These videos were fire dude, can't wait to see more 🤙

He's an edgelord but is he *AN EDGE MASTER?!*

"Can't make a franchise that sells characters to people and then remove those characters" Tell that to Harada

As a Tira main...you're absolutely right and I deserved that callout. She's just Harley Quinn with a hula hoop but I love her anyway.

I think that SCIV wasn’t bad, but then again I was a kid and I was just happy the Jedi were in soulcalibur

I'm glad someone else noticed the artstyle shift from 2 to 3, everyone else seems to be oblivious to it but one of the most obvious examples is Cervantes. He went from a decently-fit looking older man in 2 to a roided-out linebacker who got rejected as a Pirates of the Caribbean villain for not being realistic enough

I hope SC6 makes the series popular again...

Your contempt for anime fans is greater than your love for soul calibur based on this video

I miss when the intros used most, if not all the roster. SCIV only used a few and V only used Siegfried and Nightmare

Raphael's character got ROBED in the later entries in the series. He started a cool collected yet smug nobleman and devolved into an obnoxious, flamboyant, dumb vampire archetype. I know that he hit Soul Edge in the eye and got transformed into a vampi- I MEAN MALFESTED, yeah malfested, but they completely rewrote his character. Listen to his voice lines in two and then five and tell me that they are the same character, evil or not. It's depressing seeing that six decided to double down on his new personality and not change it (I think he still uses the same voice line from five). Rest in peace old Raphael, you sacrificed your character to free Siegfried from Nightmare and died a true American hero. Also, take off those damn glasses.

I literally acted like 5 didn’t exist because they took Talim out

I love SoulCalibur III I still play it to this day

The biggest mistake they made was Soul Calibur 3 not being available on anything else than PS2. Ever. While SC2 did great on Xbox and Gamecube too. They just cut off two third of their market. It's one of the dumbest mistakes I ever saw in video game publishing. They should have at least released it later as a HD edition as they did with SC2. As it is, most people miss a big chunk of the story because it wasn't available. And it's still not available. I want to play it, but I don't have room to buy a PS2 just for this game. There's others I'd play too but still, my room is limited for consoles. I already have an Xbox, PS3 and PS4. I seriously couldn't care less about e-sports or anything online.

A better balanced SC3 with the bugs fixed would have been the best game in the series. It already is from a casual/single player perspective. Hope they remaster it someday with the bugs fixed at the very least.

“I would’ve loved to beat the whole thing if I have no responsibilities again” You and me both man, those were the daysXD

In regards to Soul Calibur "becoming an anime"... Remember Cervantes? The undead pirate that teleports? Remember Ivy? Cervantes' daughter who wields a sword that can turn into a whip in an instant? Lizardman? A lizard...thats in the shape of a man? Aastaroth? A literal Golem? Yoshimitsu? The dual katana wielding samurai with a clockwork operated arm that can use his katana to fly? Taki? A ninja jumping skyhigh and launching people sky high with attacks that were telegraphed with an hand gesture? Soul Charge? The whole game about soul edge, the manifestation of evil, fighting against soul caliber, the representation of everything good? Even in Soul Calibur 2 there was A LOT of high fantasy elements present in the game that wouldn't be out of place in an anime. I think this is just a classic example of "I was a kid so I didn't examine the game so harshly, thus I loved the game and STILL love it, but new games I have to judge as an adult, which means I am more harsh about it". Gameplay, sure. Plot, sure. But don't tell me that Soul Calibur is getting "too much like an anime" it's ALWAYS been like an anime

As a filthy weeb, I can assure you that Soul Caliber has always been anime as fuck. It's just that anime itself has changed over the years as well.

I've sunk hundreds upin hundreds of hours into 3 and I have never experience a single one of those bugs you showed... Except the one that corrupted your chronicles of the sword progress

As a casual fighting game fan, I have fond memories of all the single player content from 2 and 3. That amount and quality of content in a fighting game didn't show up again until Mortal Kombat 9, and I think part of the success MK had (despite being a quality, easy-to-approach game) is that Soul Calibur abandoned great SP content for mediocre MP online gimmicks, leaving a massive hole in the market for casual fans. A hole MK just had to walk into to fill.

Soul Calibur 3 was my favourite and stands as my personal best fighting game of all time, it's a shame you didnt talk about its one great feature ... it's custom soul movesets, your create a characters could have a choice of 7-8 complete new movesets with different weapons (switching that moveset) so they truley felt like a unique new fighter, my ninja with Kunai allowed me to go against large slow characters with nimble moves, when I went against the opposite I chose Blade and shuriken, gave me ranged options with great attack potential. Nothing has ever come close to the attention to detail the CAS in SC3 did, to make nearly 10+ custom movesets only for custom characters was unreal and I wish they brought it back.

I still don't understand the complaint about making Raphael a vampire. This is like the third video I've heard it in, too. The roster already includes a golem with a giant axe, a zombie pirate, a demon man possessed by an evil sword, Lizardman, and whatever the hell's going on with Voldo. What exactly makes a vampire so egregious?

you know what i loved in soul calibur 3? how create a soul gave you a class based system where you get usable weapons for that class and you could go in the game shopping to buy new weapons for that styles,it was absolutely cool (altough i think the class think was only in the strategy mode and in the others you just put any of the exclusive weapons on the char) it was very cool making my own unique character,i love the kunai and shuriken from the ninja and the chakrans from the dancer. i would love to see this system gets back in sc vi with new unique cac styles.

One thing I always felt Soul Calibur had over other fighting games is longevity. Being able to create truly custom characters was my favorite aspect of the series, ever since Soul Calibur 3. Additionally, despite Soul Calibur 3 having many issues, it was my favorite game in the series. The mode Chronicles of the Sword was the most unique thing I have ever seen in a fighting game, and it was amazing. I hope they have something like it in the future of the game series, assuming there is one.

yeah... harley quinn is so anime... great unbiased video you got there. You must be ecstatic seeing Grøh and the addition of 2B. Aesthetics in a game are second to gameplay no need to bring your personal dislike of anime into the "decline" of a series, anime tropes are extremely common in fighting game genres from the east and pretty much always have been.

Siegfried after being corrupted by Soul Edge: I am fused with this beast for eternity, a mere shell of what I once was. I am deformed, broken, bleeding from every pore that is not filled with ancient pus. I am no longer man, but an abomination. Raphael after being corrupted by Soul Edge: *HAHA JOHNATHAN YOU ARE BANGING MY DAUGHTER*

SC 6 Beta was slick. No meter for edge guarding, more defensive mechanics, 8-way run, and the meter is mostly for comeback mechanics outside of ringouts. I'm hyped.

3:40 really? that was a thing? i sunk hours into sc3 and i never saw anything like that even once.

Both SC videos are excellently crafted. They include your opinions and are hilarious at times, but they are also extremely informative. Even for a lifelong SC player like myself, you brought forward tons of things I didn't know. Thanks! 🙏 Subbed.

It became anime when the main narrative character was Guts from Berserk.

I mean.. If Anime style sells their game, then it wasn't wrong to use that. But what isn't alright is to make the game backbones like sc5

You smeering Golden Sun in the dirty is basically my favourite meme from you.Thanks! -Some Golden Sun Fan- :D I like how bold you are in these videos, you are like a rare pasta sauce that I was looking for at a non-grocery store/

Loved the SC reviews! I hope 6 does well and revives the series.

2 was just so freaking sexy. I would list it extremely highly for a best singleplayer in a fighting game. Lots of load times and the rando dungeon thing was annoying but overall, scII was just so freaking fuuuuun. I recently got some of the older ones in order to prep for the new game....regret.

I really liked Soul Calibur 3's Created character Fighting Styles and Chronicles of the Sword was by far my favorite thing about soul calibur yet Also fighting edge master is significantly harder than dark souls 2 and 3 can confirm

I liked Soul Calibur 3. Chronicles of the Sword mode was my jam!!!!

That was really informative. You tackled every issue you had with each game. Now I'm looking forward to your review before I pick up the game. Instant sub here.

You're vids are some good shit, my man. I appreciate that even as a player who mostly plays for the competitive aspect, you still know the value of the casual audience. Keep up the good work dude.

Real talk; III was the last time I really loved a SC game. I really hated the direction IV and V took the series, but I've been enjoying what little I've played of VI so far. If there's one thing I like about III the most; at least when it came to CaS, it was the extra unique weapon styles designed for the system. It really sucked that they ditched that part of CaS, instead heavily relying on the old unlockable style system. You just never got a weapon style like shuriken, wave blades, or the lance ever again. While some were a little derivative, they honestly felt pretty different from their original idea (chain sickle and sword & shield being two of which felt pretty different from Ivy and Sophitia/Cassandra). Also surprised that you think III was when the series became 'anime'. The original game literally had a Berserk reference in Siegfried, titty ninjas, unlockable bikini outfits, and an anime opening theme; the awesome-and-cheesy the Edge of Soul you hear Maximillian Dood use all the time. If anything; characters like Zwei, Groh, Amy, and Viola were pretty much them just removing any shred of doubt of SC being anime as all get out. I do also think this is the first time I've seen someone complain about Zwei and Viola, considering how popular they are, despite of how shite most of the cast is in V.

Dude, hammer meets nail in this series. Great work.

Awesome channel, glad i found it, you're like a combination of space hamster and chrisraygun. For some reason that pops in my head.

Dawg The Patroklos bit had me weak af lmao

Potential unpopular opinion incoming: I feel that "Soul Calibur 3" is a bit underrated. Yeah, it was not viable for competitive gaming, but the scene was still VERY niche back in 2005, at least in Western countries. Still a few years away from being developed enough to be a relevant issue for the game to be truly... Well... Relevant. Plus, the sheer insane amount of single player content alone makes it worthy of praise, IMO. Even if "Chronicles of the Sword" is actually pretty damn boring. I respect the idea, but the strategy part was lackluster on its execution, and those damn looooooong loading times killed any good will I could otherwise have. Also, I'm pretty fond of the character designs in 3, to be honest. Yes, the first "Soul Calibur" is still king of the franchise in that regard, and yes, there are a few designs that were quite "WTF", Raphael being one of them, and Tira and Sophitia were the first step towards the ridiculousness of SC4, but for the most part I really liked them. There were even a few alternate costumes that I liked a lot better than the regular ones, like Siegfried, Cassandra, Cervantes and even Raphael (well... except for the mask). I also loved the stages. They went back to the grandiosity and epic scale of the first SC, which was toned down a bit too much in SC2 IMO. And I think it was far more successful than SC4 in this regard. Not to mention the music, which is just as good as the first two entries, and has a few of the best tracks in the series, like "Fearless Eyes", "Ephemeral Dream" and "Radiant Souls", which is still to this day the best track for the character creator. And yes, I ADORED character creation, but that's hardly surprising. And as "Xenosaga" fan since long before being a "Xeno" fan became cool, having KOS-MOS as a kind-of-guest character absolutely blew my mind. lol I definitely filled all the characters slots... on TWO memory cards!

The thing about Raphael's shift from an arrogant but still somehow charming outcast of a nobleman into a flamboyant, pseudo-vampire is that it actually kinda makes sense. During his fight at Ostrheinsburg Castle with Siegfried/Nightmare, a fragment of Soul Edge became embedded in his body, corrupting his soul much like Cervantes had become an undead revenant-type character due to the fragments of Soul Edge that became lodged in HIS body when he fought with Sophitia. While I agree the execution of this transition from human to what would become known as the Malfested in SC5 could've been handled better and changed Raphael's character for the better, I still think the concept itself is a good idea, and SC5 proved that it CAN work as evidenced by Pyrha's mental anguish and her struggle to resist fully succumbing to Soul Edge's influence. Of course, therein lies the explanation why Omega Pyrha worked and Raphael didn't: Namco had kind of dug their own grave with the change to Raphael's character in SC3, and didn't really have an easy out that could undo the damage for future installments, so rather than try to yada-yada Raphael back to being the way he was, they probably decided it was just easier to double down and make him as over-the-top as possible, whereas Pyrha had an entire other sequel between her introduction to the series in the sorta shared character endings for Sophitia and Tira in SC3 as the new host for Soul Edge that we finally see her become in SC5. There was significant time for the devs to take the lore they'd built up over the years about Soul Edge and how it affects people and actually make Pyrha's transition work in a way that Raphael's didn't because, at the time, the power Soul Edge has over people was never really consistent. Cervantes became an undead, Siegfried would become possessed while he slept (plus that right arm that never gets explained EVER), Sophitia could sense when the sword was close... You could say that Raphael becoming something similar to a vampire was a failed attempt to make it seem like Soul Edge has a different effect on every human who encounters it, similar to its ability to shapeshift in order to suit the fighting style of its wielder. Obviously, this didn't pan out like they'd hoped and Raphael was just the unfortunate guinea pig in a failed experiment And I'll say it again--The concept wasn't the issue so much as the way it was handled. I personally like what his change meant for his moveset, as it became noticeably harder to score easy ring-outs which I always found kinda cheap in SC2, and being able to drain health from his opponents to replenish his own was a useful trick against harder enemies that made every point of health important. The damage done to his personality and actual character is unfortunate, because that's the kind of change you never really recover from in these types of games

Earned a new sub dude.. Really enjoyed this video and your providing a good narrative

Cool video, i always wanted to see an in depth analysis of the series and the cause of it's fall, I'm a fan but not a hardcore fighting game so I was never able to analize the game from a gameplay aspect.

While there does seem to be something lost with the more recent installments of Soulcalibur (especially the character changes in SC5) I still find myself loving these games and feeling hopeful for their future. I'm really looking forward to your SC6 review. These games have grown a lot and so have you. Difference is you've only improved.

Soul calibur 3 was god tier

man just keep making some kick- ass videos, Soul Calibur is an incredible videogames series and more people need to learn the history of the franchise considering we have the 6th one in the franchise out today! Awesome content man!

I have never played these games, nor am I ever likely to, but I watched and enjoyed all of this video. You're entertaining and fun even if I have no interest in the subject matter! Great job! :)

Loved this re-cap! It was honest, and well done. This series is my only fighting game series, been competitive in it for years, and you hit all the highlights and flaws with each iteration so far. I will say that 6 feels fantastically back to form, but they did keep those combos.

you touch the beta? Because I got my Siegfried hands back and it feels good

I really loved Viola tbh. I know many hated fighting her, but she was really one of the most creative fighting designs they've ever done. Her combos and set ups were so much fun to develop and explore. I would love to see them bring her back, but tone down her combo capabilities so they're not so freaking long. The amount of meter she could build with a single combo was pretty ridiculous. Combined with her absolutely amazing critical edge, her tools were just so vast.

Holy shit, I love your pacing and editing

I needed this video, the seething hate I have for 5 is rearing it's ugly head. 6 seems playable but it's still not 2, nothing will ever be 2, and I've given up hope I will ever get anything close to 2 in terms of presentation, gameplay, story, voice acting, and music. I really wish they would have made a choice between super moves and counter rps mode attack because having both is sort of much, but Hilde isn't in it so I guess I can't complain too much.

I can't wait for SC 7 featuring Fortnite. Anyway, here's hoping 6 breathes life back into the series.

first video I've watched of yours...You're savage! lmao. keep it up!

also I got SUCH a burst of nostalgia at 4:22 when Cassandra's outfit was the 2P recoloring with the pink hair! i always chose that same exact outfit everytime.

Hope u guys got to play the beta last weekend. I am impressed cant wait for SC6

KBash's complaint about the characters becoming "anime" isn't intended to berate anime. The complaint is directed at the transition in costume design from exaggerated historical inspirations to dramatized fantasy design.

Awesome pair of videos. I had a similar experience, SC has always been one of my favourites. My first game was SCIV and I have fond memories of it because me and my two best friends made a drinking game around it and had a few too many nights getting completely wasted from the absurd rules, so it'll always have a special place among my favourite games, but I can't deny it's problems. I only really got good at V, and that was when I was a dumb teenager, so now I'm stuck being good at the bad one, but like it well enough anyway.

U really went in on this franchise. Ive loved Soul Calibur since 1998, the series has waxed and waned over the years. I hope they get it right with SC6. Nice retrospect!

This guy really likes his absolutes doesn't he? Everything is either god damn tragedy or a beautiful experience. No real in between. Maybe this is a bad first video of his to watch, but man it is hard to take people like this seriously.

Plays Japanese games then complains about anime and weebs..... ok

Great video! And you have a great day also😊

ok, I need to say this. Kbash, you put an ad in the middle of a joke, the Yoda shooting one. It has undercut the joke every time ive watched this lmfao

Soul Calibur VI is my favorite fighting game of ALL TIME. I love the gameplay, graphics and everything else.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Really hope you gain some fame friend, because you deserve it

Liked - subbed - bell'd - great flipn job bro. i was gonna do the same video but looks like you covered up my thoughts already lol!

I had absolutely no idea that SCIII had so many bugs- heck when I figured out there was a Soulcalibur III I went ballistic. I enjoyed the hell out of that game. Realizing how many bugs it has kinda makes me wanna revisit it even more. I skipped IV cuz I didnt have a PS3 or 360 at the time but I got a taste of it on the PSP with Broken Destiny so I felt like I didn't have to revisit it. Armor break was stupid and so was that instant kill. Played SCV and well...we dont have to go there.

I swear those critical finishes in SC4 were just to put on the commercials and back of the box. I don't think I ever saw those ever used in game other than Tower of Souls where you needed to use it to get an extra item....

Bro I got this video on my recomendeds and my first reaction was that this is the voice of max goofy's son from Disney lol

Me: "I love the semi-historical and grounded characters!" Yet also me: maining Nightmare and Ivy since SC2...

I think you're wrong about the "becoming too much like an anime" bit. I mean, Mitsurugi's entire motivation throughout the franchise has simply been the pursuit of strength and strong opponents. That's anime as fuck. The mystical side has always been pretty anime, especially with the series namesake soul swords. But I agree on the gameplay being below par. Reversal edge I think is a good system, but it needs to not have that whole 'rock paper scissors' aspect to it. It makes gameplay cheap because once you initiate it it becomes a guessing game, instead of strategizing or being genuinely capable as a player, it allows some wiggle room for total guess work. I don't think that's good for the game in the long run. And can we talk about how barebones the multiplayer is? Even SCV had a tournament mode, as well as room browsing and stuff of that nature. SCVI strips all of that away but doesn't even bother to replace it. Story mode was SHIT. Character creator is stripped down and the color palette is harder to use compared to SCV and even IV and III, a lot of armor and gear options need to be added because there really isn't a lot you can do at the moment. Don't get me started on the inclusion of Tira as DLC. Don't get me started on how blatantly retarded 2B's moveset is. I hope the game improves and if another game is released, I reeeaaaally hope it doesn't suck this bad. Laziness on the part of the devs needs to stop.

Soul Calibur 4 was my favorite. It’s whatever though.

Yoooooo, Maxi is looking clean in SC6. Can't wait to pick it up.

yes bro it's anime, always been.

Soul Calibur was kind of dying for me already after SC3. The change in directors, the writing not being that good since SC2 (it being the worst in SC5), the aesthetic and characterizations feeling like it was going towards a generic Shounen anime route (Started in SC3 and at its most overbearing in SCV and SC6) and away from moderate realism like Tekken after SC2. The new characters getting more and more anime-ish and given more magical powers turned me off over the years, and SCV trying to take mechanics from Street Fighter. Then SCVI's dub's voice acting sounding stiff and dialogue sounding awkward and I feel like CaC became way too goofy over the years as it became the main gimmick for the IP. Soul Calibur was never a bad IP from gaming, but its management just didn't know what to do with it, and something about Soul Calibur just feels dated in so many areas, from its character models still looking like bleached out blow-up dolls (from SC4 onward) with intro animations that seemed unchanged since the first game. Soul Calibur 6 should have been a bigger step up but it rarely seems to improve anything significant. It instead makes trivial changes in areas that add nothing but make it feel dated.

Is...is that a fellow Yunseong Fan I see? I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!!!!!

I still genuinely will defend SoulCal 3 and die on the hill that it is the best SoulCal game. The only bad thing it genuinely did was be exclusive to the damn PS2, alienating like, around 2/3 of the previous game's fanbase! I absolutely LOVED the campaign mode on that game. It was far more memorable than the dungeoneering in 2, which, I'd say that I have more memories tied to the official strategy guide we had, that I used to binge through the routes to take and such as a kid, to beat said dungeons. * (2 was awesome, don't get me wrong, but aside from console exclusivity, 3 felt like an improvement in almost every area on an already phenomenal gameplay loop from 2)

Love this vid, thanks for this~

I hadn't thought about it, but you're probably right about IV. I own both it and III and I pulled out my PS2 and III rather than just IV, with my PS3 already being out. I'd probably play III to play, and IV to create characters (due to the better graphics and larger number of parts) though I seem to remember them dumbing down the options since they gave the gear stats. I liked Hilde though. Couldn't play her for shit, but her design was cool.

Would love to see your thoughts about SC6 now. I have yet to play it. Thank you for spouting the truth about these unfortunate odd additions to a once great series.

your soulcalibur videos are your best videos

Could have gone the rest of my life without hearing bootleg-Kilik's "FOOOOOOOO!" again. Thanks, Kbash.

I think the main reason why SC6 has declined over the years is because ever since SC3 they seem to have taken things out inorder to add more things; instead of actually just adding things without feeling the need to take out or change up already existing things that fans loved. E.g. SC4 alot of fans say had some good solid fighting gameplay, but that seemed to come at the cost of lack of other features in the game and the character creation was just bare-bones, horrible compared to the previous. SC5 improves greatly on the character creation, has some decent features, but they kinda screwed with the main story and did somekind of TLJ thing on the main characters, by replacing them with rip-off offspring versions of themselves. There are definitely two different teams that work at Bandai Namco, one for the Tekken series and the other which seem to either be under-manned or just limited in resources for the Soul Calibur series; because the Tekken games have just never had any issues and each one has improved over the last in pretty much every area. Like they even improved the cool mini game "Tekken Force" from when it was introduced in Tekken 3, right through to 7.

I liked Soulcalibur 4 and 5. Fight me.

I don't play these games, but watching the matches, especially SC V tournament matches, was a blast. And SC VI from every match that I've seen until now, feels and looks like a beautiful dance between players and DAMN IT LOOKS AMAZING.

Honestly you made a good point about those two SC game's and i didn't think about i't until now and i wonder why in part 3 i kept getting sliced hit if try to move around and also in SC4.

TIRA IS AWESOME GTFO

Idk why this video is so disliked, what you said was totally fair

Bro, you're a g for this

Oh wow - This vid blew up. Also, enjoyed the video m'friend.

I can’t wait for SoulCalibur VI I jumped and bought the Collectors Edition, because the series is on a threadbare budget and if this is the last game I want something to remember the series by. I’m planning on playing Sophie, Gerald of the River and possibly seigfried

I agree with almost everything except for your comments on the movement system and Step~G. SCII's insanely quick AND safe movement (on top of no penalties for turtling) led to a very stark difference between most of the cast in terms of balance. It certainly didn't let many shine, lol. You either played the reservedly safe characters or died in the competitive scene. Any character that dared to try a move without fuck huge range (even horizontals missed because the sidestep speed was so goddamn fast) or anything BUT excellent frames would be punished hardcore. I'll agree that SCIII and SCIV neutered the movement too much but SCV had it right. Movement is a solid option in it. Quickstepping lets you avoid their verticals consistently (AS IT SHOULD) where horizontals punished them accordingly (INSTEAD OF BLOODY WHIFFING). They struck a good balance of it being an option and not a wholesomely dominating mechanic like SCII's.

"What is this vampire shit?" Please one hour of applauses for this man👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Raphael as a vampey is cool as shit and you take that back!

I want VI to be seriously good all around. Like I and II. I too had a ton of fun with IV’s character creation. But, overall the series continued to go down hill since III.

I played the Beta ALLOT of soul cal 6 I loved the gameplay it felt to me like the series has come back to life! I am so excited to see what they do with this game I only had a taste but I did enjoy what I played! my only complaint was that nightmare was not only overpowered but as fast as say freaking maxi I feel this is a bit broken but that can be fixed easy. from what I have played so far I would give soul cal 6 8 of 10

Huh. I'd played 4 as a kid but something about it had always felt off and I kept going back to 3, but I never figured out what. Glad you were able to put it in such concise points.

Soul calibur 2 and three were the best. Had the most fun with them, and my boi Yun Seong was in his prime. Also the Tales of Souls mode in three was really awesome