When my brother showed me the trailer for the upcoming Soul Calibur game a couple of weeks ago, I nearly crapped my pants at how cool Darth Vader and Yoda looked. I honestly thought it was a great idea as Star Wars provides a relatively untapped source of characters that could be used in fighting games (we've all forgotten about Masters of Teras Kasi I hope). However after doing some more digging, I found that there were a significant amount of bloggers, forum members, and youtube commenters, that thought that the inclusion of the latest guest characters is a bad idea. Their reasoning ranged from the simple, "I think it's stupid" to the uber-nerdy "Well it doesn't make sense. The blade of the lightsaber would cut through any weapon." (in which i respond by saying "not if their weapons are made of Cortosis, dipshit...yea, i'll let you readers go look that one up on your own). Then i heard the anurism-causing, "Well Star Wars takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Let's not overanalyze, shall we? Darth Vader is in the game and it's cool. That's it. There's no need for deep plot or reasoning in fighting games anyway...Relax.
Here's the bottom line, not that I matter at all, but I had never even heard of Soul Calibur until 2 came out with its special guest characters for each console (Spawn for X-Box, Link for Gamecube, and Heihachi for Playstation2), and I don't think I was the only one. The inclusion of these guest characters was a brilliant move because it not only was cool for the gamers, but was a brilliant piece of marketing for the company who created the game and for each console itself. Think about it; how many people bought that game only because of the guest characters? I would wager that one-quarter to one-third of the sales occured for that reason alone. My theory is this (and again, my opinion is meaningless) but if there are no guest characters, Soul Calibur is just another fighting game that isn't Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2: Super Championship Turbo Extreme Maximum Ultimate Edition. Also think about actually how many times you saw Soul Calibur 2 commercials on tv (a lot) and compare that to how many times you saw commercials for Soul Calibur 3 (from what I understand had no guest characters...or at least no popular ones) on tv (not once for me).
So Soul Calibur is including guest characters again for its 4th edition and this time using two characters that are more iconic than Link, Spawn, and Heihachi combined. My brother, who's a PS3 owner, admitted that there was probably no chance that he would buy this game if Vader wasn't in it (he's still bitter about Heihachi on PS2...GAUNTLETS ARE NOT WEAPONS!!!), but he most definitely will buy it now. I'm sure he's not alone in that thought. Just remember how cool the Marvel vs. Capcom and all the related games in that franchise were. Crossovers are cool, especially in video games. I only hope Vader gets to use Mace Windu's PimpSaber as one of his unlockable weapons.
Live Long and Prosper....wait....,
-Mike
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Amen, brother. People who don’t think that Vader/Yoda + SC IV = awesome need a Jedi mind abortion. Modern fighting games aren’t my thing — I was okay at SF II and MK II back in the day, but I just stopped playing fighters for one reason or another — but I’ll definitely (that’s the correct spelling, by the way) check this game out, just because there are Star Wars characters in it. Good marketing is right.
@Reaprar: And yet you did anyway...how strange...
You make a good point, I just feel it takes away from the feel of the game. I'm not a star wars fan myself, which is prolly why I don't like the idea, and I'm just fed up with how much star wars there is. Star wars has enough games of its own lol, leave brands I like alone >.<;;
Again it's just personal opinion. I just won't be using the characters in the game when I buy it, that's all.
You know.. i am on the side of the Guest character inclusion. .... i think its cool , distinct and funny. I also have to admit it does a lot for marketing the game....
But know this, Soul Caliber is NOT just another fighter. Hell, within the realms of fighting games you can distinctly... see certain divisions... 2D and 3D , and then smaller sub genres that are not worth discussing.
But within the genre of the 3D Soul Caliber has held itself with some very solid gamelplay that is much like the gameplay of tekken (in that it has changed little in the fighting system)
It also has in my opinion, over the many generations of the game added some really good EXTRAs and these alone have cultivated replay value that i must say is extremly lacking in many other fighting games.
I see the adding of guest characters Unique and an invitation to players not familiar to the game, but in no means is it a make or break situation... with or without Vader and the little green ninja, this game can hold its own.... anytime...
... i am most certainly looking forward to whatever else the game will have.
Kratos.
That is all.
@ athiestium: The "feel" of the game? I'm not trying to be jerk here or anything, but what exactly is the feel of SC? It's a bunch of whacky, contrasting characters that go nuts with weapons. It's an amazing series, but I can't see how this could ruin the feel. It's a wide open game after SC2 and it's special characters, honestly.
But I do somewhat agree, Star Wars should stick to Star Wars, if only to stop the overkill.
That said, I will probably be there on launch day, hacking away at people with Darth Vader, because Star Wars is win. Even if it's old at this point.
Kratos.
That is all.
Indeed.
Also, anyone who played through KOTOR 1 or 2 would know Cortosis blades can be used effectively against lightsabers. But then again, not everyone has played these games. So they might not know this.
Just saying.
I think the inclusion of Vader and Yoda in SCIV is totally awesome. I think they should be in every game ever. Mario Bros, Grand Theft Auto, Tetris, all of them.
EVERY GAME EVER!
@ Jonathan Holmes: While your sarcasm is welcome and funny, please keep Darth Vader and Yoda the fuck away from my Super Mario Bros.
DO NOT WANT.
Also, DO WANT Mother 3 dude. I feel your pain, although I think it's more of head cold pain for me and a life and death pain for you. Good Luck.
I like the idea, but I hate that Yoda is exclusive to 360 and Vader exclusive to PS3. When you add those characters to a fighter, you at least should be able to let them face off against each other.
Actually, Vader and Darth Maul would have been good SC4.Yoda could bring many character balancing issues for the developers due his small size. Yoda would be really good character for Smash Bros. His final smash could be him throwing an X-Wing
Maybe you haven't heard of Soul Caliber before the "Guest Stars" but that doesn't mean they need to continue this Failed inclusion of Star Wars Characters. What is this Smash Bros? No..It's Soul Caliber a deep, weapons based Fighter with it's own vibe going on that has absolutely no reason to have these "guest stars" aside from a marketing ploy to attract Star Wars Fanboys.
But hey at least it will have online play..and I get to crush these fighting noobs playing Vader with Mitsuguri so it's not all bad.
Fail
I don't care how they explain it just Fail
heres the gist of why they work, unless people dont listen to the words uttered in most of the games or trailers for soulcalibur games, the realm they fight in isnt a normal world, its like a battle arena where they wager there souls to win for the soulcalibur, it just so happens that most of the characters come from certain time periods that tie together. But come on most of the characters are from diff time periods so its alright with me. The star wars characters are just wagin there souls for the power of the weapons too.
It's hard to argue with the marketing value of star wars, considering that conventions still happen bi-weekly, despite the fact that the series "officially ended" iin 2005.
I'll definitely check out the new Soul Caliber through someone else, but I'm probably gonna check out the newest Star Wars game (in which you play as Darth Vader's sith apprentice[!]) when that comes out on my own.
But another good post big guy.
It's hard to argue with the marketing value of star wars, considering that conventions still happen bi-weekly, despite the fact that the series "officially ended" iin 2005.
I'll definitely check out the new Soul Caliber through someone else, but I'm probably gonna check out the newest Star Wars game (in which you play as Darth Vader's sith apprentice[!]) when that comes out on my own.
But another good post big guy.
I just thought it'd be better if they were both together in both versions of the game so they could fight.