Well I bought it, and it is pretty damn good. Now, I haven't bought another 3D fighting game since the original Soul Calibur, so this one to me is pretty damn awesome. I do have played the other 3D fighting games, but really they don't appeal enough for me to buy them.

I think the game is accessible to noobs but has enough depth so that good players will not be beaten by noobs. I spent some quality time on the training mode and there is just lots of moves to pull off. Gameplay is very responsive too, although I still need to fix the damn d-pad.

Yoda does suck, but it's ok, just don't play with it. Everything else I think is fair game. I like playing arcade with random characters with another person in the same console, it prevents from one person just staying put with a couple of characters and a person playing for a million turns without being beaten.

Character customization is pretty damn good, but I wish they would tell me the items I unlock after I do so instead of the "new items available to buy" message. A face editor would have benefited the game immensely, there is like 20 faces and some of them are repeats (facial hair on and off basically). More voices, or better yet the use of our voice would have been nice too. I'm still unlocking things so I don't know if there is a more items available, but I hope it keeps growing. I also would have liked a damn explanation on what making my character "good or evil" does, and what is the difference between heavy armor and light armor "traits".

Options are lacking as a whole. I remember the first Calibur had lots more, and difficulty level of the CPU could be tweaked in a 1-8 (or so) stars, 8 being the hardest level of difficulty. SCIV lacks this option, which means arcade mode is a breeze. On arcade mode, it is good to see the option to play "pure" arcade since that eliminates the cheap advantages other players have over you, or you over them. Like someone else said, it does lack profile vs profile character fighting though, and no team tagging either.

Story mode is very disappointing if you are looking for any sort of story in there, but it does offer a "hard mode" which means more of a challenge, better. I also like fighting 3-4 guys vs myself, and even the random characters you often fight. I do not like how it is always the same stages though, and how the same cutscenes play 99% of the time, with the ending cutscene being the only one that is "unique".

I have yet to play the Tower of (I forgot the name), but reviews say it is where we'll be spending lots of our time, and the most entertaining mode. I guess we'll see.

Technically speaking the game is really well polished. Framerate is rock solid, I have yet to see any dips at all. I don't know how Jolli thinks backgrounds are craptastic because with the exception of about two of them, they are really good. The home of Mitsurigi or Astaroth(?) where you can see horses in the distance is pretty damn good, as well as the one in the boat, etc. Character models are just awesome. Extremely well done and detailed, and lighting and shadowing can look extremely good in some stages--and that is the thing, with things looking so good at times, it disappointing to see a couple of stages that simply don't fit with the quality of the others.

Animations are like those in Too Human..........multiplied by a trillion in term of quality. They look really good.

I also have yet to play online, but I have to say this is one great game which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in fighting games.

I dont like it
Story mode, music, voice acting are terrible
I love grafics. really cool but I dont like small flat arenas and gameplay is not so adrenalin.

DoA4 the best for me.

Sounds quite nice. Graphics does indeed look really great from the videos I have watched. I can't wait to check it out. In the mean time I think I try to play a bit more SC3.

Oh nice! I usually suck at fighting games, but this looks pretty cool.

Since im bit dry on games might get it, we will see...

Ok, it seems everyone here is enjoying the game, even the most hardcore fighting fan, I mean griftgfx :P. an't wait. Is the american premium edition worth the extra content?

Guest characters always suck. That is the way I see, since in SCII, Necrid, Spawn,Link and Heiachi were broken characters and did'nt fit at all. IMO, it is the same with Star Wars Characters. When I learned that they were going to be included I couldn't believe myself.
I bought the japanese version of these game and I am still waiting for it to arrive, but the extras in Premium Edition look really nice so I was looking for it.
Also a lame decission from Namco is not to include the jedi or sith class in the characters creation, but well another microtransaction sighs. Everyone get ready to add features paying for them lol.

So much hate on Yoda :(

I like him :P, and they dont force anyone to play with it...

Anyway, went try look for a new monitor to PC didnt find one :(, but ended up buying SC4 :/
Will play it soon.

I hate Yoda as a fighter, he is just a spiritual force guide, and forcing him to fight is really lame, because they do not know his nature. Too bad Lucas, they should have go with master Windu FTW.

That is what I have read all along. That the single player experience is really short and when compared to previous SC, it pales in comparison.
And for the training, I supposed they think every one is an experienced Soul Calibur player . To be honest I think you are right with the training mode, they should tell the pllayer just how to play the game, and hey it looks like you have found an unfair combo???? Too bad

Played bit yestarday and really liked it.

I remember playing some SC game on PS2, but never paid much attention always liked Tekken :p

Graphics are really good, gameplay is cool.

Theres good selection of characters, didnt try all, but ones i enjoyed most until now were Hilde and Kilik.

Oops double post... Sorry... Damn slow net :(

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-dd-49-en-70-2t...

PAHAHAHAHA! nice dude, nice...lol

anyway, played it round a friends last night for a good 4-5 hours, and im not a fan personally. SC2 is STILL the best in the series....i dont like the change of pace in 4. nor do i like the cheap as hell star wars character. the game as a whole is far too easy, even on hard, except for that bastard apprentice...he's beyond cheap. graphics and animations are great tho. i dunno. its better then SC3 (which i thought was terrible) but thats not a difficult task. its just nowhere near as good as SC2 imo. good but not great.

I have just ordered mine. i love sticks and they are the way to play fighting games if you know how to use it properly. Personally I own the DOA 4 (incredibily beautiful), VF5 special edition and now the Soul Calibur IV.
Hori ex2 stick is really good, but in fact it can't be compared with the real pro stick from Hori too. It is one of the best out there.
Also I am not sure, but in general are japanese stick better than their american counterparts? I have heard that hori make better products for Japan and they lower the quality of their sticks when they have to do them for another country. I am not sure that is why I am asking