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.
Even with that in mind, I think I need to spend more time with this to say for sure where I'm at. I'm used to grinding out arcade ladders for the better part of an hour, if not more. This I beat in under 8 minutes, across 3 credits. Hell, I beat Inferno on my first try. I have no idea if I legitimately got good at the video game after grinding out Soul Blade, or if Sophitia improved THAT much between games, or if the arcade ladder was dumbed down that much, or what - but it was weird.
Alright, a major contributing factor is definitely the game speed. Holy crap, is there a huge night-and-day difference between Soul Blade and this. This is the cadence I remember from my encounters with SoulCaliburs 2 and 3. I actually have to wonder if the big reason this was such a hit was because of how fast it was - this gameplay feels conducive for button-mashing, which would be VERY newbie-friendly compared to a lot of the headliner fighting games to this point.
My score is a reflection of mixed thoughts. Because I blitzed through the arcade ladder, the game didn't have much time to leave an impression on me. It felt good to play well, but it also felt disappointing that there wasn't more the game had to offer. But I'm never really experiencing the soul (heh) of these fighting games just by charging through the arcade ladder, so... hard to say. I'm willing to take on faith that the game is good, so I'll lean in favor of a more positive score rather than right down the middle.
Even with that in mind, I think I need to spend more time with this to say for sure where I'm at. I'm used to grinding out arcade ladders for the better part of an hour, if not more. This I beat in under 8 minutes, across 3 credits. Hell, I beat Inferno on my first try. I have no idea if I legitimately got good at the video game after grinding out Soul Blade, or if Sophitia improved THAT much between games, or if the arcade ladder was dumbed down that much, or what - but it was weird.
Alright, a major contributing factor is definitely the game speed. Holy crap, is there a huge night-and-day difference between Soul Blade and this. This is the cadence I remember from my encounters with SoulCaliburs 2 and 3. I actually have to wonder if the big reason this was such a hit was because of how fast it was - this gameplay feels conducive for button-mashing, which would be VERY newbie-friendly compared to a lot of the headliner fighting games to this point.
My score is a reflection of mixed thoughts. Because I blitzed through the arcade ladder, the game didn't have much time to leave an impression on me. It felt good to play well, but it also felt disappointing that there wasn't more the game had to offer. But I'm never really experiencing the soul (heh) of these fighting games just by charging through the arcade ladder, so... hard to say. I'm willing to take on faith that the game is good, so I'll lean in favor of a more positive score rather than right down the middle.