I thank Hayato, the french Namco community manager for
his support !
Game Follow-up
Namco wishes to patch Soul Calibur 5 from time to time, to balance the game when needed.
They are very open-minded to players’ opinions, they are all important and will help them to create the best Soul Calibur ever made. So do not hesitate to say what you think!
They also wish to help the community and events organized around the game.
Game speed
Soul Calibur V is faster than Soul Calibur IV. Making the game as fast as Soul Calibur II would have been even more appreciated by the development team, but they considered it would have been too much of a radical change for those who have not played the second opus and switch from SC4 to SC5.
Music
I think the OST has a different atmosphere compared to the other Soul Calibur, it’s far more epic (except for Tira’s and Voldo’s themes of course lol XD, but it suits them well!).
From now on, you can chose the stage AND the music that you wish to hear before beginning a match.
You will have the choice between the characters music theme or the stages music (Ex: Pyrrha’s theme, Colisseum’s theme…).
Personally, my favourites are Hilde’s and Ivy’s! You can hear the Ivy theme in the EVO Natsu vs Ivy match
Hilde’s theme is really epic!! ! It suits her perfectly! It gives the impression to be in a medieval movie, it’s really my favourite! I love it!!!!
Stages
There were only 3 stages available on the demo. But they are wonderful !
New stage
Some players complained saying Soul Calibur stages don’t have enough animations, but i think they won’t be disappointed this time.
In one of those stages, we can see in the background, some people and golems trying to destroy a door. On the other side, you can see a fight between soldiers and archers. And on another side, you can see a beautiful river.
The stage without ring out makes me think a lot of the Tekken 5 stage : Moonlight Wilderness, very beautiful !
Replay
There will now be a replay between each round… Some players were asking for that.
The way Armor works
You probably have noticed the life bar could blink with different colors, without really knowing why.
Life gauge shining in yellow, or red
It’s very similar to the system of SC4’s Critical Finish, except that you don’t directly win the round, you just have the opportunity to deal some good damage.
The more you hit your opponent’s Guard, the more his armor has a risk to break. So the different colors blinking are used to warn the player ( so you know when it starts blinking yellow, then red, you have to watch out).
When you break his armor, the opposing character does the same animation as in SC4 before he can do the Critical Finish, there is a big slowdown.
You then have the time to do a Critical Edge or a big combo, and so on…
Double Step
Double Step animation
You just have to do 2,2 or 8,8 fastly. It’s a very fast step, but I can’t say more about it, i wonder how we will use that in game.
The Soul Gauge
Soul Gauge, empty
It charges while attacking (even if you don’t touch), while defending from hits, while tech throw. Although, it doesn’t charge when you throw.
It can be used for: Guard Impact, Brave Edge (improved attacks), Critical Edge
The Guard Impact
Le Guard Impact like in all the previous Soul Calibur: 4G or 6G doesn’t work anymore.
Now it is : 4 RT (A+B+K) only.
I tried to do 1 RT and 3 RT but no crouch GI comes out…so I suppose we cannot GI the lows anymore. Or it’s another command ?
To do a GI is not free anymore : it will cost you a part of the Soul Gauge. But don’t forget you have several ways to charge the Soul Gauge, it’s simple and fast.
The Just Guard
When doing Just Guard, your character is shining in blue
So as GI, it must be done just at the moment the hit touches you (or just a little before) by pressing G. The timing is not that hard, though somewhat a bit more strict than the GI I think.
If you press G (Guard) when you want to make a Just Guard, but that it didn’t work because you did it too early, you could still protect yourself from the hit by maintaining the G button pressed. (Unless you have pressed G too late in which case you take the blow)
It is also possible to JG lows by doing 1G, too.
And the more the hit you’ve Just Guard is slow and takes time to recovery (it seems), the better you can punish afterwards.
For example:
With Natsu, I JG the second hit of Pyrrhas’ BB, and I punish with garanteed AA, but I cannot punish with BB though.
When I JG Pyrrhas’ 3B, I can punish with BB. (Because the blow +slow, +unsafe…)
Yes, it can seem completely crazy to JG a BB! : I protect myself from the first B and I JG the second (meaning I had to release my guard between the first and second B, to press G at the right time on the second B).
A little risky, but not so much if you are trained…
But then you have to be very careful to JG hits as swift as BB, because while being too careful and reactive, mind games can take place.
A player too careful about pressing G to JG after he has seen a B, would be surprised to see his opponent stop after the first B and throw next or make a low …
So, we’ll see how this is going to turn out at high level…I’m impatient!!
Brave Edge: not tested
Critical Edge
To make Critical Edge, you need to have « 1 » or « 2 » in the Soul Gauge. A CE uses one gauge bar.
You can have 2 gauge bars maximum, so you can make 2 CE maximum if you have the gauge at max.
"1" Soul Gauge bar full
Every CE has the same command for the moment : 236 236 RT (A+B+K)
Natsu during her CE
Be careful with random CE, it’s going to be like Street Fighter, it has priority to regular hits…Well, sometimes CE could be interrupted by double contact though, I don’t know exactly how you can interrupt it then ? But most of the time, if I’m doing a move and the opponent CE, he touches me.
So if you have the bad idea of hitting while your opponent makes a random CE…^___^’…You’ll have to stay calm ! Haha! It’s ok, I already started to get used to it with Street Fighter XD.
For several characters, they are placed during Combos.
For example after a basic launcher (3B) from Pyrrha and Patroklos, you can chain with their CE.
For Natsu, it is possible to do it after the 2A+B (the bomb) or the 4A+B. Her CE being pretty slow to come out, it is not possible to do it after a simple 3B.
Far Ivy, her CE is a throw, and what a throw! Completely godlike ! It only requires being close to the opponent to do it, and it’s impossible to escape. If you are lucky and ducked before she does her CE, then make sure to hang on to your low guard lol!
And seeing all the life that it tears off, I think the developers will have to do something to make it less cracked.
For any pressure characters, an Ivy that can CE is really dissuasive!
Characters with a 236 like Patroklos and Pyrrha are quite lucky, as they are considered in TC, they avoid Ivy’s CE. 236 is a good way to come close to Ivy in this case.
For the other characters, I don’t know at which moment they can do there a guaranteed CE.
The characters
I have two preferred characters in the demo version …and that I’d love to see in action at high level: Natsu and ZWEI.
Natsu
Natsu
Natsu is the character I like the most among the currently presented characters. She’s really super stylish !!! I love her illusions !
The fact that she makes illusions in her Possession stance, and in many of her moves too, makes of her a character really nice to see.
As you have maybe seen in the EVO video (Natsu VS Ivy), Natsu can do PO and move forward.
All there is to do is: 214, 6. You can do 6 several times to move forward.
I believe that Natsu will be based on her mix-up games thanks to the Possession stance (PO) and her Illusions game.
For her mix-ups, you have the choice in PO stance :
214, 6
214, 8 (she jumps and can chain several times like 214,6 ; meaning you never know if she’s on the ground or in the air with the illusions…)
214, B (guard crush then priority)
214, A
214, K
214, 2 RT (a quick low kick like Taki) : if she hits, she does a back flip. If the opponent protects himself, she’s on ground.
When Natsu does 214, 8: she also has the possibility of mix-ups with A, B, K…
Natsu can switch to PO stance after many moves like 6A+B (corresponding to Taki’s 3bK), 214.
She also has another way to switch to this stance after certain moves by simply doing “4”:
For example with 66B, 4: After 66B, Natsu quickly disappears and reappears a little further in PO stance. (During her disappearance, she must have moved back one or two steps, allowing her to move away from her opponent)
Same thing with 66A, B…and probably with other moves too.
WS B, B does not exist anymore, only WS B and in counter, 1A is guaranteed.
She can feint with the 4A+B with 4A+B, A.
4A+B, 6 allows her to switch to PO stance after a forward dash.
After the bomb 2A+B, A+K then air throw still possible.
Small note: the WS 2A+B: Natsu’s throwing Shurikens on the floor. 🙂
ZWEI
ZWEI
ZWEI is for me the most interesting character: His game play is innovative, and worth to check out in-depth! I believe that ZWEI has potential, but requires a lot of work to go far in tournaments. I would be curious to see him in the hands of a good player.
To use his strength at best, you will very often fight with EIN at your side I think. So you use the moves where you can summon him. Once EIN summoned to attack, ZWEI is free to move and attack too. So it’s like having two enemies (Even if EIN only shortly appears each time).
He has some moves where he doesn’t need time to summon EIN, but some other moves he’s doing an animation while summoning him so it takes time, and ZWEI is vulnerable at this moment.
EIN can perform different attacks, of different ranges. I often saw mid attacks.
ZWEI is not a quick character like Natsu, but his pressings with EIN can be very…oppressing.
If I told you that you could be hit at the same time in mid and low, and whatever your guard is you would be hit, well like me you would certainly be …very surprised!
With Zwei, it’s possible!
In fact, when you summon EIN, he hits generally in mid (of what I have tested, I don’t know if it’s the case all the time). But you can move close to the opponent to do a low, and if you know well EIN’s timing, and hit at the same time, your opponent will have to protect from a mid and a low hit at the same time ! Impossible! So yes, if you chose the standing guard, you take ZWEI’s low.
I didn’t test though if EIN’s move can be special mid (meaning you can protect it by crouch guard too), it would be interesting to test though.
Even if it’s special mid, I think it still can be tricky and make pressure. 🙂
It is possible to « control » EIN, but for this you need to charge. There is a maximum charge time of about 3 seconds. Once the time passed, EIN attacks. Some of you are already used to charge with Hilde. 🙂
I have a concrete example, but it will be difficult to visualize it. I will try anyway:
6B+K: EIN hits twice, once near ZWEI , and the other a few seconds later much further from ZWEI.
What can happen:
You summon EIN by doing 6 [B+K] (you keep pressing B+K to charge), EIN will perform his first move but will wait for you for the second… (Until the max charge time) In the meantime, he stays near ZWEI… (Personally his EIN puts pressure on me when I see him nearby, because I know he’ll attack me soon XD without knowing when exactly and without knowing what will ZWEI do, Haha).
So, when you want him to attack, you just have to release B+K.
As you are the one deciding when EIN attacks, it will be easy for you to hit with ZWEI at the same time with a low… so that the opponent can’t protect from both.
So imagine when this kind of pressing is permanent with a playing mastering charge times and the diverse possibilities to summon EIN…
It’s a character, for which it requires the knowledge of all summoning possibilities in order to beat him, or else we’ll be easily hit by EIN, and we can’t always see him coming.
Other use case for EIN:
ZWEI’s A throw: He performs a head butt that doesn’t deal much damage (Somewhat like Sophitia’s knee strike throw) but you then have priority.
Well, you can prior summon EIN and charge, A throw, and during the throw animation, EIN attacks and it’s guaranteed. Which means your throw will do convenient damage thanks to EIN.
Other things about ZWEI:
He has an Auto GI: 6A+B
I’m not 100% sure, but it seems that it Auto GI the mids. I saw that it Auto GI a move in B and in K.
He has a stance: 214
After 214 B, he guard crushes and has the advantage (He breaks Pyrrhas’ AA by doing BB for example).
Hilde
Hilde
Hilde: Namco is very aware of the problems that Hilde has brought in Soul Calibur IV tournaments. They still decided to include the character in SC5 anyway, showing the players that they have well learned from SC4 mistakes and that they really have the will to make the game balanced. She is completely different from the 4th opus. Her gameplay is not anymore based on her charges like in Soul Calibur IV. She still have them, but their strength and use are much reduced.
Her command list has been reviewed: A lot of new moves, and former moves do not have the same command anymore. Some moves completely disappeared.
Her charges :
Her charge C2B, B: It sends the opponent behind her, it is then possible to do C2A, A in BT (from the back) for it to make a combo. So it has really been downgraded a lot, to prevent her from going through the whole ring with this simple combo.
C3A does not make you fall anymore.
C4B and C4A still exist.
Her game play will come to dealing with distances, preventing the opponent to come close.
Tira
Tira
She is mostly the same as in the current Soul Calibur IV.
She still has the stances Jolly and Gloomy, her two personalities. It is still random and she still loses life. Her provocation still allows changing her personality.
Some of her moves have changed commands. She has granted a few new moves.
HOWEVER, I asked if they were going to change, deepen her stances…But they said they just had included the character in the Demo, so she’s far from being the final Tira, and things can change.
For example, I spoke of the fact it would be nice that she no longer lost life in Gloomy stance, or that there was a way to chose between Jolly or Gloomy stance to gain a better control of the character. Tago-san answered me that they are still in the stage of creation of the character, so all ideas from the community to improve the character are welcome! You can express any changes that you would like to see to the producers, especially regarding the random use of stances, the loss of life, and similar issues.
Maxi
Maxi
Similar to SC4, I’ve not seen any new move. I think he has not yet been reconsidered.
Just like Tira, you will have to express your suggestions to the producers about the character game play.
Voldo
Voldo
He has a new low : 1A : It’s fast, I think just as Xianghua’s 1A and around the same damages (around 20?) and that makes him automatically in BT. (Back Turn)
1B doesn’t make the opponent stand up anymore.
6B, B doesn’t exist anymore: 6B only.
Ivy
Ivy
I’ve not found the way to get her to whip stance, all her moves when she takes out the whip come back to sword at the end of the animation.
So I couldn’t test the whip stance. Maybe it’s because it’s still in development.
She has a new move: 9A+B where she jumps with her whip around her; I don’t yet see how useful it is.
After 22K, she can’t make the another kick guaranteed.
Some of her moves changed of commands.
Pyrrha
Pyrrha
The character seems to be a mix of Sophitia and Cassandra.
Her 3A = 66A from Sophitia with a lesser range.
Her 66A looks like a move from Cassandra.
She has a lot of launcher moves to allow her to place her CE. I believe that characters that can easily place their CE like her will be good characters. She moves quickly, so she’ll be able to dodge, launch and make a CE to deal good damage.
She has an auto-gi.
The 236 B can be done in just frame, and with the flames! 😀
Patroklos
Patroklos
He seems to me like a good character.
A brand new style but like his sister Pyrrha, the fact that he could easily use his CE after a simple launcher will ensure that he won’t have difficulties in doing good damage.
He also has an Auto GI like his sister, and a good 236. If I remember well, 236 B is an auto-gi in same time.
Siegfried
Siegfried
Siegfried: A copy of SC4, no big change to announce.
Although…His 3B looks faster than in SC4.
He doesn’t have B, B, B, anymore, just B, B. Or maybe for the 3rd hit, it just changed of command.
Mitsurugi
Mitsurugi
Unfortunately I can’t tell you much about him. The EVO video will teach you more than me. XD
I only know he has a 1A even slower than the one he has in SC4.
And that the B of his 2K, B has changed command. It doesn’t do
anything if you just do B after 2K, but I don’t know the new command for that move.
The launcher B during the Mist Stance seems to have disappear, or maybe it has change of command.
My personnal opinion
I took a great pleasure to play Soul Calibur V !!!!
It is incomparable to the previous versions. If someone asks me « To which Soul Calibur it makes you think the most? » I would answer « None of them ».
Although it has been 12-13 years now that I’ve been playing with this saga.
But there are so many changes and news in the game play (Soul Gauge, Critical Edge, Brave Edge, Just Guard, Guard Impact, Armor) that we’ll have to review many of our habits if we are a veteran player of Soul Calibur…And it’s a good thing! I will take a lot of pleasure to discover the game with other ways to think. And I hope that the players beginning with Soul Calibur V will also take a lot of pleasure to discover this game, which I already like a lot.
I think there will be more mind game than before with all these changes, better reflexes to have and more consequential decisions to make (In particular with the Gauge, where you have to save it and use it wisely to ensure your victory). I’m even more impatient now!!!!!!
All the Project Soul team, that I had the chance to meet, really wishes that this SC5 becomes a success and suits the players at best.
Your opinion really counts for them, and I realized to what extend when discussing with them. They have an even higher motivation when they see the players feedback when there are news on the game, aso… They like to see you enthusiastic about the game and it’s a genuine pleasure for them.
So above all, feel free to speak your mind and give suggestions on Daishi Odashima’s twitter, the producer of Soul Calibur V, and show your enthusiasm everywhere on the net and for real!
Thanks of you reading me, and see you very soon to talk about Soul Calibur V again!!! 😉
PS : You can follow me on Twitter HERE or Facebook HERE
Tago-san, Soul Calibur V producer and Kayane at Gamescom
FANTASTIC! i cant wait! (^_^)
Do you have any idea when the demo of SC5 will be released on PSN or XBL?
How did you come to play the SCV Demo? I’m from now on am a New follower of yours. XD I read your Bio your climb to Gamer Heaven was really cool. Its always been a dream of mines to enter into fighting video game tournament. Any fighter would suffice I love them all lol. Keep up the good work I hope to see updates from you soon! 😉
No improvements on Siegfried? man, I hope they add and change some things, he has always been my main, in SC4 was good, but I would like new things and more speed
poor game, poor feature..nothing like befores.
Hi Kayane, thank you for the extensive review of the game. It is looking to be one of the best Caliburs to date. I do have a couple questions regarding Voldo, and I know you may not have played with him very much so I will keep my questions as basica as possible.
1) Did you notice if Voldo has a normal command to go into Blind Stance like he had in previous Soul Caliburs? (214 in SC2 and B+K in SC3)
2) Did you notice if any moves with Voldo recovered in Mantis Crawl without the need to hold the button down?
3) Project Soul said they had made Voldo easier to use, so I am curious to know what your thoughts are on this. Did he seem easier? What made him easier to use?
Any other information you have regarding this character would be very much appreciated. Thank you again for the write up! You did a great job!
« She still has the stances Jolly and Gloomy, her two personalities. It is still random and she still loses life. »
i agree with you SO MUCH on this issue. i main tira because i feel like she has one of the most unique weapons and fighting styles. but i REALLY wish they would change the fact that her stances are random and that the gloomy stance loses life. its one of the major reasons why i feel like im at such a disadvantage when i play, and it was something i was really hoping they would change in SCV, so its a bit disappointing to hear that so far none of that has changed.
but currently, i like starting off as gloomy, so that i can do my attacks without being afraid to do life losing attacks when i still have more than half my bar left. then when my life bar goes below half, i dont have to worry about losing any life with jolly attacks.
the only problem with that is that it ALWAYS starts in jolly mode when youre in single player mode (and in versus mode you have that short amount of time only after you win a round to transition for the next round). then add on the fact that theres really no fast, easy, AND guaranteed way to transition to gloomy mode during a fight… THEN add the element of randomly turning jolly during certain gloomy attacks…
its just way too easy to accidentally transition into jolly mode and way too hard to intentionally transition into gloomy mode. this makes for a highly uncontrollable character. even the semi-fast transitioning moves 44K, AK are both rarely successful on the first try and/or impair her for a while.
anyway, i LOVE the two stances, but i would really like to see the completely random aspect of them just done away with completely. i get that the whole « random » thing is part of her personality, but i think the 2 personalities are enough, and i find that this really hinders the user from really using her as a solid player, ESPECIALLY compared to all the other characters. i never found any of the other characters to be half as hard to control as tira.
so yeah, tl;dr, just wish all the characters were on the same (or at least similar) levels with each other, because tira is really down on the totem pole, especially in regards to useability, imo.
Hi Kayane..(^_^)!!
Thank you so much for your review,
Tira still has two stances..It is really a bad new for me~~(T_T)
she is very hard to control in SC4….
I wish the Tira in SC3AE can return…
In my opinion,Tira should be a very Elegant charactor …the girl in SC4 looks like a madman~~~
(^^:)
I really like this game and I hope it turns out to be one of the best games in 2012 but I have a few questions that can be fixed or took out. 1. It would be really good to bring back (Battle Theater) on SC5 as did with SC3 as that was awesome seeing CPU fight a CPU. 2. Will there be a good and epic story mode with movie clips instead of writing about the different characters because reading about it in tales of the soul was not as good as watching it back in SC3. 3. Please take out the star wars characters as they are the main reason that SC4 was not so moving and I’m not hating on star wars I’m just saying that SC4 and SW didn’t fit together. 4. Will there be other characters from different anime like naruto, bleach or tekken. If so that would be even more fun. 5. The level on arcade mode on SC4 was too difficult so I’m asking please would you make a difficultly level where you can change the level what the CPU is set on.
Thank you for taking time to read this, it would be much appreciated if this would get sorted and answering this question. Thank you.
Hi everybody, I thank you for the messages, i’m glad to see you’re curious for the game !
Replying to questions now :
Franman : Do you have any idea when the demo of SC5 will be released on PSN or XBL?
I’m sorry I don’t have any ideas. 🙁
Jeremey Burnett : How did you come to play the SCV Demo?
As I said, Namco invited me to Gamescom to play the game demo.
Raven906 : No improvements on Siegfried?
Some characters have been more developped than others. I think they worked more on Hilde, Patroklos, Pyrrha, ZWEI, Ivy but didn’t have that much time on others characters. That’s why maybe there are not much different stuff.
Enkindu :
1) Did you notice if Voldo has a normal command to go into Blind Stance like he had in previous Soul Caliburs? (214 in SC2 and B+K in SC3)
I’m sorry I didn’t see that. 🙁 Doesn’t mean it’s not on the game.
2) Did you notice if any moves with Voldo recovered in Mantis Crawl without the need to hold the button down?
I don’t know.
3) Project Soul said they had made Voldo easier to use, so I am curious to know what your thoughts are on this. Did he seem easier? What made him easier to use?
I think Voldo is quite the same to play, the command list doesn’t really change. But I think if Namco said he’ll be easier to use, maybe it means they will reduce his stances just like Ivy.
Jila : I played Tira in SC4 for a while to discover another one character, and also because I like the two personnalities.
It’s annoying she can change of stance during a combo for example, because it changes the command list and you have to be VERY careful about that…and if you’re too much concentrated on Tira’s personnalities, how can you be concentrated enough about what your opponent is doing…
That’s why i would like it to be less random too, with a way to change of stance guaranteed and without losing life in Gloomy.
As I said, you should tell Daishi Odashima on his twitter about your thoughts. More there are feedbacks for Tira about that, and more it will influence her development.
Dan : I don’t have informations about the modes in the game yet, so i can’t reply for now about story mode etc…
The guest characters as Yoda, Dark Vader won’t come back in SC5 since they were only guest char for SC4.
I don’t know if there will be guest characters for SC5.
About the computer level mode, you can change it in the options in general.
My reply on 8wayrun.com forum :
For people complaining about characters who didn’t change, improve much…don’t forget it’s still a DEMO VERSION.
It’s possible they still didn’t finish the system of JG and Guard Impact.
And since there are several ways to charge the meters, it’s not that long to be able to GI, it doesn’t use a lot of the meter. I’m not sure exactly, but I think if you have « 1 » in the Soul Gauge, then you are able to use 4 GI in total. I think it will prevent people to GI too much. But the best is to GI someone who doesn’t have meter enough to counter GI, so that’s free.
I think they really worked more on Hilde, Pyrrha, Patroklos, ZWEI, and Ivy but didn’t have time to develop other characters as much.
As for Tira for example, they can’t say anything about the gameplay she’ll follow, it’s still in a state of development. So don’t worry if she’s still the same in SC5, it’s because they just have included her in the game from SC4.
Same for Maxi etc…
Also, I couldn’t change my configuration for the fightstick in the demo. The original config is that :
A, B (top buttons)
G, K, RT (bottom buttons)
Thanks for the translation! The new SC keeps sounding more interesting. I did have one question:
Do you know if the tech punish system when your opponent is getting up from the ground is back from SC3/4 and if so is it being changed in any way?
Thank you for the response. I appreciate your input. I have another question.
How many frames would you guess that JGing actually shaves off. Would you think it is in the range of 3-5 frames? Or more? Also, did you happen to see anything about the true Just Guarding (red flash)we’ve seen in early videos?
Hi Kayane, here in Dominican Republic we try to love every SC game as is; I mean SC2 with its G2 and SC3 with the VC and SC4 with all the balance problems this game has… but I’m really concerned about the Just Impact, Guard Impact and its properties… I’m really sad now that you wrote about this big change in this system; I think that the JI_GI system in SC4 is the best so far in the series, letting the players to be more aggressive and more used to learn Yomi techniques and commands timming.
I hope they consider to go back to the old system of SC4/SC BD so we can keep loving the game for the features with know and learn with so much efforts. I REPEAT, I’M REALLY SAD.
how´s possible that you´ll have « counted » guard impacts!! that one of the things that separate soul calibur from so much games, the equilibrium that brings the guard impact, and only one! i hope it works for highs and lows, i don´t like that idea, i hope they push a demo so we can try it, but as for now, i don´t like and i know am not alone
Thank you kayane, you have answered all my questions that I needed to know. 🙂 x
Back in SC2 the Gamecube controller utilizes the C stick as an attack function; in SC3, the same attack function was applied to the PS2’s right analogue stick. Have you fiddled with the right analogue stick on the Xbox 360 and PS3 and does it actually register as an attack?
I wonder will there be a creation mode in SC5 again?
I wish the costume settings can be seperate into more layer like SC3….
（upper torso / mid torso / lower torso… etc）so can create character more freely
since I love create character so much~ XD just because I like to draw manga~ alot
wish they can bring back all the fighting style that appear in SC3….
（wave sword / kunai / staff / steel fan / lance… etc, I don’t mind if they do some correction）
and… I wonder why there was no « archer » around?
Any chance for suikoden series character to be part of SCV guest character?
( sorry for my broken english ><: )
Something I enjoyed most from SC2 in Extremely Hard was the GI game like a Ping Pong game, beat that difficult was an enjoyable experience.
I’ve been playing SC since Soul Edge and the main feature of the game is the GI movement, it’s sad that they’re considering limiting its use.
Hi Kayane,
Are the crouch dash characters able to cancel the 236 like sc2/sc3? Also, did you notice if there are cancels available like sc2 which they took away many in sc3/sc3? Thx.
Great, now Ivy’s CE throw will do a little more damage than a normal throw while Natsu will be godlike. Call me crazy but maybe NamcoBandai shouldn’t take advice from people who are obviously really biased towards certain characters???
Shardz : I felt like SC4, but i dont know if they’re going to change it.
Enkindu : I always hated to play with frames, i even don’t look at Xianghua’s or Chun Li’s frames data lol.
So I really can’t say, I always have been an intuitive player, and bored of technical stuff like Frames XD
So i prefer to say nothing about it ! Sorry !
About the red Just Guard, hmm…maybe it’s when you do it at the last moment.
Just like the tech throws, it seems to be two different animations : if you tech throw late, your character falls on the ground, but if you do it right time he doesn’t.
Stryker : I can understand, i have been very frustrated not being able to 4G or 6G, i am so used to that since SC1. So if they decide to reconsider about the old version of GI, i think i would be glad. 🙂 Even if I like changes.
Franman : I didnt play with a fightpad, sorry !
Hitsuji : I don’t know about modes 🙁
An archer would be difficult in SC since the game is fast and realist, an archer takes time before attacking.
I don’t know either about guest char.
Mick : Couldn’t test that.
Nunez : The producers are smart enough, they will balance as much as they can, reading players feedbacks.
Hi Kayane, I got a quick question. Do you know if any characters had their damage changes done like Siegfried’s or Mitsurugi’s attack damage were were toned down for example?
Do you think Hilde will be banned again in SC5 (considering your experience so far)?
I kinda don’t like that GI costs but it doesn’t mean it will suck it all depends on how they make the system.
Also the more i read the more it reminds me of SF, and i would not like SC to be SF, also the 236 236 RT (A+B+K) (for CE) is a little out of character, for a game that is ‘tekkenish’ such inputs should be just 236 RT instead.
But i do like the fact that they are changing and lashing out the stuff like summons and ilusions, i think that that direction will be good.
I also hope that they will not simplify Ivy to much.
Anyway, I think the game will be pretty good since the fighting game trend this year is to listen to the users much more then before and most if not all the fighting games that are appearing now days are pretty good (starting with SFIV and its versions, to rebooted Mortal Kombat and MvC3) the competition is now much more rough so with the potential that soul calibur has i Have very high hopes.
Can’t wait to play with Z.W.E,I,, Ivy, and Tira
Kayane, this is a great article, but one thing catches my eye – the new Guard Impact / Just Impact.
How comfortable and responsive was this? I can imagine that pressing 4RT is a bit slower than, say, 6G or 4G because pressing a trigger takes more time than just G, and because GI is a counter dependent on timing I’m worried that that difference in timing can really ruin it.
Did you find it difficult, or do you think players would be able to adapt?
Oh, and one last thing, do you think that this ‘Brave Edge’ may be a newer version of Soul Charge?
Thank you!
Say, I’d like to speak for the casuals and CAS freaks of Soul fans: More parts, more hairstyles, more faces, more voices, more facial and body mark stuff(scars, blush etc), more detailed physique(like make him fat, skinny, or lean, etc), and height. But please don’t let it any of those affect game play. So can I ask you to put this in a question format for me? I’m sorry for I’m not that great at words.
Seems like ZWEI is a Carl Clover clone!
Hey Kayane, I have a question about Ivy. Does she still have CS and SS? Or maybe CS only (with old SS start up animation). I saw SS once in some video and it looked as if she used the meter to change a normal throw into SS and it did small damage (about 60).
Thanks in advance!
Gamerboy : I didn’t see difference on the damages at the moment.
Kupo : For SC5, there is no reason for Hilde to be banned again. She has been totally reviewed. All her charges have changed of effects to make them unable to Doom Combo, which made Hilde cracked in SC4.
Her movelist is almost totally different. It’s like a new character.
Larmann : Charging the meter is not hard at all, there are many ways and it’s fast.
I have very high hopes too. 🙂
Liam : The new GI just looked like GI in SC4. The Just guard seems just a little stricter than GI. But it’s not that difficult to do, especially if you’re trained.
There are also sometimes you just want to guard, and it does a Just Guard, because you pressed the button at the right moment to do it.
It’s another habit to have I guess, to press A+B+K or directly RT to make a GI.
I think you can be adapted to that. I was more comfortable with JG than this actual GI since i’m not used to do 4RT instead of 4G. It happened to me to do 4G because it’s been more than 10 years i’m used to it ! lol !
Brave Edge makes special attack just as it did with Soul Charge before, at the moment I just saw moves becoming Guard Crush. But I dont know if they do more damages etc…since it costs some meter, it will have to be used if necessary.
Pocky : Namco wants the best SC possible, so of course they’re not going to have more importance in the beauty than the gameplay. 🙂 They are working hard right now in the gameplay and to make the game balanced.
Ring : Hmm…I don’t know about her throws. But it’s possible they would have considered CS as a Brave Edge, so that you use meter to do it, just as SS ? It’s something to ask to Daishi on his twitter if you can. 🙂
Thanks for this, Kayane!
Thanks for the info, Kayane. If you happen to remember something else about Ivy don’t hesitate to write something here, or on 8WR =)
Thanks for answering my question. And yes I understand that gameplay is way more important than casual stuff like CAS. But every once in a while we feel like customizing our favorite characters out of good fun. Another question I may humbly ask despite how stupid it may sound? Is there any chance that Yoshi or someone like him will return considering that Tira is back? Because I feel that I want to get into hardcore discussions with him since I main him.
I think all fighting styles from previous SC will be in SC5, even if it’s not the original character but a new to replace.
I don’t see reason why there would not be Yoshi since he can’t get older. So I hope for you he’ll still be here. 🙂
Many thanks! Keep us posted. I appreciate it. Boy do I sound like a broken record lol.
Hi Kayane, thanks for the info and answering all these questions. I know you said that you couldn’t change the button configuration on the demo, but do you know whether you can increase the chance of making a JG with multiple G button binds? Like you can with Just Ukemis in SC4. I am worried about this because if you can JG like this, you could get tournament players constantly pressing GGGG to guarantee guard and get a much higher chance of JG (by spreading the input over many frames, like plinking in Street Fighter). It could render some of the longer strings useless.
umm…..Fastly?
Maybe I should ask specific questions/give my opinion here.
On JG, how much did it shorten recovery? I don’t know the exact frame data of the BB, but how many frames did it feel like?
Do you think it will be possible to mix up attacks to throw off JG attempts?
Do you think JG will be doable in lag- how hard do you think it will be to adjust from online to offline?
Personally, I think the new GI system will be good, if it works on lows. I think it should be an all-levels block that costs meter, but is vulnerable to throws and unblockables.
JG is really worrying me, mostly because of my VF background. I can see throws/other things beating it though, so I’m not going to panic. I’d much rather have SC3-style GI’s in the game instead.
The guard crushes- did they only occur on red, or can they occur earlier?
Hyrul, glad to see someone other then me thought of that. ^_^
Is Namco considering making every character strong? One of the best things about SC2 was how every character had a low that was at advantage on hit, this absolutely must return for me to consider SC5 as tournament viable.
I see. Thanks Kayane!
Kayane, thank you for being the first one to finally bring a real detailed view of SC5’s gameplay…. I’m also glad to see Namco reach out to the community
I, personally, am really excited for SC5 after reading your impressions! I have a few questions:
-Do you plan on maining Leixia for SC5? Or are you gonna switch; and if so, who to? Because if you stick with Leixia, I’m going to make it my personal goal to BEAT YOU when you come to a US tournament… 😛 No, I’m not joking. I’m really serious about it! (Xianghua has always been my main and favorite character.) You better get your practice in!!! [^____^]
-Did it feel unnatural to use 4A+B+K to guard impact, or was it easy to adjust? Does it feel like the same amount of active frames (around 2 frames to GI in SC4 I think), or did it feel more forgiving? Can you only GI in one direction? Do you believe they have or will implement low GI? I’m personally not too worried about this, especially since I usually play with arcade stick — it’s not too hard for me to adjust to hitting 3 buttons to GI, rather than 1. Oh yeah, and also, is there more advantage upon successful GI (since it costs meter now), or is it around the same (what was it in SC4…..uh, +16 frames, I think?)
-Did Tago-san tell you anything about Leixia?
I don’t like the fact that they’re making 236 236 a standard in the game, this makes it almost unplayable on the standard xbox controller. Although I play with a stick myself, I know many people can’t afford one.
I have to agree that the 236236 seems unnecessary, but I think some sort of long motion is needed.
That said, that’s a minor detail compared to the other stuff, which hopefully we get more complete information on tomorrow. Daishi’s had a rough day, though I think the community has a right to be very concerned given how these mechanics have been implemented in other games (not well in many cases).
Hyrul : I’m thinking about bidding G. It would be really annoying to keep guarding in G whereas with button binds, you’re pressing G several times too. I think the developpers didn’t think about that, because they only play in sticks, so they have difficulties to imagine this kind of things, just as the button binds with Hilde.
I wonder if they programmed you need to have your guard released to make JG, so not possible to do it while guarding.
I think of the name which is « Just Guard », so it means that you guard exactly at the right moment. So logically, you should not be already guarding to make just guard.
About « P-linking G », I think that it would not work. Because you need to G at a strict moment. It’s not like SF where you are already making a combo and that you want to increase the chance to succeed the links, without risk.
Here, it’s about defense so you take risks. And if you push G too late, the hit touches you. So I think that doing that without reaction just by P-linking would make the JG even harder to do.
DMC : Fast ? XD
Broccoman : I think the recovery depends on the move that the opponent JG. I don’t know exactly the frames of Taki/Natsu for her AA or BB. But for example, the recovery after a Pyrrha’s BB JG-ed would be longer than Natsu’s AA frames, but less frames than her BB.
For the mix ups, I think a player can make himself predictable at first, just to make his opponent JG. And then he can suddenly change and stop his move before the JG. Just like BB, you can spam BB all day during a round, and the second you can do just one B whereas your opponent planned to JG it.
For JG depending on online/offline : Well, it can also depends on the TV screens …I dont’ know yet how the difference would be, but we’ll have to adapt…:/
I dont understand the question about Guard Crush, what do you mean by « on red » ?
Crow : They want all characters to be balanced, so to have equal strenght.
Blackstar : I will main Leixia, and if I decide to have a 2nd character it would be Natsu. 🙂 I’m ok for the duel. 🙂
For the GI, yes it felt unnatural because i was very used to 4G. It’s just the command that really changed. And the configuration on the stick wasn’t mine so it made it more unnatural.
It felt like SC4.
Since there is stand GI, I dont know why there would not be crouch GI, maybe they didn’t put it yet, or maybe it’s another command than 1 or 3 RT.
I thought the GI was the same than SC4. But didn’ test it that much.
Nothing about Leixia, they didn’t plan to announce her yet. In fact they announced her because of the gift Daishi Odashima gave me. So none information about her at the moment. 🙁
On red: The impression I got was that armor breaking was random, but the probability of getting a guard crush increased the more your guard gauge lowers. I should have said armor breaking, not guard crush- I got my games mixed up! ^_^
So on BB’s, do you think really good players will be able to block the first B, but JG the 2nd B? I know I won’t be able to do that, and that would have a huge impact on gameplay. I’m concerned it might make things too technical for many. This is my big concern, along with online- regarding this mechanic.
I was really worried when I saw the initial teaser video that they would focus too much on trying to be Street Fighter… and I gotta say this just furthers those fears.
SC’s Guard Impact feature has always been my favorite across all fighting games, and the fact they’re completely redesigning it and making it limited (via meter usage) crushes me. This Just Guard system doesn’t quite sound like a true replacement, from what I can tell; but I’ll try it out when the game releases, I guess.
Thanks so much for this write up. I don’t like what I’ve heard, but it’s always great to get such a detailed breakdown.
Thanks for the answers, Kayane
Thanks Kayane for the very informative review on the demo so far. Things sound like they are coming along nicely with the game so far. I’d say that I am pretty excited to try the game out myself so reading this was a nice way of taking a peak at the game. The only thing that worries me is the GI and JG but I’ll test that when I actually try the game myself :3
I think I’ll test out the characters in the game when I play for myself : D But I am very happy to hear that Sieg (my main) is still pretty similar because that means I’ll know exactly what I’m doing when I start playing. I think I am most interested in trying out Patroklos, Pyrrha, ZWEI and maybe even Natsu.
Thanks for the info on the Demo again! Maybe I’ll check back more to see if anything new pops up about SCV.
The Plinking/option-selecting of JG has been confirmed to not work.
So at least for offline, I am no longer worried. I am worried for online though.
I’m disappointed with Tira. 🙁
I hoped that random factors and the energy loss will be gone.:(
Personally i hoped for a gameplay similar to SCIII Arcade edition but with some more moves and safer on block hits.
I main Tira since SCIII (back then was terrible low tier) and i played her in AE after that and ofcourse in SCIV.
I liked the changes in SCIV but i ve missed her stances from III.
Also the random factor between the 2 moods was pain and ofcourse the energy loss especially from Gloomy mood!
I want to say that if you make Tira’s gameplay more SCIII Arcade Edition with some good and safe elements from SCIV and ofcourse better hitbox (because she suffers in all games from that) i think she will be more competitive, more balanced and ofcourse she will gives us (Tira players) the « air » from SCIII and ofcourse the other additions from SCIV. I’m really hope to watch that in the near future while you still make the character!
Thanx again for you still continue the best title from all the fighting games!
I think only SC3AE the TIRA is the best, change the system more stable!
SC4 TIRA system is too unstable of the two character strokes are too rigid, change is less severe impact on the wartime play!
I only hope to return SC3AE that feeling inside TIRA!
The game is looking pretty awesome, but I am a bit confused. A lot of the old standby characters seem to be missing and I am not so sure I can live without my favorites 🙁
You guys have to remember the game is still under construction. I’m hoping they improve Tira. Though I really want to see Yun-Seong in 5. Hopefully he’ll play the way he played in SC3 or, better.
Broccoman : Armor Break is not random, you have the Life gauge that is shining in yellow then red, to warn you it’s gonna break. So more you guard and more your armor is going to break.
After it breaks, you can make a combo or Critical Edge.
For JG the 2nd B I think in a high level, people will be able to do that yes. But they’ll have to know the timing of each character’s BB to do it well.
Tirasoul : Don’t worry, in the demo Tira just has been added…they still didn’t study her yet for SC5. So if you want to have some changes, you can tell your thoughts to Daishi Odashima’s twitter.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions for soul calibur v
it sounds very fun 🙂
Good Kayane , can’t wait the release date… i love sc since the 1st episod name soul edge/soul blade. I wish NAMCO will remake HD collection of soul edge/soul blade, sc1, sc 2 and sc3 in one disc. also remake HD collection of tekken1,2,3 and 4 .
I never play the previous SC’s, only SC IV a little bit…But this new one makes me feel sooo excited… 🙂
Just one question: new players will understand the gameplay easily??
@Lucianna. Come to 8wayrun.com. We’ll help you understand the game better. Besides, why not share your opinion and chat with us? We all are thrilled to have a SCV coming and would love for you to join us in simply being a soul fiend.
Just a note is their anything called Charge cancel that you are aware of that will be in the game that they might have mentioned or not?
And what do you mean 6B,B for voldo what move is that particular?
Kayane, you are so beautiful.
personally im pretty relieved to hear that tira’s stance change is still random, the random factor creates a unique style of play, compared all the other soul characters that have changes based on will rather than chance.
what is needed to be done about tira though, is to not punish ppl for using gloomy ( health loss on attacks)
and to make tira’s attacks more fluid and her recovery quicker. which allows for higher combo opportunity.
Im very dissapointed that namco changes the very CORE that made soul calibur stand out so much: The GI system. They shouldnt, they should rewrite what theyve done in the demo and put the GI’s back on 4 and 6G, all those ‘special bars’ and ‘supers’ ruin the game completely, and what you told about a ‘armor break’ I hope you dont refer to it the same as in SC4 in wich when you took to much damage your actual armor fell off and your char would be naked. That was HORRID in the game and the stats on it aswell making you forced to wear certain pieces and never be able to make a char look like you actually ‘wanted.
Please please please, tell namco the above, PLEASE make them reconsider the GI system because if they dont, i will for the first time in my life refuse to buy a soul calibur game, i will quit the competitive scene.
Soul calibur starts to look like street fighter this way, and it used to be much better.
i really loved tira in SV IV i wish she wont change as i lke the ramdomness and she losses live in glomly because its like shes a emo and i wish for the whip style in ivy to be easyer to bring out in stead of useing conbos to use it also i hope there not dumbing the game down to much for new players other then that i cant wait intil 2012 to buy it
I main Tira and personally I loved her in SC4. Her random mood changes required you to be ready at any time. This also put effects on your opponent’s play as well. If the change were highly expected Tira would not be so fun to play as or nearly as unpredictable. HOWEVER, the health loss of being in Gloomy is a bit of a downer, but there is a good side to that effect. It forces the player to strategize and adds for more interesting gameplay. The disappearance of the affect would render her m.change useless.
hi tago hisaharu sir my name is nadia from jakarta and i want making new characters of soul calibur 5 oh and iwant you making characters for my cousin,bebi salsa
When will the SC5 demo be released on xbox and playstation network??????
I really want to play the game and already preordered it. But I still wanna play a demo before game release because I cant wait for the game to come out.