Soulcalibur II

From Soulpedia

Soulcalibur II
Platforms	Arcade, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release Date	Arcade July 30, 2002 Dreamcast JPN March 27, 2003 NA August 27, 2003 EUR September 26, 2003

Soulcalibur II (ソウルキャリバーII, Sourukyaribā Tsū?) is a fighting game developed and published by Namco and the third installment in the Soul series.

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

Compared to Soulcalibur, Soulcalibur II boasts improved graphics and introduces new characters, stages, and music.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Story 3 Movies 3.1 Opening Movie 4 Playable Characters 4.1 Starting roster 4.2 Unlockable 4.3 Bonus 5 Features 6 Stages 7 Trivia 7.1 Reception

[edit] Gameplay

• More powerful "step" and "avoid" systems, which made evading vertical attacks noticeably easier.
• Arena walls, rather than ring-out ability on all sides, and wall-specific moves.
• A three-step Soul Charge system.
• A clash system, one that is used when two attacks would hit each other resulting in a white flash and no damage to either opponent.
• Guard break attacks, which put a blocking player into a post guard-impact state
• Just Frame moves, which awarded additional hits to players who could time their command inputs well

[edit] Story

Raphael makes it to Nightmare in Ostrheinsburg Chapel, but he gets beaten. As Nightmare is standing over him, ready to finish him off, Siegfried decides that he's had enough. A nasty fight is taking place in Nightmare's mind. This buy's Raphael enough time to gather enough strength to attack and damage Soul Edge. This is enough for Siegfried to regain his mind. He casts off his evil armour. Soul Calibur appears. Siegfried, sensing the energy from this new sword, thrusts it into Soul Edge. This, however, isn't enough to destory it. Only weaken it, and the swords merge together. Siegfried takes them both, with the intention of neutralizing and destroying Soul Edge.

Raphael somehow manages to make it home, where he is nursed back to health by Amy.

Meanwhile, the spirit of Soul Edge is driven from the sword. Needing a host, it desperately clings to Nightmare's armour, which is now laying on the floor of Ostrheinsburg Chapel. However, it is impossible for the spirit to manipulate an unliving suit of armour, so it is basically helpless on the floor. Eventually, Zasalamel appears. Without speaking a word, the spirit and Zasalamel have a conversation. Zasalamel agrees to help the spirit, and creates a new body for it inside of the armour. This is the new Nightmare.

Siegfried senses this familiar energy reawakening. He now has two tasks. To destroy the cursed sword Soul Edge, and to destroy the Azure Knight, Nightmare.

[edit] Movies

[edit] Opening Movie

[edit] Playable Characters

[edit] Starting roster

(+ = New Characters)

• Astaroth
• Cassandra+
• Ivy
• Kilik
• Maxi
• Mitsurugi
• Nightmare
• Raphael+
• Talim+
• Taki
• Voldo
• Yun-seong (aka Yunsung)+
• Xianghua

[edit] Unlockable

• Cervantes
• Charade+
• Seong Mi-na (aka Seung Mina)
• Sophitia (Home ver. only)
• Yoshimitsu

[edit] Bonus

• Assassin
• Berserker
• Lizardman
• Necrid+ (Home ver. only)
• Heihachi (PS2 ver. only)
• Link (NGC ver. only)
• Spawn (XBOX ver. only)

[edit] Features

[edit] Stages

• Xiwei Siege Ruins
• Ostrheinsburg Chapel
• Lakeside Coliseum
• Kaminoi Castle
• Village of the Wind
• Eurydice Shrine Gallery
• Imperial Capitol Ayutthaya
• Labyrinth
• Pirate's Alcove
• Money Pit Top Tier
• Egyptian Ruins
• Palgaea Shrine Lowest Level
• Hwangseo Palace

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Reception

Soulcalibur II was rated the 18th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list. Media reviews of Soulcalibur II were overwhelmingly favorable, as the game earned over 91% for all versions on Gamerankings.com, and commercially the game sold well. It has also earned a 9.2/10 from IGN.

The game also did well in the competitive gaming scene, both in the US and abroad, where it was featured in many tournaments for the years after it came out. The game was particularly noted for its balance, as many different characters placed in top levels in tournaments.

After repeated high level play, however, criticisms arose, most notably in some potentially game-breaking bugs which were found, including the 2G bug (which allowed players to block immediately after being Guard Impacted) and G-Step (which allowed players to sidestep vertical attacks and immediately cancel their sidestep, allowing for instant punishment). Many moves in Soulcalibur II are also safe on block (meaning that if they are guarded, their user will recover to a neutral state before the opponent can retaliate), and characters such as Astaroth benefit more from the Guard Impact system than others.

Game Rankings currently scores it 90.6% for the PlayStation 2, 92.9% for the Gamecube, and 90.8% for the Xbox.

• E3 2003 Game Critics Awards: Best Fighting Game
• X-Play - 10th best GameCube game of all time
• Screwattack.com - 8th best gamecube game