Chronicles of the Sword is a game mode in Soul Calibur III, and is a mixture of fighting game and real-time strategy.
Gameplay
Creating the Cadet and Their Party
The main character of Chronicles of the Sword is created via Create-A-Soul. The main difference with the creation of the main character in this mode, as opposed to creating a character via the Character Creation menu, is that you cannot delete the main character, or change their job, once they have been created. Thus, careful planning is required on the creation of the Cadet, so as not to create a character specializing in a weapon that a player is unskilled with using.
All of the other characters in the Cadet's party can be created in the same manner as a regular Create-A-Soul; named characters like Abelia and Luna; however, can have their appearance edited, but can not be deleted.
RTS Elements
Chronicles of the Sword features a real-time strategy play style, in which the player's, and the enemy's, units are stationed in several bases (called "strongholds") on the map.
At the beginning of a mission (called "chronicles" in-game), the player can choose which characters they would like to use. In addition, the player can also change the characters' unit type. The types are as follows:
- Cavalry: Horse-mounted warriors. These are the fastest of the unit types and second only to Infantry when it comes to attacking other units, but they are ineffective when it comes to attacking strongholds.
- Infantry: The basic unit type. They are well-rounded, with no real weaknesses. They are the best choice for attacking enemy units, especially if a Knight is defending against the enemy's attacks.
- Knight: The most effective unit to use when defending against enemies on the world map. However, they are the slowest unit type, which makes it difficult to utilize their superior ability to attack strongholds.
- Bandit: Second only to Cavalry in terms of speed and second only to Knight when it comes to attacking strongholds. Unfortunately, they can neither attack nor defend well against enemy units on the world map.
Each chronicle has one or more victory conditions. Upon fulfilling all of them, the player will clear the chronicle, and move on to the next one. The victory conditions are:
- Capturing the enemy's main stronghold
- Defeating a certain enemy general, or a group of generals
- Eliminating all enemies in a mission
In addition to victory conditions, there are a set of defeat conditions. Unlike victory conditions, however, all it takes for the player to fail a chronicle is the fulfillment of only one of these requirements. These include:
- Losing your main stronghold
- The death of the Cadet
- The defeat of all allied units
- Losing a specific stronghold
- Loss of specific allied units
Fighting Other Units
When defeating the units inside of an enemy stronghold (or by selecting a character and going to "Battle" when a player's unit is fighting an enemy unit on the Field Map), fights are conducted in the normal, one-on-one fashion. If there are multiple units inside of a stronghold, you will immediately fight the next character inside.
Prologue
This is another tale of souls and swords...
Once, there existed on a great continent, three countries: the Grandall Empire, the Kingdom of Dalkia, and the Halteese Republic. The Kingdom of Dalkia and the Halteese Republic waged a great war against one another for countless years. The Grandall Empire stayed out of the conflict, amassing their army quietly.
In a time where King Chester, the Great Tactician and instigator of the war which later came to be known as the Mantis War, had not yet appeared in the annals of history, the key figure in the war was a mere cadet of the Grandall Army...
Epilogue
The emperor died. Both the evil blade and the holy blade disappeared into darkness. The empire collapsed, and the people were left only with devastated lands and the memories of the terrible war. The people, however, eventually forgot the hardships. They rebuilt the razed villages and sowed new seeds upon the destroyed fields.
Then, by the fireside, they told the tales - the tales of the great ones who spilt their blood upon those lands...
Kingdoms
Characters
- The Cadet (main character)
- Girardot Argezas
- Abelia Schillfelt
- Strife Astlar Grandall
- Luna
- Chester
- Aurelia Dichala Dolce
- Demuth Beel Zebus Halteese
- Beleth
- Noel
- Domenthi
- Haystir
- Cassius
- Agareth
- Ixion
- Agave
- Acacia
- Alastor
- Mireille
- Rufus
- Edith
- Zifeng
- Mayura
- Katina
- Fengyu
- Syunna
- Xunyu
- Notus
- Ishtar
- Ouka
- Ryouga
- Balduin
- Mingyue
- Aeolos
- Kagami
- Yukina
- Meilan
- Ende
- Abigail
- Tomoe
- Shizuma
- Dufeng
- Philine
- Yueliang
- Loki
- Eris
- Roin
- Rhea
- Iblis
- Amrita
- Celestis
- Lilian
- Eunice
- Iris
- Jyuri
- Aether
- The Klessirpemdo
- Areon
- Halphas
- Yufeng
- Shiina
- Kureha
- Juno
- Leraje
- Ailian
- Kanon
- Konomi
- Fenglin
- Irene
- Hyle
- Shun
- Siulan
- Karen
- Ilyusha
- Muriel
- Kanade
- Marid
- Yakumo
- Oruks
- Annaretta
- Kierkess
- Saizou
- Wenli
- Asrafil
- Ambrose
- Veles
- Azrael
- Aloces
- Azumi
- Chikage
- Fenglei
- Gorus
- Ratziel
- Raguel
- Mooncalf
- Brunhild
- Sizuku
- Alberic
- Leshy
- Kimika
- Shuyu
- Aglaia
- Azalea
- Ignis
- Feofan
- Rudiger Argezas
- Aeneas
- Riese
- Meiga
- Eurydice
- Jinkai
- Xiaoxin
- Luca
- Tina
- Yuilin
Trivia
- 6 bonus characters appear in this game mode.
- All enemies that used the "Wave Sword" discipline didn't actually speak words. All allies did. In the normal game all characters that used the Wave Sword discipline (except for Revenant and Shadow Master) spoke words.
- There are total of 244 characters to beat from Chapter 1 ~ 20.
- Every standard playable character (except Olcadan and Abyss) appear as optional enemies throughout the 20 chronicles. All of them are at level 60 and use their own "soul" as discipline.