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[Pachinko]

I'm glad it didn't sell well, it was a buggy boring mess of a game that came out too soon after the previous version. Fix the create a player so that I can affect the physical attributes of my character and actually make a beefy guy or a busty chick instead of just playing dressup with barbie and ken. The storymode was dumb as well, give it a regular arcade mode , it's much faster to go through becuase I really don't care about the storyline much.

Finally it might help to remove that bug that deletes your save file or corrupts it or what have you.

 

[ShowDog]

It is not because of the lack of Link. After being in SC2 and after Mario and crew have all had appearances in EA BIG games Nintendo characters in non-nintendo games are not as novel as they once were.

 

[bumpkin]

I'll tell you what killed SC3 for me; the fact it was only on the PS2. Don't get me wrong... Link wasn't a huge selling point for me with SC2, and I do own a PS2, but I think it's a slap in the face to not release the game on the system its predecessor outsold the other two SKUs on.

 

[Kolgar]

I'm gonna go on record by saying SC3 may be my favorite fighting game EVER.

I didn't even like the previous SC games very much, and I own them all. (PSX, DC, and I bought SCII for Xbox.) But this one's got great speed, astounding graphics, a deep character roster... I can hardly go back to my beloved Tekken after playing this.

Go, PS2 and SC3.

 

[Buffy4ever]

No Live = no buy

it was not on x box. so how could it have x box live?

 

[D3VI0US]

Quick cash from low sales cause of poor quality sounds about right.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

For me? Bugs and the like, in battle or otherwise. Imagine if SC2 wasn't play-tested in arcades: "44A, 44A, 44A, 44A, 44A, corrupted save..."

 

[Future]

Just a heads up about the corrupted saves thing. Dude at gamefaqs figured out that deleting files from your memory card was the cause..maybe not the only one, but a major one. Delete something from your card in the Browser, then the next time you save in SC3 it will corrupt it most of the time...that's exactly what happened to me.

Doesn't excuse the bug, but it raises the games rating from shit to that of warm dung IMO

 

[SentientStone]

Hmm, so has Namco said anything about recalling these games with memory card problems?

I tried the game at my friend's house and I thought it felt a bit slower actually (though everywhere I read it says the game was made faster). I sort of like the feel of it.
I'll pick it up for sure when it drops below $30 CDN.

 

[kevm3]

I really don't understand the hate this game is getting. My favorite fighter so far. Oh well. I like it a lot.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I really don't understand the hate this game is getting. My favorite fighter so far. Oh well. I like it a lot.

seems to be bitter N-fans! Just goes to prove once again - they buy games for mascots not gameplay!

NO LINK BO BUY?

you are whack. Me and my friends (true soulcalibur fans) where more excited about the return of li-long (F that Elvis wannabe Maxi) to worry about the inclusion of a nintendo mascot.

 

[Xellotah]

seems to be bitter N-fans! Just goes to prove once again - they buy games for mascots not gameplay!

NO LINK BO BUY?

you are whack. Me and my friends (true soulcalibur fans) where more excited about the return of li-long (F that Elvis wannabe Maxi) to worry about the inclusion of a nintendo mascot.

Woah there.... so NFans has somehow stopped PS owners from buying SC3... I like to see how that logic works.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Woah there.... so NFans has somehow stopped PS owners from buying SC3... I like to see how that logic works.

No N-fans seem to be the ones hatin'

For the record I bought the cube version of SCII with link too.

As for low sales on the PS2... who knows? End of a generation? No marketing push? Market saturation (have you seen how many bargin bin PS2 games there are?) RE4, MGS3, and SotC didn't exactly light up the charts either.

Who knows though, I didn't pick up SCIII till september.. pehaps it will have some legs

edit: how much did it sell anyway?

 

[Xellotah]

No N-fans seem to be the ones hatin'

For the record I bought the cube version of SCII with link too.

As for low sales on the PS2... who knows? End of a generation? No marketing push? Market saturation (have you seen how many bargin bin PS2 games there are?) RE4, MGS3, and SotC didn't exactly light up the charts either.

Who knows though, I didn't pick up SCIII till september.. pehaps it will have some legs

edit: how much did it sell anyway?

Sorry I didn't see what you were replying to..

Just for the record, I saw SC3 at the local HMV but I didn't buy it because they didn't go multiplatform ( brought tekken instead) ... make of that what you will.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I don't know what to make of that... most people here would agree that exclusives > multiplatform releases. Tekken is only on the PS2.

oh well, no skin off my back. as I said me and my friends are having a blast with it

I just hope it sold enough to continue the series next gen.

edit: looking at the NPD sales... it faced some pretty stiff compitetion from other PS2 releases

1 PS2 SOCOM 3: US NAVY SEALS Sony
2 PS2 NBA LIVE 06 Electronic Arts
3 PSP GTA: LIBERTY CITY STORIES Take 2 Interactive
4 PS2 MADDEN NFL 06 Electronic Arts
5 PS2 DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI TENK Atari
6 GCN POKEMON XD: GALE OF DARKNESS Nintendo
7 PS2 FIFA SOCCER 06 Electronic Arts
8 PS2 THE WARRIORS Take 2 Interactive
9 PS2 SOUL CALIBUR III Namco
10 PS2 TONY HAWK AMERICAN WASTELAN Activision

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

It sold 92439 in the us in october. We'll have to wait until november to judge whether this is going to "sell poorly".

 

[Jiggy]

In a series a games sales are largely due to the games that preceded them. For example.

Well, that would certainly explain how FF8 did as well as FF7 while FF9 bombed comparatively.

Of course, unlike FF8, Soul Calibur 2 was actually good. I'm not buying a PS2 just for SC3, but if I owned one, I'd probably pick it up. I hope it does well, even while simultaneously hoping for a return to multi-console SC next time around.

 

[Bowen_B]

Soul Calibur a great game!
SCII was total crap in comparison, Raphael was broken to the point of being in the same league as Duo Lon (KoF)
I'm not willing to risk another SC as there is no arcade to play it in, the previous game was turd and I don't even own a PS2.

Tekken and DoA suck!

OT but: Sega(Sammy) pretty much runs the beat 'em up biz now; KoF XI is plastered with Sega logos and is on an SS platform, Guilty Gear is owned by Sammy and is on the same platform, most importantly Virtua Fighter is made by Sega and is being developed for the new SS machine!
IMO those series are the big 3 of the genre, KoF may be over looked but it really rakes it in at the arcades!
As well as all that Sammy are still pumping out new fighting games like Rumble Fish, Fist of the North Star AND Sammy vs Capcom (still in development)

Anyway Namco moved their offices to Italy...

 

[xexex]

Soul Calibur 3 sucks. it wasnt born in the arcade like the rest of the series. that's why it sucks, and that's why it's not selling well.

and who said arcades are dead ? :/

 

[LakeEarth]

Soul Calibur 3 sucks. it wasnt born in the arcade like the rest of the series. that's why it sucks, and that's why it's not selling well.

and who said arcades are dead ? :/

Soul Calibur 2 didn't come out of the arcades either. And everyone says arcades are dead. And everyone's right.

 

[D3VI0US]

Soul Calibur 2 didn't come out of the arcades either. And everyone says arcades are dead. And everyone's right.

Silly man you know too little and talk too much! :lol

 

[Shouta]

LakeEarth: SC2 was released to arcades.

 

[Tellaerin]

Sorry I didn't see what you were replying to..

Just for the record, I saw SC3 at the local HMV but I didn't buy it because they didn't go multiplatform ( brought tekken instead) ... make of that what you will.

Of all the reasons I've heard for someone skipping a game, that has to be the most retarded. 'I was interested in Fighting Game X, but the developer made it exclusive to the PS2, so I won't buy it! Instead, I'll buy Fighting Game Y, which is by the same company, and is also a PS2 exclusive!' Yeah, you really showed Namco alright.

 

[Lyte Edge]

Soul Calibur 2 didn't come out of the arcades either. And everyone says arcades are dead. And everyone's right.

Well, it's an easy mistake to make,considering that all the arcades are likely closed down and boarded up where LakeEarth lives, but still...how did you miss that, dude? ^_^;

SC2 in the arcade didn't have all the characters that were in the home versions, BTW. No Seung Mina and Sophitia if I am remembering correctly.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Of all the reasons I've heard for someone skipping a game, that has to be the most retarded. 'I was interested in Fighting Game X, but the developer made it exclusive to the PS2, so I won't buy it! Instead, I'll buy Fighting Game Y, which is by the same company, and is also a PS2 exclusive!' Yeah, you really showed Namco alright.

Because it needed to be said again!!

I don't get such logic either, but than again sometimes our own internal fanboy bias gets in the way. I don't consider myself much of a fighter gamer, but I do play them and enjoy them emmensely for over a decade and that fighting gamer part of me is disgusted at people's responses sometimes. Some people don't even sound like they like the fighters outside of novelty of characters or passing interest of exclusives.

Being a multiconsole owner ideally should take away all the yearning for any exclusives, cause then there is no real point anymore outside of few reasonings like resources, but than again I see far too often the "I own all the system so I get to bitch" card.

Hell, my mind boggles at the "fast cash-in" responses. Soul Calibur 2 was released in the arcades over 3 freakin' years ago!!

 

[Xiaoki]

Maybe it's not selling well due to extremely poor word of mouth. Which is a good thing, it means people are finally looking for quality in their casual fighting games.

SC3 is one of the worst programmed fighting games this gen and it deserves horrible sales.
Hopefully, they realise they can't try and hide terrible gameplay with a bunch of useless crap and modes(only Midway is allowed to do that).

Namco is expecting to sell 300,000 in Japan. Well, they also expected to sell 500,000 of Tekken 5. Namco has very unrealistic expectations.

 

[Naked Snake]

Graphically the game is one of PS2's best. You need to see it in motion to fully appreciate the details they put in the scenery. The only weakness i can say is the textures but Namco tried to put in everything. Shame i cant find good shots of the stages. All the stages here have stuff going on in the background. Some are stylistic like animated water reflections to flying eagles and flocks of birds. Others have a war going on with catapults, arrows being used etc.

The fire and smoke is unreal in the above pic. Best ever in any game. The smoke is so realistic, it doesnt go through the ceiling but follows it.

The above looks like it almost has bump mapping when you play it. This is also a moving stage a crane carries the floor around .

THANK YOU!!

I think that SC3 is the best looking PS2 game, when I started playing it a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't believe the graphics, SO GOOD, and not a single jaggie in sight in widescreen on my TV... I wanted to make a thread about the graphics in the game, but I couldn't find direct-feed screenshots that gave the game any justice, but those Watch Impress shots are excellent, thanks again for bringing this up. You can debate the gameplay in SC3 all you want, but there's no denying its technical and artistic beauty is an incredible achievement on PS2... I drool at the thought of seeing Soul Calibur on PS3... I also keep thinking how awesome would a 3D Castlevania game look with environments like Sigfreid's stage.

 

[Tellaerin]

Maybe it's not selling well due to extremely poor word of mouth. Which is a good thing, it means people are finally looking for quality in their casual fighting games.

SC3 is one of the worst programmed fighting games this gen and it deserves horrible sales.
Hopefully, they realise they can't try and hide terrible gameplay with a bunch of useless crap and modes(only Midway is allowed to do that).

Namco is expecting to sell 300,000 in Japan. Well, they also expected to sell 500,000 of Tekken 5. Namco has very unrealistic expectations.

Oh, bullshit. Yes, the save bug sucks, but dismissing the entire game as 'one of the worst programmed fighting games this gen' is laughable. I hope that was just an inept attempt at trolling - I'd hate to think somebody could say something that asinine and actually believe it.

 

[Xellotah]

Of all the reasons I've heard for someone skipping a game, that has to be the most retarded. 'I was interested in Fighting Game X, but the developer made it exclusive to the PS2, so I won't buy it! Instead, I'll buy Fighting Game Y, which is by the same company, and is also a PS2 exclusive!' Yeah, you really showed Namco alright.

SC3 was originally gonna be multiplatform before Sony brought the exclusive rights to it. To me this seemed like a spoiler tactic and its something that I personally find .. well disagreeable, and I suppos this was just my ( albeit weak) attempt to make a stand against these brought exclusives.

As I said the reason was my own and I am not advocating that people not buy SC3 nor do I frown upon people who have already brought the game.

 

[Tellaerin]

SC3 was originally gonna be multiplatform before Sony brought the exclusive rights to it. To me this seemed like a spoiler tactic and its something that I personally find .. well disagreeable, and I suppos this was just my ( albeit weak) attempt to make a stand against these brought exclusives.

And what about when a company outright buys a developer to make sure all their output is exclusive to a single console, rather than just a single game? Would you, for example, boycott anything from Bungie or Rare just because MS bought them in order to lock them into Xbox development? If you don't object to those kinds of 'bought exclusives', then it seems a little ridiculous to get yourself up in arms over companies paying a developer to make individual titles console-exclusive while letting them remain independent.

 

[Xellotah]

And what about when a company outright buys a developer to make sure all their output is exclusive to a single console, rather than just a single game? Would you, for example, boycott anything from Bungie or Rare just because MS bought them in order to lock them into Xbox development? If you don't object to those kinds of 'bought exclusives', then it seems a little ridiculous to get yourself up in arms over companies paying a developer to make individual titles console-exclusive while letting them remain independent.

Well I would find those kinds of exclusives disagreeable as well. Look I know that things like this happen all the time and I am not "up in arms" about it. It just that just that in this particular instance, I decided not to purchase this particular game because of it.

To be honest I probably only had a passing interest in SC3 in the first place ( like HomerSimpson-Person said, I am not really a fighter gamer although I did enjoy SC and SC2 ), if I did have a strong enough interest, it would probably have overrided any feelings or objections that I have about these types of exclusives, although that doesn't mean I still don't find these types of activities "disagree-able". Like I said, make of it what you will.

 

[Ronok]

http://www.soulcalibur.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27765

This is the problem most people have with the game.......... Most people being those who play in comps etc........ Casuals probably won't even notice...... =P

 

[ziran]

gamers are just bored of sc, nothing vindictive. they're bored of fighters in general.

sc3 would've sold more if namco would've made it multiplatform, but it still wouldn't have sold anything like the 4+ million of sc2.

 

[ram]

total flop in europe. not even in the top 20 on the ps2 chart.

i want it, but i'll wait for it to be £9.99 just like SC2

wtf? the game isnt even out in germany!

 

[Deg]

Maybe it's not selling well due to extremely poor word of mouth. Which is a good thing, it means people are finally looking for quality in their casual fighting games.

SC3 is one of the worst programmed fighting games this gen and it deserves horrible sales.
Hopefully, they realise they can't try and hide terrible gameplay with a bunch of useless crap and modes(only Midway is allowed to do that).

Namco is expecting to sell 300,000 in Japan. Well, they also expected to sell 500,000 of Tekken 5. Namco has very unrealistic expectations.

Piss off. If you are talking programming then why do you care about Sc2 and Tekken? :lol

As said by others the haters are mostly on other systems that didnt get the game. Also its bad that PS2 owners ended up ignoring this game since its one of the systems best. You wont bother with SC2 after this.

 

[EAJAPAN]

I mainly don't play the game because it's as broken a fighting game as I've ever played.

Back to VF4E!

 

[Deg]

I mainly don't play the game because it's as broken a fighting game as I've ever played.

Back to VF4E!

All three in the series are broken if you look at it that way. No disrespect to VF4E but i prefer SC series for the fun.

 

[Rlan]

It's failure isn't due to Soul Calibur itself, it's due to the fact that Namco has forgotten how to advertise!

Soul Calibur 3, Dig Dug Digging Strike, Pac 'N Roll, all great games, and pretty big failures. The only games I can remember them doing anything about in the last year is Ridge Racer PSP, and even then they haven't needed to do a whole lot, since it was the best looking PSP game and got a lot of word of mouth. Katamari's success alone has been on word of mouth. Namco's done shit all for it from what I can remember.

Hell, Pac-Man World 3 on the DS looks to be the only original 3D platformer being released on the system [and looks really nice, better than Pac-Man world on PSX by far, but seems to have a turd for a camera], and I doubt anybody has even heard the game is coming out!

 

[LakeEarth]

It came out for the arcades? Holy shit I had no idea. But since I've never even seen a Soul Calibur 1 arcade machine I guess its understandable.

 

[Anyanka]

SC II arcade is quite a bit different from the home version. Arcade only has 16 characters, Necrid, Sophitia, Seung Mina, Assassin, Berserker, Lizardman and Heihachi/Spawn/Link are all console exclusive. Console has 5 extra backgrounds, some gameplay tweaks and the extra modes. Arcade does have a mode called Conquest that isn't in any console SC game. It's actually pretty cool. You pick a character, give them a custom name and join one of 4 armies who are all trying to take over a map. You play a series of fights and earn land for your army depending on how well you do. It saves your character, their win/lose record, ranking and how you play. There's different stats you can raise, like Soul or Skill, that go up depending on how you play(like doing lots of soul charges or scoring a ring out). The AI attempts to mimic your style and moves so other people in an opposing army can play against your character. So basically everyone in the arcade has their custom characters divided up in the armies and you're all competing against each other to eventually take over the whole map.

 

[Naked Snake]

I used to see SC1 arcade all the time, even remember playing Soul Blade... Never saw SC2 arcade though.

 

[Deg]

SC2 arcade flopped you see.

 

[xexex]

Namco's mistake was releasing it directly to a console without going through multiple arcade revisions to fix bugs and balance issues that likely did not manifest themselves during standard playtesting.

agreed.

 

[Deg]

agreed.

:lol

 

[Dr_Cogent]

If SC3 didn't sell well - I don't feel sorry for Namco. They fucked me out of a version by making it exclusive.

 

[Anyanka]

I don't know about Japan but I don't think SC II arcade did that bad in the US. I have seen many of them, most Namco arcades should of had one at least for a while.


More bug testing and multiple arcade revisions might not have made much of a difference with SC III. Both Tekken and SC arcade games have had things the community wanted fixed and Namco just ignores it.

 

[Deg]

I don't know about Japan but I don't think SC II arcade did that bad in the US. I have seen many of them, most Namco arcades should of had one at least for a while.

Funny thing is Namco arcades in the UK dont have SC2 but have older SEGA fighting games and 2d stuff.

Namco are known for not fixing stuff but stuff like SC3 are rarely going to have any effect in tournaments since they are extremely difficult to pull of unprepared. In Sc2 people wouldnt shut up about how the changed the GI.

 

[Drinky Crow]

If you're so fundamentally retarded as a gamer that you don't own a PS2 or refuse to buy content for your PS2 despite wanting it then please get the hell out of GAF.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

If you're so fundamentally retarded as a gamer that you don't own a PS2 or refuse to buy content for your PS2 despite wanting it then please get the hell out of GAF.

I say no to shitty load times. K? Thanks

PS3 is just around the corner anyhow.

Nice lame troll there Drinky.

 

[Xellotah]

If you're so fundamentally retarded as a gamer that you don't own a PS2 or refuse to buy content for your PS2 despite wanting it then please get the hell out of GAF.

Um. OK...




I'll be back tomorrow tho..