Oh god, I hope you can't turn them off. I'm sorry, but if there's a new mechanic in the gameplay system in a fighting game and it's not balanced and well integrated into the game as a whole, than it just should not be there at all. How many other things would you like to be able to adjust?

I'm not really all that concerned. There are one hit kills in GGXX too, and ya know what? They're basically useless against high level players anyway. Oh, and ringouts are instant kills! If SC4 isn't great, I doubt it will be a single thing that breaks it.

Seriously. Wait until the game is out and there are some serious impressions online if you're concerned.. but simply not buying it because there might be something that you may not like is really silly.

PS. The Star Wars characters are bad enough. It's because of all the gimmicky marketing bullshit in Soul Calibur that we're only finally getting the lowdown on new fighting mechanics now. How f'n ridiculous is that?

No, it's not reasonable, because you're simply assuming it will be bad, or game breaking. There's no reasons for such assumptions this early in the game. And yes, I think it's stupid to ask for a toggle. That's like asking them to make Guard Impact a toggle. If it's part of the game, either deal with it or don't play!

Sure, not liking what you see is a good reason for hesitation, but this just seems like way too much of a knee-jerk reaction. There are one hit kills in GGXX; Ring outs in almost every 3D fighter; Hell there are even infinite combos in a ton of Capcom's fighters! With the exception of the latter, these are all intentionally there as a part of the game design, and in most cases they're totally functional and far from a deal breaker.

There's no basis to assume that these are simply a matter of luck, and don't require skill or strategy to use properly. They might not be very useful at all, ultimately, against skilled players. In GGXX it's a waste of your super bar! They probably take longer than your average move to input, anyway, and leave you open to a variety of counters. It's silly to assume that the designers wouldn't have considered these issues from the start!

Jeez.. give the new guy on the block a chance before you write it off completely. I'm far more concerned about character balance at this point than I am a new game mechanic that we know little about in its practical application. Most unblockable moves in Soul Calibur are difficult to use against a good opponent, why would anyone assume that this would be easier?

I've been worried about this game for a while.. worried that ultimately it wouldn't be much different than Soul Calibur 3. I'm actually pretty pleased to see new game mechanics in action for the first time. We've only heard about this briefly in the past, and all of the focus has been on Star Wars and stupid anime girls instead of the games actual features.

Hell, I'm still worried, but yea.. this seems like a harsh reaction to something that is a total unknown in terms of how it will actually effect gameplay.

..and without even having a clue.

The sad part is that tons of people will buy it.

...what a surprise, overreactionton!

You're punished for turtling. Holding a defensive posture will still be perfectly possible. It has nothing to do with "button mashers," it's Namco's way of trying to dictate a more offensive pacing. I'm not a huge fan of that trend, but I have yet to see it put to task. Street Fighter 4 is also trying to mandate a quicker, offensive pace. Seems like it's all the rage.

..not to mention it doesn't "punish" guard impact. Some people just need to find a reason to hate it.

Right.. everyone just assumed that it broke the game anyway.. and some would still like to make that assumption it seems. Mielke's review actually worries me a little, despite his awesome grade, since he seems to love the RPG-like progression in the character creation mode more than anything else. That's not very promising.. but on the other hand, I'm pretty hyped still.

Can't wait. Shitty box art be damned.