Fight for Your Gamerscore: Achievements in SoulCalibur IV

Published August 5, 2008

SoulCalibur® IV for Xbox 360® is just aching to dole out five-to-six-hundred Gamerscore to even a moderately diligent gamer, and a great deal more for those willing to really dig in for the long haul.

Ready that Guard Impact.

While you can reasonably expect to unlock a number of achievements with little extra effort, the following tips cover a few of the more troublesome and sometimes just downright confusing achievements. Good luck!

Indeed, SoulCalibur IV is that sweet but rare game
whose full 1,000 Gamerscore is well within reach.

Cumulative Achievements
SoulCalibur IVrewards dedicated play with a host of achievements unlocked only after hours of proving your worth. For example, the Repel all Blades and the Death on a Battlefield achievements require 200 successfully executed Guard Impacts and 100 Critical Finish moves, respectively.

Before we get to the achievements themselves, you should understand just how and when you earn progress toward any of these cumulative achievements.

While you can work towards these goals in the Story, Arcade, and Tower of Lost Souls modes as well as online in Player and Ranked matches, you'll earn squat in the Versus and Training modes.

Think you got the drop on Yoda?

Like a Flowing Stream: Perform 200 Impacts (20 Gamerscore)
While mastering the technique for parrying attacks (press forward and A to repel a mid or high attack) is of course important, you should also build your character appropriately if you're focusing specifically on this achievement.

For example, assign the Auto Impact A skill. This grants a "high chance of performing an Impact when an attack is blocked." Also, crank up your base HP and Defense stats. This way, you can take a great deal more punishment during combat, allowing you to play specifically for Guard Impacts without worrying about losing too much health courtesy of failed Impact attempts.

Lost in the Moment: Perform 20 Just Impacts (30 Gamerscore)
While the run-of-the-mill Guard Impact requires you to approximate your timing (still difficult), a Just Impact demands absolute precision as you repel or parry an attack microseconds before it strikes you. You've scored a Just Impact when your weapon and the accompanying particle effects glow red, rather than blue or green.

Siegfried's a Critical Finish machine.

Also, you can take advantage of the 130-point Master Impact skill, which converts all successful Impacts into Just Impacts. While applying this skill does narrow the window of opportunity in relation to a standard Impact, it's still much more forgiving than attempting the Just Impact manually.

Death on a Battlefield: Perform 100 Critical Finishes (30 Gamerscore)
For those of you not quite sure how to pull off a Critical Finish, here's the description from our SoulCalibur IV tips and tricks article:

• You know the time is ripe for a Critical Finish when your opponent's Soul Gauge is pulsing red.
• With the Soul Gauge glowing, you need to properly execute a Soul Crush. Do this either by landing a Strong attack while your enemy is blocking, or by successfully executing a Guard Impact when your opponent attempts to attack you. Either way, you'll know you're successful when your opponent (not just their Soul Gauge) glows and red lightning crackles across their body. Note too that not every Strong attack will work every time, so keep your eyes peeled for the visual cue.
• When you've achieved Soul Crush, you'll have just a brief second to trigger the Critical Finish. You must tap LB the moment you spot the Soul Crush. Time it properly and you'll be treated to a spectacular, over-the-top sequence.

You'll unlock the ten-point Scorpion's Sting achievement the first time you crank up one of these spectacular finishers, but if you're looking for consistent Critical Finish opportunities, your best bet is in the Arcade or Tower of Lost Souls modes.

It's in Arcade mode where you fight each enemy at least two rounds, so there's a fair chance of wearing down their Soul Gauge during the fray. Better yet, try the eleventh floor on Tower of Lost Souls, where the treasure chest unlocks only after completing four Critical Finishers. Because of this, the four fighters you face are much more likely to guard every strike and open themselves up for the attack.

The ultimate grudge match!

Also, try focusing on fighters like Siegfried, Astaroth, and Nightmare who can shatter an enemy's Soul Gauge with just a few Strong attacks. You can tear through an opponent's Soul Gauge much faster if you equip the Soul Gauge Damage A or Soul Gauge Vamp skills.

Hero on the Battlefield: Clear Arcade Mode with over 450,000 Points (20 Gamerscore)
While this achievement requires perfection in the form of Perfect victories (15,000 points for each Perfect round), it doesn't necessarily require that you earn every Perfect win back-to-back without fail. Keep the following in mind:

• Round bonus:For every match you win in a row (after the first match) you'll earn bonus points, beginning at 1,000 points and doubling every match thereafter. Win six matches in a row and you're looking at 63,000 bonus points. With the Apprentice always lurking in round seven, you're going to want to build up as much of a streak as you can before facing him.
• Restarts:If you stumble a bit in the later matches and lose a round, don't sweat it too much. You can lose the rest of the match on purpose and take another swing at scoring a Perfect without any penalty other than losing your winning-streak bonus.
• Critical Finish: While Perfect victories grant the largest bonus, you can afford to drop the bar a notch or two once you eke out your first five or six Perfect rounds. In the later rounds, try focusing on Critical Finishers. You'll earn 10,000 for every one you execute, and provided you can pull it off with at least two-thirds of your health intact, you'll be in fine shape.

Violent Storm: Perform 50 Wall Hits (20 Gamerscore)
Bashing your opponent against the wall requires only that you perform a throw or Strong attack when your enemy's back is up against a barrier. Just keep this achievement in mind any time you load into a level with walls, and it should unlock as a matter of course.

Where's his Soul Blade in final form?

Engraved Into History: Fight 100 Times (Online) (30 Gamerscore)
You can reduce the time commitment on this achievement drastically by teaming up with a single friend and hosting a Player Match game set to one-round fights. This way, you don't have to wait around if you lose and the matches are over in a matter of seconds, not minutes.

Start of a New Era: Secret (5 Gamerscore)
This eccentric little secret achievement asks only for patience. Simply make sure you watch the opening cinematic from beginning to end. That's it! From there, enter the game like you normally would and you'll be 5 Gamerscore richer for your patience.

Legendary Hidden Treasures: Acquire over 30 Treasures in Tower of Lost Souls (20 Gamerscore)
Earning the evasive treasure chests in each of the Ascending Tower of Lost Souls levels takes a bit of detective work. When each level begins, a note pops up onscreen offering an often evasive clue on how to earn that floor's treasure chest. Make sure you don't skip past the level-intro or you'll miss out on the clue.

You must decipher the message's meaning. For example, "lure them into the abyss" requires you to earn victories with Ring Outs while "use your ultimate attack" refers to executing Critical Finish moves. Bear in mind too you must often complete the action more than once, so if you think you've got it figured out but you don't unlock a treasure chest after completing the act, try it on every enemy in the level.

Also, while the bulk of your treasure chests will no doubt come from the Ascending Tower of Lost Souls path, you can unlock one chest for every five levels you complete in the Descending path.

How do you do that!?

Equal Skill and Power: Use All Skill Points and Set Up 4 Skills (20 Gamerscore)
This achievement requires a delicate balance as you arrange gear and assign four skills in such a way to not waste a single skill point. Luckily, you should find that each skill category holds at least one skill that requires exactly sixty points. Pick out your gear and weapon so four skill categories hold sixty available points while the remaining category remains empty and you're good to go.

The Controller and Wild Run to Tragedy (20 Gamerscore)
These two twenty-point achievements require that you unlock the final forms of the fabled Soul Edge and Soul Blade swords. Complete Story mode with Siegfried (Soul Blade) and Nightmare (Soul Edge) to unlock access to both weapons. Then, head into Character Creation and purchase both weapons.

That's some of the more difficult achievements in SoulCalibur IV. The truly dedicated player should find themselves busting well through the 750 Gamerscore barrier. Indeed, SoulCalibur IV is that sweet but rare game whose full 1,000 Gamerscore is well within reach. Now go get it!

Article by Ryan Treit