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Soulcalibur III
The NTSC box art for the game, depicting characters Mitsurugi and Ivy in the background, Zasalamel in the front, and Nightmare in the logo.
Developer(s)	Namco (Project Soul)
Publisher(s)	Namco
Designer(s)	Hiroaki Yotoriyama
Series	Soul series
Native resolution	480p (EDTV) 480i (SDTV)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Arcade
Release date(s)	NA October 25, 2005 EUR November 18, 2005 JPN November 23, 2005
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously, for up to 8 players total in a League mode
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) PEGI: 16+ OFLC: M OFLC/NZ: M CERO: 12+
Input methods	8-way Joystick, 6 Buttons
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Namco System 256

Soulcalibur III (ソウルキャリバーIII, Sourukyaribā Surī^?) is a fighting game produced by Namco and is the sequel to Soulcalibur 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 Soulcalibur 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.

Although recent generations of fighting games in the Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Dead or Alive series have supported online play, Soulcalibur 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 are 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]

Prologue

This game takes place a shortly after Soulcalibur 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 four months has already passed (one month Xianghua needed to carry Kilik back to his master's hermit, three months that took Kilik to surpass his master's training.)

The wicked Soul Edge survived its fated encounter with the wielder of Soulcalibur, 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 named Raphael who wielded 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, Raphael 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 knows 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.

Characters

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, and the console-exclusive guest characters Heihachi, Link, and Spawn. Soulcalibur II's mimic character Charade does return in a non-playable form, as do the generic Lizardmen. 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.

Returning characters

The standard characters returning from previous installments are:

• Astaroth
• Cassandra Alexandra
• Cervantes de Leon
• Chai Xianghua
• Heishirō Mitsurugi
• Hong Yun-seong
• Ivy Valentine
• Kilik
• Li Long
• Lizardman
• Maxi
• Nightmare
• Raphael Sorel
• Nathaniel "Rock" Adams
• Seong Mi-na
• Siegfried Schtauffen
• Sophitia Alexandra
• Taki
• Talim
• Voldo
• Yoshimitsu

New characters

New standard characters presented in Soulcalibur III are:

• Abyss – Uses a heavy scythe.
• Night Terror – Uses a giant zweihänder. Night Terror is the true final boss of the game, appearing only if certain requirements in the Tales of Souls mode are met. He's not playable, although the player can unlock his profile.
• Olcadan – Imitates other characters' 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.
• Setsuka – Uses a iaitō/iai sword hidden inside a parasol, which is used as a scabbard.
• Tira – Uses a ring-shaped edged weapon called a ring blade, which is similar to a large chakram.
• Zasalamel – Uses a scythe.

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 Soulcalibur II).

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

Gameplay

Rock fighting Nightmare.

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 series history.

The Character Creation Mode allows the player to choose from several classes, clothing and armor, and physical features. Most of the classes 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. The created fighter's personality can be altered, which influences their quotes and their actions during battle. However, the personality is chosen by the equipment the character wears, and not directly by the player.

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.

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 cut scene movies. The cut scenes can have different outcomes depending on whether the player successfully inputs the sequence. During movies that precede a battle after the cut scene ends, not inputting the code could result in the player starting the subsequent battle with a disadvantageous effect.

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

Chronicles of the Sword

Chronicles of the Sword is a one-player mode. The objective is to make a character using the custom character creation system and play it through a story. It begin with the player starting out as a rookie commander for the Grandall Empire. There are 20 Chronicles, or levels, each one getting harder than the last. The basis is the player's troops are minimized and they move like board game pieces. The player must fight the enemies and take their strongholds scattered through the level. When two enemies on the map are fighting, the player could have them slash each other on their own or select "Battle" and duke it out Soulcalibur style. Winning the chronicles results in a certain amount of gold depending on how well the player did. As the 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 (Olcadan and Abyss, however, do not appear). As the story progresses the player also gain some pre-made characters that can be controlled.

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 its neighboring countries, Halteese and Dalkia. As the player proceeds in their campaign, taking territories and forcing enemy troops back, they start to realize the true meaning of war and the reason they fight, eventually discovering the true enemies of their 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. Also, if the player starts Chronicles of the Sword after certain weapon disciplines have been unlocked, the character may use those during battle.

Soulcalibur III: Arcade Edition

From the home version, the entire cast returns as playable characters except Abyss, who is now a non-playable 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, who have been 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 cut scenes or endings; and a Legends Mode, described below.

Collectible card game

Soulcalibur III is part of the Universal Fighting System Collectible Card Game, created by Sabertooth Games and now published by Fantasy Flight Games. It was one of the official founding franchises of the card game, alongside Street Fighter, when the game was released April 2006. UFS has seen five expansions based on Soulcalibur III's characters and history.

Reception

The game has generally received positive reviews with an aggregate score of 86/100 on Metacritic.^[9] IGN, who gave the game a 8.5/10, praised the game for its "stunning environment" and "charming characters" but though that the game could use more diverse sound effects.^[10] GameSpot praised the "fun, fast-paced gameplay" but critized the lack of online play.^[11]

Awards

• E3 2005 Game Critics Awards: Best Fighting Game^[12]
• E3 2005 GameSpot Awards: Best Fighting Game^[13]
• IGN: Best Fighting Game of 2005^[14]

References

8th best game of 05. Gametrailers.com

See also

• Soulcalibur III Original Soundtrack - Legend of Sounds

External links

• Official North American site
• Official European site

Wikia has a wiki on this subject at Soulcalibur Wiki

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