The 3rd Tale of Swords and Souls

Soul Calibur is a decade old series that started in 1995 under the title Soul Edge. The series focuses on weapon based combat and requires players to consider not only range of attack, but also keeping balance. This has always integrated rather well into the game since it is still heralded as one of the easiest fighters to play.

Before discussing the finer aspects of Soul Calibur 3, let me start by saying that Namco has really stepped up the presentation. If you have played Soul Calibur 2, you will notice that all the returning characters have received a much needed face lift. Characters such as Talim (formerly the cute little girl from Soul Calibur 2) look much older and aged by constant battles. This really adds a sense of growth for the characters that is not seen in many fighting game sequels. In addition to aging, the graphics have been stepped up a notch. Again, this may not be noticeable if you haven’t played Soul Calibur 2. It is a welcome change to see a fighting game on PS2 that actually looks like they’re using the power of the system. And considering that Soul Calibur 2 looked just like Soul Calibur 1 (which was originally on DreamCast), the first thing you will notice is that the arenas are more vibrant with color and well designed. With new effects such as destructible environments, this no longer seems like old school Soul Calibur. Although, I would have liked to see the destruction stay, I’m sure the PS2’s power was insufficient for this feat to be successfully integrated.

The character designs in Soul Calibur have always ranged from your standard warriors to demonic barbarians. Soul Calibur 3 takes a turn for the odd. Sure, Nightmare (the half man, half demon Knight) returns along with Kilik (the stereo typical staff wielding monk), but new additions such as Tira (the master of an oversized chakra) add spice to the roster. Tira is one of 3 new characters featured in Soul Calibur 3. The reason I say “FEATURED” will be discussed later.Tira wears thin strips of clothing covering her enough to keep the game Rated T, but she leaves little to the imagination. The premise of her character is a bipolar assassin who teeters between deep psychosis and rage. Personally, I consider her one of the better designs for characters in the history of fighters. The other two are Setsuka and Zasumel. Setsuke is like a cross between a Geisha and a Samurai. Although she seems very much at home in a Japanese brothel, the sword she sheaths in her umbrella is lightning fast and very difficult to defend against. Zasumel is a scythe master. He seems like a death monk, clad in white, but his true motives are yet to be determined. Of the new comers, Zasumel seems plain, but his story fits in well with the Soul Calibur universe.

The story of Soul Calibur is a tale of good and evil. To understand it, you must first understand that Soul Edge started by focusing of the evil. The Soul Edge is a weapon of death. It consumes the soul of its wielder and corrupts them. In the end, they who are affected by its influence sow only violence and death. Soul Calibur 1 brought a ray of hope by entrusting the Soul Calibur (the good blade) to a warrior named Xiangua. As events came to pass, the Soul Calibur and Soul Edge changed hands. At the end of Soul Calibur 2, they both became the weapons of Nightmare (Aka: Siegfried). Nightmare started as a demonic knight possessed by the Soul Edge. Upon obtaining both swords, he thrust the Soul Calibur into the Soul Edge in an attempt to destroy it forever (this is shown in the opening video). This however not only split the Soul Edge, but split Siegfried as well. Siegfried’s soul is split between two entities: Siegfried and Nightmare. The game details more about this interesting twist.

The best thing that Namco does is offer a reason for every character. It’s not just a “I’m the world’s greatest fighter, therefore I must be here.” All the characters are either seeking the Soul Calibur, Soul Edge, or their destiny. For instance, Setsuka seeks revenge on Mitsurugi (the required samurai of the bunch) for killing her master. Tira’s story is a little too convenient, since it’s based on her psychosis and thirst for power and death. Kilik, Maxi, and Xiangua are the main characters of the series and serve as the “heroes” as they try to suppress the Soul Edge and keep the peace. Other characters such as Cervantes and Ivy have tainted pasts and search for the Soul Edge to fulfill a missing piece of their lives.

The story is all played out through Tale of Souls. This replaced the standard 8 battle system by adding a map and branching story paths. After certain victories, you will be presented an opportunity to choose your next opponent (rather the path your character takes in the story). By doing so, you will receive different twists and turns in the plot. A somewhat annoying portion of the game is active time points in the story. Basically, you will have to press a certain button combination at key points to determine the outcome of a cinematic event. Sometimes this affects the next match, and sometimes it doesn’t. This definitely affects the end of the game by changing the outcome of your character’s story.

A new addition (and quite unexpected) is Chronicles of the Sword. This is a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) mode where players will have to complete strategic battles to learn more about the ongoing story. You start this mode by creating a general for your army using the Create-A-Character interface. You can choose to use either the characters given to you or create as many custom fighters as you believe you’ll need. Once this starts, I recommend paying close attention to the story. At first, I thought this mode was disjointed, but Chronicles of the Sword actually tells the back story of what’s happening behind the battles of the main Soul Calibur characters. Play progresses by moving your military units around the map and attacking enemy controlled outposts. The ultimate goal is usually to capture your opponent’s stronghold. Despite the fact there is only 1 objective for victory, you can loose if all your units are defeated or your stronghold is captured. Battles start out simple, but progress to extreme difficulty very quickly (around the chronicle 11). As you attack and are attacked, you have an option to use either standard War Craft style where the units hack on each other until the stronger wins or you can take the Soul Calibur route and fight in classic Soul Calibur matches. Choosing to engage in a Soul Calibur battle not only provides loading time, but it also can be a waste of time, so players should be mindful of how they choose to proceed.

Leaning toward unlimited replay, Soul Calibur always adds loads of extra play modes. Instead of putting them in Weapon Master mode or leaving them out for players to find, the bonus matches have all been consolidated into the Soul Arena. Soul Arena offers the standard 8 match setup that was used in previous Soul Calibur games as the “Arcade Mode”, but beyond that, it offers challenges. These include collecting coins while fighting or sudden death rallies. There is even a mode where you fight a giant statue. These modes are great to earn quick money to buy stuff in the Shop (which is now separate from any other mode).

As they have advertised since the first unveiling, Soul Calibur 3 features a create-a-character mode. This mode seems quite useless at first; however, after playing through Chronicles of the Sword, this becomes more and more viable. There are thousands of items you can apply to custom characters. Most are unlocked randomly by fighting certain number of battles, but some require players to complete key events. When this starts out, you can only create 6 types of fighters. Additional fighting styles become available as time goes on. In addition to this, you can unlock the souls of the main characters. It takes quite a while for you to notice them appearing, but having a custom character wielding the Soul Edge like Nightmare is just fun. While creating a character, you must keep in mind that there are 16 layers to which you will apply garments and accessories. Depending on the items you apply, your character’s personality will change. They can become Evil or Good and Dark or Light (personality). Believe it or not, you can create a dark and brooding hero if you apply the right clothing. It is easy to over layer your characters, so creating a character that looks good can be a learning process. Also, some of the custom fighting styles take a bit of learning, since they resemble main characters, but don’t necessarily work the same.

The fighting controls similar to previous Soul Calibur titles, yet different enough to be a sequel. This is a 4 button fighting system. You have Guard, Vertical Swing, Horizontal Swing, and Kick. Most moves require just one of these buttons to be pressed, but some require two. The default layout maps the Square as your Horizontal, so it can be difficult to make some simultaneous presses unless you remap your controller. Unlike previous Soul Calibur games, Soul Calibur 3 requires faster thinking. This adds quite a bit of difficulty to play, since you must be able to determine how you want to control your fall and recovery for the best vantage possible. Before, getting knocked down wasn’t that big of an issue, but now, if you’re on the ground for more than a split second, the AI will not hesitate to punish you severely. In addition to this, failure to control your fall (once launched in the air by an attack) will reward you with the beating of a life time. This seems like a turn toward Virtua Fighter 4’s extremely complex system, but this is where the added complexity ends. The ever popular momentum system is still very present with Soul Calibur 3. If your character is in motion, you can string more and more attacks together. Just keep the momentum, going and you can have a single match that is just one combo after another.

As every sequel should be better than it’s predecessor, Soul Calibur 3 lives up to this expectation and supersedes. A well planned create-a-character mode that even lets you create Kos-Mos (from Namco’s XenoSaga), Soul Calibur 3 leans toward unlimited replay. I give a strong recommendation to fans of Soul Calibur and even stronger to those who haven’t yet experienced the series. This is a game that makes me curious what plans are for Soul Calibur 4.