Kayane's Hands-on Impressions of SC5

Namco graciously invited Kayane to come to GamesCom to try out the build of Soul Calibur 5 that they brought with them, but was unable to share her impressions of the game until August 30th because of a media embargo that was in place. Now that the embargo is over, Kayane stayed up until 6AM her local time in France just to share with the community her impressions of the game.

Check Kayane's blog for the full details, and leave a comment with any questions that you may have for her.

 

Didn't like the idea with the meter and GI thingy. <=/

 

For people complaining about characters who didn't change, improve much...don't forget it's still a DEMO VERSION.

It's possible they still didn't finish the system of JG and Guard Impact.

And since there are several ways to charge the meters, it's not that long to be able to GI, it doesn't use a lot of the meter. I'm not sure exactly, but I think if you have "1" in the Soul Gauge, then you are able to use 4 GI in total. I think it will prevent people to GI too much. But the best is to GI someone who doesn't have meter enough to counter GI, so that's free.

I think they really worked more on Hilde, Pyrrha, Patroklos, ZWEI, and Ivy but didn't have time to develop other characters as much.

As for Tira for example, they can't say anything about the gameplay she'll follow, it's still in a state of development. So don't worry if she's still the same in SC5, it's because they just have included her in the game from SC4.
Same for Maxi etc...

Also, I couldn't change my configuration for the fightstick in the demo. The original config is that :

A, B (top buttons)
G, K, RT (bottom buttons)

 

Yeah, I'm not fond of the new GI system. However, I won't judge because the game is still in its demo version. Still, I hope the 4G, 6G, 1G, and 3G impacts come back.

NO, DEATH. NOW IS THE TIME TO COMPLAIN! it's quite the time and don't be timid!

 

Oh yeah, and I'm loving the input for GI... 4A+B+K...

How impractical are they trying to make this? The last thing I'm trying to do is press back when I intend to front-GI you.

I always pulled back on GI. that way the enemy falls off guard towards me. Then I throw him or something, cause he'd be at my mercy for a sec. But hey, since they screwed that plan up in SC4... um, oh nothing, I'm still pissed off.

 

i wonder what would justify GIs, now that they're expensive (gauge-wise) and more risky/complicated to perform when there's JG... why would i still want to GI? where's the advantage of that?

i thought i'd be 4G'ing people against walls till in my 80's :(

 

I want to ask Kayane out, but she's probably already taken...

I had to make the above bold statement simply because she shared this information to us unappreciative and selfish 8wayrunners.

I'm still reading it, but I'm at the best part now... Tira going chop chop chop... :)

Who's unappreciative? I said "thank you Kayane" in my first post. And don't you think we have the privilege to be a little touchy after what Project Soul did to their fans and patrons last release?

 

just for the record, I mentioned 14 GIs because I counted when I did it against the CPU. We went back and forth 14 times. It was on extremely hard. That's a higher level right? Or did you mean just human players? You won't get that on lower levels, the CPU nor player aren't focused enough. Yeah sure, a real player that really wants to kill you won't play that game, but it's a real thrill when you do.

 

Well, i was keeping my mind open, but now is closed sorry, but it seems to me they want to make a 2d 3d game, for me no GI no Soul calibur, the Gi is what makes the game so unique, so fuck namco, im tired of this shit.

 

I'm not really worried about the GI changes. Building meter looks very easy in this game with seemingly every action building a decent amount. The Awkward motion of JG can be made a bit easier with button binding and I'm sure people will adapt to it eventually.

The only thing I don't like is gaining meter through whiffed moves as it encourages turtling.

 

What some people need to realize is that Natsu being able to punish somones BB after JGing the 2nd B isn't very surprising. Taki has always had one of the fastest AA's in the game along with a couple other characters. And 3B's have always been pretty unsafe so it's also not surprising that you are able to punish with a BB after JGing it.

I would like to ask Kayane if she has a guess on how many frames she thinks JGing actually shaves off. Would you think it is in the range of 3-5 frames? Or more? Also, did you happen to see anything about the true Just Guarding (red flash)we've seen in early videos?

 

Wajajajajaja, im going to win using lows only, no low GI, jejejejejeje, here comes Omega the Foot killer, SOUL CALIBUR 3RD STRYKE IT SHOULD BE CALLED LIKE THAT.

 

my gosh they're altering GIs???
how on earth could they came up with that decision.. it's better if they just throw this whole JG ideas and stuffs out the window and recreate SCIII's GI in SCV....

4A+B+K?? and no low GIs???

it's not like 4G 6G 1G and 3G are reserved for anything! oh wait.. they use 1G for low JG... wow!! you do G for mid/high JG and 1G for low JG? why not just 2G instead and leave the original 4-6-1-3 for the usual GI input?

and the use of meter for GI-ing? my gosh this 'fighting' game will turn into a card-battle game eventually with all the so called 'well-thought strategies', 'reserves', and 'broken priorities'...

 

I rather have JG to use the meter not the GI, put the GI the way it was and if you want to test on something test on the new things not the old things, common people GI is what makes soul calibur interactive, fuck that, lets fucking complain, omega revoluitonnnnnnnnnn, wajajajajjaaja, if not im going to chop your feet without mercy, lol no low GI, GI using metter, what is the world coming to.

 

Well first of all, thanks to Kayane for the detailed report!
On the other hand... I felt like the further I read, the further my heart sank. I was happy with how it started: better speed, epic music, living breathing stages and whatnot... then came the GI and JG. I'm ummm... confused? And I don't entirely trust this new soul gauge. Eh, we'll see.

 

Some people need to learn how to read.

"It is also possible to JG lows by doing 1G, too."

I dont know why people think they can spam lows when you can just Guard them and get into the same situation as it would have been with a regular GI.

 

Don´t know what to say... But it´s only a Demo so far.

 

Only a few people likes the JG, from what ive heard there is a lot of complian right now, i just hope they think things thru before making a decision that will hurt us all, JG just looks sad compare to GI, if you see the JG in the vids it looks like the sword goes right thru the char and it makes no sound, there goes the GI emotion factor, it just looks sad, i hope they think it thru really carefully cause if not, we are going to be using chinku calamity simphonys and yoga summon sufferings, everything is meter base now.
At the beggining i was trusting namco but now i see where they are headed and im not liking it. OMEGA THE LOW MASTER.

 

Actually I wish they would leave GIs as 6G and 3G. That I want back...Maybe they make JG RT A+B+K instead what do we think?

 

Actually I wish they would leave GIs as 6G and 3G. That I want back...Maybe they make JG RT A+B+K instead what do we think?

I have the same opinion as you, when they do a just guard you even see the colors(blue and red) so it would be convinient to put the JG with the bar, thats my opinion thou.

 

First, Thanks a lot Kayane!
Secondly,

So as GI, it must be done just at the moment the hit touches you (or just a little before) by pressing G. The timing is not that hard, though somewhat a bit more strict than the GI I think.

I mean, try to guard and do a GI is like the same? I'm watching the future... no more re-GI battles! no more cancel moves to get a whiff GI! WOW we are saved from all that happy GI players! I won't have to learn every character to know how to GI properly! Just Block a little early as Always and that's its! I have to buy MK9 to be able to learn in advance how to stay focus on the game and the GAUGE at the same time!

Now without SARCASM, Namco, I'm very sad! people doesn't want a different game with the same characters! People want the same game that we love but improved, revamped and balanced!!

If you press G (Guard) when you want to make a Just Guard, but that it didn’t work because you did it too early, you could still protect yourself from the hit by maintaining the G button pressed. (Unless you have pressed G too late in which case you take the blow)

Oh, and, oh, and... if you fail a JG you still can guard? OMG... this is going to the wrong direction... no more Yomi training for me; it was hard to learn new GI rules in every SC game, and now we have to learn to just block and retreat till our levels are full and we are free to GI and land a Critical/Brave Edge attack to go back and retreat and do the same thing again? oh my... SC 3erd Strike is coming...

It is also possible to JG lows by doing 1G, too.

Sorry Omega, no "low attacks kill only" for you... at least.

If Daishi don't say that they will change the GI system back then we have to start a petition on FB... oh GOD, another petition...