Soul Calibur Goes Online
This actually started as a straight forward review of Soul Calibur 4, but as it was developed, discussing the evolution of online play in fighters and how SC4’s online play stacks up therein became such an overbearing focus that the editor suggested I simply make it a feature specifically to that end. Consequently, some paragraphs on SC4’s other features and it’s overall purchasing value got cut.
Also, I must admit that if it had been planned as an essay entirely focused on the evolution of online play in fighters from the start, I would have gone about things differently – mainly I would have detailed and compared the online implementations of all the online fighters mentioned. That being said, just focusing on SC4 already greatly exceeded the typical word count for an Otaku USA feature, so it was for the best that things turned out the way they did.
I’m pretty sure the most significant additions to Soul Calibur are right there on prominent display in that top picture. Well, to be fair, “boobs” is the MOST significant addition, with “butt” coming in at a close second. I’m surprised they didn’t just go ahead and add the anime version of Witchblade onto the roster!
The other bad part about the Soul Calibur IV online experience: the fact that everybody picks Yoda due to the fact that so many attacks won’t hit him.
The use of Yoda online is actually pretty rare. Me and my roommates take turns on ranked matches and have played way too much, and I really only see newer players using Yoda now.
The real problem online is Kilik players!
I didn’t know you were still blogging here. I’ll check out the link.
Impressive blog/review as always.
And these are the same things that I have encountered while playing the game. I think that the lag does provide an upside, as it gives you an opportunity to give delicious commentary while it’s going on.
Hopefully, as developers get bolder, they’ll realize that what we really want isn’t the ability to play people across the world, but as close to an arcade experience as possible.