EDIT: by popular request of the siegfried soul arena im posting our wishlist here:
http://www.8wayrun.com/threads/soulcalibur-v-siegfried-what-do-you-want-to-see.6524/
1st thing 1st that Namco should focus on is gameplay and balance. i can understand every character is different, but each character should have a fighting chance against one another(eg bottom tier having a chance to beat top tier if used to maximum level.) remove all infinites. dont nerf RO range, but make sure there isnt something ridiculous like doom combo either. keep characters moving properly, eliminate needless whiffing, and try to make every move useful in some way, shape or form, no matter how bad the move actually is, it has a place.
keep the critical finish system in place, as it prevents extreme turtling. if it proves to be unbalanced, move it from a instant kill to a 60% damage attack, as mentioned earlier.
bring back soul charging as a standard action to give characters more options while maintaining balance at all times.
increase the command list size by bringing back alot of the moves that were taken away from SC3 to SC4, such as the moves you would execute while landing from a jump.
after such should be a variety of game modes. once the game is perfectly balanced, players should have enough game modes to get a good 100+ hours of gameplay out of this game NOT INCLUDING ONLINE. if need be, make it a multidisc game, or require a data install. bring back all game modes from all previous soul caliburs, but make sure each mode is also refined to the fullest (eg including an AI difficulty setting for chronicals of the sword)
increase the number of stages, including old stages from previous SC's. test them for balance as well.
after that is completed, develop a deep, and in depth storymode that really drags people into the game. heres an example from my SC5 siegfried whishlist:
.........
STORY/PERSONALITY
get sieg to do something with hilde since she saved his life last game. since she only shattered soul edge, it will likely return through its shards, but allow sieg to seek alternate means of destroying it. develop in him sense of loyalty, and perhaps create a teamwork effort between siegfried and hilde. develop a deeper, more personal view of each character, especially sieg. (what does he enjoy? what does he dislike? he may be trying to redeem himself, but he is still human afterall.) make the storymode much longer, and in doing so allow more events to take place in greater depth. who does sieg meet along the way? who does he fight? does he aim to kill, or simply try to subdue his foe? allow multiple paths in each story as well, allowing different outcomes and multiple endings dependant on path decisions. maybe sieg has come to view soul calibur with disdain? maybe he chooses to immerse himself with its power to stop soul edge at all costs? integrate flashbacks using costumes from older games. maybe have sieg visit his mother, and show a cutscene of it? whatever happend to Schwarzwind? how do people view Siegfried? is he seen as noble and just for his acts of redemption? or is he yet still viewed as a monster for his horrific acts commited under soul edge influence? where does sieg go? what is he really looking for? does he ever hold a ceremony for his father? incorporate more of siegfrieds personal perspective and thoughts as cutscenes. does he think of his father often? has he come to terms with his past? how has the relationship between raphael and siegfried progressed over time? the storyline could quite possibly be very strong here, as we're already working with a deep character as is. perhaps siegfried is able to save some1 like sophitia? idk, just some ideas.
see? there are so many possibilities.
now once we get through all of this lets work on refining the AI a tad more. perhaps keep all current AI's, but adjust their behavior to make them more human like(eg humans dont GI imcf on reaction). perhaps add a final difficulty setting that uses real tactics used by real players in real competition, that also incorporates several different play styles. lots of work, but thats y we have patches right?
1 - Tutorial Mode: Needs to cover topics such as why to use a move, point out safety, punishing, grab breaking, different Gi's, etc... Really cover all the way up to advanced tactics. a LOOOOOT of the games mechanics are completely unknown to people who don't actively seek info on the net and even then are under the impression combos and hard move define the game. A lot of them don't even know the difference between stepping and 8wayrunning. Also go over timing with hard moves. Have a tempo meter during say Asura dance so people know when the input for each step needs to come in. I still have no clue when to time GB Asura.
2 - Frames, Hit Boxes, and etc in Practice: I REALLY want to know the games frame data and hit boxes. Give us a way to turn that info on in practice mode so we can test things out! It can be aggravating to hunt that info down and double check if it's correct. Also show SG damage! It's fun to find ways to use moves and etc...it is NOT fun to test huge movelists for these details with a loose assumption if they're right. I'd rather be handed the info and have fun piecing together what to do with it. Anyone could waste a whole day grinding for the info (I know I have) in practice, but it's not rewarding or fulfilling. At least release the data even if it's not in game, the Strategy Guide for SCIV was TERRIBLE and had hardly any info worth having. It was essentially a repeat of all the move lists (80% of the guide...all of which is already in game and yet still lacked just frames and etc...).
^ this is one of the best ideas i have ever heard. thank u IFB. this should really be integrated into SC4. i loved the tutorial mode in SC3, even tho it didnt teach alot of the game mechanics it at least helped people get an understanding of the game. if time is such a big issue, allow a tutorial creation mode for users to create in depth tutorials for certain characters, including advanced techniques, such as frames and punishment, and basic techniques such the terminology we use here on 8wayrun, blocking, guard impacting. we could even go into move execution, i personally thing that would help alot of people, and im sure some of us here on 8wayrun would be overjoyed to write tutorials for a tutorial mode, myself included.
allow an extremely in depth CAS(depth of SC3, detail of SC4) mode that locks the characters hitboxes, preventing any sort of gameplay issues what so ever
after this is completed we may begin work on special vs. eliminate things like soul gauge charge + appeal right off the bat. then attempt to balance abilities in more ways than just equipment. sure some equipment may contribuite, but make the style levels count for something as well, allowing more development points for different abilities. let armor also affect movement to a greater extent. place limits on how powerful some characters can eventually become (eg no S rank abilities & 200% of 1 attribute comes at the cost of another). once more test each ability for character balance ex siegfried with soul gauge damage A shudnt critical finish with any more in less than 5 hits.)
finally once this is said and done with, we can work on the online mode. perhaps keep the current session set up with some improvement. allow the session search option to display ALL current sessions that are online, not just the 1st 6, then u refresh and see the next 6. perhaps work on net code to better reduce lag, allowing players to react to lag tactics and punish more efficiently. try to set online mode up almost as if it were part of a community, welcoming both casual and competitive players. include both standard and special vs. i think Jaxel here was working something out for a ranked mode, as well as we've had alot of attempts made by various people in the online forum, including Partisan. perhaps base ranking on some kind of point system, or even better, base it so that those who use lag tactics are penalized. provide steady and frequent patch support for online that perhaps lower the latency, even if just a specialty side process for certain moves that allows players to react to them. this woudl reduce, or even possibly eliminate lag tactics all together.
allow players the option to report bugs to namco, so that they can be patched and the game bettered.
now, if funding is an issue for patches, then i have many solutions to that as well.
1) namco shud draw their funds from hosting online tournaments. a % of entry fees goes to namco for maintenance
2) allow some kind of premium subscription or such to soul calibur that goes directly to maintenance of the game.
3) collect donations for maintenance
4) designate a % of game profits towards maintenance
5) achieve fees for maintenance through the sales of downloadable content
6) This could work nicely as well:
If they want to attract some casuals, Namco should run one of those polls that are so popular right now. Make a contest of it even.
Let people design some costumes, after they've sent in the art let everyone else vote on them, then include the winners in the game's Create-a-Soul section.
Namco gets free advertising and free art design, fans get their fanwank on, everyone gets a vote. Seems like everybody wins.
which brings me finally to my last point of downloadable content.
include frequent and new DLC. perhaps new characters, or reoccurring guest characters, new stages, game modes, music tracks, costumes, weapons, expansions, u name it it can be done. it would even be nice to allow user made mods to be downloaded through the soul calibur network. i know we already have a few active modders here on 8way already such as OOFMATIC. they'd probably love some way to share their content with current gen users, and i think this option would also create bigger consumer attraction. hell if they want to allow them to take their mods for online vs play through things like the "soul calibur mod network" or something like that.
through all of this effort i think that this would become a truly amazing game loved by the public, and possibly regarded as 1 of the best games of all time. the attraction of a game of this "calibur" would surely drive sales through the roof, and it would give calibur players a strong, united community of casual and competitive players for many years to come.
