I'm very fond of this entry to the series because it took a big risk and switched up the status quo, something fighting games rarely do nowadays.

The story of the series had been centring around Siegfried and Nightmare's conflict for the previous 4 instalments and I was desperate for a change, so this was a really welcome change. In fact, with the way things were at 4 things were beginning to feel stale so a shake-up was absolutely in order.

The story focuses on Patroklos & Pyrrha, characters introduced as early as Soul Calibur and acting as the new hosts of the Soul swords. These characters and the story's focus on them is widely criticized and yes, they are very tropey/shallow characters - but then, I do not think the series has shown us particularly deep characters before either - so it was expected. It would have been nice to have had as much attention given to the rest of the cast and a more complex story mode, but I enjoyed the story given and the ending theme is lovely too.

Another common criticism is for culling the cast and replacing fan favourites with new characters. I don't mind this personally, but it is a pet peeve of mine when the male characters are allowed to age and the female characters must remain either eternally youthful or be replaced when they hit their 30s... I would have loved to see an older and wiser Taki in this game, for example.

It is unfortunate the game was so badly received and I feel as though this has injured the series in a way it has not yet fully recovered from. I do not feel that the game itself is entirely to blame though, and I don't agree with the majority on that.

Missed potential.

I know sc5 was so badly received that 6 was a franchise reboot, but I don't think it's as bad as many reviews say it is, in fact I think it's better than sc4 (it's not really a high standard though). Sure it doesn't have the fan favorite characters or a well written story with endings and in-game explanations for every character, but the #1 most important aspect of a fighting game is it's gameplay.

I'll start with the positives and the mechanics and the actual fighting when the round starts is one of them. The game feels more fluid, faster and movement more responsive. The 8 way run feels way better than previous games, and overall movement is faster for every character. The inclusion of meter, "ex-moves" and "supers" are great additions in my opinion, and way better than the fatalities that 4 added lmao. Super moves are short and not long cinematics like they would end up being in Tekken 7 and sc6.

Another big positive, and a selling point on it's own: the character creation. While in Tekken you can dress up the characters in Soul Calibur you can do that and also create your own OCs. In the previous 2 entries you could also do that, but the freedom of adding stickers and accessories almost anywhere on your character allows for some crazy customization if you get creative. I remember, when this game released, looking online for formulas and just to see what other people were making. In my original save file, from that time on the xbox360, I hit the maximum (50) slots, and in around 2 months with the ps3 version I have 30 created characters. Too bad you have to hit max player level to unlock every piece of equipment though...

Every good point comes with a catch with this game. The game has an excellent character creator (and sometimes it feels better than the one in sc6) but there's a ridiculous grind to unlock everything for it. The gameplay feels great... but there's barely any content besides what's essentially just versus against the cpu or other players. It has great new character additions... but the roster also includes Xiba, Leixa and Patrokolos, and it's not like the 2 Pyrrhas and Alpha Patroklos are a good replacement for Sophitia, Cassandra and Setsuka.

Man, the roster is so weird. Characters from previous entries are missing because story. Are Taki, Xianghua, Mi Na or Setsuka not in the game because they would be too old? Hilde is in and she looks the same as the previous game. Why is Talim not in the game? She would be perfect for a time skip. Why is Algol in the game?? Mitsu looks older but Maxi looks the same. Kilik is just another Edge Master but there's 2 Pyrrhas.

The story excuse for not having the older characters just feels weak. Voldo, Astaroth, Aeon just have no story significance. Even the "new generation" trio barely appear in the story mode. Natsu and Taki could easily coexist just like Amy/Raphael, Rock/Astaroth or Lizardman in previous games.

The story is fucking awful. To read and to play. It had some cool ideas I guess...
Patroklos and Pyrrha are terrible protagonists and their relationship is kinda weird. Z.W.E.I. is cool but they just kill him at the end lol. And most of the cast just get nothing in terms of continuing their story.

It's obvious that this game was rushed. It's a shame because there's so many cool ideas. Z.W.E.I., Viola, Aeon are great additions. The presentation is great. Ezio is an alright guest but Devil Jin is so cool...

I like coming back to this game. It has some fighting styles that are unlikely to return and creating new abominations is always fun. The storymode is there and I can just ignore it :)

Even if sc5 is looked as a black sheep I feel that there's a lot of it's concepts managed to survive. Tekken 7 with it's rage arts and drives. Soul Calibur 6 which refined the gameplay of 5, kept the meter and the movement, and it's character creator is very similar to the one in 5. And sc6 clearly influenced Tekken 8's meter and it's usage.

If you liked 6 or like Soul Calibur in general, give this game a chance. It's not 1 star bad, more like 3.5 stars with some big flaws and some good stuff too.