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Party Wolf
Administrator
This thread is about my list of things that I want in the new game. For those of you who don't know me, I am a moderator, front page author, tournament player, and long time fan of the SoulCalibur series. I am really passionate about casual and competitive modes in my video games, so please don't come at me like I am some elitist who doesn't care about lore and single player content.
#10 Guest Characters
This is at the bottom of my list because I think it is the least important. Since SC typically has guest characters, I would really enjoy it if Genji/Reinhardt from Overwatch made an appearance.
Overwatch is a game that is still being updated, so I think there is some incentive from Blizzard to let Namco borrow a couple of their characters for extra advertising. I think these characters would fit very well into the game because they both use melee weapons and the Overwatch roster is pretty dialogue centric during their fights just like SoulCalibur. Talking and fighting to me is one of the most iconic things about SoulCalibur gameplay. I feel that alone makes it natural for them to fit into the universe. To be fair though, anything is an improvement from stupid characters like Yoda and Darth Vader. What are they doing here?
#9 Vertical Verticals, Horizontal Horizontals, and Movement
What do I mean by this? In older titles like SoulCalibur 2, a lot of horizontal attacks were able to beaten with sidestep, which makes no sense given the name of the category. Horizontals were fixed for the most part over time, so I am not super stressed about Project Soul's ability to make them work in SC6.
However in the newer games, the problem of characters having verticals that CAN NOT be stepped to one direction or in rare cases both is troubling. Personally, I don't mind slight tracking to one side and welcome it, but if you are going to make a move a vertical, then it needs to be beatable by sideways movement in either direction. Otherwise you just end up having horizontals that are labeled incorrectly and that affects the meta negatively since there are aGIs designed specifically to counter verticals as well as horizontals.
I think that you could naturally solve some of these problems with better movement. The distance traveled is large in SC5 and in SC2 which feels good to me. In SoulCalibur 2, sideways movement was literally risk free against horizontal highs and mids since you could block while you move. To me that isn't good since it reduced the viability of a lot of attacks. In SoulCalibur 5, sideways and backwards movement had huge recovery, which is lame because it caused the game to have more instances where people are forced to just stand still and feel stiff.
My suggestion to fix this would be to make movement safer than it is in SC5, but contrast it from SC2 by making each character's move set have horizontals that can't be sidestepped through. I also think that if you press the guard button, then your character needs to stop moving like you do in SC1, 3 and 4.
#8 Meterless GI
Guard impact is the most iconic mechanic in the series. No other game has this and everyone likes it. GI wars is really hype to watch since it is literally a tug of war. Although GI is really effective in SoulCalibur 5 as a strategy due to meter management, you don't have that same freedom of relieving block pressure that you did in older games because you are limited in how many times you can perform a GI. Just Guard was an okay addition, but it doesn't compare to free GI in terms of how much fun you will be having in that meta.
#7 Throwback Costumes
When I played Legendary Souls in SoulCalibur 5 for the first time, I was honestly really excited to see SC4 Siegfried, SC4 Nightmare, and SE Cervantes. Getting to reuse some of the more classic and iconic costumes would be an awesome idea and I was really disappointed when I found out that it was not possible to use the costumes from Legendary Souls mode.
#6 Advanced Tutorial Mode
I think that a strong tutorial has been lacking in the series. I would like a mode that breaks down how to play your character, in general, and match ups. Showing what the notation means and each character's frame data would also be a good idea. Please also show people how to navigate practice mode. It isn't very intuitive if it is your first fighting game ever.
I have heard that BlazBlue and Guilty Geard have pretty good tutorials, but I haven't played them myself. Let me know what you'd want the game to teach you.
#5 Story Mode
I honestly haven't really been aware of the canon story when I have played SoulCalibur. You have the arcade endings sure, but that isn't necessarily what actually happens before the sequels. This irked me and I hope that they don't insist on doing this in SC6.
SC5 had the right direction in that regard, but everyone knows that the actual story that was made for 5 is trash. The sepia stills weren't exciting either.
I would also like more badass moments that SC3 had in it's story. When I was younger, moments like this got me super hype. Good dialogue, choreography, and immersion.
#4 Art direction and OST
I feel like this was at it's peak during SoulCalibur 3. All of the games before 3 were good too, but then SC4 happened. I don't want another game that looks gloomy and has an OST that I could use to help me nap. I want exciting music and exciting places in my fighting game.
Gross.
#3 Old Roster + New Roster Redesign
I feel like this is very controversial ever since SC5 (or SC4 if you weren't a fan of Star Wars). The old characters without question need to come back, but I think some of the new characters could fit in as well. They weren't received well because they didn't have a whole lot that made them unique because they were replacements.
Looking back from SC2 to SC3, you will notice that the difference between the clone characters (e.g. Kilik/Mina, Asta/Rock, Sophitia/Lizardman) have had their move sets expanded and cut to make them way more unique than their similar counterparts. I think if SC6 did something similar to this jump, then the new characters would actually feel like new characters.
For example, Xiba is always hungry right? Why not give him some gameplay mechanics where the more he eats, the more stuff he can do with his attacks. I am thinking of characters like Shun Di from VF, Sin Kiske from GG, and Chin Gentsai from KOF.
With Natsu, since she is possessed by a snake demon you could have more moves that cater to that. You could also change her stance to look fundamentally different. Make her hold her blades like Revenant from SC3 or something.
Even looking at Patroklos, he is fundamentally way different from Sophitia and Cassandra in terms of how he looks when he is fighting. They have proven that they can do that with him. People just don't like Patroklos because he is a strong character or because of his lore. Either way, he is a testament to what Namco COULD do with the actual move sets to make the new characters look less like replacements and more like different unique entities that aren't watered down.
#2 Online Ranking System
The ranking system to me has been garbage for a while. Any old noob can get the top rank by just grinding. I have seen people with 40% win rates acquire A1. This is a buzzkill to me because it feels like your rank is devalued due to it being so common. I also think A1 is a pretty lackluster title to begin with. I think Tekken's ranking system is a good model to look at since it is a lot more challenging to have the best rank. They are also much fancier than what SoulCalibur has.
Ranked to me is important if you want your player base to be competitive and stick with your game for the long haul. It gives a goal for everyone to strive for. If you make it actually correlate with skill, then the top ranks will be way more exclusive and you will feel better when you get them.
#1 SoulCalibur Beta
We have seen betas for fighting games before. These are so important because they allow the fans to have a voice as to what is displeasing them in terms of balance and gameplay. We don't need or want another rushed fighting game. If we want to have a fighter that feels complete and fun on release, then this needs to happen. You already see this with Tekken via arcades.
HOWEVER, don't be like SFV where the lack of content in the beta is what the actual game is. That was stupid.
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Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my wishlist <3. Excuse my grammar I made this really late at night. P.S. No infinite stages plz
#10 Guest Characters
This is at the bottom of my list because I think it is the least important. Since SC typically has guest characters, I would really enjoy it if Genji/Reinhardt from Overwatch made an appearance.
Overwatch is a game that is still being updated, so I think there is some incentive from Blizzard to let Namco borrow a couple of their characters for extra advertising. I think these characters would fit very well into the game because they both use melee weapons and the Overwatch roster is pretty dialogue centric during their fights just like SoulCalibur. Talking and fighting to me is one of the most iconic things about SoulCalibur gameplay. I feel that alone makes it natural for them to fit into the universe. To be fair though, anything is an improvement from stupid characters like Yoda and Darth Vader. What are they doing here?
#9 Vertical Verticals, Horizontal Horizontals, and Movement
What do I mean by this? In older titles like SoulCalibur 2, a lot of horizontal attacks were able to beaten with sidestep, which makes no sense given the name of the category. Horizontals were fixed for the most part over time, so I am not super stressed about Project Soul's ability to make them work in SC6.
However in the newer games, the problem of characters having verticals that CAN NOT be stepped to one direction or in rare cases both is troubling. Personally, I don't mind slight tracking to one side and welcome it, but if you are going to make a move a vertical, then it needs to be beatable by sideways movement in either direction. Otherwise you just end up having horizontals that are labeled incorrectly and that affects the meta negatively since there are aGIs designed specifically to counter verticals as well as horizontals.
I think that you could naturally solve some of these problems with better movement. The distance traveled is large in SC5 and in SC2 which feels good to me. In SoulCalibur 2, sideways movement was literally risk free against horizontal highs and mids since you could block while you move. To me that isn't good since it reduced the viability of a lot of attacks. In SoulCalibur 5, sideways and backwards movement had huge recovery, which is lame because it caused the game to have more instances where people are forced to just stand still and feel stiff.
My suggestion to fix this would be to make movement safer than it is in SC5, but contrast it from SC2 by making each character's move set have horizontals that can't be sidestepped through. I also think that if you press the guard button, then your character needs to stop moving like you do in SC1, 3 and 4.
#8 Meterless GI
Guard impact is the most iconic mechanic in the series. No other game has this and everyone likes it. GI wars is really hype to watch since it is literally a tug of war. Although GI is really effective in SoulCalibur 5 as a strategy due to meter management, you don't have that same freedom of relieving block pressure that you did in older games because you are limited in how many times you can perform a GI. Just Guard was an okay addition, but it doesn't compare to free GI in terms of how much fun you will be having in that meta.
#7 Throwback Costumes
When I played Legendary Souls in SoulCalibur 5 for the first time, I was honestly really excited to see SC4 Siegfried, SC4 Nightmare, and SE Cervantes. Getting to reuse some of the more classic and iconic costumes would be an awesome idea and I was really disappointed when I found out that it was not possible to use the costumes from Legendary Souls mode.
#6 Advanced Tutorial Mode
I think that a strong tutorial has been lacking in the series. I would like a mode that breaks down how to play your character, in general, and match ups. Showing what the notation means and each character's frame data would also be a good idea. Please also show people how to navigate practice mode. It isn't very intuitive if it is your first fighting game ever.
I have heard that BlazBlue and Guilty Geard have pretty good tutorials, but I haven't played them myself. Let me know what you'd want the game to teach you.
#5 Story Mode
I honestly haven't really been aware of the canon story when I have played SoulCalibur. You have the arcade endings sure, but that isn't necessarily what actually happens before the sequels. This irked me and I hope that they don't insist on doing this in SC6.
SC5 had the right direction in that regard, but everyone knows that the actual story that was made for 5 is trash. The sepia stills weren't exciting either.
I would also like more badass moments that SC3 had in it's story. When I was younger, moments like this got me super hype. Good dialogue, choreography, and immersion.
#4 Art direction and OST
I feel like this was at it's peak during SoulCalibur 3. All of the games before 3 were good too, but then SC4 happened. I don't want another game that looks gloomy and has an OST that I could use to help me nap. I want exciting music and exciting places in my fighting game.
Gross.
#3 Old Roster + New Roster Redesign
I feel like this is very controversial ever since SC5 (or SC4 if you weren't a fan of Star Wars). The old characters without question need to come back, but I think some of the new characters could fit in as well. They weren't received well because they didn't have a whole lot that made them unique because they were replacements.
Looking back from SC2 to SC3, you will notice that the difference between the clone characters (e.g. Kilik/Mina, Asta/Rock, Sophitia/Lizardman) have had their move sets expanded and cut to make them way more unique than their similar counterparts. I think if SC6 did something similar to this jump, then the new characters would actually feel like new characters.
For example, Xiba is always hungry right? Why not give him some gameplay mechanics where the more he eats, the more stuff he can do with his attacks. I am thinking of characters like Shun Di from VF, Sin Kiske from GG, and Chin Gentsai from KOF.
With Natsu, since she is possessed by a snake demon you could have more moves that cater to that. You could also change her stance to look fundamentally different. Make her hold her blades like Revenant from SC3 or something.
Even looking at Patroklos, he is fundamentally way different from Sophitia and Cassandra in terms of how he looks when he is fighting. They have proven that they can do that with him. People just don't like Patroklos because he is a strong character or because of his lore. Either way, he is a testament to what Namco COULD do with the actual move sets to make the new characters look less like replacements and more like different unique entities that aren't watered down.
#2 Online Ranking System
The ranking system to me has been garbage for a while. Any old noob can get the top rank by just grinding. I have seen people with 40% win rates acquire A1. This is a buzzkill to me because it feels like your rank is devalued due to it being so common. I also think A1 is a pretty lackluster title to begin with. I think Tekken's ranking system is a good model to look at since it is a lot more challenging to have the best rank. They are also much fancier than what SoulCalibur has.
Ranked to me is important if you want your player base to be competitive and stick with your game for the long haul. It gives a goal for everyone to strive for. If you make it actually correlate with skill, then the top ranks will be way more exclusive and you will feel better when you get them.
#1 SoulCalibur Beta
We have seen betas for fighting games before. These are so important because they allow the fans to have a voice as to what is displeasing them in terms of balance and gameplay. We don't need or want another rushed fighting game. If we want to have a fighter that feels complete and fun on release, then this needs to happen. You already see this with Tekken via arcades.
HOWEVER, don't be like SFV where the lack of content in the beta is what the actual game is. That was stupid.
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Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my wishlist <3. Excuse my grammar I made this really late at night. P.S. No infinite stages plz
