Cassandra Alexandra

Cassandra Alexandra
Soulcalibur character
Cassandra in Soulcalibur IV
First game Soulcalibur II (2002)
Designed by Aya Takemura (Soulcalibur II-IV)
Takuji Kawano (Soulcalibur II-IV)
Voiced by English
Debbie Rogers (Soulcalibur II)[1]
Sue Nelson (Soulcalibur III)[2]
Heather Halley (Soulcalibur IV)[3][4]
Japanese
Reiko Takagi
Fictional profile
Birthplace Athens, Ottoman Empire (present-day Greece)
Nationality Ottoman Greek
Fighting style Athenian
Weapon Xiphos sword and small shield
Weapon name Digamma (sword)
Nemea (shield)

Cassandra Alexandra (Japanese: カサンドラ・アレクサンドル, Hepburn: Kasandora Arekusandoru), better known as just Cassandra, is a fictional character in the Soulcalibur series of video games. Created by Namco's Project Soul division, she first appeared in Soulcalibur II and its subsequent sequels, and later appearing in various merchandise and promotional material related to the series. She is voiced by Reiko Takagi in Japanese.

Cassandra has been heavily compared to her older sister Sophitia in terms of fighting style, though with acknowledgment that they were two different characters. Some sources have noted a fan following for the character.

Appearances

In Soulcalibur video games

Cassandra is the younger sister of series character Sophitia who was first mentioned in Soul Edge, having witnessed her sister's unconscious body being carried by female ninja Taki after her quest in destroying the cursed sword, Soul Edge. Three years later, she heard her sister had gone to another journey to destroy Soul Edge in Soulcalibur. Unlike her sister whose skills originate from her weapons and the god Hephaestus, Cassandra is not as humble and cannot hear him, relying instead on her own strength.[5]

Four years afterwards by the time of Soulcalibur II, the 21-years-old[6] Cassandra visited her sister's home to find that Sophitia's children Patroklos and Pyrrha were fighting for a fragment of Soul Edge that Sophitia's husband, Rothion had found and that Sophitia was very panicked by the incident. She grabbed the fragment and quickly went to the Eurydice Shrine in anger to curse Hephaestus for making her sister endangered. Cassandra stole Sophitia's holy Omega sword after seeing it reacted with the fragment and determined to take a journey to destroy Soul Edge in place of her sister as she already had a family by then.

Cassandra continued her quest in Soulcalibur III, briefly going back to Greece to request Rothion to forge her new weapons after the Omega sword had broken following a skirmish at a corrupted city. He told her that Sophitia had gone to destroy Soul Edge on her own, so Cassandra quickly went to search and join her sister after receiving the weapons. She visited the city that she went earlier, where she met a man named Raphael who stole her fragment of Soul Edge and before departing, he told that while she has the power to dispel evil, she was not as strong as the "Holy Stone". After hearing rumors in the city whose townspeople had regained their sanity about a man with a large mass of crystal on his way to Ostrheinsburg, Cassandra reasoned he carried the Holy Stone to fought some evil there which she thought is Soul Edge and decided to follow him.

Cassandra did not make an appearance in Soulcalibur V, although she was mentioned in the official artbook of the game, which stated that in the conclusion of Soulcalibur IV, she arrived at the Ostrheinsburg Castle to find her sister had pledged her service to Soul Edge to save her daughter Pyrrha, who has to rely on Soul Edge to live. Sophitia managed to render Cassandra unconscious with a single strike. When she awakened, she found that the entire castle had begun to disintegrate to the Astral Chaos. Cassandra found Sophitia's unconscious body at one room, but as she approached her, Cassandra was sucked to the Astral Chaos as the castle returned to normal.

Outside of the main series, Cassandra appeared in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny's Gauntlet storyline, a non-canon side story set during the events of Soulcalibur IV, which revolved around Cassandra and her ally Hilde, who search for ingredients to develop a potion to cure Hilde's father. To this end force the protagonist to assist them, and later recruit another person, Dampierre, after Hilde is briefly kidnapped.[7]

Cassandra also starred as one of the two main characters (and the one most prominently used for promotion[8]) in the mobile card game Soulcalibur: Unbreakable Soul, alongside Edge Master. In it, Cassandra and Edge Master travelled to find the fragments of Soul Edge.

Other appearances

Besides the Soulcalibur series, Cassandra appeared in the video game Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 as an unlockable character.[9] To explain the new features of Soulcalibur IV, Namco released an omake manga featuring Cassandra and Hilde; written in a humorous tone, Cassandra, representing a veteran of the series, "taught" Hilde about the game's features, while introducing the audience to aspects of Hilde's character.[10][11]

Yujin released a four inch tall immobile figurine of Cassandra after the release of Soulcalibur II, based upon her artwork for the title as part of their "Namco Girls Series #1" line of gashapon figurines.[12] In 2006, Namco released a second Cassandra figurine as part of a Soulcalibur III set based upon her promotional artwork for the game. While not posable, the PVC figure came with three interchangeable weapons for it to hold;[13] an alternate color version was later released in a secondary set.[14]

Design and characteristics

Cassandra was originally supposed to replace Sophitia in SoulCalibur II; the series' creator and then-producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama said at the time in 2001: "We wanted to keep Sophitia's rnodel but make it sufficiently different. I know Sophitia's fans might start to complain, but I think Cassandra should fit into the series."[15] She was designed in mind to have greater determination than Sophitia, with greater physical abilities and skills.

To further the contrast between the characters, concept artists emphasized a dress and tights for her instead of traditional Greek attire. Though the rest of the team was initially skeptical of the tights, they warmly received the finished model and heavily praised the decision.[5] Several of Cassandra's animations were done manually by hand and blended with the motion capture-based animations done prior. As a result, the series' production manager noted that it gave some of her movements an uncomfortable appearance, and her proportions seem different from a human being's.[16]

Gameplay

When she debuted in Soulcalibur II, Cassandra placed in the middle between the more acorbatic but less damaging characters like Taki and the slower heavy-hitters like Mitsurugi,[17] feeling similar to the GameCube version's guest character Link.[18] According to Electronic Gaming Monthly guide to the game, she is "very similar to her sister, but not very beginner-friendly. Her attacks are powerful and fairly quick, but can be difficult to string together around. She has fewer juggle moves than Soph."[19] Andrew Alfonso opined in GameSpy's guide that "because of her speed she's best played as an offensive-heavy character" and also noted her for having "also has one of the best overall moves in the game" (for her signature attack Deathfist).[20] She has been radically changed for Soulcalibur IV.[21]

Reception

GameSpy's Christian Nutt noted Cassandra's similarity in Soulcalibur II to her sister in terms of fighting style, but added "thanks to some intelligent changes she feels like a whole new gal in many important respects".[22] IGN commented on the similarity as well, but added that regardless she played "noticeably different".[23]

PlayStation: The Official Magazine praised her appearance, featuring her in their 2003 "Girls of Summer" video game character "swimsuit" special, as well as on the issue's cover.[24] GameDaily described her as a character that "grew into her own" since her appearance in Soulcalibur II,[25] and later stated her appearance in Soulcalibur IV "looked better than ever" and described the character as "gorgeous".[26] Edge praised the changes to her character in Soulcalibur IV, adding that they made her feel like "a fresh addition to the series".[27] Kotaku's Michael McWhertor also praised her design in Soulcalibur IV in contrast to other females in the series, stating that Namco "thankfully [...] exercised a tad more restraint" and calling her the female character "you'll be picking when Mom comes over."[28]

Cassandra was nominated for "Baddest Good Girl" in G4's Video Game Vixens award show in 2005, which was won by Final Fantasy X's Rikku.[29] She placed as the 12th most popular Soulcalibur character in a poll on Namco Bandai's official English Facebook account of the series in 2015.[30] A poll for the most erotic girl in the history of fighting games by Japanese web portal Goo placed her seventh in 2016.[31]

IGN's Jesse Shedeen listed Cassandra as one of the series' top ten fighters at number eight in 2008, noting a large fan following and admiration for her "spunk."[32] GamesRadar ranked her guest appearance in Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 with Raphael Sorel, Heihachi Mishima and Ling Xiaoyu at #42 in their list of "awesome character cameos" in 2010,[33] and GameFront ranked her breasts as 25th "greatest boobs in video game history" in 2011.[34] In 2015, WhatCulture included her in their list of 30 greatest female fighting game characters of all time.[35]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Voice Of Cassandra Alexandra - Soulcalibur | Behind The Voice Actors". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2018-04-19. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources
  2. ↑ "Sue Nelson - Hire voice actor for your voice over project". Voice123.
  3. ↑ "Voice(s) of Cassandra Alexandra". Behind The Voice Actors.
  4. ↑ Halley, Heather. "pic.twitter.com/vxtpRFpd6h".
  5. 1 2 "「ソウルキャリバーII」開発者インタビュー" (in Japanese). Impress Watch. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  6. ↑ "「SOULCALIBUR Lost Swords」，新キャラクター「カサンドラ」が近日配信". gamer.net.
  7. ↑ Project Soul (2009-09-13). Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. PSP. Namco Bandai. Level/area: Gauntlet.
  8. ↑ "iOS「SOULCALIBUR Unbreakable Soul」指1本で遊べる「ソウルキャリバー」". game.watch.impress.co.jp.
  9. ↑ "Play2Mania 067" – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ Staff (2008-07-05). "Soul Calibur 4 Omake (archive)" (in Japanese). Otadesho. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  11. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (2008-07-29). "Learn About Soul Calibur IV From A Cute Manga". Kotaku. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  12. ↑ "Namco Girls Mini-Figures Series #1: Cassandra figure". twenga.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  13. ↑ "『鉄拳5』＆『ソウルキャリバーIII』の キャラクターたちがコレクションフィギュアに！" (in Japanese). Dengeki Online. 2005-12-06. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  14. ↑ "Namco Game Character Collection Soul Calibur III Series 1 Set of 6 Figures (2nd Colors)". ToyWiz.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  15. ↑ Edge issue 104 page 50.
  16. ↑ "「ソウルキャリバーII」特別インタビュー 家庭用オープニング制作者に聞く Part2". Project Soul (in Japanese). Namco Bandai. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  17. ↑ Future Publishing (1 April 2008). "Official Xbox Magazine Issue 82" – via Internet Archive.
  18. ↑ "PSW (UK) Playstation World Magazine". archive.org.
  19. ↑ EGM 170 (2003-09) p.110.
  20. ↑ "Soulcalibur II - cube - Walkthrough and Guide - Page 11 - GameSpy". uk.cube.gamespy.com.
  21. ↑ "Edge Extra 2 Lo mejor de PS3" – via Internet Archive.
  22. ↑ Nutt, Christian (2003-08-26). "Soulcalibur II Review". GameSpy. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
  23. ↑ Hwang, Kaiser (2003-08-23). "Soulcalibur II Review". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  24. ↑ Staff (June 2003). "Girls of Summer". PSM. 7 (72). Retrieved 2009-07-11.
  25. ↑ "Babes of the Week: Soulcalibur Hotties". GameDaily. AOL. p. 2.
  26. ↑ Workman, Robert (2008-04-16). "Impressions: Soul Calibur IV". GameDaily. AOL.
  27. ↑ Staff (2008-08-01). "Review: Soul Calibur IV". Edge. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  28. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (2007-10-25). "Soulcalibur IV Features Tasteful Greek Cleavage". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  29. ↑ "Biggest Guns, Best Bounce and Viewers' Choice Baddest Good Girl". G4. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  30. ↑ "Talim wins highest voted character in the latest Soul Calibur popularity poll, check out how the others placed". Eventhubs.com. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  31. ↑ http://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw2426054
  32. ↑ Schedeen, Jesse. "Soulcalibur: The Top Ten Fighters". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  33. ↑ "55 awesome character cameos". gamesradar.com. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  34. ↑ "The Greatest Boobs In Video Game History (Gallery)". GameFront. 2011-05-05. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
  35. ↑ "30 Greatest Female Fighting Game Characters Of All Time". WhatCulture. 21 May 2015.
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