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"You really stand out too much. The people love you... such an irritating sight to behold. But now, I regret... not killing you myself when I had the chance!"
— Strife

Strife Astlar Grandall (ストライフ・アストラル・グランダール Sutoraifu Asutoraru Gurandāru?) is a fictional character in Namco's Soul series of fighting games. He appears in Soulcalibur III's side-quest mode Chronicles of the Sword as the main enemy and final boss of the mode. He is also an unlockable Bonus Character in the main game. He represents the "Iron Sword" Create-A-Fighter discipline.

Biography[]

Strife is the only heir of the Astlar dynasty ruling the empire of Grandall. After his father's death during a battle, he was appointed as ruler when he was only ten years old. Blinded by greed and power, his close relatives plotted every day to kill him and take control of Grandall for themselves.

Strife endured days without a proper meal, without good sleep and hiding a knife every time. Eventually, the stress and fear started eating away at his sanity.

Then one day he started hearing voices every time he sat on the throne. The voices came from deep within the castle. Eventually he began to understand these voices and his behavior changed completely.

He started executing his relatives, and torturing anyone who aroused his suspicions. His leadership turned into dictatorship. He also started amassing armies in silence, while not interfering with the war between Dalkia and Halteese. Around this time, he apparently got hold of the cursed Soul Edge, which further deteriorated his mind.

Despite being the final boss and main enemy, Strife's role as such is not revealed until advanced the plot of the Chronicles. During the Chronicles of the Sword, Strife takes very little action in the first half, mostly giving orders to the player and the unit to confront Dalkia first, then Halteese. His orders are always discussed by Girardot, as they are almost suicidal. Strife is also reluctant to send more troops to help the player against entire armies. All this because the player is gaining fame among the people, and this has enraged him to the point of wishing to see him/her die.

A year after the end of the war, Strife sent the player against a rebelled Girardot apparently under the advice of Chester, who has turned into his minister. After the Cadet defeats Girardot in battle, Strife appears to finish Girardot off. Unfortunately for Strife, this action causes the Cadet to realize the malevolence of the emperor and his ambitions and causes the Cadet to rebel as well.

Unfortunately, Strife implanted fragments of Soul Edge into the player's former allies when the Cadet rebelled, allowing Strife to control their minds. As the player, you must fight and defeat Aeneas and the others who helped you in the earlier chronicles. After the Cadet defeats their friends, it turns out they do not die, but instead they wake up from their trance and decide to join the Cadet once again. Apparently, whoever controls the main body of Soul Edge controls the people its fragments are forcefully implanted in. This "mind control" power that Soul Edge possesses has never been revealed prior to Soulcalibur III and is never used in Soulcalibur IV; it is, however, a major theme in Soulcalibur V.

Strife meets the player's unit at last during the last chronicle, sending his elite troops against them. The Old Toledo - Burning Gallery stage serves as his castle's interior during his fight in Chronicles of the Sword. The stage seems to represent the castle being set on fire. Even with his best warriors, he's at last confronted by the player and killed in battle.

Battle Strategy[]

Strife is fought in the final Chronicles of the Sword chapter 20. His level map is much different compared to the other ones, as you're fighting him in his castle rather than on an outside setting. The layout has him on his throne which is at the top of the map, but he is guarded by numerous high leveled enemy units that block your path to him. Although you don't have to fight them all, you will have to defeat the enemy units on either the left or right side to get a path to him.

While players may think that it may be OK to just go at the enemy soldiers and engage them in battle, this isn't recommended; the enemy soldiers are all high leveled and can be difficult to defeat. The player will also likely be surprised to learn that when a unit retreats, they will not return to battle, making them gone for the remainder of the chapter. This makes engaging in a regular battle with the units very risky unless you're confident you can consistently beat the units in your path. As previously mentioned as well, all of the enemy units do not need to be defeated, and no enemy units left alive will attempt to come to Strife's aid when approaching him(Which is likely a change that was done before the final game was released since some dialogue that Strife says when he's low on health but has defeated a player unit seem to imply that originally, it was planned that the enemy soldiers that were left alive would have been able to pursue the player and come to Strife's aid after a loss. This could have been scrapped however since by this time the majority of the player units would be too close to Strife to be of any threat since the player could easily send their remaining units to Strife before they would be able to even skirmish with the player).

The best way to be able to beat the units without having to do standard battles with them is through skirmishes. However for the unit types, one is supposed to be assigned as a knight, and the others infantry; By sending the slower knight(its recommended that they're a unit that has higher health so that way they can sponge up as much damage as possible) to the opposing unit first, they'll engage in a skirmish with the knight assigned unit being able to soak up damage to act as a "shield". The other infantry assigned units (careful planning is needed to prevent an infantry from reaching an enemy unit first) can then be sent quickly to gang up on the single enemy unit and quickly defeat them as the infantry is the best unit type for a skirmish as they deal the most damage, and this will quickly stack and overwhelm the unit with multiple infantry units attacking the enemy one. By doing this until you reach Strife steadily by keeping the infantry close by to the knight and allowing the knight to engage in the skirmish first, you can easily reach Strife with the only major loss being that the knight unit may die if they lose all of their health, but this is avoidable if the knight is a higher leveled unit with health to spare. If the knight does happen to suffer a defeat before they can reach Strife, you can then just send the other infantry units to fight Strife's soldiers, but being sure to send the infantry unit with the highest health first so they can sponge and shield the other units.

After the opposing units in your path are defeated, you can then engage Strife in a standard battle that will automatically be triggered when you get up to him. It's recommended to avoid sending the main player character to face Strife before the others as the loss of them will cause the chapter to be failed, so avoid using them even as the knight assigned character.

In battle, Strife is level at 63, likely higher than the player's own units so his health, power, speed, and vitality will be formidable to fight as his difficulty is further enhanced with his AI who is quite difficult to challenge. Strife's main threat is his weapon of choice: Soul Edge which he wields. His weapon is very effective as he has increased attack power, the ability to recover health from the damage he inflicts, and his weapon will get stronger over time making it very risky to draw out the battle by staying out of his range. His weapon's weakness however is that his health will gradually deplete over time, putting him in a helpless situation if he isn't able to continually attack the player.

By playing against him carefully and also using the appropriate anti-A.I moves, he can be defeated quickly, although it may take higher levels reached to be able to achieve this. His health loss over time can also be ineffective as he also will gain a good amount of health if he is able to continually damage you, which can quickly prolong the battle if he is able to regain almost or all of his health back from a loss on your part.

Gameplay[]

Strife uses the iron sword discipline, which uses a great size broad sword. Style wise, Strife uses a style that appears to be a hybrid between Nightmare and Siegfried as he uses several similar moves. His style however can be considered a more simple, well balanced one: He is relatively decent in attack speed, relatively good in reach being able to fight up close and at mid range, and his damage output is good as well. He has varied attack mix ups he can use to trip up opponents, and he has useful moves he can use to approach when not up close, as well as specific attacks he can use to apply guard breaks to overly defensive opponents. He's also able to further throw off opponents with his unique attack stance which allows him to roll while ducking to evade highs for additional moves from certain attacks to overwhelm unwary adversaries. He has a forward swaying stance with attacks he can use for moving in, and he can also cancel specific moves. Stepping Strife is also risky as his horizontal moves have both reach and priority he can use when somewhat out of reach. His lows on offer are also surprisingly varied as well as deceptive.

Strife does not seem to have any real glaring weaknesses as his style is well rounded, but his lack of defensive options like unique guard impacts forces him to play more offensively and aggressively when not in his opponent's face, which can hinder him when dealing with characters who are glaringly quicker than he is. His guard breaks are also quite seeable and require careful incorporation to safely use, and his more powerful attacks tend to also be easy to interrupt and evade. Overall is a relatively solid discipline that's perfect for players wanting a style that's balanced as well as easy to use.

Weapons[]

Quotes[]

  • I have no interest in speaking with the dead!
  • I told you, it's futile.
  • Why don't you hurry up and disappear?
  • Amazing! How did you expect to win?
  • I suggest you run away, quickly!
  • You want me to hurt you some more?
  • You really stand out too much.
  • The people love you, Such an irritating sight to behold.
  • But now, I regret, not killing you myself when I had the chance.
  • A futile effort.
  • Feel the pain!
  • Be gone!
  • Get back!
  • Fool!
  • This is over!
  • Have some of this!
  • Hey!
  • You fool!
  • Die!
  • It's over!
  • Scream in agony!

Trivia[]

  • Strife's hairstyle resembles 90's He-Man.
  • Strife's Destined Battle during Quick Play is Siegfried Schtauffen.
  • Strife, much like other Bonus Fighters, can be unlocked by buying or unlocking all his Create-a-Fighter parts.
  • Strife's entire costume is made from Create-a-Fighter parts, with no original parts or features.
  • Strife's job in Chronicle 20 is a Sword Master.
  • In Soulcalibur IV, the player may select a custom character to appear in the opening cinematic. However, no matter what weapon or fighting style is assigned for said character, he/she will wield Strife's sword or an extremely similar sword while facing the phantasms, then is confronted by Cervantes, who shoots Valmiro before he can finish attacking the custom character. Strangely, the sword cannot be used in actual gameplay.
  • Strife's 2nd Outfit is gold in color, even his eyes are colored yellow, which was used in the final chapter of Chronicles of The Sword.
  • Strife's Iron Sword has a red swing effect. However, the Create-A-Soul Iron Sword only has a blue swing effect.
  • Strife's name and use of a broadsword could be a reference to the Final Fantasy VII character Cloud Strife. Coincidentally, one of his swords, "Demon Knife", bears a striking resemblance to the Buster Sword, also used by Cloud Strife.
  • The word "strife" means conflict or struggle.
  • Strife's voice represents the create-a-fighter's voice Young Man 2 with the evil/dark alignment.
  • One of Strife's victory poses is similar to one of Devil Jin's.
  • If you manage to reduce his HP to a very low level, but still lose the fight, he will say, "No! I don't want to die! Save me!", perhaps referencing how the sword took advantage of Strife's fears, doubts, and weakened mental state to control him.

Series' appearances[]

Gallery[]

Soulcalibur III[]

Soulcalibur Playable Characters
Introduced in Soul Edge CervantesHwangInfernoLi LongMitsurugiRockSeong Han-myeongSeong Mi-naSiegfriedSophitiaTakiVoldo
Introduced in Soulcalibur ArthurAstarothEdge MasterIvyKilikLizardman (Aeon)MaxiNightmareXianghuaYoshimitsu
Introduced in Soulcalibur II AssassinBerserkerCassandraCharadeHeihachiLinkLizardman (Generic)NecridRaphaelSpawnTalimYun-seong
Introduced in Soulcalibur III AbeliaAbyssAmyAureliaChesterDemuthGirardotGreedHualinLynetteLunaMiserOlcadanRevenantSetsukaStrife AstlarTiraValeriaZasalamel
Introduced in Soulcalibur Legends Lloyd Irving
Introduced in Soulcalibur IV AlgolAngol FearThe ApprenticeAshlotteDarth VaderHildeKamikirimusiScheherazadeShuraYoda
Story only: AzolaGerhildeHelmwigeShadow
Introduced in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny DampierreKratos
Introduced in Soulcalibur V Devil JinEzio AuditoreElysiumLeixiaNatsuPatroklos (α Patroklos)Pyrrha (Pyrrha Ω)ViolaXibaZ.W.E.I.
Introduced in Soulcalibur VI 2BAzwelGeralt of RiviaGrøhHaohmaru
Bonus characters
Soul Edge Siegfried!Seong Han-myeongSophitia!Sophitia!!
Soulcalibur II LizardmanAssassinBerserker
Soulcalibur III AbeliaAmyArthurAureliaChesterDemuthGirardotGreedHualinHwangLi LongLunaLynetteMiserRevenantStrifeValeria
Soulcalibur IV Angol FearScheherazadeShuraAshlotteKamikirimusi
Soulcalibur V Devil Jin (Katsuhiro Harada)
Soulcalibur III
Soulcalibur III (Arcade Edition)UnlockablesSoulcalibur III Original Soundtrack - Legend of SoundsTales of SoulsSoul ArenaChronicles of the Sword
Characters
AbeliaAbyssAmyArthurAstarothAureliaCassandraCervantesChesterDemuthGreedGirardotHualinHwangIvyKilikLi LongLizardmanLunaLynetteMaxiMiserMitsurugiNightmareOlcadanRaphaelRevenantRockSeong Mi-naSetsukaSiegfriedSophitiaStrife AstlarTakiTalimTiraValeriaVoldoXianghuaYoshimitsuYun-seongZasalamel
Stages
Battle in the StraitChaos - Spiritual RealmClock TowerEgyptian TempleEurydice Shrine - Gate of the GodsGrand LabyrinthIndian PortJyurakudai VillaKunpaetku Shrine RuinLakeside ColiseumLing Sheng-Su Temple RuinLost CathedralLost Cathedral - RuinLotus GardenOld Toledo - Burning GalleryOstrheinsburg Castle - BattlementPalgaea Shrine - RuinsPirate RaidProving GroundsRomanian Valley - Castle SiegeSacred Mt. Fuji - Lava BedSecret Money PitSilk Road RuinUnderground Buddhist SanctumValentine MansionWater Mill Valley
Soulcalibur III
Chronicles of the Sword Characters
Major Characters AbeliaLunaGirardotStrifeChesterDemuthAureliaAegeHeal-DoEluaLupiRoinKierkessHyleMooncalfEnde
Katana & Shuriken JinkaiKagamiShiunShiinaChikageKonomi
Kunai CassiusSaizouRyougaKimikaSyunnaTomoeTina
Katana MeigaAlastorShizumaAzumiYukinaOuka
Chinese Sword XiaoxinOruksAgarethJyuriShuyuMingyue
Chinese Blade VelesAetherIxionSiulanFenglinPhiline
Grieve Edge IgnisNotusAzraelMireilleAglaiaKanon
Staff JyuraiKurehaXunyuFengyuFengleiMinlian
Lance NoelRudigerAeneasAnnarettaIrisBrunhild
Steel Fan AsrafilZifengAeolosAmritaAzaleaYueliangYuilin
Sickle KanadeDomenthiMaridAmbroseAilianAika
Dagger LokiCelestisBelethKarenLilanAbigailLuca
Iron Sword BalduinAlocesAreonJunoEurydiceIshtar
Broad Sword & Small Shield RufusRaguelFeofanEuniceAcaciaHilda
Tambourine IblisAlbericLeshyMurielWenliIrene
Nunchaku YufengYakumoDufengMayuraMeilanRhea
Wave Sword HalphasGorusIlyushaEdithRieseAgave
Rapier HaystirLerajeRatzielKatinaErisSizuku
Other GrandallDalkiaBrigandMalettaRebelHalteese
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