First of all I apologize if there is already a thread for this, but as I am very limited on time I just created a new one. And if I misspell anything, as I've said I'm short on time, but I'll make sure I'm clear.
First: Expand the Stun theme
By expand I mean add stun qualities to more (if not most) of the moves for each character, and let them chain off of each other. I.e. Many Mitsurgi combos such as



to


. To balance this out a bit and have it be more exciting to watch, which I think is very important, have each successful hit speed up while lowering the damage dealt (encouraging devastating moves to finish the combo). This should appeal to casual gamers mechanically and non gamers visually while testing the player's timing on a combo. To keep the spirit/individuality of the game, have certain moves only stun while in a combo. I.e. Mitsurgi's


, while used on a stunned opponent, it will keep the opponent stunned while pushing them a little further away (To avoid infinite loops) and on a non-stunned opponent it would work as it has always has before. To keep this from being to too cheap (stun, stun. stun, stun, Ringout) make it so stuns don't ring out (not mid combo anyway).
Second: Add an actual guard meter
Not the one that is in place currently, but one that can be seen winding down, with multiple bars in between (like the super bar from SF4 or Alpha), there are so many things you can do with that (I'll get to that in a minute). I think we would see more actual finishes or attempts if the player can actually see the guard meter, this would build up tension/anticipation for a crowd watching if they can see how close the person they are rooting for is to dying/winning.
Third: Bring back guard breaks from 2, and if possible keep the ones from 4
Easily enough, just have guard break moves from 4 delay into guard breaks from 2. To keep it balanced only the first one (non-delay) would destroy the guard meter, while the other actually breaks guard and opens them for a combo (hit or miss, either way). And have the one's from 2 actually take up your guard meter every time you attempt it adding a bit more of a "big risk, big reward" quality to the game (I'm not saying there isn't, I just feel this would add more).
Four: Get rid of "Just" moves
I feel like this actually turns casual players away because it's so demanding of some characters (I'm looking at you Setsuka) to unlock their full potential (Second move only executed if the first move is a "Just").
Five: Anthology or Tag
Think SC2 Raphael vs SC4 (pre-patch) Amy, similar to SF Anthology
Six: Remove the short moment after winning a match
The six seconds the winner has to mutilate the body of their downed opponent before the next match begins it just promoting bad sportsmanship online.
Seven: Other Franchise Characters as downloaded content
Having the other console specific character be available for download was a bit of a let down for me because we all saw it coming. I was hoping the people of Namco signed a longer contract with Lucasarts. I was hoping to see a new Star Wars character every quarter on one console or the other and have an end of the year bundle pack filled with characters from the other console. This way Soul Caliber would continue to get more characters, while Star Wars has another platform to advertise characters for their upcoming games. And if need be, omit the storyline for these extra characters because if it feels forced (no pun intended) I'd rather not see one at all. Or even have their costumes to available to download for custom creation.
Of course, this idea doesn't have to only be applied to Lucasarts...
I.e. Just to name a few:
- Marvel/Wolverine (Claws) vs Taki or Voldo, Capt.America (Shield, no stranger to time travel...or crossovers) vs anybody
- Ubisoft/Assassin's Creed (I'm sure we've all seen enough Altair/Ezio custom creations to assume this would be popular)
- Monolith/Xenosaga-Shion(Shield Arm)/Ziggy(Robot)/Kos-Mos(Robot, plus seen her before, so not out of the question) vs. Yoshi(Part-Robot) or Momo(Little hammer) vs Astaroth(Large Custom Hammer)
- Capcom/Zero(Robot with a bunch of weapons that come out of nowhere, that should be set to stances to balance him) vs Necrid (wannabe Zero lol j/k) or Megaman (Gun Arm) vs Algol(Two Gun Arms)
Seven: I know this sounds crazy, but I'd like to see them create a whole new storyline with new characters. Keep the move-sets and gameplay, but move forward with different characters and have their endings tell what happened to the characters we currently have and then have our characters be alternate (and just as customizable) "outfits" like Eddy was for Christina in Tekken at one point (As to not piss off veteran players). I'd love to see Yun-sung, Talim, Amy, Cassandra, and Bangoo be the hardened veterans in the quest for the swords.
Also, I know Amy is a vampire, but if she showed up as an adult version of herself, it would intrigue me to find out how or why. And if Raphael is missing, I'd be more inclined to play her storyline to see what happened. I think this would definitely tick a lot of veteran players off no matter how it would be executed, but the important thing is that it's a chance to draw in new players.