fine whine

Soul Calibur II on the PS2 is a pretty cool game. It is different from the first one (alas, only to be found on the Dreamcast), which was itself different from Soul edge from the original Playstation. Each time Namco takes out some features and adds others, as though they're trying hard to tweak the games more than to expand them. SE (henceforth I will use acronyms to sound cool) had a game mechanic whereby the weapons used were damaged and occasionally destroyed before the end of a match. To have weapons alone set SE apart from the other fighting games of its day (so I've been told) but the idea that the weapons could get used up was even more original. So what did Namco do when translating the game up to the arcades and the Dreamcast? They got rid of the whole weapons-breaking thing, though they really upped the ante on the whole graphics and visual presentation side of things. SE had looked very good on the PS1 and SC looked every bit (well, 96 bits) better with the newer hardware to push to the limits. Also new was the ability to get rid of post-fight replays, which was the first thing I noticed missing from SCII. That omission boggles the mind—why get rid of a preference? Did none of their playtesters toggle that one option? Also, they got rid of the line at the end of fights that says "...and the soul still burns." which I apparently became fond of once and now miss. Otherwise I'm happy with it, I think.