Zero Punctuation: Soul Calibur IV

[Surggical_Scar]

Ooh, a fighting game? Well, okay, you did Smash Bros. Brawl, and that was like an evening with the Marquis De Sade in his private basement, with the Spanish Inquisition as the supporting act, but that was a done deal from the start - crappy game.

But I've managed to play Soul Calibur IV without wanting to shove hot badgers in my eyes, possibly because I was almost certaintly pissed to the point of blindness/incontience/both, and possibly because at the time, I just wanted to indulge in some mindless violence, and didn't have a copy of Dead Rising to hand.

It was by no means great, hell, I've still got a soft spot for my old Street Fighter SNES cartridge, it was still heartwarming to see the fine traditions of hyperactive fist, foot and sword-fighting being passed down, often with difficulty, prising them from the cold, dead fingers of the predecessor.

But I'll agree, Soul Calibut does take things to an extreme - the tits, the seemingly wimpy weaponry, the one-size-fits-all-attack-button, the addition of otherwise pointless extras.

I think you really hit this one on the head - Soul Calibur may be 'fun', under specific conditions, but there's no real element of it which makes it a good game.

Oh, and once again, on good form. Nice one.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

Obviously, needing skill isn't on Yahtzee's list of things that make a game fun.

I have SC2 and if he really wants the game to not be readily beatable by spamming the throw button, then he needs to play on one of the hardest settings and stop playing EVERYTHING on normal. >_>

Normal mode isn't meant to be hard, nor is it for any other game. Of COURSE it's going to be easy; you're telling it to be.

Of course Yahtzee won't actually stop playing everything on normal, though. It's just that I can't take a review seriously if the person's playing on easy or normal the whole time and then decides he wants to complain about how easy something is.

It's like that guy on the (now dead) NSider who used a strategy guide for every Zelda game in existence, and then proceeded to cry that all the Zelda games are easy. :/

I think this is the biggest problems I have with Yahtzee's reviews.

 

[comboverchrist]

I don't get the lightsaber debate. The movies aren't even that consistent. There have been a lot of Star Wars games and in none of them have lightsabers done devastating damage like in the original trilogy. Episode III, Jedi Knight, etc. KOTOR is considered cannon by most fanboys and even the generic Sith baddies can take quite the saber lashing before tapping out. I assume in Force Unleashed you won't be able to slice enemies in half with one hit either.
Soul Calibur 4 is fun. I agree that the recycled movesets are lame. The developers must have either run out of time or gotten lazy on that one. Other than that, this one is probably the best of the series so far. Yahtzee hates everything except Portal. It wouldn't be funny if he didn't.

 

[CAB0SE]

If you're going to include certain elements in a game, they must all be placed on the same quality and emphasis on all aspects. You cannot excuse some aspects of a game for the greatness of others (ie: Teh Halo Syndrome)

I consider myself to be a gamer of a wide pallette (pallet?); FPS, racing, RPG, RTS, Adventure, FPS puzzzle (AKA Portal). Yet I feel now real draw towards fighting games apart from the occasional rental. I definently don't feel draw enough to them to play effing $60 US for one.

This is a another game by fans, for fans. It's no wonder that if normal people game casually, they aren't taken seriously because they don't (or can't) take the games they play seriously; or atleast as seriously as us video game enthusiasts do. I'm happy for games like LBP, w00t!

 

[The Sound Defense]

I gotta think that any game that lets you win by spamming a single move, on any difficulty, is fucked. In any case, while I don't know if I agree with his diagnosis here, he certainly provides enough good arguments to make his position defensible.

 

[CAB0SE]

To counteract Woe is You's post from earlier about bad stories in FPS: Everyone keeps mentioning "crowbarring" in more features, no stories in FPS? Half-Life Series,
Red Faction 1, Time Splitters Series (even though the last one is just shenanigans in time and space travel, it was still fun and new)

Even then, it's not like fighting games stories aren't overused. When you have 16-20 different characters, you can have as many different plots as you effing want!

 

[ZodiacBraves]

Also SC means splintercell

and starcraft, but does it really matter as long as its clear what we are talking about?

 

[rebochan]

That review was depressingly laugh free. And shifted right into "Well since I don't find it fun, it's logically only fun to morons."

I mean, I don't play Madden or Gran Turismo because I just don't find them fun, but I'm not going to begrudge the gigantic fanbase.

I hate to say it, but if Yahtzee just keeps spending every week being angry and ranting and not also being *funny*, I may have to stop watching. And that would be a shame. This should have been an awesome review, and it just isn't. It's like watching a guy on Fox News describe all the porn in Mass Effect.

 

[GON]

The most fun I had out of a SC game was the character creation and playing with other people.

What other time in your life will you see Optimus Prime fight Jesus Christ?

Quoth a random from our crowd: "Do you know why Jesus lost? Because he doesn't exist, that's why."

Clearly this game is a community-oriented thing, which is why Yahtzee might not "get" it. You either like fighting games, or you don't.

 

[GregoriusH]

SC is Starcraft, nubs.

Soul Calibur shall be abbreviated as "Soul", and Splinter Cell shall not be abbreviated at all because it's Not A Very Good Game.

Jokes. Never played Splinter Cell so for all I know it could be a perfectly good game in spite of Tom Clancy's name being on the box.

Anyway.

Fighting games are my favourite genre. Anyone who berates them for bad plot or anything else unrelated to the combat mechanics is intentionally missing the point.

And anyone who thinks they can beat a good player by button bashing has never played a 'good' player.

There's plenty of good reasons to ***** about Soul4 though. Star Wars aids, shitty online mode, shitty tower of lost souls mode... but all that stuff is just sort of secondary. Fighting system is as good as it ever was. Soul4's combat is like a super hot chick, and all you guys are sitting around saying you wouldn't fuck her because she happens to be dressed in last season's fashion and hanging out with some pretty poor company. If you just saw her naked and without the little green man you so fucking would though.

Greatest metaphor ever.

 

[XPats]

There are a few things to put out there before I write this comment: I have always been a fan of Yahtzee's videos; I do not like Soul Calibur, generally.

With that out of the way, I must say that I am terribly terribly disappointed with this video. In the past when Yahtzee were to say things that I found untrue or arbitrary about a game I liked, they were usually funny, and it was ok. However, this video was nothing more than an amateurish verbal display that underlined his ignorance in a very specific game genre. It also was not funny, so I was unable to overlook his obvious missing of the point. It is not a problem if you do not like fighting games, or if you don't understand them, but as was mentioned before, just because YOU don't understand them, that does not mean they are steaming piles of shit.

Actually, most of what I wanted to type has been fleshed out pretty well in previous posts, but I am so irked, that I feel the need to post anyway.

Yahtzee, somebody who hates multiplayer and hates competitive gaming generally, has no real business reviewing, or criticizing, or video blogging about a fighting game. That is like a 6 year old trying to say helpful or interesting things about Citizen Kane. Sure, they can have an opinion, but it is not valid as said 6 year old does not have the proper frame of reference or experience. In order for Yahtzee to accurately blog about this game, he should have had like 4 friends over, 2 of which who are very good, 1 who is average, and a beginner. That way, he could notice the different levels of play, and how they interact with each other, as well as experiencing a fighting game in the way it was meant to be played; with other people. Here is another simile for you all: Playing a fighting game by yourself is like buying a watergun, with nobody to play with. It is just not the way it was meant to be.

However, I need to repeat that I am not a fan of the Soul Calibur series. The fact that somebody called them the cream of fighting games almost made me fall out of my chair. Soul Calibur is the most random, most button mashing friendly game I have played in a while, and is just a bit better than the Dead or Alive series. However, it is not nearly as shallow as Yahtzee makes out, and the points he uses to extend his opinions to all fighting games are in no way valid.

I am a hardcore fighting game player. I buy large arcade style sticks because they allow me to perform certain things more easily. I spend lots of time in practice mode to etch out what works and what does not work. I have fighting game marathons at my house whenever I can get enough people. As was said before, if somebody were to only throw, or only low kick, especially if said low kick is known to be broken, or the game mechanics make it difficult to evade throws, then that person would be shunned, and would have to make the trip of shame to the store to get more beer, or pizza. But good players playing well made games usually can handle such tactics easily. And button mashers in games like Tekken, or Street Fighter are absolutely no trouble at all. Fighting games ARE like a competitive dance, where flash, skill, timing, response under pressure, creativity, adaptability, unpredictability, and ability to predict will gain you respect in my house. There is a certain flow to well made fighting games, and the best players are the ones who utilize that flow the best.

And to reply to some of the earlier posts:

I do believe that memorizing long combo strings takes skill. Not only because you need to memorize more than one, as well as execute them at the right times, but you also have to do them sometimes under lots of pressure. Handling pressure in fighting game is a show of skill and experience.

In games that were primarily made to be played in versus mode, story is not important. True, this may turn people off, and that is ok. However, that simply is the nature of these games. Knocking a fighting game's story is simply useless.

Character design is important, and does help to keep a fighting gamer interested, but comes WAY after the fighting engine and game play. WAY WAY after.

Now I know that most people who are commenting here won't feel the same way that I do about fighting games as it is true that hardcore fighting game play is a niche, and a dying niche as well. But it is a farce to rip something you don't understand.

 

[Telekinesis]

I suggest you don't read the above wall of text. I regret even reading the first few paragraphs.

 

[XPats]

'I suggest you don't read the above wall of text. I regret even reading the first few paragraphs.'

Fair enough, to each his own, I guess. And I will admit, it is a little bloated. Probably why I don't usually write in forums.

Am I 'that guy'? Probably. But I don't really care. Calling somebody 'that guy' is a defense that people usually use when they suck at stuff.

 

[Sparcrypt]

Heh, 100% correct about the throw button.

Personally I get the apprentice, wander over to the edge and wait, then throw people out the ring. Instant win!

 

[misterE]

Do people really think SC is a series filled with tons of over sized weapons. The only characters I ever notice having huge weapons are Siegfried and Nightmare and their swords are magical weapons that aren't even all that big. The games aren't even filled with Japanese characters, it's mostly Europeans.