IDEA: TALES OF SOULS

Hello everyone, I had this idea ever since I played Soul Calibur 3. I've kept quiet about it for about 5 years, but this may be a great idea for Namco/Bandai. There was a mode on there called Tales of Souls. The idea is to blend 2 of the best Namco franchises; Tales of and Soul Calibur into one. No, I don't mean blend their worlds. By this, I mean having a Soul Calibur RPG game that uses the Tales of Free-Roam Linear Motion Battle System.

In this concept, you would take a large variety of attacks from the Soul Calibur franchise from each character, and transform them into artes. For example, you could take Sophitia's "Jet Stream Rush" and turn it into an arte that takes away 20TP. Each character would have their own unique weapon style and moveset(obviously). Apart from the move sets are the basics such as blocking, Guard Impacts, Soul Charges, Back/Front steps, Mystic Artes(Critical Finishes pulled from SC 4 and 5),Ukemi,and Flash Guards(as seen in Tales of Xillia and Soul Calibur 5).

The story would be deep and set across the world of Soul Calibur and you would recruit several characters from the franchise to build a party. You would then traverse the world collecting equipment, going into towns,taking down challenging bosses, and much more all while searching for Soul Edge.It would be a fast paced Action RPG like Xillia or Graces F and feature full voice acting, cut scenes, and of course a beautiful soundtrack. We can't forget the vastly popular Creation system either.

Well, what do you guys think about this and do you think its possible that this may one day become a reality?

For those of you who aren't aware of Tales games, this is one of them. This one in particular has an extremely robust battle system. For the fight, skip to 2:10

author=turkeyDawg
I've been wanting a Soul Calibur RPG for a long time myself (probably also since around 3). However, I would rather a Soul Calibur RPG use Soul Calibur's fighting mechanics, because the Tales games have clunky movement and a lot of awkward-to-useless attacks by comparison and I would really love it if Namco could get a Tales game that just plays like a simplified Soul Calibur (with anime magic super attacks thrown in, obvy).

I felt Graces came closer to that than the others so far, but even then some of the attack animations aren't well thought out and the CC gauge could force an annoying stop-and-go pace to the fighting -- especially considering Free Run drained it. I mean, who the hell makes it cost MP to move two dimensionally in a three dimensional video game? I really don't get why ARPG designers seem so hellbent on adding awkward and arbitrary limitations to your movement and attacking options.

Also, super-nitpick point, but I really wouldn't want Flash Guard in. The input for it is stupid, which gives it a goofy risk-reward aspect, in addition to being redundant given the existence of the more balanced and intuitive Guard Impact mechanic. Or, at least, pre-SC5 GI when it didn't cost any kind of meter to attempt.

You've got some good points! I didn't like how Graces eliminated the ability to jump and put limits on the Free Run mechanic. I never found the series to be clunky though. Especially Xillia. I agree that Graces' combat system was robust to the point where every character's artes were extremely useful. Graces was the first one where I could play as anybody and kick butt doing it.

Flash Guards are simply an expert move that doesn't have to be executed to win, but if you plan on mastering the game, its a must. After watching your opponent's moves, you can easily predict an attack and either block, GI, or FG. I thought it was the hardest thing ever in SCV, but it turns out all I had to do was lightly tap x before being hit. Its meant to nullify any attack on impact(even special attacks). With guard impacts though, you repel almost any attack.

I also hated SCV's GI using a bar to use it. Not all GI used a bar, but it was annoying and should be removed. Although we want one, I doubt they will be making Soul Calibur 6 any time soon. By the way, a new Tales game is coming out next year called Tales of Berseria and finally allows you to rotate the camera in battles. An anime is out for Zesteria/Berseria as well.