I realise most of you who have ordered Soul Calibur 2 should have it by now, and so I`m posting this thread as a sort of general guide as to how to truly get better at it...
Pick your character
This is something you want to do very carefully. Each character takes months of learning and training to utilise properly and naturally. Therefore, you don`t want to pick the `wrong` character and suddenly find that either your style doesn`t suit that particular character or find that you feel more drawn towards another.
Please also consider that some characters are more than a little unconventional and might not suit your style of play. For example, a character like Voldo relies on unpredicatability, and is one of the harder characters to learn. In the hands of a master though, Voldo is a nasty bastard.
Perhaps the hardest character to master is Maxi. Maxi is another of the unconventional characters simply becuase not only does he have little range, he isn`t particularly fast either, so learning to use him effectively is tough. Much as he looks spectacular, in all my time of playing I have never met a Maxi player I couldn`t kick ****less which makes me to feel that he is undoubtedly one of the weaker characters. Timing is crucial in the game, but even more crucial for the player who learns Maxi- as not only does he have little range, he isn`t particularly fast or unpredictable. Other characters are more suited to attacking rather defensive styles of play. For example, Talim`s `punchy` style of play relies on the player having an aggressive approach in a match.
Practice everyday
To get your character and his/her moves ingrained into my mind, you need to practice everyday or near enough everyday ideally. Don`t attempt to learn more than 2 or 3 moves each day- This is essential. Getting good at Soul Calibur requires a heavy understanding of your chosen characters move range and timing. Therefore, learning the timing and range of each move, as well as a natural understanding of when to use the move in a non-contrived fashion, is something that takes even veteran Soul Calibur players a considerable amount of time. Use training mode to view the move list, and practice a move on a non-moving opponent, first. Keep practicing and practicing that one move to further familiarise yourself with the move and its range. Then (still in training mode) make your opponent fight you and continuously practice your move. Doing this, will infuse the move into your mind and hands, and allow you to become familiar with the timing of the move. You will also begin to develop an understanding of when is best to use this move, which is will become increasingly developed the more you practice against human opponents. Repeat this whole process no more than twice in one day.
Competition
Make sure you have friends who are prepared to learn with you- It can`t be stressed how important this is. People who think they can get good at this game simply by playing by themselves are sorely mistaken. Because the computer AI does not completely mimic the nuances of a human player, you will have your arse handed to you if you come up against a skilled opponent. Learning off other people is simply the only way to truly learn this game. You will learn from your mistakes, improve your defensive skills, and just generally become a better all-round player through continued multiplayer.
Vary your attacks
Maintain a variety of not only up and down hits, but also throws. This is essential in a match if you are to keep your opponent guessing. Maintaing a variety of down and upper hits and popping in the odd throw for example can provide a mental connundrum for your opponent who is defending your attacks. Mix it up- Don`t become too reliant on certain moves either, otherwise your opponent will learn this, and exploit your over-reliance on this move.
Defense
Learning to recognise the moves of your opponents is essential if you aren`t to be heavily exposed to their attacks. Get used to changing between blocking up and down quickly. Don`t experiment with parries or green blocks for at least a good couple of months- Get the basics down first. Once you do want to practice these, set up training mode and have your opponent simply repeat the same move again and again. Carefully time your parry or green block to work out the timing of these. After some considerable practice, feel free to use these in matches, but use them when you are very confident your opponent is going to launch a particular attack. Be very careful about using them too much or against an opponent, whose game you are unfamiliar with. This is a recipe for disaster. A little more advanced and further down the line, practice blocking throws also by quickly tapping in very quick succession both your horizontal and vertical attacks.
For those who like to parry, I`d very much advise against you not parrying too much- and if you don`t know your opponents game very well, don`t parry much at all. Parries are very easy to get wrong as you can easily misjudge the kind of attack your opponent makes. When expert players play against eachother for the first few times, very little parrying actually takes place. Parrying becomes much more effective and common between players who know eachothers game fairly well.
What difficulty setting?
As a novice you should start on normal or the difficulty setting below normal when playing the game. When you feel more confident and you feel you`ve learnt a fair few moves, start putting the difficulty setting up.
Namco have made the AI in this game much better than both the arcade version of Cali 2 and the Cali 1. It mimics human opponents a lot better especially in ultra hard setting (which gives a very good and fairly realistic challenge to anyone who is good at the game). The hardest setting in the game extremely hard, shouldn`t be touched IMO, unless you want to really practice your parrying, as it gives an unrealistic challenge in that the AI opponents parry far more than any sensible human player and far too perfectly. If you can handle yourself fairly easily in ultra hard setting, i.e. beat the computer opponents much more often than they can beat you, you can consider yourself as fairly good at the game.
Obviously it is impossible for Namco to mimic human AI completely, so naturally, the true test will be againt good human opponents.
Questions
This thread is open for anyone who has any questions about any of the points above or if anyone else has any questions about getting better at the game. I`m Saur or C (Mark) can answer some of your questions as well as myself.
I haven`t gone into too much detail in some areas, so I`d expect there to be some questions from anyone interested in this thread.
Pick your character
This is something you want to do very carefully. Each character takes months of learning and training to utilise properly and naturally. Therefore, you don`t want to pick the `wrong` character and suddenly find that either your style doesn`t suit that particular character or find that you feel more drawn towards another.
Please also consider that some characters are more than a little unconventional and might not suit your style of play. For example, a character like Voldo relies on unpredicatability, and is one of the harder characters to learn. In the hands of a master though, Voldo is a nasty bastard.
Perhaps the hardest character to master is Maxi. Maxi is another of the unconventional characters simply becuase not only does he have little range, he isn`t particularly fast either, so learning to use him effectively is tough. Much as he looks spectacular, in all my time of playing I have never met a Maxi player I couldn`t kick ****less which makes me to feel that he is undoubtedly one of the weaker characters. Timing is crucial in the game, but even more crucial for the player who learns Maxi- as not only does he have little range, he isn`t particularly fast or unpredictable. Other characters are more suited to attacking rather defensive styles of play. For example, Talim`s `punchy` style of play relies on the player having an aggressive approach in a match.
Practice everyday
To get your character and his/her moves ingrained into my mind, you need to practice everyday or near enough everyday ideally. Don`t attempt to learn more than 2 or 3 moves each day- This is essential. Getting good at Soul Calibur requires a heavy understanding of your chosen characters move range and timing. Therefore, learning the timing and range of each move, as well as a natural understanding of when to use the move in a non-contrived fashion, is something that takes even veteran Soul Calibur players a considerable amount of time. Use training mode to view the move list, and practice a move on a non-moving opponent, first. Keep practicing and practicing that one move to further familiarise yourself with the move and its range. Then (still in training mode) make your opponent fight you and continuously practice your move. Doing this, will infuse the move into your mind and hands, and allow you to become familiar with the timing of the move. You will also begin to develop an understanding of when is best to use this move, which is will become increasingly developed the more you practice against human opponents. Repeat this whole process no more than twice in one day.
Competition
Make sure you have friends who are prepared to learn with you- It can`t be stressed how important this is. People who think they can get good at this game simply by playing by themselves are sorely mistaken. Because the computer AI does not completely mimic the nuances of a human player, you will have your arse handed to you if you come up against a skilled opponent. Learning off other people is simply the only way to truly learn this game. You will learn from your mistakes, improve your defensive skills, and just generally become a better all-round player through continued multiplayer.
Vary your attacks
Maintain a variety of not only up and down hits, but also throws. This is essential in a match if you are to keep your opponent guessing. Maintaing a variety of down and upper hits and popping in the odd throw for example can provide a mental connundrum for your opponent who is defending your attacks. Mix it up- Don`t become too reliant on certain moves either, otherwise your opponent will learn this, and exploit your over-reliance on this move.
Defense
Learning to recognise the moves of your opponents is essential if you aren`t to be heavily exposed to their attacks. Get used to changing between blocking up and down quickly. Don`t experiment with parries or green blocks for at least a good couple of months- Get the basics down first. Once you do want to practice these, set up training mode and have your opponent simply repeat the same move again and again. Carefully time your parry or green block to work out the timing of these. After some considerable practice, feel free to use these in matches, but use them when you are very confident your opponent is going to launch a particular attack. Be very careful about using them too much or against an opponent, whose game you are unfamiliar with. This is a recipe for disaster. A little more advanced and further down the line, practice blocking throws also by quickly tapping in very quick succession both your horizontal and vertical attacks.
For those who like to parry, I`d very much advise against you not parrying too much- and if you don`t know your opponents game very well, don`t parry much at all. Parries are very easy to get wrong as you can easily misjudge the kind of attack your opponent makes. When expert players play against eachother for the first few times, very little parrying actually takes place. Parrying becomes much more effective and common between players who know eachothers game fairly well.
What difficulty setting?
As a novice you should start on normal or the difficulty setting below normal when playing the game. When you feel more confident and you feel you`ve learnt a fair few moves, start putting the difficulty setting up.
Namco have made the AI in this game much better than both the arcade version of Cali 2 and the Cali 1. It mimics human opponents a lot better especially in ultra hard setting (which gives a very good and fairly realistic challenge to anyone who is good at the game). The hardest setting in the game extremely hard, shouldn`t be touched IMO, unless you want to really practice your parrying, as it gives an unrealistic challenge in that the AI opponents parry far more than any sensible human player and far too perfectly. If you can handle yourself fairly easily in ultra hard setting, i.e. beat the computer opponents much more often than they can beat you, you can consider yourself as fairly good at the game.
Obviously it is impossible for Namco to mimic human AI completely, so naturally, the true test will be againt good human opponents.
Questions
This thread is open for anyone who has any questions about any of the points above or if anyone else has any questions about getting better at the game. I`m Saur or C (Mark) can answer some of your questions as well as myself.
I haven`t gone into too much detail in some areas, so I`d expect there to be some questions from anyone interested in this thread.
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