Guilty Gear Stories (spoilers abound!)

[Suzaku]

Ashercroix: It's Raven. Raven's mantle in GG2 has the kanji "Karasu" written on it. I'll go ahead and summarize just to make sure everything is clear. Without the characters' unique speech styles or first person pronouns, I think it might be a bit difficult to tell who's talking sometimes. This is set shortly after the theory of magic was completed, in a time of rampant scientific growth. Aria got her PhD in intelligence engineering, basically AI programming, as a teenager. Frederick's degree was in particle physics, and he's a leader in the new field of magical energy physics. That Man is a prodigy who completed his study of biology as a youngster and worked on the theory of magic, and now specializes in bioinformatics, which is the study of biological data (like the human genome). That Man is the chief of this American-run research laboratory and the three are friends/coworkers. Basically, Aria comes into the lab having just gotten a pretty dramatic haircut, judging from That Man's comment (probably went from really long to shoulder length). Frederick either doesn't notice or pretends not to notice, but after That Man compliments her, he says she doesn't look like a student anymore and curses. That Man gives Fred a cup of coffee. Aria asks the two if they pulled an all-nighter, and That Man says they sort of did, because they got into a discussion about controversial phenomena. That Man begins to tell Aria about the discussion, trying to explain that he thinks there are some unexplained phenomena which are only unexplained due to a lack of understanding, and others which are simply beyond human perception. He uses God as an example, which prompts a sarcastic remark from Frederick, so he instead talks about DNA and how it's only recently been understood. That Man continues by saying they understand what man is made of, but not who made man or how. Aria explains it's just natural selection, but That Man uses her as an example to say that the probability of everything in the universe being created by random chance is extremely low. That Man illustrates a hypothesis in which a being beyond human perception, which he'll call "God" for the sake of argument, controls and directs every event towards a single purpose. He explains that, for example, "God" defines the outcome of evolution, but states that "God's" control is imperfect and there are sometimes mistakes. He attributes these mistakes in evolution, like missing links, to a third party which he calls "Apocalypse", and notes that species that have missing links in their geneology tend to go extinct. He says that if the natural pursuit by the human species to reach a righteous evolution were interrupted by "Apocalypse", they could evolve incorrectly and would be doomed to extinction. Aria is worried by this dire prediction, but Frederick says That Man's full of shit and she shouldn't believe him. That Man laughs and says Frederick is cruel and it's just a hypothesis. Aria asks if that's what Fred really thinks, and Fred explains that you have to make up your own mind, and try to endure when people try to persuade you otherwise. That Man agrees. In the "epilogue", this is revealed to be a memory which That Man experiences during a memory restoring procedure that Raven is managing. That Man undergoes a program whereby his body is restored to a youthful state (he is presumably de-aged), but due to a defect in the program, there's a risk that his memories will be damaged or lost. To combat this, he backs up his memories as data in an HPC server, and restores his memories after undergoing the procedure. Raven mentions that his body rejected the juvenile hormones, which are insect hormones that allow larva to keep growing without undergoing metamorphosis. It closes by That Man mentioning the memory, and that it must have made him nostalgiac.

[Ashercroix]

Ah. Damn my inattentiveness to character design details, and ambiguous namings. >_> Seriously, man, thank you so much for this. While I was reading it, I was really relieved to see that I more or less understood it when I read it on my own (I could at least get the gist of it while reading, it was just the putting in a text document that was kicking my ass), but I'm definitely not confident enough in my abilities to actually tell you guys what I think it says. Canon stuff is serious business. Way too serious for an amateur like me. Not to mention there were bits I didn't get at all. So yeah. You, good sir, are awesome.

[danceljoy]

Thanks for the translation! And the summary was really helpful; at first I thought Aria and Sol were the ones who pulled an all-nighter but the it was made clear. Crow? Hmmm...I thought he was a minor villain but he's more involved than what it seems. And Fred is the coolest scientist ever XD

[Ashercroix]

Thanks for the translation! And the summary was really helpful; at first I thought Aria and Sol were the ones who pulled an all-nighter but the it was made clear.

Crow? Hmmm...I thought he was a minor villain but he's more involved than what it seems.

And Fred is the coolest scientist ever XD

No, no, that was my mistake, it was actually Raven. >_< I'm a misleading idjit. DX

[Lou_Cypher]

Geez, how much work did Arc put in the story detail? There must be some grand plan by Ishiwatari to make everyone understand because by now, pieces are coming together. And that's just That Man's story. I can only wonder what else is left.

[Zazz]

i was just more interested in their basic personalities. That Man and his wacky theories, Aria is the wide eyed kid who just happens to be a genius but also tries to talk like she's older than she is, and Fred is . . . Sol but with more SCIENCE. great stuff all around guys

[rtl42]

when did the title get updated with "SPOILERS ABOUND!"?

i thought it might be appropriate, no problem right?

[danceljoy]

No, no, that was my mistake, it was actually Raven. >_< I'm a misleading idjit. DX

Raven? I see. So it's Raven :D

[Blade]

Damn, Suzaku...you a science major to know all this and explain it so well? A.I. Study? Particle Physics? Bioinformatics? Wow. In any case, a few keywords popped in my head: "God", "Apocalypse", and "Missing Link" Recall That Man's description of Valentine: "An Illegitimate Child of a Merciless Apocalypse" If by That Man's definition an "Apocalypse" is a being that "corrects God's mistakes" then we've got some idea of where he's going and what he has in mind. Keep in mind, Sol says it's all a joke on his part, while at the same time, it seems that That Man is "rewriting the book" so to speak on existence and definitions of what beings of life are. What's more, look back to the first GG. We have Sol deciding to finally pursue Justice even though she had been sealed away previously. If you think about it, it's possible that Sol represents "Species A" and Justice represents "Species C" in terms of an evolutionary chart. Or perhaps it's the other way around, though that's pure speculation at this point. To think that That Man managed to backup his own memories on a computer. It's clear to me he's no longer human in any sort of immediate capacity for that sort of transfer to happen. As to what "Karasu" (Cross?/Crass?) has to do with Raven...only time will tell. @rtl42: No problems at all, thanks! I'm sure there's "spoilers" in this thread that don't necessarily include the main storyline (such as this new story on That Man), but just as a precaution I don't want people to make objections to any posts in this thread regarding storyline. Oh, and speaking of Spoilers and what defines them in terms of GG. Ideally if anyone wants to get the summary of GG's storyline down, play the following games: GG GGX+ (Or read the story Faq I've posted previously by Ed Chang) GG Petit 1+2 (Alternative to GGX+) GGXX (Or read the GGXX Story Faq) GGXXAC+ GG Dust Strikers (Optional) GG Judgment (Optional) GG2 Overture Those are the "core" storylines people would need to check out. Obviously there are Drama CDs: GGX Drama CD's 1+2 GGXX Drama CD's Side Red+Black GGXX Drama CD's Night of Knives 1, 2, and 3. And then finally the Novels: Ky Kiske: Lightning the Argent (LtA) Chipp Zanuff: Butterfly and Her Gale (BaHG) Anything else outside of those core games is considered "inacessable through normal means" so it isn't really spoilers to mention the Drama CDs or the Stories from the Overture book or info from the Memorial Book, since those aren't immediately available for everyone to check out except through here. Just anything from the core games.

[Mr. Bad Guy]

Good to see Sol was an asshole, even when he was still human. I've got a copy of Lightning the Argent somewhere. If any of you are interested, I could always try scanning and uploading it for someone to take a shot at translating (no offence to the people doing it on DeviantART, but they're taking way too long). I could also play through Dust Strikers and Judgment (maybe) and type up all the dialogue. Although I'm a lazy bastard, so it might all take a while.

[Suzaku]

Recall That Man's description of Valentine: "An Illegitimate Child of a Merciless Apocalypse"

If by That Man's definition an "Apocalypse" is a being that "corrects God's mistakes" then we've got some idea of where he's going and what he has in mind. Keep in mind, Sol says it's all a joke on his part, while at the same time, it seems that That Man is "rewriting the book" so to speak on existence and definitions of what beings of life are.

Well, more accurately, he defines "Apocalypse" as a third party which interferes in God's plan, which he believes to be more likely as a culprit than an error in God's "method".

Which is to say, "Apocalypse" is an outside force that influences evolution by forcing species to jump directly from A to C, or simply by disabling B. This creates missing links, and examination has shown that species with missing links tend to go extinct.

As a result, it isn't neccesarily good to influence evolution, because if the proper (righteous, just, correct) evolution is interrupted, a species could evolve incorrectly and walk the path to extinction.

At any rate, the real question is, given his theory of "Apocalypse," why does he ultimately make the Gears? I think it has something to do with term "Merciless Apocalypse." If a "Merciless Apocalypse" is leading the world to ruin, could it be that he was trying to combat it by guiding the evolution of species himself, fighting fire with fire? It's really hard to figure out...

What's more, look back to the first GG. We have Sol deciding to finally pursue Justice even though she had been sealed away previously. If you think about it, it's possible that Sol represents "Species A" and Justice represents "Species C" in terms of an evolutionary chart. Or perhaps it's the other way around, though that's pure speculation at this point.

Assuming that Guilty Gear: The Missing Link really ties into the theory literally, I think, though I'm not sure, that Sol may be "The Missing Link", being the prototype Gear. That would make him the Missing Link between humans and Gear, and would also make That Man "Apocalypse". Though, that's really just grasping at straws....

To think that That Man managed to backup his own memories on a computer. It's clear to me he's no longer human in any sort of immediate capacity for that sort of transfer to happen. As to what "Karasu" (Cross?/Crass?) has to do with Raven...only time will tell.

I think the implication is that That Man's longevity comes from a (treatment) program whereby his body is made young again. A seemingly unavoidable side effect of the program is that his memories may be damaged and lost.

He and Raven are apparantly trying to find a solution -- they use an insect hormone which, as an example, would cause a caterpillar to keep growing without turning into a butterfly, but because it's not a human hormone, his body rejected it -- so until they find one, they manually back up his memories to a server so he can recover them if they're lost.

It's similar to a concept in the manga Blame!, in which a human is kept alive and young by a machine that repairs his body, but every time his body is rebuilt, his memories and mental faculties degrade.

Oh, and "karasu" (烏) is Japanese for "raven" or "crow". That kanji is written on the back of Raven's mantle.

[Ashercroix]

Raven? I see. So it's Raven :D

Why did the show "That's So Raven" pop into my head just then? XD

Masochism? That's so Raven!

Also, another random thought: this messed-up evolutionary theory is really reminding me of Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

[danceljoy]

To think that GG is this scientifically fictional and still have vengeful spirits, forbidden beasts, and a 9 foot tall man that is quite physically fit... "That's so Raven!" LOL

[Ashercroix]

That's why it's so frigging awesome. Random thought I-can't-bother-to-check-and-see-if-it's-already-been-said: Maybe ARIA is the evil one. Whooooaaaa-hoooooh, boy! *hasn't given this theory much thought at all*

[danceljoy]

That's why it's so frigging awesome.

Random thought I-can't-bother-to-check-and-see-if-it's-already-been-said: Maybe ARIA is the evil one. Whooooaaaa-hoooooh, boy! *hasn't given this theory much thought at all*

I was somehow imagining that Aria will be the final boss of Guilty Gear...

Well, there should be a connection between her and Valentine and the Man said than there could be millions more. Intriguing. And "Aria won't wait any longer.

Aria= Merciless Apocalypse, possible for me (I think it has been tackled in this forum before)

More links perhaps and we'll get closer to the truth. One example is:

Kokage no Kimi is Ky's wife

Ky's wife is Justice's daughter

Dizzy is Justice's daughter

Therefore...(use law of proving)

Sol killed Justice

Aria was killed twice

And more...

[Ashercroix]

Hey, who knows? From what I've seen on the surface, trying not to look into it too much, That Man seems like he's trying to fix something awful that's going to happen. He used Sol without his permission, which Sol isn't happy about, but things seem to be going according to plan so far. Valentine is a copy of Aria, apparently, not Justice, and she's supposedly being spurred along by her "mother"'s wishes, trying to bust into the Cube in the backyard, where something that has the potential to seriously mess up the code of the universe has been locked away by That Man, who is, as stated before, trying to prevent said awful thing from happening. Since That Man was acting against Valentine in Overture, it's probably safe to say he didn't have anything to do with all the Valentines. Not to mention how he mentioned that Aria wouldn't wait much longer. I dunno lol. I'm still kinda sleepy, and I came up with this at like 2AM (when I'm supposed to have been asleep for four hours). I haven't even gotten out of my pajamas yet. :P

[Red Exodus]

Heh, look at all this plot that has accumulated. You take a break for a year or two and look how much you miss. Oh the simpler days where there was damn near nothing in storyline so you had to make up a bunch of it via RP/fanfic story-telling. XD

[danceljoy]

hehe this is kinda far from the current topic but this is for the sake of the ones who are waiting for my KyxDizzy fanfic, enjoy :D

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5027364/1/

OMG I want to cry...

Please continue your current topic

Oyasumi It's 1:00 AM here

[Alien55234]

He used Sol without his permission, which Sol isn't happy about,

I would like to add to this: "Gentlemen, gentlemen please, there is enough Sol for everyone!" Insert self-image of your choice.

[Ashercroix]

Not with me around, there isn't. :B

[Alien55234]

Not with me around, there isn't. :B

Looks like we'll have to order more then.

[Ashercroix]

Order Sol? Order Sol. ORDER SOL! I SEE! I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE! OHOHOHO! No, seriously, that was pretty good. ...If that WAS your intention. XD

[Alien55234]

Nice! I've been wanting to use that one in a while. Very astute of you. Edit: Wait, why does the image of a drive-thru come to mind? With Ky popping out of the window asking if I want fries with that?

[Ashercroix]

Haha, some puns just have to be made. XD

[Alien55234]

The Holy Sol Burger, they serve that in Paris nowadays instead of the Royale with Cheese. Edit: Maybe the metric system was imported there?