what i think needs to happen for the future of soul calibur, is that namco needs to find a balance between flashy gameplay/hype(which sells games) and balance(which adds depth and imo makes games more enjoyable at higher level) now before anybody gets on my ass about how what and what is balanced and whatever, let me just point out some things that didnt and probably wont get fixed(im not gonna get on a rant here):
SCV: viola back grab infinites, absurdly high damage output(never was a fan of half health combos and mixups. removes depth and kills variety imo), stupid low risk for reward ratio(im looking at you pattycakes and your 66B)
SCIV: doom combo, stupid amy, bubble juggle infinites, lower tier characters struggled to keep up with most of cast, safe step made things boring and removed variety.
now some things i liked about both games:
SCV: action packed and fast paced, interesting to watch and exciting to play, intense, supports a sort of element of suprise where anything can happen, and you dont quite know what will happen next, gives a nice edge to offensive players and those who are willing to take risks. easy to pick up and get used to.
SCIV: very "solid" feeling, very deep and intellectual with a high degree of strategy, required alot of discipline, and helped support strong basic fundamentals of gameplay. risk/reward while it could have been better was decent, and you could get punished more for throwing unsafe moves into block(as things tended to be more unsafe - this i enjoyed thoroughly as it gave defensive players a bit more room to shine IMO.) execution felt more fluid.
and things i just simply had personal issues with:
SCV: supports a more offensive style, making the jobs of defensive players very difficult with the inclusion of high damage scales, and a relatively low level of punishability when compared to predocessors. the new way that inputs are bound makes certain actions more difficult than they need to be (ie. jumping, iRCC, certain jf's)
SCIV: supported a very defensive style, making it very difficult to get decent offensive momentum going, especially with inclusive flaws such as non-commital defense, and a more framy, stiff feel to movement all around. very difficult for a casual to pick up with a not so streamlined learning curve.
Personally, i think that the next game should combine the best aspects of 4 with the best aspects of 5, to allow both a well rounded game, and to support both defensive and offensive styles. lower the rewards a touch or heighten risks so that a defensive player can further take advantage of bad reads(basically make block and whiff punishment play a bigger role in the game), keep commital movement and defense(make sure theres no step G or fuzzy guard), remove infinites and the like, expand movelists and further add complexity to the style of each character and how the moves fit together, go back to classic button binding system, instead implimenting different procedures to fix things like fuzzyguarding and dual charging(hilde). bring back standardized input of i8wr moves(perhaps have a frame buffer in place that differentiates between an i8wr move input, and a quick step input). basically make sure the game is all around balanced. after that, bring back all modes from SCV, expand on the training mode tutorial(preferebly so that it meets the extensiveness of SC3 standards) bring in even more CAS options for casuals, add yet another degree of flash to the gameplay(yes, im saying they should try to have flash and balance) bring back more gamemodes such as timeattack, survival, team battle, mission mode, expand storymode so that every character has a seperate storyline(preferebly done in SC3 fashion), re-introduce chronicals of the sword mode, ect. bring back both "standard" and "special" versus modes for the most gameplay versatility on a casual level while still retaining the balance and gameplay fundamentals that are required on a competitive level. add more stages with more variation (maybe even bring back some old stages). now maybe bring back the character profile gallery (done in SC3 fashion) and bring back the SC art gallery. add a super secret boss battle similar to the likes of night terror either in mission mode or at the end of a characters story mode. as for online, retain SC5 online, but try to fix issues with DC's, and of course, optimize the net code further in any way possible. bring button checking back into versus mode, and give a wider selection of option control in training mode similar to that of SCIV.
after this is all done, give players dlc support(extra costumes, extra characters, i guarantee people will buy it) and give us patch support to fix bugs and issues. if needed i also wouldnt mind having to "pay" for "patches/gamerebalancing" after the first 3 or 4 initial patches, assuming that the game isnt already decently balanced enough by then.
improve CPU AI, making higher difficulty opponents tougher, but also try to emulate a sort of learning AI, and attempt to give the AI a more "human" feel. if its in SCVI, the AI should also utilize JG more, and should actively duck under strings at higher level play.
further develop the character's "personality" and backstory. perhaps release artbooks and an OST. give the soundtrack a more "epic SC" Feel, as in previous games. if possible also further return the "feel" of the game to the "analog" feel of older game installments (such as SCII/SCIII).
these are the things that i would like to see in the future of soul calibur. a very solid and well polished game with alot of features to entertain casuals, and good solid gameplay fundamentals to support high level competitive play.
