Soulcalibur VI DLC Discussion Thread

[LisaK]

Yun and Hwand are clones of each other.

Some horizontal and vertical attacks are a bit similar, but:
has his crane stance, which make him very different from the other two. As for I would say that he would be equal to the Lizardman's case, despite having the Xianghua's base movements, he performs differently, his attacks makes more damage and aren't so girlie.
Incredible how many are unaware of the fact that Project Soul had given some Hwang's kicks to .

 

[DanteSC3]

Incredible how many are unaware of the fact that Project Soul had given some Hwang's kicks to .

I think it’s more accurate to say that Leixia was given some of them, and then Xianghua somehow inherited them through some sort of reverse osmosis.

 

[Crash X]

Don't forget Cassandra and LIZARDMAN, not AEON!!! Fuck, he was named AEON only in one game

Aeon was always his name. The devs just never gave it to him on the character selection until SCV hit the shelves.

 

[AMillionHP]

I can see now why the clone debate gets so heated on here. I'm simply trying to convey the point that it might not be the greatest idea to put too many characters with too many similarities together on a season pass. Its fairly rational thinking. Both in terms of profits and appeasing the playerbase. Rather than acknowledge this i get educated on the proper use of the word clone. It doesnt matter how i use the word, the point was still clear.

Or reminded of the mountain of evidence proving all classic characters are indeed coming back. I know this is false. I know there has never been a single statement confirming this in any interview because i've been actively discussing character speculation since last year's E3. If there ever was proof, someone would have brought this up by now and PS could never confirm anything anyway.

This damn SC3 AE which barely exists at all, has given people an incorrect idea of who can and will make the roster. Especially considering the existence of CAS. That makes characters like Li Long extra useless. Or at the very least more so than if it wasnt available.

 

[DanteSC3]

This damn SC3 AE which barely exists at all, has given people an incorrect idea of who can and will make the roster. Especially considering the existence of CAS. That makes characters like Li Long extra useless. Or at the very least more so than if it wasnt available.

People can and will make CaS of their favorites who didn’t make it back in the game, but it’s a false equivalency to say that’s good enough, when it’s a band aid instead of real treatment. If they truly do bring every character from SoulBlade to SoulCalibur III back, it will be a wonderful accomplishment for the series to get back on track. Had SoulCalibur III debuted in arcades first and had its issues worked out before the console release, I have no doubts that it would be heralded as the best in the series instead of SoulCalibur II. The roster of SoulCalibur III was never the problem, and was objectively better than SoulCalibur II’s, but the technical issues and balance were, in an age of gaming where patches were not viable.

 

[Rusted Blade]

To be fair, your whole comment is confirmation bias and perhaps willingness to see the whole Soul Blade to SCIII roster in SCVI, which is not a bad thing since it shows a lot of passion for the game. However, claiming that "they decided to drop Hwang and Yun-Seong together" and use it as "evidence that the decision to close out the entire roster wasn't finalized until relatively recently" is trying to stretch things a bit too much since all we have is 6 placeholder names that were most likely put there to generate discussion about a season pass 2 and can be changed at any time during the game's development, so these are always better taken with a grain of salt, so basically, the placeholder names are as much of a confirmation of PS wanting to bring back the original roster as it is of them suddenly deciding to add SCIV and V characters.

Well, no--perhaps I was not as clear about this in my last response as I intended to be: I don't think the restoration of the original cast is necessarily the "better" option; I'd be just as happy to see Hilde in that season pass rather than Li Long or Yun-seong or whoever, if that's what happens. I'm just happy to see that the plans for filling out the roster are more extensive than previously was confirmed. So I'm not predicating my inferences upon my personal preferences. I actually think the "X is better than Y, because, because, because..." game is a bit childish. All of that is full-on idiosyncratic subjectivity. And kind of entitled and arrogant, frankly: who are we to decide that our preferences are more than preference and are in fact the "correct" choices, whatever the people who actually make they game decide? I mean, sure, there are one or two choices they could make that would leave me a little gobsmacked that they chose "that one, given all of the choices", but by and large, I'm happy with any additional characters. And I actually like Hilde quite a bit. Indeed, I find it ironic that I'm in a position of having to explain why I don't think she will be included, because I often defended her back in the SCIV days when she was considered OP and a poor addition to the roster.

But my inferences on what will happen are based upon what the evidence suggests, not any a priori assumptions about who would be best, which I then try to get the evidence to conform to. I don't presume that the SE-SCIII cast is going to be reconstituted because that is the "superior" option. I presume it based on what the devs have said about the product they are constructing at every turn and everything we've seen about that product to date:

1. Again, all characters thus far have come from those four games.
2. There are exactly six main roster characters from those games who have yet to be included.
3. The team is now indicating (albeit in a sly and indirect manner) that they will be releasing exactly six characters in the upcoming DLC set.
4. The codenames for those six characters align more or less perfectly with the six remaining SE-SCIII characters.

That's a pretty striking pattern. And I'm no saying it's perfect evidence--this isn't a lock by any means. But it's much better evidence than "if you look at that name and squint just right, it could mean it's Character X, which afterall, would be a better choice for improving the game, because of reasons A, B, and C!" types of speculation.

With that out of the way, as much as having the whole roster from Soul Blade to SCIII would be amazing for the hardcore community, you have to keep in mind that as business they also have to make the season pass appealing to a more casual audience to increase their sells, and that's where the term "clone" comes to play since the casual part of the playerbase and newcomers, who are usually more than hardcore players, will normally see clones when there are 2 characters with similar weapons no mater how different their movesets get to be. I have already seen some flak towards Cass and Amy because of it, and having 2 pseudo-clones in a single season pass could hurt its sales. I personally wouldn't mind to see Yun and Hwang, but i think it would be a really dumb decision to put them in the same season pass.

Meh, that hasn't kept them from adding characters who use the same weapons in literally every single entry in the franchise nearly the beginning. It isn't stopping them from making both of the remaining DLC characters in season one both characters who have similar weapons to others already in the game. The devs are smart--they know they can only capitulate to fan hopes so far before they risk compromising the integrity of their product by not following their own instincts and predetermined plans as to what will best flesh out the game and make it a cohesive product. Putting fan service before their own determinations as to what are the best design decisions would be far worse for sales in the longterm than just this or that character not being included. Everyone makes their choices on each slot as if it is a decision made in isolation, but I guarantee you that the devs, having planned and debated these choices for years now, have considered the holistic product from every angle and made their choices accordingly.


Hey, on a side note, do you take your name from Lunar: Eternal Blue?

 

[Rusted Blade]

I can see now why the clone debate gets so heated on here. I'm simply trying to convey the point that it might not be the greatest idea to put too many characters with too many similarities together on a season pass. Its fairly rational thinking. Both in terms of profits and appeasing the playerbase. Rather than acknowledge this i get educated on the proper use of the word clone. It doesnt matter how i use the word, the point was still clear.

Or reminded of the mountain of evidence proving all classic characters are indeed coming back. I know this is false. I know there has never been a single statement confirming this in any interview because i've been actively discussing character speculation since last year's E3. If there ever was proof, someone would have brought this up by now and PS could never confirm anything anyway.

This damn SC3 AE which barely exists at all, has given people an incorrect idea of who can and will make the roster. Especially considering the existence of CAS. That makes characters like Li Long extra useless. Or at the very least more so than if it wasnt available.

Well, I don't think anyone discussing these matters here in this moment of time is particularly heated about it. But to be fair, I don't think your use of the word "clone" was particularly clear, precisely because it did clash with people's expectations of what the term typically means in fighting games. But regardless, I do believe people have tried to reach beyond the nomenclature you employed to the substance of your argument. What you call "clones" (let's call them "similar weapon styles" for our present purposes) have never been a problem for the series since they became common, and certainly didn't stop the devs from adding them into any entry, ever:

• Soul Calibur II had five pairs of similar characters, including three sword and shield styles.
• Soul Calibur III had four sword and weapon characters, and six other pairs of characters with similar weapons. As Dante noted, the problems people had with that game were not in the selection of styles but in the execution of quality control with regard to new universal mechanics, like the variable cancel and the poor balancing work overall.
• Soul Calibur IV had four pairs of similarly-armed characters, one weapon and shield trio. and one lightsaber trio.
• Soul Calibur V had fewer of these pairs, it is true, but A) that is just because it had a smaller cast in general, being a rushed game and B) not many people use V as a barometer for what a Soul Calibur game should look like in its constitution, in any event.

So when is it that these similar weapons became a problem for the franchise? Because I never saw it, and until recent debates about the upcoming DLC, I can't recall, in twenty plus years of playing these games, much complaint about them. I certainly don't believe that this thinking is likely to be a major factor exerting influence on which characters the devs will ultimately choose to release as DLC. In fact, I think that Amy and Cassie (and the hints of the codenames) seem to suggest otherwise. And that's just as well, because when they do get off the beaten path of established weapons, we end up with ZWEIs and Grohs...and I'd rather have a dozen Sophitia replicants than more of that!

The only time there is a real problem with similar styles is when they occupy too similar a strategic niche or share more than a couple of moves. Thankfully, the development teams for this franchise are pretty talented at avoiding that. Amy plays nothing like Raphael in SCIV, for example, and I presume they will be even farther apart this time around. Soul charge and the deeper mechanics of the franchise these days only reduce the likelihood of redundancy (however similar the weapons look) so if it wasn't a problem in the past, I don't anticipate it will be this time.

 

[AMillionHP]

Well, I don't think anyone discussing these matters here in this moment of time is particularly heated about it. But to be fair, I don't think your use of the word "clone" was particularly clear, precisely because it did clash with people's expectations of what the term typically means in fighting games. But regardless, I do believe people have tried to reach beyond the nomenclature you employed to the substance of your argument. What you call "clones" (let's call them "similar weapon styles" for our present purposes) have never been a problem for the series since they became common, and certainly didn't stop the devs from adding them into any entry, ever:

• Soul Calibur II had five pairs of similar characters, including three sword and shield styles.
• Soul Calibur III had four sword and weapon characters, and six other pairs of characters with similar weapons. As Dante noted, the problems people had with that game were not in the selection of styles but in the execution of quality control with regard to new universal mechanics, like the variable cancel and the poor balancing work overall.
• Soul Calibur IV had four pairs of similarly-armed characters, one sword and weapon trio. and one lightsaber trio.
• Soul Calibur V had fewer of these pairs, it is true, but A) that is just because it had a smaller cast in general, being a rushed game and B) not many people use V as a barometer for what a Soul Calibur game should look like in its constitution, in any event.

So when is it that these similar weapons became a problem for the franchise? Because I never saw it, and until recent debates about the upcoming DLC, I can't recall, in twenty plus years of playing these games, much complaint about them. I certainly don't believe that this thinking is likely to be a major factor exerting influence on which characters the devs will ultimately choose to release as DLC. In fact, I think that Amy and Cassie (and the hints of the codenames) seem to suggest otherwise. And that's just as well, because when they do get off the beaten path of established weapons, we end up with ZWEIs and Grohs...and I'd rather have a dozen Sophitia replicants than more of that!

The only time there is a real problem with similar styles is when they occupy too similar a strategic niche or share more than a couple of moves. Thankfully, the development teams for this franchise are pretty talented at avoiding that. Amy plays nothing like Raphael in SCIV, for example, and I presume they will be even farther apart this time around. Soul charge and the deeper mechanics of the franchise these days only reduce the likelihood of redundancy (however similar the weapons look) so if it wasn't a problem in the past, I don't anticipate it will be this time.

They arent a problem. I dont personally dislike any of them. Its just priorities to consider and i dont think pushing out the oldest and least seen "clones" just for the sake of completing the original roster is an absolute necessity.

Of course "clones" can and have been diversified successfully but the opposite is also trueq. Characters have cycled through several weapons and styles without settling on anything or been omitted/dropped.

Lizardman whom i would say is slightly more popular one of this bunch. People here cant even agree on what version of him we should get. We got some claiming dual axe is best to make sure he's as different as possible. But im certain most people that played him seriously claim that was a step down from his SC4 version as several moves are missing that made him viable.

I think i'm not alone in saying an entire season pass of characters like this will be an issue.

 

[DanteSC3]

I’d say that Lesser Lizardman makes it pretty clear that Aeon won’t have the two axes, considering that Aeon does have a fight in Libra of Soul using the style, as well as his story art showing him with Xi Sword and Game Shield. If the two axes style does return, the only way I can see it being used would be on Rock, or perhaps Bangoo, if they wanted to do that. But the stance seems like it would work and be menacing on a behemoth of a man like Rock. The narrative problem with this, though, lies in that Astaroth is still based on Rock, and if Rock uses the two axes, then why wouldn’t Astaroth also do that?

I am in the camp that believes that the two axes style was quite the downgrade for Aeon, though, in several ways. It just didn’t make him feel like much of a lizard anymore. I know that his story from New Legends of Project Soul says that he’s more sane and human after the time skip, but you’d still think that he would make the most of his lizard body’s abilities instead of being an angelic dragon, rolling, biting, crawling, and that sort of thing.

 

[KageKazenami]

Just gonna toss in some random but existing info in SCVI as well as names that might be of interest, just since regardless of anyone's biases, it shows how far of a range could become a thing. No particular order, just as I recall. Note a fair bit comes from Libra, but it is canon and references quite a bit, so take it as you might.

Spoiler: Info you probably already know, theories vaguely, and some Libra spoilers sorta

At various points along a questline you are told to seek out warriors of 2 sorts that stand out, given the name-drop of actual characters representing them. The Spartans with either a name-drop or at least very clear connections to being Aeon(can't recall) and I believe hints towards Kunpaetku along that path, though I could be remembering wrong, it's been a while. Aside from that, Wolfkrone's knights are the 2nd important group to note, direct mention of Hildegard von Krone by name and as the Knight Princess of Wolfkrone I believe, happening towards the end on a sort of side path.

Among brief mentions we see Hwang plenty despite not in any fights, Yun-Seong is mentioned, and a vague reference on 1 or maybe 2 references to Li Long. Also oddly Leixia's name comes up at one point, but I'm going to assume they decided to reuse the name or the most vague hint possible that SCV will be revisited, though some pre-release trailers more or less imply such potential as is. Whether or not that goes anywhere remains to be seen. Rock is also referred to as the White Giant in relation to Astaroth at one point. While not appearing in game in any manner or spoken of by any characters, Setsuka's name is attached in one or more combat lessons. Back to the SCV thing, it goes without say but I will anyways: Seems Raphael's story and Libra equally point towards his becoming SCV Graf Dumas/Nightmare given direct use of the Dumas name, and clears up some holes in that theory some of us had.

Cassandra and Amy can be assumed guaranteed as is, and between unique new redesign portraits and lack of anyone's exact ages this time around, it's not unreasonable to assume if story relevance is applied then their stories can start earlier than in the previous timeline. Questions being if they will be implemented with their original weapon types, or if some other rumors/claims were to turn out true. After all, some people in various sites were claiming a potential mace and shield or Vader moveset for Cassandra in a similar path to Aeon taking Kratos' moves, though I can't say that sounds like a good idea. Then there's how you interpret the claim of Amy possibly just being Viola from here on, which could mean her moveset and not actually being Viola yet, however they'd try and explain that, so they'd likely need her to have a story and potentially unique stage to explain that one. I doubt those rumors/claims, though.

Back to Setsuka for a second, I believe I recall an Iaijutsu user in Miser and Greed's group referred to as having a modified version with wind gusts or something off his draw attacks? Likely irrelevant, but that could be an interesting adjustment to her moveset for whatever reason, not that she'd need it. Though in her case I'm sure it would get chalked up to speed and strength of her movements.

Beyond that, I'm gonna assume Arthur's off the table which doesn't matter, since we encounter him with Mitsu's style. Not that he adds anything. Zasalamel's Abyss form could become part of an update or something if the description of him taking that form in Libra is indicative of anything, or at least shows they wanted to make use of it but maybe couldn't for some reason. Then there's direct reference and name-dropping of Algol, the Hero King, and some more info on him, potentially hinting to his return and in part how it may have happened. Edge Master appearing but never fighting leaves me just kinda wanting his actual mimic style added however and whenever they can.

Pretty sure that's everything, and covers some key hints to the future with the game or next game, and season passes. As a bit of personal speculation if we're assuming codenames hint to someone: Rock for Stone and Aeon for Reptile are obvious, Star is probably Algol though I'd like Viola back in some capacity personally, Snow is almost certainly Setsuka(I hope), Yellow is Hwang/Dampierre(hopefully Hwang), and Yell I hope is Hilde.

Given I'm hoping for a season 3 if possible, that leaves: Li Long, Dampierre/Hwang(whichever isn't Yellow), Yun-Seong(unless they use him for Yellow based on an outfit redesign), Viola, Z.W.E.I., Edge Master, Olcadan, Charade, Elysium, and I think that's it for characters that wouldn't have made it back at that point. Cut that down to just Edge Master for mimics, and you'd have 6 more characters for a season 3. Or release Edge Master separately for free or something and Elysium could be reworked into an actual unique Soul Calibur counterpart to Inferno as she's meant to be. Wishful thinking from all of us no matter our speculations though, but it would be nice to see literally every old character implemented, and a good number of new stages.

 

[Rusted Blade]

They arent a problem. I dont personally dislike any of them. Its just priorities to consider and i dont think pushing out the oldest and least seen "clones" just for the sake of completing the original roster is an absolute necessity.

Of course "clones" can and have been diversified successfully but the opposite is also trueq. Characters have cycled through several weapons and styles without settling on anything or been omitted/dropped.

Lizardman whom i would say is slightly more popular one of this bunch. People here cant even agree on what version of him we should get. We got some claiming dual axe is best to make sure he's as different as possible. But im certain most people that played him seriously claim that was a step down from his SC4 version as several moves are missing that made him viable.

I think i'm not alone in saying an entire season pass of characters like this will be an issue.

Well you're probably right, but in this day and age, I think they will get pushback from one group of players or another no matter their choices, and I suspect they'll just do what they've always done and design the game they think makes for the best overall work and hope the final product stands on its own merits. For better or for worse, I think they are going for the classic squad for season two; I just feel there are too many indicators to be coincidence. But (and forgive me if I sound like a broken record) I really do hope we get season three eventually so that Hilde and Algol can be packed in as well.

As to Lizardman/Aeon, I think you identified the salient point yourself: even a given character's moveset changes considerably over time in this series. I don't think what we get will be particularly close to a one-to-one match for any previous Lizardman moveset. I do kind of hope they will go dual axes and let him keep his awesome wall-combo niche from SCV--I think that would be a fine compromise between his classical style and his new one, provided they pull out the magic wings and fire breath and give him some of his older, more reserved stances and zoning abilities. But whether aze and shield, dual axe, or even all the way back to sword and shield, I think his moveset is likely to be a pastiche of his previous moves, like most SCVI characters, rather than a close parallel to how he first appeared in SCI.

I’d say that Lesser Lizardman makes it pretty clear that Aeon won’t have the two axes, considering that Aeon does have a fight in Libra of Soul using the style, as well as his story art showing him with Xi Sword and Game Shield. If the two axes style does return, the only way I can see it being used would be on Rock, or perhaps Bangoo, if they wanted to do that. But the stance seems like it would work and be menacing on a behemoth of a man like Rock. The narrative problem with this, though, lies in that Astaroth is still based on Rock, and if Rock uses the two axes, then why wouldn’t Astaroth also do that?

I am in the camp that believes that the two axes style was quite the downgrade for Aeon, though, in several ways. It just didn’t make him feel like much of a lizard anymore. I know that his story from New Legends of Project Soul says that he’s more sane and human after the time skip, but you’d still think that he would make the most of his lizard body’s abilities instead of being an angelic dragon, rolling, biting, crawling, and that sort of thing.

Hmmm, see it's funny, because I actually felt like the dual axes made him feel a little more animalistic and aggressive. A shield and more defensive mindset just feels more human to me, like he is still calculating his approach to battle from the style of fighting he was trained in before being turned into a beast. Whereas a more aggro style seems like it is consistent with his descent into madness and losing any sense of himself. I may be misremembering, because I was never one to commit lore to memory, but isn't there some reference to that in SCIII, when he gives up the sword for the axe (though of course, at that point he still retains the shield)? It feels like losing the shield for another axe is the next logical step.

But as to what they will do for VI and how much of the original Aeon story and Lizardman moveset will be retconned? I suspect we'll be getting a little of everything from across this movesets from SCI-SCV. And honestly, that suits me fine. They could even switch things up by having him carry more than one option, slinging his shield on his back to go dual axes when in Soul Charge. I kinda doubt they would do something as convoluted as that, but they could. Anyway, they can always go back into Libra and change which version you fight in the last battle of that one mission. Plenty of people will not have seen it if they didn't do both a crimson and azure path for libra anyway.

 

[LisaK]

Spoiler

Back to Setsuka for a second, I believe I recall an Iaijutsu user in Miser

Spoiler

I don't know if I understood correctly, but I'm pretty sure Miser using Damascus Sword (aka. Soul of Mitsurugi)

 

[KageKazenami]

Spoiler

I don't know if I understood correctly, but I'm pretty sure Miser using Damascus Sword (aka. Soul of Mitsurugi)
View attachment 58308

Spoiler

A bit inaccurate. I don't mean Miser or the ones we saw. Another member of their group was referenced that was described as using a modified Iaijutsu style. That said, I don't recall a name if there was one given. It's entirely possible that I could be remembering things incorrectly, but I'm at least certain it was brought up. But, if I'm wrong, then I stand corrected entirely and retract that bit. Haven't played Libra since I fully did everything in both playthroughs the first week or 2 post-launch, so I expect to have some things a bit mixed up.

 

[LisaK]

Spoiler

A bit inaccurate. I don't mean Miser or the ones we saw. Another member of their group was referenced that was described as using a modified Iaijutsu style. That said, I don't recall a name if there was one given. It's entirely possible that I could be remembering things incorrectly, but I'm at least certain it was brought up. But, if I'm wrong, then I stand corrected entirely and retract that bit. Haven't played Libra since I fully did everything in both playthroughs the first week or 2 post-launch, so I expect to have some things a bit mixed up.

Spoiler

I recorded this, well I didn't see that quote, well, at least not in Brazilian Portuguese.

Fiddler uses rapier, Miser uses katana, Greed don't fight and the last guy use a espada gigantesca which would be translated as giant* sword.

 

[KageKazenami]

Spoiler

I recorded this, well I didn't see that quote, well, at least not in Brazilian Portuguese.
View attachment 58309
Fiddler uses rapier, Miser uses katana, Greed don't fight and the last guy use a espada gigantesca which would be translated as giant* sword.

Spoiler

I stand corrected in that case, and apologize for any inaccuracy. Questioning what I may have been confusing that with if anything then, but eh. At least that's been corrected.

 

[LisaK]

Spoiler

I stand corrected in that case, and apologize for any inaccuracy. Questioning what I may have been confusing that with if anything then, but eh. At least that's been corrected.

Spoiler

No problem, I usually skip the dialogues in Libra, but I never losing that interaction, Miser is my favorite SC III bonus. ^^

 

[KageKazenami]

Spoiler

No problem, I usually skip the dialogues in Libra, but I never losing that interaction, Miser is my favorite SC III bonus. ^^

Spoiler

Certainly an interesting one. Alongside every main cast character coming back, I'd love to see all of the old bonus characters over the years return in a fully fleshed out manner if Project Soul ever had such a chance. Give them all unique or fully fleshed out styles in a similar manner to how everyone heavily stands out now in SCVI, thanks to what comes across as a lot of love and effort put into them. A fair number of bonus characters could make for quite an interesting core story addition.

 

[Robert_J_King]

Just gonna toss in some random but existing info in SCVI as well as names that might be of interest, just since regardless of anyone's biases, it shows how far of a range could become a thing. No particular order, just as I recall. Note a fair bit comes from Libra, but it is canon and references quite a bit, so take it as you might.

Spoiler: Info you probably already know, theories vaguely, and some Libra spoilers sorta

At various points along a questline you are told to seek out warriors of 2 sorts that stand out, given the name-drop of actual characters representing them. The Spartans with either a name-drop or at least very clear connections to being Aeon(can't recall) and I believe hints towards Kunpaetku along that path, though I could be remembering wrong, it's been a while. Aside from that, Wolfkrone's knights are the 2nd important group to note, direct mention of Hildegard von Krone by name and as the Knight Princess of Wolfkrone I believe, happening towards the end on a sort of side path.

Among brief mentions we see Hwang plenty despite not in any fights, Yun-Seong is mentioned, and a vague reference on 1 or maybe 2 references to Li Long. Also oddly Leixia's name comes up at one point, but I'm going to assume they decided to reuse the name or the most vague hint possible that SCV will be revisited, though some pre-release trailers more or less imply such potential as is. Whether or not that goes anywhere remains to be seen. Rock is also referred to as the White Giant in relation to Astaroth at one point. While not appearing in game in any manner or spoken of by any characters, Setsuka's name is attached in one or more combat lessons. Back to the SCV thing, it goes without say but I will anyways: Seems Raphael's story and Libra equally point towards his becoming SCV Graf Dumas/Nightmare given direct use of the Dumas name, and clears up some holes in that theory some of us had.

Cassandra and Amy can be assumed guaranteed as is, and between unique new redesign portraits and lack of anyone's exact ages this time around, it's not unreasonable to assume if story relevance is applied then their stories can start earlier than in the previous timeline. Questions being if they will be implemented with their original weapon types, or if some other rumors/claims were to turn out true. After all, some people in various sites were claiming a potential mace and shield or Vader moveset for Cassandra in a similar path to Aeon taking Kratos' moves, though I can't say that sounds like a good idea. Then there's how you interpret the claim of Amy possibly just being Viola from here on, which could mean her moveset and not actually being Viola yet, however they'd try and explain that, so they'd likely need her to have a story and potentially unique stage to explain that one. I doubt those rumors/claims, though.

Back to Setsuka for a second, I believe I recall an Iaijutsu user in Miser and Greed's group referred to as having a modified version with wind gusts or something off his draw attacks? Likely irrelevant, but that could be an interesting adjustment to her moveset for whatever reason, not that she'd need it. Though in her case I'm sure it would get chalked up to speed and strength of her movements.

Beyond that, I'm gonna assume Arthur's off the table which doesn't matter, since we encounter him with Mitsu's style. Not that he adds anything. Zasalamel's Abyss form could become part of an update or something if the description of him taking that form in Libra is indicative of anything, or at least shows they wanted to make use of it but maybe couldn't for some reason. Then there's direct reference and name-dropping of Algol, the Hero King, and some more info on him, potentially hinting to his return and in part how it may have happened. Edge Master appearing but never fighting leaves me just kinda wanting his actual mimic style added however and whenever they can.

Pretty sure that's everything, and covers some key hints to the future with the game or next game, and season passes. As a bit of personal speculation if we're assuming codenames hint to someone: Rock for Stone and Aeon for Reptile are obvious, Star is probably Algol though I'd like Viola back in some capacity personally, Snow is almost certainly Setsuka(I hope), Yellow is Hwang/Dampierre(hopefully Hwang), and Yell I hope is Hilde.

Given I'm hoping for a season 3 if possible, that leaves: Li Long, Dampierre/Hwang(whichever isn't Yellow), Yun-Seong(unless they use him for Yellow based on an outfit redesign), Viola, Z.W.E.I., Edge Master, Olcadan, Charade, Elysium, and I think that's it for characters that wouldn't have made it back at that point. Cut that down to just Edge Master for mimics, and you'd have 6 more characters for a season 3. Or release Edge Master separately for free or something and Elysium could be reworked into an actual unique Soul Calibur counterpart to Inferno as she's meant to be. Wishful thinking from all of us no matter our speculations though, but it would be nice to see literally every old character implemented, and a good number of new stages.

Yeah, Leixia is the name of Lingyu's dead sister. Xianghua and Lingyu are BFF's so it's not only the big reveal of how Xianghua's daughter gets her name, it's also a nod that 5's characters aren't completely retconned out. It's all laid out right there.

 

[Rusted Blade]

Yeah, Leixia is the name of Lingyu's dead sister. Xianghua and Lingyu are BFF's so it's not only the big reveal of how Xianghua's daughter gets her name, it's also a nod that 5's characters aren't completely retconned out. It's all laid out right there.

Hahaha, this is how checked out of the story Soul Calibur V made me: I didn't even realize Leixia was Xianghua's daughter until I read that. Or if I ever stumbled across that little detail somewhere in the bios, I forgot all about it. For years now, I've just been thinking she was a protege of sorts. But Xiba is just another student of Edge Master, right? No blood relation to Kilik? And I seem to recall that Natsu was definetly just another recruit into the Fu-ma ninja clan, right? Other than Patty and Pyrrha, there aren't any other blood relations between the older and newer cast?

 

[DanteSC3]

The word retcon has been on like the last three pages, and I’m kinda sick of seeing it, as SoulCalibur VI is anything but a retcon. This isn’t a new timeline, either, and whoever came up with that concept and put it all over the wiki bugs the hell out of me too. It’s the same timeline with the same events, just told again in greater detail. The characters who came in SoulCalibur II/III had written stories in bios and extra materials, and coincided with known history. SoulCalibur VI presented the stage to tell all the stories at once, but they didn’t change any key events in the story thus far.

The only one that can be argued is Zasalamel, and even then, for all we know, the end result will still be the same, since it’s not an uncommon time travel plot that says you can’t change the past, even if the future Zasalamel sent a message to this Zasalamel, his efforts may be futile. All signs point to SoulCalibur II and beyond still transpiring the same, since Siegfried hasn’t escaped fully from Nightmare, Abyss and Algol have been teased, and Raphael is poised to become Nightmare as Dumas.

This is why I can’t believe Algol will show up as Star, because we’re not at his part of the story, and him awakening early doesn’t make any sense, why this would happen, except to baffle Zasalamel even further. It just doesn’t fit the narrative, which is important, no matter how you slice it.

@Rusted Blade Yeah, Leixia is Xianghua’s daughter through the general that she marries, while Xiba is her illegitimate son through Kilik.