Soulcalibur Reboot or VI?

[Ronin]

I wish Soulcalibur came back as something better. A better story and characters.

 

[V's patron]

Ehh the problem with V is most of the new cast were naruto rejects and whatever connections they had to the og cast were not in the game itself.

So if they can remedy that, it'll be ok.

At this point, they might as well make a soul calibur crossover with tekken.

 

[Ronin]

Ehh the problem with V is most of the new cast were naruto rejects and whatever connections they had to the og cast were not in the game itself.

So if they can remedy that, it'll be ok.

At this point, they might as well make a soul calibur crossover with tekken.

So a reboot good?

 

[Sparda's rejected son]

BRING BACK TALIM!

SCV's problem in my opinion was the lack of detail. Take SC2, that game has text for every freaking little thing within the game. Its those little details that I think build a world and make us (the players) love the characters. SC5's characters feel removed from the world.
Xiba is adorable but he's no Kilik. :bored:

 

[V's patron]

So a reboot good?

Not exactly because unless you know what to avoid, you'll just end up repeating the same problems.

Which happens to marvel/dc a lot

 

[Ronin]

If there was a Soulcalibur VI, how would you change it?

Hope they bring back Cassandra, Seong Mi-na, Yun-Seong, Talim & Zasalamel (if not him then maybe someone else who can carry out his work and his weapon). Pyrrha needs to sit this out after the trauma.

We haven't seen an Aztec warrior yet. Nor a viking.

 

[WolfOD64]

Little-known fact about myself that I may or may not have disclosed in the past: the Soulcalibur series happens to be my favorite fighting game franchise ever, and I’ve had a long history with it. My adoration for the series has never been tied to the tournament scene, or the in-depth nature of its fighting mechanics (even though I consider it to be the one fighting game I have marginal skill with), but simply because, it’s the ONE fighting game where I actually care about the characters and in-game world.

Now, granted, I’m well-aware of the disjointed and inconsistent nature of the series’ core story, as it suffers a number of hindrances that plague MANY fighting games, but despite those grievances, the Soul games are one of the rare instances where I can describe a fighting game with interesting lore and yes, intricate and ever-evolving mythos. There’s a lot of historical and mythological influences on the characters, stages, events, and in-game mythology that make it compelling. I don’t just play Soulcalibur like I do other fighting games: I read the character profiles, the arcade mode introductions, the data banks on weapons and lore, locales and historical events that weave into the setting and tone of each game. There’s an abundance of cultural and mythological references in the weapons alone, and that kind of interest and heart into something so obscure is what separates it from other fighting games: it’s so rich and rewarding as a single-player experience, giving you something to explore and enjoy outside of just leaping online and proving your mettle through multiplayer.

And I cannot possibly stress how much Soulcalibur V failed in this entire aspect. Literally EVERYTHING that gave the series actual appeal was thrown away, and Project Soul themselves even admitted that the reason for such a lacking and lore-less abomination that the final game turned out being was DIRECTLY because of Bandai Namco rushing development so it could get online, and survive through DLC via the Character Customization feature. The profiles? The weapon exhibition? The arcade intros and endings? The lavish quest-like single-player modes from past games like Weapon Master Mode, Edge Master Mode, Mission Battle Mode, Chronicles of the Sword…or even Time Attack Mode? Gone. Absolutely, lazily, and unforgivably ****ing GONE.

There’s no story, no depth, no lore to explore, no new tidbits of character information, NOTHING.

But the worst thing about Soulcalibur V, the ONE reason it’s arguably worse than any other predecessor in the series, even the content-less catastrophe that was SC4 and the canon-twisting SC Legends, is the sole removal of the most important fighting mechanic in the series: the stances. For those of you who aren’t aware, the stances in Soulcalibur were modes of standing or positioning of weapons that would a unlock a small but vital set of moves you could pull off with your character, depending on their stance. Siegfried holding his zweihander more aloft, Ivy shifting her dragon sword in and out of chain mode, Mitsurugi drawing or sheathing his katana….this was a core mechanic of the series that had been a staple of the gameplay since the second Soul game on the Dreamcast….and in V, it’s been botched to hell, with over half of them removed, and replaced with the most shallow attempt to replicate Street Fighter’s super move gauge I’ve ever seen.

Soulcalibur V was an atrocity. A slap in the face to long-time fans that hadn’t jumped ship after its popularity in the 6th Console era had fizzled out. And its quality is perfectly represented in its sales, which to this day has STILL FAILED to outsold its predecessor from 2008. And rightfully so.

And of course, Bandai Namco, in all of their Methuselean wisdom, has opted to do just about everything with the Soul series, except make a proper game. Pay-to-win downloadable version of V that was canned within a year? Check. Painfully-limited iOS game? Checkeroo. Celebrating the series’ 20th Anniversary with a Pachinko game? Why, what better way to honor a storied fighting game franchise like this?

And before anyone claims that the best way to stave off a lot of the permanent damage both SC5 and its cash-ins have done to the series is to simply “reboot the franchise from scratch”, I simply must protest, and even heavily-empathize that rebooting this series would be absolutely the worst course of action.

I said it with Devil May Cry, and I’ll say it again here: I have no issue with reboots as long as the context and situation of the initial series is necessary for such a course of action. In essence, the problem with DMC getting potentially rebooted through DmC wasn’t the reboot game itself, but the moronic, lazy, and flat-out incompetent nature behind the decision to reboot it. Rebooting a series is a respective narrative turn after the folds of the original franchise have been delicately and honorably put to rest: the characters have reached their developmental arc, the world has been fully fleshed out, the series is sent off with closure and dignity—hell comic books do this kind of thing all of time. The decision to reboot Devil May Cry was an imbecilic move PRECISELY because of how open-ended and unresolved DMC4 had been as an entry. You don’t reboot a series after establishing a new protagonist, setting, character build, and raising all kinds of narrative and series-impacting questions, and instead of RESOLVING or BUILDING on any of those things, they pulled a hasty reboot and dumped the effort of building a new story on a new developer, rather than commit any effort or competence themselves.

Rebooting Soulcalibur now, after every unresolved plot-point, gaping mythology whole, and completely wasted introduction of new characters, would be the same kind of damaging and insulting course to take. As bad as V was, it’s problem was precisely as @Sparda’s rejected son had pointed out: it told us NOTHING. Rebooting the series would not solve this problem…it would compound it.

There are plenty of easily-recognizable remedies to implement in a sequel: establishing setting and lore again, providing plot details, bringing back staple favorites and properly explaining the presence of these new characters (of which V did the COMPLETE opposite), and make the single-player experience that has been a hallmark of the series something worthwhile again.

We probably won’t hear anything until after Tekken 7 gets released, but I can safely inform all readers that a new Soulcalibur game has been at the top of my E3 wishlist every year since 2012 (second only to my recently-rewarded salivations for a new Star Fox).

The day we get a new entry will be a grand one indeed.

EDIT: On a side-note, one other thing I would change is this weird narrative fixation the writers seem to have with the Alexandra family. Not to sound vitriolic, but WHO IN GOD’S NAME decided that the next generation of protagonists needed to be Sophitia’s kids? What plot-confused Plague Doctor with a rusty set of pliers thought that surgically inserting the offsprings of literally the most irrelevant character of the series was a GOOD focal point to the series???

I’m sorry, but Sophitia was NEVER one of the essential characters to the Soulcalibur mythos…like, EVER. Consider the ones who are:

• Siegfried Schtauffen, the redeemed protagonist whose journey from selfish mercenary to honorbound hero served as the basis for the plot of half the games in the series
  
  
• Taki, the Fuma Ninja who struck the fatal blow to Pirate Demon Cervantes when Sophitia failed to kill him
  
  
• Heishiro Mitsurugi, the original protagonist of the very first game (playing a similar albeit more benign role to Kazuya Mishima of Tekken fame) whose journey throughout the series was literally to establish his neutral reliance on skill rather than the power of either sword.
  *happens to be my favorite character and personal main for all time
• Xianghua, the first character to properly wield Soul Calibur, to the point where its default form for the longest time was in the shape of her sword-style, the Chinese Dao
  
  
• Killik, the guardian of one of the crucial artifacts that make up Soul Calibur as weapon, and the character who, along with Xianghua, managed to defeat Nightmare and free Siegfried Schtaufffen and re-establish his role as the protagonist
• Ivy Valentine, the redeemed villainess of the series and literal daughter of the series’ original antagonist, Cervantes, having come into canon contact with several characters based on her genetic and personal ties to the sword Soul Edge

You could’ve taken any of these characters, any of these vital legends and veterans of the series who have shaped and impacted the plot several times, and still remain the most vital character assets to the series’ lore regarding the Twin Swords, to craft a new generation or relation to a new set of protagonists…

…and instead, you go with the twin kids of a character whose literal motives, of which have NEVER significantly impacted the series chronology or events in any way, have boiled down to: “MUH KIDS.”

You have a gold-mine of well-liked, well-established characters to bank off of in future sequels, and instead of seizing a gem like Ivy or Mitsurugi, you seize a wet rock like Sophitia.

When the Soulcalibur Fanfiction community is producing more creative and inventive narrative arcs for the series to go in than Project Soul themselves, someone is being payed too much for a job they aren’t doing well.

 

[Ronin]

Little-known fact about myself that I may or may not have disclosed in the past: the Soulcalibur series happens to be my favorite fighting game franchise ever, and I’ve had a long history with it. My adoration for the series has never been tied to the tournament scene, or the in-depth nature of its fighting mechanics (even though I consider it to be the one fighting game I have marginal skill with), but simply because, it’s the ONE fighting game where I actually care about the characters and in-game world.

Now, granted, I’m well-aware of the disjointed and inconsistent nature of the series’ core story, as it suffers a number of hindrances that plague MANY fighting games, but despite those grievances, the Soul games are one of the rare instances where I can describe a fighting game with interesting lore and yes, intricate and ever-evolving mythos. There’s a lot of historical and mythological influences on the characters, stages, events, and in-game mythology that make it compelling. I don’t just play Soulcalibur like I do other fighting games: I read the character profiles, the arcade mode introductions, the data banks on weapons and lore, locales and historical events that weave into the setting and tone of each game. There’s an abundance of cultural and mythological references in the weapons alone, and that kind of interest and heart into something so obscure is what separates it from other fighting games: it’s so rich and rewarding as a single-player experience, giving you something to explore and enjoy outside of just leaping online and proving your mettle through multiplayer.

And I cannot possibly stress how much Soulcalibur V failed in this entire aspect. Literally EVERYTHING that gave the series actual appeal was thrown away, and Project Soul themselves even admitted that the reason for such a lacking and lore-less abomination that the final game turned out being was DIRECTLY because of Bandai Namco rushing development so it could get online, and survive through DLC via the Character Customization feature. The profiles? The weapon exhibition? The arcade intros and endings? The lavish quest-like single-player modes from past games like Weapon Master Mode, Edge Master Mode, Mission Battle Mode, Chronicles of the Sword…or even Time Attack Mode? Gone. Absolutely, lazily, and unforgivably ****ing GONE.

There’s no story, no depth, no lore to explore, no new tidbits of character information, NOTHING.

But the worst thing about Soulcalibur V, the ONE reason it’s arguably worse than any other predecessor in the series, even the content-less catastrophe that was SC4 and the canon-twisting SC Legends, is the sole removal of the most important fighting mechanic in the series: the stances. For those of you who aren’t aware, the stances in Soulcalibur were modes of standing or positioning of weapons that would a unlock a small but vital set of moves you could pull off with your character, depending on their stance. Siegfried holding his zweihander more aloft, Ivy shifting her dragon sword in and out of chain mode, Mitsurugi drawing or sheathing his katana….this was a core mechanic of the series that had been a staple of the gameplay since the second Soul game on the Dreamcast….and in V, it’s been botched to hell, with over half of them removed, and replaced with the most shallow attempt to replicate Street Fighter’s super move gauge I’ve ever seen.

Soulcalibur V was an atrocity. A slap in the face to long-time fans that hadn’t jumped ship after its popularity in the 6th Console era had fizzled out. And its quality is perfectly represented in its sales, which to this day has STILL FAILED to outsold its predecessor from 2008. And rightfully so.

And of course, Bandai Namco, in all of their Methuselean wisdom, has opted to do just about everything with the Soul series, except make a proper game. Pay-to-win downloadable version of V that was canned within a year? Check. Painfully-limited iOS game? Checkeroo. Celebrating the series’ 20th Anniversary with a Pachinko game? Why, what better way to honor a storied fighting game franchise like this?

And before anyone claims that the best way to stave off a lot of the permanent damage both SC5 and its cash-ins have done to the series is to simply “reboot the franchise from scratch”, I simply must protest, and even heavily-empathize that rebooting this series would be absolutely the worst course of action.

I said it with Devil May Cry, and I’ll say it again here: I have no issue with reboots as long as the context and situation of the initial series is necessary for such a course of action. In essence, the problem with DMC getting potentially rebooted through DmC wasn’t the reboot game itself, but the moronic, lazy, and flat-out incompetent nature behind the decision to reboot it. Rebooting a series is a respective narrative turn after the folds of the original franchise have been delicately and honorably put to rest: the characters have reached their developmental arc, the world has been fully fleshed out, the series is sent off with closure and dignity—hell comic books do this kind of thing all of time. The decision to reboot Devil May Cry was an imbecilic move PRECISELY because of how open-ended and unresolved DMC4 had been as an entry. You don’t reboot a series after establishing a new protagonist, setting, character build, and raising all kinds of narrative and series-impacting questions, and instead of RESOLVING or BUILDING on any of those things, they pulled a hasty reboot and dumped the effort of building a new story on a new developer, rather than commit any effort or competence themselves.

Rebooting Soulcalibur now, after every unresolved plot-point, gaping mythology whole, and completely wasted introduction of new characters, would be the same kind of damaging and insulting course to take. As bad as V was, it’s problem was precisely as @Sparda’s rejected son had pointed out: it told us NOTHING. Rebooting the series would not solve this problem…it would compound it.

There are plenty of easily-recognizable remedies to implement in a sequel: establishing setting and lore again, providing plot details, bringing back staple favorites and properly explaining the presence of these new characters (of which V did the COMPLETE opposite), and make the single-player experience that has been a hallmark of the series something worthwhile again.

We probably won’t hear anything until after Tekken 7 gets released, but I can safely inform all readers that a new Soulcalibur game has been at the top of my E3 wishlist every year since 2012 (second only to my recently-rewarded salivations for a new Star Fox).

The day we get a new entry will be a grand one indeed.

EDIT: On a side-note, one other thing I would change is this weird narrative fixation the writers seem to have with the Alexandra family. Not to sound vitriolic, but WHO IN GOD’S NAME decided that the next generation of protagonists needed to be Sophitia’s kids? What plot-confused Plague Doctor with a rusty set of pliers thought that surgically inserting the offsprings of literally the most irrelevant character of the series was a GOOD focal point to the series???

I’m sorry, but Sophitia was NEVER one of the essential characters to the Soulcalibur mythos…like, EVER. Consider the ones who are:

• Siegfried Schtauffen, the redeemed protagonist whose journey from selfish mercenary to honorbound hero served as the basis for the plot of half the games in the series
  
  
• Taki, the Fuma Ninja who struck the fatal blow to Pirate Demon Cervantes when Sophitia failed to kill him
  
  
• Heishiro Mitsurugi, the original protagonist of the very first game (playing a similar albeit more benign role to Kazuya Mishima of Tekken fame) whose journey throughout the series was literally to establish his neutral reliance on skill rather than the power of either sword.
  *happens to be my favorite character and personal main for all time
• Xianghua, the first character to properly wield Soul Calibur, to the point where its default form for the longest time was in the shape of her sword-style, the Chinese Dao
  
  
• Killik, the guardian of one of the crucial artifacts that make up Soul Calibur as weapon, and the character who, along with Xianghua, managed to defeat Nightmare and free Siegfried Schtaufffen and re-establish his role as the protagonist
• Ivy Valentine, the redeemed villainess of the series and literal daughter of the series’ original antagonist, Cervantes, having come into canon contact with several characters based on her genetic and personal ties to the sword Soul Edge

You could’ve taken any of these characters, any of these vital legends and veterans of the series who have shaped and impacted the plot several times, and still remain the most vital character assets to the series’ lore regarding the Twin Swords, to craft a new generation or relation to a new set of protagonists…

…and instead, you go with the twin kids of a character whose literal motives, of which have NEVER significantly impacted the series chronology or events in any way, have boiled down to: “MUH KIDS.”

You have a gold-mine of well-liked, well-established characters to bank off of in future sequels, and instead of seizing a gem like Ivy or Mitsurugi, you seize a wet rock like Sophitia.

When the Soulcalibur Fanfiction community is producing more creative and inventive narrative arcs for the series to go in than Project Soul themselves, someone is being payed too much for a job they aren’t doing well.

Wow!

We're gonna need a better sequel.

But how will they fix those in V...

- Patroklos
- Pyrrha
- Natsu
- Leixia
- Xiba
- Z.W.E.I.
- Viola

Plus bring back the originals that didn't appear in V...
- Yun-Seong
- Seong Mi-Na
- Zasalamel
- Cassandra
- Talim
- Setsuka
- Taki

The story needs fixing.

I could see Zasalamel finally at peace but passes on his weapon to his "disciple". As a new character.

We also haven't seen warriors such as...
- Egyptian
- Aztec
- Hindu
- Slavic
- Finnish
- Incan
- Arabian

I wish Weapon Exhibition came back.

Question: Did the Philippines even EXIST in the old centuries!?

I can see DMC Dante (the old Dante) appearing as a guest character. Perhaps a connection to the series with Sparda.

 

[V's patron]

In terms of crossovers, Darkstalkers would be cool because you could just have the four horseman go after Soul Edge because the charred council wants it for some reason.

With DMC you could just reimagine Dante and Vergil for the 16th century. Even though DMC is set in modern day North America (according to DMC1), that isn't really clear from the series. So just reimagining him wouldn't really change him.

 

[Ronin]

SCV:
- Patroklos & Pyrrha: Cassandra deserves a comeback. Pyrrha needs to sit out from the trauma and Patroklos to be one of the main protagonists.
- Viola: Viola has to be Amy Sorel. Raphael didn't appear in SCV story, so he should come back.
- ZWEI: ZWEI? He deserves a comeback. Raph is a vampire so a lycan/werewolf deserves to stay.
- Natsu: If Taki comes back with her dual kodachi again, I want Natsu to use sais instead.
- Leixia: Should Xianghua come back? Yes. But I don't know how for her daughter.
- Xiba: Kilik should come back. And Xiba doesn't deserve the bo staff.

New characters:
- Trident: An Atlantean can appear with a trident weapon. He can be a mix of Trident (Eternal Champions), Rikuo, Aquaman & Ocean Master.
- Khopesh: An Egyptian warrior would appear.
- Macuahuitil: An Aztec warrior hasn't appeared in SC before.
- Scimitar: A Hindu or Arabian warrior can use that weapon. SF has Rashid & TK has Shaheen.
- Kunimitsu: Since Yoshimitsu, should Kunimitsu appear in SC?

 

[WolfOD64]

We also haven't seen warriors such as...
- Egyptian
- Aztec
- Hindu
- Slavic
- Finnish
- Incan
- Arabian

A lot of the motive that goes into importing characters from historically-relevant nations from the 16th and 17th century eras that each game takes place in. I.e., Siegfried originates from a German province that was still part of the Holy Roman Empire, Raphael originates from a war-torn province of what was then part of the French Empire, and Seung Mina & Yun-Seuong were both from the Jirisan province of what is now the divided nations of North and South Korea.

In other words, you have to put historical context in there before listing warrior types from certain countries, since some of them may not even exist in the time period Soulcalibur is supposed to be placed in.

It would be a bit difficult to put tribal warriors like Incans or Aztecs as central fighters, especially when both empires were literally conquered by the Spanish before the game series' chronology even started, in 1583. The Egyptian Empire was abolished thousands of years before (as evidenced by the Egyptian ruins you see constantly throughout the series), and any Hindu in the game would have to be one of the Mughal Imperials or something, since that was the only functioning warrior class active in the 16th-17th centuries. Also, Voldo is wielding a pair of Indian Katars, so that in itself shoots down any hard necessity for anymore Indian weaponry.

However, two things to note are that:

1. Project Soul tends to design these characters around a weapon style, and then building their design and role in the game around that: (examples include Setsuka and Hilde, both of which were designed with their weapon types first, and their countries of origin second). That said, they also tend to be wildly anachronistic with some characters, like the far-outdated sword-and-shield style of the Alexandra family, who should be wielding more modern weapons even if they are from Greece, since that was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, or Tira, who is wielding a weapon that was never used ever. Not to mention Rock, who's supposed to be a British man raised by Apaches, who fights with a Rhino hide and a giant medieval mace (?).

2. Zasalamel has been reported in interviews to be someone who reincarnates as a different person from a different country every time he's reborn, his in-game portrayal being a physical host from Nubian Africa. It's been hinted at in interviews that his first form was an Ancient Sumerian. So it's possible that he's reincarnated as a denizen from one or all of the countries you've listed.

I wish Weapon Exhibition came back.

Hell yes. I can't tell you how much I miss these. :'(

I remember how impressed I was when I found out that Namco had actually painstakingly motion-captured and choreographed these for each character in the game, and was on the edge of my seat to see how they'd look on SC4's pristine new engine....only to find out that it was yet another thing they had removed.

- Viola: Viola has to be Amy Sorel. Raphael didn't appear in SCV story, so he should come back.

She's already confirmed to be an amnesia-struck Amy Sorel in the New Legends of the Soul art book for SC5.

New characters:
- Trident: An Atlantean can appear with a trident weapon. He can be a mix of Trident (Eternal Champions), Rikuo, Aquaman & Ocean Master.

I don't think that's necessary. We already have pole-arm wielding characters in the form of Astaroth and Zasalamel, and three more in Soulcalibur 4 with similar movesets, being Hilde, Angol Fear and Ashlotte.

You could just make any one of their alternate weapons a trident instead of making an entirely new character. Project Soul have shown that kind of laziness in the past.

- Khopesh: An Egyptian warrior would appear.
- Scimitar: A Hindu or Arabian warrior can use that weapon. SF has Rashid & TK has Shaheen.

Again, most of these sound like easy alternative weapons than an entirely new characters. You could give both of these weapons to Yun-Seong and change absolutely nothing.

- Macuahuitil: An Aztec warrior hasn't appeared in SC before.

As mentioned above, the Aztecs were invaded by the Spanish in 1519, over 60 years before the first game even starts. It's a neat idea, but a bit impractical, especially considering the most recent game takes place at the dawn of the New World discovery, by which time the Aztecs were completely and utterly demolished.

- Kunimitsu: Since Yoshimitsu, should Kunimitsu appear in SC?

I'd be okay with that, if she relies on kunoichi weaponry instead of her fists. I can't tell you how much that contributed to Heihachi being a worthless guest character in Soulcalibur II.

Question: Did the Philippines even EXIST in the old centuries!?

It did indeed, albeit under a different circumstance of historical relevance, as indicated by Talim's old-Filipino name deriving from the then-used language of Tagalog. Her weapons, however, are not based on any kind of weapons used by natives of the Philippines during that era. Just another example of a character like Sophitia or Rock, who are more "cool" than accurate.

I can see DMC Dante (the old Dante) appearing as a guest character. Perhaps a connection to the series with Sparda.

Dante was actually planned as the premiere guest character for Soulcalibur III, based on his DMC3 appearance, but ended up getting scrapped before development started. Honestly, he probably would've broken the game's immersion and setting just by having modern guns and explosive weapons like the Kalina Ann, and would've absolutely snapped the game's balance in half by having all of his Devil Arms accessible like he does in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Plus....of all the incarnations of Dante to appear in Soulcalibur, a series I love to the extent I do, having the one from 3 would make physically me gag my eyeballs out.

 

[V's patron]

For the SC5 I would say just put them with their respective family members/mentors/connections or find new interesting pairings between them and the og cast.

That way you could develop the characters we have and juggle them better.

 

[Ronin]

Setsuka's origins need to be explained more. Where she comes from.

If there's anything for the character roster you want to change & rebuild for SC6, what would it be?

A lot of the motive that goes into importing characters from historically-relevant nations from the 16th and 17th century eras that each game takes place in. I.e., Siegfried originates from a German province that was still part of the Holy Roman Empire, Raphael originates from a war-torn province of what was then part of the French Empire, and Seung Mina & Yun-Seuong were both from the Jirisan province of what is now the divided nations of North and South Korea.

In other words, you have to put historical context in there before listing warrior types from certain countries, since some of them may not even exist in the time period Soulcalibur is supposed to be placed in.

It would be a bit difficult to put tribal warriors like Incans or Aztecs as central fighters, especially when both empires were literally conquered by the Spanish before the game series' chronology even started, in 1583. The Egyptian Empire was abolished thousands of years before (as evidenced by the Egyptian ruins you see constantly throughout the series), and any Hindu in the game would have to be one of the Mughal Imperials or something, since that was the only functioning warrior class active in the 16th-17th centuries. Also, Voldo is wielding a pair of Indian Katars, so that in itself shoots down any hard necessity for anymore Indian weaponry.

However, two things to note are that:

1. Project Soul tends to design these characters around a weapon style, and then building their design and role in the game around that: (examples include Setsuka and Hilde, both of which were designed with their weapon types first, and their countries of origin second). That said, they also tend to be wildly anachronistic with some characters, like the far-outdated sword-and-shield style of the Alexandra family, who should be wielding more modern weapons even if they are from Greece, since that was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, or Tira, who is wielding a weapon that was never used ever. Not to mention Rock, who's supposed to be a British man raised by Apaches, who fights with a Rhino hide and a giant medieval mace (?).

2. Zasalamel has been reported in interviews to be someone who reincarnates as a different person from a different country every time he's reborn, his in-game portrayal being a physical host from Nubian Africa. It's been hinted at in interviews that his first form was an Ancient Sumerian. So it's possible that he's reincarnated as a denizen from one or all of the countries you've listed.

Hell yes. I can't tell you how much I miss these. :'(

I remember how impressed I was when I found out that Namco had actually painstakingly motion-captured and choreographed these for each character in the game, and was on the edge of my seat to see how they'd look on SC4's pristine new engine....only to find out that it was yet another thing they had removed.


She's already confirmed to be an amnesia-struck Amy Sorel in the New Legends of the Soul art book for SC5.


I don't think that's necessary. We already have pole-arm wielding characters in the form of Astaroth and Zasalamel, and three more in Soulcalibur 4 with similar movesets, being Hilde, Angol Fear and Ashlotte.

You could just make any one of their alternate weapons a trident instead of making an entirely new character. Project Soul have shown that kind of laziness in the past.


Again, most of these sound like easy alternative weapons than an entirely new characters. You could give both of these weapons to Yun-Seong and change absolutely nothing.


As mentioned above, the Aztecs were invaded by the Spanish in 1519, over 60 years before the first game even starts. It's a neat idea, but a bit impractical, especially considering the most recent game takes place at the dawn of the New World discovery, by which time the Aztecs were completely and utterly demolished.


I'd be okay with that, if she relies on kunoichi weaponry instead of her fists. I can't tell you how much that contributed to Heihachi being a worthless guest character in Soulcalibur II.


It did indeed, albeit under a different circumstance of historical relevance, as indicated by Talim's old-Filipino name deriving from the then-used language of Tagalog. Her weapons, however, are not based on any kind of weapons used by natives of the Philippines during that era. Just another example of a character like Sophitia or Rock, who are more "cool" than accurate.



Dante was actually planned as the premiere guest character for Soulcalibur III, based on his DMC3 appearance, but ended up getting scrapped before development started. Honestly, he probably would've broken the game's immersion and setting just by having modern guns and explosive weapons like the Kalina Ann, and would've absolutely snapped the game's balance in half by having all of his Devil Arms accessible like he does in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Plus....of all the incarnations of Dante to appear in Soulcalibur, a series I love to the extent I do, having the one from 3 would make physically me gag my eyeballs out.

That's a LOT of a history lesson to take in.

So no Mexicano, Indian? No Viking?

Oy!

Don't know where SC will go.

Any character thoughts?