Curse

Ellis 404 · May 07, 2006, 10:24 PM // 22:24

Having just beaten the game with one character, here is the plot as I understand it:

Shiro is told by the fortune teller, who correctly predicts his promotion and random money findage, that the emperor will kill him. She dies telling him this. We don't know if she had any ulterior motive or if she was just a really accurate, really dumb fortune teller. (After all, she does pursue Shiro and as far as we know, gets nothing but dead out of it.)

The emperor may or may not have been planning to kill Shiro. He acted oddly, we never get an explanation. If he was planning to kill Shiro, we never get a motive. If he wasn't, we never get an explanation for the change of plans.

Shiro's death (first time around) produced enough energy to turn the seas to Jade and the forests to stone. We don't know why.

The rest of it is somewhat more understandable - he uses his uber powers (which he apparently had prior to his death as it took a powerful assassin sneaking up on him and the Luxon and Kurzick heroes to kill him) and his abilities as an Envoy to create a giant army of inflicted as part of some vague spell to bring himself back to life.

Did I miss something? I'm hoping that there's a cutscene I skipped that explains some of this because while I may have disliked certain things about the Prophecies storyline, it was never this sloppy. It's like MacBeth, only without the bits that EXPLAIN ANYTHING.

Sekkira · May 07, 2006, 10:34 PM // 22:34

Yeah that's pretty much it. What I got though is that the Emperor knew he was going to die by Shiro's hand and he either accepted fate or made it so. Collaborating with the fortune teller perhaps? If that is the case, Shiro was just a puppet. For what purpose, I have no idea, but it doesn't sound too good.

thunderpower · May 07, 2006, 10:36 PM // 22:36

For me it's more vague. I saw the cutscene with the harvest temple where Shiro uses chop chop on the emperor... or so it seems.

He looked human... but wtf. Than later on in the next mission the emperor still lives and loses health slowly :P So hurry and save his dumbass.

So actually wtf happened back there at the Harvest temple? Seems like shiro didn't kill the emperor there... So the fortune teller was wrong with the "it's either him or you" bullsh*t.
Or was this something from the past?

Also there is the part where master Togo gets slayed (or was it Brother Midget? ) and Shiro gets to be a human again since Togo or Midget was of royal blood... bah. Now this is very vague. Shiro was some "uber" spirit, why the heck did he want to be human? Guess we`ll never know.

Oh... and i truly missed the part where they explain why the Luxon and Kurzik started to fight in the first place ^^

Caelus The Fallen · May 07, 2006, 10:41 PM // 22:41

thunderpower: There are 2 Emperors involved... The one that Shiro killed 200 years before the games setting, and the present one.

Lexar · May 07, 2006, 10:43 PM // 22:43

But why do all the people in Cantha think it's so logical that the afflicted have to do with Shiro? They haven't actually shown up before the recent events, and during his life Shiro didn't spread a disease either. How would they know this?

Quote:

Shiro is told by the fortune teller, who correctly predicts his promotion and random money findage, that the emperor will kill him. She dies telling him this. We don't know if she had any ulterior motive or if she was just a really accurate, really dumb fortune teller. (After all, she does pursue Shiro and as far as we know, gets nothing but dead out of it.)

Excellent point, hadn't even thought of that. Unless the fortune teller had a deathwish, she didn't see that coming, and so maybe she didn't even know what she was talking about in the first place.

Ellis 404 · May 07, 2006, 10:46 PM // 22:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by thunderpower

For me it's more vague. I saw the cutscene with the harvest temple where Shiro uses chop chop on the emperor... or so it seems.

He looked human... but wtf. Than later on in the next mission the emperor still lives and loses health slowly :P So hurry and save his dumbass.

Actually, that was a different emperor. He DID kill the one you saw in the cutscene at the Harvest temple but that was a very long time ago. After he killed the emperor he was then killed and his death resulted in the petrified forest and jade sea.

Maybe he has a really kick ass Death Nova spell. I dunno.

Edit: Caelus beat me to it.

Quote:

Also there is the part where master Togo gets slayed (or was it Brother Midget? ) and Shiro gets to be a human again since Togo or Midget was of royal blood... bah. Now this is very vague. Shiro was some "uber" spirit, why the heck did he want to be human? Guess we`ll never know.

His motivations did seem to go from self-preservation to, "I'm a villain! Rawr!"

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Oh... and i truly missed the part where they explain why the Luxon and Kurzik started to fight in the first place ^^

I think it's just supposed to be a clash of cultures, but I'm not sure.

KvanCetre · May 07, 2006, 10:54 PM // 22:54

When I saw the preview cutscene, I thought Shiro was supposed to be a really evil guy. Then I got the game and found out he wasn't evil, he was just told he had to do something to spare his own life.

Then it didn't make sense anymore...
I could see some sort of "He was so evil that when he died all this happened", but he was doing it to protect himself... so why go insane and kill everyone else? In the trailer his eyes glowed red(ZOMG HE IS TEH EVIL) but game scenes tell us he's just a normal powerful bodyguard.

Edit: As for Kurzicks vs Luxons...
Just more of the story that was rushed into production. I love the game but the story line is lacking dramatically. I hope chapter 3 improves on that...

Fargin Scotchsman · May 08, 2006, 01:07 AM // 01:07

if the kurz/luxon thing wuz culture clash, then why did both factions have an oober warrior at the festival thing to kill shiro in the first place?? now, of course i realize that it is a 200 year difference, but, it jus doesnt sound logical that the two groups who teamed up to save the continent r seen killin each other laer on. ima hafta agree wit ellis, jus another sign that the game developement wuz rushd.........

Ellis 404 · May 08, 2006, 02:47 AM // 02:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fargin Scotchsman

if the kurz/luxon thing wuz culture clash, then why did both factions have an oober warrior at the festival thing to kill shiro in the first place?? now, of course i realize that it is a 200 year difference, but, it jus doesnt sound logical that the two groups who teamed up to save the continent r seen killin each other laer on.

The Manuscripts booklet that comes with the game goes into more detail; both are a part of the Canthan empire, which explains why the empire mediates the setting of terms of war for the coming year between the two factions and also why Luxon and Kurzick champions were present at the Harvest Festival. Also, the Harvest Festival is smack dab between Luxon and Kurzick lands.

The booklet also explains that the warfare didn't break out until after the Jade Wind, which might have hurt Cantha but it really hurt the Luxons and Kurzicks both culturally and in terms of lives lost. With the empire in disarray and after that large a cataclism, I don't think it's unreasonable that the cultural differences that already divided the groups turned into a more open conflict.

I'd put the Luxon/Kurzick conflict in the same category as things like the history of Orr; it's not poorly thought out but you're given hints and references rather than a full account. That is, unless you include the Jade Wind in iwth the Luxon/Kurzick conflict - then I'm stuck wondering why that happened just because a bodyguard got killed (albeit a bodyguard that heard voices and killed his employer).

Edit: And the entry on Shiro sheds SOME light on how he did what he did but really just highlights how his character really... is woefully undefined. He apparently "drew on all his ill-gotten power to drain the emperor's very soul away" as he died (what ill-gotten power? When did he get it?) and "seething with magic but mortally wounded, the treacherous bodyguard screamed, and his voice washed over a n area hundreds of miles accross... [becoming] the Jade Wind, a cataclysmic wave of energy that turned trees, animals, people, and open water into stone and crystal."

So because he fears for his life, he kills the emperor. Then he defends himself as (surprise surprise) killing the emperor is an unpopular move, and when he's dying he develops mad soul-stealing skillz and kills thousands and decimates the landscape. This is before he infects hundreds upon hundreds of people (i.e. the Afflicted) so he can come back to life and be a jackass. And never, either as a living person or as an Envoy, does he seem to spend any time trying to find out what was really planned that day at the Harvest Festival. Frankly all this makes Shiro seem like a spiteful, unstable idiot.

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ima hafta agree wit ellis, jus another sign that the game developement wuz rushd.........

Actually you're agreeing with KvanCetre and thunderpower on this one. Though in general, I agree.

SnipiousMax · May 09, 2006, 04:19 PM // 16:19

I think it was poorly incoorperated into the story line...but reading between the lines this is what I got...

That while the origin of Shiro's power is a mystery, it was sufficient to make him stand out enough to draw the attention of the emperor. I think the Fortune teller understood the scope of Shiro's power, and was drawn to him like a leaf to a whirlpool. I assume that the emperor was good from his popularity, which is a stretch, but neccesary for my understanding of the storyline. Reading between the lines, it seems that the emperor was going to become 'aware' of some 'power' that Shiro possessed that would be something to be fearful of. Perhaps the Harvest Ceremony: A.) Would give the Emperor enough spiritual insight to realize the true nature of shiro's power, or B.) Enough Power to stop what the emperor had already become aware of.

With the thoughts of conquest and power and ambition already flooding into his mind from the fortune tellers previous visits.... It became less an act of self-preservation, and more an act of rebellion.

Perhaps the emperor had already recieved power from the ceremony, and the resulting power in shiro was unstable and chaotic. So the voliatle mix was meshed with his own anger and unlessed in an explosion, when he was finally defeated.

The story should have been more specific, but I like thinking about it like this.

Cygnus_Zero · May 09, 2006, 09:10 PM // 21:10

GW has a story? I beat Factions a couple days ago and I can't tell you one bit of what the story is about. As much as I like GW, I have to say, ANET doesn't have the right people that know how to tell a compelling story. And the voice acting is sooooo bad I can't bring myself to watch the cut scenes. Maybe I am weird that way, but since the story is not up to the level I expect, I just pretend there isn't one and just enjoy the gameplay.

Beat_Go_Stick · May 09, 2006, 10:20 PM // 22:20

It's all about the stuttering guard echoing in shiro's head *laugh*

Unkemptwolf · May 10, 2006, 04:08 AM // 04:08

The fortune teller is Glint, who used Shiro to kill the emperor, and cause the jade wind, with her Uber-Death-Nova spell. She then bought a bunch of jade from the Luxons, and use it to build her home (after dying the jade purple).

Oh, and Shiro is trying to take over the world again because Gwen dies in the searing and has been following him around in the afterlife, driving him insane, even to the point that he would rather destroy the universe than hear her say "one day I'm going to be a hero like you" one more time.

Its enough to drive anyone mad, so I can't really fault him.
</lies>

In all seriousness, I read from one of the NPCs that the reason the two factions began fighting again is because each claimed it was their individual champion who killed Shiro (rather than both), and each considers the others claim an affront to their honor, so there is only one reasonable solution, which is to beat the ever loving **** out of each other.

kryshnysh · May 10, 2006, 08:06 PM // 20:06

I'm not sure if the fortune teller foretold the emperor would kill Shiro then, or if she was unable to distinguish 200 years ago from present death by emperor (or those who work for him). Odd that plans have changed, maybe the Emperor did want to kill him, maybe the Emperor had a feeling something bad was going to happen and brought Shiro (and his other guards) with him for defense. Maybe the Fortune Teller set up Emperor AND Shiro... thats an evil thought.

The Emperor had a lot of power in him from the Harvest Ceremony, gave him (possibly) more power that was used for the Jade Wind, etc. That was my understanding of ill-gotten.

Shiro had a lot of power for the Emperor to notice and select him. What power? We're not entirely sure, but it was something really special for the Emperor to select him. Seems to indicate more than just excellent fighting skills, but what? Or maybe it was just incredibly overpowered fighting skills. Somehow he had enough to become an Envoy (or was that from the energy from killing the emperor? I'm leaning towards his initial powers). Could this have been ill-gotten somehow? We never really know enough of Shiro otherwise.

The (present) Emperor holds off Shiro in the Raisu Palace mission for (up to) 25 (?) minutes. Is that his power holding off Shiro or it just takes Shiro that long to win (similar to beating Vizu?). And why? Is there something he has to do or does he just have to kill someone of that bloodline? My guess is he has to do more than just kill or he would be fleshy after Togo dies with us at the end of Vizunah.

Why come back to fleshy form? He can kill with basically no effort (end of Vizunah) without it. He can make an army (afflicted) without it.

And why did he not turn us into afflicted at the end of Vizunah?

Lots and lots of questions.

Roupe · May 12, 2006, 01:19 AM // 01:19

Not to mention that this happens in a world where you can be returned to life, with ressurection for instance.

No im kinda pissed, it feels Shirow is small pawn in a greater game and the fall guy. And how is this related to the destruction of the Tombs of Kings (which is linked to faction expansion). Also, for an event that happened 200 years ago. It is still fresh in evryones memories, and the ruins (boats for instance) are well preserved.

It feels more like it was 20 years ago, and that the Kursaks and the Luxons got into an violent argument over the control of Jade, in the newly created jade sea.

In chapter 1 , there are some chaos in the Fissures of Woe (baltazar domain), and the Underworld (grenths domain)

So, after the seering , the whole world and afterlife has been turned into complete chaos and civil war (even though Shirow in chapter 2 should predate this by 200 years)

And what happened to the Curse, after Shirow was defeated . Did the jade turn into sea again, and the stone forest returned to life, the warders sane? -No mention of this

Probably it didnt, meaning that the cause was NOT Shirow

TychoFlak · May 12, 2006, 04:45 AM // 04:45

I did enjoy the storyline, but it does take some thought and is not a plain in your face story. I dont think the story is even complete yet, however you can damn well bet that everything is linked in a greater story.

It gives us tantilising questions for the future of the game.

For my money Shiro is the latest Lieutenant in the big badguys plan for the planet. The Flameseeker was the previous pawn, and we messed that bugger up, just as we messed Shiro up.

It seems to me that the gods might not be in charge of all they thiink they are. There are outside forces at work that are messing up things on the planet, and the champions of the gods.... ie us lot, are all that stand in the way.

There are some tantalising questions that factions storyline gives us.
Was this fortune teller an agent of the mysterious third party, yet to show their face?

Why the hell do dragons know more than the gods about stuff? Are they too linked in some way to this third party? either by opposing or are the dragons the mouthpieces of the gods? However that would be kinda pointless since the gods can appear in avatar form, and just tell us stuff themselves.

We don't know if the old Emperor was a good person really. Some Emperors are tyrants, yet we assume he is a benign person. Did Shiro actually do the world a favour and the Jade Wind was the Emperors/third party's backlash? The end however seems to say this came from inside Shiro himself cause he tries it again, but the monky dudes stop the wind from getting out and seem to reflect the second wind back on him (which is I guess what really kills him, and turns him to the jade statue at the end)

How did Shiro get to be an Envoy the first time around. I mean his crime was massive then, but it was apparently okay for him to be an Envoy the first time around. What did he do that warranted not being able to be one the second time around after he became human and died again?
That in particular makes me think the Envoys are not entirely what they say they are. I mean they have godlike powers to kill and return you from the dead (Again why dont the actual gods get involved here?).

Heres a novel suggestion. Shiro has been manipulated all his life and unlife by this hidden third party, and we saw he was clearly going insane just before he attacked the old Emperor, or at very least thought he was in such a downward spiral that he just snapped and did it. Perhaps the only way to free himself of this third party (and perhaps the other envoys) was to try to become mortal again. To do this he creates the afflicted to spread the guard out and promote chaos so he can lay his trap for what he needs to free himself. However the gods chosen and the Closer to the stars folk on the Canthan side put paid to the scheme.
Again the only thing at the end that kinda sullies this idea is that he wants to be an envoy again.

I dont think the storyline of Factions is particulary bad, and we do get to see a fair amount of Shiros past in it. However it is not complete, or as they say in TV. Tune in next week.
We have to remember Guild Wars uses the name Chapter as at least the codename for each new game. So perhaps we should just treat it as such. Another chapter, but not all has been revealed yet. Questions have been posed for the Chapters beyond.
Cynics would be right in saying that it is a game design method to keep the majority of players coming back to figure out how things all work together, and to purchase the next game. If you can accept the story is not yet complete, but we have had a certain amount of closure with the second death of Shiro.

Need I remind you that we still don't exactly know much about the Mursaat either, other than you have to be chosen of the gods to see them (unless you get run to droks of course ROFL)

Definitely getting the vibes of a third party out there meddling in the affairs of men dwarves and bird type dudes.

nimloth32 · May 12, 2006, 05:39 AM // 05:39

i also confused by the presence of fortune teller and the motive of the emperor when he let shiro in, apparently aware that shiro is going to kill him..oh well, at least prophecies have better story than this..=.="

Corth · May 12, 2006, 07:24 AM // 07:24

I'm hopeful that another "sorrow's furnace update" will clue us in on some of the big questions everyone has. My one big question is, was the emperor really planning on killing Shiro? then to a lesser extent, Shiro's past.

I really like the GW design team, but I really hope they don't do more of this "Let the fans think about what happened themselves" cause if I want to go into someone elses world for a story, I don't want to do half the work for them

Former Ruling · May 12, 2006, 01:04 PM // 13:04

The Factions don't like each other because they both claim to be the better. They both claim that it was their champion that killed Shiro (Solo) and how much better their culture is than the others. Its a power struggle.

The Whole Shiro Plot as a whole was rushed though. Many things even early on that weren't cleaned up for plot holes and inconsistent thigns.

But a story doesn't have to totally be bulletproof under a microscope to be "good".

Buffy the Vampire Slayer stayed around number1 in the nation here in the US for the full duration of the series, yet it is FULL of plotholes and things that dont make sense. The creater even notes in his commentary that he wasn't concerend with keeping the story beeliveable - its all about the emotion.

Xarath · May 12, 2006, 05:31 PM // 17:31

Have anyone of you guys taken a closer look at Headmaster Kuju in Shing Jea Monastery? I think she is the necro headmaster.. Anyway, she looks exactly like the fortune teller from the cutscenes. You don't get much info from her, but the way she talks indicates that she likes minions.. Maybe Shiro was also a minion of sorts for her? Ok, the fortune teller dies in the cutscenes and it's 200 years ago, but what if she is a little more than just a lady with a crystal ball?

Dunno if this has anything to do with the plot, or indeed anything. Maybe Anet just got bored of making character models and used that one two times? Could be, or it could be something else..