The Soul Still Burns

[messy]

I always go Taki, I mean playing as a ninja's cool but it's normally my best.

I do love lizard man, although friends and I have gotten rather good with the scaly swordsman there is a level of shame (and gloating from the victor) whenever you loose to him. To us he duckling with a machine gun and a grudge; you understand why you loose but other will still make fun of you

 

[Twilight_guy]

That makes me wish I was good at a competitive game. I never had been and maybe never will. Maybe the one game I'm good at came out before I started playing games or is just an idea in the back of some designer's head. Until I find a game I'm good at, QQ. At least I can still enjoy feeling like I can contribute in TF2 even if I'm not good. Yeah for teleporters!

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Ah it is good to hear these stories of people as into Soul Calibur (or Soul Edge) as I was. I & II were serious sites of devotion.

Still play IV a great deal. Currently getting down Seung Mina's distance combat and Cassandra's shield-bashing mastery.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I always tended towards Sophitia, mainly because I always tend to play females on fighting games as they're usually more agile, which suits my style.

BUT...for sheer power and class, Lizardman is hard to beat, especially as I'm one of the few that always favoured Reptile in Mortal Kombat.
Yeah...Reptile is slow, annoying and really can't face off versus Scorpion or Sub-Zero, but he's just so damn cool.

And then...his ending.

More than Gen-An's ending on Samurai Showdown, I was pissed about this one. He DIES? He FECKING DIES? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GAME ENDING IS THAT? HE BEAT THE MIGHTIEST GUY AND THEN...

Yeah, I get far more into games than is healthy at times, but it's one of my great angers, when characters get the rotten end of the stick just because.

At least I'll always have Lizardman. Or Blanka at a push.

 

[eezaak]

Ah, that brought back memories. That little move where lizardman drops to the ground and does a circular kick into the opponents legs. Utterly priceless.
Siegfried was my all time favourite. Simply being able to smash your opponent all over the ring with his sword was great fun. Both in VS mode and against the computer. But for some reason I always seemed to lose to Taki and Sophitia. Bloody sneaky close range fighters.

 

[GloatingSwine]

I've changed up my Soul Cal characters a lot. I think as of the last two versions Zasalamel was my best, lots of tricksy fast moves with good reach and power, but I've always been pretty good with Sophitia and Cassandra as well.

I learned Ivy in SC2, because most people can't play as her at all because of the mode switches breaking their heads, so being able to actually use her is psychologically intimidating.

 

[AvsJoe]

I've always been better with Talim than any other character in the Soul Calibur series. I'm just better with faster yet weaker characters.

I think everyone has that one game that just clicks for them and they become neigh unbeatable, unfortunately mine was WinBack on the N64.

Mine were NHL '99 and 2000. No one could beat me in my prime and boy did they try.

 

[josh797]

I've always been better with Talim than any other character in the Soul Calibur series. I'm just better with faster yet weaker characters.

I think everyone has that one game that just clicks for them and they become neigh unbeatable, unfortunately mine was WinBack on the N64.

Mine were NHL '99 and 2000. No one could beat me in my prime and boy did they try.

yeah! talim was beast. but i loved soul caliber on the dreamcast. i had that and sonic adventure 2. what great games. btw susan, very nice article. it really reminded me why i love the escapist so much.

Wow. Did anyone else get turned on by reading this? I think women who play video games are SO HOT! Susan Arendt, besides being the women of my dreams, I really respect the passion that you have for the game. Its very obvious, by your writing, that you have an immense love for games, especially Soul Caliber.

yeah, i feel you... dont worry susan i wont stalk you too much ;-)

 

[Worgen]

I remember soul caliber for the dc, I ended up punching a hole in the wall from one of the mission things in it, I think you were poisoned with only a lil life

 

[SilverUchiha]

I was pretty badass for Soul Calibur II for the gamecube. Nightmare, Link, and Kilik were almost unstoppable for me. Yeah, Ivy is damn hard to get great with.

I'd say the game that clicked most for me is Sonic Adventure 2. The only time I ever lost to anyone was during that night I had a friend over and he kept me up all night trying to beat me time and again... I was so fucking tired that I eventually lost because I could barely keep my eyes open.

L4D2 seems to be getting to that level. Other day, I just beat Expert Level The Parish campaign with only a few retries and having most of the bots in the green at the end of the chapters (yeah, played with bots... that's something).

 

[Orange Monkey]

I've got a friend who's completely obsessed with Lizardman, even when we play DnD he plays as a Lizardfolk Barbarian. I'm pretty sure if he got the chance he'd marry the guy.

Meanwhile I play with a Gay Male version of Seong Mi-Na in a fabulous purple cape and garter belt.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Ever since I picked up SF2 for the SNES and started putting time into it, I've always been pretty good at most fighters so I can't say I share that exact story.. and I hate Lizardman in every single SC game. My Soul character has always been Mina, though I hate the way they dumbed down her move set (and pretty much everyone's for that matter) after SC2.

If I had to pick one game that I dominated it, however, it would probably be Super Bomberman for the SNES. I wouldn't say I was ever that amazingly good at it, but it just clicked with me and I eventually got to the point where I wouldn't even play against any of my friends anymore because it was boring. Me winning was a foregone conclusion.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Susan Arendt as a giant sword wielding lizard thing?

Am I the only one that thinks that would be both terrifying and kind of awesome?

 

[Altorin]

The really interesting thing, mentioning how poorly fighting game skill transfers to other games, Soul Calibur itself doesn't translate that well into other Soul Calibur games. Entire combo strings are lost and rearranged between the different games... If you were pro at Soul Calibur 2, you need to almost entirely relearn Soul Calibur 4, even with your favorite characters.

 

[InsanityRequiem]

Haha? Sadly my game was Mario Kart 64. Between me, my bro, and a couple of people I knew back then, I was the true master of the game in deathmatch. Sadly the best gametime was when I was one away from my 100th win but a friend's cat got trapped behind the tv.

 

[Seneschal]

Ah, Soul Calibur. I once lost 37 times in a row to my female roommate that had never played fighting games before, because she had that chick with the staff. She kept spamming one button until I was writhing in rage. We kinda banned that character from then on.

Now, maybe I'm just bad at this, but I had the feeling that that particular character is broken. Or at least I keep telling myself that so my nuts wouldn't drop off.

 

[Fayathon]

Well great, now I have to find the cables to the Dreamcast I've got stashed somewhere around here and dig up some of those old gems. My personal preference (also the only character anyone let me play as regularly due to how fast I changed up tactics to suit characters) was Charade from SC2.

Also am I the only one that read the title in the announcer from Soul Caliber's voice?

 

[MNRA]

I for one would like to thank Suzan for pointing out that Ivy had the cooles set of clothes in the first installment. Och sure the BDSM suit was there but it was completely outdone by the militairy jacket and high boots. Damn, that set alone (and the sword) sold me the char from the first game. And I'm still faithfully playing her and kicking/whipping peoples asses

 

[Shjade]

Hm...I don't think I've ever fully mastered a game to the point of feeling unbeatable. But then, I'm fairly heavily self-critical - I always feel like I could do something better even if I'm winning all the time. Or I'm just not thinking about it. Gaming is for fun, not for win!

That said, if I had to pick a "high point" to my gaming history...hm. I guess it would have to be Goldeneye. I didn't think of myself as being particularly expert at it - I was still just a kid - but it's the game that stands out in my mind as having the most proven kickassery going on with it. Specifically, I remember bringing my N64 to my uncle's house on one trip and playing 3vs1 matches against my dad (who also played the game regularly - the two of us pooled forces to beat all the missions on 00 Agent to unlock 007 mode - he was no slouch), my uncle and my cousin and I would beat all three of them by a discouraging margin. Literally, I'm afraid - they refused to play against me after about three of these incredibly one-sided beatdowns.

I didn't exactly feel superior at the game or anything. I was just disappointed they didn't want to play with me anymore. D: So sads.

With regard to the Soul Calibur series: only played SC2 regularly. I was...eh. I did okay, but I played against great players so I spent most of my time getting my ass handed to me. Was only effective at all with Assassin. Much much better at Guilty Gear XX - delicious Venom and Slayer pressure and mindgames.