Soul Calibur

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Soul Calibur
Soul calibur logo.png
developer Namco
Publisher Namco Bandai
First title Soul Edge (1995)
Last title Soul Calibur VI (2018)
Platform (s) Arcade ,
Apple iOS ,
Android ,
Microsoft Xbox ,
Microsoft Xbox 360 ,
Nintendo GameCube ,
Nintendo Wii ,
Sega Dreamcast ,
Sony PlayStation ,
Sony PlayStation 2 ,
Sony PlayStation 3 ,
Sony PlayStation Portable ,
Genre (s) Fighting Game

Soul Calibur (also written SoulCalibur , Soulcalibur or SOULCALIBUR or abbreviated as SC ; Japanese. ソ ウ ル キ ャ リ バ ー, Sōrukyaribā) is a fighting game series by the software manufacturer Namco . A special feature of the series is that the fights are fought with weapons in addition to the usual repertoire of punches and kicks. The central point of the series are two swords , the "bad" Soul Edge and the "good" Soul Calibur , which are coveted by the playable characters from different motifs.

chronology

To avoid licensing problems with the game magazine Edge , Soul Edge was distributed in the USA and Europe as Soul Blade .

In Soul Calibur Legends is one in action-adventure settled genre of offshoots .

scenery

The framework story revolves around two mighty, animated swords. "Soul Edge" is a demon sword, which is not seen as such by many. Various stories of lies describe the blade as the source of eternal youth or as a cure for all diseases. In reality, however, the sword is wicked through and through. “Soul Calibur”, on the other hand, is a sacred sword of light and purity. It is also said that this blade is the opposite pole to Soul Edge.

The story of Soul Calibur is set in the 16th century and revolves around a powerful sword called Soul Edge. A warrior (Sophitia) destroys the evil blade and accidentally succumbs to the evil energy of the Soul Edge to take control and to distribute the splinters all over the world. The rest of the sword is found by the hero Siegfried. It poisons his mind and causes him to murder innocents for three years. During this time he became known as Nightmare. At the same time, a mighty sword of good, "Soul Calibur", appears and destroys Soul Edge. However, all the power of Soul Edge cannot be defeated, which is why its influence can still be felt.

Several fighters pursue the sword, each for a personal reason, in an attempt to win Soul Edge.

At the beginning of the third Soul Calibur part, Nightmare manages to break away from Siegfried, but Soul Edge is destroyed by Siegfried in the process. Nightmare now carries the Phantom of Soul Edge and tries to kill Siegfried to revive Soul Edge. This fails and Soul Edge and Soul Calibur are sealed.

At the beginning of the fourth part of the story, Soul Edge and Soul Calibur are recreated and find their way back to their bearers Nightmare and Siegfried, but something went wrong with the reanimation of the two swords.

At the beginning of the fifth part there is a decisive fight between Siegfried and Nightmare, in which Nightmare is initially destroyed. Then the story takes a jump to the year 1609. Patrokolos, the son of Sophitia, kills the so-called depraved in old Europe on behalf of Count Dumas and searches for his sister Pyrrha on the side.

Series-typical features

weapons

While the idea of ​​adding weapons to fighting games isn't new ( Samurai Shodown is an example of a 2D fighting game with weapons), the Soul Calibur series was the first to incorporate weapons in 3D and with great success and style were. Aside from the aesthetic side, weapons can accommodate a far greater variety of fighting styles and better work out differences between fighters. The range of these weapons was also taken into account as an essential component and built into the AI ​​so that fighters with staff weapons try to keep their opponents at a distance.

Apart from the use of weapons, the interaction between two characters is the same as in almost every fighting game ; so there is no long series of strikes in which only the weapons hit and parry each other. Nevertheless, the series dispenses with explicit depictions of violence (e.g. blood) or plays it down, although the protagonists often pierce themselves with sharp blades and the like. E., Without the fight being decided immediately. Despite the potential, the series is therefore not compatible with e.g. B. Compare Mortal Kombat .

Eight-Way Run

Up to Soul Calibur, 3D graphics fighting games only had a limited possibility of movement in the depths of the room, where roles were previously used, for example, to jump to the side. In Soul Calibur , a movement on the joystick creates a movement in the corresponding direction on the battlefield. This allows more freedom of movement and strategic possibilities during the game.

Forgiving buffering

Buffering is the term used to describe the temporary storage of input while the character is still moving. In Tekken and Virtua Fighter , keyboard shortcuts must be entered quickly and precisely in order to achieve good punch combinations. Soul Calibur offers a little more leeway here.

Combat system

In general, the SC series offers effective combat, in which sometimes unrealistic weapons and effects are used and the figures despite being injured by z. B. swords can continue to fight, but the actual fighting behavior is largely realistic. So there are only a few techniques that resemble a projectile or teleport- like actions (compare here to Street Fighter, for example ). Nevertheless, the series does not represent a combat simulation and is overall less realistic than z. B. even the in-house competition Tekken .

The combat system basically includes horizontal and vertical attacks and kicks. In addition, each fighter has a range of throwing and grip techniques that are triggered by key combination and position (proximity + position) to the opponent.

To repel attacks, normal cover and active defense are available. With the latter, you can parry an opponent's attack so that he loses his balance for a few moments and cannot react in this short time. In addition, most fighters have special blows that have the same effect as active cover, provided that the opponent is touching the counter blow with his own attack at that moment (in Calibur II these counter blows are colored purple, for example). In addition, thanks to the eight-way-run system (8WR) , the game not only offers the possibility of dodging the opponent backwards, but also to the side. During these evasive movements, special stroke variants can also be called up depending on the direction of movement.

Every fighter has a certain repertoire of Guard Breakers (signaled by bluish flashes on the weapon (SCII)), which can break through the cover of the opponent, but then do not injure him directly, but only make him defenseless for a few moments, whereupon further attacks can be done. However, if such a guard breaker strike hits an unprotected opponent, it normally injures him in terms of his defined damage potential.

Finally, there are powerful unblockables ; Strikes that are signaled by lightning and fire on the weapon: they can break through cover and at the same time injure you directly. However, such attacks can all only be carried out slowly in relation to the respective combat speed of the character, which makes evasion a little easier.

Related to this, every character can concentrate so that the strength of the souls is gathered in him. The longer he has the time for it, the stronger and more cover-breaking the blows executed in this state become (recognizable by the color that the figure could take on). In SCII, for example, there are three levels that can be reached. In contrast to the special "Unblockable" moves and the Guard Breakers , in this state of mind each attack takes on the respective properties and thus becomes a soul attack . However, the blow must be used quickly, as the state of mind evaporates quickly. In addition, charging the souls requires time and distance. If you have to stop collecting the souls too early, the blows will be correspondingly weaker. If you have to accept a hit without being able to place a soul attack, the state of the soul evaporates immediately.

From Soul Calibur II , a so-called clash system is also included. So if two weapons meet directly due to simultaneous attacks by opponents, both attacks will end in nothing - but this only applies if a horizontal strike hits a vertical one.

This gameplay varies slightly, depending on which additional weapons are used by the characters. Only the standard weapons set the same conditions between the figures (apart from range and technique, of course). For example, some weapons allow some fighters to (slightly) injure their opponent despite passive cover (but without breaking cover) - each of these weapons then also has at least one disadvantage (e.g. slight reflection of damage, horizontal attacks are less likely countered a vertical attack etc.).

Guest appearances

A characteristic feature of the series are also the guest appearances of characters from other franchises . This was first practiced in Soul Calibur II and has continued since then.

The guest characters in Soul Calibur II differ depending on the console: In the GameCube version it is Link from the Zelda series, in the PlayStation 2 version Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken series and in the Xbox version the comic character Spawn .

In Soul Calibur IV , several characters from the Star Wars universe are available. In the PlayStation 3 variant, this was initially exclusively Darth Vader , on Xbox 360 Yoda . After a few months, the other character could also be downloaded for a fee via the PlayStation Store or Xbox Live . Darth Vader's secret student and protagonist of the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is also integrated in both versions .

In Broken Destiny , the protagonist of the God of War series, Kratos , has a guest appearance.

The Yoshimitsu character originally comes from the Tekken series and is now regularly used by Namco in both series.

In Legends was Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia used.

In the fifth part, the main character of the Assassin's Creed II series, Ezio Auditore da Firenze , was a guest character. You could also use the fighting style of the Tekken character, Devil Jin .

In the sixth part, Geralt of Rivia from the game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a guest appearance.

Fans & Reputation

A relatively large fan base has formed behind the games in the series. Namco did justice to this at Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast in that you can unlock many render images and so-called FanArts . This feature was also retained in the successor Soul Calibur II , but not to the same extent as in its predecessor.

On the other hand, the series is criticized by some video players and specialist magazines, who accused the game of insufficient depth / requirements when playing against the CPU and criticized the high proportion of button mashing , which is particularly noticeable in two-player mode.

In contrast to games like Tekken, Soul Calibur has very few “block steps”, these are moves that still give you a time advantage even if your opponent blocks successfully and only offer the prerequisite for button mashing. The principle of the game is to only hit or counter if you have successfully blocked or parried. If you hit the opponent, you have a slight advantage in terms of time, so if both players make an equally fast move after a hit, then the one who hit the hit before hits. If the opponent blocks, you are at a disadvantage in terms of time, so if both make a move at the same speed again, the one who had previously blocked successfully hits.

The only exception are the so-called "Blockstuns", they give a time advantage not only on hit, but also on block. However, in Soul Calibur, each character has very few moves of this type, unlike e.g. B. in Tekken. Constantly “mashing” the buttons in Soul Calibur is of no advantage as soon as the opponent has understood the basic characteristics of the game. This means you can hit after a block.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Soul Calibur V confirmed | News | MANIAC.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 30, 2012 ; Retrieved March 18, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.maniac.de
  2. ↑ Confirmed: Ezio Auditore da Firenze is involved in SoulCalibur V | Video | MANIAC.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 25, 2011 ; Retrieved March 18, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.maniac.de