Welcome back to the stage of history. The soul still burns. Those words echoed in the minds of gamers everywhere when Namco's cult arcade hit Soul Calibur became a bonafide console success when it was launched with the arrival of the Dreamcast back in September of 1999. Featuring drop dead gorgeous graphics that still impress today, an unbelievable soundtrack that dazzled our ears and some of the best gameplay to ever grace a system, Soul Calibur went on to sell over a million copies on the Dreamcast. Fast forward to the present, and Namco's set to take advantage of Soul Calibur's success with a follow up that will hit the XBox, PlayStation 2 and the GameCube later next year.

While Soul Calibur was really unknown between 1998 and 1999 (until it's arrival onto the Dreamcast), Soul Calibur 2 - previously titled The Next Chapter of Soul Calibur - will be expected to outperform its predecessor, a mighty weight on the shoulders of Namco indeed. However, it looks like Namco is up to the task of bringing us a worthy sequel, and are stacking the character roster with a bunch of new characters. First up is Cassandra, who is Sophitia's younger sister, and looks just as dazzling as her as well. Next is Hong Yung Song, a Korean warrior who served under Hwang Sung Kyung on a navel fleet. The third new character is Talim, a young Pacific Islander hailing from the Wind Shrine brandishing some scary looking Tonfas. Two other characters have been mentioned by Namco, a French swordsman wielding a rapier and Wovama, a young female warrior. Unfortunately information on these last two new characters have been scarce.

Namco hasn't released too many details about the storyline, but we do know that the Soul Edge had survived it's latest battle, and has taken possession of another young warrior (which would explain the new look for Nightmare). Cassandra has been sent in place of Sophitia, who is unable to go because of a tragic event in her family. Returning to the stage of history are Mitsurugi, Taki, Ivy, Siegfried, Nightmare, Astraroth, Xianghua, Cervantes, Voldo, Kilik, and Yoshimitsu. Gone from the current set of characters are Maxi (most likely due to him dying in his ending), Rock, Lizardman, as well as Hwang (perhaps he sent Hong Yung in his place?) and Seung Mina. While we're not too sure if any of these characters will be part of the good ol Namco-Time-Release-Group, we should expect at least a few surprises along the way.

Whether you like it or not, you have to give some props to Namco with the work they did in Soul Calibur's gameplay. With a multitude of options for each character, including various stance cancels and multiple strategic decisions for each situation, Soul Calibur was definitely one of the deepest and most complex fighters that anyone had ever experienced. Soul Calibur 2 looks to attempt the same leap in gameplay that Soul Calibur accomplished with Soul Edge. Two new features that have been mentioned are called "Avoid!" and "Break!"; both of which have not been talked about at length, but one can speculate. Given their names, we're thinking that Avoid! might be akin to Steve Fox's sway movements in Tekken 4, while Break! could possibly suggest a way to break an opponent's weapon or a situation where weapons would collide and engage, much like in the original Soul Edge/Blade.

Also new to the series are fully enclosed arenas, much like Tekken 4, the Dead or Alive and Virtua Fighter series are all implementing now. From early screenshots, Soul Calibur seems to have a mix of both arenas that are ring-based and others that are walled in. Arenas are also affected by uneven terrain, much like most recent 3D fighters, and will definitely have a great affect on how Soul Calibur 2 plays; not only will you have to worry about rings and walls, but your level relative to your opponent. However, whether the arenas will be anything like Namco's other fighter, Tekken 4, remains to be seen.