Soul Calibur II

[Artega]

So what do you guys think of Soul Calibur II? Specifically, which characters are your favorites, why are they your favorites, and what nifty tricks have you discovered with them?

I started playing Soul Calibur II with Nightmare, simply because Grim mentioned that he'd probably try Nightmare out when he got it. I now know that Grim gives great advice, even when he's not trying to :) Nightmare is, well, a nightmare. He's got incredible range on that huge sword of his, he can cause bucketloads of damage (though it's not quite as impressive as Astaroth's potential to KO someone in four hits), and he's reasonably speedy for a heavy-handed powerhouse. His soundset leaves a bit to be desired, having to resort to one-word retorts, and frequently using the word "soul" and the phrase "this is it!" - unlike Astaroth, who, while having some obscence fascination with the words "squirm", "scream", and "worms", has utterly cool phrases such as "it will rain blood today", and "begone, you scum!". (Yes, I am aware of my horrific grammar in that paragraph - call it early-morning stupidity.)

Soul Edge (Growth), Soul Edge (Complete), and Soul Calibur are easily Nightmare's best weapons; Growth takes something like 20% block damage, but regains 3 HP/sec and has about 120% offense. Complete drains about 3 HP/sec, and increases to 7 HP/sec with SC (but it also gains an additional 70% diminishing boost to offense with SC), but it hits harder than any of his other weapons. Soul Calibur regenerates 3 HP/sec, has 130% offense, and somehow seems a little speedier. Plus, Soul Calibur just looks mean. Of course, how someone so incredibly evil as Nightmare can even wield Soul Calibur is beyond me. Useful attacks for Nightmare include Rook Splitter (66B, or A+K during Night Lower Stance), Dark Bite (3A), and Fatal Dive (44B; this attack leaves you in Night Lower Stance, where you can follow up with a Cannonball Splitter, Death Horn Charge, or Death Claw.) Nightmare also has an incredible ringout game; Shadow Slicer (1A), in particular, is effective at knocking people off the edge. A powerful combo can be found in Slash Cross~Night Lower Stance (A, A, hold B), followed by Death Claw~Night Reverse Side Stance (from Night Lower Stance, hold K), and ending with Cannonball Lifter (during Night Reverse Side Stance, B.) If successful, not only will you cleave off a significant chunk of your opponent's life, you will also almost certainly bash them off the ring edge if they're relatively close (Death Claw and Cannonball Lifter are incredible at ringout.)

Raphael is another one of my favored characters. Although his playstyle really isn't suited to my berserking frenzies (I NEVER guard or sidestep, though I like Guard Impacting), I've managed to make it work. No real tips for him, other than Queen's Guard and his Soul Edge (Complete) are his best weapons; Queen's Guard has impressive reach, while Soul Edge has impressive damage.

Finally, Link (yep, I own the GCN version) is my third-tier character, simply because of his insane ringout ability. Just about all of his throws are great at ringout, and it's lovely to be able to pull off moves like Spin Slash and Bow Stance fluidly. Old-school asskicking at its finest, to be sure :)

So, what're your favorites?

[WarLocke]

Mokujin, Yoshimitsu, Lei Wulong, Nina and Anna Williams, and King.

Bonus points for insane combos like Yoshi/Lei or Nina/Anna.

Or for goofball groups when I'm playing around: Michelle Chang, Ling Xiaoyu, Kunimitsu, and Kuma. Ling/Kuma always gets a laugh.

Man, it's been too long since I've played. I think I've forgotten Nina's Scissorlock->Hip Break link. QCF+3+4, 3+4, 3, 1, 4, 2+4, 2+4... I think... I'm not going to even try to remember King's 5-link 100% throw (or comedy Bruce 4-link 100% grab, lol) :(

...

We now return you to the discussion for some fighting game I've only played twice.

Also, screw you Tekken 4 and your gay enclosed arenas. Oh, and screw that gay boxing Eddy Gordo ripoff too.

[Drasca]

Yoshimitsu is my favorite, not just for being the guy I mainly work with, but because he's a nutcase. Pure insanity. Even dad made the comment, "oh he's a character." Yoshi isn't necessarily the easiest character to start with, because he while he's a offensive pitbull keeping the enemy off-balance (as opposed to turtling defense), he doesn't lend to button mashing. Yoshi has crazy ways to do damage, has some of the most morally questionable moves in the game, and is all around fun to play with.

namu namu namu!

[WarLocke]

I wouldn't necessarily call Yoshi a pitbull. Just about all of his moves are wacky, and while you can certainly pitbull with him, he makes a pretty good (if unorthodox) turtle.

He also oozes class in that you have to be a good player to do well with him at all. He has one of the shortest movelists in the game (Kunimitsu is the only character with a shorter list I can think of off the top of my head), so it's important to always be switching tactics; you've got to stay at least one step ahead of the other player.

That's why I like the Yoshi/Lei (or heck, Mokujin/Lei) team so much - they're two of the more unique characters, and easy to flabbergast opponents with. B)

Yoshi has crazy ways to do damage, has some of the most morally questionable moves in the game, and is all around fun to play with.

Seeing your opponent's face after df+3~4, D+1+4 (double foot launch, mid-air seppuku stab) is always priceless. That combination does something like 80% damage to yourself, and 100% to them. Even if both characters are KO'd, Yoshi gets the win because he was attacking. :lol:

And don't forget, Yoshi is the master of juggles. I love the df+2, B+1, f~f+3, DF+2~2~2~2 for sheer "and stay down!" chutzpah (the last pommel strike only connects if they try to tech-roll), or df+2, df+1~2, DB+4~4~4~4 for insane legspinning juggle action. And these are basic as far as Yoshi juggles go... B)