3D
beat-em-up for the Sony
Playstation. The
Japanese versions as well as the
Namco arcade game were called
Soul Edge
The Game
Gameplay is pretty basic. Two
people in a square
arena fight until one has their health bar turned completely red or is knocked out of the ring. That person is the
loser. There is usually a
time limit, and if the
timer hits zero, the person with the most health is
declared the
winner. Time limits are adjustable in the
home version, and can be set to
infinite if you want to
fight to the death.
The characters also have a weapon strength bar underneath the health meter, which depletes as you
block enemy weapon
attacks (
kicks do nothing to the weapon strength
meter). Once this runs out, you
lose your weapon and have to fight your
opponent bare-handed.
Characters have a
variety of
throws, combos and other
techniques which can help in this. This includes the Critical Edge Technique, which hurts your opponent like hell (takes away 50% of their health meter if performed as a Critical Edge Combo) but also reduces your weapon strength meter by a third.
Characters
There are 10 regular
characters, and 5
secret characters (marked by a *)
Name: Rock
Weapon: Axe
Speed: 1/5
Power: 5/5
Notes: The big
slow character. His
reaction times are easily his worst
quality, but when he hits, BOY does he hit!
Name: Hwang
Weapon: Sword
Speed: 3/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: A generic well-rounded
fighter. Not much more to say.
Name: Taki
Weapon: Rekkimaru, a small blade
Speed: 5/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Fast
ninja girl. One of the
best characters in the game.
Name: Mitsurugi
Weapon: Katana
Speed: 3/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Samurai character,
similar character to Hwang, overall. Remember the whole Ken/
Ryu thing in
Street Fighter 2?
Name: Sophitia
Weapon: Sword and Shield
Speed: 4/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Can be nasty if used
effectively. Slower than Taki but seems to do more
damage.
Name: Siegfried
Weapon: Big two-handed sword!
Speed: 2/5
Power: 4/5
Notes: Has a few
damaging combos, but is slow overall. The big sword gives him a good range though.
Name: Seung Mina
Weapon: A
naginata-style blade-on-a-stick.
Speed: 2/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Has
amazing range, but is quite slow.
Name: Li Long
Weapon: Nunchaku (or jointed sticks in the British version, due to
censorship laws)
Speed: 4/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Quite fast and with a medium range. Let down by his sometimes
difficult combos and
average power.
Name: Voldo
Weapon: God knows what. The man has
BLADES on his HANDS, people!
Speed: 3/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Ahh, the recurring "
Blind-guardian-of-a-hoard-of-treasure-in-a-gimp-suit" character, commonplace to all fighting games.
Regular power and
speed, but doesn't have the range of Hwang or Mitsurugi.
Name: Cervantes
Weapon: Soul Edge, "the ultimate
evil sword", possessed by
demons.
Speed: 4/5
Power: 4/5
Notes: Owes his speed to the fact that he actually uses two swords,
daisho style. The big
swords also equal big range.
Name: Siegfried! *
Weapon: Soul Edge (allegedly)
Speed: 2/5
Power: 4/5
Notes: Has Siegfried's black armour from his regular
ending and
appears to carry Soul Edge. Other than the
cosmetic differences he's no different.
Obtainable by getting all eight of Siegfried's weapons in
Edge Master mode.
Name: Sophitia! *
Weapon: Sword and Shield
Speed: 4/5
Power: 4/5
Notes: Again, only cosmetic
differences here. Sophitia dressed in white from where her armour disappears in her ending.
Unlocked by getting all eight of her weapons in Edge Master mode.
Name: Sophitia!! *
Weapon: Sword and Shield
Speed: 4/5
Power: 4/5
Notes: Sophitia in her bathing outfit from her
alternate ending. Once again, no difference other than that.
To unlock her, you have to get all 70 weapons on Edge Master mode. (you have no idea how long it took me to do this.)
Name: Han Myong *
Weapon: Sword, same as Hwang's
Speed: 3/5
Power: 3/5
Notes: Hwang's old
teacher. Unlocked by first
unlocking Soul Edge and then completing
Arcade mode with Hwang, then Han Myong's daughter, Seung Mina. Is
mostly the same as Hwang, but has one or two extra combos.
Name: Soul Edge *
Weapon: Soul Edge
Speed: 4/5
Power: 4/5
Notes: Mostly the same as Cervantes except has some nifty new moves.
Unlocked by completing Arcade mode with all ten original characters, or by leaving the game running for 20 hours
straight.
Edge Master Mode: This is the most fun (and at times annoying) of the gameplay modes on the Playstation version. Basically your character must travel the earth, fighting against different characters in different ways to collect weapons.
The different types of battle are:
Defeat all enemies - Just as it says, except that you don't get all of your health back at the end of a round. The hardest version of this I've seen is where you have to defeat six opponents in a row with minimal health.
Poison - Your health drops during the battle, whether the enemy hits you or not.
Timed - There is a time limit on this match. If it runs out (no matter how much health you or your opponent have) you lose.
Tired - You start off tired and with a low health meter (two or three kicks will kill you)
Air Combo - You must hit the enemy in the air to inflict damage. Every character has a move that will launch the enemy into the air, and then on the way down you can hit them with a few more to do the damage.
Ring Out - You must knock the enemy out of the ring. Low kicks are generally your best bet for this.
Critical Edge - You must defeat the enemy using the Critical Edge Technique. The only way to do this is to hit them with a Critical Edge combo, which will kill them instantly. The only two characters who have to do this are Taki and Mitsurugi. Remember to practice. These take time to perfect, seeing as you get three shots at this at the most.
More to come when I have the
time and
energy :)
More to come soon but if anyone can
help me, (with the names of the weapons, especially) then I'd be happy to include them here.