NinjaCW shares his experiences training with Soul Calibur IV

For fans somewhat new to the fighting community, what is GVN? How many events are held per year? I've seen videos from both a Summer Bash and a Winter Bash.

NinjaCW: It's basically just a fighting game tournament that someone from the East Coast started, for a lot of the big fighting games like Tekken, Soul Calibur. It started off as a tournament for mainly DoA, but it's turned into something else now. He's got a lot of the bigger games there now. He holds the tournaments, usually, it's kind of random. Mostly though, there's a summer one and a winter one.

How many GVN's have you been to?
NinjaCW: This was my fourth GVN.

Have you enjoyed going to GVN and playing in the tournaments?
NinjaCW: Yeah, I always enjoy going to GVN. That's why I always make an effort to at least attend that tournament. It's always fun.

You attended the most recent GVN event in Pennsylvania, along with some friends, including Venom's Phoenix. Aside from the usual DoA, Soul Calibur, and Tekken, what other games did they have?

NinjaCW: Besides those, he had Super Smash Brother Brawl, Virtua Fighter 5, and DoA 3.1.

Did you play in any of the tournaments? How did you place?
NinjaCW: I just played in the DoA 3.1, DoA 4 and Soul Calibur tournaments. I came in fourth for DoA 4, I don't remember what my place was in DoA 3.1, I think it was 7th or 8th. And in Soul Calibur, I tied for 7th.

Let's talk about Soul Calibur 4. Now that you've had a few weeks of playing the game, how have you enjoyed it so far?

NinjaCW: I've enjoyed it a lot. It's always fun to learn something new, fun to learn a new game. It's fun to figure out things in the game, what's good, what's not. That pretty much is what makes fighters fun for me: learning them.

Comparing the game to Dead or Alive, how similar or different is Soul Calibur in terms of gameplay and strategy?
NinjaCW: I would say it's somewhat the same, but I would say you have to be a little more cautious in Soul Calibur, especially when you get knocked down. I think it's a lot more dangerous to get knocked down in that game, compared to DoA. You're pretty much screwed if you're down in Soul Calibur. The match really gets in the offensive player's favor; you don't really have any really good way to get out of it. When you get off the floor in Soul Calibur, it's like, “You did it, but you just barely escaped.” You don't really get much out of it; you're basically back at neutral position.

Are there any characters that, in your opinion, are likely to be top-tier or upper tier characters in competitive play?
NinjaCW: Well, usually, everyone plays with the sisters, Sophitia and Cassandra. Those are two big characters that most people use, as well as Siegfried. I'm pretty sure that, shortly, Astaroth will be a big character that is used a lot. A lot of people like to use Misturugi casually; that's who I started off with. I'm just kind of going down the line with characters, just getting used to the system and the characters, just in case Soul Calibur gets into the CGS, so I won't be lost.

Are there any characters that you feel comfortable with that, should SC4 get into CGS or if you enter SC4 tournaments, these would be your main characters?
NinjaCW: As of now, not really. I don't really have a set character in my mind. I mean, in the end, I will probably wind up using Astaroth. Right now, I just want to get a lot more comfortable with the game in general before I use him. I could use him right now, but I don't have the type of experience with the system or the game to just use him and be good with him yet. So I'm just messing around with a lot of the characters getting used to them.

Besides Astaroth, are there any characters that you have enjoyed playing in general?

NinjaCW: I would have to say Mitsurugi is one, he's a lot of to play with. Also Raphael. I like those two a lot.

How would you feel, from a personal standpoint, if SC4 became the fighter in CGS for Season 3?
NinjaCW: I think that it would probably hurt me. Since it's a new game, I think Kat would at least keep an eye out for any new talent. I would still come in there and just, hopefully, be able to showcase what I got, but I would only have been playing the game for six or seven months. It would be hard, but it wouldn't affect me that much. The game's not going to be around forever, it's nothing really. I would move on to whatever I would have to move on to.

Do you think the switch would affect your chances of remaining a player in the CGS, let alone staying with San Francisco?
NinjaCW: Well, yeah, definitely. Like I said, I came into DoA during the season as pretty much an underdog in every match. It would be happening all over again. They wouldn't be sold on me even if I did do well, like it was at the first Combine with DoA. But we'll see though.

Do you see the proverbial landscape changing if CGS switched to SC4, in terms of who are the top ranked CGS players?
NinjaCW: I would definitely say that the top four would change quite drastically and quickly. Some of the other players really only play DoA, they haven't really played any other fighters, at least competitively. Or they haven't tried to play it competitively, and get the game down to a good basic understanding. I think they could do it if they wanted to, actually put in the time and effort to completely learn the game, but that's entirely up to them.

Many thanks to NinjaCW for the interview!