Soul Calibur 2

[diegoforlan]

Just recently purchased this game, and it's keeping me off battlenet at the moment!

I fancy myself as a bit of a fighting game coinnesseur (sp?) and i have to say that this is the best 1 on 1 fightning game i have ever played ( i own the GC version....gogogo Link!), and it is also one of the few fighting game with a tangible, ralatively detailed storyline.

Does anyone else have any opinions on this game?

Also, which of the characters really stands out for you? (Nightmare, obviously IMO, but also i would love to get really good with Maxi)

[MonTy]

Hail diegoforlan,

Yea, I purchased SC2 for the GameCube when it came out. The game was very fun for awhile, and I certainly got a lot of enjoyment out of it. The characters I used were Ivy, Link, and Nightmare. They were by far my favorite, and the only people I got accustomed to.

Though the game didn't have the lasting appeal I wanted it to. My friends that play console all stopped playing after a month, and we all went back to smashing it up in Super Smash Brothers Melee. Although SC2's fighting system is pretty deep, I personally just didn't have fun with it. My favorite fighting game (although a bit kiddy) is still Super Smash Brothers Melee. It's a very competitive and arcade'ish game.

Maxi is a very good character. You can annihilate your opponent real fast if you get off the combos. Though make sure you don't miss, as his combos keep going and leave him wide open.

Glad to see you are personally having fun with the game, I would like to hear what you think about the characters you use. I never talked much about SC2 online, and maybe if I talk about it I'll start playing it a bit again =)

[WarLocke]

Tekken > Soul Edge/Calibur > Virtua fighter, kk?! :P

Okay, serious answer...

When I played Soul Calibur (1), I always seemed to do well with Ivy. Her link-sword makes for some very nice "keep away" moves.

[BobThePumpkin]

I got it through a preorder a day or two after the release, and I'm really enjoying it. I mainly play Kilik and Nightmare, but I'm looking into a lot of the other characters. How far is everyone in weapon master? I've completed it and bought everything except a few SC completes, legendaries and costumes.

One thing: Go into options and change the audio to japanese, it sounds MUCH better.

[aurikan]

I own it for GC as well, and play it on all 3 platforms against coworkers (we cycle between platforms so that everyone gets to play some of the time on their best/favourite platform)

I have a pretty mean Voldo. I've been having trouble recently thogh because my opponents are getting much better at parrying, something I can't seem to get the hang of.

[JustAGuy]

I love Soul Calibur 2. I don't think I've played it to death yet, but I've played it enough that I don't have any urge to play any more... But that's probably because my competition is no where to be found.

I beat the weapon master mode three times now; it's nice, but there's something lacking. I don't want to say it was too short, but I think it just might have been. An experienced player can tear through weapon master without much difficulty, or at least my friend and I both did.

As with all fighting games, V.S. battle is where the real meat of the game lies. The problem for me is that I don't have any competition except for one extremely good player -- he is married with a child, so he doesn't come around that often.

When you have good competition, Soul Calibur 2 is fantastic. My friend and I were constantly trying to change our styles, because as soon as we figured out what it was that we were winning with, we'd counter each other. There were times when we would deflect, deflect, deflect, grab - grab break... It's hectic, but exhilirating. Taki (him) vs Maxi (me) matches have always been the super enjoyable for us. Sometimes I switch it up with Spawn (who is surprisingly very good in his simplicity) or Mitsirugi, but Maxi is my main man. He has so many stance changes that I've still got a lot to learn in regards to chaining combos.

Maxi is definitely my favourite fighting style, and since I've been fighting Taki so much, she is one of my least favourite. Luckily, I can beat most Taki opponents silly now that I've played against her so much. That's the thing with SC2; you play enough that you can tell what they're going to do by the intial animations. That's also the problem with Necrid, as most of his animations are too fast. Some would say he's overpowered to the point where he's broken, but I wouldn't go that far. As far as unbalanced elements of the game go, two weapons come to mind: Taki's ultimate (Kris Naga?) and Talim's ultimate. Taki's weapon has no drawbacks to it, and it does massive damage. Same with Talim's; no drawbacks + ridiculous range. Talim with range... Ugh, hurts my stomach to think of it. My friend and I don't play with any special weapons, only the defaults, baby.

I haven't played Link, but from what I read, he's basically an enhanced Cassandra with a projectile. I own the Xbox version and play Spawn. He's pretty simplistic, but good nonetheless. I just love catching an opponent off guard with that cheap fireball he has. It's unblockable if you charge it.

The only really bad thing about SC2 is the lack of competition. I'm not nearly dedicated enough to go to any tournaments or anything, so facing good competition is a rare occurrence for me. That's where the addition of online play would have really beefed up this game's replayability. I still play the occasional Capcom Vs SNK 2 online just because I can; lord knows, no one else will play it with me, except for the fellas online. If SC2 had online play, I'd probably be playing it right at this moment!

[Artega]

I own the GCN version, though I've gotten somewhat bored with it - Super Smash Bros. Melee is just more fun overall.

I learned how to play with Nightmare, and I'm deadly good with Astaroth. I've been learning Raphael, simply because I like his fighting style. I don't see how Taki can be an effective character - she's weak and she has NO RANGE at all! Talim is lethal if she can close the gap, and Cassandra is merciless if she can knock you off your feet.

I have a very predictable pattern with Nightmare, so he's techinically my weakest vs. character - I generally poke them with my sword right off the bat, and follow it up with a Mail Splitter (his double-vertical attack), Earth Divide, or Rook Splitter. Earth Divide can easily cleave off half of an opponent's life bar, and it can result with a one-hit KO if you've got a fully-charged SC.

Astaroth is my preferred Vs. character, though I'm getting lethally fast with Raphael. Astaroth has a nasty two-hit combo that works particularly well with his Tabar weapon - if both hits connect, it instantly cleaves off half of a target's life.

As for Smash Bros., I'm a Fox addict. I love his lethal speed, and I haven't met someone who can beat me when I'm using him :)

[aurikan]

The main problem with Cassandra is that virtually everything she has comes out of 8wr, and is a line attack. What's so bad about that? If you're 8wr, often so is your opponent. Her FS moves are a bit predictable/timeable. She does have a good range of down moves, but they all suffer from low damage and a lack of effective follow-ups to them.

I haven't played vs Nightmare that much, but what I have seen is that he's strong but telegraphs almost everything he does. This makes him easy to block/step/impact. It becomes a game then of "can you deflect enough attacks to wear him down?", which is not a bad thing, but definitely not the high adrenaline battle you get from say Talim/Xianghua/Taki vs Ivy/Killik/Voldo.

I won't comment on Raph because I haven't met anyone who effectively used his post-move "preparation" stances, something pretty much necessary demonstrate his strengths.

As for Taki, her strength is definitely in her bleedingly fast attack rate and mobility. She can interrupt almost any parriable combo, and can chain her own combos effectively to punish people who don't impact well. Get someone who knows her stances and rolls through steppable attacks and she can really pressure.

[Artega]

I'll try and do that as soon as I find a pen and ram it into my ears - Taki has the most annoying soundset of any of the characters by far.

I've been trying to learn the secrets of using Raph's Preparation abilities, but it's slow going, though it's a lot easier than trying to learn Ivy.

As for Nightmare, he and Mitsurugi are the "newbie" characters - that is, they play the easiest and the most predictably. It's possible to be very good with them, but for real competitive play, it's best to change to another character - Astaroth is a great choice if you're switching from Nightmare, as his range and power only slightly higher than Nightmare's, and his speed is only slightly slower.

[Kryn]

Super Smash Bros. Melee is just more fun overall.

I'd have to agree with you entirely. There's just so much more to it. It may just be my most favorite game.

As for Smash Bros., I'm a Fox addict.  I love his lethal speed, and I haven't met someone who can beat me when I'm using him :)

I wish I could take you up on that. I bet Marth and I could give you a run for your money. ;)

[Artega]

I'm very skilled with Marth as well, so there's a good chance I could predict your moves :P

[diegoforlan]

I really should look at topics i've posted more often...

I also own SSBM, and can still honestly say that it comes a very very close second to SC2, even though I am much better at Melee.....

I have recently started looking at Maxi a lot more, and I had no idea he would be so complicated.....
( I can see why he is call a button basher's dream now though, some of the moves I have seen someone perform just by randomly tapping buttons and wiggling the Analogue stick a bit)

Does anyone have any advice for a Maxi (dare I say it?) Newb (Sorry if that word offended anyone....)

[Rinnhart]

Played SC 1 on the arcade until my hands bled, love SC2 for my xbox. Granted I'm not consistently good with anyone besides Nightmare, and he get's pulled apart once people pick up on my patterns (I'm not a big fighting game player, I'm an FPS man).

Tend to get the "Nightmare, huh? noob" treatment from friends, too, but I like smashing things in three or four hits.

Also like the samurai guy, though I can't remember his name, suddenly.

Can't seem to beat voldo with anything short of chaining cheap tricks. I hate that guy.

The "special" characters all seem pretty cheezy. Spawn's just outright lame. He's got an axe. What happened to the chains and cape of dh00m?