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Jan 31st, 2007 at 13:41:12 - Soul Caliber III (PS2) |
So, after playing SC3 for another hour, I realized that all the impressive moves are inanely hard to do. I suppose this should be a down side, but some how it doesn't seem like it to me. In my mind it allows for a lot more skill to influence the game.
In Smashbros, a lot of the high level skill comes from doing smaller exploits such as wave dashing, and other things that weren't intended by the creators. In Soul Caliber, from what I've seen, there's very little of that. Instead, you have people who actually sit down and learn not just the long code for the moves, but learn to enter the codes quickly and use the moves well. It adds a level of what I truly consider to be skill, as opposed to just knowing how to play better than other people know how to play.
Other than that, I really do like a lot of the basic story of Soul Caliber. It's different from most sword epics, which are just "Boy has sword. Sword is Magic. Boy stops the ultimate evil." Soul Caliber, on the other hand, is much more focused on the Soul Edge; The Blade of Evil. More than half the characters are evil, and the ones that aren't have all be strongly impacted by the Edge.
The Caliber itself barely shows up in the main plot, usually not manifesting until the end of the game to fix things. Of-course, in SC3 both swords are basically destroyed by Zazameial and create their own creature, Night Terror (Pure Awesome-sauce by the way). I'll be interested to see where the series goes from here; It seems like my favorite character (Nightmare) is finally redeeming himself, which is good, because he's much easier to play when not in oversized armor wit a giant demonclaw.
Anyway... The game is looking good. It's been around for long enough that the series has weeded out most of the flaws, at least in my mind. there are definitely some overpowered moves, but all fighting games have that. As a whole, it's a very good game, and I eagerly await the next.
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Jan 31st, 2007 at 13:34:44 - Soul Caliber III (PS2) |
Soul Caliber 3!
I have been a fan of the Soul Caliber series ever since I first played the original on the Sega Dreamcast. The series has a lot of stuff that works very well for it. Soul Caliber itself is a fighting game, and is probably one of the more complex fighting games out there. Matches are limited to two players, which is a downside, but the area you're playing in is three d, including some limited up and down depending on the field.
As far as winning the game, there are two major ways to do it. You either need to reduce your opponent to 0 health, or you need to knock them out of the ring. Different fields make different choices more appealing, due to all sorts of factors such as walls, or a slippery floor covered with rats that are on fire.
Character design, in my opinion, is another thing that Soul Caliber does very well, and Soul Caliber Three is no exception. You play the roll of one of a host of fighters, ranging from an undead hell-pirate from spain to a nunchaku wielding Elvis impersonator (Okay, former military officer who looks like elvis) from korea. Almost every different type of melee weapon user is given a nod in the game; From a roman deathknight to a whip wielding english girl, or a pole-arm toting girl. From greeks to the norse to strange creatures who defy explanation outside of really freaking creepy (Voldo).
As good as the Character design is, I was unhappy with some of the new characters added in SC3, namely Zazamiel. His back-story is that he can't die, and wants to, so he'll use the sacred swords to do it. Okay. So who cares? It doesn't give a compelling plot, at least in my mind, at all. Then again, this is a fighting game, so we don't really need a plot.
The final thing that the Soul Caliber series is a master of is moves. Every character has what looks to me to be well over two hundred moves, with some going even more than five hundred. Or, if you count Edge Master, Inferno, and Charade, OVER 9000?!?!?!. Anyway, many of these moves are hideously complex to use, but that doesn't effect game play.
Unlike SSBM, which features a few moves in a number of variations, all of which are moderately easy to use, Soul Caliber's moves range from the easy, a simple vertical slash, to the inanely complex that you will never need but look really cool, such as the downward cross parry finished with a kick ending in the night behind stance. Having variety like this makes for very diverse game-play, as someone who uses only three or four moves repeatedly will get easily trashed.
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Jan 18th, 2007 at 22:40:03 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
Okay, so, I went and played more Smash bros. As far as the game goes over all, it's pretty well done. I mean, it has to be to be as much of a classic as it is. The game is simple enough that it is more than easy to pick up after spending years not playing it, and it does have a good level of complexity. There are enough stages to keep the game interesting for a while, and there are also a good number of items which help to keep it fresh.
How ever, I am rather disappointed at how few moves there were in the first version, and even in the second. It just strikes me as not being enough depth. We get the A moves, yes, and the throws, and then 3 (4 in Melee) moves with the B button. That leaves a lot of the buttons and easily done button combinations totally unused. Now, I have heard that this is being remedied in Brawl, and that we should expect to see a good deal more in the way of moves.
My other complain has to due with the items. Many of the items are either too weak to be useful, or they are inanely powerful and make the match more of a 'who can grab the best stuff' rather than a 'show off your skills.' I prefer games where a lot of the battle is based on skill, so I tend to turn off the items. However, this means I'm missing a lot of the fun the items can bring. I would really have liked to see some form of middle ground.
Other than that everything is good. The levels are enjoyable, often more enjoyable than the newer ones added in Melee. With Super Smash Bros Brawl just a few months away, the game is definitely looking up. Hopefully the rumors will turn out to be true and we can expect a plethora of new characters (Not just the four released new characters thus far.)
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Jan 18th, 2007 at 19:56:10 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
SSB Gamelog
One of the most recent fighting games that can be truly called Classic, Super Smash Brothers created a true phenomenon. At first glance, Super Smash Bros seems like a very simple game, especially when compared to other fighting games of its era, and even those of earlier eras. And, indeed, SSB was pretty simplistic in its first incarnation
Super Smash Bros Classic features three game modes; One single Player, and two multiplayer. The single player mode is a pretty standard fighting game idea, you battle through stages with the goal of reaching the final boss and defeating it. The raw fighting is broken up my some amusing variations, such as fighting a team of Kirby's with different abilities, or completing special stages such as 'Race to the Finish' (A race to the end of the level) and 'Break the Targets' (A game where, surprise surprise, you break targets.)
SSB classic has no plot-line, I should say first off. You simply are a host of popular (or not so popular) nintendo characters going at it in an arena. There is a vague plot hinted at in the beginning of the game and in the last match of the 1-Player mode, which says that you are dolls being played with by 'the master hand'. However, given that you fight this hand as the last boss... Being a doll doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
The characters themselves are well done. In Classic they are a number of Nintendo's most popular characters, including such familiar names as Link, Pikachu, Fox McCloud, Mario, Donkey Kong, and Captain Falcon. Each character has a number of moves, and each of these moves are at least moderately unique to that character.
The moves are broken up into three categories. You have basic attacks, which are done by pressing the A button. Despite being the basic moves, these are by far the most complex variety. Depending on whether you Tap a, Hold it down, push a direction while you hit it, or do any number of other things, the moves will vary. The moves are also different in the air.
Other than the basic moves, you have two other types. Each character has three special moves which they can use via the 'B' button, or by pressing B and either up or down. The basic B move is often a projectile of some sort, while the B up move for most characters results in an extra jump. B down varies greatly between characters, but often has some form of shielding attached to it.
Finally, each character has a forward throw and a backward throw. Throws are powerful, but tend to be easily blocked. Two characters, Link and Samus can grab from a long distance, but the other characters are limited to grappling.
As a whole... This is a rather shoddy selection of moves and special moves. Many other fighting games of the same time, such as Soul Caliber I had characters with a hundreds of moves. While having that many moves can add an almost maddening level of complexity to the game, it also made for a much more interesting fight in the long term.
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Ramenth has been with GameLog for 17 years, 3 months, and 10 days |
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