I just picked up SC4, the game that I’ve been drooling over for years now.
As a prior SC1 and SC2 addict, overall I’m very pleased and having great fun with it, with some minor criticisms.
The game looks and plays wonderfully, and the new character additions are superbly realized. I have the 360, and Yoda is a fun addition, though he is a bit gimicky and I may make a “house rule” against him counting for competitive ladder play in the Gargoyle household. Pay no attention to the so-called “purist” trolls complaining about Yoda/Vader, there is already SC universe precedent with silly characters in the past (Link, et al). Just have fun with it.
Gameplay flow has been changed slightly from SC1 & 2, the 8-way run and sidestepping are not as crisp, but I think that may be intentional so that battles don’t turn into defense side-step circuses with some characters. It will take some getting used to. Also, the 360 controller isn’t the best consistently at diagonal D-pad directions, so I may shop for a different controller.
My mainstay, Xianghua, has been hobbled a bit also mostly because of the run flow, and some reduction in her ring-out reliability. I’m confident I can make her shine again though.
My only gripe for content omission though is that Exhibition Theater seems to have been left out. I’m hoping that it at least becomes available for downloadable content later.
If you see a vivid blue/yellow Xianghua in “I Dream of Jeannie” style garb kicking your butt online, that’s me 
It’s a great game. I’m going to spend the weekend on it.
After SC3, I have to say I’m rather disappointed with this incarnation. The story mode is much shorter, with no branching paths, Chronicles of the Sword is gone with nothing similar to take its place, and the trials are gone, replaced by the Tower, which doesn’t give the same sort of variety.
The graphics are pretty, and being able to customise not only original but canon characters and use them in story mode is nice. But overall, it feels like a lot of shine with little substance. I’m sure some people are looking forward to online play, but I prefer solo content, of which there is depressingly little. The finishing moves don’t really add much, although as Owls pointed out at least it does give an actual punishment for blocking.
For my part, I’m totally in love with this game and can’t wait for more time to play it online. It’s got all the style and unlockables from SC3 without the flaws (dog-slow RTS maps culminating in level-based fighting duels) or the massive game imbalances (goodbye overpowered Zasalamel; goodbye one-combo ringout by Setsuka). The game just feels right on so many levels, and even though the Tower of Souls mode doesn’t include any attempt at a story, it does have a wide variety of situational battles and gives you hints as to the conditions you need to achieve (e.g. a certain amount of GIs, throws, ringouts, blocks, etc.) to unlock that particular stages “treasures,” or character creation parts.
On that note, character creation has been simultaneously pared down and made extremely rich. I’m seriously glad they got rid of the ‘generic’ fighting styles like Dancer and Ninja - they were just watered-down versions of the actual established characters which made balancing and tournament play that much harder. You can still make any type/shape/theme of character and put any fighter’s weapon and style in their hands, though - I made the cutest bright-purple loligoth who wields Soul Edge like a monster
They already have some DLC set up for the classic Soul Calibur stages and some more character creation parts. I’m hoping stuff like that won’t make it harder to find matches online, tho I’ll still mostly just play with people on my Friends list so the conversation mid-battle is that much more enjoyable.
Continuing to love it after some more play. The Tower of Souls may be a bit grindy, with some frustrating conditional play, but that isn’t any different from previous SCs. Gold does come generously though, that is very welcome, no more repeating the same stupid challenge a hundred times just to get enough gold to unlock something.
The character balance is fantastic. The only ones that seem a bit overpowered so far may be Kilik (near impossible to close to short range), Zelasamel (freaking ridiculous damage combos) and Amy (high speed chainsaw). I will find their weaknesses though, Xianghua demands it!
The minor CPU enemies crack me up also, a fun variety of looks and styles, instead of just constantly facing Ninja and Lizardman clones endlessly.
I’m getting increasingly frustrated with story mode. Every character has a very similar sequence of levels, with the story used as bookends more than than as a guide through why you’re actually fighting these people. Some of the endings are pretty good (Hilde, Cassandra), some are fun (Amy, Lizardman), and some just feel like the designers hit writer’s block (Nightmare, Cervantes).
Add in the grind of Tower mode (not a fan, though Owls is enjoying it), and everything feels very samey, leaving me rather bored rather quickly.
I do like that at least the minor characters have their own storylines and fighting styles. I kinda miss the generic styles though–I really liked the nyoibo-staff style monks started off with.