Gallery: Soul Calibur VI

Kingdom Come: First Impressions

I kind of wish I hadn’t picked up Kingdom Come: Deliverance in a recent sale. Not because it’s bad, but because I’ve haven’t been able to stop bloody playing it. I’ve clocked 20 hours of play in less than three days. I’m not sure that’s entirely healthy.

I’ve been interested in Kingdom Come since its release, but I was still very wary about purchasing it, even on discount. I’ve seen many people warning of bugs, crashes and save corruptions, even following multiple patches and updates. But I’m pleased to say that – so far, at least – I’ve had no crashes, bugs or issues with any of my saves.

The game looks lovely, with some very nice lighting and weather effects. I’m playing on Very High settings with the HD Texture Pack, and my performance, overall, is pretty solid. It’s only when I’m running or riding through one of the larger towns that I notice any dip in the frame rate.

Kingdom Come is a first person, historical RPG. You play as Henry, the son of a blacksmith, living in Bohemia in 1403. Unlike say, an Elder Scrolls game, you’re not a ‘chosen hero’ or a ‘man of destiny’ – you’re an illiterate peasant who can barely hold a sword. But Henry is such a likeable chap that you really want to help him succeed.

The story of Kingdom Come has been excellent so far, and I’m eager to see where it goes. It knows when to be serious and when to be fun. You have your typical main quests which drive the core story onwards, in addition to a variety of story based side quests and the less elaborate ‘activities’. There’s certainly plenty to see and do.

Kingdom Come, as far as the gameplay mechanics go, is an interesting mix of skill, stats and gear. The combat is skill based, in the sense that you must learn to properly time your attacks, blocks and combos, but your character stats in the form of strength, agility and vitality also play an important factor.

And the quality of your weapons and gear is also important as is your individual skill level with particular weapon types and the associated ‘perks’ you can unlock for every skill. I guess the question is: is the combat any fun?

Well, the system does feel pretty good once you get the hang of it, and 1v1 fights can be very enjoyable. The only times I’ve had problems with the combat is the few occasions I’ve had to fight multiple people, which the system doesn’t seem to be designed for. Trying to switch between two or sometimes three targets in a fight can prove troublesome.

Then again, I suppose that’s the point. It shouldn’t be easy to fight three people at once, not when they can easily surround you. Kingdom Come isn’t just about skill, stats or gear, it’s also about playing smart. You can’t just charge into a bandit camp and expect to win against four or five guys. But what you can do is wait, watch and maybe try to lure one or two of them away. A swift arrow or a stealth kill can even up the odds.

And then, you can charge in, maybe catch the bandits by surprise or when they’re sleeping. A bandit with no weapons and in his underwear isn’t much of a threat and can be cut down with ease. It’s kind of funny watching them abandon their camp and flee for their lives.

Henry really does start at the bottom. You need to train every skill which takes time, patience and practice. You even need to devote time to simply learn how to read. It may be slow, but it’s a pretty satisfying progression, as you really do feel that Henry is becoming stronger and smarter as you play.

I really like the world map. It’s both functional and lovely to look at, which is something a lot of open world developers could learn from. The games uses as auto-save system, but you can also brew or buy a ‘save potion’ which lets you save whenever you like. I’ve seen some criticism of this system, but I can’t say I’ve had any issues with it. It’s very cheap to buy (or free, if you pick them yourself) the ingredients you need, and you can brew enough potions to last you for several hours of play very easily.

Whilst some may dislike the limitation, I can see the intent. It forces you to think very carefully about what you’re doing, or what fight you’re going to get into. It forces to you stick with decisions you’ve made – you can’t just reload your quick save every two minutes. That said, I do think the game could auto-save more frequently, such as when you fast travel.

Overall, I’m having a lot of fun with Kingdom Come and after taking a short break to complete some side quests and explore more of the map, I’m eager to get stuck back into the main story. It’s possible it could all go tits up, of course, and I could encounter bugs or other issues, but so far, so good.

Now Playing: Soul Calibur VI

Soul Calibur VI is a fantastic fighting game and, as someone who hasn’t really got stuck into a fighting game for nearly a decade, I’ve had an absolute blast with it. I’ve already sunk 40 hours into the game, and there’s still so much to do. I’ve still got missions in the Libra of Souls story mode to complete and I’ve still not finished the Soul Chronicle mode with every character.

There’s a lot of game here, to be sure. When so many recent fighting games focus purely on online/tournament play, it’s good to get such a substantial quantity of solo/story focused content. Notice I said quantity not quality. Because if I’m being honest, as far as the overall production quality of Soul Calibur VI goes – it’s actually pretty poor.

The visuals are noticeably dated, both in character models and stages. The menu and UI are ‘functional’ at best. The character creator is fun, but too many cosmetic items have clipping issues and the selection is sparse. The Arcade mode is as basic as can be. The Libra of Souls mode severely lacks unique artwork and cut scenes – it only seems to have about 4 backgrounds which it recycles endlessly.

 

In short, Soul Calibur VI feels like a game knocked together on the cheap. It’s clear they were on a tight budget and had to cut many corners. I’m not saying any of it is bad – it’s just that none of the pieces are of a quality they could and should be, considering the premium price.

Despite this, Soul Calibur VI is still a game I’d recommend. Because even though it has its flaws in terms of its modes, features and presentation, the core of the game – the fighting mechanics – are so f**king good. You have a sizeable roster in which every character offers a very unique and distinct style of play. I’ve always loved the SC characters and variety of styles, and it’s genuinely hard for me to just pick and stick with one, because I enjoy playing them all.

I love the character models and how their personalities shine through in their animations. Because every character shares a basic core input set, it doesn’t feel like a chore to learn to play as each of them – you always have a foundation of basic moves upon which to build. Combat is fluid and incredibly stylish. The camera sweeps, swings and zooms at all the right moments to provide some lovely cinematic shots during special moves, but it never distracts from the action.

 

As I said in my First Impressions post, SC isn’t really about learning convoluted combos, it’s more about timing and position. Yes, it’s possible to button mash your way through some fights, but against harder AI or a human opponent, mashing will only get you so far.

Libra of Souls, in the way it runs parallel to the core story, is an enjoyable mode, even if the weapon collection/upgrade system is a little basic. Soul Chronicle, which lets you play through individual stories for each of the roster is also very enjoyable, even though I kind of wish there was a little more content/story for some of the characters. And I can spend hours in the character creator, even though it really needs those upcoming customisation packs. For many though, it’s the online modes that’s at the heart of the experience.

The ‘casual’ rooms are nice, but the lack of any kind of proper chat system for spectators is a little odd. I guess it stops people from acting like an ass, but watching a match in a silent room is kind of weird. The ‘ranked’ system, at least at the early levels, feels more like an XP bar, which slowly fills up even if you lose a lot more than you win.

 

The online experience as far as technical considerations go is pretty good overall, but not without the occasional network error or lag issues. I like that I can join ranked games straight from the training mode and at the time of writing, ranked play is still very active, with a new match every 20 seconds or so at peak times.

I’ve split my time between three characters in ranked, which probably isn’t ideal, so I’m now going to try and stick with one to see how high I can push. I’ve had some fantastic matches online and as I’ve said – win or lose – I enjoy a good scrap. And I don’t really mind custom characters in ranked. I like to see the crazy shit people create.

I know some people don’t like it, but I don’t see the point in taking ranked play so seriously – lag is always going to be more of a factor than a custom character with a slightly different height. If you care about ‘pro’ play then play in a proper tournament or set up your own custom room and let the rest of us have our fun.

 

You’re going to meet players who spam certain moves, which is just something you need to learn to deal with. And you’re going to meet players who rage quit just before you win. But on the whole, 90% of my ranked matches have been good natured and enjoyable.

Overall, Soul Calibur VI is an excellent game, despite the somewhat cheap production quality. It’s a title elevated by the strength of its gameplay. Oh, and they just announced 2B from Nier: Automata as the next DLC character which is a wonderful addition. If only we could get Bayonetta in here too, and then we’d have the perfect game.

8/10

The Battlefield V Dilemma

I sometimes wonder if publishers want me to buy their games. I seem to recall a time when I didn’t need a bloody spreadsheet to work out exactly what content I’m paying for. Ubisoft are by far the worst when it comes to confusing release editions. Any interest I had in the latest Assassin’s Creed rapidly faded when I saw the eight different editions, each with varying levels of content.

EA isn’t quite as bad as far as multiple editions go, but they’re still not making Battlefield V an attractive purchase. I enjoyed the BETA a lot, which is why I’m considering buying the game, but they’re not making it easy for me. You have the Standard and Deluxe editions which is to be expected, but I dislike the ‘early access’ offered with the Deluxe – you can play five days ‘early’.

But it’s not really ‘early’, is it? You’re simply paying more to play at release, and if you pay less, then you’re playing late which, in a game with objectively advantageous weapon upgrades, will put you at a distinct disadvantage. This is bad enough, but then I saw the ‘Premier Access’ edition, which is part of a new Origin subscription service.

It actually seems like pretty good value, but in order to entice players to join the service, EA is allowing Premier accounts to play BFV eleven days ‘early’. ELEVEN DAYS. That’s a f**king joke. If the game is ready to be released on that day, then it’s ready to be released for everyone, regardless of which edition they purchased. Imagine you couldn’t afford or didn’t want to pay extra – now you have to sit and watch for eleven days as other people play and enjoy the game.

Talk about a big ‘f**k you!’ to your own customers. I’ve seen people refer to the ‘Standard’ edition now as the ‘Pleb Edition’ because it appears that’s how EA views those who purchase it – ‘F**k those guys, they can wait’. I don’t have an issue with the subscription model, or with the Deluxe edition – at least it’s only one, as compared to eight – but the ‘pay to play early’ model is absolute bullshit.

And that’s not my only problem with BFV. As I said in my BETA Impressions post, I have concerns about future support for the game. They’ve released a ‘road map’ of sorts, but it’s very basic and only includes content that was already confirmed – a handful of new maps set in Greece, vehicle customisation (who really gives a f**k?) and the ‘Firestorm’ Battle Royale mode. They promise ‘more content’ beyond this, but give no details.

As I said, I don’t expect specifics so far in advance, but a simple ‘yes, we’re going to add in new factions like the U.S’ would be far more reassuring. If I knew for certain there would be an ‘Eastern Front’ expansion or a ‘Pacific’ expansion in the future – even if I didn’t know what would be included or when – at least I would know it was coming. As it stands, there’s still no guarantees for any substantial content beyond Firestorm in March 2019. The ‘more content’ they refer to could just as easily mean a handful of weapon and vehicle skins.

It just doesn’t strike me as a confident ‘live service’ plan. It’s like they’re hedging their bets – if the game doesn’t sell as well as EA expects, they can easily reduce/cut future content updates and nobody can really complain because nothing was actually promised. As a potential customer, it’s just not reassuring.

And really . . . what’s my incentive to buy at release – or ‘early’, if I pay more? When the base game is looking so sparse, why shouldn’t I wait a few months for the inevitable discount and pay less for more. I know people may argue that this applies to every game these days, but it’s really a question of value. When I look at the base release of BFV, do I feel that I’m getting good bang for my buck? Ignoring all the other problems, that’s the real dilemma. Even if I don’t like the ‘early access’ bullshit, or I’m worried about future support, if I felt the release game had the content to justify the purchase on Day 1 – or Day 11, if you’re a pleb – then I’d be more happy about picking it up.

The problem is, EA haven’t convinced me. They’re still being cagey about release day content, probably because they know it’s not very substantial. I mean hell, we’re only a few weeks from release and, at the time of writing, I’ve still not seen anything of the character customisation yet. Let me remind you, EA – I enjoyed the BETA a lot. I’d still like to BUY YOUR GAME. STOP MAKING IT SO BLOODY DIFFICULT.

Soul Calibur VI: First Impressions

The best way to describe my initial impressions of Soul Calibur VI (and yes, I know it’s ‘SoulCalibur’ but I prefer it with the space) is to say that it’s good but it should be better. It’s kind of frustrating because the foundation is here to build what should have been the definitive Soul Calibur game. At least, that’s how I feel right now, with just over 15 hours played. As I sink more time into the game, my opinion may change, so keep that in mind.

I haven’t really got stuck into a fighting game for several years. In fact, the last time I did was probably Soul Calibur IV a decade or so ago. The original SC on the Dreamcast was one of my favourite games on the platform, as was SC II on the GameCube. But I didn’t play SC III or V, and I’ve kind of drifted away from the fighting genre ever since SC IV.

So I was kind of excited to return to the series with VI. I think I probably preferred the SC series because it’s a more ‘casual’ fighter in the sense that it’s far easier to pick up and play. The button combos aren’t needlessly convoluted or tricky to perform and many characters share similar inputs, so even if you’ve never played a particular character before, you’ll already have a foundation of basic moves upon which to build. SC was never really about mastering complicated combos. It was more about movement, timing and precision. Knowing the right move to perform and when for the greatest impact.

I also liked the focus on solo/story content. Whereas many recent fighters seem to be more focused on online/tournament play, SC VI offers a substantial single player experience. It’s best to begin with ‘Libra of Souls’ – a story based mode in which you create a custom character – because it offers a good range of tutorials that explain various aspects of the combat system.

 

Libra is an RPG-lite in the sense that you ‘level up’ as you traverse the world and complete missions, but it’s pretty basic. You can buy or win new weapons, some of which can be upgraded with unique boosts, but it’s a very limited system. The story of Libra will carry you across the world and your custom character will encounter the ‘main’ cast of SC VI at various points.

It’s a story that runs parallel to that of the ‘core’ SC VI story and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. It starts slow, with a lot of very easy, single round fights. But once you start hitting level 25-30, that’s when it gets a little more interesting. I’m currently level 33 and I’ve just had a couple of very challenging ‘boss’ style fights and it appears I’ve still got a long way to go.

I also like that you can totally change your character or weapon at any time, so you’re not locked to a particular look or style. In addition to the Libra is the core story mode – Soul Chronicle – in which every character has their own unique segment that combines into a complete tale. But I haven’t got stuck into this mode yet, so I can’t really comment on it here.

And then we have Arcade mode, which is a little strange in the sense that’s it’s just eight random fights – there’s no ‘boss’ fight at the end. You’re also only ranked on time taken. I’ve played it a couple of times and it’s fine, I guess, but it feels a little tacked on. You also have the standard Versus mode against the CPU, and a training mode to learn the various moves.

 

The training mode is decent, but not great. Although I’ve gotten used to seeing the button inputs displayed as they would on a fight stick and not on my 360 pad – where A is X and B is Y – it would have been nice if you had the option to display the inputs according to your chosen controller. It would also be nice to be able to display them on the screen as you practice, rather than having to enter and exit the various menus every time you want to learn a new combo.

The custom character creator is a lot of fun, and I’ve probably spent a couple of hours just messing around with it. I do understand people not wanting custom characters in ranked – because some people design characters that use equipment to intentionally ‘hide’ their character animations, making it very difficult to read or respond – but those incidents are pretty rare from what I’ve seen, and I quite like seeing all the crazy shit people have created.

Which leads us onto online play which I’ve enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. It has its problems, no doubt. I’ve had several network errors kicking me out of a match, and lag can sometimes kick in making everything seem like it’s running in slow motion. In a way, I kind of prefer getting matched against higher ranked players because I know that – even if I lose – I’m going to get a pretty good fight.

 

I like to win, don’t get me wrong, but I also like a good scrap that goes right to the wire. I like fights where I can mix up my play. Where it’s a little more tactical. Cat and mouse. Where, even if I lose, I feel like I had a good time and maybe learnt something new. Of course, not every online fight is like this. There’s a lot of players who just spam one or two heavy combos and try to pin you against a wall or get an easy ring out.

It’s not my place to tell people how to play or enjoy the game, but I can’t say I find these fights much fun because the best way to defeat them is to simply find a combo they don’t know how to counter and spam it right back at them. Sure, I like winning, but winning like that just isn’t much fun, at least for me. I prefer matches where I get to see a range of moves and tactics, even if I lose. The ‘spam’ attack matches are kind of anti-fun, but it’s just something you have to learn to deal with.

Visually, SC VI looks dated. It doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t look as good as it should, either. The character models don’t look much better than I remember in IV, and the stages look even worse. The production value, at least as far as the visuals go, is poor considering the price. Which leads us back to my initial impressions that everything Soul Calibur VI does it does well – but it could and should have done it better. That said, I’m certainly enjoying my time with the game and once I’ve completed Libra and the core story mode, I’ll be sure to post a final review.

Total War: Mortal Empires

Mortal Empires is the combined Total War: Warhammer 1 & 2 campaign. It released several months ago, but I decided to wait for some patches and content updates before finally getting stuck into an ME campaign. Mortal Empires isn’t just the Warhammer 1 & 2 maps stitched together, but a modified combination. There are new regions to accommodate ‘new world’ races into the Warhammer 1 map, and some of the Legendary Lords have been relocated to new starting locations.

The Warhammer 2 ‘Vortex’ map has also been altered – shrunk and slightly rotated – so it combines more appropriately with the Warhammer 1 ‘Old World’ map. That’s a little disappointing, but I can understand the technical and gameplay considerations behind that decision. If they’d incorporated the Vortex map in full, then there’d be a substantial separation between the new and old world maps, and it’s the interactions and conflicts between the varied races of Warhammer that makes ME such a compelling and enjoyable experience.

I began playing ME with a High Elf campaign as Alarielle from the Queen and the Crone DLC (which I didn’t review but highly recommend) and had a lot of fun absolutely melting the dark elves with an obscene amount of archer units. I then played as the Empire, a race I’ve not played since Warhammer 1 released.

The Empire are certainly in need of an overhaul patch, but they’re still fun to play. There’s something very satisfying about pushing back against all the ghouls and monsters of the Warhammer world with just a line of swords and spears. Unfortunately, I never ‘completed’ this campaign because Archaon refused to spawn. I think he knew I had several armies parked in the chaos wastes playing whack-a-mole with chaos stacks and didn’t quite fancy his chances.

I then began a Dwarf campaign, another Warhammer 1 race I’ve not played since the original release. They’re not the most tactically engaging race to play, but like the High Elves, there’s something very enjoyable about sitting back and watching them demolish units with their guns, explosives and artillery before they even reach your front line.

But, like my Empire campaign, I didn’t ‘complete’ this one, either. Archaon did spawn and was soundly squashed, but my campaign was marred by a diplomatic bug which was permanently stuck on an ‘unreliable’ rating. As a result, I couldn’t confederate with the other Dwarf factions or even trade or form alliances with nearly everyone on the map. I guess I could have just restarted, but it actually made the campaign a little more interesting to play.

I’m now playing a campaign as one of the Tomb Kings – the Exiles of Nehek. If you read my Tomb Kings DLC review you’ll know I was a little disappointed by their campaign in the Vortex map and I wondered if I’d enjoy them more in ME – and I am. Although the magic books they can collect are present, they’re not the focus of the campaign and I’ve had a lot of fun focusing purely upon expansion.

I think the starting location has also helped. Playing as the Exiles is a more challenging beginning as you’re faced with Beastmen, Skaven and Dark Elves. The Tomb Kings are very much a ‘snowball’ race in the sense that it’s hard to get them rolling (due to their reliance on utterly ‘trash’ units in the early game) but once you do (and unlock their fantastic monstrous units), very little can stop you.

Once I’ve wrapped this TK campaign up I’ll probably take a little break from ME ready for the upcoming Vampire Coast DLC. I’ll likely play a Vortex campaign with them first, before trying a new Lord in ME. From what I’ve seen, the new DLC is going to be a great addition to the game, but I’ll try to do a proper review once it’s released.

Mortal Empires clearly still has its bugs and issues, but it may just be my favourite Total War campaign ever. The sheer variety of races, play styles and terrain simply can’t be matched by any other title in the series. And honestly, it’s hard to see any future titles topping it, either. Warhammer Fantasy and Total War has proved to be the perfect combination. And it’s crazy to think that this isn’t even the ‘final form’ of the combined map, as we’re going to get an even bigger one once Warhammer 3 is released.

The only real downside to ME is that it’s made Warhammer 1 entirely unnecessary. I mean, it’s totally worth owning Warhammer 1 for the content it unlocks in ME, but there’s zero reason to install it. That’s why I like the Vortex campaign in Warhammer 2 – it offers a very different campaign experience and a nice alternative to ME.

The most exciting thing about ME and the Total War: Warhammer trilogy is that it’s a continually evolving experience. It’s not just new content being added into the mix – old content is also receiving regular overhauls and balance adjustments to keep everything on par. Three games and all the extra content may not come cheap, but unlike a lot of AAA games these days, I don’t mind paying a premium price when I feel like I’m getting premium content in exchange. With more than 400 hours clocked between Warhammer 1 & 2 already, it’s certainly been worth the price for me.