experiences. As a couple of people have already mentioned, Esom was in a bad situation which MLG staff only made worse, so he's going to have a sour taste for the whole thing.

But, the news that another patch is already in the works was welcome news to us as well.
 
I didn't watch the podcast (I like reading these types of things more) but, yeah, MLG was definitely the best ran tournament I've ever attended. It's everything a tournament should be, and everything was clear and concise with no room for confusion. I heard some people got DQ'd for not being at their stations and I honestly don't even know how that was possible; they literally were calling DK for going on 45 minutes (and wasn't going to DQ him until the hour mark) until I literally went up here and told them he wasn't there.
 
Besides some minor issues, the consensus from most people is that MLG was one of the best ran tournaments that they've been to. The only thing I would like to see them do is seed by region.
 
Hard to do seeding when there's no ELO system, qualifiers, while trying to keep the tournament fair.
 
There's no damn reason for Keev and Kayane to be in the same side of the bracket when they flew all the way over here from France for MLG. That's some simple shit right there that could have easily been taken care of if they would have seeded by region.

Basic shit like that is what keeps MLG from being 100 when it comes to fighters.
 
There's no damn reason for Keev and Kayane to be in the same side of the bracket when they flew all the way over here from France for MLG. That's some simple shit right there that could have easily been taken care of if they would have seeded by region.

Basic shit like that is what keeps MLG from being 100 when it comes to fighters.

Though the region seeding is a minor issue that can be fixed for next time, Kayane and Keev didn't play each other until the very end of their bracket to see who makes it in top 8 winners....

Lets be real here. Most of the tournaments you go to like NEC, GVN, etc, are some of the worst ran tournaments for Soul Calibur. MLG did so many things right, and people have the nerve to complain about a tournament that was actually RAN GOOD? It's obvious that you have low expectations for tournaments if you like these half-assed community ran tournaments over and actual good tournament like MLG. So why are people mad hating on MLG, especially when they weren't even there?

This "basic shit" is still at what, 99%? Leagues above most FG tournaments.
 
MLG did so many things right, and people have the nerve to complain about a tournament that was actually RAN GOOD? It's obvious that you have low expectations for tournaments if you like these half-assed community ran tournaments over and actual good tournament like MLG. So why are people mad hating on MLG, especially when they weren't even there?

This "basic shit" is still at what, 99%? Leagues above most FG tournaments.

I think the main thing is that though many weren't there, they also know that there's some basic stuff MLG messed up. IE: Ruleset problem that screwed Esom over, region seeding, etc. And some of the people they hiredshould know this stuff. Along with that, there isn't anybody who wasn't there that knows how the tournament was run. But everyone who watched the stream on the first day can tell you it wasn't that great. I heard that after the first day, things got better for the stream but I wasn't able to watch it (And I've also heard people say that it didn't improve as well).

So yeah, to any outsider, criticism is easier to believe I think.
 
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