Raphael Sorel | Wasted Plotential 

Kind of an underrated character. both his fighting style and story were completely wasted in the end

I love Raphael as fallen french nobleman not so much as a vampire. I miss SC2 Raphael so much. I love 2P outfit more 1P outfit.

Perfect episode. I think this is EXACTLY what they should of done instead of making it the Pyrrha and Patroklos show.

Let's not forget that Viola, Raphael & Nightmare... all have special dialogues with each other that support the connection. Also Viola & Raphael's main stages are different versions of the same stage. The clues make this whole thing pretty obvious!

Raphael as a protagonist would be better than patriokolos. I do like the inversion of Siegfried vs Raphael.

Raphael is my favorite in this series. If he doesn't return, expect man tears. Many sad pathetic man tears.

Man. How did they get 5 so wrong. It's almost impressive how terrible it is.

I don't like Soul Calibur V's story and I most likely never will but your fan write for how the story could've played out for Raphael and Amy was actually REALLY good and I wouldn't have minded if they did something like that. It's certainly better than the crapfest that they ended up going with lol

The 'Raphael turning into a malfested vampire who gets more insane with each game' grew on me a lot and I hope they go the same route for his character in the rebooted timeline. I will always be pissed we never got a proper resolution for him and Amy in the original timeline. Your fan-write showed how much more interesting it was than the Patroklos-Pyrrha mess we were given.

I honestly thought the Dracula arc was horrid. His initial story was fantastic since it was unique for the Soul series and it gave me strong Charlotte Colde vibes from Samurai Shodown. In other words, the fact he became vampiresque felt like a bit of a cop out to me as it became unoriginal, including his look in later games. Not that it was outright terrible, I felt out of all the newer characters that arrived for SC2, he certainly had the most potential. The idea he was also the one to free Siegfried from the sword's hold was incredible, much like how Sophitia and Taki defeated Cervantes. Personally, I understand /why/ he was corrupted since his duel with Nightmare mortally wounded him. But that being said the fact he was mortally wounded in the first place was the trigger for his vampiric arc. He essentially suffered the same fate as Sophitia so I guess there really wasn't a way around it. I just wish his path did not immediately reject his human roots and that there was more of a build up towards his eventual full blown insanity, after doing everything within his power to be freed of the curse of Soul Edge before becoming an unwilling pawn to it. Much like Ivy, he could have resorted to alchemy and that knowledge could have developed through his style, mixing rapier combat with arcane abilities that brought more gravitas, giving him a more unique edge against other opponents that stayed true to their combat origins. With each new game, Raphael's style evolves in a way that reflects his own corruption till by the time of SCV he is no longer using his rapier and comes across as fully dependant on using arcane artifacts, much like Amy/Viola. But when Raphael is defeated in the story we unlock an uncorrupted Raphael, much like how we unlocked Siegfried for defeating Nightmare.

Soul Calibur V suffered the same rush-development cycle as MVC3. I remember them promising an extensive story mode that delved on Viola and Zwei's story...

I like your plot. Personally, I never liked how Amy stayed silent as Rafael went mad(der). (Let's be honest, he was never sane). If I were writing his story, instead of becoming French Dracula, he'd be so obsessed with giving Amy the life he feels she deserves (ie EVERYTHING) that he becomes a powerful warlord. Seeing his that love for her warped him to the point of uncontrollable maddness, Amy flees from him, and joins the good guys, hoping one of them can save him. He takes her leaving as her being turned against him, and he decides that he will kill anyone who gets in his way (and all those good warriors who turned Amy against him!) and Becomes Soul Edge. SoulEdge Rafael starts destroying towns demanding that Amy be "freed" from thier curse. Several of the good guys ( Seig, Hildegard, Kilik) fight Rafael but can't beat him. Amy decides that she can't run anymore and decides to face SoulRafael. Like what you said, Rafael cannot free himself from SoulEdge, but he can resist enough to not harm her. She strikes a killing blow and breaks SoulEdge while mortally wounding Rafael in the process. He has a moving "Sniper Wolf -esque" death scene where he doesn't apologize for his motivations, but apologizes for how his actions hurt Amy. Amy forgives him, calls him father, and Raf dies content knowing he had Amy's love. Amy decides she will take up the rapier and dedicate herself to breaking Rafael's evil kingdom, and fighting SoulEdge.

Just curious, have you done a video on SFV story mode? There's a TON of wasted potential there!

I don't understand why people don't like Raphael, he's the coolest mother fucker in Soul Calibur. He could literally have his own game.

Raphael is one of my favorite characters, and I love what you did with this. I would have liked the game a lot more if this had happened (and some Cervantes love in the story).

Height, Weight, Bloodtype, Fighting Style. That used to be enough of a backstory for fighting game characters back in the days.

Every interaction with Viola from dialogue even certain moves done to her from Raphael indicates it's Amy. There is more factors it's Amy that can't be debated IT'S AMY

Great vid as alaways 4th. Rapheal is probably the most interesting character in the souls series with a lot of potential to be a great Anti hero/ anti villain. project soul dropped the ball hard when he came back in 5 as nightmare but with NO Explnation whatsoever.

btw SC6 confirmed Viola being Amy.

I swear everybody hates the vampire theme for Raphael but that was insanely dope and hyped that man up AMAZINGLY good video

Glad to see my boy Ralph get some love

A huge missed opportunity is a small detail in his original design His default outfit in 2 has him wearing something called a gorget, it's that small, golden metal piece in his chest/neck area. Gorgets, though coming in a bit later than the events of the game, were used by military officers to signify their rank. Making Raphael not only a doctor, but a war veteran, could have added a lot more depth to his character, his experiences in the war perhaps coloring his cynical view of humanity as a whole

Just found your videos and they're amazing, I love this SC content and generally provides points to keep in mind for writers. Please make more!

I fcking love Raphael Sorel and I hated how SC screwed him.over after the 3rd game.

Remember the weapon meter in Soul Edge? Yeah, me neither.

My knowledge of SC series is limited to Soul Edge and SCV, so once again, thank you Snake for the stories of this franchise and its characters.

Excellent. I'm pumped imagining this much better motivation to cross blades. I have to say though, I'm noticing a theme of redemption arc among the vids. thb I really liked Evil Raphael and Evil Amy. The cast is already full of goody-goody heroes.

A possible Jun Kazama episode?! *N A N I intensifies*

I hope Raphael comes back in SCVI with his original SC2 100% human form.

I feel like Namco never really knew what they wanted to do with Raphael. Also, this might be my American sensibilities speaking but his relationship with Amy reads as borderline obsessed/Lolita-esque than a simple adopted father/daughter relationship. That might be me reading too deeply into it though.

And this is exactly what happens when you don't add a storyline as an afterthought. Namco should hire you.

I'm looking forward to the Jun Kazama video. She's one of the more interesting characters in that entire franchise.

Raphael has been my favorite character since sc2. I'm not that good at video games but with Raph I put the fear of God in mortals hearts

I can't prove it but I think Raphael was inspired by Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles as both are blonde French noblemen who were cast out from their families, both are "vampires" (only implied for Raphael), and even adopted a orphaned girl from the streets. People also theorized he was gay back in the day but they were just stereotyping because he dressed nice and was "flamboyant". The early 2000s were a weird time.

2:36 when i had done that myself playing the game, all i could hear was the illumanti theme song playing in my head.

vampire Raph NEEDS to be in SC6 NEEEEDS

I like this channel. I had a joke with my friends where we imagined game functions and storylines that we would have liked in the game and what we called "Soul Calibur: Yea but no". This was not the angle that we thought Rafael was going to turn. I hope his Soul Calibur 2 self makes a return.

Really good video, I do wonder how's Jun Kazama's potential wasted? There is that whole how Jin was born thing, that's been bothering me for so long!

I so would have love to see the story of Raphael as Nightmare's Host. That would have made a way better story than Pyrrha and Patroklos' bs story. I wanted to see Raphael either accepting his role as not just the Azure Knight but a noble that's somewhat close to the Holy Roman Emperor, or have Raphael struggle to regain his life as a human. Also, I would have loved a Soul Calibur 5 story of Kilik's new status as Edge Master, Hildegard and her two sons, What Yun-Seong, Seong Mina, Talim and Hwang are up to after the events of 4 and What Zaslamel is doing as his role of Watcher of Mankind.

Good video, your version of the story actually seems better than the version presented in game. Haven't played the whole story yet but this seems so much deeper.

Man I don't remember anything about SCV's story and I've always been the type of person interested about stories in fighting games. Guess that just further proves how shit it was. Also I never put together that Viola was Amy, nor was that even a thing that fans even considered. Great video!

God bless jiggle physics.

Good ideas here, Raphael has always been my favorite SC character (hell, my username is a variation of his last name, that's where it came from) and it was disappointing to see the entire Graf Dumas thing wasted. However, I actually really like Patroklos and his story in SC5 even if the game's budget cuts ruined the presentation and shafted the rest of the cast

I'm afraid there's no way to save V's plot...Also the best Raphael is human Raphael, never liked the edgy vampire Raphael

Man poor raphiel, he’s on of the more in-depth characters to then get replaced by weird incest relationship. Hopefully he is in 6 and we can see him grow again

Holy shit, As a soul Calibur fan thank you for this bit of lore.

didn't know Raphael was dead... I was expecting Zwei to return somehow, reunite with Viola, and then for them both to be confronted by the fencer. we should have had the classic vampire werewolf rivalry, but with a Soul Caliber twist. though what they did with the actual storyline is pretty cool. also really liked your idea for how they would bring Raphael back 👍

Also want to add that in regards to if Soul Edge can possess a corpse outright or it resurrects its host beforehand I somehow like to believe it can do both and it all depends on who it controls

Still waiting for the citation that explains Nightmare killing Raphael. I have the book you mentioned, and nothing like that was ever mentioned.

Look. He's a vampire ok?

You know, I just thought about what else was wasted potential when it comes to Soul Calibur V. Patroklos Himself! Now hear me out. What if Patroklos stayed a Villain in the Story Mode? I mean, you get a chance to play him at the beginning of the Story Mode to see his pompus ass killing innocent people, his very fighting style, his demeanor, and taunts all are pretty evident of his superiority complex! All the while still holding out hope of finding his sister Pyrrha while willingly serving Graf Dumas. Pyrrha or ZWEI would serve as the main Characters you play with ZWEI coming to help her get away from Tira. As Patroklos continues raiding and killing (falsely proclaimed) Malfested in his search, he ends up coming across the the two believing ZWEI to be the enemy (a fight ensues), win or lose Pyrrha will intervene only for Graf Dumas and Tira to show up and turn the Situation up on it's head! Graf Dumas becomes Knightmare, and once he reveals this, he uses his power to Force Patroklos to Turn him into a Malfested Servant! As his willingness to kill has tainted him and made his connection to Soul Edge all the stronger without him realizing it! Knightmare will end up trying to do the same to Pyrrha, only to falter as Seigfried and Co. Show up and stall him out and beating his forces back. I think this would've been a better outcome.

This is really late and probably one of the most controversial opinions that could ever exist; but I feel like Patroklos could've worked as a protagonist. First, remove that one scene of him killing the innocent dirty man as it's probably the scene most people point to an I feel it does nothing for the story beyond make him look like a uncaring asshole. Second, show that behind his bravado and confidence, Patroklos is actually very unsure of himself (perhaps insecurities brought on by trying to live up to his mother's legacy, fear that he might be too late to save Pyrrha or generally feeling lost without his father or aunt to guide him). Third, flesh out his interactions with the other characters since all that really seems to happen is they show up and fight him for poorly contrived reasons. Fourth, if we keep the whole going back through time bullshit, have Cassandra be the one he meets on Astral Chaos. Also finally, Alpha Patroklos shouldn't be based on Setsuka. Either I feel like it should be more in line with Cassandra's fighting style (since Pyrrha Omega is already based more on Sophitia) or be something entirely new. I'm not the best at this so it's probably nothing comapred to what you do Snake, but I tried my best.

Raphael is my favorite character and I didn't even know he was knightmare in this game. That may have to do with the fact that I never bought it though I did rent in a couple of times when I had friends come over. I really like your version of the story. Honestly SC5 was such a disapointment. A single terrible story with no character individual stories for arcademode, and no other singleplayer contetn. No tower of souls, no rpg strategygame, no challenges, nothing.

this got real fan ficcy

Raphael is never wasted potential, when I use him I'm top tier.

What was also wasted was most of the Asian Character roster as the Story for Kilik and his family and Possible daughter weren't even factored into the plot. They could've at least given Maxi a moment to speak with his best friend and ask for Maxi to continue looking out for his Daughter, all while Xiba trains under Kilik.

Amy could have used a rapier/orb combo.

Fucking Hell the ones that played soulcalibur 6 raphael story mode should approuve this

I grew up playing SC and had no clue that Graf Dumas was Rafael

Sounds fine to me. I just wanted Raphael to get his redemption story in.

Where did you get the information about Raphale's death? I was unable to find any mentions of his death in the artbook you just mentioned.

Hell Z.W.E.I himself I'd think is wasted potential in all honesty out of all the straight up brand new characters who on their own could've done more with the associations to the likes of Taki, Xianghua, Kilik and Maxi

this became a wasted potential Amy/Viola real quick. which is better in my opinion , she has a cool story that they arnt touching so i guess someone has to do it

Fuck yeah!

3:16 A little mistake. Amy was 13 during SC IV, not in her late teens.

What if, in the newer timeline, since he now isn't quite as driven by crazy he does find either Soul Edge or Soul Calibur? Then as this happens, Amy gets hurt or something equally bad and either the swords or Azwel say "Well we can cure her BUT you gotta submit to me." and in his desperation, he agrees to it and becomes the new host for either sword? Maybe give him Soul Calibur and instead of vampirism, he goes around murdering anyone who doesn't share his ideal of a perfect world for Amy in the name of corrupted "justice" as he justifies it by saying he was unjustly judged for self defense and so he'll deliver that same ideal to others? Just an idea.

I spy both a cha cha from Samurai Warriors Spirit of Sanada which surprises me and a Jun Kazama. Now the Jun Kazama one I can understand but cha cha this interests me.

Can we go back and give Cassandra her own Wasted Plotential rather than appearing in Sophitia's? At some point when Kilik traveled the world, he had to have seen Cassandra when closing astral gates, maybe even helped her out of the Astral Chaos at some point, so much potential wasted their..

I didn’t even know soul calibur 2 had a proper story it was just loads of random fights in war mode

I'm glade his story was rebooted and there not going to make him a vampire as it gose on in sv6.

I saw the rise and the fall of my main character…

If the story had gone like this, I genuinely believe the game wouldn’t have been as much of a shitshow. And it definitely would have made me cry. I’m glad that they’re kind of rewriting everything with SC6, I hope they keep it going and fix the mistakes they made in the original plot.

4 YEARS LATE SQUAD WHERE YOU AT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I actually forgot about Raphael since I didn't like him too much. After seeing this though, I hope he comes back (after Talim and Hwang). his style was pretty cool, although it wasn't my cup of tea.

I wonder how a duel between a Zweihandler and Rapier in real life would turn out.

She can use the orb and the sword at the same time

well guess what? He just got revealed lol

Can you do Seung Mina or Talim next?

I knew it. Amy is Viola.

Took me 9 minutes to realise that this isn't the actual plot...

Always liked Raph. Love his fighting style. I always wanted that hat for character creation. My Vampire hunter D would have looked cooler.

I enjoy Graf Dumas conceptually, but I don’t like how Soul Edge seems like it suffers from copium after losing Siegfried as a host. The whole point of Soul Edge is to make the most of its wielder’s ability, not the other way around. Why isn’t Graf Dumas a rapier wielder? One could even throw a main gauche in for bonus shenanigans, but I guess that would seem too much like Cervantes for some.

->+🔺️ to victory

I dont have a link but iirc viola is specifically stated to not be amy.

Sooo, I'm just gonna pretend this is how the game unfolded. Because I'm hyped for soul calibur 6 but I'm so worried the story will be as hollow as 5

Honestly I liked Raphael's story.

Still making one of these videos huh, well I'm impressed, So what do you think about Devil May Cry 5 coming out next year, Is there a wasted potential on the DMC series? (Other than the reboot.)

>written "Zwei" >pronounced "Swei"

Yo, you should totally do a video about Jake Muller AKA Jake Wesker, from Resident Evil 6

This is good. Really good. *BUT!* Consider this: _Mitsurugi_ being the one to defeat Nightmare!Rafael :3

Plus Z.E.W.I the best new character from V doesn't die, why couldn't they have gone with your version?

VI takes place between soul blade/edge and SC1

So do you think Dante is 58 years old now cuz I feel Dmc 5 is after 2

Raphael was always my fav SC character and it pains me so much to hear that he is dead in 5. What the actual f? He was supposed to be immortal. When I saw him as playable character I was relieved, but not I am upset

Can you do a video of Talim, please?

Honestly, SC5's writers are just understudies thanks to how much BS we got in SC5 due to their HORRIBLE character

Do u think talim is a wasted potential? Cause i certainly do think she is

Creators have said viola isn't amy. Also viola is 24 years old

I think that was the original idea, but they had to rush the game out, so it was dropped

Honestly wish 5 didn’t exist. It felt like the lowest the series ever went, especially if like me you’re a primarily solo player. The story was terrible and the lack of endings took what I personally think was the best incentive to try every character completely out of the equation.