Soul Calibur VI: General discussion

I personally love the Shrine of Eurydice in this game. It looks extremely beautiful. Considering it was the first stage we get to see, i'd say it was the first they worked on.

I think the main issue that affected the stages along with other several aspects of the game is the budget. It's been already stated lots of times that the budget was very limited and the game was rushed. We didn't get the best, but what we got is good enough. imo, at least. And we're still getting stages as dlc, so that's something.

I think we should just be grateful that we even have a SCVI, and personally, the biggest hope i have out of this game is that it opens bamco's eyes on the series and they finally acknowledge that it does have potential. Then, maybe they can have a respectable budget for SCVII.
 
Welcome compadre, enjoy your stay, watch your head.
The stage problem arguably is gettingbetter and better with each new character now.
Hope they keep giving us more of those in S3... because we ARE getting S3.
We are...
Thanks! yeah, the stage are getting better.. i can't lie. i like how we all wanted a stage set in japan, and now we got two of them. i hope we do get a season three.
 
yep

SC5 you really get the feeling of an epic battle, since there's a lot happening even in the background:

1) War elephants in the battlefield,
2) Archers
3) humans struggling against a giant malfested
4) malfested with battering ram
5) civilians fleeing a fire

etc...

Even setsuka's new stage.. the city scape is actually very sterile and feels drab despite looking technically better, is more dull aesthetically.
SC6's infinite training mode-only stage really sums it up.

SC5 achievements:
• amazing stages (arguably best in the series)
• amazing music (arguably best in the series)
• relatively more cinematic cutscenes (even though the story mode was 1/4 of what they really wanted to do)
• introduced in-battle super moves

SC5 failures:
• everything else
Well idk about everything else being a failure for SC5. The creation was honestly a step up from the other games, the brave edge system was executed very well and was universal for the entire cast, online was also pretty good (PSN was a little iffy but still serviceable) and felt much more complete compared to SC6 with better matchmaking and actual lobby searching for player matches instead of just being tossed into a random one as soon as you start the search.
 
Well idk about everything else being a failure for SC5. The creation was honestly a step up from the other games, the brave edge system was executed very well and was universal for the entire cast, online was also pretty good (PSN was a little iffy but still serviceable) and felt much more complete compared to SC6 with better matchmaking and actual lobby searching for player matches instead of just being tossed into a random one as soon as you start the search.
fair enough:

Regarding brave edge: Maybe it was just my mains, but they always only felt as +damage for combos, and only a few offered safe exit for a string / ambiguous recovery

I will admit that being able to BE any time you have meter does have merits compared to the "X factor" duration of Soul Charge in SC6.
 
Well idk about everything else being a failure for SC5. The creation was honestly a step up from the other games, the brave edge system was executed very well and was universal for the entire cast, online was also pretty good (PSN was a little iffy but still serviceable) and felt much more complete compared to SC6 with better matchmaking and actual lobby searching for player matches instead of just being tossed into a random one as soon as you start the search.
Global Colloseo was also pretty cool for what it was, and Quick Battle that it and Broken Destiny have is a pretty cool mode too, I think, to see minor characters fighting (Arthur, Li Long, Hwang, Miser, Salia, etc.) as well as some decently interesting designs at times. Though that’s also because SoulCalibur V had more parts to work with, even now with all of SoulCalibur VI’s DLC. But I did much prefer Brave Edges to Soul Charge, and the shorter Critical Edges were also better implementation. The shorter move lists are bad, but most moves were viable at the same time. And the mimics got a lot of hate, but as someone who uses mimics a lot, the idea of male and female mimic was cool, if only for creation mode. But I also loved Elysium a whole huggy bunch, I just wish she modified all movesets, not just Pyrrha Omega, but even her unique Critical Edge opened new combo potential as well.
 
fair enough:

Regarding brave edge: Maybe it was just my mains, but they always only felt as +damage for combos, and only a few offered safe exit for a string / ambiguous recovery

I will admit that being able to BE any time you have meter does have merits compared to the "X factor" duration of Soul Charge in SC6.
A lot of them were mostly just combo extenders yes, but others were also useful as guard punishers such as Voldo’s 6B BE. It wasn’t a perfect system but it worked for what it trying to do. Some characters definitely did benefit more from this mechanic. Compare aPat’s Brave Edges to Raphael’s and you notice that straight away.
 
8WR's Wiki is not comprehensive of all moves for all characters as yet, but it does serve for most purposes.
and imo the best looking game is SC5 for me. I liked the shaders for that game. Looked very unique
I often find myself in the position of defending SCV (a game I was highly critical of at release but which I have come to view in a more complicated and positive light since, but I'm definetly on the opposite end of the spectrum from you on this one: I didn't not care for the move to a very obviously Street Fighter inspired approach to the color palette, saturation levels, textures, and yes, shaders. But it is of course one of the more subjective areas in which you can judge a game, so obviously it differences of opinion must be mostly treated as a "to each their own" kind of situation.
For whatever reason the stage design in SC6 feels mostly uninspired and I can’t put my finger on why that is. Perhaps the mechanics of this game require simple stages as a necessity?
I don't think there's anything innate to the rest of the design of the game that requires these lackluster designs--rather I think that it's just something that got short shrift this time around. It could also be down to the loss of a key personnel from the project. But whatever the cause, it's a shame, because this has, from the very first game, been a strength and artistic cornerstone for the franchise, and this has got to be by far the weakest entry in that respect. The last few additions have upped their game a little (at least, in abstract design--the technical issues with focus continue to handicap the artistic improvements), but the overall selection is still abysmal: the most recent update have only brought the number of stages barely abreast of the the first, 25-year-old, game in the series and most, as noted above, are generic and lacking in detail and artistic character, have no interactive elements, and just all around feel like the artificial spaces that they are, rather than giving the impression of being a part of a lived-in (if somewhat fanciful and wild) broader world, as stages in the past often have.

It's a real problem because the stages constitute the other element (aside from character design) which players have to look at every match. Ideally they should be providing as much context and sense of engagement as the characters themselves, but here they just feel like cookie cutter boxes devoid of substance and impact.
I personally love the Shrine of Eurydice in this game. It looks extremely beautiful. Considering it was the first stage we get to see, i'd say it was the first they worked on.
I do agree that it is one of the better stages here--although even there, it kinda falls short of the Eurydice stages, relative to when they were released.
We didn't get the best, but what we got is good enough. imo, at least.
I'm not sure I agree, when it comes to the stages.
I think we should just be grateful that we even have a SCVI...
Not sure I agree with that sentiment either. We are customers after-all: I'm not sure 'gratitude' is the right way to describe how we ought to feel about parting with our money for a product. And we're paying more than ever now. Not that I think that is a problem in itself--I actually support the multiple season pass sales model and thin it is the only way we can reasltically get fully developed games as production costs rise and the cost for the base product stays the same.

But I don't think the fact that they technically could have decided not to make this game ought to insulate it from reasonable criticism--nor do i think theior decision to do so was timed for anything other than when they felt they could again make a profit. And criticism of the stage design is about as understandable and legitimate an area to criticize this game on as exists; it's weak in this game, we all know it, and I don't think it can be entirely excused away merely by the fact that the game had a budget. I'm all for keeping this (and all) criticism within proportion and perspective, but this is also undoubtedly an area where games in the series have tradtionally excelled and where they very much let us down this time--maybe more so than in any other aspect of the game.
Well idk about everything else being a failure for SC5. The creation was honestly a step up from the other games, the brave edge system was executed very well and was universal for the entire cast, online was also pretty good (PSN was a little iffy but still serviceable) and felt much more complete compared to SC6 with better matchmaking and actual lobby searching for player matches instead of just being tossed into a random one as soon as you start the search.
Agreed, 100%. SCV gets way more flack than it deserves. It had soem balance issues at launch, no doubt, but mechanically it is overall a solid game. The decisons with regard to the roster are somewhat inexplicable--not just in the question design choices for the new characters or the choice of which legacy characters were held over, but in the very decision to replace so much of the roster to begin with when the budget and timeline were so constrained. It's the job of the senior devs to keep ambitions and the overall approach to production consistent with the available resources and timetable, and it is in this respect that I think Odashima really flubbed his turn at the helm, and this had knock-on effects all the way down the line that go a long way to explaining why the game was as poorly received as it was. I also think the tonal changes and shifts in approach to art design with regard from everything form the characters to the stages to the sound to some aspects of the gameplay (I actually do not much care for the brave edge system not how meter and GIs were approached) were consistently a step or two too far away from series tradition all-around, also suggesting far too much indulgence by the director for his own idiosyncratic preferences.

But SCV excels in other areas. The gameplay is overall tight and competitive (especially after patching), and the story is the closest thing the series has ever produced to being something that can be taken seriously--and certainly involves the best production values the franchise has ever seen in that regard. It's online implementation was also about as good as it has ever been since the series went online, from the structure of the matchmaking systems to the netcode, to the use of user-generated content in non-versus contexts. The CaS ssytem was again imrpoved in significant respects, and minus some emo and anime influences here and there, a lot of the new movesets were fun. And of course the music was great as always. SCV may not be the favorite entry for many players (if any at all), but it also doesn't deserve the level of (often poorly argued) hate that it gets either.
 
Last edited:
SC5 was just too barebones and boring for me. The only things i enjoyed are the improved character creation and the faster movement. I prefer SCIV over it in all the other aspects. The short DLC life cycle didn't help either.
 
SC5 was just too barebones and boring for me.

This is pretty much my biggest gripe with SC5. I love having lots of options for a character as it allows me to express setups and combos that I find deeply satisfying to do. I know that some players want the series to go back to the simpler times but I don't find that interesting enough for me.
 
Last edited:
You know what, I’ll give not just SC5, but SC4 credit as well in that at least it had better consistency with it’s matchmaking for online play for Ranked and Player/Casual Matches. And even better is that you were able to choose whether to fight that player AND being able to manually find a lobby. Something you can’t say about SC6 at all.
 
yep

SC5 you really get the feeling of an epic battle, since there's a lot happening even in the background:

1) War elephants in the battlefield,
2) Archers
3) humans struggling against a giant malfested
4) malfested with battering ram
5) civilians fleeing a fire

etc...

Even setsuka's new stage.. the city scape is actually very sterile and feels drab despite looking technically better, is more dull aesthetically.
SC6's infinite training mode-only stage really sums it up.

SC5 achievements:
• amazing stages (arguably best in the series)
• amazing music (arguably best in the series)
• relatively more cinematic cutscenes (even though the story mode was 1/4 of what they really wanted to do)
• introduced in-battle super moves

SC5 failures:
• everything else

I really like Setsuka's stage, especially the nighttime version of it has a very nice atmosphere to it which makes me wonder by focusing on atmospheric sounds rather than music which is an option in Last Blade 2 (video should start at 03:07)

But yeah, I agree, the SC6 stages feel very sterile. I think some of them look pretty cool, but they need to animate more so they seem more lively. I think the Last Blade 2 clip is a good example. The setting for that stage isn't very special, but it has really good lighting, you can see birds flying in the background, there's wind making the grass and other elements move. I wish the SC6 stages looked as lively as that.

And also, it's a bit silly how 99% of them are in very generic locations (I wonder if they did that so they work better for the story modes). SC5 was probably the peak in the series when it comes to stage design. I'm not a fan of SC5 overall, but it did have really good looking stages in interesting locations, some of them with a lot of animation, and they just looked cool.
 
As far as SCV goes, they did pretty good with the time they had to work on it. I can only imagine how cool the game could have been if theyd finish it. I still think they should transfer all the 1p/2ps and unreleased 1p/2ps from 4/5 to 6.

Besides money, what stops them from doing this? Its something people WILL buy and has been requested.

Can someone with a technical point of view explain to me why it isn’t feasible? Is it really that difficult to port older generation items?
 
SC6 comparison to SC5 quickly:

SC6 better in : gameplay (more fun to play, and much much more fun to watch), storytelling, and mostly roster
SC5 better in: Stages design overall, had 2P costumes (and most of them were pretty neat)

I personally love the c in this game. It looks extremely beautiful. Considering it was the first stage we get to see, i'd say it was the first they worked on.

I think the main issue that affected the stages along with other several aspects of the game is the budget. It's been already stated lots of times that the budget was very limited and the game was rushed. We didn't get the best, but what we got is good enough. imo, at least. And we're still getting stages as dlc, so that's something.

I think we should just be grateful that we even have a SCVI, and personally, the biggest hope i have out of this game is that it opens bamco's eyes on the series and they finally acknowledge that it does have potential. Then, maybe they can have a respectable budget for SCVII.

Shrine of Eurydice is my favorite stage in SC6, and its music too.

Also agree pretty much with everything else.
 
Last edited:
That title goes to SC3. I kinda hoping SC7 just updates those stages as they are all gorgeous.
In a general artistic sense, yes, but the technical advantage of SoulCalibur V stages gives them the win, I think. Stages like Kilik’s and Elysium’s, where the final round takes place on a different area of the stage, or Astaroth’s, where a ring out win results in a new area to fight in, they make the fights a lot more dynamic. Also, having infinite stages was also a great mixup that is missing from SoulCalibur VI, aside from the Faraway Meadow from Hilde’s Soul Chronicle and the Grand Labyrinth from Training Mode, but neither of these are general use legitimately.
 
Back