Soulcalibur IV Basics
|Basic Tutorial||Intermediate Tutorial||>>|
Welcome to the Basic Tutorial. This section will acquaint you with the core concepts of the Soulcalibur game system that any player should be familiar with. It will cover aspects such as moving your character around, attacking, defending as well as the overall game concepts that govern what happens when and how. Much of this information is only lightly touched on in the game manual, and some of it not presented at all. Think of this section as the manual that should have come with your game.
Soulcalibur uses a four-button layout: A, B, K and G. Along with the directional pad, these buttons or combinations of them control every action you can perform. The A button allows you to perform horizontal-based attacks while the B button executes vertical-based attacks. K performs kick-based attacks and the G button lets you guard yourself from enemy attacks. The G button also allows you to perform Guard Impacts and Throws, both of which will be covered individually later on.
|All movement in Soulcalibur is performed with the directional pad. The basic movement concepts should be somewhat familiar to anyone who has played a fighting game before. Hold to run forward and to slowly walk backward. Note that every character will always move faster when they are moving forwards rather than backwards except for Voldo.
In order to crouch, hold down + G. Jumping without attacking is performed in the same manner by holding G and then tapping , or .
There are three forces at work in Soulcalibur's system: Horizontal Attacks, Vertical Attacks and 8-Way-Run. These three forces make up the backbone of Soulcalibur's system, which is often referred to as the Triangle System. The simplest analogy is to think of a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, where Rock beats Scissors, Paper beats Rock, and Scissors beats Paper. Similarly, Horizontal Attacks beats 8-Way-Run, 8-Way-Run beats Vertical Attacks, and Vertical Attacks beat Horizontal Attacks. However, as with all fighting games, good timing is what makes the Triangle system work. A poorly timed sidestep will not always beat a vertical attack. Even so, without proper knowledge of the Triangle System, you will most likely continue to make dangerous mistakes that could have been easily avoided.
|In addition to your basic movement options, there is another movement system in the game called 8-Way-Run. While standing still, you can initiate 8-Way-Run by holding any direction on the joystick. You can also start 8-Way-Run during a dash by first dashing either forward or backward and then holding the joystick in either direction.
Once you initiate 8-Way-Run, you can move in any direction by holding the joystick in the direction of your choice. Movement during 8-Way-Run is in relation to your opponent: holding 6 or 4 will move you closer to or further away from your opponent, while holding or will cause you to walk around your opponent. 8-Way-Run ends either when you release the directional pad or press a button or you are attacked.
Using 8-Way-Run in your overall game play is useful for allowing you to set up counterattacks by dodging incoming attacks, as well as positioning yourself in order to use the environment to your advantage. The use of 8-Way-Run is also important because it gives you access to moves that are not available when your character is simply standing still. There is an additional sidestep system called Step, which will be discussed in the Intermediate Tutorial.
|Horizontal and Vertical Attacks|
|Since horizontal and vertical attacks are very similar, we'll talk about them in the same section. There are three levels of attacks: High, Mid and Low. These levels are determined by where a strike will land on your opponent's body.
Attack levels works like a miniature Triangle System. High Attacks will only hit standing opponents, while Mid and Low attacks will hit both standing and crouching opponents. Furthermore, a standing opponent cannot guard against Low attacks, a crouching opponent cannot guard against Mid attacks, High attacks will miss a crouching opponent, and Low attacks will miss a jumping opponent. There is also another level of attack named Special Mid which can be blocked by standing or crouching.
Throws are a way to complement your regular attacks when your opponent starts blocking excessively to counter the majority of your attacks. While in most cases you will not be able to throw an opponent who is in the middle of an attack, it can happen in some cases, which is why it is considered outside of the Triangle System. There are seven types of throws that are present in the game: Normal Throws, Low Throws, Air Throws, Ground Throws, Multi-throws and Attack Throws.
|Normal Throws||This is the basic type of throw, where your character will reach out with his or her arm and attempt to grab the opponent. Each throw contains different properties relating to damage and execution, and can be found in the Character Section. Normal throws contain many of the same properties as horizontal and vertical attacks, in that they will deal additional damage if your opponent is thrown into a wall and they have the potential to throw them out of the ring. Normal throws also have the property of high attacks as they will completely miss a crouching opponent.|
|Low Throws||Low Throws are identical to Normal Throws, except that they only work against a crouching opponent. If your opponent is standing, then your throw will miss. The characters that can use Low Throws are Astaroth, Cassandra, Xianghua and Rock. Nightmare also has a low throw, but it requires that your opponent does not block while crouching. It will hit them whether they are standing or crouching in this situation.|
|Air Throws||Air Throws are a great way of finishing off juggle combos, and best of all they can work whether your opponent jumps into the air themselves or you launch them into the air with an attack. The only characters to have Air Throws are Zasalamel, Astaroth, Taki and Ivy.|
|Ground Throws||Ground Throws differ from other throws in that your opponent must be prone on the ground for you to be able to use them. For most ground throws, if your opponent is not prone on the ground, then the game will not allow you to perform a Ground Throw. If you attempt one, you will perform a completely different move instead. The only exception to this rule is Astaroth's + A + B, B + K ground throw. The only characters to have Ground Throws are Cervantes, Astaroth, Voldo, Nightmare and Rock.|
|Multi-throws||Multi-throws are a series of throws that are linked together by several inputs, resulting in what appears to be a chain of successive throws. In order to successfully pull off a multithrow, you must first execute the initial throw, and then you must complete the next input immediately after the first throw is successful. In order to escape from a combo throw, you must press A or B. Xianghua, Kilik and Talim both have multi-throws.|
|Attack Throws||Attack Throws behave very differently from every other throw in the game. Unlike other throws, Attack Throws start off as regular attacks, then shift to a throw depending on certain conditions. For example, Astaroth's + A attack can shift to an Attack Throw if it is held and charged. Another example is Zasalamel's WS B, which shifts to an Attack Throw on a counterhit.|
Like throws, defensive techniques exist outside of the Triangle System and have the potential negate them completely. There are two forms of defense in Soulcalibur: blocking and guard impact.
To perform a standing block simply press G, and to perform a crouching block press , or + G. Blocking can allow you to defend against most attacks in the game, but there are three types of attacks that blocking cannot defend against; throws, Guard Crushes, and Unblockables. True to their name, Unblockables are attacks that cannot be stopped by merely blocking; you must sidestep or duck them. Every character in the game possesses at least one unblockable attack, but they are usually slow to come out and thus can be avoided if you are quick to react. Aside from throws and unblockables, players will have a hard time in blocking against a type of attack called a Guard Crush. Attacks that have a Guard Crush property attached to them will have the ability to break through a character's block and leave them open to a followup attack. However this followup is not guaranteed, and the defender can escape this situation or avoid the Guard Crush altogether with Guard Impacts.
Guard Impacts (GI) are similar in concept to blocking, but can be much more effective. By tapping + G for low or mid hits or + G for high or mid hits, Guard Impacts will allow you to deflect or repel an incoming attack to give you the tactical advantage at that moment. Note that Guard Impacts do not give you an actual advantage in terms of being able to perform a move before an enemy can react. If you are predictable with your followup attack after a Guard Impact, your opponent can simply GI you back and continue with their gameplan. Post-GI situations are one of the most important things to learn in Soulcalibur, and will be discussed in later tutorials.
New to Soulcalibur as of Soulcalibur III is the addition of Just Frame Guard Impacts (JI), which gives you a bigger advantage over your opponent and makes it harder for them to Guard Impact back. It's not that simple to perform though, as you need perfect timing in order to get it, however you'll know that you've performed it if your Guard Impact flashes red instead of the regular white.
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