There’s a good chance you never heard the name of Ako. Yet you know him. Trust me – you surely talked with him. Some of you on daily basis. Because every time you ask Olcadan bot for frames..? Ako answers.
Nickname: Ako
Twitter: @akocham
Birth Year: 1989
Country: USA
If you had to introduce yourself in three sentences to some SoulCalibur player who didn’t know you, what would you say?
Hello! I’m Ako. I’m a competitive player from the Maryland area. I think most people in the community know me as the creator of the Olcadan frame data bot. I’m an avid SC2 lover but I also love SC6 and its community.
What is the origin or meaning of your nickname?
There’s no cool backstory for that, unfortunately. Ako is a nickname for my full first name in Greek, which is Kyriakos. I always tell people it sounds like taco without the “t”.
How did it happened you end up playing fighting games?
Back in 2003/4 there was an arcade at my mall that had a bunch of fighting games in it so I would go there with my friends every Friday and Saturday. They had an SC2 cab there so that’s where I first played Soulcalibur and it made me a really huge fan. Back then I didn’t really have any idea what I was doing but I stayed a casual fan of SC over the years.
Shortly after SC6 was announced, I was attending this video game convention in my area called MAGFest and that year there was an SC2 tournament being held. I was really excited for the new game so I entered and had such a great time that I decided I wanted to compete when SC6 came out. I actually looked back at the bracket for that tournament recently and was surprised to see how many people entered that tournament that I would now consider good friends.
Who do you main in SC6 and why?
You know, this is a question I ask myself a lot. I’ve always been a huge Cassandra fan since those days in the mall arcade but she wasn’t in SC6 when it first came out so I played Sophitia. I would say I bounce back between Soph and Cass pretty regularly. I actually really like how differently they play so I think I play whichever one I’m feeling in the moment. If I had to give a slight edge to just one I would give it to Soph just because I have more time played with her overall.
I definitely don’t play them because they are also Greek 🙂
What is your opinion regarding SC6?
Overall, I think SC6 is a really great game. The movement and flow of the game feels great and I think most characters, without a doubt, have the best version of their moveset in this game. I really like how much the game went out of its way to make each character feel unique, especially the later DLC characters. I also think its really cool how balanced the game is, especially compared to past games.
If you could change one single thing about SC6 what would that be?
I think the overall complexity of the game could be toned down. There are parts of the game’s complexity that I think are really great such as the character traits and LH system. But I do feel like the game suffers a little bit by having too many mechanics and systems going on at once. I think things like Reversal Edge and Soul Charge fall into this camp and I feel like the game would shine even more if it was slightly simplified.
What you consider to be your greatest SC6 achievement and why?
While not directly related to the game or tournament performance, I think my greatest achievement was the creation of the Olcadan bot. Leading up to the release of the game, I was so excited for it that I wanted to do something that could help the community when it came out and the bot was the best way I knew how. I wasn’t really sure if it would catch on but I’m really happy to see that its on many servers now and that it has helped a lot of people in some way.
Whenever I talk about the bot, I also want to give a shoutout all the hard working members of the community that helped put the frame data together. It was a very large collaborative effort and a shining example of how great the SC community is.
Please answer a single question that you were not asked but you would like to answer!
Q: How can I add the Olcadan bot to my Discord server?
A: Here is the invite link for the bot. Hope it helps! Olcadan Bot Invite Link
Thank you for the interview!