Soul Calibur
From GameLabWiki
"Welcome to the stage of history, retold."
—Narrator
Welcome to a game where you can have a lot of different fighters, legendary big weapons and a challenge all over the world embedded in a historical context: Soul Calibur. For some training, the following article provides you with a short overview about the game. For choosing the right character and fighting the evil, there is a section of research-relevant topics of the game like core game mechanics, the question if the game is a fighting game or a beat 'em up, guest characters as cameos, the representation of characters, the narrator, the player, weapons and the fighting self. For a last preparation before the battle starts, there are also further readings or research approaches to find.
About the Game
Soul Calibur is a weapon-based fighting game with 3D graphics. It is the second game published after Soul Edge (Soul Blade), but the first one with its name Soul Calibur of the Soul Series. In other sources the game is listed as a beat 'em up game. The game was published 1999 by Namco (also known for Tekken.[1]) as a launch title for the Dreamcast, the last video game console of Sega. Besides the title for the home console Dreamcast, the game was also released as an arcade version in 1998.
Beginning from the start of the Soul Series: Soul Edge (Soul Blade, 1996), Soul Calibur (1998), Soul Calibur II (2003), Soul Calibur III (2005), Soul Calibur IV (2008), Soul Calibur V (2012) and the latest version: Soul Calibur VI, released in 2018. But this version is set for a new timeline.
There a some Spin-Offs released: Legends (2007), Broken Destiny (2009), Lost Swords (2014) and Unbreakable Soul (2014).
The story is about the dark sword Soul Edge which is causing trouble all over the world. There are a lot of characters with oversized weapons to choose for the player. Every character has their own story. Almost every character is influenced either by Soul Edge or Soul Calibur, the legendary sword which seems to be a helpful weapon against the evil caused by the dark sword.
Research-relevant Topics of the Game
Core Game Mechanics
SC needs the player to take action, to choose a character and repair to the stage or the combat zone which marks the space. With every game there are some regular characters, one guest character and some new characters. For example in Soul Calibur V there a disciples of the regular characters taken over the skills of the regular ones.
The stage or battle arena is set, there is a time limit which can be stopped. Different modes like story mode, arcade, versus mode or mission mode or time attack can be selected. In Soul Calibur the player is not able to create an own character, this option is possible with the release of Soul Calibur III. In order to play all the characters, the player must fight in the arcade mode to get all the characters. In later versions the player has to buy last members of the fighting cast for example Dampierre in SC V. He is available in the PlayStation Store. In SC VI there is a Season Pass available for getting more characters.
Fighting Game or Beat 'em up?
Soul Calibur is listed as fighting game, but as already mentioned, SC is also marked as a beat 'em up. The definitions can be confusing, because there may be only smooth differences between a fighting game and a beat 'em up as a genre. For further discussions about the genre, there are links to follow. But for a first impression, we can take a closer look on fighting games. Todd Harper uses for his working definition four central points:
- games of close-quarters combat
- characters with special and standard moves or attacks
- match parameters shown in the game for the player
- games should be competitive
- the game should be playable for multiplayer
What Harper really marks is the aspect of competition. The competitive character is what makes the game attractive for a fan.[2]
Guest characters from other Games
Next to the regular characters also known from the previous game Soul Edge, the player can choose one guest character of other popular games like Tekken, Assassin's Creed, Star Wars, or playable in the current version Soul Calibur VI Geralt from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. But there is also Yoshimitsu to choose who appears in Tekken. He appears first in Soul Edge but stays as a regular character in the sequels.Guest characters playable from other games may lead to a new playing experience and could be reason for buying the latest edition of the Soul Series. To play the favourite character of a game in another environment could be like taking the character with the player to fight with other favourite fighting game characters. In some way it reminds a bit of Super Smash Bros. where the player has a lot of different characters from other games having a big brawl. The cameos are taken out of their usual environment or at least in some extent. For example the character Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin's Creed, he is the guest character in Soul Calibur V. The player can fight with him and can also choose Ezio's surroundings. Every character has an own environment or an own combat zone. For example Ezio's zone is the rooftops of Venice. Therefore is a kind of transfer of Ezio and his skills into another game. But there the player has to face other conditions and other characters. The theme of guest characters can be seen as a reason for commercial success. Having Namco as a publisher seems to make it obvious that there is also Heihachi as a cameo in Soul Calibur II, as Yoshimitsu mentioned before. Guest characters mark a special feature. In addition the focus can be set on the role of the avatar and on the fact that the player can create their own character in the series, for example in Soul Calibur V where the player has the opportunity to create a character with the physics of Tekken's Jin.
Make it epic! Representation of the characters, the narrator, the player and the weapons
One of the prominent element of the game is the narrator. With a narrator talking like an announcer in the ring, the player seems to be invited into an epic battle. Together with their selected character, the player joins a combat in order to fight against an evil sword or finding the legendary sword Soul Calibur. The narrator voice changes over the years. It appears that the game is having an impact on the player in relation to their way of playing. The set is that there are characters fighting against each other, but this stage is filled with a backstory, an amount of oversized weapons with the impression that they should be to heavy to fight with, combat zones around the world, so the whole world is involved, burning or godlike final bosses, a brutal way to fight without spilling blood. Everything seems to be covered by an entity: the soul and then there is the player.
A lot of fighting games have stories to play, so that there is not just a tournament. Nevertheless it seems to need an epic story to get the player's interest. And this interest is persisting because there was the release of Soul Calibur VI which has another timeline but the characters are almost the regular ones from the first games.
Fighting Self
Who fights in the game? Is it the avatar or the player? The player chooses a figure or a character as their representative. By thinking of a definition of play, there comes Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens in mind, that the players move outside the daily routine while playing.[3] Then playing a fighting game may be also like moving into another sphere, here the sphere or the world of Soul Calibur. Using or moving the avatar and fighting with the avatar by the controller connects the player to their representative. According to Rune Klevjer the player can explore the world with the avatar in a playful way and it is possible to test new bodies and bodily techniques.[4] Playing the avatar in Soul Calibur also seems like an invitation to explore different fighting styles, the world of the game and for the players to find their own self respectively their fighting self.
Under this aspect, the performance of the player or the ideal performance can also be analyzed.
"Speaking generally, the ideal fighting game player takes the game seriously, is a gracious winner, seeks self-improvement, has an investment in both gamer culture broadly and fighting game culture specifically, considers fighting games to primarily be a social activity and a test of skill, and both appreciates and seeks to emulate the (American) arcade ideal of two fighters challenging each other one on one."[5]
The player does not fight physically with their body, but has their character fighting for them or fighting with them. Soul Calibur it is not just a Martial Arts Tournament, it is staged like a dead or alive battle where the player has to fight for the world or for a sword. But in the environment of the player outside the gaming world, they have a controller or an arcade stick. This can lead to the original idea of having a fight side by side, face to face or in a crowd, like in an amusement arcade.Depending on the controller or an arcade stick, the player can more identify with the stick, reminding them of playing a serious fighting game.[6] SC was also released as an arcade but also for the home console, so there could be a tournament surrounded by a crowd or alone at home where the player just have their surroundings and themselves.
Related Research Approaches
Competitive Gaming
Soul Calibur as a fighting game is also played on e-Sport events. As part of Competitive Gaming Soul Calibur challenges not just the player at home, but also the players in a public tournaments on big events. So there is not just the aspect that the player just fights in the arcade mode alone or online, there is also a chance to fight against other contestants outside and it seems that there is a part of the original arcade arrangement still left. SC is getting attention as a part of e-Sports culture, so the players can show themselves as players of a fighting game.
Gender Performance
Under the aspect of Gender Performance the exaggerated representation of the characters, especially the female characters in SC can be analyzed. For example the characters loose their armor or clothes when they get a special attack like the critical edge. Some characters for example Ivy just wear a small "armour" where the player can ask if this is an armour or just fan service.
Self-Reflexivity
For taking a closer look on the aspect of Self-Reflexivity in SC there is the option to create an own character who can also look like the player in front of the home console. The narrator reminds the player of the story but also that they are taking part in a combat with rounds and time limit. Depending on the type of the controller or arcade stick, the player has different ways to play the game or to take part as a contestant and to reflect their way of playing.
Metagaming
What the gamer does in the game or outside the game can differ. Otherwise the gamer takes something from SC or takes something into the game. Considering Soul Calibur with different types of playing, fighting and connecting, there is also Metagaming.
Credits/ Links
- ↑ cf. Fox, Matt: The Video Games Guide:1,000+ Arcade, Console and Computer Games, 1962-2012, 2012, P. 266.
- ↑ cf. Harper, Todd: The Culture of Digital Fighting Games. Performance and Practice, 2014, P. 14.
- ↑ cf. Huizinga, Johan: Homo Ludens. Vom Ursprung der Kultur im Spiel, 2009, p. 22.
- ↑ cf. Klevjer, Rune: What is the Avatar? Fiction and Embodiment in Avatar-Based Singleplayer Computer Games. Dissertation, Bergen 2006, p. 96.
- ↑ Harper, Todd: The Culture of Digital Fighting Games. Performance and Practice, 2014, P. 135-136.
- ↑ Ibid.