Soulcalibur V Invitational with Kayane on 9/23

Kayane, with the help and generosity of Namco Bandai, have come together to organize an event where the top Soul Calibur players in France have been invited to play the demo of Soul Calibur 5. The event starts Friday, 9/23 at 6:30PM local time and will also be streamed through Twitch.tv with Kayane answering questions that are given in chat.

I would like to thank Namco Bandai for allowing this event to take place and for our top players to get their hands on the game. Hopefully this is the beginning of more events to come for SC5. Check after the break for a list of local times and Kayane’s blog for additional details.

Time: 6:30PM Local | 5:30PM UK | 12:30PM Eastern | 11:30AM Central | 9:30AM Pacific | 1:30AM Sat Japan

Stream

Player List:

1) Kayane
2) Malek
3) Saitoh
4) Scud
5) Ahriman
6) Keysona
7) Dems
8 ) Varghas
9) Furzy
10) Keev
11) Dina
12) Chiyo
13) Kiira
14) Mayura
15) Asenka
16) Sakon
17) Akiru
18) Akire
19) Pantocrator
20) Freackysound
21) Yota
22) Chris
23) Xso
24) Deus Kaliya
25) Eggmaster
26) Hajin
27) Ryukozan
28) Zou
29) Tsubasa
30) Hazu
31) Captain Algeria
32) Cassandra
33) Steeve
34) PTT
35) Raziel
36) Wael
37) Hayate
38) Cop DT7
39) Fenrir
40) Zappy
41) Kerrigan
42) Ran
43) Cynefyl
44) Mystic
45) Saunic
46) Ramza
47) Samsam
48) Mister H
49) Rodolphe

 

Ivy looks kinda broken to me, at the moment. I mean, if you can kill someone by only usin' two moves, regardless of range, you're pretty fuckin' broken in my eyes.

Two moves? You mean her CE's startup which can be ducked on reaction? And her 214A unblockable which Malek spammed against Tira that is a high?

Aside from from the fact she can access all tools from one stance, half of them from SC4 is gone or been nerfed in dmg and in properties. Aside from her BE being SS, her other BEs dont even launch. Her neutral game dmg output outside of throws is comparatively as small as Tira.

Just look at Astaroth. CE throw>22B dmg. A/B cmd throws. Knee TJ,TC and stuns on NH. Bullrush can be extended with CE to KD and the followup hits OTG leading into a groundsplat which forces them to get up else they eat unbreakable ground throw. His jump B still KD. 4[A+B] still there. Have spacing tools. What kind of grappler is that?

 

The live-chat watching people play SC5 and chatting about it was very funny.

...Daishi just tweeted this.

 

Two moves? You mean her CE's startup which can be ducked on reaction? And her 214A unblockable which Malek spammed against Tira that is a high?

Aside from from the fact she can access all tools from one stance, half of them from SC4 is gone or been nerfed in dmg and in properties. Aside from her BE being SS, her other BEs dont even launch. Her neutral game dmg output outside of throws is comparatively as small as Tira.

Just look at Astaroth. CE throw>22B dmg. A/B cmd throws. Knee TJ,TC and stuns on NH. Bullrush can be extended with CE to KD and the followup hits OTG leading into a groundsplat which forces them to get up else they eat unbreakable ground throw. His jump B still KD. 4[A+B] still there. Have spacing tools. What kind of grappler is that?

typical ivy user.

Want more buffs and can't look at the big picture. The fact that asta can't poke nearly as well as ivy. Can't move as quickly as ivy. Its a demo game, so the characters that are the most straightfoward means you can spend more time trying new scary things out, instead of figuring out inputs.
knee, bullrush, 22B, grabs... seriously what else did you expect the astaroth to try ?

 

Great gameplay yesterday, well done to Kayane for the stream.

 

Didn't get to see the live stream but i watched recorded streams. It felt good to see Hilde still charge up and land hits with more than two moves this time since charging won't be her game in 5.

I hope to see more moves you can use with Hilde that will make you think twice before using the charge up moves. Sure, that shouldn't happen but sometimes in 4, the most usual option was to charge up or GTFO. I'm aware of players who doesn't think that way but i would like to have more moves to work with in 5 than just (e.g) 6+BK / 2+BK / 3+B, A

 

Oh watever! SO..............to make a pt about something itself is ptless when its a freakin demo. Yes nobody cares.....-__________-. It puts me in low spirits to just kno i have wasted my time here.

Thank you Wuht and Omega.

 

ZAS is broken didnt you see?? FORFEITTTTT.

 

IIRC Kayane said that Ivy's CE was not react-able to, you'd have to anticipate it, may be wrong though...

 

You cant avoid CE after freeze frame. But if you can see the startup which is her arm raising, flashing blue.....DUCK!!! Tho Kayane could be right about even that is humanely impossible.

 

Having had the chance to play Astaroth some games in the Kayane's location test session (Thanks to Kayane + Namco), here is a first feedback, of course to take with a grain of salt since the game is far from over, and Above all, we did not really have time to spend hours on each character.

Also note that I will not detail here the game system or the visual and so on. oh yes, I will only accurate to speak of Asta!

Here in no particular order, the new stuff we found (with Hazu and Saitoh), in terms of manipulation and combos:

6K:
The same one from Soulcalibur IV (the same animation), except that it performs a knockdown in neutral hit! As a result, it was found that after 6K, tehre was a 1B+K (new manip' of 2A + K's SCIV) combo (Varghas said that 22B also works, but not checked, especially if I do not know it is more profitable). Similarly, it can also have a follow-up with 1A+G or 1B+G ground throw: this opens a new mind game, but the opponent may break the ground throw, so it remains a risk.

It is therefore the perfect choice to punish a lot of stuff!Its biggest problem? Without knowing its blockstun in guard, we can say without worry that it is far more punishable than in SCIV. So I think that eventually, a single shot knees blocked, it will be big, very big punishment ...

66 + K [BE / BRAVE EDGE]:
The "Double Bull Rush"! After the first Bull Rush, you can perform a BE (A + B + K), and Asta will do a second bull rush. It's very violent and opens to numerous mind games (BE or not BE ? That is the question) And especially, it seems fairly SAFE (a priori, to be confirmed).

Then, if you manage to land it, you have some option for the follow-up :

If the opponent does not tech (and stays on the ground), a 1B + K is guaranteed (big, big damage).
If the opponent tech, it is assumed (but yet to be confirmed, because no one was teching during the session...) you can place a tech trap, probably a 2A+G or 2B+G throw, or why not a 66[K]? That would be super strong ...

The big failure of the move is that it seems very, very vulnerable to the step.

22 B + BE:
In fact, it gives the same effect as of SCIV 22B4, with probably the same opportunities for follow-up (to be confirmed).

63214 A + G + BE:
The special A throw from SCIV. The difference is that with the Brave Edge, you have a follow-up that opens a new mind game (Tech trap game likely to be confirmed).

2A+G or 2B+G + BE:
The two “low” throws have follow-up in BE. Options to be confirmed, but if there are tech trap, it would be very, very powerfull, among other things because they seem always happened after a Bull Rush in the wall etc..

Critical Edge (236 236 A + B + K):
The famous "Ultra" of Asta, a special throw that hurts.However, at first glance, I find it comes more slowly than the EC of Ivy, based on the same principle... but it is perhaps an optical illusion.

Nevertheless, if the opponent has not declined in anticipation or in the early frames of light of the EC, it's dead for him.

In addition to the damage of the sympathetic EC itself is mostly follow-up are brutal:

22B guaranteed.
22B BE (relaunch) + Follow-up guaranteed: that's the extreme violence if you have enough CE.

BULK:

Most SCIV moves are present, which is great fun. The specific manipulations of the throw did not change and just frame version are still ok.
Some moves have changed, as the 2A + K replaced by 1B + K. ..
4 [A + B] seems less stalk, and thus is less useful wake-up game ...
63214 B + 22B always guaranteed, is very, very high damage. By cons, I was not too successful in 63214 B+G - 2 / 8 B+ G. 2 / 8 B + G does not seem to connect. It remains to be confirmed. Similarly, I should also test the tech-trap and more B after 63214 B+ G. ..
2B + K's SCIV seems to have disappeared. Anyway, we did not find the correct manipulation to do so.
4B is guard break, very strong.
We could not test the actual follow-up of 3B and 3 , but B + K should at least works, I guess.
6A CH B has disappeared, or rather, there is no more B after 6A. In addition, the 6A seems slower (not possible to interrupt the 3 K of Siegfried, while it was possible in SCIV).

To summarize:

There are still many things to test, what I hope to do on Sunday in the GNOUZ RANKING (but never much time to do it right in match ...).

What is certain is that Brave Edge makes Asta very powerfull in this version :
Follow-up on the special A throw, the low throws, the 22B, the Bull-Rush, EC threat: lots of new mind game madness. If we add the threat of 6K in neutral, it becomes very dangerous to duck in anticipation of a thorw or EC.

But, at the level of concern, asta seems fairly steppable (TBC) and rather unsafe (especially 6K). But it is so profitable, the risk & reward is much to your advantage ...

The only thing that we can now pray that he remains the same in the final game...

 

Two moves? You mean her CE's startup which can be ducked on reaction? And her 214A unblockable which Malek spammed against Tira that is a high?

Aside from from the fact she can access all tools from one stance, half of them from SC4 is gone or been nerfed in dmg and in properties. Aside from her BE being SS, her other BEs dont even launch. Her neutral game dmg output outside of throws is comparatively as small as Tira.

Just look at Astaroth. CE throw>22B dmg. A/B cmd throws. Knee TJ,TC and stuns on NH. Bullrush can be extended with CE to KD and the followup hits OTG leading into a groundsplat which forces them to get up else they eat unbreakable ground throw. His jump B still KD. 4[A+B] still there. Have spacing tools. What kind of grappler is that?

You can't duck her CE on reaction. I don't know who keeps telling you people this? Use your eyes for gods sake.

 

snip

Even though I hate man-chick Ivy, I at least see where you're coming from. I don't know her moves that well, but even I can tell that alot of her stuff seemed to be nerfed (she had it coming, though); so at the very least, she won't be the same as her (OP) SC4 version...

BUT, with that said, she still seems to be a problem to me (her tools seem good, still), AND not to mention combined with an over-powered, unseeable win button, aka her CE. I think she still needs more work.....and I'm not the only one... :/

....check out this tweet from Odashima-san:

"Daishi_CALIBUR Daishi　Odashima ​

She’s the strongest character in the TGS build. She will be balanced tho. RT @Nofacekill3r: Ivy appears to be weak aside from her CE so far."​

So....yeah.

BTW, Astaroth does seem very strong in this game, but I like what they are doing with him, because his style is very fun to watch (even though I never cared for the character). I hope they make his knee and bullrush tactics somewhat unsafe to prevent Spam problems

 

You can't duck her CE on reaction. I don't know who keeps telling you people this? Use your eyes for gods sake.

This might have something to do with it (from the Eurogamer Expo thread):

Ivy
She is so strong. She has many of her more effective moves from SC4 but they can now all be done from her single stance. For example, WP 6B+K 2 is now 6[ B ] 2. I couldn't find a CL 1B B+K, but [ B ] B now does a WP style BB. WP 22K_WP 2 A+K is now 1K. She has SS as a BE move. Her CE is a throw that has quite slwo startup animation. However, the full closeup animation only starts when the throw connects, so if you haven't crouched by then, she's got you. The CE throw also seems to have Guard Impact properties, though we did not get her to actually GI anything with it. But presumably this means it can be used as a counterattack.

Ivy's CE is not a 50/50 mixup. It has a small startup animation that is reactable. I think at higher level play it will only be useful post-GI, as a punish, or using the autoGI property that I think it has to counter certian moves. (her upper arm glows so I'm guessing it counters mids or highs, looked like it might do verticals)

 

This might have something to do with it:

Yeah, I already asked Kayane on the stream, she said otherwise. To duck that throw on reaction, I haven't seen it happen once. Every time it whiffed someone was already ducking in anticipation. So ATM anyone who says otherwise is probably speaking in theory.

 

Maybe they could add come kind of special CE counter that uses meter or have a 3 to 7 frame window that lets you break Ivy's CE throw. I like Ivy but that throw shouldn't be unbreakable.

 

Found it!

http://fr.twitch.tv/kayane_fr/b/295794915 @ 19:15

BEST.WIN.QUOTE.EVAH.

 

I missed the stream and didn't watch all of the recorded footage but what I saw looks solid. I see Asta is still a a/b throw fest with a pretty nasty CE because of that 22B follow up. If that 6K can't be hard punished ill be picking him up for sure no question about it.

Pyrrha and Ivy seems to be the mains of choice I will be going for in this one @ the moment though. Patrokolos looks like he has off the radar potential as well.

Edit:

Almost forgot to write this. I just wanted to point out in case no one else really noticed it but "dry CE's" look very strong, more so than in combos. Using a super on reaction to a move is a sure fire way to get a good chunk of guaranteed damage because of its invulnerable properties. It's the first thing I noticed and will sure be using this as my replacement for GI's.

 

I wouldnt deny that her CE is OP atm. blackstar84, thx Ive seen the quote.
Its just leads me to wonder y even daishi would say she has top tier material...when her pokes are cut dry optimal if weak sounds stupid. Then it must be about her safety, range and CE.
Id prefer they give her better BE opportunities over the CE.

Anyway seeing her hold her ground in vids of Scud and Malek play is quite impressive for day 1 SCV.

 

Haven't finished watching it all but I have some observations. As it's already been said the damage in this game is relatively high. I first wasn't paying much attention to damage but then I saw Hilde's C2AA used a couple of times consecutively. But overall everyone seems to deal out some serious damage. But Hilde looks solid. I see her being a very good character. I think she'll still be able to get a lot of mileage out of her charges.

It seems they may have eliminated the whip stance for Ivy as well. Didn't see it used and she has access to her whip moves from the sword stance. I believe Ivy will be one of the strongest characters because of this. She doesn't need to stance change to dominate at any range. I'm okay with it as long as it's not overpowered.

Patroklos and Natsu seem like very well made characters with good potential. Mitsu looking very solid once again, and I like that his CE can OTG although as SU pointed out doing CE outside of combos has a lot of damage potential. These characters don't seem over or underpowered at all.

ZWEI, I'm curious about EIN whiffing on crouchers with that one move. I'm not sure if a lot of his moves will whiff on crouchers, if so this could weaken the character a bit. EIN should hit special mid so there is still block stun from his attacks. It really is still too soon to tell how strong ZWEI will be though.

Pyrrah seems strong but haven't formed any overall conclusions of her yet. Maxi is definitely much better than before but I think he needs to be fully explored to see how well he will fair. So far I he seems like he can be a solid character.

Asta looks very strong. The BE bull rush is great and the potential mix up from it sounds promising.

Overall I like what I see, no real disappointments.

 

Yeah, I already asked Kayane on the stream, she said otherwise. To duck that throw on reaction, I haven't seen it happen once. Every time it whiffed someone was already ducking in anticipation. So ATM anyone who says otherwise is probably speaking in theory.

what do you know there is more to fighting games than reactions time! But why is nobody weirded out by the lack of counters in the gameplay. There were some here and there but not enough! I am concerned about the countering system in SC5!