<--has never played SC before

BUT THAT IS AWESOME.

I originally got into SC2 because it had Link in it.

I suggest you give it a shot, if you have a chance, Espy. Quite fun, as far as fighting games go.

It's one of my favorite fighting games, just because I like weapon styles over martial arts.

wow I feel old school, I've been playing since it was called Soul Edge LOL and ::grumbles:: I know the red head is Hilde, so help me if Amy isn't back I'm gonna maim someone...and the one guy in the second row all the way at the right looks like TMNTs Shredder...know it's not him, but still....::winces:: hi voldo, good to know my BF will still be able to kick my butt with you....

The "shredder" guy is actually Nightmare. Theory is that it's possessing Sophitia now.

Also, see the girl top row, second from the right? Her name's Viola, but she has amnesia and she has the same voice actress as Amy. Only... she doesn't fight with a rapier, but with a claw. I know, I'll be annoyed if Amy's gone, too, she's my main.

Seeeeeee, I can't see nightmare being Sophitia, at least not with her 4 ending... And it's pretty damn obvious the two blondie kids, the one with amnesia, are probably her kidlets that have been mentioned since 2.

That's not quite right. Her two kids are in the game, but they're both in the corners of the top row (that's Pyrrah selected, not Sophitia or Cassandra, who are both gone). Viola is someone different, she's a companion of Zwei (the guy second from the left in the top row) who's some kind of werewolf and fights with a reverse-grip sword. Then the blonde girl in the middle is Natsu, Taki's apprentice (who apparently is different enough from Taki to not make people annoyed.)

Kind of confusing, I know. :p

would there be the bonus characters like Angol Fear, Ashlotte, that elf fighter with the super confusing long name that I have a hard time pronouncing, and the demon with the giant bat like with the thorns sticking out of it

They haven't mentioned anything like that yet, but this was a closed-door conference that went on yesterday, so no one really knows was shown. We have to wait for an official press release.

Oh, wait, Fey, I misspoke. I started with SoulEdge, too. I used to go to the arcade every weekend to dump 10 dollars in quarters into that game at the arcade when I was young. SC2 was the first one I ever actually owned.

Ah, well I knew about Taki's apprentice..I sorta laughed hard that she got an anglo-girl for that...but well I'll wait and see. I'm sure I'll get the game as soon as it's out, set it to the easiest setting and play like mad. I do have to say I was thrilled to see Rock back in the latest one, I'm hoping his son(who's name escapes me) shows up in 5, it would be nice full circle since we've not really seen him since Soul Edge.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about him. Bangoo, or something. I'd imagine he's going to be in this one, even though they haven't revealed him yet. I hope he's a better fighter than Rock was.

my brother could kick eeeeeeeeeeeveryone's butt with Rock, I guess it just takes a certain mentality to get good at him LOL Well, that was back in Soul Edge, I've no idea if he's stayed about the same now.

Hmm, yeah, I suppose I'm biased 'cause I just don't like him. :p I'm sure I've lost to Rock more than a few times in the hundreds of matches I had online in 4.

Rock reminds me of Bass from DoA, he hard to control but his hits are powerful

I've yet to go on-line to fight, I know I'm pretty terrible, so I'd just loose...a LOT. I'd rather just let my own system kick my butt I think.

I was awful online when I first started out, but I eventually got up to about a 70% win rate with Amy. My old PS3 inbox is still full of hatemail from people I apparently "spammed" to death by using Amy's moveset to the fullest.

O.o
I think I'm missing the word 'spammed' meaning in that sentence. However, I'm assuming it's like how my friends scream I cheat when I kill them as Raphael by stabbing them in the foot to death....

I'm honestly not really sure why I got accused of that. It's not like I do the same move over and over, I'm all over the place with Amy, alternating high/low, jumping over their heads, sliding around, etc. Some people are just sore losers.

On the other hand, there are people online who will just use literally one move for the entire fight, usually Cervantes' flying attack, Siegfried's simple forward stab that does a ton of damage to the soul gauge, Astaroth's spinning attack that can lead into either a high or a low, or that one cheap move of Mitsurugi's where he trips you (almost impossible to dodge in time) then slashes you and knocks you down.

Then there's people who play Sieg or Nightmare and just walk over to the edge of the arena and keep trying to Flapjack you over the edge, and do nothing else, no matter how many times you prove that you're not falling for it. (It's always a pleasure to knock them out of the ring, bonus points if you do a Flapjack yourself. :p)

On the other hand, some people are just incredible. I once ought a Yoshimitsu master, and it was like art watching him take me apart with the flashiest, hardest-to-pull-off moves in his arsenal.

How do you get hate mail to you about Amy

How do you mean?

If you mean literally, those little message thingies you can send to people on the PS3.

If you mean that more broadly, like I said, people are just sore losers. Honestly, SC4 online is one of the most intimately competitive games I've ever played. A lot of people take it really personally when they lose, especially if you perfect them.

"My old PS3 inbox is still full of hatemail from people I apparently "spammed" to death by using Amy's moveset to the fullest."

This? How do you get hatemail from people by using Amy?

Because I beat them very badly with her. :D

Well, that's not entirely true. I was using a created character with her style, which, given how small Amy is, is actually an advantage, because the CaS has longer reach with the same speed.

So, maybe it was ever so slightly unfair. :p

And I don't know if it's something unique to Amy, but I've been on the receiving end of an ass-kicking from her, too, and it isn't fun. She's so fast that if they get inside your head with her mix-ups, you're pretty much dead, and it isn't pretty to watch.

I kick ass with Tira's and Kilik's style.

Check it out: http://gematsu.com/gallery/soulcalib...tober-20-2011/

The hat guy is Raphael, which pretty much confirms Viola as Amy since they're right next to each other.

If you look close, there's someone inside of Nightmare's armor, and "it" looks a little skinnier. Could possibly be Sophitia, or Kilik, since Leixia apparently has his necklace which controlled his inner darkness.

And Leixia is shown there, too, but... blah, don't really care about her.

Here's hoping the bottom row of the select screen is all new characters. They said the split was going to be half and half, but so far it isn't.

O.O
OMFG I looooooooooove Raph's new look :: plots to get friend into that costume as well:: So, wait...how'd amy go blonde?? Now I'm all confused....

Well, it's not absolutely 100% certain that she's Amy, she just has the same voice actress as Amy in both English and Japanese. I'd personally love it if she wasn't Amy and Amy was still in, but apparently Daishi mentioned on his twitter that he thought Amy's style was overpowered and overshadowed Raph.

Also, there's apparently going to be a big announcement tomorrow.

(How am I more excited for this game than Skyrim??)

because you have good taste?

See, I always felt that Amy was a compliment to Raphael, neither overshadowed the other, they just showcased the other.

I couldn't get in Raph in 4. I hated the way they changed his style. I think they gave a lot of his best moves to Amy, so maybe if she's gone, he'll be like a fusion of the two of them. We'll see.

Also, official cover art: http://images.eurogamer.net/2011/art...ckPS3_PEGI.png

And apparently, Dampierre from the PSP version of 4 will come with pre-order versions of the game and will be DLC at some point. I never played Broken Destiny, so I have no idea if I'm excited about this or not.

Edit: Also, here's a trailer showing Ezio and Nightmare. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-soulcalibur-5 Doesn't look like Nightmare's style has changed much.

At the bottom it shows what comes in the collectors edition. I'm not seeing the two exclusive characters they mentioned, not sure what's going on with that.

I liked all the sneak peeks at various costumes in the trailer...and...I dont' know what I think of the charter, but I waaaaaaaaaaaaaant his top hat!

Here's a video of Viola in action. She seems to have a few of Amy's moves. Either way, I can't wait to use her, she looks really unique.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ex...calibur/722737

This may be the most exciting thing I've seen for this game, yet. I don't what that is, but it doesn't look like normal story mode!

The video clip is for the Assassin's Creed character, and the map...well the map sorta reminds me of the story mode map, just with more details and names, specially since it's got a profile and the word Home up.

Oh, sorry, Gametrailers has an annoying habit of loading the next video after the first one finishes. I must have copied the wrong url.

Anyway, here's a link to all three new characters' gameplay vids: http://www.levelupyourgame.com/2011/...e-i/#more-2121

And yeah, I see what you mean. They've been so silent about modes and create-a-soul so far, it's really hard to tell anything at this point, though apparently they hired an entire sub-team to deal with story mode, so it ought to be an improvement over 4. Daishi seems to really be in tune with all the problems fans had with 4 and wants to make a game that everyone is going to love, so I'm hopeful.

sooooooo, after posting I went a searchin' for viola stuff...and they're not EVEN subtle that it's Amy. I mean, her outfit is piratically the 'now I'm a big girl' version of Amy's SC3 main character outfit. So, I have added Viola to my 'must cosplay' list since I can now NOT smash my chest to make it fit LOL But it definitely looks interesting, and I can't wait to see what else they toss at us OwO

Yeah, it looks like the only hope for SC4 Amy's style at this point is either Raph getting some of her moves, or maybe DLC, but that's stretching it. Not that I have a problem with Viola, she looks really cool, just... Amy is my main and I'm really going to miss her.

Over at 8wayrun.com, there's a really mean-spirited "funeral" thread for her started by an admin. That's a tourney community, though, and apparently Amy is loathed by any "serious" players because she's "overpowered". "Overpowered" being defined as frame advantage and a bunch of other pedantic nonsense that no one who actually plays this series to have fun could possibly care about.

Another issue with these weird fighting styles, though, is that it's a lot harder to use them for custom characters. I know none of mine have any use for the "claw and energy orb" style, nor the "reverse sword + phantom wolf" style. I suppose Raphael is still there for the elegant swords(wo)men out there, but he'd better be improved from SC4! :p

LOL see, I figure those that complain she' 'overpowered' are just the ones that can't beat her in arcade mode. They can have a funeral for her if they wish, but I highly doubt she'll stay dead even if they want her too.

I kinda like the claw/orb combo...and while it's not something I've ever thought about for a creat-a-character you can give me time and I'm sure I"ll rise to the challenge...nothing more fun than making new characters to bounce around inside my head AND on the game screen!

Speaking of CaS, I wonder how many slots we're going to have this time, because... 50 was nowhere near enough for me. I have 15 alternate costumes for my Amy CaS alone, then add in all the characters from my various stories, and I was constantly having to delete people to make room. Couldn't even think about editing the main cast.

Unlimited space would be awesome. :D

I've yet to fill up all mine, but I've had it for less than a month thus far. My old SC3 was so full I had multiple memory cards for 'em. I'm sure with time I"ll run out of space.

Here's a recent interview about the game with some new info on character creation. Sounds really promising, but it seems like there won't be any CaS-original styles again. Who knows, though.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/...ing-the-blade/