Take any of my ratings of non-Smash fighting games with a grain of salt, as they're usually based off a single run or two through the arcade ladder and general surface impressions.
More modest compared to what SoulCalibur would become. That of course goes for costumes (though between Voldo and Taki, the series was horny right out the gate), but also in terms of the game's scope and speed. This feels a lot more in line with Virtua Fighter between the characters representing different martial forms, the slower pace, and everyone jumping like 10 feet into the air (and I know the more correct comparison is probably Tekken 2; I'm speaking with what I'm more familiar with. Anyway, Tekken doesn't have a block button). I do think that even at this point, you could easily see the potential to SoulCalibur - it just didn't quite have its hook, at least beyond the novelty of 3D swordplay.
Music's quite strong, which I feel is worth note because that's so rarely my takeaway for fighting games of this era. "Heavenly Engage" and "Bravely Folk Song" stand out to me in particular, though at least part of that has to be from how thoroughly Sophitia and Cervantes walled me. Still, I couldn't recall Lion Rafale's or Jeffry McWild's music the way I could these two, so hey.
More modest compared to what SoulCalibur would become. That of course goes for costumes (though between Voldo and Taki, the series was horny right out the gate), but also in terms of the game's scope and speed. This feels a lot more in line with Virtua Fighter between the characters representing different martial forms, the slower pace, and everyone jumping like 10 feet into the air (and I know the more correct comparison is probably Tekken 2; I'm speaking with what I'm more familiar with. Anyway, Tekken doesn't have a block button). I do think that even at this point, you could easily see the potential to SoulCalibur - it just didn't quite have its hook, at least beyond the novelty of 3D swordplay.
Music's quite strong, which I feel is worth note because that's so rarely my takeaway for fighting games of this era. "Heavenly Engage" and "Bravely Folk Song" stand out to me in particular, though at least part of that has to be from how thoroughly Sophitia and Cervantes walled me. Still, I couldn't recall Lion Rafale's or Jeffry McWild's music the way I could these two, so hey.