Taki's Replacement Revealed?!

It would seem a bit half-arsed if they introduce her as a "new character" but give her attacks as if Taki were in the game... Almost as if she's like the SC4 guest characters, or closer to having Taki get worked over for SC5 then have her skin and story swapped out for this chick... Question I'm asking now is, "where's Talim/Tira?"
 
She's a ninja... with pink hilts, pink sheaths and pink fingernails. I think it's understandable some people would find that ridiculous. Especially for fans of Taki who got used to a more serious type of ninja (even though she was oblivious to what she was wearing).

Taki had a pink outfit once. And?
 
Setting the game 17 years in the future is probably the smartest thing they could do, like it or not. People are just bored of the same shit over and over and over, even if it's a good shit. What else could Taki do that doesn't involve something stupid and simple like teaming up another character or changing sides. Maxi, Kilik, Xianguha, Taki, Rapahel, Rock, Seong Mina, zvoldo, Cervantes and many others have absolutely nothing else to offer to this franchise story-wise.

You might think that killing or taking out a fan favorite is a big mess, but it gives fresh air and helps set up a totally new eviroment in which they can return later with new thing to do. You can expect several characters to dissapear in the following chapters of the franchise, just to make an epic comeback years later. Is is a very smart strategy. Make people fall in love with a character, make a ridiculously long time jump and replace the character with a similar one. Then, when the franchise is stuck, go back to one of the unused 'time slots' and make both characters appear again together and create some connection between them. This makes both characters much more deep and iteresting, appart of making the game enjoyable for both the ones who grew up playing with, say Taki for example, and the ones who have only known the new one. This was used in street fighter and gave an outstanding result.

In later years, peoplle will feel nostalgic about SoulCalibur classic era and Namco can use either the long time between SE and SC, SC and SCII, or SCIV and SCV.

Besides, what story can Taki use? 'Soul Edge has returned and a 40 year old woman in tights must return to -once again- destroy it'? That got old by SCII. I personally think that replacing characters like Taki is a very interesting strategy and the results could turn out really cool if done correctly. They tried doing it but failed when they replaced Hwang, and Namco doesn't make the same mistake twice. This strategy done correctly can give great results, and I think the series is heading the right direction.

The problem here, I think, is that people are getting carried away because their beloved characters are gone. They are not really concerned about making the new game a new game, they are thinking about themselves and not the series. Heck, if the series was in hands of many people in here it would not go further than the next game. If you want see more games in the future you have to start setting up said future. In fact, it was clear already since SCIII that we were going to see a game centered in the offspring of sophitia and the destruction of nightmare -in fact, i was surprised the ti e jump wasn't done in SCIV. If you want a series to flourish you have to stop fanwarking.

Well in terms of story I am not really picky. I mean the SE and SC are essentially macguffins which exist solely as an excuse to get badass warriors, monsters, and lolicons to fight. I mean Mitsu's story totally evolved from Man vs. Technology to Mitsu just likes to fight for the hell of it and I am completely cool with that. The latter is probably more accurate to the spirit of the series actually. The first two games probably had the deepest stories (SE and SC) because the characters seemed more like real people with families, life hardships and flaws and there lives hadn't always revolved around the macguffins.

I am not saying that making significant changes to the story can not be an extremely good thing. I am just saying there is legitimate progressive change and unnecesary forced change which the best it can do is alienate people. While I am happy they are making another game in the series I just don't want to see them take away all the best elements and just leave it a husk of its former self. Now, I completely agree that the series must change or die. I just don't know where said change is taking us.
 
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