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Get your Star Wars out of my Soulcalibur dress-up fun
Recently, I've been playing Soulcalibur IV a lot—too much, really. I fell in love with the original Soulcalibur, which my roommate James in Medford had for his Sega Dreamcast system, and so when I had a chance this past Christmas, I picked up Soulcalibur IV for my Xbox 360. Which promptly broke down when I got home from Christmas vacation, after I'd been playing the game for only an hour and a half. And so it's only recently, now that I was given a replacement Xbox 360 by Doug in July, that I've had the opportunity to start playing the game in earnest. (I first played through the Lego Batman game, and started Lego Indiana Jones, before going back to Soulcalibur IV.)
So far one aspect of the game has been totally infuriating me. Although the Soulcalibur series features its own original characters and storylines, several of them feature guest characters from other franchises; in Soulcalibur IV, the guest characters are from Star Wars, and include Yoda and "the Apprentice", the latter of which comes from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game but apparently actually first appeared in Soulcalibur IV. And it's this character, the Apprentice, that I'm finding totally infuriating.
As I've played the game, the Apprentice comes up in the single-player Arcade mode always as the seventh out of eight opponents. And the root of my exasperation is that this character is categorically at least ten times more difficult to defeat than any other character in the game. I mean that literally: whether playing as one of the few characters I already know fairly well or as one of the ones I don't really know, I've been able to get through the first six opponents in one to two minutes apiece. And then I get to the Apprentice, and it's taken a minimum of twenty minutes, up to forty or more, of repeated battles until I finally manage to luck out and defeat him. Even the final boss and ostensible primary villian of the game, Algol, who always appears as the eighth opponent in Arcade mode, has not proven anywhere near as challenging to defeat. It's extremely frustrating for the difficulty of the game to suddenly jump so much, after six levels that do get gradually more challenging but manageably so, to near-impossible regardless of what I do. Again, it's not merely a matter of my lack of skill; I can be playing one of the characters I know best, such as Seong Mi-Na, and trying all the special moves I know how to do, and trying to use blocks and throws judiciously, and trying to avoid the Apprentice until there's an opening for an attack, and it makes hardly any difference.
On top of the gameplay frustration is the added insult of this being some newly-invented literally no-name Star Wars character. (Apparently he does get a proper name in the novel tie-in or something, and not even a stupid-sounding one like too many of the modern Star Wars names seem to be, but that's beside the point.) Why is this Star Wars character in a game that's already got its own rich (if wacky and confused) setting and characters, that has utterly nothing to do with Star Wars? Because Star Wars is cool. Why is this character so much more difficult than anyone else in the game, even the game's primary villian? I'm left with the impression that it's simply because it's Star Wars, and Star Wars is cool, and Jedi/Sith are badasses. Seriously, FUCK STAR WARS. I love the original films, I even still like the prequels despite their huge flaws, but I'm just sick of its overbearing presence and bored by its constant repetition. I like Jedi too, I think they're cool. And I think that interesting things can indeed still be done in the Star Wars universe. But I really don't need Star Wars bleeding over into everything else. And this one stupid misplaced element is seriously hampering my enjoyment of the game.
My only other issue with the game, or rather with playing the game as much as I have been, is that it's somehow been making me feel like it's killing my creativity. That's a weird feeling, it's not like there's any particular reason why this game should be a creativity-killer, nor was I spending much time being creative before I started playing the game. In fact ironically it may be spurring my creativity, as I've recently been writing short stories for my Dungeon World Chiaroscuro setting in part as a reaction to that feeling. And Soulcalibur IV does have a small creative element to it that's been amusing me very much: each character comes with two different outfits (to support two-player gameplay), but players can also create further custom outfits using costume/armor elements unlocked by playing the game. So yes, I've been playing dress-up-dolls; but then they fight, so that means they're action figures. Part of the amusement is that of course the female characters have a bunch of preposterously sexy outfit options, which are both appealing and ridiculous; but they also have very practical options as well, and it's just as much fun to come up with a costume that looks good but also looks practical, like something an actual warrior might wear rather than a stripper. And the dress-up feature, as well as the other gameplay that doesn't involve the ridiculously difficult stupid-fucking-Star-Wars guy, is enough to keep me interested in playing the game for a while.
So far one aspect of the game has been totally infuriating me. Although the Soulcalibur series features its own original characters and storylines, several of them feature guest characters from other franchises; in Soulcalibur IV, the guest characters are from Star Wars, and include Yoda and "the Apprentice", the latter of which comes from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game but apparently actually first appeared in Soulcalibur IV. And it's this character, the Apprentice, that I'm finding totally infuriating.
As I've played the game, the Apprentice comes up in the single-player Arcade mode always as the seventh out of eight opponents. And the root of my exasperation is that this character is categorically at least ten times more difficult to defeat than any other character in the game. I mean that literally: whether playing as one of the few characters I already know fairly well or as one of the ones I don't really know, I've been able to get through the first six opponents in one to two minutes apiece. And then I get to the Apprentice, and it's taken a minimum of twenty minutes, up to forty or more, of repeated battles until I finally manage to luck out and defeat him. Even the final boss and ostensible primary villian of the game, Algol, who always appears as the eighth opponent in Arcade mode, has not proven anywhere near as challenging to defeat. It's extremely frustrating for the difficulty of the game to suddenly jump so much, after six levels that do get gradually more challenging but manageably so, to near-impossible regardless of what I do. Again, it's not merely a matter of my lack of skill; I can be playing one of the characters I know best, such as Seong Mi-Na, and trying all the special moves I know how to do, and trying to use blocks and throws judiciously, and trying to avoid the Apprentice until there's an opening for an attack, and it makes hardly any difference.
On top of the gameplay frustration is the added insult of this being some newly-invented literally no-name Star Wars character. (Apparently he does get a proper name in the novel tie-in or something, and not even a stupid-sounding one like too many of the modern Star Wars names seem to be, but that's beside the point.) Why is this Star Wars character in a game that's already got its own rich (if wacky and confused) setting and characters, that has utterly nothing to do with Star Wars? Because Star Wars is cool. Why is this character so much more difficult than anyone else in the game, even the game's primary villian? I'm left with the impression that it's simply because it's Star Wars, and Star Wars is cool, and Jedi/Sith are badasses. Seriously, FUCK STAR WARS. I love the original films, I even still like the prequels despite their huge flaws, but I'm just sick of its overbearing presence and bored by its constant repetition. I like Jedi too, I think they're cool. And I think that interesting things can indeed still be done in the Star Wars universe. But I really don't need Star Wars bleeding over into everything else. And this one stupid misplaced element is seriously hampering my enjoyment of the game.
My only other issue with the game, or rather with playing the game as much as I have been, is that it's somehow been making me feel like it's killing my creativity. That's a weird feeling, it's not like there's any particular reason why this game should be a creativity-killer, nor was I spending much time being creative before I started playing the game. In fact ironically it may be spurring my creativity, as I've recently been writing short stories for my Dungeon World Chiaroscuro setting in part as a reaction to that feeling. And Soulcalibur IV does have a small creative element to it that's been amusing me very much: each character comes with two different outfits (to support two-player gameplay), but players can also create further custom outfits using costume/armor elements unlocked by playing the game. So yes, I've been playing dress-up-dolls; but then they fight, so that means they're action figures. Part of the amusement is that of course the female characters have a bunch of preposterously sexy outfit options, which are both appealing and ridiculous; but they also have very practical options as well, and it's just as much fun to come up with a costume that looks good but also looks practical, like something an actual warrior might wear rather than a stripper. And the dress-up feature, as well as the other gameplay that doesn't involve the ridiculously difficult stupid-fucking-Star-Wars guy, is enough to keep me interested in playing the game for a while.