Topic: Damn you Soul Calibur.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

So I was discussing Super Castlevania IV on an open channel with a friend on IMVU, and a person enters the chat and sees my abbreviation of "SCIV" and assumes I'm talking about Soul Calibur IV (a series I rarely even acknowledge these days). After a few minutes of back and forthing in which we were mutually stupid about which game the acronym belonged to, the guy left the chat.

But I will admit it's a point of confusion which IS relatively new.

We didn't have this problem even a few short years ago; it was just kind of largely understood that SCIV meant Super Castlevania 4.

So, anybody else got a cool acronym for one of Castlevania's finest?
Or should we stick to our "first come, first served, shove off Soul Cali" attitude? XD

[theplottwist]

I believe this has mostly to do with what the person observing the acronym is fan of, and the context of the chat.

If anyone types SCIV I assume it is Castlevania because I'm a Castlevania fan -- though I'll not start kicking the dude in the balls if his intention was to reference Soul Calibur.

I'm assuming the dude in your chat was the asshole? I mean, he could've asked, and you responded "Nah this is Castlevania" and he finished with "Uh oh ok"...

...Nah, this is the internet. There is not such a thing as peaceful disagreement. Only disdain and bootled rage.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I like both series so I always read the context of the acronym first before jumping in.

[DarkPrinceAlucard]

I'm a big fan of both (castlevania more so than Soul Calibur) so even though I know its used for Soul Calibur IV as well I tend to instinctively take it as meaning Super Castlevania IV.

[shelverton.]

I think I usually just type SCV4. Or Super CV4. Or possibly SCVIV (but that one looks weird.) I like to always put a 'V' in when talking about CV. So even if SCIV would probably make me think of Super Castlevania IV and not Soul Calibur IV, I guess I  generally want that extra 'V'. People don't refer to Castlevania as just 'C1" or Castlevania III as "CIII" so I dunno why Super Castlevania IV should be SCIV.

[KaZudra]

Funny, I thought people were trying to forget Soul Calibur IV as fast as possible... but then again, we also got SCV

[Claimh Solais]

Well, I never use Roman numerals in any acronym I write, but if I saw SCIV, I'd assume Soul Calibur also. That being because I've always put "CV4" for Super Castlevania IV, and SC4 for Soul Calibur IV, and "SCIV" is closer to "SC4" than "CV4".

Funny, I thought people were trying to forget Soul Calibur IV as fast as possible... but then again, we also got SCV

Hey, just because SC is ass now doesn't mean it always was. I can always relive the glory days, what with the fact that I got SC1 on my phone for a buck. Plays pretty well, too.

[shelverton.]

I always thought the entire Soul Calibur series played really well. The problem was more that the games are so similar, and never really evolved. But they're nowhere near "ass". The foundation is extremely solid.

But yeah, I sorta stopped caring after SCII.

[Claimh Solais]

They don't really "evolve" per se, but previously I always felt they were more complete as each game went on (polished is arguable. III was really glitchy compared to II, but I still preferred III).

It's when IV came around that the series started going downhill to me, what with the massive lack of content, the removal of both a worthwhile story mode (Tale of Souls) and the awesome mini-games that were Weapon Master, or moreso with Chronicles of the Sword (easily my favorite part of SC3).

SC5, on the other hand, completely changed up the mechanics, and not for the better. Guard Impacts were changed into something completely different, and weren't worth the effort to pull off. Not to mention the removal of several key characters and the half-assed story mode, and...

Yeah, going into it anymore kinda derails the topic into HG101 territory, but I think I got the gist of it across.

[KaZudra]

Soul Calibur IV was a huge letdown,

I always thought the entire Soul Calibur series played really well. The problem was more that the games are so similar, and never really evolved. But they're nowhere near "ass". The foundation is extremely solid.

But yeah, I sorta stopped caring after SCII.

Same, 3 was pretty good. IV and V have good clone creation, but other than that, IV was extremely unbalanced and V just didn't have anything, why are you going to introduce these new characters when there's nothing to make players give a crap about them. such a shame because I used to love these games, but still the best ones are SC1 Dreamcast and SC2, take your pick.

[DarkPrinceAlucard]

Hey, just because SC is ass now doesn't mean it always was. I can always relive the glory days, what with the fact that I got SC1 on my phone for a buck. Plays pretty well, too.

Agreed, in fact Soul Calibur 4 was pretty well received amongst fans (its actually my favorite next to SVIII), in fact the only Soul Calibur games I recall not being all that well received are SCV and Soul Calibur Broken Destiny.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Soul Calibur IV was where the series jumped the shark for me, what with completely random and contrived BS like Sophitia switching sides despite that being the last thing a person like her would do under any circumstances, etc. There were just too many things that were flat made up to justify a fourth game when III was pretty definitively supposed to be the final chapter.

And so the series has limped on, ever since.

And I'm still waiting on my PSN release of Soul Blade.

Seriously Sony/Namco. MAKE IT HAPPEN ALREADY.

Relevant: still the best opening in the franchise.

[Lelygax]

I think I usually just type SCV4.

Ditto.

[Inccubus]

I've always used SCV4, but I admit that at a glance SCIV makes me do a double take sometimes.

[zangetsu468]

This is the same thing as Curse of Darkness vs Call of Duty which I differentiate by COD and CoD respectively.

Sometimes I use SCVIV instead.