I dont know how this isnt a thread yet...(hopefully it isnt against any rules)
So what do you think, which do you prefer.
I personally enjoy playing Tekken far more, however I believe that Soul Calibur has a more balanced and sound fighting engine.
Tekken has always been my favorite fighting game series, however I lost touch with it around tekken 5 due to well... growing up I guess all my gaming friends from college and high school were gone byt the time I bought 5. Tag still holds a position in my head as the best fighter ever. I love 6 for its fast pace and huge character variety. The variety allows for a ton of fighting styles and strategies... but it all really comes down to who can pull off combo's the best. The combo system has gotten a little ridiculous with the whole "bound" concept, and even though they nerfed combo damage because of it, I still find it annoying to spend half of a round in the air being propelled backward by half contacted punches. The physics of it all takes away from the game, despite the fact that it is still a lot of fun. The thing that made tekken great was the brutal sense of the hand to hand combat, but when half your energy leaves via near scratches while in the air... sigh. Tekken used to feel so much more realistic, even with dancing bears and giant robots, now though the game seems to take itself seriously the mechanics dont. I think the thing I like about tekken the most is the fact that High level play is still also fun and competative. In SC playing people of a certain skill level sucks all of the fun out of the game. You are reduced to only using a 3rd of your moves set and every match looks exactly the same, in tekken, because of the huge roster, and the much larger move sets for every character even the most competitive high level matches are still fun to play and not just fun to win.
As for SC, well its just a better made game. The 3d element is implemented much better (side stepping in tekken is damn near broken because of the absence of the horizontal attack concept. The weapons make varying play styles stand out much more. The combo system doesn't frustrate as much and is less invasive to the the games flow. The character designs are better (except for amy whom I find a bit plain and boring), the online mechanics are more intuitive (i never thought being able to skip a turn was so valuable, and dont get me started on ranked), the customization element is waaaay better, even the story is better... though that isnt saying much. My gripe with SC and the reason why i prefer tekken is because although the game is balanced in terms of its engine and fighting mechanics, the characters to me are not, especially in online play. (yes yes I know online play isn't close to tournament play but not everyone is wired to deal with the mindset of a tournament player, remember when games were fun...) Some characters are basically useless once you get to a certain level of opponent. (Maxi, Talim, Zas, Rock, Mina) others arent necessarily unbeatable even in the right hands, but they are incredibly annoying in scrub hands (Mitsu anyone...) I wont start a scrub v skill debate, ill just say that scrubs annoyed me in SC, yeah i lost sometimes of course, but when I won i still found myself bored and or frustrated, while they simply amuse me in tekken because the game is MUCH MUCH MUCH less scrub friendly. and sure Lili and a few of the new characters seem out of place and unbalanced, but it just feels better in tekken.
All in all they are both great games and the top titles in the fighting genre since the street fighter alpha series. I hope namco goes the Gears of War/Halo route and gives us a new one every two years from either title.
So what do you think, which do you prefer.
I personally enjoy playing Tekken far more, however I believe that Soul Calibur has a more balanced and sound fighting engine.
Tekken has always been my favorite fighting game series, however I lost touch with it around tekken 5 due to well... growing up I guess all my gaming friends from college and high school were gone byt the time I bought 5. Tag still holds a position in my head as the best fighter ever. I love 6 for its fast pace and huge character variety. The variety allows for a ton of fighting styles and strategies... but it all really comes down to who can pull off combo's the best. The combo system has gotten a little ridiculous with the whole "bound" concept, and even though they nerfed combo damage because of it, I still find it annoying to spend half of a round in the air being propelled backward by half contacted punches. The physics of it all takes away from the game, despite the fact that it is still a lot of fun. The thing that made tekken great was the brutal sense of the hand to hand combat, but when half your energy leaves via near scratches while in the air... sigh. Tekken used to feel so much more realistic, even with dancing bears and giant robots, now though the game seems to take itself seriously the mechanics dont. I think the thing I like about tekken the most is the fact that High level play is still also fun and competative. In SC playing people of a certain skill level sucks all of the fun out of the game. You are reduced to only using a 3rd of your moves set and every match looks exactly the same, in tekken, because of the huge roster, and the much larger move sets for every character even the most competitive high level matches are still fun to play and not just fun to win.
As for SC, well its just a better made game. The 3d element is implemented much better (side stepping in tekken is damn near broken because of the absence of the horizontal attack concept. The weapons make varying play styles stand out much more. The combo system doesn't frustrate as much and is less invasive to the the games flow. The character designs are better (except for amy whom I find a bit plain and boring), the online mechanics are more intuitive (i never thought being able to skip a turn was so valuable, and dont get me started on ranked), the customization element is waaaay better, even the story is better... though that isnt saying much. My gripe with SC and the reason why i prefer tekken is because although the game is balanced in terms of its engine and fighting mechanics, the characters to me are not, especially in online play. (yes yes I know online play isn't close to tournament play but not everyone is wired to deal with the mindset of a tournament player, remember when games were fun...) Some characters are basically useless once you get to a certain level of opponent. (Maxi, Talim, Zas, Rock, Mina) others arent necessarily unbeatable even in the right hands, but they are incredibly annoying in scrub hands (Mitsu anyone...) I wont start a scrub v skill debate, ill just say that scrubs annoyed me in SC, yeah i lost sometimes of course, but when I won i still found myself bored and or frustrated, while they simply amuse me in tekken because the game is MUCH MUCH MUCH less scrub friendly. and sure Lili and a few of the new characters seem out of place and unbalanced, but it just feels better in tekken.
All in all they are both great games and the top titles in the fighting genre since the street fighter alpha series. I hope namco goes the Gears of War/Halo route and gives us a new one every two years from either title.
