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[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Some of them are back in Part VI, but I'm only on Part V yet.

There was a 17-year in-story gap between SoulCalibur IV and V, so some characters were replaced with their successors and whatnot (who are pretty much just stand-ins); Natsu is apparently Taki's protege' and thus takes her place in the game having almost all of the same moves, Sophitia's daughter Pyrrha has almost all of Sophitia's moves, and so on.

The developers claimed that certain characters like Taki would be "too old" to still be doing the same thing in V, but most people call bullsh*t on that because several characters like Ivy, Maxi, Mitsurugi and Siegfried are all still in it and in most cases look exactly the same as they did in IV, age-wise. It feels honestly more like they wanted to shake up the roster a bit with some fresh faces but didn't want to lose the basic elements of some of the more familiar characters, so rather than create fully-new ones they just tacked their movesets onto newer, "younger" characters. Like in Taki's case, she's definitely missed but playing as Natsu instead is physically the same experience, so I guess they figured "good enough".

In Sophitia's case, by the time of SCV she's alleged to be dead, killed by Tira, but we honestly only have Tira's word for that even though it's probably true. So being dead might've been a bit of a problem towards her appearing in that one. Although again, I think Raphael was technically "dead" at that point in time too yet appears as a playable character (not entirely sure on that one; story events around V seem a bit muddled, since the game itself doesn't give any detail on anyone except for Sophitia's kids, leaving it up to folks to search the internet to find out what happened to anyone else). But in Sophitia's case, it makes *some* sense that they'd move her aside to better distinguish her two kids, especially since Pyrrha's style is so similar.

Not sure where Cassandra is during V, as she's never mentioned. I'm guessing that both her and Sophitia were essentially thought of as redundant with Pyrrha and Patroklos there instead. I know she's a huge part of Part VI, though.

As I understand it, the plot of VI goes back to the timeline of SCI and II and takes things in an alternate direction, so a lot of the main characters like Taki and Sophitia who were absent from V ended up coming back. So there's that, at least.

I agree that it's frustrating when games will do that sort of thing, regardless of reasons. Every character is someone's favorite, after all. I know space is limited and sometimes "new" characters make old ones redundant, and you can't just repackage the same exact roster every time, switch some costumes around and say it's a whole new game... but selfishly, I wish these games would only add characters, not remove them.

Like I know that Mortal Kombat: Armageddon wasn't considered to be a high point of the series by a ton of folks, but it was just so cool to have 99.9% of the entire roster from every MK game thus far that I could forgive a ton otherwise. I wish more fighting series would do that, but I understand why they don't.

Naturally, it's because of plot reasons that such things happen. But it's still a shame.

I believe Tekken handled such contrivance rather well. Whenever a character from. A previous game didn't make the newest one, they'd usually add one with a similar moveset. Usually a relative, a friend or a student of the missing character.

Yes, besides, it's not like animators aren't usually generous when it comes to videogame chicks. How old would Taki and Sophitia be in that timeline? In their 40s? Just make them look a bit more mature and that would be enough. It's not like they're 80 years old. Animators can afford to be generous there.

The story is usually the least interesting part of a fighting game, anyway. They usually just do the bare minimums to give each character some background and motif. Funny enough, it seems like the major conflicts in fighting games can always be settled by beating your rivals and the main bad guy in a fighting tournament. So I guess it's kinda like wrestling haha

I have not played Armageddon, but I've played MK9 which was the return to 2d and a reboot of the series and I remember nearly everyone making the roster except Motaro. Even Rain made the cut lmao.

[Leo656]

I'm different; since I almost never actually play against other people, a huge part of what keeps me coming back to fighting games is the Story mode and learning about all the characters. It's funny, right now despite my wife technically having more time in on games like the Mortal Kombat and SoulCalibur series over a lifetime, I actually know more about the lore and the characters' backstories from playing as more different characters and paying more attention to the stories than she does. I'm altogether really impressed with the stuff going on in the SC and MK "universes" over their respective lifetimes; whereas with the Street Fighter series, I'm mostly impressed by how it's in the same universe as "Final Fight" and "Saturday Night Slam Masters".

My wife would know more about Tekken than I do; she's played most of them, I myself was never great with that series. But yeah, it's similar in SCV, most of the removed characters have a nearly-identical replacement character so it's not all that different from a gameplay experience.

Like, I don't like Natsu more than Taki, but I do appreciate that Natsu wears shorts rather than long pants. And I swear she sounds like she's saying "Ahhh, F*CK IT!" when she does her Critical Edge finisher. She isn't, I'm sure, but it's so close that it's hilarious.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I'm different; since I almost never actually play against other people, a huge part of what keeps me coming back to fighting games is the Story mode and learning about all the characters. It's funny, right now despite my wife technically having more time in on games like the Mortal Kombat and SoulCalibur series over a lifetime, I actually know more about the lore and the characters' backstories from playing as more different characters and paying more attention to the stories than she does. I'm altogether really impressed with the stuff going on in the SC and MK "universes" over their respective lifetimes; whereas with the Street Fighter series, I'm mostly impressed by how it's in the same universe as "Final Fight" and "Saturday Night Slam Masters".

My wife would know more about Tekken than I do; she's played most of them, I myself was never great with that series. But yeah, it's similar in SCV, most of the removed characters have a nearly-identical replacement character so it's not all that different from a gameplay experience.

Like, I don't like Natsu more than Taki, but I do appreciate that Natsu wears shorts rather than long pants. And I swear she sounds like she's saying "Ahhh, F*CK IT!" when she does her Critical Edge finisher. She isn't, I'm sure, but it's so close that it's hilarious.

I mean, I don't either. There was a time where I played Street Fighter a lot online. But it's been a few years since the last time I did that. Competitive fighting is just too difficult and too arduous of a journey for me to feel motivated to keep on playing SF online nearly everyday to become a great player. After a hundred hours online I was still pretty much just a bit better than a noob.i hibedtly think that's why fighting games are so daunting to so many people. It's the video game equivalent of working out. Takes time and dedication. But a game is supposed to be fun and not almost a job/lifestyle. I like Street Fighter and other fighting games and all, but I got other **** to play and do meanwhile.

Yes, MK is clearly the fighting game series that puts the most effort in its lore. Street Fighter never needed to do that as much since people play it for the gameplay. And Virtua Fighter is even a bigger example. It practically doesn't even have a story.

Interesting that you are better at Soul Calibur than Tekken. Tekken is the most basic fighter out there after Mortal Kombat. Soup Calibur is essentially Tekken with weapons. Which makes it slightly more complex. I certainly find Tekken easier than SC. Also, both games are by Namco. So I'm not surprised SC does the same thing as Tekken when it comes to replacing characters.

That being said, despite not having that much of story, Street Fighter characters are memorable and iconic. Tekken characters might have more detailed backstories, but I find them overall less interesting than SF characters. The Tekken characters that stand out the most to me are King and Yoshimitsu. Some of Tekken characters look a little too much like regular humans to stand out. Street Fighter having a more cartooish art style makes its cast stand out more.

[Cure]

I beat Final Fantasy VII Remake on hard mode, including the secret super boss, so I'm feeling preeeetty good.

[CyberCubed]

Sony/Insomniac is making a Wolverine game in addition to Spiderman 2.

[Cure]

Tales of Arise sucks so I beat it on Easy just to be free of its self-imposed shackles.

[shredder orokusaki]

I finished Yakuza 5 on Sunday and stared playing Yakuza 6 on Monday! This series is amazing. For true ninjas like me! A must play for evryone! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xchl-Dd8e1M

[Leo656]

For my Birthday, my wife got me...
Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition (Xbox One)
Lego DC Super Villains (Xbox One)
Resident Evil 2 (Xbox One)
Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox One)
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (GameCube)
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (Gamecube)
----------------

I pretty much "finished" SoulCalibur V, as in I did almost everything there is to do except get all the "Soul Of..." Titles, and I can always go back to that. But I somehow managed to beat all 240 opponents in the "Quick Battle" mode and got my Player Rank to Level 99, so there's not much else to do besides play as each character 50 times to get their "Soul" titles. Gives me a reason to go back to it later, I guess.

So I wanted to switch gears again to somethin different. I'm a few years behind on wrestling games, so I jumped into WWE 2K18. I played 2K16 a ton, but I skipped '17 because they de-listed all the DLC before I could get to it so there's no point even playing it, really, since like half the game is missing and I'll never be able to access it now.

So far I really like most of '18, though; it has some significant improvements of the last one I played, mostly in the graphics but I also like a lot of the things they added to the gameplay. I love the roster, but some of the characters they took out are pretty puzzling. Thankfully, most of them are easy enough to create in the mostly-excellent Creation mode, but by this point whenever someone like Roddy Piper isn't in one of these games I can only shake my head and sigh. Also, sometimes they do dumb stuff like giving the in-game character a really sh*tty outfit, to the point where you feel compelled to waste a spot creating an alternate version of them, anyways; their Randy Savage in this game has a really ugly outfit, in a color scheme I can't even remember him ever wearing, so even though he's in the game I feel like doing an alternate, anyway. It wouldn't be so bad if making an Alternate Attire didn't take up an entire Save slot the same as a brand-new CAW, but them's the breaks.

So far the "MyPlayer" career mode is pretty good. I'm not too deep into it yet but I like some of the "RPG Lite" elements they put back in, that stuff is always welcome. As usual, though, the rate at which you earn in-game currency is atrocious and it takes way too long to earn enough to upgrade your player character. But it's a bit more fun than some of the other games, so far. Haven't messed with Universe mode, yet, I hear that's been improved as well.

Regrettably, they don't have any sort of "Showcase" mode like some of the other games in the series did, where you'd re-play historical matches and whatnot. That's very disappointing as it was always one of the best parts in these games; I'm guessing they had to cut it to make room for other content like the expanded roster and so forth. Still a bummer, though. A game like this needs more than just Career, Universe, and Exhibition to add to the replay value.

Honestly, though, I mostly play wrestling games for the Creation stuff, making my own wrestlers, arenas, etc., and most of that is fantastic in this game. There's a ton more options for everything, and the in-game models come out looking way more realistic than they ever had before, which is terrific. Some look better than others - certain people have odd faces and sometimes the hair or whatever you'd need to give a person to make them "perfect" just doesn't exist in the game, so some guys you can only make 99% at best - but I made a few CAWS which 100% look like they were already programmed into the game. That's awesome.

Still, there's some drawbacks to that mode as well. First off, they removed most of the tattoo options, which will definitely make it harder to create certain guys. Really annoying, as I thought the options in 2K16 were a great way of doing it, but then the chick who did Randy Orton's tattoos sued about her IP being used without permission and I guess that ruined it for everybody, so now nobody's tattoos are in the game. I would've just put in some "close enough" lookalike options at the least, but I'm not in charge.

But the biggest problem I have with the CAW system in this game, is that due to the way it's structured it's impossible to create any really overweight guys in the game. Like I usually make guys like Yokozuna, King Kong Bundy, but you don't even have the option with what this game gives you. Anybody more husky than, say, Sgt. Slaughter, you can't do. Supposedly, it has to do with "clipping issues" between the characters and stuff like that, but I find it hard to believe there wasn't a way to work around it. The other limitations, I could work around, but plain and simply not being able to create guys like Yoko at all is a bummer.

Still, so far it's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying it. I just miss some of the stuff they took out but I already know I'll be spending a lot of time with this one.

[IMJ]

The PS3 Prince of Persia game was a masterpiece in every way.

[shredder orokusaki]

I finished yakuza 6 5 hours ago and it was amazing.

[Storm Eagle]

Metroid Dread - Special Edition
Metroid Dread amiibo set



I missed my chance to preorder them back in June, but I happened to be on Best Buy's site last night around 1am, and listings for both had the "add to cart" option. So I placed pickup orders at three different stores to increase my chances. Once I claimed both at one store, I went and canceled the holds at the other two stores. I'm no scalper.

[shredder orokusaki]

I just finished Alien elite Fireteam. It was much better than the previous Alien game Alien isolaiton. Because elite fireteam is full of action while isolation dosent have much of action. Now i begin to play Psychonauts 2! I wait to download from Steam on my PC!

[ssjup81]

It's been a while since I've posted in this thread. I think the last time I posted, I was playing Luigi's Mansion 2 or something. lol Anyway, I am currently playing Final Fantasy XIV. I started last July, but stopped last October since I was working on my MA and couldn't focus on both, given how immersive that game is. I went back to it in August and still playing now. I wouldn't mind playing some other PC games, but mostly something in the fantasy or RPG genre.

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

Metroid Dread - Special Edition
Metroid Dread amiibo set

https://i.imgur.com/6aZHk3n.jpg

I missed my chance to preorder them back in June, but I happened to be on Best Buy's site last night around 1am, and listings for both had the "add to cart" option. So I placed pickup orders at three different stores to increase my chances. Once I claimed both at one store, I went and canceled the holds at the other two stores. I'm no scalper.

I didn't know that Nintendo still sold Amiibos.

[shredder orokusaki]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrNXkZOZBrI&t=10s

Psychonauts 2 is VERY FUN! After playing 2 hours of it i recomend it to all of you!

[Icebot]

Just played Super Mario Odyssey and got every moon in the game.

[Vegita-San]

finally did tat last month

[Leo656]

I started playing Lollipop Chainsaw (Xbox 360) again yesterday for the first time in a few years. Figure it's Halloween Season, f*ck up some zombies and whatnot. There's still some Achievements and unlockables I didn't pick up yet, anyways.

Still holds up, to me anyways. Nothing game-changing; simple button-masher hack-and-slash, but the humor really puts it way over, as does Tara Strong's incomparable voice acting. She's great in everything but she's REALLY great in this.

Sometimes the camera gets a bit wonky but it hasn't had any negative effect so far. Different enemies and unlockables show up on higher difficulty levels, so there's some good replay value there. I'd beaten it a couple of times but only on Normal, so now I'm going back for High Scores and to get those Hard-level unlockables.

Juliet is also THE hottest video game babe ever, and I don't see how that's even a debate. I finally unlocked the barely-there seashell bikini, and suddenly, this game just got a LOT more interesting.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I started playing Lollipop Chainsaw (Xbox 360) again yesterday for the first time in a few years. Figure it's Halloween Season, f*ck up some zombies and whatnot. There's still some Achievements and unlockables I didn't pick up yet, anyways.

Still holds up, to me anyways. Nothing game-changing; simple button-masher hack-and-slash, but the humor really puts it way over, as does Tara Strong's incomparable voice acting. She's great in everything but she's REALLY great in this.

Sometimes the camera gets a bit wonky but it hasn't had any negative effect so far. Different enemies and unlockables show up on higher difficulty levels, so there's some good replay value there. I'd beaten it a couple of times but only on Normal, so now I'm going back for High Scores and to get those Hard-level unlockables.

Juliet is also THE hottest video game babe ever, and I don't see how that's even a debate. I finally unlocked the barely-there seashell bikini, and suddenly, this game just got a LOT more interesting.

I never got a chance to play that one. On that note, I would love to replay Bayonetta. I always wanted to be in on the sequels for that one too......

[Iroh]

I am currently playing and streaming Ori and the Will of the Wisp for Nintendo Switch. I love it! By playing the first one, I fell in love with it and had to play this one! Such a great game so far!

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I never got a chance to play that one. On that note, I would love to replay Bayonetta. I always wanted to be in on the sequels for that one too......

Bayonetta was great, too. I picked up the Wii U double-pack so one of these days I'll have to play both.

Lollipop Chainsaw is awesome but I'm just having no luck getting the Level 2 High Score. Apparently it's by far the hardest one to get; I spent a few hours on it yesterday and I think I might just have to skip it. I tried all the stuff people online said to do and I came REALLY close but just couldn't hack it. Bummer.