Cassandra Alexandra
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| Cassandra Alexandra | |
|---|---|
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| Game series | Soul series |
| First game | Soul Calibur II |
| Voice actor(s) (English) | Debbie Rogers |
| Voice actor(s) (Japanese) | Reiko Takagi |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Age | 21 |
| Birthplace | Athens, Greece (Ottoman Empire at the time) |
| Birthdate | July 20, 1570 |
| Blood type | B |
| Weapon | Xiphos and Aspis |
| Weapon name | Omega Sword & Nemea Shield (Soul Calibur II) Digamma Sword & Nemea Shield (later games) |
| Fighting style | Athenian Style |
| Family | Father, Achelous Mother, Nike Older sister, Sophitia Younger brother, Lucius Brother-in-Law, Rothion Nephew, Patroklos Niece, Pyrrha |
Cassandra Alexandra (カサンドラ・アレクサンドル Kasandora Arekusandoru) is a fictional character from the Soul series of fighting games. Cassandra made her first appearance in Soul Calibur II and has returned in Soul Calibur III.
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[edit] Biography
Cassandra, the sister of Sophitia Alexandra, was the only person who believed Sophitia's story of fighting the powerful evil of Soul Edge on behalf of Hephaestus. Afterwards, Cassandra had witnessed a mysterious ninja, Taki, bring her sister back from her journey and draw shards of the evil sword out of her sister's flesh while treating her wounds.
Three years later, Sophitia disappeared, leaving Cassandra certain that her sister had left to contend with Soul Edge once again. Now, four years after this past journey, Cassandra had visited Sophitia's home, only to be greeted by the sight of Sophitia's two children fighting greedily over a familiar metal shard that Sophitia's husband, Rothion, had found. It was a fragment of Soul Edge. Angered by her sister's panicked reaction to the fragment, Cassandra ran to the Eurydice Shrine, screaming at Hephaestus for endangering her sister on behalf of his ego. Cassandra collapsed on the floor, worn out from shouting. When she awoke, she saw the metal fragment resonating with the holy Omega Sword blessed by Hephaestus. She realized then that Soul Edge was still alive, but she could not allow her sister to exhaust herself once again, especially with a husband and children to care for. Stealing the weapon her sister had used twice before, Cassandra sneaked from her home in Athens to deal with Soul Edge on her sister's behalf, hopefully to succeed in finishing the task that her sister had started--to quell the evil sword once and for all.
At first she travelled out of sheer determination, until she felt a strong evil energy at Greece's east. Walking along a mountain pass she found herself on a town covered with evil energy, and which habitants were also contaminated and their minds lost. Seeing the reaction of the fragment with the evil energy, Cassandra decided to help the people here, thinking, 'If Sophitia can do this, so can I!'
She discovered that the center of the evil appears to be a castle in the mountains. As she attempted to approach the castle, she notices the sacred weapons have cracks all over, rendering them useless. Aghast, wondering how divine weapons could break so easily, she fails to notice that she has been surrounded by the city-folk contaminated with evil energy. Lacking weapons to defend herself with, Cassandra has no choice but to flee the city.
Once out of the town, Cassandra starts to feel helpless. She thought she wasn't cut out to be a warrior, and her determination started to fade. But then she thought of her sister, and her sister's children, and forced her hesitation away. Since her holy weapons had been rendered useless, she decided that it must be because of powerful evil energy and returned to Greece. She will ask her brother-in-law, Rothion, to forge new weapons, or go to the shrine if she needs to. But bad news awaits her upon her return.
Rothion informed Cassandra that Sophitia left on a new quest, since she felt it was her responsibility to destroy Soul Edge. Though Rothion said it was Sophitia's own decision, Cassandra still cursed Hephaestus for this. Rothion gave the young woman new weapons while asking her to help Sophitia. Cassandra thought that, 'Once Soul Edge is destroyed, we can save the town infected with evil as well.' She'll stand at her sister's side.
Now with a new determination on her heart, Cassandra starts a new journey.
[edit] Weapons
-- Omega Sword & Nemea Shield
A sacred sword once used by Sophitia. The sword was made by Rothion using sacred ore received from Hephaestus, the Greek god of forge. After Sophitia's return from her second journey, they were placed on an ancient shrine. Cassandra took it from the shrine to go on her own journey. The Nemea Shield is a shield taken by Cassandra to go on her journey. Both weapons has been cracked during her pass in a corrupted town.
-- Digamma Sword & Nemea Shield (Reforged)
The sacred weapons Cassandra stole from the shrine cracked during her journey, so she went back to see her brother-in-law Rothion. He handed her a new sword, the Digamma Sword, and reforged the Nemea Shield. These weapons however don't possess special effects.
-- Valkyrie
Cassandra's ultimate weapon. For whatever reason, Cassandra's soul is not pure enough to use Soul Calibur but isn't dark enough to use Soul Edge either. The Valkyrie has a stronger Shield, a sharper sword which enhances her attacks, and a longer Sword so it has a longer reach. Her health recovers graually as well.
[edit] Stages
-- Eurydice Shrine Gallery (SC2)
This shrine is built high up a snow-covered mountain that is as beautiful as it is harsh. The scale of this temple is such that it is easy to believe that Olympian gods once dwelled in this place. Legends say Hephaestus, the God of fire and forge, built the main shrine on top of the summit. This is evidenced by the stairway that leads up to the shrine - the enormous steps are impossible for mortals to climb. Humans built this gallery around the giant stairway for their priests' use. In one corner of this meticulously built gallery is the place where a blacksmith couple gave an offering of a sword and a shield to Hephaestus. The arms have disappeared from the altar, however. Who could have taken them?
(Note: Cassandra shares this stage with Sophitia).
-- Old Toledo - Burning Gallery (SC3)
After the capital was moved to Madrid, Toledo ended its role as capital of Spain, but it still continues to flourish as a center of activity. This mansion, standing in the wealthy district of town, belongs to a wealthy merchant who is on a personal quest to pursue the trail of the massacres caused by Nightmare. Through extensive independent research, he collected records and reports regarding the incidents, and it is said that he hired a famous artist to draw a portrait of Nightmare based on the information he had collected. However, perhaps he had learned too much. The mansion fell victim to a suspicious fire and now burns fiercely. The voracious flames race to consume everything. It will surely not be long before all is reduced to ash... It is probably no surprise that rumors spread that the fire had been caused by arson. However, mixed in with the rumors were accounts of human figures seen within the flames. These rumors of a man with a scythe and a brave swordswoman who jumped into the flames might perhaps be surprisingly close to the truth.
[edit] Character Analysis
Initially in Soul Calibur II, Cassandra was thought to be a low-mid tier character. However, during the Evolution 2004 fighting game championships, Marquette Yarborough (Mick) took her all the way to the championship game. This proved that Cassandra was capable of holding her own against traditionally upper-tier characters.[1]
Similar to her sister Sophitia, Cassandra is an excellent pressure character due to her Crouch Dash stance. Her Angel Exile (also known as 236B) is similar to Sophitia's Angel Strike in that both are great punishing moves. They differ in that Angel Exile has Ring Out ability while causing less guaranteed damage. They also differ in SC3 in punishing potential, since Sophitia's 236B executes one frame faster, which allow a significant number of moves which were not punishable in SC2 to suddenly become punishable, while Cassandra's RO game considerably improved due to the added just frame to her 236B. The speed and air from Cassandra's 236B and the full crouch properties of the move gives Cassandra among the best ring out games from that move alone, and is considered by fans second only to characters such as Talim and Nightmare with more RO tools in their movelists. The constant threat of ring out from 236B alone, as well as its speed to damage ratio, create a constant mind game that discourages ducking and sloppy playing, especially at the edge. Since her punishing game is of vital importance to her strategy, Cassandra is not recommended to those who are unable to punish on reflex.
In Soul Calibur III, Cassandra has improved quite a bit, due to higher damage output from just frames and combo setups, and now more players consider her to be top-tier. Her new tools include crouch throws, which are somewhat unnecessary to her game due to already having strong duck punishers are good 50/50's especially when used during a crumple stun such as CH 2B+K. Her lockdown game changed considerably, her new long range tools being 22B+K, and her 22B_[B] giving tech trap opportunities at mid range, her old A+B had been toned down with worse step coverage and inconsistencies with the second hit making it far less useful than it had been in SC2. Also, her tech crouch game has improved with high damage output from moves such as 66B, 2B+K, and 4[A].
[edit] Trivia
- Cassandra's name is a reference to the daughter of King Priam of Troy who, in Greek mythology, is said to have predicted the fall of Troy as well as her own demise. Cassandra's name can also be a pun, as Alexandra was another name for the mythological character.
- Cassandra has appeared in Sophitia's profile since Soul Edge, although in that game, her name was mistranslated as Kathandra, which would be a merger of the names "Cassandra" and "Katharine".
- One of Cassandra's weapons is the Red Crystal Rod, which comes from Namco's Tower of Druaga and its sequels. Her third costume in Soul Calibur II is modeled after Valkyrie, the heroine from Namco's Valkyrie no Densetsu.
- In Soul Calibur III, Cassandra's weapons and fighting style are available under the discipline Soul of Cassandra to characters created under the Sage class. Her ultimate weapon, Valkyrie, is also selectable for the "Sword and Shield" style.
- Cassandra's Destined Battle in Soul Calibur II is Charade and in Soul Calibur III her Destined Battle is Raphael.
- Both of Cassandra's Soul Calibur III endings signify comedic points in the game. At the beginning, after obliterating Soul Edge, she discovers to her dismay that she's broken her sword in the process. She then tries to return it to the shrine of the gods. In her no-input ending, she succeeds in doing so at the very moment Sophitia arrives; she then leads her away from the shrine, and Cassandra's sword falls apart behind their backs. In her input ending, Cassandra takes one look to the side to see if anyone is watching, but fails to return the sword when Sophitia arrives; as punishment, she's forced to fix the broken sword, but she has no idea how to do so.
