Hey all, could anyone explain the Story of GG?

[venkman182]

Hey everyone, very very new to Guilty Gear but excited to get into it. I got Xrd Sign coming in from amazon and have scoured the Web looking for information about the story, characters, & every little subtly that informs aspects of a character's race & what-not. But, I am having a lot of trouble making sense of it all. I can only really understand the simple things like the fact that Sol Badguy is the Ryu of the series & that he was a human that was turned into a gear & certain other aspects like that for other characters but there is so many nuances & such a rich history that I just can't add it all up. Like some are Gears, some are Human, and some are Backyard Residents. One of many things I wanna know is, what a Backyard Resident really is, like they're neither Human nor Gear? So what does that mean?

Could anyone at least explain all the really important bits? & will Xrd help inform me of Guitly Gear's past & bring me up to speed?

I'd also kinda like to know who the most popular characters are for most fans. Just curious on that one.

Thank you for any help & info. It will be much appreciated.

[Axiomatic]

There is 17 going on 18 years of Guilty Gear history, so its a lot to explain. I would recommend visiting:

http://gear-project.tumblr.com/

Go here to read up on any topic your heart desires , Blade has been running it for years and has lots of knowledge from past games and side materials given in a Q&A blog format. He translated some sidestories here on dustloop if you search hard enough as well (Night of Knives), but those are not as important to the main lore. If you ever get confused on things, just shoot him an email through his blog; I can't vouch he will answer it, but he is very knowledgeable about many things Guilty Gear related. Definitely take the time to read things thoroughly though, since you don't want to bother him with basic questions he has already answered.   

 

Xrd will NOT inform you of all of Guilty Gear's past. A lot of the history is not conveyed through story mode but rather through Library mode or knowledge from past games. Take for instance, in Xrd if you play arcade, you will have scenes of the Conclave (basically the Guilty Gear magical Illuminati) sitting at a table. You'll notice there are four chairs but only three people in masks. It turns out you would have had to play a pachinko machine to understand why the fourth seat is empty as it is never explained directly except for one line. Additonally, arcade routes from past games convey intimate details about characters (even if not all of them are canon) that you'll miss out in Xrd. Overture is pretty much required viewing if you want to make a little bit more sense of story references as well as getting familiar with the dynamic of the main cast like Sol, Ky, Sin and how That Man fits into things. 

 

Once you're a little bit more up-to-date, you can try asking questions in Xrd's story thread once you get it.  

[Poultrygeist]

GG's story is pretty complicated due to just how long things have been going on in the in game universe, but here's the basic gist of it, at least as far as it concerns most of the important cast.

A group of researchers/scientists were working on a "Gear Project."  Three of these were Frederick, his friend/love interest Aria and his other unnamed male friend.  This project ended up blowing up spectacularly with Aria being used as a test subject for an experiment that ended up destroying Japan, due to actions from the unnamed friend.  Frederick himself would also become a gear and would be given the name of Sol Badguy.  Feeling an immense sense of guilt (hence the title) he became a bounty hunter with the mission to exterminate every gear and erase all traces of his mistakes.  This mission also became one of revenge as his unnamed friend, usually referred to as "That Man" also begins cooking up some shady shit that we currently do not know the full scale of.  Once you understand that premise, it becomes easier to digest everything else, I think.

[venkman182]

Thanks you two. Both post are immensely helpful, and the info I'm gathering is starting to piece together for me. Thanks again guys.