Recently Crow Spaceboy, a writer for SRK, has released an article discussing his impressions of Soul Calibur 6 based on the demo build that was available at Texas Showdown from May 4-6. As someone who was present at both Final Round and Texas Showdown to play the demo, I have some grievances with his article, specifically his discussion of the mechanic Reversal Edge. While everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, I think it is dishonest and a disservice to readers to dismiss a mechanic as a "dismal failure" while clearly not understanding how the mechanic functions and how it affects the game and while stating "I did not once use this mechanic intentionally." In the interest of providing factual information about Soul Calibur VI I will discuss Reveral Edge vs Guard Impact.
The main point used for why RE is bad was that it serves the same function as Guard Impact while carrying more risk. For those of you that do not know Guard Impact serves as a tool to break up attacks, working against Highs, Lows, Mids, Grabs, and Critical Edge in SC6, Reversal Edge absorbs hits from your opponent and then launches into an RPS like mini-game if it hits. The options available in Reversal Edge are A, B, K, G, Gi, sidestep, backstep, and forward step. It may seem at a glance that RE is much riskier than GI because it requires two reads to get a payout out of significant damage while you can lose for starting RE, but it is important to note that Reversal Edge is clearly in favor of the player who initiates the exchange. On the first round of Reversal Edge if both players attack you have a 1 in 3 chance of losing, 1 in 3 chance of winning, and a 2 in 3 chance of winning vs evasive options. In the second round of Reversal edge, it carries the same odds except you have a 2 in 3 chance of winning on both for attacking with lethal hit damage. Also worth mentioning you can kill with the hit of Reversal edge before the rock paper scissors exchange, and you gain roughly a third of a bar of meter for initiating.
Now with Guard Impact, you are making a 50/50 decision after the impact on whether your opponent will reGI or block, so you could also argue that you could lose for starting a Guard Impact exchange which is statistically less in your favor. You also take Guard Guage damage for whiffing a Guard Impact and Break Attacks specifically give a Lethal Hit against Guard Impacts to discourage players from using Guard Impact. Reversal Edge does have a long whiff animation that can be sidestepped, but you are not going to sidestep Reversal Edge when someone uses it in the middle of a string you could also say that Guard Impact also carries the risk of being punishable if whiffed. Reversal Edge serves as an excellent utility in string defense and stopping from your opponent. Looking at the exhibition from Texas Showdown you can see BxA Party Wolf the best Xiba in America during Soul Calibur 5 (probably the world too) and Link RkC the Soul Calibur 3 legend using Reversal Edge to great effect. I do not want this to be taken as an attack on Crow; I want to address what I believe to inaccuracies in his article regarding Reversal Edge.
edit: this is all based on how reversal edge functions on the demo that was available at Texas Showdown which is subject to change
Original Article Here: http://shoryuken.com/2018/05/07/han...r-vi-at-texas-showdown-2018-part-1-mechanics/
The main point used for why RE is bad was that it serves the same function as Guard Impact while carrying more risk. For those of you that do not know Guard Impact serves as a tool to break up attacks, working against Highs, Lows, Mids, Grabs, and Critical Edge in SC6, Reversal Edge absorbs hits from your opponent and then launches into an RPS like mini-game if it hits. The options available in Reversal Edge are A, B, K, G, Gi, sidestep, backstep, and forward step. It may seem at a glance that RE is much riskier than GI because it requires two reads to get a payout out of significant damage while you can lose for starting RE, but it is important to note that Reversal Edge is clearly in favor of the player who initiates the exchange. On the first round of Reversal Edge if both players attack you have a 1 in 3 chance of losing, 1 in 3 chance of winning, and a 2 in 3 chance of winning vs evasive options. In the second round of Reversal edge, it carries the same odds except you have a 2 in 3 chance of winning on both for attacking with lethal hit damage. Also worth mentioning you can kill with the hit of Reversal edge before the rock paper scissors exchange, and you gain roughly a third of a bar of meter for initiating.
Now with Guard Impact, you are making a 50/50 decision after the impact on whether your opponent will reGI or block, so you could also argue that you could lose for starting a Guard Impact exchange which is statistically less in your favor. You also take Guard Guage damage for whiffing a Guard Impact and Break Attacks specifically give a Lethal Hit against Guard Impacts to discourage players from using Guard Impact. Reversal Edge does have a long whiff animation that can be sidestepped, but you are not going to sidestep Reversal Edge when someone uses it in the middle of a string you could also say that Guard Impact also carries the risk of being punishable if whiffed. Reversal Edge serves as an excellent utility in string defense and stopping from your opponent. Looking at the exhibition from Texas Showdown you can see BxA Party Wolf the best Xiba in America during Soul Calibur 5 (probably the world too) and Link RkC the Soul Calibur 3 legend using Reversal Edge to great effect. I do not want this to be taken as an attack on Crow; I want to address what I believe to inaccuracies in his article regarding Reversal Edge.
edit: this is all based on how reversal edge functions on the demo that was available at Texas Showdown which is subject to change
Original Article Here: http://shoryuken.com/2018/05/07/han...r-vi-at-texas-showdown-2018-part-1-mechanics/
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