• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Was Soul Calibur II a great fighting game, or was it only famous for its guest characters in hindsight?

Sou Calibur II was one of the biggest releases of the year when it came out. Each version across Xbox, Gamecube, and PS2 had it's own guest characters that were the highlights for most coverage of the game and one of the key reasons people brought it.

For the Xbox it was Spawn from Image:
i29Km1K.gif


For the Gamecube it was Link:
link-soulcalibur2-took-an-arrow-in-the-knee.gif


Playstation 2 had antagonist from Tekken:
maxresdefault.jpg



But few people talk about the game itself, it didn't have the same accolades for gameplay or story as it's predecessor and is seldom talked about in discussions unless the guest characters, particularly Link are involved.

I'm wondering if Soul Calibur II was a good game, or really a mediocre to average game that got most of it's excitement from the guest characters included. Link alone was cited as a big reason for strong Gamecube sales in a genre that was woefully underrepresented on the console..

Would people still care about Soul Calibur II if the three guest characters were removed?

In addition, the Xbox version was one of the earliest games on the system playable in 720p.
 

Killer8

Member
The only guest character that was a really big deal was Link. No one cared much about Spawn or Heihachi being in the game on their respective platforms, yet the game still reviewed equally well across all three. It was a very good fighting game and a worthy follow up to Soul Calibur.
 

flying_sq

Member
Not sure if it was a good fighting game or not, but my friends and I always had fun trying to subtly get a ring out
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
The only guest character that was a really big deal was Link. No one cared much about Spawn or Heihachi being in the game on their respective platforms, yet the game still reviewed equally well across all three. It was a very good fighting game and a worthy follow up to Soul Calibur.

I did like the inclusion of Link and Spawn... I had the Xbox version.

SC 2 is so cool and its soundtrack is sublime. Nightmare, Link, Cassandra, Sophitia and Seung Mina are the best in this game.







I always saw the Gamecube version as the best and it made you imagine what Link is like facing real fighters, like Berserker or Lizardman.

I was very excited about this game, it was like having an arcade in my house.

The art was Amazing

soul-calibur-2-cassandra-2.jpg



Seung.Mina.full.715226.jpg


5c77d298563c673104fc899b2edce762.jpg

d1f102fd4930b2b5b0ac340b12a91e9f--character-concept-character-art.jpg


xiasc2art2-jpg.4445

soulcalibur-ii-link.large.jpg


I like Link's connection to the Ocarina of time story.
 
Last edited:

Barakov

Gold Member
It was a legit fantastic fighting game. The only guest character that was interesting was Link. Spawn and Heihachi were just kinda there. It refined what SC1 brought to the table.

The guest characters were definitely great for promoting it but SCII stands on its' own merits.
 
Sou Calibur II was one of the biggest releases of the year when it came out. Each version across Xbox, Gamecube, and PS2 had it's own guest characters that were the highlights for most coverage of the game and one of the key reasons people brought it.

For the Xbox it was Spawn from Image:
i29Km1K.gif


For the Gamecube it was Link:
link-soulcalibur2-took-an-arrow-in-the-knee.gif


Playstation 2 had antagonist from Tekken:
maxresdefault.jpg



But few people talk about the game itself, it didn't have the same accolades for gameplay or story as it's predecessor and is seldom talked about in discussions unless the guest characters, particularly Link are involved.

I'm wondering if Soul Calibur II was a good game, or really a mediocre to average game that got most of it's excitement from the guest characters included. Link alone was cited as a big reason for strong Gamecube sales in a genre that was woefully underrepresented on the console..

Would people still care about Soul Calibur II if the three guest characters were removed?

In addition, the Xbox version was one of the earliest games on the system playable in 720p.
Nah, SC II is the truth man. This game has literally stayed inside my Cube since the day it came out, shit is still fire.
 
Ehh most people who praise soul caliber 2 as the best were kinda casuals though. And not really that good at it.

Soul caliber 4 was to me, a semi-competitive players dream. More complexity in moves sets...compare IVY to simple ass noob ivy from SC2. Ivy had 3 stances you had to master, which turned out to be too much fir people so they dumbed it down again. Same with many other character like taki for example.

Bare in mind it was the first with online play, so you could ACTUALLY test your skill, not just play with your buddies who were also kinda mid. which you couldnt do in 2, which is why I think any serious soul caliber player should be mentioning 4 alot more.

Every title since has been dumbed down from a move set standpoint. Something casuals wont notice.

Soul caliber 3 was also better, more advanced move sets and the create a character introduction
 
Last edited:

Doom85

Member
Evil Eye Stare GIF by MOODMAN


Who the hell focuses on talking about the guest characters over the gameplay in terms of SC 2? Like, honestly I barely used Link, he was decent, but I much preferred a lot of the other fighters in terms of gameplay.

Like, Soul Calibur 2 is probably pretty high up there as one of the most beloved fighters of that gen, no way in hell did that happen purely because of a single guest character for each version.
 

Mr Branding

Member
I started with 3 on ps2 but can agree 2 is a bit more balanced. Guests are kind of lame in every fighting game but I see why they include them.
Weapon master mode was ace.
Best 3d fighting series, hope they do another and drop the cas bs.
 
One of my all time favorites. I imported the gamecube version back in the day. Me and friends / co-workers played it for years during our lunch breaks and after work.
 

Seider

Member
Best thing i remember about Soul Calibur 2 is its 720p mode in Xbox.

Soul Calibur on Dreamcast was a lot more impressive game when it was released.
 

MagnesD3

Member
I really enjoyed it's Single Player Campaign and think it might be my favorite Fighting Game one, the unlock's were a ton of fun to get and the lore behind the character's was very interesting. Competitively it is beloved as well.
 
I loved it for the adventure mode. You got to make choices, there was story and context between fights, you found new weapons as you progressed.

It was like a kind of rpg built into a fighting game. It’s always been so sad to me that we never got anything like that again in subsequent releases.
 
Last edited:

sinnergy

Member
The only guest character that was a really big deal was Link. No one cared much about Spawn or Heihachi being in the game on their respective platforms, yet the game still reviewed equally well across all three. It was a very good fighting game and a worthy follow up to Soul Calibur.
I cared for Spawn and Link.. I still read spawn comics … King Spawn just started , I am reading spawn from the 90s.
 

Alx

Member
It was a good episode in a great serie. I think it was big not because of the guest characters, but because it was the first multiplatform episode, after the (better IMO) Soulcalibur 1 on Dreamcast and the (aging) Soulblade/Edge on PS1.
 
Spawn and Link were low tier while Heihachi was upper-mid tier. The gameplay was considerably more fluid and the presentation was considerably improved over the original. It also brought back the arsenal of weapons from Soul Edge. However, I hated the dungeons they threw into the Weapon Master mode. Made it a huge grind.

Ouside of Heihachi and the lasso stance of Ivy, I think Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition is better.
 
Soul Calibur II was a fantastic game. Awesome cast of characters, great 60fps gameplay and some really hard-hitting music make the game hold up amazingly well.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I didn't really care for any of the guest characters but I really enjoyed the game. It was a good game without the gimmicks.
 

Kilau

Member
SC2 was awesome. I'm sad that they delisted SC2 HD Online from the x360 and ps3 digital stores.
You can at least redeem these keys on a console.


Same with SC1

 

Kilau

Member
Unfortunately I have a ps3 rather than a x360... do you have any places that sell ps3 codes?
Sorry I don't know of any place that has PS3 codes, the 360 version can also be played on xbone or series if you have one of those. Account share might be the only way to get it for PS3 now.
 
What about soul blade? Why did they change the brand from soul blade to soul calibre
Soul Blade was Soul Edge in Japan. There was some copyright thing as to why it couldnt be called Soul Edge in the US iirc. They changed the name of the series to Soul Calibur to basically just streamline the naming of the title across all territories.
 
Top Bottom