SCIV: Version 1.02 is out. Vader/Yoda DLC is UP! PA Meta-Friend in OP!

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Soul Calibur IV is the latest instalment in Namco's premier weapon-based series of 3D fighting games. That it's the only weapon based series of 3D fighting games really helps, but that's besides the point. Also, this is an OP in progress, I'll be adding new info whenever I can.



You have two options here: Read my aggressively long OP, or check out these aggressively cute comics that will help you understand the new features of SC4. Basic movement and attacks, basics of Character Creation and Editing. Basics of Soul Gauge and some single-player stuff.

IGN - 8.7/10
1UP - A/A+
Play UK - 94%
Game Informer - 8.75/10
Zero Punctuation Review

Contents (of this OP)

[1.01] General Overview
[1.02] 360 vs PS3 Comparison
[1.03] A Note On Notation

[2.01] System Overview
[2.02] System Changes

[3.01] Characters + Usage Poll
[3.02] How To Get Better At SC4

[4.01] Character Creation
[4.02] Custom Creations

[5.01] Single-player Content
[5.02] Unlocking Stuff
[5.03] Alternate Method

[6.01] Online
[6.02] PSN and XBL IDs + Meta-Friend

[7.01] Additional Resources
[7.02] Match Videos (Including PA matches)

[1.01] General Overview

Alright, if you're not familiar with Soul Calibur then here's the deal: it's a one-on-one fighting game. You pick a character and use their pointy stick to poke your opponent's character until they stop getting up. Really, I shouldn't have the get into the general more than that, right? You've all played fighting games, this one is just in 3D, with newer and fancier real-time pixel blending. It's also one of the few currently true next-gen(system) fighting games, so there's that, too.

[1.02] 360 vs PS3 Comparison

The main differences between the PS3 and 360 versions are the console exclusive (for now) guest character (Vader for PS3, Yoda for 360) and the online network. Choose whichever your friends are playing, really.

The PS3 gets an install, coming in at around 2 gigs, that will almost eliminate all loading screens, the 360 will give you loading screen that last up to 5 seconds, but not that often.

Additionally, you should be aware of which pad you prefer. Many people are partial to the PS3 pads, and it's certainly easier to get good PS3 adaptors for old PS2 Hori sticks, which are still in wide use. But the 360 has Hori sticks, as well, and there are a few PS2 to 360 adaptors that are pretty good for regular pads.

For those wondering about the SE, you do get some additional character creation equipment, and a couple of weapons.

Soul Edge (Final Form) and Soul Calibur (Final Form) unlocked at the start without having to purchase them.

Female Character

HAT:
White brim

NECK:
Lace Tie
String Necklace
String Nectie
Ribbon Tie

SHIRT:
Feminine Blouse
Sailor Suit
Knit Vest
Blazer

PANTS:
Short Apron
Apron Skirt
Pleated Checkered Skirt

SOCKS:
Loose Socks
Knee Socks

Male Character:

SHIRT:
Uniform
Blazer

PANTS:
Formal Pants

SHOES:
Leather Loafers

[1.03] A Note On Notation

I will often be using the standard Soul Calibur notations in this OP (and in this thread).

The most basic thing you need to know about this is the way I'll be indicating joystick directions.

789
456
123

Other basics: + = at the same time.
_ = either/or (e.g. 33_99K means you can press either 33K or 99K to do the same move)
[] = hold the button or direction down.
CH = Counter Hit
FC = From Crouch/Fully Crouched





For a more comprehensive rundown of standard Soul Calibur notations please see the Newbie Silencer in the Additional Resources section at the bottom of the OP.

[2.01] System Overview

What sets Soul Calibur apart from the other major 3D fighting games series is that it's based on weapon combat. Aside from the obvious cosmetic difference, this also changes the way the game is played. Characters have more range, there's an emphasis on spacing that isn't found in VF or Tekken. There's also less relience on throws and juggles, and generally less rote memorization. There's still a lot of depth for anyone who wants to dive deeper.

[2.02] System Changes

There have been a lot of changes made to Soul Calibur's fighting system in 4, both additions and subtractions.

Gone are Soul Charging, Advance and Retreat Guard, While Landing moves (for most characters), throws can no longer be Guard Impacted (GId).

But, you get lot's of new stuff to replace the old stuff.

The Soul Gauge and Critical Finishers. By far the biggest change in SC4. Each player has a coloured circle (displayed in the top corners of the screen) that functions as a block meter. It starts out green, and as you block attacks it will turn yellow, then eventually red. Once it's red your health bar will start to flash and if you continue to block you will suffer a Soul Crush, leaving you momentarily open to a Critical Finisher (G+A+B+K), which is a round-ending attack. Your Soul Gauge will increase as you land attacks, or gradually over time. You also recover a percentage between rounds or when you're Soul Crushed.

To reiterate: How Do You Do A Critical Finisher?

1 - Force your opponent to block attacks until their Soul Gauge is flashing red.
2 - Hit them with another few attacks, the bigger the better, at which point their Soul Gauge will shatter (there's an obvious flash and a sound like breaking glass). As soon as you see this hit all 4 buttons (G+A+B+K) at the same time.
2b - Guard Impact your opponents attacks until you get the Soul Crush (same animation and sound), then hit all 4 buttons at the same time as above.
3 - If you did it right, that's all there is to it.

Armour Breaks. When you take enough hits at a certain attack level (High, Mid, or Low), you will suffer an armour break at that level. A piece of your character's costume will break off (bigger pieces will remain on the ground for the rest of the fight) and you'll take more damage on that level. There are 3 green bars stacked up vertically underneath the Soul Gauge that represent each level of armour.

Guard Impacts. Pressing 6, 3, 4, or 1, and G at the same time will initiate a GI animation. During this you can catch an incoming attack (6 or 4 and guard for high/mid attacks, 1 or 3 and guard for mid/low attacks) and either repel it (with the forward GIs), giving you a good opening, or knock your opponent to the ground (with the back GIs), giving you a bit of breathing space. The recovery for GIs is substantial, though, so it's important to be careful with your timing.

Additionally, there's the perfect GI, which leaves your opponent very open and will give you a free counter hit. Perfect GIs are much harder to time, though, so don't count on doing them regularly without a lot of practise.

New Clash System: When two moves of the same level hit at the same time you will get a clash, and both characters will have their moves deflected away harmlessly. New to SC4 is that attack strings (aka canned combos) that are clashed will keep going and can hit your opponent before he has a chance to recover. For example, Kilik's 6AAA can effectively attack through an incoming high attack and keep going. This is not really an effective tactic yet, since clashes aren't something you really plan for, but it is interesting.

[3.01]Characters

There are 26 story characters (24 returning, 2 new), 3 Star Wars Guest characters (2 on each console, as yet), and 5 Bonus characters, for a total of 34 basic characters.

For edification, Darth Vader and Yoda are console exclusive at this point, with Vader on the PS3 and Yoda on the 360, but there will eventually be a way to unlock whichever one you don't have.

Watch before it gets taken down again.

JellySalmon has done up a little informal study on character usage statistics in online games. Link is Here. Basically, the top 4 characters are exactly who'd you'd expect: Kilik, Cervy, Mitsu, and Astaroth. They also make up just over 50% of the total characters being used, so expect to face them a lot. Of course, you already know that if you've ever played online.

AMY

Amy has a lot of potential. She's got speed, good lows, decent range, excellent combo potential. What she lacks is damage. That, and even though she has a lot of stuns, they're almost all escapable. You can try and play that, though; once your opponent figures out when to struggle out of your stuns, just be waiting with a throw.

Amy is ridiculously safe. 33B, 6B+K, 3BA, this stuff is all safer than it has any right to be. Additionally, Amy is excellent for CFs. 33B and 6B+K are especially great for this, and if your opponent isn't stepping you're going to be getting CFs every other round.

Staples include:

1A - a good low with some range, though somewhat unsafe
2A+B - another good low, a little slower, but it knocks down. Also unsafe, though not horribly so
BB - is a natural combo, use whenever.
6B+K - a fast, TC mid that stuns. doesn't track so great, though.
8WR A+B - has deceptive range and tracking.
3BA - an awesome move. Mid, low, a launcher. It's one and only weakness is that it doesn't hit grounded opponents. does absurd damage.

CASSANDRA

Once again, Cassie has been overhauled. She lost a lot of the moves I loved in 3, but most of her important stuff is more or less intact, and some of her new stuff is impressive. She has decent speed, decent range, good damage -- a great character all around.

Most Cassie players play pitbull. She can play defensively, but not as well as her sister. 236:B doesn't have the range or the damage to trade Soul Gauge hits against the heavier characters, so you're better off just going for broke. He has many ways to to do damage but they're mostly mid, so you're going to want to use her 66B+G throw as much as you can; her lows are kind of trash. After most stuns or CHs she can get a free 4BB:A, so work on timing that.

She also has a strong ringout game, so don't be afraid to fight near the edge. A post GI 236:B is an easy win. If your back is to the edge go for 236B+G, 4BB:A, or even a 44B after blocking something really unsafe, or against someone spamming highs.

Staples include:

236 - a new version of her 236B, it now stuns and can set up good damage. It's much safer than 236B, but comes out slower.
236B - her best punisher. Do not throw this out at random, no matter how much you may be tempted, as it is extremely easy to step and is unsafe as all hell on block. The JF version (236:B) comes out faster, use it for punishing.
B,B - even toned down, her B,B is still a great move up close. use it to punish and pressure.
4BB:A - her new everymove, just tack it onto a combo for easy damage. Be sure to learn the timing on the A. It will hit grounded if they tech the wrong way, and is guaranteed after 66B+G
1K - her best close range low. you can get 4BB:A off a CH
FC 1B - her other good low, though it can get kind of obvious since you have to get into crouch to do it. has decent range, so you can use it as a poke against long reaching characters.
2B+K - a tech-crouching mid that has a nice stun on CH. Again66B+G - a great throw. follow up with 4BB:A, which will ring out to her side and behind.

SOPHITIA

Sophie isn't as overpowered as she was in SC3, but she's still a strong character able to fight well up close and at mid range. Excellent damage, huge punishment game, scrub-stomping lows. She's a great character for beginners, too.

Many Sophie players play a punishment game, though she's got decent mix-ups, too. After blocking something unsafe just put out a 236:B4 and you're doing 50+ damage. Her 236B has much better range than Cassie's, but doesn't ring out.

SIEGFRIED

Great range, good damage, decent mix-ups. Siegfried is still a stance dependent character, though, so if you're not careful you can be caught wide open. He's still a great defencive character, and good for beginners; no really difficult inputs or timing here. He's also great for Soul Gauge damage, especially since backstepping is so much slower and you can keep people within your range.

Ideally, Siegy wants to fight at mid range. You're trying to keep your opponent withing easy reach of all your moves, because if you whiff you're going to get punished. Use 3B, WS , [kB], B, and his excellent throw range to punish, and his stances for mix-up. You can transition from once stance to any other almost instantly, so use that to mix things up. You can sidestep with 8_2B+K, backstep with 4B+K, advance with 6B+K.

Staples include:

3,B - a great all around punisher. Use whenever your opponent whiffs a move, or if you block something really unsafe. On CH go for 3 A+B, it does great damage.
66B - Not nearly as great as it used to be, now that the tracking isn't so good, but great for interrupting B moves.
B6 - a quick mid
6K - a quick kick that will get you a stun. You can go for 3, A+B if you think they're struggling out.
2[A+B] - this is mostly just me, since I love this move. Works well at range, and against mashers, and hits grounded with the right spacing. Hold the buttons to go into his low stance for additional mix-ups.
FC 2A+G/B+G - his low grabs. Use against excessive high attacks (people who use AA a lot deserve to be punished). Now in SC4 the B+G version throws your opponent behind you. Can be used for ROs.

IVY - Be warned, Ivy is not for the faint of heart, or the easily discouraged.

Ivy is completely different now. Look forward to relearning her almost from scratch.

Her stance changes now work as a flow: WP -- CL -- SW -- SE. You can go one step left or right. During an attack hit A+K to go one left, B+K to go one right. Each stance change is accompanied by a flash of RED (A+K) or BLUE (B+K), and there's a delay before you can do another stance change. The easiest (lol?) way to get from SW to WP, or visa versa, right now is to just do CS and then stance change twice during the animation. You can also try for WP WRB,B, but it's harder to get them both.

[3.02] How to get better at Soul Calibur (and most other fighting games, too)

1 - Pick a main. Emphasis on a main. Screw around with each character a bit in practise mode, find one that you like, but the most important thing is to stick to one single character while you're learning. This is just practical; if you want to progress at a reasonable rate then don't dilute your achievements. There'll be plenty of time later to pick a secondary and to dabble in the rest, but you need to have one character that you're best with.

2 - Learn your character. This doesn't mean you have to GameFAQs everything. Take some time, go through the movelist in Training mode and figure out what works, what you like. It's important that you have every move at your fingertips, even the ones you never use, because if you look long and hard enough you'll find a use for almost anything, and you need as much flexibility as possible to adapt to new opponents.

3 - Learn your damage. Learn your combos, learn what rings out, which throw does the most damage and which is for positioning. You need to be able to maximize every opportunity you get.

3b - Learn to punish. This is very important, and not just for the Sisters. Most moves in SC4 (and certainly the fancy ones) are somewhat unsafe. You don't want people to walk all over you, so you need to be able to stop them from doing whatever they want. If you block something unsafe then you should be able to punish your opponent, this is the essence of the risk/rewards nature of set-ups. If you're not punishing then your opponent will just peck at you until you give up or eat a CF, so learn how. Just about every character can punish most unsafe things on block, and everyone can punish whiffs. And besides that, if you don't like your opponent doing certain moves then the best way to stop them is to take your guaranteed damage every single time until they stop, or lose. Even a simple BB or AA will do, as long as it's something.

4 - Develop your strategy. Once you've got your movelist, combos, and punishers down you can start developing your own way of doing things. It's useful to check out what other people are doing with your character, but you're not going to get nearly as far if you don't put some creativity into your play. Decide which set-ups you like, figure out some tech traps, develop and adapt your play against as many different characters and opponents as possible.

5 - Learn the game. This should be happening along with the rest of these steps, but it's very important that you know as much as possible about what's going on. Observe and test. Learn how to tech properly, how to AC properly, how to struggle out of stuns, how to GI, and how to throw escape. These things come with time, so if you keep at it you'll get there eventually.

6 - Learn how to play against humans. This is where your work really starts. Once you know exactly what you're doing then it's time to really play the game, and the game really goes on in your mind and the mind of your opponents. You need to learn how to train them just so, leaving them open to your eventual (and diabolical) master plan. Using lows and throws to set-up your more powerful mid attacks, which throw to do (or escape) in a given situation. Your ultimate rewards will come in the form of stunned opponents who let you walk all over them (at least long enough for you to win).

[4.01] Character Creation

The character creation options are more robust by far than they were in SC3. Not only can you create, from scratch, your own fighters, but you can also edit the story characters, giving them new costumes and hairstyles.

[4.02] Custom Creations

urahonky made:
Sothe
Ike
Tifa


PunkBoy made:
Pi (.hack//G.U.) Pi again
Mitsuru (Persona 3) Mitsuru again
Haseo (.hack//G.U.)
Razgriz (Ace Combat?)
Kei Nagase (Ace Combat)
Dr. Horrible
Captain Hammer
Haseo Form 2

RedMageDarion made:
Red Mage
Kain
Gilgamesh (FF2/4)
Tha Shredda!
Hrist
Lenneith
Psycho Mantis
Id
McDohl
Spy
Richter Belmont
Eirika
Captain Falcon

X Pr3dat0R X made:
Dracula (Closup)
Dracula Mk II (Closup)
Judge Dredd (Closeup)
Vader
Iron Man V1 Iron Man V2
Altair
Altair mkII
Lara Croft
Spawn
FFX Yuna
Crono
Darth Maul
Indian Jones
Ryu Hayabusa
Scorpion
Sub Zero
Zeus

Fatty McBeardo made:
Karl Rove
Karl Rove: American Defender Mode

tendoboy101 made:
Crono
Magus

Kevin Crist made:
"Aracain"
"Lilith"
Doomhammer
"Pharisee"
Testament
Princess Peach
Zelda
Kain
Cecil (Dark Knight)
Cecil (Paladin)
Alien

Scotty made:
Simon Belmont

OtakuD00D made:
Guts
Griffith

Doctor Fink and his friend made:
Diablo 2 Necromancer

Auron (FFX)

Helloween made:
Zelos (Tales Of Symphonia)
Sheena (ToS)
Solid Snake
American McGee's Alice
The Red Queen
Alice vs The Red Queen
"Isis"
Simon Belmont
Soma
Vyse

bongi made:
His "dude."

Shadowfire made:
Sanosuke
Parn
Sgt Asswhooped
Dread Pirate . . . Wesley(?)

ManetherenWolf made:
Izuna
Luca Blight - Suikoden II
Light Yagami (from Death Note)

Grath made:
Harley Quinn

TehSpectre made:
Vega
Blanka
Ryu
Ken
Bison
Cammy
Akuma
Chun Li

Delinator made:
Gandalf the Grey
Tiffy the Witch
Elsa the maid
The Demon Sisters

Feels Good Man made:
The Lich King/Arthas
Colbert - "Real" American Hero
Ike from Fire Emblem
Marth from Fire Emblem
Link
Ganondorf

GalagaGalaxian made:
The Mysterious Informant; Mr.Chin
The Dread Pirate Roberts
"Yasuda"
Tharis

Professor Snugglesworth made:

Final Fantasy Characters:
Tifa
Yuffie
Aerith

Vincent
Barret
Kadaj
Loz
Yazoo

Selphie
Rikku
Lulu
Anime Characters:
Gutts
Zodd (a little balance between his human and Apostle forms)
Fate Testarossa
Ichigo
Kenpachi
Balsa (from Moribito, which just premiered on Adult Swim. Watch it, it's good)
Alphone Elric
The Ronin Warriors:

Ryo
Sage
Cye
Dais
Sekhmet
Kayura
Others:
Brock Samson
Emeralda
Elly
Spider-Man
Solidus Snake

[5.01] Single-player Content

Soul Calibur 4's single-player mode uses the new Active Matching Battle system, letting you face off against multiple enemies in a row without screens or any other post-battle stuff. To help you with this, you'll often enter a battle with more than one character yourself, and you can switch them out freely. Characters in standby will slowly recover health.

Story: Comes in Normal and Hard flavours. Fight through each character's somewhat unique story. There are 4 levels, then a sub-boss/destined battle, then the boss, Algol. Once you beat Algol you see the character's ending, which is an in-game cinematic lasting no more than a couple of minutes. You get gold for beating Story mode, and can unlock a few characters. You will sometimes be temporarily joined by an ally for Story mode battles.

Arcade: Just like Story, but without the cut-scenes.

Training: Used to practise moves and combos. You can test various setting and conditions, look through detailed movelists, and just screw around to get a feel for things.

Tower of Lost Souls: The real meat of SC4's single-player modes. You pick a few characters and either ascend or descend through various levels, each harder than the last, in an attempt to unlock new items and earn gold. Ascending floors are set battles with set prizes, descending floors are random battles with a set boss every 5 floors who will give a prize. When descending you get 2 characters, and when they're both defeated you have to start at the beginning.

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[5.02] Unlocking Stuff

Bonus Characters: You unlock Bonus characters by defeating them in Story mode. They appear as sub-bosses.

Guest Character (The Apprentice): Play through Arcade mode with Vader/Yoda. The Apprentice will be your sub-boss. Defeat him to unlock him.

Algol: Defeat him (he's the last boss) in Story mode to unlock him.

Some story characters must be purchased (4000G each, you start with 20000G) in the Character Creation screen.

Tower of Lost Souls:

Ascending: When you repeat an ascending floor you will be given a clue as to the special conditions needed to unlock that floor's item. If you don't want to figure them out yourself, here's the list:

1f soldier's hat , clear stage while taking no damage
2f warrior trousers clear stage with no ring outs from either side
3f pauldron, switch with ally more than 2 times
4f warlord's belt perform 3 attack throws
5f clergy clothes defeated an enemy with a ring out
6f wonder jacket, threw an opponent
7f warrior trousers, cleared the stage without missing any attacks
8f armor ring: ice mirror, switch characters twice
9f scarlett blossoms gaurded the opponent's attack 3 times in a row
10f silver boots gaurded the opponent's attack 10 times in a row
11f grim horn , defeated all enemies with a critical finish
12f magus cloth defeated all enemies with ring out
13f pegasus sallet, destroy all the walls
14f stage: phantom pavilion- seesaw , performed gaurd impact more than 3 times
15f submissions belt, clear the stage using only the A and G buttons
16f Warlord's belt, clear the stage with 0 time remaining
17f Arm Bandages, execute a 5+ combo
18f Kouchu Kabuto, Stood on all corners of the stage
19f Longhua qippo, switch with ally more than 5 times
20f Life gem:sun, Cleared the stage with a critical finish
21f Longhua Qippo, Voluntarily performed a ring out
22f Honor boots, perform more than 4 counter hits
23F Frilled skirt, Guard more than 3 times in a row
24f Protect Gem:Cardinal directions, Perform a combo with more than 240 damage
25f Zhuque Changpao, Threw more than 5 times
26f Warthog Cuirass, Executed a 10+ combo
27f Iron Gauntlets, Cleared the stage with no damage taken
28F Aculeus Suit, Opponent guarded a guard break attack at least twice
29f Menghu Boots, Switch with ally 5+ times
30f Spirit Gem: Noniple Heads, Clear stage without guarding
31f Longming Qippo, perform 5+ Just Inputs
32f Vane Mask, perform a low throw
33f Battle dress, perform 3 attack throws
34f Power Gem: warrior Princess, perform guard impact 3+ times
35f Warthog Pauldrons, clear without switching
36f Parlor Blouse, clear stage with 0 time remaining
37f Siren's helm, Defeat all enemies with critical finishes
38f Gorgon Fauld, Defeat all enemies with ring out
39f Kingfisher Greaves, Clear the stage without changing position
40f Deer Head, execute a 5+ combo
41f Minotaur, perform 5+ Just Inputs
42f Demonic Gloves, clear the stage without letting opponents invoke a skill
43f Repel Gem: Iron Shell, perform an over the back throw
44f War Cloak, No ring outs either side
45f Tiger Lily Kabuto, Defeat enemies without using any skills
46f Butterfly salet, Same as above
47f Succubus Boots, Throw 5 times
48f Life Dem:Jade, Clear stage with a character equipped with the "invisible" skill
49f Horns of Calamity, clear stage with no attacks missing
50f Tiger Lily Breastplates, execute a 10+combo
51f Tiger Lily Fauld, perform more than 4 counterhits
52f Feathered Wings, clear stage with a critical finish
53f Blade Ring: Demon Lord, defeat all enemies with a ring out
54f Leviathan Paoldron, destroy all the walls
55f Priestess Kimono, perform 3 attack throws
56f Leviathan Burgonet, perform a combo with more than 240 damage
57f Voodoo Armlets, Voluntarily perform a ring out
58f Tiger Pauldrons, Defeat all enemies without any skills equipped
59f Voodoo Greaves, Guard an enemies attack 10 times in a row
60f Voodoo Breastplate, clear the stage without switching characters

Notes and Tips for Tower of Lost Souls:

Stages that require you to win without taking any hits mean just that. Using HP Drain to get you health back to full WILL NOT satisfy the condition, even though you still get a "PERFECT."

Voluntarily performing a ring out means you have to jump off the stage yourself, sacrificing one of your characters. If your opponent hits you on the way out, even if you jumped yourself, you will not satisfy the condition.

"Use attacks that seize and strike" means use an Attack Throw. Look for an orange "AT" symbol in your movelist. If your character doesn't have one use Nightmare or Siegfried.

Amy has a natural 9-hit combo (4B+K,B). If you do 6K, 4B+K,B then that's 10 hits, 100% guaranteed.
Amy also has CH 77_44_11B,B = 10 hits.
Amy also has 6K, 44B,B = 11 hits.

Throws and attack throws are not affected by defence. If you're up against a challenging enemy with a lot of defence, but little HP, then the easiest way to get around this is with throws. The enemies on Floors 45 and 46 are, however, almost immune to throws, but not attack throws. Select Nightmare or Siegfried and use FC 2A+G (or FC 2B+G, but it does less damage), and with Nightmare you can also use A+K, 1[A]~K, and FC 3B, with Siegfried you can also use 1B. This will get you through these fights in short order.

Descending: You get a prize for every 5th level boss you clear.

B5 Dark Knight's Cloak
B10 Blade Ring: Raging Thunder
B15 Lapin Chapeau
B20 Repel Gem:Fox Demon
B25 Succubus Guantlets
B30 Demonic Armor
B35 Demonic Pauldrons
B40 Voodoo Crown

[5.03]Alternate Method

You get unlocks for getting Achievements (trophies for PS3 players). At 30 Achievements you'll have unlocked all the items (you still need to do the Tower to unlock the extra stage, as far as I know), but you'll then need to purchase them from the character creation shops, and they can get expensive. You can gain gold for this by playing ranked matches online. Or....

Two easy ways to make gold:

The Short Way:
(12500G per try, but you need to sit in front of the TV)
What you need - beat Tower of Lost Souls

1. Choose level 60, and pick Xianghua or Kilik
2. As soon as the round starts, back up to the edge of the ring and do a move that leaves you grounded (Xianghua's 1A+B(hold), Kilik's 1B+K(hold)).
3. Roll around as needed, making sure that Algol's line of vision is perpendicular to the edge of the ring
4. Wait for Algol to ring himself out

If you're lucky, you can make 12500G in one minute.

The Long Way:
(10000G per try, but you don't need to sit in front of the TV)
What you need - a controller with autofire functionality

1. Set X (PS3) or A (Xbox 360) as the horizontal slash button (A, by arcade notation)
2. Choose Siegfried in Arcade Mode
3. Leave A turned on

Siegfried will continue to do A slashes, which will eventually beat story mode for 10000G. The cursor will still at Arcade Mode when you beat it, and the default character is always Siegfried.

It takes 10 to 15 minutes to beat the game this way, which means you'll make anywhere from 40000G to 60000G every hour.

(Source: caliburforum)

[6.01] Online

There are one-off ranked matches and 4 player casual lobbies. You can speak to each other if you have a mic, and you can observe if you're in the lobby before a match starts.

There are leaderboards for all the single-player modes, ranking for online play.

[6.02] PSN and XBL IDs

aneis was kind enough to make us a PA SC4 LiveID repository: Arcadian Souls Just add it and then peruse its friends list at your own leisure, adding and playing who you will.

| Player | XBL ID | PSN ID

| page | religionLOL | N/A
| B:L | KEF Trigg | B__L
| RWangs | N/A | Terasozin
| LibrarianThorne | LibThorne40k | N/A
| Kyougu | N/A | Brownchiclets
| Drem | N/A | PooglyWoogly
| LordOfMeep | LordOfMeep | N/A
| BlueDestiny | BlueDouble | N/A
| Bamelin | N/A | Bamelin |
| PolloDiablo | Pollo Diablo C | N/A
| Roxtar | N/A | Jesp
| Blackbeard7 | Blackbeard7 | N/A
| RedMageDarion | RedMageDarion | N/A
| Shadowfire | Windrunner | N/A
| Baratus | N/A | | Baratus_JT
| arcath | arcath | N/A
| templewulf | templewulf | templewulf
| BlackDragon480 | BlackDragon1066 | N/A
| JohnHam | JHamilto | N/A
| Vray | N/A | kurod007
| Joeslop | Joeslop | N/A
| fallaxdraco | N/A | boredmarc
| PunkBoy | PunkBoy412 | N/A
| Malick | N/A | Malickai
| TehSpectre | N/A | TehSpectre
| Irond Will | Irond Will | N/A
| Dragkonias | NinjaDakuFox | N/A
| Culver | Culver42 | N/A
| MiSTieOtaku | MiSTieOtaku | N/A
| Dareth Ram | N/A | ThePendragon
| kdrudy | N/A | kdrudy
| Aumni | Aumni | N/A
| wusoldjr | Blunted Wumpus | N/A
| Helloween | Helloween45 | N/A
| KimFidler | Kim Fidler | N/A
| Caedere | TrueCaedere | N/A
| F-Zero_Racer | FZeroRacer | N/A
| Jedi_Boi | Gathlayo | N/A
| MagicPrime | N/A MagicPrime
| DrunkMc | Slock81 | N/A
| Docshifty | Rhys Numbers | N/A
| Fig-D | N/A | Fig-D
| Svelte Penguin | N/A | Svelte_Penguin
| Ah_Pook | N/A | Ah_Pook
| No Great Name | N/A | NoGreatName
| Tcheldor | N/A | Tortalius
| defrag | hero imprisoned | N/A
| acidlacedpenguin | acidboogie | N/A
| maraxus94 | maraxus94 | N/A
| Shujaa | N/A | Shenanigans_mk2
| Septus | Kurahoshi | N/A
| Kazaka | CondemnerZer0 | N/A

[7.01] Additional Resources

If you'd like to know more about SC4 than I'm prepared to write here.

The Soul Calibur 4 Super Guide Written and maintained by dedicated and knowledgeable players, this is a great resource for getting general information about the different characters and systems. There will be more added to it as time goes on.

Caliburforum's Newbie Silencer Caliburforum is a the continuation of the old official Soul Calibur forum, rescued from the grave after Namco shut it down. Most of the high level tournament players are on this forum, many are active in the discussions. The Newbie Silencer is a great place to start if you want to enter this deeper world of SC4. It contains all the secret codes and notations that you'll run into constantly there, and in many other fighting game forums as well.

Soulcaliburuniverse.com A dedicated fan site. Many of the people from the Caliburforum also post here, though discussions are generally a little less "hardcore."

[7.02] Match Videos

PA Casuals:

S8 Fish(SETS) vs Irond Will(MITSU)
LibThorne(YODA) vs Page(SIEGY)
Irond Will(MITSU) vs LibThorne(APPR)
Irond Will(SIEGY) vs LibThorne(APPR)
Irond Will(MITSU) vs Page(CASSIE)
Sunabozu(ASTA) vs LibrarianThorne(CERVY)
page(Nightmare) vs JonnyBot v1(Tira)
page(Mina) vs JonnyBot v1(Tira) #1
JonnyBot v1(Tira) vs oOInterstellaOo(Raphael)
Aumni(Hilde) vs page(Mina) #1
Culver42(Cervy) vs RedMageDarion(Siegy)
Culver42(Kilik) vs Irond Will(Raph)
Aumni(Hilde) vs page(Mina) #2
page(Mina) vs JonnyBot v1(Tira) #2
page(Mina) vs MistieOtaku(Appr)
MistieOtaku(Appr) vs page(Mina)
RedMageDarion(Mina) vs Aumni(Hilde)

Septus

Dragkonius wrote:

Actually, probably isn't that you suck at GI'ing it's just delayed online.

As for Siegfried, you should probably work on spacing. A lot of the people will use faster characters to try and spam you out, but if you use you range to your advantage they'll have a much hard time.

And learn moves for breaking people off you...6K is a good one and it stuns on counter.

Actually, I've never been able to pull off GIs reliably, even offline.

I have a hard time getting range with Sieg. One of my go-to moves to give me some breathing room is 6A, as it's relatively fast, but not enough for some of the spammed moves I'm seeing, and side stepping is awfully slow, and backing up is worse.

Page-

Now that I have some space I plan on updating a few of the sections, particularly the Characters section.

Septus: Siegy is a mid-range character, not a long range character. You want them within easy reach of your moves, because if they can step you then you're going to get punished on whiffs.

Up close try 66KA (the A is guaranteed, so go for it), 3KKB (a little slow to start, but the second hit is a low and will get you the , 4K (linear, but will knock them away), 6K (gives a stun that will net you a free 3, A+B if they don't struggle out, and they won't online). Also, Siegy has a decent punish game. Go for 3, B, it should be your staple punisher against anything that whiffs or is unsafe on block. Use his A+K,A low strings, too, especially if you can get the timing for A+K, A:2AA, because they're pretty safe and are great for getting people out of your face. Plus, scrubs don't block low. Also, he has great throw range, so abuse that; lot's of moves will leave people in throw range on block. Abuse the low throws, if you can.

Dragkonias

Septus wrote: »

Dragkonius wrote:

Actually, probably isn't that you suck at GI'ing it's just delayed online.

As for Siegfried, you should probably work on spacing. A lot of the people will use faster characters to try and spam you out, but if you use you range to your advantage they'll have a much hard time.

And learn moves for breaking people off you...6K is a good one and it stuns on counter.

Actually, I've never been able to pull off GIs reliably, even offline.

I have a hard time getting range with Sieg. One of my go-to moves to give me some breathing room is 6A, as it's relatively fast, but not enough for some of the spammed moves I'm seeing, and side stepping is awfully slow, and backing up is worse.

Well, another good move you should consider is his 3a(the sword slap move) it tends to people off guard a lot and it has good knockback.

His double trip attack 1a, a is also good as it force people to duck unless they want to eat a lot of damage. You can even switch it up by only do into once, then moving in for another attack.

You may also want to consider 2A+B. It's a nice low attack and if you hold it you can go into his low stance which you can follow up with a good number of moves.

Shujaa

How do people get close to a good Astaroth? His low horizontal sweep seems to have huge range, all I can do is block it and get pushed back even further

Page-

Jump and/or GI. GI will bring you close, but you usually want to jump the A and GI the B.

Shujaa

Thanks, I'll try jumping next time, doing a GI against a move like that with lag is out of my reach.

Culver

Woot new thread! Blue dot!

So how's everyone doing? Who are you working on right now? and why aren't you playing SC4 24/7 :P

Nocren

So my buddy just picked up the 360 version. Gotta say, I don't like performing CFs AGAINST Yoda. However his (when used against someone normal sized) is awesome.
And Yoda seems to take a little more effort to use then Vader. But maybe that's because I've used Vader for a while now and just dicked around with Yoda for about... 3 hours.

Helloween

Oooo new thread.

Had the most fantastic Cervantes spammer last night. He kept 4BK teleporting over and over again and was howling into his mic about why it wasn't working.

'You're fucking cheating aren't you!! Fuck!! Why doesn't this hit! grghggg *random words and screams*'

I'm suprised I won laughing so much. Some people need to chill out.

spookymuffin

I got a Cervy spammer like that too! He got all pissed and said "Well, you lag, so you suck." Like it fucking mattered. If you keep doing the same shit over and over, someone is going to catch on, assblaster.

KimFidler

I gotta get some SCIV going this week. Are you guys noticing that it seems like more people are playing now? I think many people were on the fence about it, and have started picking it up due to the good word of mouth.

Desert_Eagle25

This OP is much better than the previous. Nice work, pretty much covered it all.

TheUnsane1

Took me a few to find this one. I need to jump back into this madden and xbla titles are filling my gaming time atm. Hopefully some of the online spammers have gone to madden as well.

Darius Black

Great OP. Man I really need to start practicing - I've spent most of my time just in CC.

Question: why can't my characters equip skills? Do I need to level them?

Ah_Pook

skills have an associated style level with them, you need to be whatever level with that style before you can use them

Sir Carcass

I got an email from GameFly Friday saying this has been shipped (it's been the only game in my GameQ since it was released)

My 360 RRoD'd Saturday

Aumni

FYI.

Hilde is awesome. Needs more Hilde in OP.

templewulf

Darius Black wrote: »

Great OP. Man I really need to start practicing - I've spent most of my time just in CC.

Question: why can't my characters equip skills? Do I need to level them?

There are two restrictions on what skills you can use: Category Points and Style Level. You need to level up a style, and you need to equip items that give you enough points in a particular skill's category.

B:L

Lizardman rape is not awesome, bro.

durandal4532

Blah, stupid single-character fights. Level 52 is killing me. I think bringing a female character when there are 3 guys with Appeal is pretty much a bad idea though.

Houn

B:L wrote: »

Lizardman rape is totally awesome, bro.

:winky:

I think I'm going to try playing this tonight; it's been WAY too hot to hang in my living room the last few days, so I've mostly been chilling with the DS in front of the AC. Anyone feel like schooling me?

zanetheinsane

B:L wrote: »

Lizardman rape is not awesome, bro.

Here's some Lizardman rape for you:

66B+K,A
Throw
[1]A,K
[1][K] to LC
LK K,K,K,B,B+K,G (out of LK)

I can't even begin to describe how effective this can be.

Also funny is his rising K,K,K combo. Train someone to block it and then start doing K,K,Throw. They will just give up usually at that point.

Sakeido

This game is so fun!

That's all I really have to say about it. Dare I say it, I'd put this one on equal footing with the first one for DC. The character creator is what really pushes it over the top - I've never seen a better create-a-char ever before.

Sakeido

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

templewulf

Sakeido wrote: »

This game is so fun!

That's all I really have to say about it. Dare I say it, I'd put this one on equal footing with the first one for DC. The character creator is what really pushes it over the top - I've never seen a better create-a-char ever before.

I think CaS is just barely not quite deep enough. I tried to make a Li Mu Bai with the Monk's Garb, but the robe just flops open in front with no options to add pants underneath. Is there a way to make this outfit not retarded?

Aumni

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

Hilde, Ivy, Setsuna are probably the three hardest to learn. Hilde is all about charge moves. Ivy is all about utilizing her different stances to dish out damage, Setsuna is about just frame attacks to push out some good damage at a crazy fast rate. Zasalamel is also pretty tough to learn i've heard, but I haven't seen much on his end.

Dragkonias

Aumni wrote: »

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

Hilde, Ivy, Setsuna are probably the three hardest to learn. Hilde is all about charge moves. Ivy is all about utilizing her different stances to dish out damage, Setsuna is about just frame attacks to push out some good damage at a crazy fast rate. Zasalamel is also pretty tough to learn i've heard, but I haven't seen much on his end.

I don't know about Hilde. She doesn't seem so much as difficult to use as much as not that much of a good character. Though if there is a Hilde pro out there maybe they could prove me wrong.

Page-

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

The characters who depend mostly on strong mix-ups (like Mitsu and Yoshi, to a lesser extent Taki and Siegy) can reward you if you choose to invest in them. Nothing like beating your opponent so well that by the third round he's just standing in place and blocking, or won't even stand.

If you're feeling really adventurous you could try Ivy. Setsuka is pretty good if you want to be pulling fancy combos out of your ass all the time.

Aumni

Dragkonias wrote: »

Aumni wrote: »

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

Hilde, Ivy, Setsuna are probably the three hardest to learn. Hilde is all about charge moves. Ivy is all about utilizing her different stances to dish out damage, Setsuna is about just frame attacks to push out some good damage at a crazy fast rate. Zasalamel is also pretty tough to learn i've heard, but I haven't seen much on his end.

I don't know about Hilde. She doesn't seem so much as difficult to use as much as not that much of a good character. Though if there is a Hilde pro out there maybe they could prove me wrong.

Culver

Aumni wrote: »

Dragkonias wrote: »

Aumni wrote: »

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

Hilde, Ivy, Setsuna are probably the three hardest to learn. Hilde is all about charge moves. Ivy is all about utilizing her different stances to dish out damage, Setsuna is about just frame attacks to push out some good damage at a crazy fast rate. Zasalamel is also pretty tough to learn i've heard, but I haven't seen much on his end.

I don't know about Hilde. She doesn't seem so much as difficult to use as much as not that much of a good character. Though if there is a Hilde pro out there maybe they could prove me wrong.

I think you just got called out dude! you better redeem yourself :P

Sagroth

Any news on when the next DLC(costumes or Vader or whatever; anything but themes and gamer pics) will be coming out?

B:L

Page- wrote: »

Setsuka is pretty good if you want to be pulling fancy combos out of your ass all the time.

AND HOW!

Feriluce

Sagroth wrote: »

Any news on when the next DLC(costumes or Vader or whatever; anything but themes and gamer pics) will be coming out?

I want new costume options. Especially because half or so of what we have is just everybody's 2P costumes.

Fireflash

Dragkonias wrote: »

Aumni wrote: »

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

Hilde, Ivy, Setsuna are probably the three hardest to learn. Hilde is all about charge moves. Ivy is all about utilizing her different stances to dish out damage, Setsuna is about just frame attacks to push out some good damage at a crazy fast rate. Zasalamel is also pretty tough to learn i've heard, but I haven't seen much on his end.

I don't know about Hilde. She doesn't seem so much as difficult to use as much as not that much of a good character. Though if there is a Hilde pro out there maybe they could prove me wrong.

I try getting better with Hilde but I keep getting my ass kicked. Maybe I should try to learn a different character but I love Hilde's fighting style.

Aumni

Dragkonias wrote: »

Aumni wrote: »

Sakeido wrote: »

Also, what characters are really deep and interesting to learn to play as? Zasalamel seems like he could be a good choice.. I usually go with Mitsurugi since he suits my play style pretty well, and I used to play as Cervantes a lot, but I want to try and get away from easier characters and play as someone that takes a lot of skill to play as.

Hilde, Ivy, Setsuna are probably the three hardest to learn. Hilde is all about charge moves. Ivy is all about utilizing her different stances to dish out damage, Setsuna is about just frame attacks to push out some good damage at a crazy fast rate. Zasalamel is also pretty tough to learn i've heard, but I haven't seen much on his end.

I don't know about Hilde. She doesn't seem so much as difficult to use as much as not that much of a good character. Though if there is a Hilde pro out there maybe they could prove me wrong.

I'll show you my Hilde if you gots Xbox.

Culver

Feriluce wrote: »

Sagroth wrote: »

Any news on when the next DLC(costumes or Vader or whatever; anything but themes and gamer pics) will be coming out?

I want new costume options. Especially because half or so of what we have is just everybody's 2P costumes.

idk if we will be getting new DLC anytime soon, considering that PAL at least still doesn't have the DLC we got in the first week. :P

ringswraith

Question: How do you snap a screenshot of your created character and then post it online? On the PS3.

urahonky

The OP talks about Soul Edge/Calibur's final form is unlockable from the beginning. How is that possible? Put in spoilers if you want.

templewulf

urahonky wrote: »

The OP talks about Soul Edge/Calibur's final form is unlockable from the beginning. How is that possible? Put in spoilers if you want.

The collector's edition comes with them unlocked, but I was able to earn mine the old-fashioned way.