They took out Talim? Ok this game can go to hell. She was my first and only videogame crush.

This is actually the BEST soul calibur game to date.

While I'm pissed by the lack of character endings, having 3 mimics in the game and as usual, a practice mode that isnt done as well as Virtua Fighter 5's, this game's gameplay has never been better. Just Guard system, critical edge, brave edge are fantastic additions to the game, and make it more offense oriented.

Well if you're buying this game just to button mash and play the story mode, then yes, this game deserves the 7.5/10 that both IGN and Gamespot scored. But if you're going in depth, this is easily a 9/10.

best SC to date!?

this is what SC used to be about:

I don't get why they removed characters? Was it really so hard to add Zasamel, Yun Sung/Hwang, Talim and Seung Mina in any form either like a new character with their style (like they already did with other character) or as a returning character?
This game looks better on high level though, Soul Calibur has pretty much always been a casual game until now.

Edit. Forgot about Rock.

These were the exact two issues I thought of when I was playing earlier. *Poors out some liquor for the homie Zas*

Still a fun game though, and it's still an improvement over four. Glad they got rid of the stupid exploding clothes gimmick.

How's the "Loading..."?

I got the game last night and I am enjoying it throughly, its just that I hate fighting games that take characters ive pretty much mastered (in this case Ivy, Raphael, Lizardman and Taki) and either take them away or just switch them up.  I felt even after two SC i couldnt get ivy up what I was playing her as for SC2, Raphael has remain constant and Zasalamel was my new main.  Just as someone point out earlier, they are making this game more technical, which is cool, I just hate relearning lol.  Im going to go to evo2k12 with this and KOF III so im going to be practicing for a while.

Yeah the game still improves in a lot of areas, so it's still a great game imo, but hopefully they consider the "If It Ain't Broke" philosophy in the next installment. And I'm still holding out hope for DLC characters (I really miss Zasalamel). Also, I found out clothes still explode -___-

Setzukas style is in the game, just not the character. Zasalamel, Sueng Mina, Rock, Yun-Sung and Talim is gone though.

This series used to be so great. Remember Soul Calibur II? Now SC is just stagnating horribly. Somebody pump some life into this franchise.