Soul Calibur 6

[Zevox]

Just thought I'd post this as a heads-up to anyone who may be interested in the series but not know about this, there's an open beta for Soul Calibur 6 going on this weekend on PS4 and XB1. It's fairly bare-bones, with the only thing available being ranked online matches with random people, but it's a way to try the game out if you'd like to. A decent chunk of the roster is available too, including guest character Geralt of "The Witcher" fame. (Though sadly for me not my favorite SC character, Cervantes...)

Anyway though, from what I've played so far, feels like Soul Calibur, and the online is running fairly smoothly - once the fights start, anyway, there is a strangely long wait time to find a match. Not totally sure whether that's from a low amount of players or from the matchmaking just not being good, though since Dragon Ball FighterZ had the same issue in its beta early this year, maybe it's the latter. I've been playing Mitsurugi, since I always use his fighting style for my create-a-character of Lyn from Fire Emblem, but thinking of trying out Geralt, or maybe Sophitia or Xianghua. Never been any good with the latter two, but eh, I'm kind of flailing at the moment anyway, since I've never quite wrapped my head around 3D fighters the way I have 2D ones, and I don't understand the new mechanics at all since they don't let us play a tutorial, so it hardly matters who I've played in the past.

[Illieas]

had some fun with the beta. Mostly ran talim. She is interesting. there are a couple thinks i need to lab hard. need to find her stance options and which sequences are how unsafe. She can reversal edge cancel to stance and that one i need to see in its entirety as that can make or break her. I hope the training mode has full functionality ala tekken ( though i do wish frame data was not fan community gathered but actually in game).

As for wait time i had 15 min or so but it seem if you placed your setting to allow everything those people would get matched first so you end up waiting or something as people that set to lowest had generally good matches. i place at 3 bar and any region.

If you have question about system in soulcalibur 6. I will see if i can answer them. otherwise 8wayrun or discord are the places to go.

[Zevox]

had some fun with the beta. Mostly ran talim. She is interesting. there are a couple thinks i need to lab hard. need to find her stance options and which sequences are how unsafe. She can reversal edge cancel to stance and that one i need to see in its entirety as that can make or break her. I hope the training mode has full functionality ala tekken ( though i do wish frame data was not fan community gathered but actually in game).

As for wait time i had 15 min or so but it seem if you placed your setting to allow everything those people would get matched first so you end up waiting or something as people that set to lowest had generally good matches. i place at 3 bar and any region.

Wow, I'd given up on anyone else saying anything in here. Cool.

I wound up playing someone different each day - Mitsurugi day 1, Geralt day 2, and mostly Sophitia day 3. I liked all three, though I was perhaps happiest with Sophitia, who is someone I always kind of wanted to be able to play in previous games but never really felt like I got a handle on, and I felt like I was starting to get her this time. Geralt was more of a "seems okay, but I really need training mode to get a clearer idea" guy - want to figure out how his spell moves work, and wasn't getting it from just trying to experiment mid-match. Though if 6 is like past games his moveset won't be available to custom characters since he's a guest character, which is sad since I always prefer playing as those.

I also tried Xianghua briefly, but had a harder time figuring anything out with her. I might wind up trying Talim myself once the game's out, since I can think of a couple of customer characters for whom her play style is the most fitting, but I didn't really use her in 2, which is the last time I recall seeing her. Mostly just used Link in that game, since he was the entire reason I bought it.

Definitely agree about the frame data. That goes for every fighting game really. That's a rare case where SF5 is ahead of the curve and I wish other companies would copy it, letting training mode display at least some basic frame data in-game.

Wait times seemed to clear up for me after that first day - though I was setting everything to search for anything and anyone. Still wound up with mostly playable matches though, so that was nice. Or maybe I'm just unfamiliar enough with 3D fighters that what lag was there was less noticeable to me than it would be in a 2D fighting game, always possible.

If you have question about system in soulcalibur 6. I will see if i can answer them. otherwise 8wayrun or discord are the places to go.

The main thing I meant when I said that was the new "Reversal Edge" mechanic, which I wound up looking up an explanation for over the weekend and started using myself. It seems a bit over-complicated and unintuitive for what it's trying to do I must say, but on the whole I think I kind of like it. It's nice that it's always a vertical attack, so if someone over-uses it you can just notice them starting it when the red sparks start flying, sidestep, and get an easy punish when they come out of it.

Edit: Come to think of it, there is also Soul Charge. I got it by accident several times (I think it was pressing back plus the super shortcut), but wasn't sure what it does. I imagine it's a power-up of some kind, but no idea what the specifics are or whether/why/when I'd want to use it over saving meter for super.

I'm aware of 8wayrun, but it doesn't seem to have much at this point - which makes sense given the game's not even out yet, but still. And posters there often assume more familiarity with the series' technical details and jargon than I have. As for discord, correct me if I'm wrong as I've only used it pretty minimally so far, but wouldn't that require me to find an invite link to a specific server on it?

[Illieas]

Wow, I'd given up on anyone else saying anything in here. Cool.

I wound up playing someone different each day - Mitsurugi day 1, Geralt day 2, and mostly Sophitia day 3. I liked all three, though I was perhaps happiest with Sophitia, who is someone I always kind of wanted to be able to play in previous games but never really felt like I got a handle on, and I felt like I was starting to get her this time. Geralt was more of a "seems okay, but I really need training mode to get a clearer idea" guy - want to figure out how his spell moves work, and wasn't getting it from just trying to experiment mid-match. Though if 6 is like past games his moveset won't be available to custom characters since he's a guest character, which is sad since I always prefer playing as those.

I also tried Xianghua briefly, but had a harder time figuring anything out with her. I might wind up trying Talim myself once the game's out, since I can think of a couple of customer characters for whom her play style is the most fitting, but I didn't really use her in 2, which is the last time I recall seeing her. Mostly just used Link in that game, since he was the entire reason I bought it.

Definitely agree about the frame data. That goes for every fighting game really. That's a rare case where SF5 is ahead of the curve and I wish other companies would copy it, letting training mode display at least some basic frame data in-game.

Sophitia I have tried but her playstyle never fit me as i like a aggro style. while she can do 50/50 i kinda feel her stab game has always been her main tool. I also feel that 236 in soulcalibur is weirder than other games. like there is a delay?

Geralt's style will be available for CAS. they are currently running a build a character via poll and this tweet shows the fighting styles you can emulate and geralt is one.
https://twitter.com/soulcalibur/stat...05592958492673

The main thing I meant when I said that was the new "Reversal Edge" mechanic, which I wound up looking up an explanation for over the weekend and started using myself. It seems a bit over-complicated and unintuitive for what it's trying to do I must say, but on the whole I think I kind of like it. It's nice that it's always a vertical attack, so if someone over-uses it you can just notice them starting it when the red sparks start flying, sidestep, and get an easy punish when they come out of it.

Edit: Come to think of it, there is also Soul Charge. I got it by accident several times (I think it was pressing back plus the super shortcut), but wasn't sure what it does. I imagine it's a power-up of some kind, but no idea what the specifics are or whether/why/when I'd want to use it over saving meter for super.

I'm aware of 8wayrun, but it doesn't seem to have much at this point - which makes sense given the game's not even out yet, but still. And posters there often assume more familiarity with the series' technical details and jargon than I have. As for discord, correct me if I'm wrong as I've only used it pretty minimally so far, but wouldn't that require me to find an invite link to a specific server on it?

reversal edge is a controversial tool. i see it is a tool to defeat spammers but I think it works as a crutch. what was once learning block strings or GI now can be swap with RE. Yes the veritcal and semi short allowing for some out play. the main problem I have is the incentive they throw at you for doing it. you get so much meter hitting it.

This gave rise to a new style that i found very annoying as it is basically boils down to throw out an attack. A attack or RE any retaliation. Main thing is show RE early and often then swap up for a A attack as a mix up. build enough meter for super and then use that where RE would be.

This is also why i am going for talim as i am hoping to use her stance sidestep to be my tool against RE and have my RE have option with RE cancel.
EDIT: basically i want to do this to RE
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...1473/44BRE.gif

Soul charge is indeed back and super. basically it is a defensive tool as it resets to neutral and install for all characters. In most cases it allows for extended strings, change some to break property, and all attacks chip. ( breaks attack destroy RE and if blocked leave you in plus frames). the reasons to use it is to reset to neutral as some supers can be hit out of. but more importantly you can apply pressure as more moves are plus. Another advantage of soul charge is that you pull off combos that tend to be higher than a raw super. see kayane combo in the link
https://youtu.be/aIXoem7I4Do?t=254

8wayrun used to be the place like tekken zaibatsu for tekken. problem is years of no game have thinned the resource. Hopefully it will gain strength as SC6 comes in. yes for discord you need to find a discord link and they are separated by character.

[Zevox]

Sophitia I have tried but her playstyle never fit me as i like a aggro style. while she can do 50/50 i kinda feel her stab game has always been her main tool. I also feel that 236 in soulcalibur is weirder than other games. like there is a delay?

She has quarter circle moves? *shrug* Eh, no training mode for me to look at move lists on, and I haven't played SC in years and was never good at it, so I'm sure there's plenty I don't know about that sort of thing. I mainly meant that I felt like I was getting a feel for basic but effective moves to use in certain situations - where he fast moves of each type were when I was trying to interrupt someone, effective lows, a move that could catch opponents rolling around on the ground, that sort of thing. Never even had that much of a feel for her in past games.

Geralt's style will be available for CAS. they are currently running a build a character via poll and this tweet shows the fighting styles you can emulate and geralt is one.
https://twitter.com/soulcalibur/stat...05592958492673

Oh? That's surprising but very welcome news. Always struck me as odd that the guest characters were barred from the character creator. Glad it's not the case this time.

reversal edge is a controversial tool. i see it is a tool to defeat spammers but I think it works as a crutch. what was once learning block strings or GI now can be swap with RE. Yes the veritcal and semi short allowing for some out play. the main problem I have is the incentive they throw at you for doing it. you get so much meter hitting it.

Well, that's certainly true. I remember the first opponent I ran into who used it a lot surprising the hell out of me by getting a super off in round 1, which was baffling compared to how slowly meter otherwise builds in this game. Still, I don't know that I'd necessarily consider that a bad thing myself, especially since there's not much guaranteed reward even on a hit (the initiator doesn't have any advantage in the ensuing clash, and the attack itself isn't doing anything special in terms of damage that I saw).

Soul charge is indeed back and super. basically it is a defensive tool as it resets to neutral and install for all characters. In most cases it allows for extended strings, change some to break property, and all attacks chip. ( breaks attack destroy RE and if blocked leave you in plus frames). the reasons to use it is to reset to neutral as some supers can be hit out of. but more importantly you can apply pressure as more moves are plus. Another advantage of soul charge is that you pull off combos that tend to be higher than a raw super. see kayane combo in the link
https://youtu.be/aIXoem7I4Do?t=254

Hm, sounds like more advanced elements than I'm really able to use at the moment, as I really don't have much sense of what moves are what amount of advantage/disadvantage on block (aside from the very obviously slow and punishable types), and "break properties" are something I don't know the first thing about. Well, unless it has invincibility on startup before the super flash, since it seems like the actual supers only get their invincibility after the super flash - then it becomes a potentially handy "get off me" tool compared to those.

yes for discord you need to find a discord link and they are separated by character.

Eh, not likely to help me much then. No idea where I'd find them, and it's not like I've settled on any given character for the game either. I tend to bounce around between whichever create-a-characters I make that I end up liking the most.

[Illieas]

She has quarter circle moves? *shrug* Eh, no training mode for me to look at move lists on, and I haven't played SC in years and was never good at it, so I'm sure there's plenty I don't know about that sort of thing. I mainly meant that I felt like I was getting a feel for basic but effective moves to use in certain situations - where he fast moves of each type were when I was trying to interrupt someone, effective lows, a move that could catch opponents rolling around on the ground, that sort of thing. Never even had that much of a feel for her in past games.

She is very much a ryu character in that she has tools that very intuitive. She does have a quarter circle movement called angel step. she can do up to two step in a row each having different properties mainly the first quarter circle is a high crush and the second can do high mid crush. A out of the step does a low and B out of step is a mid. You can just frame the B too. (just frame is hitting a button at the moment of contact for the angel step B just frame you must hit back the moment it hits and you will get extra damage to the attack.)

Well, that's certainly true. I remember the first opponent I ran into who used it a lot surprising the hell out of me by getting a super off in round 1, which was baffling compared to how slowly meter otherwise builds in this game. Still, I don't know that I'd necessarily consider that a bad thing myself, especially since there's not much guaranteed reward even on a hit (the initiator doesn't have any advantage in the ensuing clash, and the attack itself isn't doing anything special in terms of damage that I saw).

Clash intiator has one extra advantage. that if you and the opponent input the same move twice the intiator of the RE is the winner. the meter is biggest piece that annoys me. also as i said i tend to play rush down characters having a tool that negates and has a good chance of getting the pressure switched hurts my gameplan alot.

Hm, sounds like more advanced elements than I'm really able to use at the moment, as I really don't have much sense of what moves are what amount of advantage/disadvantage on block (aside from the very obviously slow and punishable types), and "break properties" are something I don't know the first thing about. Well, unless it has invincibility on startup before the super flash, since it seems like the actual supers only get their invincibility after the super flash - then it becomes a potentially handy "get off me" tool compared to those.

luckily soul calibur has a couple visual indicators to help you in this. a break attack is when ever you see blue lightning. These are universally plus on block. Yellow lightning mean they are stunned. meaning that you can do a bigger combo on it. red fire means the attack is unblockable. clothing damage means you got a lethal hit meaning more damage and can combo after.

otherwise it falls under if you got hit you are probably in minus and if you block probably plus. there are moves that run counter to this but for a beginning set not bad of a guiding principle.

this version of the game also has some universal inputs. 3B will always be a launcher. A+B will always be a break attack.

Soul charge does have frame 1 invincibility. also not all supers have invincibility like talims Siegfried and yoshi. i think invincible ones are taki and GI like nightmare or zaz.

[Zevox]

She is very much a ryu character in that she has tools that very intuitive. She does have a quarter circle movement called angel step. she can do up to two step in a row each having different properties mainly the first quarter circle is a high crush and the second can do high mid crush. A out of the step does a low and B out of step is a mid. You can just frame the B too. (just frame is hitting a button at the moment of contact for the angel step B just frame you must hit back the moment it hits and you will get extra damage to the attack.)

Yeah, I've never been good at just frame stuff on the rare occassion they've been in games that I've played before. I played a lot of Karin in SF5 when that first came out, and could never consistently get her just frame launcher special. Fortunately didn't matter for her at that point, but still.

Clash intiator has one extra advantage. that if you and the opponent input the same move twice the intiator of the RE is the winner.

Really? Huh, none of the explanations I saw ever mentioned that. And it never actually happened to me - seemed fairly rare for both of us to even try the same thing once, much less twice. Still, good to know.

luckily soul calibur has a couple visual indicators to help you in this. a break attack is when ever you see blue lightning. These are universally plus on block. Yellow lightning mean they are stunned. meaning that you can do a bigger combo on it. red fire means the attack is unblockable. clothing damage means you got a lethal hit meaning more damage and can combo after.

Hm, okay, very good to know about the blue lightning, I had been wondering what that was about. Kind of figured out the red fire = unblockable the hard way against the one guy I played that used it. And are you sure about the clothing damage thing? I thought that just happened when you hit certain parts of the opponent's body enough.

Soul charge does have frame 1 invincibility. also not all supers have invincibility like talims Siegfried and yoshi. i think invincible ones are taki and GI like nightmare or zaz.

Also very good to know, helps put the use of Soul Charge relative to super into perspective. Though I don't think Taki's super has invincibility before the super flash, it just seems to involve a sidestep that might avoid attacks during the initial startup - or at least, that's what it looked like to me, I'm admittedly not certain of it, I didn't see her do it quite enough to be sure I recall ever hitting her out of it.

Actually, thinking of it, that's one thing I was fairly happy with in the beta - the diversity of characters people were using. I don't think I could name who the most common were for me to run into. Oddly, I think the only one I didn't see at all was Siegfried, who I recall being a common one to see during my brief stint playing SC5 online. And besides that I think I only saw a single Voldo, but that makes more sense given he's always been a weird character that few people seem to use. Other than that though, I could maybe categorize the characters into ones I saw slightly more and ones I saw slightly less, but I saw everyone at least a couple of times each, which for how much I played is pretty good. Quite unlike, say, Street Fighter, where you always see more Ryu and Ken than anyone else, or the BBTag beta, where almost everyone had Ruby on their team.

[Illieas]

Hope you are ready for the game. Steam and PS4 is allowing preload right now.
also video are out in force on mechanics.
saw this one and it is one of the better explanations of game mechanics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=iUTP5HOxM-Y

[Zevox]

Hope you are ready for the game. Steam and PS4 is allowing preload right now.
also video are out in force on mechanics.
saw this one and it is one of the better explanations of game mechanics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=iUTP5HOxM-Y

I'm planning to pick up a physical copy of the game, so the pre-loading thing doesn't affect me.

And interesting. Mostly basic enough that I knew it at this point (having looked up reversal edge during the beta and you having explained soul charge), but there were a couple of things in there that were news to me. Slightly annoying things though - lethal hits' conditions being all over the place, for instance. I'd been figuring they were like fatal counters in GG/BB or crush counters in SF5, just certain moves getting a bigger reward on counter hit than normal. And guard impact's actual advantage varying depending on the move you parried - I thought it just always gave you enough advantage for a guaranteed hit unless they GIed back. Both sound unnecessarily over-complicated that way, but oh well, so be it.

Didn't know about the 2-splat rule for wall combos either, but I doubt I'll be learning optimized wall combos anytime soon, so eh, just a good piece of trivia to keep in mind I suppose.

[No brains]

I never got to the beta, but I've picked up the game. It seems a cromulent entry in the series. I'm doing alright with my main, Voldo.

I'm honestly not that good with the technical side of gaming, but I've always been considered pretty good by my friends.

[Zevox]

I spent the first week playing my Lyn (Mitsurugi style), then switched to various Cervantes-style customs. Thinking of going to Sophitia ones next.

Though honestly, game's already wearing thin on me. Starting to get pretty frustrated in a lot of fights. It feels like in order to learn to get any better than I am now, I need to start looking up a lot of character-specific stuff - especially since, unlike in fighting games where attacks are clearly labeled light-medium-heavy, it's still not clear to me which of my attacks are my fastest, since I seem to have mixed results with each that I sometimes think should be the ones that work against people who seem to just be mashing buttons. To say nothing of when I encounter weird stuff like a guy who was somehow making Nightmare's super into an unblockable...

[Rynjin]

My main issue is the addition of Reversal Edge in this game. It's a cheap gimmick that leaves me watching a cutscene as often as actually playing the damn game, and it's just frustrating in general. It seems to only exist to take me out of my flow, because there are already Guard Breaks, Unblockables, and Just Guards Guard Impacts to make openings, force movement, or punish spam respectively. Reversal Edge adds nothing of value to the game that I can tell.

Re: Attack speeds, they've always varied by character. Maxi is usually the most consistently fast, shortly followed by Taki or Setsuka (who is sadly absent from the game), and a steep drop-off after that for series mainstays, with some having ultra-super-fast moves like Yoshimitsu's counter attack (fast roll fingers vertical-horizontal) that take priority even over the speedy speed boys.

Against spam, as I mentioned above, Just Guards Guard Impacts are really the counter (mash forward, properly timed, while blocking; it throws them off balance slightly and gives an opening to counter) and any reasonably fast move should be able to take advantage of the opening.

As Mitsurugi, these are usually your kicks and horizontals (especially the one where he does the short low kick to the shins followed by an eye poke with the sword, if it's in VI), or Rain stance moves especially. Cervantes isn't someone I've ever played a bunch, but his horizontals IIRC are pretty swift. Most characters have faster horizontals than verticals in general, with weird exceptions like Zaslamel (since his horizontal attacks are big, sweeping slashes and verticals are mostly pokes or command grabs) that are usually apparent from playing them once. 8 Way Run attacks are also in general faster than standing attacks.

On the game in general, I like most of the character changes, though getting used to half my good moves as Yoshimitsu and Voldo (my mains, mostly, along with Talim) being locked behind Soul Charge is difficult and annoying. Astaroth in particular finally got a complete overhaul and he actually seems GOOD now, which is astounding.

[No brains]

I spent the first week playing my Lyn (Mitsurugi style), then switched to various Cervantes-style customs. Thinking of going to Sophitia ones next.

Though honestly, game's already wearing thin on me. Starting to get pretty frustrated in a lot of fights. It feels like in order to learn to get any better than I am now, I need to start looking up a lot of character-specific stuff - especially since, unlike in fighting games where attacks are clearly labeled light-medium-heavy, it's still not clear to me which of my attacks are my fastest, since I seem to have mixed results with each that I sometimes think should be the ones that work against people who seem to just be mashing buttons. To say nothing of when I encounter weird stuff like a guy who was somehow making Nightmare's super into an unblockable...

IN GENERAL (though not universal) kicks are fastest. If you just need to break momentum, just pressing K or K down will help you. Past that, it varies from character to character and you have to master your weapons. Get a nice beverage and watch the attacks in training mode. I get how it can be annoying, but I actually like this aspect of SC. It adds to the 'journey for power' theme present in its stories.

Nightmare's super becomes unblockable either when it is soul-charged A+B+K+Back and/or held down to charge. If it's in the quest mode, it might just be a BS challenge you're supposed to overcome. I've been doing that for 4 games. By the time I'm done pulling my hair, I'm as bald, pale, and crazy as Voldo. :P

@Rynjin
Yeah, I don't like Reversal Edge either. I guess Clashes in Injustice seemed like a good idea to copy. The only thing it does for me is give one more vaguely defensive option now that they nerfed guarding.

I'm kind of glad that Soul Charge returned in a vaguely-more useful form and I don't mind that Superwyrm is locked behind it. I've seen that move slay fighters and controllers. In any event, it gives an option as well as a reason to use it.

[No brains]

How well did anyone learn how Lethal Hits are supposed to work. I know training mode gives examples and some combat lessons explain them, but they seem like something that's hard to learn unless you specifically look for how they're done.

[Zevox]

How well did anyone learn how Lethal Hits are supposed to work. I know training mode gives examples and some combat lessons explain them, but they seem like something that's hard to learn unless you specifically look for how they're done.

There's a list in each characters' move list. It's literally different on both a character by character and move by move basis what triggers them. Honestly makes the whole mechanic kind of an over-complicated mess, IMO.

[Rynjin]

There's a list in each characters' move list. It's literally different on both a character by character and move by move basis what triggers them. Honestly makes the whole mechanic kind of an over-complicated mess, IMO.

Sums up VI in a nutshell IMO. Good ideas in some cases, but poor implementation on most new mechanics. Reversal Edge is the biggest offender.