Depends on just how broken the fighter is. I've never been beaten by a button masher in Virtua Fighter 1, 2, 3, or 4. I was never beaten by a button masher in SC1, but was many times in 2, and 3. And I've never played a DoA that button mashers don't reign supreme in. I even went to an MS event in Oct 05 and button mashed my way to a stunning 12-0 victory in DoA4, after being told DoA isn't a button mashers game. Crappy fighters are crappy fighters, and without being given enough time for balancing can be exploited fairly easily by noobies against those that consider themselves 'pros'. I played all three EXTENSIVELY, and: 1.
SC I is the tightest and most evenly balanced, at least as a singular fighting game. SCII is excellent with some flaws and has a decent guest character with an embarassing guest character. Interesting use of mini-games/dungeon Fighting.
SCIII is still pretty good but ultimately disappointing. The create-a-fighter mode felt like it watered down the entire experience, the dungeon mode felt rushed, and any additional characters felt like a 'best of' from the create-a-fighter mode. Read: uninspired. I love the series but it almost exactly mirrors my experience with SSX: amazement, wonder, shock, disappointment.
Soul Calibur III came in 2005 for the PlayStation 2, while in 2008 Soul Calibur IV was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Both of these versions were released prior to an arcade edition being launched. This is the first Soul Calibur to feature an RTS element. Chronicles of the Sword mode is a brand new mode for Soulcalibur III. It is a real time strategy mode that.
Can they both change? I have just one gripe with sc2, and several with sc3. Sc2:. the freaking uneven floors and the associated 'IK'-style footwork for the characters leading to all those painful self-penetrations.ouch. sc3:. weapon modifiers en mass, and then some.sorry, which five icons does this cork screw have again? I can't seem to find them in the modifiers manual tome.'
. a bug here, a bug there.there goes my savegame. setsuka - the new sophitia - the rush-combos pony that can sadden your day.and last but not least. xianghua - the new absolute ho. She's always been a top contender, but in sc3 she's a wtf, namco? That said, i still liked the mini-rpg in there. Truth be told, i must've spent more time with it than with the main game.
Oh, and of course the visuals - sc3 is the visual tour-de-force among the series (sans the broken character shadows - sc1 remains the only one to have proper shadows). I still don't know why, but having played a lot of SC1 (DC) and SC2 (Xbox) and a bit of the SC3 demo, I still prefer SC1.
It feels more responsive, for some reason. SC2 was ok especially with all the unlockable stuff, but it became repetitive fast, and since SC3 felt like 'more of the same' I didn't really bother with it (although the 'create a character' thing could have been fun, I guess). Of course part of it can be explained by the jaw dropping effect that SC1 had when it came out, but even going back to it after all these years, I still prefer it. Setsuka is not nearly as broke as the sisters nor x.
Both SC2 and SC3 were a fucking train wreck. Only reason I put SC3 above SC2 is for AE if we compare console version SC2 eats it for breakfast. SC2's problems can be summed up in the retarded clash system namco introduced. Them over power side step to the horizontals with some characters don't even do what in theory they, and g2 (breaks gi).
GI from SC was also lessened to be more friendly though it killed the depth of streategy in using the various differences. SC3 problems were from namco not fixing certain broke aspects of 2 then over powering characters that didn't need buffs and letting them get worse till the japanese and arcade edition.
Which is retarded on some characters like yoshi, mitsu, zas, cervy, and setsuka other characters have their own but I felt the damange and setup possibilities from those were the worst. Mitsu by far had the most advantage from VC I watched great player from PR rape his nationals championship by using vc though to be fair the X player deserved it at that point. Namco also butchered a few characters yun, rock, talim from sc2. 3 overall at least tried to improve over the original like a better GI system while it tried to fix things broke about 2.
Those whining about weapon modifiers play SE which SC is the basis from they have as much relevance in the game as no weapon modifiers. SC2 was like SC1 ex for nubs with crap characters like talim (why taki is better and more diverse) and raphael (fencing os retarded besides kilik, astaroth and ivy are all the long range needed) I only really enjoyed SC2 because the competitive community was some of the best fun I had a fighter since TTT or SF. By 3 most were fed up with crap and had moved on to better things with their lives or the genre. Both games are still played by me occasionally when someone locally talks crap and need a whooping but hopefully SC4 can bring the community in a good way. I loved all three. I prefer SC 2 and 3 tho.
I never was such a fanatic to try to exploit bugs, and only played with standard weapons in vs play, so none of the 'omg game breaking bugs!!' Shit ever bothered me. I just focused on GI and mind battles (on no what will it be? Throw, GI, high, mid, low, vert, horiz) and had a lot of fun in the process. I played as Yoshimitsu typically, and my two chief rivals would usually play as Seigfried and Sophitia. The battles were always balanced, and it was all about momentum considering we were all on the same skill level (very skilled but not pro). Between me and my friends, SC3 got more playtime.
I di like how SC3 felt faster though. Soul Calibur was better than Soul Edge, that was a step up. Soul Calibur 2 was a small step down but its not exactly easy to turn out an all time classic like SC was, SC2 was still a premium title.
SC3 was mediocre though, that I can agree on. The new characters didn't feel like they really belonged. Similar to if they'd heavily incorporated Link, Spawn, and Hihachi into the storylines of SC2. Just doesn't jive.
The game's item/weapon system was a pain and all the extra modes were junk. You were left with a ton of filler around what was basically a rehashed release of SC2 with worse character balance and not as tight controls. In summary, it was a super rush job to cash in on the media attention SC2 received.
Here are the views of a longtime Soul Calibur player who started playing the series when it was called Soul Blade/Edge on the PlayStation. No I'm not one of those casual players who only played the series because Link was in it.
Reasons why Soul Calibur 3 sucked: -My two favorite characters' move sets were altered for the worse (Ivy & Nightmare) -Corrupt save files from Chronicles of the Sword mode (first time I've had to deal with that) -No Arcade mode. Soul Arena is NOT the same thing -As far as I know, you couldn't transfer your characters from Chronicles of the Sword mode to any other modes in the game.Didn't like any of the new characters.Unskippable cut scenes in Tales of Souls mode. Even with all of these problems, its still a fun game. Character Creation should be in all fighting games, the stages were awesome, and outside of saving issues, I really enjoyed Chronicles of the Sword. By the way, if you're getting beat by button mashers in a Soul Calibur game, you need some serious practice.