I don't know about the story but I've got my own problems with this game.
The "Tutorial": Switching around the button mechanics and giving them new names IN-GAME and trying to get me to remember them is not a good idea at all. The combat is needlessly over-complicated just because of this simple fact.
And do you think that they will help you through this in Practice Mode? Nope. They just tell you to do it and actually expect you to do it without it being so confusing. I couldn't even do very well in Online Mode (but granted that was my fault but this game should have provided some sort of instruction instead of just telling me to just SHUT UP AND DO IT) because I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
I also constantly forget since these controls are overcomplicated compared to other fighting games and, in my opinion, is completely unnecessary and has no business being in a fighting game. Or any game for that matter.
"It's very clear that the story mode we actually got was supposed to be only one part of a greater tale, but they didn't have time for the rest. Most "cutscenes" take the form of slideshows of what can only be early storyboard sketches. It ends on your typical super cheap final boss, and gives closure to the siblings' stories but no-one else's. It also introduces a fairly awkward twist that doesn't fit the established mythos well."
- The story in general is not good in this game (as far as I'm concerned). You want to focus on the new narrative in the actual story mode? Fine. But for newcomers, why don't you put in some character storylines on the Arcade mode? Some of these people don't even know who the hell these characters are! (*cough* Me *cough*) If I have to look at ANOTHER soul calibur game to know SOMETHING about these characters, then this game, as a standalone game, has failed in that portion cause they should provide me with SOME sort of information.
The dialogue is also laughably bad (from the videos I've watched) and the story seems to be just as bad as telling us something about the characters as the Arcade mode is.
The only reason I didn't write a review yet was because I didn't play the story mode for myself (despite watching a few clips but that's not enough. But I will eventually have to play it soon.....sigh....).
The gameplay itself though is solid for what its worth. I can't explain it but I find satisfaction from its smooth animations and fluidity (from whatever the hell I am doing on my controller). I dunno. I still like it.
The art style is cool too, but sometimes the faces look pretty weird. I don't know about you, but there's something about the way the art crew makes the eyes and keeps them from blinking that kinda gets to me and not in a good way.
But overall, to me, the game is a disappointment. Not only in its story (from what I'm seeing and hearing), but its lackluster tutorial and (so far) bad storytelling and info about the characters (especially because of the fact that this is a franchise. And unless you are as well known as the DC characters or (maybe) Marvel. Then you have no excuse) is what doesn't do it for me.
"But for newcomers, why don't you put in some character storylines on the Arcade mode? Some of these people don't even know who the hell these characters are! (*cough* Me *cough*) If I have to look at ANOTHER soul calibur game to know SOMETHING about these characters, then this game, as a standalone game, has failed in that portion cause they should provide me with SOME sort of information."
See, this is EXACTLY what I was trying to point out in my review, but I couldn't exactly convey it in the word limit. No arcade endings really hurt the characters. And worse, you CAN'T play another Soul Calibur game to know more about these characters, because most of them are entirely new. Z.W.E.I and Violet are big offenders: they're apparently supposed to be pretty important, but that doesn't show at all.
The story has its own issues, I agree. But they would have stood out less if this was just "Patroklos and Phyrra's Story" and there were others. With it as the ONLY story mode, the flaws stick out even more.
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Soul Calibur V: Good for multiplayer, but everything else...
I'm not competitive, so I really have no right to give an opinion on this, but from what I hear competitive players find SC 5 to be the most balanced yet, and I admit this is a very good thing.
Unfortunately, for the rest of us, it seems the dev team put 90% of their effort into that, leaving only 10% for the single player... that's really the only excuse for how it turned out.
The review below did a good job of summing up the general appeal of the Soul Series' story. For those who enjoyed that... you won't find much of it here. Firstly, let's adress the most notable part: the story has had a massive Time Skip, and many characters we used to know and love are now gone. Their fighting styles live on in Expies of them though. Some may cry They Changed It, Now It Sucks at this, but I don't believe this is inherently bad in itself... unfortunately, wiping the cast clean makes the main problem with the story more glaring than it would have been.
Put simply, out of a still quite large cast of characters, the story mode only revolves around two of them: Sophitia's children Patroklos and Phyrra. And granted, their story isn't bad by any means... but it's very clearly their story and theirs alone. I think you can see the problem with this: any character who is NOT one of those two ends up massively underdeveloped. It's almost laughable how the story mode treats them. All the Asian characters get one chapter that's nothing more than a glorified cameo. They still get off better than Astaroth, who suddenly fights you in the forest as if he were an RPG random encounter, and is never seen again afterward. Even Former major characters like Seigfried are reduced to this fate. So most of the new characters' personalities, origins and goals are reduced to All There in the Manual and nothing more.
It's very clear that the story mode we actually got was supposed to be only one part of a greater tale, but they didn't have time for the rest. Most "cutscenes" take the form of slideshows of what can only be early storyboard sketches. It ends on your typical super cheap final boss, and gives closure to the siblings' stories but no-one else's. It also introduces a fairly awkward twist that doesn't fit the established mythos well.
A shame, because they had the potential for something amazing here.