This IS the best SOULCALIBUR in the series. YES there is a huge roster cut, the story DOES suck, but the gameplay, graphics, music, character creator, all easily make up for it. The amount of DLC is massive and if you do buy a regular copy of this you will be missing out ( Btw the "artbook" is more of a character bio collection. ) You should at least buy the standard edition if your having second thoughts ( Save you some $ ) Most of the hate this game recieves is from the die-hards. I am a die-hard SC fan and this is the best game. ( Everyone stop trying to compare this game to SC II lol )
The soul series has always been a good weapon based fighting game and this new entry certainly keeps that exciting style of combat going as well as offering a great online multiplayer but aside from that it falls short on some other key points most of which is the single player, choosing to focus only on 2 to 3 key new characters which while it does well for those characters it fails to deliver any more relevant info or story regarding the other new comers to the series, also dismissing many old and popular characters from the line up (Talim why!!!!!!) and for some reason including in my opinion pointless additions like Elyseum and Kilik as more limited versions of edge master and omega Phyrra as well a meaner Phyrra, these slots would have been better spent on others honestly. In the end while the main gameplay is still solid the many other little flaws keep it from being as great as it could have been. Heres hoping for some DLC to fix this.
Soul Calibur V is a great fighter with a disappointing story mode. Unlike the recently released Mortal Kombat which used its story mode to introduce you to the fighting mechanics of almost the whole cast by having you play them, Soul Calibur V only highlights 3 characters and 4 fighting styles.
*Shout out to Pyrrah's Japanese voice actress for the Awesome job she does.*
-The legacy characters cover the missing fairly well, but I am dumbfounded on the exclusion of Talim from the game since she's probably the most unique fighter in the group next to Tira who is in the game.
Ivy's mechanics were altered in that she has only 1 stance, unlike the 3 stances she had in SCIV which made her a lot more fun and picking the correct stance for whoever you were up against to maximize your advantage.
All in all slightly disappointed with it. Hopefully there will be some DLC fighters, or even Story mode DLC to make the game have a little more life to it outside of multiplayer.
