So basically,

IV is better then III but not better then II.

Could Soul Blade possibly be better then SC III? XD

Taki seemed pretty good in SCII.

I'm guessing her SCIV counterpart isn't as great. Without those, I wonder what tricks you have up your sleeve Ray.

Anyways

Wasn't SCII one of most balanced SCs? I think a lot of people were put off by how unbalanced SCIII was.

That's actually true. Taki seems to be doing a lot of work while Nightmare didn't have to do much.

According to guardimpact, Taki was actually the best character in SC1.

SC1 Ranking chart

If you look at the chart, she has the highest total out of all the characters.

In SCIII, I thought Taki was upper mid with Cassandra, Mitsurugi, and Astaroth. I don't see her near the levels of Nightmare, Yun-Seong, and Tira.

Taki does require work to win. I can see why people consider her more difficult to use then say Sophitia or Mina.

does the gameplay always determine which sc is the best?

you guys really put gameplay before everything.

I do consider presentation as well.

Which SC1 excelled at aswell.

SCIV did seem slow. It felt so strange when I first played the game.

Looking at the past SC games, SCIII's presentation was pretty bad.
Announcers were cut off, character slots were blank, and some of the stages had muddy dull colors.

On the other hand, Soul Blade's presentation was memorable imo.

ok im gonna be the odd one out and say Soul Blade. Hello how soon we forget without this game there wouldn't be SC 1-4

Soul Calibur. Best fighting game I've ever played. Hell, possibly even the best game period.

quote Estrugaz

quote Kat Bide

Not impressed with the new soul. Not at ALL. Garbage.

Dude what the hell man? Isn't that a bit too harsh? I think 4 is a respectful "possible" conclusion to the series.

Well for some people a big part of the Soul Series' enchantment, so to speak, was the story.

Throw in the Star Wars characters, have Algol pop up out of nowhere only to be some legendary heir and master of the Soul swords or whatever, make every character an Otaku's dream and kill off pretty much all story elements and replace it with fanservice and it takes every last little bit of that aspect and kills it dead.

Plus the combat could be considered lackluster by comparison and the character creation, in my opinion at least, was a very poor gimmick whilst the online mode was laggy at best (I didn't use it much so it may have just been the people I was fighting) and the characters needed a little more balance and so on.

I wouldn't go so far as to say horrible but I didn't like it and can definitely see where Kat's coming from at least. I think though if the originals hadn't been so good and, as such, our expectations so high we wouldn't hold it in such low regard.

1. Soul Calibur II
Even to this day, it has the most enjoyable and balanced mechanics in the series. It basically took everything that was great in Soul Calibur 1 and improved upon it. Even today, I consider it the most fun to play.

2. Soul Calibur IV
A step up from III in the balance and depth department, and has a better character creator. Online is a plus, even though it's one of the worst in terms lag (second only to Tekken 5.... Wii games discounted). They still decided to take away even more moves/stances though, which makes no sense. Also, this game has barely any modes qnd what it does have are worse versions of the previous games. Tower isn't fun and Story Mode has no custscenes aside from a two second ending.

3. Soul Calibur
Incredible for its time and still holds up well today, simultaneously showing that this is a winning formula, but that Namco hasn't really tried to innovate ever again.

4.Soul Calibur III
Decent in its own right, but easily the most disappointing entry in the series. Character balance was all over the place and too many spammable cheap moves for certain characters. Some characters had moves taken away with no replacements at all. Impossible AI, even on the easiest difficulty. The only thing it got right was its presentation (which stomps all over SCIV). Modes were - plentiful and well-crafted, plus it had the most amount of characters and stages in the series history. Plenty of cutscenes and the 2nd best Opening FMV in the series (2nd only to Soul Blade).

Soul Calibur IV wins. It has online, that makes the hugest difference. Then, I like SCIII, then SCII, Then SCI

quote Faded

Soul Calibur IV wins. It has online, that makes the hugest difference. Then, I like SCIII, then SCII, Then SCI

It doesn't have online.