*SPOILERS* Amazing story, and it's not the way you think

[HorseForAKingdom]

First, to the devs, a massive THANK YOU!

 

I have an ecclectic taste in games and I've been playing them from the early nineties, so this is quite a testament to what a great piece Mark of the Ninja is when I say it's my all-time favorite. Bar none.

 

Now, for those of you who bought DLC/Special edition of the game, have you paid attention to the mission intro/ending? I think this ties in very well to the main story, clearly explains the motivation behind Dosan's "You must stop Azai." and actually makes Ora right when she says that the clan has no honor.

 

The honor was broken once by stealing the weapons, second time by being sent back to finish the job, and third time by the decision to forgo the Ninja tradition for cheap technology tricks. The clan used to stand for something and that something was lost with Azai's decision to steal. It is further cemented by the fact that the clan decided to use the remains of an almost dryed-up ink on you, which is more of an insult really - they picked an honorable guy for the job, relying on the fact that he would go by tradition and kill himself once the deed was done. Heaven forbid should they pick someone who would start questioning the real honor of the entire clan.

 

And when the clan lost its honor it was as good as dead already. Which is why Ora is right, and killing Azai is the only honorable ending. Killing yourself only adds to the insult, and holds absolutely no personal honor at all.

 

 

 

P.S.: Devs, do your thing, but seriously, give use Mark of the Ninja 2 sometime in the future.

[HoneyHam]

I concur.

[nomis103]

i just finished it like half an hour ago and damn i have to say, that plot twist with ora at the end

[Cyke]

I just finished the game about 15 minutes ago and I, too, want to give a big thank you to the developers for a job well done!


Halfway through, I started to believe the tattoo ink didn't really cause madness, but was a myth spread by the clan leaders throughout history to make sure their finest assassin doesn't live long enough to usurp power.
Then Ora mentioned hallucinations on the last level.. and upon having to stealth kill a guard, he turned back into a clan ninja.. I got a chill down my spine.

I thought the entire idea that Azai stole (and was planning to use) high-tech military armament was also a hallucination at first, just a product of the Ninja's spiraling madness. In retrospect, Karajan's final words (before the Ninja's madness began to set in) does confirm that Azai either stole outright, or they had an arms dealing that went bad.
Then again, Ora appears immediately after the hero awakens from having his very first tattoos, which seems to mean that the madness begins immediately.


Do the DLC cinematics provide a better clue about whether Azai really stole the weapon shipments?
If it's true, then I agree with HorseForAKingdom .. the clan has lost its identity. It is without honor, and therefore without purpose.

[Alyx]

I disagree with the OP. I think killing dozens of people is never a right thing, whatever they have done. (At the end Ora tells you to kill Azai first and then all the ninjas, so we can assume that if you start listening to her the slaughter is not going to end anytime soon)

[Cookies!]

If Ora is just a voice in your head and not some vision of a past clan member or other type of vision who are you to argue with her? I mean she is you and you are her, she is just voicing your thoughts.  Do not argue with yourself, stick them with the pointy end.

[Fredgerd]

I have to disagree. Whether or not Azai is honorable, we don't know, because we are insane. We are literallly hallucinatory. And since the the story begins after receiving the first tatoo, we are hallucinating from the very begining. We only appear to start perceiving the real at the very end, but even that ought to be questioned.

 

Furthermore, most eastern systems of ethics do not have the same individuality that we value in western ethics. If your clan, family etc is dishonorable, YOU are dishonorable by extension. Furthermore, self preservation doesn't hold much moral weight. The fact that your clan is dishonorable, on top of that you have killed hundreds in the name of your clan, as well as in the name of your own survival and personal vendetta, dictates that you ought to take your own life, both out of shame and in the name of the safety of others and the inability to trust yourself.

 

Look under role based as this covers a large portion of Chinese, Korean and Japanese ethics

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suicide/

 

The western mindset leads us to think in terms of solving a mystery and bringing the criminal to justice which is I think exactly what the writers wanted to get across here. As a western audience, we want to think we can know something by deduction and that we can make the right choice and save the day because that is also traditional game logic. But we really don't know anything and except that we believe we have murdered hundreds. Even if we really didn't, the intent was there and we are therefor not a good or honorable person.