Nah, the 1/4 of story was in one of the interviews, so there's fact in the assertion.
Ah, ok, fair enough. Though I do think, particularly with the fandom of this series, innucous little comments by this or that developer often get exaggerated, mistranslated, taken out of context and just generally distorted by the game of telephone-repeat as this information gets passed through the community. So I take all of that with a grain of salt, until I read the interview myself in the original language.
And "I think" was practically confirmed by New Legends of Project Soul giving the characters biographical information and introductory backstory, taken alongside the cues from within the game itself, considering that when you encounter Xiba, Leixia, and Natsu, they're all using their upgraded weapons, the implication is clear that they're well into their journey, with Xiba already having claimed Kali-Yuga.
Sure, but that doesn't mean claiming those weapons is necessarily critical to the plot for this new generation: if anything, a smart writer would realize such narratives would be repetitive and uninspired and would thus arguably choose to have the plot pick up after the point where these characters are tested fighters, regardless. I'm just not convinced all of the newbies were meant to have significant arcs, but for the low budget/short production time.
What they were going to do with it is anyone's guess, but it didn't seem like the plan was to give it to Patroklos at all. Context would have been nice, but we didn't get it at all if it didn't directly correlate to Patroklos or Pyrrha. To hell with everyone else.
Well, but maybe that's a smarter way of telling a story. I mean, I agree that Alexandria brats are not the most compelling protagonists in gaming history, but in principle, if you want to up your game on the story telling in a fighter, trying to give equal screen time to every character is probably not the way to go: it might make sense in terms of paying lipservice to every fan's favourite (which is why most games in this genre do exactly that), but it won't give you much in terms of an elevated story if you are approaching things through that kind of cookie-cutter dynamic.
The biggest problem with SoulCalibur V's story was a lack of cohesion and context, as well as the production values being very... bad, outside of the few actually fully-rendered cutscenes. The visual-novel style is a lot better than those god-awful sepia stills. So I don't agree with you at all that SoulCalibur V had the better production values over SoulCalibur VI. SoulCalibur VI had a lot better quality and quantity both. If they had delivered the full story and there were far more animated scenes, they would have likely set a new standard that would have been hard to follow up on for story modes, more on the level of what Netherrealm Studios brings to Mortal Kombat, but for a Japanese fighter instead.
Well, mind you, it's been seven or eight years since I last played through the story mode (though i did recently replay the last few chapters), but my memory was that the game actually did have significantly more animated and in-engine/mechanima scenes, which is what I was referencing in terms of raised production value.
For a certainty, those segments which were there were actual scenes, as opposed to the previous standard of "[Cervantes, turning around]: 'I shall feat upon your soul!!!' [Sophitia, raises her shield]: Are...you some kind of Monster!?!'"
Indeed, the last few chapters verge on the cinematic, and do something no previous Soulcalibur really ever managed: they give a sense that something fundamental has changed in the fictional world, rather than just setting up a revert to the status quo ante for another retread of basically the exact same plot. and that resolution makes the actual suffering of the principle characters seem more real, earned, and significant. I mean, its not King Lear by any means, but it was something more than I was used to seeing from this franchise.
I thought, aside from Guard Impact costing meter, the mechanics of SoulCalibur V were relatively solid, and I still hold that it was better than SoulCalibur VI overall, purely from a gameplay standpoint. But I don't want another twenty-page argument about it, so I'll get back to the main point.
I can't help but agree with all of that. I think SCVI may end up being the better game on a mechanical level once they are finished with it and have drawn back a bit on the things they initially went overboard on (mehciancs added forplayfield leveling/newbie accessibility in particular), but at present, I think, other than how meter was handled and a few other nitpicks, SCV is actually the tighter fighter, albeit one with far less variety.
I feel like the balance to keep everyone happy is practically impossible, and they've done a really good job with SoulCalibur VI, for the most part. They've set up a stage that can potentially bring us back to the glory days of SoulCalibur III and before, and I'm really hoping that they use it. The current model can more than bring us all the relevant story bits to contextualize every character in a cohesive narrative that keeps the lorehounds happy as well as giving the ones who only care about the gameplay a fun and engaging experience, all the while being a pretty fun game to watch play, which helps the tournament scene gather an audience, which in turn allows popularity to soar, which, all things considered, is what we need the most, to keep getting bigger and better.
My own hope is that the revival of the tournament scene will push the design of the next game a little bit more back towards the hardcore. I recognize that the devs/publisher are subject to the whims of the consumer base, and that story is unlikely to be paired back to where it was in the classic era, but for me the balance is a little off in this game. Of course, with the continuing support / multiple season pass sales model, they don't have to choose between the two as much anymore: they can simply sell (over multiple installments) a more expensive product that caters more completely to everyone.
And while I would be happier with a cheaper product that emphasizes core content assets and de-emphasizes lore and long, drawn out story modes, I recognize we are all in this together as fans and I'm happy to pay $100-$120 per platform for the complete game, provided the roster returns to being consistently large and composed of well-balanced characters, and other core assets (stages, hardcore modes, matchmaking/netcode, CaS, ect.) are all done right. That said, I do wonder how many fans are as eagerly along for that price tag as I am. But we shall see: clearly Namco (like its genre competitors) is trying to finally break open that game consumer reticence to pay more than $60 for a fighter, and I do think the time has come, and support their moving in that direction. But I still hear a lot of bitchy, whiny, entitled moaning from a lot of players.
As someone who played the ever loving fuck out of SCV, I would really appreciate seeing Natsu reappear.
Sure, Taki is still fun and I realky enjoy playibg her, but it doesnt quite feel the same. I didnt really play SCIV enough to get attacged to the characters in it as much as other fans, so the change didnt really hit me that badly. I'll say it really hurts to lose a character you've been playing for a long time, I do know the feeling, from when I played tekken. That and SF has a habit of removing my mains.
I'd be over tge moon if Natsu was reintroduced later, like talim, as Taki's apprentice or partner. If they wanted to diversify Natsu you could shift her into a slightly slower but harder hitting version of herself, with more arahabaki moves. You could also make her SC a transformation. As a gimmick you could also have ger start off with fairly average damage, that increases in yellow health to slightly above average damage.
I couldn't agree more as to Natsu's value. Of all the 'near-beer' styles (as I call the SCV semi-clones), Natsu was undoubtedly the biggest success in translating the basic core of the original character's style while also allowing for variance that makes the general style feel refreshing, rather than a disappointing knock-off. There is just something so rewarding about her ability to lure out and manipulate the opponent if you play cannily with her: I really hope she makes a return at some point, hopefully just a tad bit more differentiated from Taki so they can co-exist without issue.
I think other people should get their mains back first, Like Hwang, Setsuka and Lizzy fans. Even rock fans. I'd feel like scum if we got natsu but lizzy got shafted.
Maybe if a season four is a thing, we might be able to get her, since okubo said he wanted the game to last long. But other people should get their mains back first.
Yeah, much as it pains me to say it, i think a fourth season is a bridge too far: I just don't think they will push this multiple season pass experiment that far this generation, more's the pity. I think its highly likely we will get a third season, but only a third season. And yeah, there's just too many remaining classic characters to allow for her in Season Three. If any Soulcalibur V character gets in, it would likely be Viola, and even that is unlikely in my estimation--again, unfortunately, as Viola is a great style: one of the few hocus-pocus characters I can really get behind.
