Poll: 17 years in the future or current timeline?

[FluffyQuack]

Can't be. In his ending, Siegfried crystallized (as Soul Calibur was sustaining him from his mortal injuries in the last fight in SC3) himself and the entire tower. It'd have to be an ending combination of Hilde's, his and perhaps another (Kilik/Xianghua?) in order for him to be alive in SC5.

I re-watched some of the endings in SC4 yesterday. The ending for Siegfried even specifically says that the entire WORLD gets covered with those crystals. So yeah, definitely no way that's the literal ending they're following.

I've already mentioned this, but I find it impossible to care about the story. The majority of endings are gibberish or filler. The few endings which are interesting has zero to little effect on the overall story (an effect you can't really predict either) and they're very short.

If they're gonna have an interesting story, I don't think resetting the cast will help. They need to change how the story is told in the first place.

Edit: On a related note. I watched through Sophitia's and Siegfried's endings and I didn't recognize any of the scenes as shown in the trailer. Did they re-do those scenes just for the trailer?

 

[Signia]

I recognized the section of Sophitia's ending right away. It's the part where the soul edge starts to overpower her and she cringes or something.

 

[Baldulf]

There is a possibility that they use the crystalizing to ensure some characters remain unchanged after 17 years.

I'm thinking mainly about Ivy and Taki. Ivy was crystalized during her ending (she got free, but we know how some endings are only partially canon) and Taki was near Siegfried when he started to crystalize.

 

[Signia]

Crystallization? Time lapses?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuZKX4SE9A

 

[Baldulf]

It's not like cryogenesis wasn't used before in a work of fiction.

And I remember Namco did that with the Williams sisters in Tekken.

 

[GrayGuy7]

no,

no, it was confirmed that Sigfreid's will be the only correct ending in the game.

I actually think that they're goin' by Hilde's ending more than anyone else. To me, his armor looks like it could be from her kingdom. And besides, doesn't he kill himself and Nightmare in his SCIV endin'? That wouldn't make very much sense for him to be alive 17 years later...

 

[GrayGuy7]

No. I believe both endings could be considered canon. Sophitia reach the top of the tower, defeat Algol, grabs I can only remember of Sindel in Mortal Kombat who is like 10.000 years old which would be like her 40's or 50's in earth aging years...

Actually, Sindel's older than that, and Kitana and Jade are both 10,000 years old...Just a little correction. But I agree with you, wholeheartedly. Age in video games doesn't really matter for women, as long as they don't look it. Hell, this case has already been proven in the SC series. In SCIV, that clone bonus character of Nightmare was over 9,000 years old, and the clone of Mina was even older!

 

[GrayGuy7]

Personally, I think the 17 year jump is a good thing because this way, that can actually add a lot of new characters this time [I been waitin' for a dual-katana user since the original SC, and was highly disappointed at what they did to the one they finally put in, in SCIV. Hopefully, they'll bring Shura back, and give her her own move set this time], and not worry about ruinin' an already "established" and "fulfilled" storyline. Also I don't think it's that big of a deal because they've already done somethin' like this series before [well, not the time jump and agin', but somethin' of this caliber]. Durin' the transition between the Soul Edge and original Soul Calibur games, Namco replace almost the entire cast with new characters at first, but let you unlock some of the original cast later. I feel that Namco won't stray too far from this idea.

As far as the agin' goes, I really don't think that matter's either, especially for the female characters. Most characters would be in their early to mid 30s, or their mid 40s [sans a few characters that bypass age entirely], but this doesn't really matter, either. Like NoelMickel and I mentioned in previous posts, they could pretty much be any age, as long as they don't look that old, everything is fine. This has been proven many times, by many characters in various games. So it really doesn't matter that Taki is goin' to be a 46 year old cougar, as long as she doesn't look that old, she'll be fine, and in SCV.

 

[JAGTHEGEMINI]

I think mid 40 isn´t really old. People are exaggerating way to much.

 

[Talim JP]

The poll says most charas replaced or removed, don't know if that's gonna happen.
There isn't much info about the charas yet.
I'm 43 and look at me.
Aaaaaaa, EVERYBODY- start worrying!

 

[KingAce]

Stop trying to connect SC4's story with SC5's. Initially SC4 was going to be the last game in the franchise...it was said before the release of the game, made true by namco's firings, and the stories in the game are all pretty final.

If I had to piece together a story I would go with...
Hilde's ending.
Siegfried's ending.
Algol's ending.
Sophitia's ending.

In Hilde's ending she defeats NM and she forgives Siegfried for his sins. In Sieg's ending he defeats NM, and begins crystallization of both chars and swords. In Algol's ending he fights Zasalamel and Mitsurugi, before beating Siegfried and taking Soul Calibur. In Sophitia's ending she defeats Algol and tries to destroy soul calibur with soul edge. Soul edge almost consumes her. But algol saves her and disappears with both swords.

 

[FluffyQuack]

Again, just look at fighting games in general. Can you think of any female characters above the age of 35? Namco themselves have been avoiding the same thing in their Tekken series whenever female characters become older.

I don't think characters who's around 10,000 count. At that point, they'd be considered more immortal than old. There's no frame of reference for how old they should look.

 

[TsunamiBye]

 

[AriesWarlock]

I think mid 40 isn´t really old. People are exaggerating way to much.

It isn't really old, but they are not at their peak either (which would make fighting someone like Nightmare suicide), so they better have been taking vitamin supplements and antioxidants.

There is a possibility that they use the crystalizing to ensure some characters remain unchanged after 17 years.

Let's hope so!

 

[Talim JP]

Nice X pic NamuSkull.

 

[FluffyQuack]

xianghua picture

Is that by xuexueyuehua? Does she have a new DA account? The one I have in my list doesn't exist anymore.

I'm thinking mainly about Ivy and Taki. Ivy was crystalized during her ending (she got free, but we know how some endings are only partially canon) and Taki was near Siegfried when he started to crystalize.

If there's any female characters they'll bring back without aging at all, I think those are the 2 most likely. They are the most iconic female characters in the series. There's multiple explanations they could use for Ivy. She's an alchemist, so maybe she randomly discovered a type of potion preventing her from aging. Maybe her father cursed her and made her immortal. Or the crystallized thing (although the endings implied being crystallized was the same as dying).

I wish Cassandra was equally as iconic, but oh well.

 

[Baldulf]

If there's any female characters they'll bring back without aging at all, I think those are the 2 most likely. They are the most iconic female characters in the series.

Yes, I also think that among the female characters those two (and Sophitia) are the most iconic of the saga.

I think the game needs some serious redesign and more new faces, but I would hate to lose Taki and Ivy (or Cervantes, but he is a zombie so no worries here)

 

[TreSanBan]

If they're gonna have an interesting story, I don't think resetting the cast will help. They need to change how the story is told in the first place.

Well, you may be getting just that, if Tago-san is to believed:

“Unlike previous games where the Soul Calibur and Soul Edge would get destroyed in the end, it will be a little different this time. From Soul Calibur V, VI, VII, and onwards, we are going to make a storyline that’s continuous. It won’t be a loop like previous games. It’s going to be more like a big storyline for the Soul Calibur series,” Tago-san explained in a private interview session with us.

- http://tbreak.com/megamers/27487/fe...go-“pissed”-that-tekken-got-to-a-movie-first/

To me, that already sounds like something to take note of, considering that a "loop" definitely described games 2 through 4. If anything, I hope Namco takes perhaps a few notes from the series that used to be the "premier weapons-based fighting game" before the Soul series got it: Samurai Spirits (or Shodown, if you will). Admittedly, SS may have been a bit of a convoluted storyline-wise, but at least it wasn't always the same damn thing of Hoahmaru and his merry band of swordsmen (and women) killing Amakusa and stopping his plans to get revenge on the Tokugawa Shogunate for the umpteenth time, game after game after game.

So, if Namco could even take a few storyline-crafting cues from SNK, that'd already be something. Likewise, SNK proves that it's OK to dump a few characters between sequels, in the name of trying to keep things moving along and introducing new characters to love. (Besides, if enough people belly-ache, there's nothing that says that an ass-pull couldn't possibly bring them back somehow.)

 

[FluffyQuack]

I don't think that's enough. Even if you look at SC2 by itself, its story appeal was very very weak. The fact its story was repeated for 2 more games is unfortunate, but I don't think that was the problem.

I think the biggest problem is how they set up the story mode where each character is doing the same thing (killing the last boss and then trying to get something he has) and have an ending for each character. I'd rather have a single story mode which tells a long story, instead of 25 mini stories which are short and mostly filler.

They could still keep arcade mode as it is, but just remove the whole story part from it. As far as I'm concerned, that's a relic from the arcade days of fighting games and there's no point in using it to tell a story.

 

[AriesWarlock]

From Daishi twitter:

Daishi_CALIBUR What happens to the females characters after 17 years? Well you know, people age...

Don't like the sound of that :\

He also said: I go to 8WR sometimes. Please make it easy to browse