Raphael (Soulcalibur)

General CVG character|name=Raphael Sorel


caption= Raphael as he appears in Soulcalibur IV
series="Soul" series
firstgame="Soulcalibur II"
voiceactor=Paul Jennings ("Soulcalibur II")
Charles Rubendall ("Soulcalibur III")
japanactor=Yasunori Masutani
inuniverse=Soul character
age=32
birthplace=
birthdate=birth date|1559|11|27|mf=y
height=5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
weight=159 lb (72 kg)
bloodtype=A
weapon=Flambert (Rapier)
fightingstyle=La Rapière des Sorel
family=Relatives, cut all ties
Foster Daughter, Amynihongo|Raphael Sorel|ラファエル・ソレル|Rafaeru Soreru is a fictional character designed for the Soul series of fighting games. Raphael made his first appearance in "Soulcalibur II" and returned for "Soulcalibur III". He returns in "Soulcalibur IV".

Design

As a character introduced in "Soul Calibur II", Raphael's weapon, a fencer's foil, was chosen before other aspects of the character were. His design and concept were built to revolve around it, starting with gender, then physical measurements, and lastly background details. Once established his appearance and movement were fleshed out by the team's concept artist Aya Takemura and rendered as a 3D model by a design team that worked solely on the character. [De Marco, Flynn (2007-09-20). [http://kotaku.com/gaming/tgs07/soul-calibur-director-katsutoshi-sasaki-on-weapons-characters-and-storyline-302211.php Tgs07: Soul Calibur Director Katsutoshi Sasaki on Weapons, Characters and Storyline] . Kotaku. Retrieved on 2008-07-30] Raphael was then animated by a motion designer using motion capture and working directly with the team.OPM staff. [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3146108 Behind the Game: Soul Calibur III] . 1Up.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-30]

Raphael's appearance in "Soul Calibur III" was changed heavily, designed to represent his evil demeanor and royal image. The chief character designer of the game, Hideo Yoshie, stated that the change made Raphael "more distinctive".

In video games

Cleanup-reason
date=July 2008
reason=be more concise and well citedRaphael, the young master of the Sorel family, grew up with the rapier and medicine as his playmates. His cool, unemotional demeanor created many enemies, but his quick and precise decision-making and execution skills were prominent features of his family amongst the nobles. Unfortunately, Raphael made a critical mistake during the year of the notorious Evil Seed and killed an insane nobleman--a noble supported by his family. His family cast him out of their household and even aided the town in their pursuit of the murderer.

Raphael hid himself in a poor town to escape from his pursuers. There he met a young girl named Amy who hid the weakened Raphael from his enemies. For Raphael, this marked the first time he had ever owed his life to someone else, causing him to feel emotions he had never experienced before--Amy became an irreplaceable presence in his life.

Convinced that the chaos of the war in France at that time was no place to live, Raphael took Amy away. But even with the new surroundings, he could not get Amy to open her heart to the world. Then one day Raphael found a letter with references to the Evil Seed. It wasn't long before he could make the connections between the Evil Seed and the insanity of the noble that had attacked him; and he knew that the source of all this evil was a cursed sword called Soul Edge.

He pondered over the consequences that could occur if the pathetic nobles were to have the sword thrust into their possession; they would destroy themselves from the inside. Raphael decided to retrieve the sword himself so that the war-mongering nobles could be eliminated and a meaningful future could be secured for his foster daughter Amy.

He was determined to obtain the Soul Edge by any means necessary for the sake of this young girl, and concocted an insane scheme to help him achieve his end.

In his quest for the Soul Edge, Raphael tracked down and pursued its possessor, the Azure Knight Nightmare, at Ostrheinsburg Castle, but after a fierce battle he was defeated. His body weakened and his consciousness fading, Raphael looked up towards the Azure Knight, about to deliver a finishing blow, and muttered Amy's name. Emotion overcame Raphael's entire being, and he forced his body to move. The desperate strike he unleashed pierced the center of Soul Edge's eye; and his opponent writhed in pain. That was the last he remembered before losing consciousness. Once he recovered, he found he was alive and that the Azure Knight left without killing him.

Raphael dragged his wounded body back to his mansion. He spent several days on the brink of death, but eventually recovered. But he didn't notice the evil energy that had radiated in his Soul Edge induced wounds. He had come across the phenomenon of malignity transformation before in his research, but the transformation was already completed by the time Raphael thought this.

The symptoms even spread to Amy, possibly infected while she was treating his wounds. Their minds were intact, but they suffered physical symptoms. Their skin turned pale and their eyes shone red. They felt weak and sluggish by day, and a powerful thirst by night. Not long before, the neighboring people learned of their strange behavior. Thinking it was some form of plague, they attempted to drive them away. Furious, Raphael thought on taking vengeance, but having priority in Amy's safety, he took her away for good.

They traveled to Wallachia and purchased a castle ruin in the mountainous terrain, taking advantage of the war throughout the land. But Raphael had no intentions on living on the run. Since Amy has turned into a being who cannot interact with the world, he concluded that the world would change for them, and started spreading his evil plague. Eventually it moved into a great scale, reaching even a neighboring city. One day Raphael found that many of the transformed citizens had been returned to their original self thanks to something called "Holy Stone", a charm brought by a recent visitor. Raphael tried to steal the stone, but upon touching it his hand surged with pain as if it had been burned. Enraged, Raphael destroyed the stone.

But he still wondered if there were any other "Holy Stone" or charm with similar powers in the world. Feeling threatened, Raphael decided to venture away to seek out the stones' true nature and destroy them completely. But before leaving, an army, who had noticed the region's abnormality, appeared at the castle's base. Raphael bid his farewell to Amy before descending to confront the soldier's army by himself.

Gameplay

Many of Raphael's weapons are designed almost exclusively for stabbing, including his signature rapier; as a result, his more potent attacks tend to be thrusts and jabs. Furthermore, his fighting stance is exactly that of a sabreur. Raphael, after being cast out and pursued even by friends and family, was able to take Flambert from the Sorel Family home and departed with it. Being an extremely sharp and easy to handle rapier, it has turned into Raphael's preferred weapon, using it long after his departure from aristocracy. Raphael's ultimate weapon in the 4th game is "Amy" named after the adoptive daughter he obsesses to create a new world for. It is, in design, exactly the same as Amy's initial weapon, Albion.

Even though many of his swords have names of actual historical weapons, almost none of these resemble their historical counterparts. In "Soulcalibur III", Raphael's weapons and fighting style are available under the discipline Soul of Raphael to characters created under the Knight class.

Raphael is also a left-handed swordsman. This is likely to be a reference to the famous painter of the same name.

While it was implied in Soulcalibur III that Raphael had become a vampire, it was not proven until Soulcalibur IV. In IV, his Critical Finish includes a neckbite. He also has a move which has two different animations, depending on his opponent's gender. If his opponent is female, he will bite her neck and replenish a small amount of health. If his opponent is male, he will absorb energy from his enemy's abdomen(possibly hinting that he may be an energy vampire as well as a sanguine vampire).

Promotion and reception

Raphael was described in reviews of "Soulcalibur II" as "a welcome addition to the line-up." [ [http://www.talkxbox.com/review20.html Soul Calibur II review] . talkxbox. Retrieved on 2008-08-30] Game Revolution described him as "intriguing", praising his smooth flowing fighting style. [ [http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/ps2/soul_calibur_ii Soul Calibur II video game review] . Game Revolution. Retrieved on 2008-08-30] GameSpy described him as "invigorating to play", praising his fencing style. [Nutt, Christian (2003-08-26). [http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/soulcalibur-ii/6114p1.html Soulcalibur II Review] . GameSpy. Retrieved on 2008-08-24] Other elements of his fighting style such as his evades have been additionally praise, with GameCritics.com dubbing them "the Matrix dodges." [Park, Gene (2003-08-27). [http://www.gamecritics.com/review/soulcalibur2/main.php Soul Calibur II review] . GameCritics.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-30]

Raphael's has been noted as attractive to female gamers, in comparison to how Ivy's is to males. [Rabinowicz, Zara (2008-08-15). [http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/08/violence_and_po.html Violence and Porn: Why Soul Calibur 1V tops the charts] . Shiny Shiny. Retrieved on 2008-09-03] Other sources have cited Raphael as a "gay character", [EGM staff (October 2006). "Gaming's Top 10 Queerest characters". "Electronic Gaming Monthly".] or have noted his appearance as "feminine", such as Kotaku's quip regarding his absence in a montage of female showcase videos for "Soulcalibur IV". [Fahey, Mike (2008-06-30). [http://kotaku.com/5020691/the-soulcalibur-iv-ladies-in-action The Soulcalibur IV Ladies In Action] . Kotaku. Retrieved on 2008-09-03]

Trivia

*Raphael appears in "Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2" as an unlockable character.
*In Soulcalibur IV, Raphael's costume resembles the look of Alucard from Konami's "".
*Raphael uses Savate kicks
*In Soulcalibur II, Raphael serves as the destined battle for all three console exclusive guest characters.
*Raphael is currently the only character in the Soul (series) to have unique background music played during his weapon exhibition.
*In Soulcalibur II, Raphael has blue eyes. In Soulcalibur III, Raphael has hazel eyes. This is possibly an effect of his transformation into a vampire.

References