I see - in that sense I can kind of understand the argument, but again my opinion would differ.  Soul Edge was a very gimmicky game to begin with.... "weapons" based 3d fighters were the realm of essentially just Soul Edge and Battle Arena Toshinden back in 1995 or so.  Their gimmick was weapons based 3d combat, with characters that had a backstory (terrible as they were) - unlike the rest of the generic street fighter ripoffs of the day.

The fact that Soul Calibur turned out to be well balanced and technically excellent is a testament to the dev team's ability to execute.  I can assure you they were not out to create a technical fighter that would be used for gaming tournaments as the epitome of balance..... they were out to make a buck and build an amazing game while they were at it, no different than Nintendo with Brawl.

Despite my staunch defense of SCIV, as I believe it is the best HD fighting game yet, I have to disagree with you there. I'd say there is a 99% chance that I would melt your face, playing with Yoda, as well as the face of anyone watching or glancing at the screen during our time together.

My argument is, that Yoda's balance issue only matters online, and since online fighting sucks anyway due to inherant frame loss and lacency issues, even on a T1 line, fighters now and always will be relegated to local multiplayer for true competition, in which Yoda shall forever be an illegal character. In tourneyments, at Evo, at home, Yoda is cheese and everyone knows it. He won't be allowed.

Do you remember Tekken 3. It revolutionalized the console fighter, imo. It had a character in it called Gon:

He had a tail spin move(along with a fire fart) that could beat most Tekken players by just repeatedly tapping one button. He was the cheesiest of all characters, in all fighting games ever, and he was and is illegal in tourney play. Looking at Yoda, I say there is a huge difference. Yoda is only poorly balanced, Gon was game breaking, if you make the assumption that your opponent will regularly pick Gon and guarntee himself an instant win.

So yea, online Gon would have ruined the experience for a lot of players(way more than Yoda does) but offline, nobody played with him, and when someone did, it was such a big laughing joke that said person had to pick him out of frusteration that it was worth it. Because that guy knew he couldn't play. Some of the best experiences to be had on Tekken 3 was beating someone so hard, they had to pick Gon to win, and beating someone who was playing with Gon....priceless.

Gon actually improved the game, in a way. You always want one super imba character, just in case you get frusterated, lol.

Thanks for the input Zen. It's given me some perspective on the game and maybe I will buy it at some point. I have no problem admitting I may have been wrong. ^_^

I completely understand man, you're cool. I lose perspective a lot, all the time in the console wars, lol, and I get a little bitter sometimes myself(my last ban proves that, ask Montana about it sometime). There is no doubt that initial reactions to hearing "Yoda breaks online mode" are gonna be bad. If you're not a big fan of the series, just wait and pick it up when it's 30 bucks or something(don't get me wrong, it's worth full price, imo, but if you have doubts and can't rent, you can never go wrong picking it up at a lower price later on). There is fun to be had here, a lot of it. The create a character option is particularly hilarious, fun, and shexay!

Was watching a vid of SC4 at JB a couple of days ago, and I couldn't believe the inclusion of the Star Wars characters. Seeing a lightsabre & sword "hit" and then "produce sparks" made me gag. I walked away quickly...

Played SC2 to death with all my mates, but it was the "death" of fighting games for me in the way. Lost all interest since.

I think you're letting a minute detail that has more to do with the Star Wars universe, than the Soulcalibur universe, prevent you from enjoying a great game, if that is really the only reason you aren't gonna give this game a play.