Soulcalibur 5 was supposed to be a new step forward for the series, but instead, it introduced a protagonist that was so bad, it led to a series reboot. Most of the time, bad characters in fighting games can simply be dropped in a following installment. However, when it came to Soulcalibur 5's Patroklos, the game's universe needed to be reset to get rid of him.
Soulcalibur 5 was the most widely criticized of the Soul Series of fighting games, and there were several valid reasons for this. The game's story mode was much too rushed, and many characters either played a minuscule role or none at all. Some popular characters were removed from the roster to make room for newcomers. Among all of the game's problems, none cast a bigger shadow over the game than Patroklos. While Sindel's retcon ruined her in Mortal Kombat 11, Patroklos ruins Soulcalibur 5's whole story by bringing its unlikable focus. He was supposed to be the new protagonist, but instead, the fanbase got a character that they could collectively agree to loathe.
There were a lot of things wrong with Patroklos, both as a character and in the way he was handled. Although it may sound unfair to say that Soulcalibur 5's bad reception was due to him, a lot of the game's issues did lead back to him in one way or another. Although Soulcalibur is still a respected name, Patroklos will likely only be ed for his flaws.
Patroklos Was An Unlikable Screen Hog In Soulcalibur 5
Soulcalibur is typically made up of an ensemble case with a variety of personalities. For example, Siegfried is stern and resolute, while Ivy is aristocratic and sultry, and both of them have approximately equal importance in the story. After all, fighting games should have strong casts, like Def Jam: Fight For NY's roster of rappers. On the other hand, Soulcalibur 5 is all about Patroklos, and he shows why this was a bad decision by possessing one of the worst personalities in the series.
Patroklos is smug and self-important by default, and players will likely hate him the first time they see him. In fact, in the first chapter of the story, Patroklos kills an old homeless man for no reason other then assuming that he's malfested just because he's dirty. He even mocks the man for being unable to prove his innocence after doing the deed. This is the way that most games would introduce a particularly callous villain, but instead, Patroklos is the story's protagonist, and he drives most of the plot by either being a jerk or making bad decisions. Although Trevor Philips was a bad GTA protagonist, at least he was supposed to be a criminal, while Patroklos goes above and beyond to be Soulcalibur's worst alleged hero. Possibly the worst example aside from his introduction comes when his long-lost sister saves his life, and he ends up rejecting her because she was malfested despite proving herself to still be a good person.
Patroklos does change his attitude later in the story, but it's such a rushed and dramatic change that it's unbelievable. The player had to spend the whole story watching Patroklos act dreadfully, so to see him change over the course of a single chapter was unbelievable. Few people would buy that the giant jerk they had watched would change so easily.
Patroklos Was A Horrible Replacement For Two Popular Characters
As previously mentioned, Patroklos absorbed all of the attention in Soulcalibur 5 despite the fact that Soulcalibur and Tekken veteran Yoshimitsu deems him a villain. The other newcomers had no chance to establish themselves due to their very limited screen time, and almost all the series veterans were shoved to the side as well. Even more jarring is how Patroklos took on the legacy of two popular characters.
Sophitia Alexandra was Patroklos' mother, and easily one of Soulcalibur's most popular characters. She died during the time skip between 4 and 5, and Patroklos inherited a variant of her sword and shield fighting style. Even despite Patroklos' bad attitude contrasting with his mother's kindness, replacing a fan favorite is never easy. However, Patroklos had another form, Alpha Patroklos, and this version inherited Setsuka's fighting style. Although not as famous as Sophitia, Setsuka was also popular with fans for her cool fighting style. Effectively, two of the series' most popular characters had their styles taken and grafted onto a detestable new character.
Mario Kart's popular Peach and Mario would be difficult to replace, and the same was true for Sophitia and Setsuka. It would be bad enough that two such popular characters were removed from the game, but to have a character as hated as Patroklos inherit their fighting style was practically an insult. To say that players would have rather had Sophitia and Setsuka than Patroklos is a vast understatement.
Soulcalibur 6 Seems To Realize That Patroklos Was A Mistake
After Soulcalibur 5's relatively harsh reception and failure to live up to expectations, it was feared that the series was over. Fortunately, Soulcalibur 6 came along, and in addition to being well-received, it also rebooted the series' timeline. While this alone could be seen as the developers having a lack of faith in Patroklos, there are a few details that make that explicitly clear in ways that hit harder than Cyberpunk 2077's most insulting slang.
One thing to note is that at the start of Soulcalibur 6's story, Sophitia does not have any children. In fact, she and her original husband Rothion have yet to marry. This means that so far, Patroklos does not exist. However, a more damning piece of evidence comes in the form of Cassandra, Sophitia's sister and Patroklos' aunt. In Soulcalibur 6, she is the only character aside from the immortal Zasalamel who has any knowledge of the timeline that led to Soulcalibur 5, and that is explicitly considered a bad timeline. Cassandra's goal in the new timeline is to make sure that the events of 5 never happen, so Patroklos' own aunt is essentially on a mission to make sure that his starring role never happened.
There's still a chance that Patroklos may not end up existing in the new timeline, much like how Cloud Strife never made it into Soulcalibur 2. In fact, with Sophitia entrusting Cassandra to name her future children, Cassandra may avoid the name Patroklos for that exact reason. Patroklos' failure has essentially been written into canon, and it's unlikely that players will see him again as a result.
The fact that Soulcalibur 6 had to reboot the series after Patroklos' featured role in 5 probably isn't a coincidence. He was by far the most hated part of the series' worst-performing game, so he was the biggest issue that most could point to. It would not be surprising if Soulcalibur 5 was Patroklos' only playable appearance, and few would likely be bothered by that.