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Strife is the only
heir of the Astlar dynasty ruling the empire of Grandall. After his father's
death during a battle, he's appointed as the heir of the reign when he
was only ten years old. Blinded by greed and power, his close relatives
plotted everyday 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 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 at the time he understood those voices, his
behavior changed completely. He started executing his relatives, and torturing
anyone who arises 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
ahold of the cursed Soul Edge, which further deteriorated his mind.
During the Chronicles
of the Sword, Strife takes little actions during 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 Giradot in battle, Strife appears to finish Giradot 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, somehow 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 it's fragments are forcefully implanted
in. This "mind control" power that Soul Edge possesses has never been revealed
prior to Soul Calibur III.
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Updated: June 18th, 2019
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Look at this dude's face... Strife is the definition of "smug". ^-^ Since he can actually lift that sword and swing it around, it seems he can back it up, too. Yeah, Strife has
laughably girly hair, making him a somewhat interesting and unorthodox take on a male knight design. I like the fact that he's not
your typical "manly" knight. Unpopular opinion: I like Strife's design for that very reason.
As a minor new character in Soul Calibur III, Strife at least looks interesting... but Namco definitely could've done a lot more with his in-game moveset / fighting style. He definitely doesn't fight as smoothly as the mainstay Soul Calibur characters - like most of the "bonus" fighting styles from SC3. Overall, Strife was a halfway
entertaining "bonus" character in
SC3, but sadly, he'll probably never be anything more than that. If Namco fleshed him out further, even as more of a comic relief character, I think they could've actually done something with this design.
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Style / Moveset |
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| Personality
/ Charisma |
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| Outfit(s)
/ Appearance |
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| Effectiveness
in series |
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| Overall
Score |
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