Soul Series: Difference between revisions

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[[File:SoulEdgeCalibur.jpg|frame|Welcome to the page of history!]]

 

{{quote|''"Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold..."''}}

''Soul Edge'', while mildly successful in arcades (and on the PlayStation as ''Soul Blade''), was largely overshadowed by ''Soul Calibur'', which revamped many of the original game's aspects, including the three-dimensional movement, character combos and timing, and completely removed the breakable weapon aspect. The Dreamcast port of the game rebalanced the gameplay and overhauled the graphics, becoming its system's [[Killer App]] in the process. It's often placed among many game critics' "favorite games of all time".

 

 

As of ''SoulCalibur III'', the series title seems to be ''SoulCalibur'' in a reference to Excalibur. Odashima said he wanted ''SoulCalibur 5'' to be named ''Soul Edge 2'', but was rejected.

* [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]

* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Supposedly, this game takes place during the mid-to-late Renaissance, but there are certain aspects of the series (mostly the costumes and some [[Steampunk]] elements coming from llluminati-esque underground cults) that never really conform to a single real-world era.

* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: Sophitia, Pyrrha, and Talim.

** Siegfried tends to go into this when fighting non-possessed enemies, as they usually go after him for his past deeds as Nightmare. He accepts they have a rightful beef, but he can't die until Soul Edge's done for. So he beats them down, and then apologizes.

* [[Badass]]: Basically every character in the game.

** [[Badass Adorable]]: Many of the younger girls, particularly Talim and Ashlotte.

** [[Badass Back]]: Voldo legitimately; other characters in ''III'' who [[Fake Difficulty|shouldn't be allowed to]].

** [[Badass Unintentional]]: The fourth game has the rare moments where character taunts match up perfectly, such as...

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: As Algol is the hero king who was able to wield Soul Edge and created Soul Calibur, he [[All There in the Manual|has been mentioned]] [[Chekhov's Gunman|since the beginning]], they just gave him a name in ''IV''. But to those unfamiliar with the backstory, he would appear to be a [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]].

* [[Cherry Tapping]]: The Joke Weapons since ''II''. All of them make a light squeak sound effect when they makes contact with the opponent. [[Cherry Tapping]] indeed.

** Maccoi, in the same game, makes thinly veiled promises of chikan, but still gives you hints and tips when fighting him.

* [[Clothing Damage]]: ''IV'' has this in spades, for all characters with the exceptions of the bonus characters and the Star Wars exclusives. Kratos in ''Broken Destiny'' is also an exception.

** Averted in the first three games, which took place in real time, as the passage of years between the plots (3 and 4) coincided with the games' initial releases (1995-1998-2002).

** Also averted with ''V'', which takes place [http://twitpic.com/4w7me6 17 years after] ''IV''.

* [[Confusion Fu]]: Voldo, Yoshimitsu, and Dampierre. Xianghua and her daughter's movesets also rely on feints to a much lesser extent.

** The rock-paper-scissors-style game mechanics (guards and sidestepping can only null certain types of attacks each) encourage mix-up tactics in general.

* [[Cool Sword]]: Soul Edge and Soul Calibur.

* [[Counter Attack]]: Several characters have these. Some attacks just have frames at the beginning that cause a Guard Impact, which would make the rest of the attack sort of like a Counter Attack, but there are moves that genuinely won't do anything unless the opponent lands an attack at the proper frame of the animation. All attacks do more damage if they hit during the start-up or cool-down frames of an opponent's attack.

** Back with a vengeance in ''V'' (at least in Legendary Souls mode and the harder opponents in Quick Battle). In addition to reading inputs, being immune to mixups, and abusing it's own lack of needing input by executing complex moves faster than a human could ever do it, this AI will also flawlessly space your characters (staying close to long range characters and keeping away from short range ones) and perfectly confound all attempts at horizontal containment.

* [[Crossover]]: ''II'' includes [[Tekken|Heihachi]], [[Spawn]], or [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]], depending on which console you use.

** ''V'' actually includes a character who makes sense within the context of the series' story and time period: Ezio Auditore, from the ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' games.

*** Well, story maybe, but time period, most certainly not; ''V'' takes place over a century after the ''Assassin's Creed'' games (specifically ''II'' and ''Brotherhood'', which star Ezio, who is in about his 30's there; ergo, he should already be dead by the time the game's story rolled by).

* [[Crystal Prison]]: Soul Calibur likes to pull this as of ''IV'' whenever it trumps Soul Edge in certain character endings.

* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: Namco LOVES this trope. [[Difficult but Awesome|Voldo]] is a particularly [[Egregious]] example; from ''II'' to ''III'', his moveset remained the same, but the inputs changed.

** ''V'' deals with the massacre and persecution of those who are and are accused of being 'Malfested'.

* [[Difficult but Awesome]]: Guard Impacts. The requirement (pushing forward and guard right as an opponent's attack is about to hit, plus knowing what height to use) plus the consequence (there is no 'fallback' if you miss, you will take damage) are demanding but execute one and your opponent's only response will be to do one of their own, bound by the same condition.

* [[Guest Fighter]]: [[Tekken|Heihachi]], [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]], and [[Spawn]], who were each a console-specific character in one of the versions of ''II''; [[Tales of Symphonia|Lloyd Irving]] in ''Legends''; [[Star Wars|Darth Vader, Yoda]], and [[The Force Unleashed|the Apprentice]] in ''IV''; [[God of War (series)|Kratos]] in ''Broken Destiny'', and [[Assassin's Creed|Ezio Auditore]] in ''V''.

** [[Product Placement]]: Adding the Apprentice from ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]'', a game that was going to come out a month after ''IV'', was totally this.

* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]:

** Xianghua [[Wendee Lee|is]] [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Haruhi]].

** Patroklos and Pyrrha are voiced by [[Yuri Lowenthal]] and [[Laura Bailey]] respectively. They are also the Male and Female Protagonist from [[Persona 3]].

** There's no way you'll ever be able to knock [[Matthew Mercer|Z.W.E.I.]] [[Street Fighter IV|out]], while he teaches you to fear the [[Fist of the North Star|Nanto]] [[Dynasty Warriors|Suichoken]]!

** [[Johnny Yong Bosch|Xiba]] [[Code Geass|commands you all]]...TO GIVE HIM [[Big Eater|FOOD]]!

** A male Create-A-Character voice sounds like [[Sam Riegel|Flynn]] [[Tales of Vesperia|Scifo]] from both ''IV'' and ''V''.

* [[Hit and Run Tactics]]: Conceivably possible with Spawn's signature fire/acid ball move. Any competent human or AI will be able to sidestep the fireballs, but against the easy and the inexperienced, you may be able to wipe the enemy health gauge clean before the enemy can so much as close for combat. Same goes for Link in the same game (except in the Gamecube version only). Can also be attempted with Ivy's whip and Kilik's staff to a lesser extent.

* [[Hot Chick with a Sword]]: Quite a few. In ''III'' and ''IV'', you can [[Fetish Fuel|make your own]]!

* [[Kicking Ass in All Her Finery]]: Several outfits the ladies wear are very fancy and elegant.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Seung Mina + bladed weapon + [[Groin Attack]] + "Bye bye" = not pleasant[[Tradesnark™|™]].

** Kratos in ''Broken Destiny'', [[Up to Eleven|even more]] than in [[God of War (series)|his own series]].

** Cervantes is extremely hammy as well.

** Considering the role played by Leo in ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'', this might be intentional...

* [[Mana Meter]]: ''V'' has one (with multiple stocks at that), and it's used to power the Brave Edge and [[Limit Break|Critical Edge]] moves.

** Also Tira in ''IV'', as she convinces many of the characters to seek out Soul Edge to meet their goals, most notably manipulating Sophitia into working for the side of Nightmare by saying that her daughter was at risk if Soul Edge was destroyed.

** Dampierre in ''Broken Destiny''. To get two men into his service, one of which attempted to shoot him earlier, he reveals his hideout to the police, and later saves them when they are cornered. This act, plus a claim of greatness and his impressive counterfeit collection, are enough to turn them into his lackeys.

* [[Mighty Whitey]]: Subverted with Setsuka; she's a woman of European heritage, who was orphaned and ended up being raised in Japan. Because of her appearance, however, she was shunned and distrusted by the majority of the native people around her.

** Played a little straighter with Rock, an English boy lost in a shipwreck who grew up in America, who became a fearsome giant. Still mistrusted and feared though, because, y'know, GIANT.

** Arthur as well: an orphan who ended up in the care of a Japanese merchant and was raised in Japan. He was despised by his peers, which made him the prefered target for projectiles in the battlefield.

* [[Mini-Dress of Power]]: Sophitia, Cassandra, and Amy.

* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: If Soul Calibur's own ambition to freeze the world in crystal is its actual motivation, then the battle between Soul Calibur and Soul Edge is more this than good VS evil. Both will do bad things to the world, it all comes down to how they bring it about (Edge wants violence and terror, Calibur wants order and serenity through nothingness).

* [[Painted-On Pants]]: Very possible in Character Creation, and is pretty much your only alternative to fighting in underwear after [[Clothing Damage]] in ''IV''.

* [[Patriotic Fervor]]: Figures into the backstory for all of the Korean characters in the Soul Series. Hwang is a soldier in the Imperial Navy seeking Soul Edge in order to stop Japan's invasion of his country. Seung Mina is trying to prove that females can be as capable soldiers as male recruits, and Yun Seong's out to prove his worth to Hwang and his country. In later games, they realize that the sword is evil and instead fight to destroy it, with the side goal of proving the nation's strength.

** Yun Seong, in his ''III'' pre-boss fight (the one where you fight someone who has to do with the character's backstory), has him walking into the room, taking one look at Mitsurugi, whom he has never seen before, and yelling something along the lines of "Enemy of my homeland, prepare to die!"

** To be fair, you can still color-change most of the clothing, so you can make it less horrible.

* [[Recurring Riff]]: "Path of Destiny", titled "Recollection" in its first appearance, is the ending theme to all four ''Calibur'' games.

* [[Road Cone]]: Every character's ending inevitably ends with them doing something with Soul Edge and/or Soul Calibur. ''Soul Calibur'' takes elements from a handful of the endings of ''Soul Edge'', Sophitia gets her ending where she breaks one of Cervantes's Soul Edge swords, but becomes injured in the process, leaving Taki to come in and finish Cervantes off, at which point Sigfried shows up and gets his ending where he becomes Nightmare. ''II'' takes mainly from Xianghua, with elements from Kilik (he fights Nightmare and his mirror breaks) and Nightmare (Siegfried recovers his senses after facing his dad in a dream). ''III'' takes the basic setup from Nightmare's ending (Siegfried recovers his mind, but seals Soul Edge with Soul Calibur instead of throwing it down a dark pit); as well as a bit of Raphael's ending (he pierced Soul Edge's eye).

* [[Samurai]]: Mitsurugi. Arthur is an interesting case: being an England-born orphan, he was raised and trained to serve as a samurai by his Japanese master (who previously bought him).

* [[Split Personality]]: Tira in ''IV'' switches between [[Slasher Smile|Slasher Smiling]] psycho to [[Kubrick Stare|Kubrick Staring]] psycho when her health is half-depleted (or by using Gestalt Madness -A + K-), as a side-effect of prolonged exposure to [[Soul Edge]].

** She was also a lot like Harley Quinn in her first appearance, except oddly, switching between grinning and not at random.

* [[Story Breadcrumbs]]: Single-player modes do spill some of the story, but it's hard to separate the canon from the "we needed a few more scenarios for Character A, so we put him in Character B's role" scenarios, and almost every character's ending contradicts the bulk of the cast's. Practically all of the story information comes from [[All There in the Manual|story, weapon, and stage profiles and the official site]], and those still require some context work to piece together.

* [[The Starscream]]: Astaroth, in ''IV'', as detailed in his Story Mode profile. This started as far back as the first Calibur game, where he joined Nightmare to help him restore the sword just so he could claim it in perfect shape for his true master.

* [[Time Skip]]: A major feature of ''V'''s story, which is 17 years forward of the events of the last canon installment.

* [[Title Scream]]: A random character or the announcer will do this.

* [[Together in Death]]: Kilik is determined to destroy Soul Edge even if it costs him his life. Xianghua makes it clear that if he succeeds, he won't be alone.

* [[Took a Level in Jerkass]]: Taki becomes a bitch between ''III'' and ''IV''. Her treatment of Ivy and Siegfried, who have both become [[The Atoner]] by this point, is particularly grating.

** Zasalamel can be seen as this in ''IV'', since in order to attain his goal of "leading humanity into a bright future", he's more than willing to torture, murder, or destroy the life of anyone, either for obstructing him or because it helps move his plan along.

** Soul Calibur itself is a holy weapon created by Algol to keep the evil Soul Edge sword in check. However, the sentience granted to Soul Calibur has allowed it to come to the conclusion that the world is full of chaos and violence and the only way to save humanity from itself is to crystallize the world and all its inhabitants.

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: Every character has his/her own trademark weapon:

** [[An Axe to Grind]]: Astaroth, Rock (formerly), Lizardman, Ashlotte, [[Spawn]]

* [[Bonus Boss]]: Weapon Master has a bonus chapter gained by fighting enough battles to reach the rank of Edgemaster, with four very difficult opponents to fight. Chronicles of The Sword has the main universe characters appear at a rate of 1-3 a chapter, and do not require the player to fight them to finish the level.

* [[Boss Dissonance]]: The Chronicles of The Sword mode in ''III'' is a Kirby Type.

** Also, there are two sets of two possible party members, the one who you beat first joins you. The other waits for [[New Game+]].

* [[Dual Boss]]: Lanbardy and Hobb at the end of the Underground Juno.

* [[New Game+]]: Chronicles of the Sword; either this or a fresh game is required to get all of the create a character parts (as at least one part will be unlocked by picking one [[Optional Party Member]] over the other).

** Weapon Master Mode has [[Playable Epilogue|special chapters]] unlocked after defeating the [[Big Bad]], which offered a [[Sidequest]] set after the plot's end.

* [[One-Man Army]]: Chronicles of the Sword. It's even lampshaded, with generic soldiers thinking your character is a War God(ess).

* [[Perverse Puppet]]: One appears in Weapon Master that can only be defeated via ring out.

* [[Pirate]]: Alfred, king of pirates in Weapon Master, as well as his crew.

** Kilik, Xianghua, and Maxi form an ass-kicking trio in ''II'', but they're all separated by the end of that game. Xianghua and Kilik have found each other and split apart again since then, but Maxi lost his memory and has rebuked the offer to join them several times.

* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: Luna and her subordinates in Chronicles of the Sword (named "The Klessirpemdo"). Their quirks only go as far as elemental theming due to a lack of development.

** [[Nakama]]

* [[Recovery Attack]]: generally averted, but present with Heihachi's guest appearance, since he comes from a series that ''does'' have a recovery attack.

* [[The Rival]]: Abelia in Chronicles of the Sword.

* [[Rival Turned Evil]]: Quite a few in Weapon Master. Justified; they were seeking Soul Edge, a sword that has a tendency to turn people evil.

* [[Training Boss]]: The first level of Weapon Master. The first two chapters of ''Chronicles of The Sword''.

* [[Twinkle Toes Samurai]]: Taki has a couple moves like this.

** Beating them all makes you feel bad-ass. But, if you have enough skill, then you can overcome the level gap and defeat all of them, even without the use of AI breakers, because despite being competent, they don't use any of the A.I. special tactics too much, meaning that they are as defeatable as an average human player.

** Not to mention that "main universe" character can be exploited, if you know what you're doing. Note that losing still gives you experience... just have one guy protecting your base (Particularly one you're good with), send the rest to fight the level 60. Sure, you'll likely lose easily, but you'll see them gain levels EXTREMELY fast. Not to mention beating said character gives the biggest level-up chain ever for that point. This can quickly become a [[Game Breaker]].

 

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