The real question though is which SoulCalibur game I personally find to be the overall better fighting game? Of course, I got several major things I need to mention. By now I'm going to sound like a broken record. But for a comparison blog this needed to be stated again. SoulCalibur II had three guest characters that's exclusive to a particular version of the game.
The one exception being SoulCalibur II HD Online version that used to be available on a few platforms. Which had two of three guest characters along with online play. I been around four different ports of the same game myself. I know some might view me being bias towards SoulCalibur VI. Hell no that's a fantastic fighting game in it's own right.
Technically there's more actual modes to play in SoulCalibur II. I felt a bit more actual depth within SoulCalibur VI's. Yes that would include Weapon Master mode. Which is among the best modes in the series to play. SoulCalibur II has endings for every character. Even Necrid who was created by Spawn's creator Todd McFarlane.
Keep in mind, Necrid with the guest characters aren't in the Arcade version. SoulCalibur II took what made SoulCalibur I great while making the right improvements. I'm aware some still view SoulCalibur I the best in the series. I know people are a bit mixed towards DLCs especially for a fighting game. To be fair though I actually felt SoulCalibur VI done an amazing job with those additional stuff.
The summary of what they actually are is more characters, more customization stuff added and the previous SoulCalibur game soundtracks. Which can be swapped in every section of the game. Arcade Mode both versions in SoulCalibur II's case differs in a few ways. Extra Arcade Mode adds in hidden stages, a few hidden characters you could face and weapon selection respectively.
The hidden characters I speak of are Assassin, Berserker and Lizardman. Who all play similar to an handful of characters in the game. But they aren't in many modes compared to the rest of the roster. This is never an issue for SoulCalibur VI. Yes Arcade Mode may not given you endings there. Thankfully the game greatly makes up for this.
There's two different story modes that vastly differ from each other. The main story mode covers almost the entire roster with the possible exception of two guest characters. The main section is right at the top of the story section. Some characters has additional portions to their own story sections. Yes The Witcher himself is canon to the events of the game confirmed in this mode.
The other story mode is called Libra of Soul. Which centers around your custom character. There's a few notable issues I found. Like you have to make another custom character. If you wanna play the opposite route to your previous playthrough. The decisions doesn't seem to impact in a way most players understands.
It makes about to finish a run in this mode frustrating. If you're trying to do a few runs with both paths. Also get use to select few repeating to a degree. Otherwise it's a fun story mode that will take a couple hours. Customization starts prior to DLCs, a little more limited than expected. I will say they sure add in a lot of stuff to help with that.
Going back to guest characters, SoulCalibur II it depends which version you're playing? Not an issue for SoulCalibur VI since every guest character presented on every version of the game. We have The Witcher, 2B and Haohmaru that all plays amazing!!! I know this might get seen as a hot take. I actually felt Link was fine despite additional portions to his arsenal being a bit overwhelming.
In Link's case, he has a lot of weapons but four times everyone else not kidding. They made sure Link can swap between his weapons during matches. I still think Link is just a little short behind Heihachi. Who ended up being SCII's best guest character. I know it's a bit unfair to include a famous fighting game character.
This was prior to a lot of franchises doing that. Literately nearly every major fighting game franchise has crossed over with each other. Heihachi plays like Tekken yet altered to better suit SoulCalibur's unique fighting style game play. In all honestly, it just works perfectly. I also know some people wanna know my thoughts on Spawn.
The short version is go play Mortal Kombat 11 making sure you bought Spawn. Now that's a more accurate, fun version of the character to play as in a fighting game. Yes I do like his voice actor in SCII but come on it's Keith David in Mortal Kombat!!! Who previously voiced the character on the cartoon show.
The longer version is Spawn's cape altered in an axe by default. He doesn't seem to use his chains especially compared to his MK11 appearance. To me, out of respect for all parties involved here. I do like playing as Spawn in the game. He just doesn't felt quite right with a sluggish usage of the weapon. Not using his many powers during game play doesn't help either.
I do understand it wouldn't be right to give Spawn guns in SoulCalibur II. Yet I also could argue against it because Cervantes has a gun!!! Oh okay it's more of a dagger that also can be use as a gun. Personally I'm glad they didn't give Spawn guns this one time. It could've easily broken the game I felt that was a smart decision.
Considering Spawn has a lot more actual lines in MK11. Some being rather amusing it makes even his finest in SoulCalibur II not matter at all!!! Not only that, his overall weapons selection was alright compared to the other two guest characters. Yes I know Heihachi mostly using armguards with one notable exception being his ultimate weapon.
Which doesn't include any of them while he goes all out from the start. Link simply offers more variety to what Spawn brings to the table. Xbox version wise ran the overall worst at times. In vice versa, two of the guest characters fights vastly different from the rest of the roster. Especially true in 2B's case since she can swap between a few weapons during matches.
Haohmaru is a bit similar to Mitsurugi. Don't worry he does differ in his fighting style. I actually ended loving playing as the character in SoulCalibur VI. My least favorite among the three was The Witcher. No I still haven't played any of his video games neither seen much of the show. I felt all three of them were done better in comparison.
There's also a few options during matches to attempt coming back to possibly win a match. Soul Charge will use up your meter but improves your damage dealt to enemies. Critical Edge are essentially finishers that every character has. It's possible to use them more than once during a round. Yes you can ring out in many stages within both SoulCalibur games.
I felt the actual stages to me were notably better in SoulCalibur VI. I also felt the difficulty was better balanced there as well. SoulCalibur VI has slightly more characters excluding custom ones. Speaking of them, you can customize existing characters making each character many outfits. You also can create custom characters that could be used to recreate famous characters.
They do give you a lot of slots but ends up being shared. Yes you can even customize how a character slot looks on character selection screen. Even before we go back to that screen in fact. I actually made some rather sick character slot designs. What's a little weird is SoulCalibur VI lacks any form of Survival Mode.
It is a small thing with everything considered. SoulCalibur VI without question looks, sounds and plays better than SoulCalibur II!!! Sure SoulCalibur II being a much smaller in size fighting game loads faster. Even faster on Xbox Series X but a little bit. It's almost not that notable I just felt like pointing it out.
SoulCalibur VI even made all the characters shared between the two fighting games better!!! All of them stands out even more in that game!!! You also get a mode you can look up stuff. SoulCalibur II does have a mode that shares every characters bios. You also can see a showcase what that character could do in the game.
SoulCalibur VI may not have that. What it does have is allowing you to test out your custom characters. Before you finish making them in a section of the same mode. Which was a rather cool idea. Sure in Extra variations of the modes, SoulCalibur II allows you to swap out weapons for every character. Except for Charade who is a mimic character.
To clarify, mimic characters can swap out fighting styles between rounds. Which is similar to Combot in Tekken 4 respectively. In this case, those characters can have any character's weapons. Yes it does allow any additional weapons they have to be among the random weapon selection. Easily among the most unique to play as in the series.
Customization you either have to swap out weapons for that character or use a different one with a new custom outfit. What's even better is you actually get a much better look at everything!!! If you want a better look at the weapons that's the mode. If you want a better view of each character's outfits you can. Yes you can nearly see everything behind what they're wearing for all genders.
I also felt Inferno was more awesome in SoulCalibur VI as well. Not only you can play as the character. Whose virtually Nightmare on steroids!!! Compared to his SCII counterpart being a mimic character. His actual appearance is absolutely menacing. SoulCalibur VI simply does so many things right. SoulCalibur II is still a huge recommendation to play.
I just felt bad the only version digitally you can play right now is on Switch 2 being the GameCube version. It's a real shame Nintendo not going to give us a version with all three guest characters. SoulCalibur VI is ultimately more actual fan service. The few areas it falls a little flat in. In the other areas truly shines possibly above the skies!!!
SoulCalibur VI absolutely nails everything insanely well. Even the newer characters that isn't guest characters heavily impact the game in a good way. There's more actual fighting styles to keep things interesting. There's a ridiculous amount depth to this fighting game. I really can't believe the franchise is buried again.
This time following SoulCalibur VI that gotten DLCs in two seasons worth of content. Yes I know the actual story is largely similar to SoulCalibur I. In a strange way this even made more clear to compare the two fighting games. SoulCalibur II was a direct follow up while SoulCalibur VI followed everything gotten rebooted following SoulCalibur V.
SoulCalibur II made the guest characters across platforms work for it's time. It was a bad idea to do that concept again with SoulCalibur IV. Especially when the only DLC character was the other platform's exclusive guest character. Majority of which were pulled from Star Wars. I felt because two of three guest characters came into SoulCalibur VI at later times worked out better.
By the last DLC, SoulCalibur VI was a fantastic fighting game. Sadly, other successful fighting games including Tekken 7 overshadowed it's success. End of the day, SoulCalibur VI deserves to be among the greatest fighting games ever made!!! It fully brought the franchise back better than ever before. Considering a lot of hours I put into SoulCalibur II across versions.
Yeah that's a rather impressive feat. SoulCalibur VI didn't just go beyond SoulCalibur II. Like SCII previously done with SoulCalibur I. It went even further blowing majority of the franchise away!!! The team really tried to deliver a proper return of the franchise. I do strongly felt the game justified that to a degree.
SoulCalibur II may had better overall commercials. But SoulCalibur VI at it's core is the true complete package. Yes you may have to buy a lot of DLCs. but trust me, majority of them do notably make the game even better!!! Especially if you love customization mode it's a must have. SoulCalibur VI made the entire experience in a truly unforgettable one I'll treasure for a long time.
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