More Little Bits And Pieces Of Soulcalibur V From Director, Daishi Odashima

Keen to not let excitement die down too quickly after its official reveal, Soulcalibur V director, Daishi Odashima, has continued to discuss the game’s development with fans on Twitter.

Last week, Odashima revealed that he wanted to call the game Soul Edge 2, as opposed to Soulcalibur V, in a nod to the first game in the Soul series. Odashima has also stated in the past that Patroklos, the protagonist of Soulcalibur V, has ties to both swords the series centres around — the Soul Edge and Soul Calibur — so it makes sense that Soul Edge 2 as a title was under consideration.

Namco Bandai, however, were opposed to Odashima’s choice of name. “They don’t like the word ‘Edge’ for many reasons,” Odashima revealed to a fan over Twitter. “I think Edge sounds cooler tho.” In a later tweet, he emphasized: “The reason why we can’t use Soul Edge is not a legal issue. It’s more like an internal issue that’s hard to explain.”

Following Soulcalibur IV and Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, Odashima appears concerned regarding the series’ increasingly risqué nature. Over the weekend, he told one of his followers that he wasn’t sure about including skimpy and fetish outfits in Soulcalibur V. To another, he said: “Armor breaks > character becomes naked, was a bit too much I think. Players should have the option for it to not happen.”

Perhaps this is for the best, considering a third tweet he made later: “What happens to the females characters after 17 years? Well you know, people age…”

Moving along, Odashima also confirmed that Junichi Nakatsuru would be composing music for Soulcalibur V when a fan asked about him and Keiki Kobayashi. Odashima didn’t comment on the latter. On the subject of the subject of music, he also expressed that he’d like to include unlockable music from previous Soul games in Soulcalibur V.

Odashima’s tweets weren’t all about the game’s look and style; he touched upon combat, too. In reply to a fan asking about a feature from Soul Edge, where both characters would lock their weapons against each other, Odashima replied: “Got removed cos it slowed the fight down.” It should be noted, though, that he was referring to its removal from the series in general, not Soulcalibur V specifically.

Another Twitter follower expressed concerns about Soulcalibur V being too easy, to which he replied: “Don’t worry. I created Setsuka remember? ;)” Setsuka is commonly cited as a character that’s difficult for  inexperienced players to use.

Finally, Odashima also commented on the game’s story. Declining to say which endings from previous games were considered canonical, he stated, “I’ll leave it up to your imagination.” Soulcalibur V’s story mode is something Odashima hopes to improve upon, relative to Soulcalibur IV. He also said that he hopes to improve lip-synching in English when characters talk, despite the fact that Soulcalibur is a Japanese series.