Soul Calibur III

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Soul Calibur III
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Designer(s)	Hiroaki Yotoriyama
Series	Soul series
Release date(s)	NA October 25, 2005 EUR November 18, 2005 JPN November 23, 2005
Genre(s)	Versus fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously, for up to 8 players total in a League mode
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) PEGI: 16+ OFLC: M OFLC/NZ: M CERO: 12+
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Arcade
Input	8-way Joystick, 6 Buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade system(s)	Namco System 256

Soul Calibur III (ソウルキャリバーIII, Souru Kyaribā Surī^?) is the sequel to Soul Calibur II and is the fourth overall installment in the Soul series of fighting games. It was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2, unlike its predecessor Soul Calibur II, which was also released for both GameCube and Xbox, with a single unique character featuring in each version.

Soul Calibur is the name of the holy sword, created to battle the evil sword Soul Edge, around which the game's story-lines revolve.

The game includes new modes such as Tales of Souls, an interactive story-driven mode comparable to Soul Edge's Edge Master Mode; Character Creation, in which players can create custom characters from thirteen total occupations, with multiple weapons and fighting styles; and Chronicles of the Sword, a real-time-play mode that allows players to take their created souls through adventures of their own. The game also has the largest character roster — 24 characters playable in Tales of Souls mode and an additional 18 playable in all other modes — and largest battle stage selection in Soul Calibur history.

Although recent generations of fighting games in the Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Dead or Alive series have supported online play, Soul Calibur III does not. The game's producer, Hiroaki Yotoriyama has said that, "At the current time, the online infrastructure is extremely different between countries, and there's people that can not enjoy network gaming. We've decided to concentrate on improving the [game's offline content] and its characters so that people all over the world will be able to have fun."^[1]

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Variable Cancel Technique 1.2 File corruption problems 2 Prologue 3 New characters 3.1 Custom disciplines/Bonus characters 4 Features 5 Chronicles of the Sword Mode 6 Soul Calibur III: Arcade Edition 6.1 Legend Mode 7 Awards 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Overview

As with its predecessor Soul Calibur II, Soul Calibur III was initially well-received by both the gaming community and critics. However, several serious glitches in the game have since emerged.

[edit] Variable Cancel Technique

There is a glitch, commonly known as "G22", that allows players to cancel their character's animation during a move, visually stopping the animation though still allowing the completion of the move they had begun. An exhibition video of this glitch has been captured by South West Gamer Arena.

The variable cancel (VC) glitch can be exploited immediately following a throw-break or guard impact (GI). After a throw-situations where they can VC their moves (not just throws) to eliminate the risk in many high-damage but punishable moves.

[edit] File corruption problems

Another issue that arose during the game's release was the file corruption problem. Players were finding their save files (usually the Chronicles of the Sword file) corrupted for seemingly no reason. This led to severe frustration since most of the game's content was unlocked in the Chronicles of the Sword mode. The corruption usually occurs when a player erases or moves any game data not related to Soul Calibur III from his or her memory card when they have data from Soul Calibur III on the same card. The corruptions mostly seem to corrupt only the Chronicles of the Sword data, though sometimes all of the game data in Soul Calibur III can be corrupted. Save data from other games on the memory card will still load properly, though there have been a small unknown number of complaints at sites such as GameFAQs where players have had their whole memory card corrupted.

[edit] Prologue

This game happens a short amount of time after Soul Calibur II, meaning the year is still 1591. The amount of time is not specified, but taking into account the various character's profiles, a minimum of 4 months has already passed (1 month Xianghua needed to carry Kilik back to his master's hermit, 3 months that took Kilik to surpass his master's training.)

The wicked Soul Edge survived its fated encounter with the wielder of Soul Calibur, Xianghua, and restored its control over the body of Siegfried Schtauffen, turning him back into the Azure Knight Nightmare. Four years later Nightmare was about to restore Soul Edge, when suddenly a man wielding a thin rapier appeared, intending on taking Soul Edge. Nightmare defeated the attacker, but was distracted by Siegfried's latent will trying to restore his body. Using the distraction, the man pierced Soul Edge's eye, giving Siegfried the edge he needed to break free from Soul Edge's control once again.

After waking up, Siegfried found the holy sword, free from its entrapment within the wicked sword, and out of instinct used it to pierce Soul Edge. The result led to both swords sealed together in a fateful embrace, an Embrace of Souls. Siegfried took both weapons and started a quest to find a definitive way of sealing Soul Edge, but memories of his slaughters, plus the attacks of those resentful of the Azure Knight, drove his mind towards insanity. Unbeknownst to him, the evil soul of the blade escaped and obtained a temporary shell, starting a new killing spree to strengthen himself while seeking its body, Soul Edge.

What neither of the two warriors know is that a man behind the scenes is controlling their steps, searching to end an everlasting curse. And that many other warriors ventured in search of the blade as well.

[edit] New characters

New characters presented in Soul Calibur III:

• Zasalamel - Uses a Scythe.
• Setsuka - Uses an Iaito hidden in an Umbrella.
• Tira - Uses a Ring-shaped edge called Ring Blade.
• Olcadan - Uses a certain set of weapons, one per character, lining up with the chosen weapon of his. The character he imitates is chosen at random, making him similar in style to Edge Master and Charade from the previous games.
• Abyss - Uses a mutated Scythe.
• Night Terror - Uses a giant zweihander. Night Terror is computer controlled only without cheats.
• Amy Sorel - Adopted daughter of Raphael, wields a rapier. Usually the last character unlocked in the game.

[edit] Custom disciplines/Bonus characters

Custom Disciplines are available to custom characters. They tend to be plainer than disciplines of main characters, mostly not involving taunts and side throws. Several weapon designs of disciplines are based upon characters that use similar weapons (usually unused weapons from Soul Calibur II).

• Chinese Blade / Luna.
• Chinese Sword / Hwang Seong-gyeong.
• Dagger (paired with a small bomb) / Chester.
• Grieve Edge (bladed shoes) / Valeria.
• Iron Sword (Zweihander) / Strife Astlar.
• Katana / Arthur.
• Katana and Shuriken / Miser.
• Dual Kunai / Greed.
• Lance / Girardot Argezas.
• Dual Nunchaku / Li Long.
• Rapier / Amy Sorel.
• Steel Fan / Demuth Beel Zebus.
• Extendable Staff / Hualin.
• Segmented Sickle / Aurelia Dichalha Dolce.
• Sword and Shield / Abelia Schillfelt.
• Dual Tambourines / Lynette.
• Dual Wave Sword (Curved blades) / Revenant.

Nearly all characters who have been featured in a Soul series title in the past return, except for Inferno, Necrid, Seong Han-myeong, Edge Master (the Edge Master's dark form is rumored to be a "Shadow Master", that can be reached in "ToS" mode) and the console-exclusive guest characters: Heihachi, Link, and Spawn. Soul Calibur II's mimic character Charade does return, but only as an unplayable enemy appearing on certain paths for some characters' Tales of Souls. Other unlockable characters include personnel in the Chronicles of the Sword quest, opponents from the Tales of Souls mode, and the weapon, armor, and item shop owners.

[edit] Features

• The Character Creation Mode allows the player to choose a class (ninja, monk, dancer, knight, thief, barbarian, saint, samurai, gladiator, pirate, assassin, sage, or swordmaster), clothing and armor, and physical features. Except for the Swordmaster class, each class can use up to five disciplines, three of which are unique, and two of which are "Soul of ..." disciplines: an exact replica of a main story character's moves (although the Thief and Assassin classes both have Soul of Tira). Swordmasters can use all disciplines except for the "Soul of ..." disciplines. The Created Fighter's personality can be altered, which influences their quotes and the actions during battle. However, this personality is chosen by the equipment the character wears, and not directly by the player.

Namco added some Easter eggs as well: by using the Type X items in their default colors, the character done would looks exactly like KOS-MOS from the Xenosaga series. From other Namco games one can find King/Armor King's jaguar mask, Jin Kazama's Fire Dragon Pants, Neneko's (from Yumeria) hat, Gilgamesh's (from Tower of Druaga) helmet, Nightmare's helmet from his second costume in Soul Calibur, and parts to make the Valkyrie character from Valkyrie No Densetsu and Taira no Kagekiyo from Genpei Tōma Den.

• The Soul Arena is a mode that allows both the eight-match Quick Play (the standard Arcade Mode of the game), which is light on story and allows a speedy confrontation with Abyss, as well as the pre-defined Missions which include variations on the standard matches, such as the Scorer mission, where the player attempts to inflict damage to gain points.

• The Tales of Souls mode is a mode comparable to Soul Edge's Edge Master Mode. The mode is presented as a book, narrating the selected character's story in detail during various chapters. The player can input button combos when an icon appears in the top right-hand corner during cutscene movies. The cutscenes can have different outcomes depending on whether the player successfully inputs this sequence. During movies that precede a battle later in the game, not inputting the code could result in the player starting the subsequent battle with a shorter life gauge or some other disadvantageous effect.

• The Chronicle of the Sword is a mode where the player's created characters advance through twenty Chronicles, increasing in power and in level, unravelling a story of political intrigue and war, and involving themselves in gameplay that is a hybrid of real-time strategy and traditional Soul Calibur style matches.

• There's a World Competition mode created to simulate tournament rounds (of either eliminations or Round Robin) against the CPU.

• Most Extra Weapons make a return from Soul Calibur II. In this installment, however, the number of Extra Weapons are reduced to 8 different weapons (including the two Default for 1P and 2P, the Ultimate Weapon, Joke Weapon and The Ancient). The system is once again changed, this time based solely on Abilities (normally 2 per weapon, 4 per Ultimate and 3 occasionally). Icons are displayed telling every effect in detail for each weapon.

• There are no 3rd Costumes presented in this installment, but to compensate it there's a Color Edit mode, where the player can edit the colors out of 3 (or in some cases 4) sections of a character's costume and make their own personal version of it. The parts that can be changed range from clothing to skin to hair color.

[edit] Chronicles of the Sword Mode

Chronicles of the Sword is a one-player mode in the game Soul Calibur III. The objective is to make a character using the custom character creation system and play it through a story. You begin with you starting out as a rookie general for the Grandall Empire. There are 20 Chronicles, or levels, each one getting harder than the last. The basis is your troops are minimized and you move them like board game pieces. You must fight the enemies and take their strongholds scattered through the level. When two enemies on the map are fighting, you could have them slash each other on their own or select "Battle" and duke it out Soul Calibur style. Winning the chronicles results in a certain amount of gold depending on how well you did. As your characters fight, they gain levels, and become stronger. Sometimes the standard characters may be found in strongholds or standing and they are always level 60. As the story progresses you also gain some pre-made characters who you can control.

The plot places the player's character in the role of a young cadet of the Grandall Empire, who is chosen to lead the war against neighbouring countries Maletta and Dalkia. As the player proceeds in his/her campaign, taking territories and forcing enemy troops back, he starts to realize the true meaning of war and the reason he/she fights, eventually discovering the true enemies of his/her country.

Throughout the chronicles, the player gains many rewards. Most character's ultimate weapons (the weapons with four effects) are obtained throughout the story. The player can also unlock more armor, faces, disciplines, etc. for custom characters.

[edit] Soul Calibur III: Arcade Edition

"Soul Calibur III: Arcade Edition is a re-tuned, re-vamped, and, most importantly, fixed version of Soul Calibur III. Naturally, all glitches found in the console version have been fixed. In addition to that, we've re-tuned the overall balance of many moves and re-vamped Amy, Hwang and Li Long as official characters. All three have been revised into more unique move sets and help to expand the already expansive Soul Calibur III line-up." - WCMaxi (Namco Producer)

From the Home version all the cast returns as playable character except Abyss, who is now an unplayable Boss Character alongside Night Terror. From the 17 Bonus Characters only 3 make it into the arcade: Hwang Seong-gyeong, Li Long and Amy Sorel, the three reworked and expanded into more deep playing styles. The total roster of the arcade ascends to 27 selectable characters.

The game has three different modes: a standard Training Mode, where one can train the characters' moves in a set time of 300 seconds; a Standard Mode or Classic Arcade Mode comprised of 9 battles in a row, without cutscenes or endings; and a Legends Mode, described below:

[edit] Legend Mode

This new mode borrows many similarities with Soul Calibur II Arcade-Only Conquest Mode. In this mode, the player chooses a character to use, then a legend character (which is not the chosen character) to challenge. The player then fights eight consecutive battles to gain experience and levels, facing the challenged legend character at the 5th battle, and the player's equivalent legend character at the 8th battle. As the player's character gains levels, stat points may be allocated to improve the character's innate abilities. Players gain more experience the better they perform in battle.

There are four different attributes for any given character: STR (Strength) (Increases the character's attack power), DEX (Dexterity) (Adds special effects like Auto-Guard or Guard Damage), VIT (Vitality) (Increases the life and survivability of the character) and LUK (Luck) (Increases the chances that a character might win giving it Auto-Parry, Poison or other skills).

The player's character is only temporary unless they are able to defeat the equivalent legend character and surpass their level. For example, a player chooses Siegfried and wins at the 8th battle against the Legend Character Siegfried (Level 60). Upon the defeat of the Legend Character, the player's Siegfried was able to get to Level 62. The player is prompted to enter a name for their character and the player's character replaces the old Legend Character Siegfried.

If the player defeats the Legend Character (8th Battle) but is not able to surpass their level, the options of powering up or powering down the Legend Character become available. Owners of the Legend Character would end up choosing to power up their Legend Character. Others would power down the character to make it easier to replace that Legend Character. Defeating the challenged Legend Character (5th battle) would also give options for powering up or powering down that character. Losing to the Legend Character (8th Battle) only gives the option of powering up the character. Players may also choose to do nothing and leave the character as is.

On the average, players will be able to get their character to level 60. The default Legend Characters start at level 50. Based on observation, the attribute limit is 200, and the level limit is 999.

[edit] Awards

• E3 2005 Game Critics Awards: Best Fighting Game^[2]
• E3 2005 GameSpot Awards: Best Fighting Game^[3]
• IGN: Best Overall Fighting Game of 2005

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official North American site
• Official European site
• Namco.ch website
• The Stage of History - Soul Calibur Fansite with lots of information and Pictures
• Official Soul Calibur III Arcade Edition site
• 1UP's Soul Calibur III week-long extravaganza
• Soul Calibur III at MobyGames

v • d • e Soul video games

Soul Edge • Soul Calibur • Soul Calibur II • Soul Calibur III Characters