I just finished this game and I don't really think I understood the story that well.

If Steve Rowland was XIII and was killed, then how did a guy with plastic surgery (Jason Fly) have all these memories of seeing the conspirators?

If the conspirators are so hell bent on pleasing number I that they're willing to launch nuclear missiles, then why did Wally Sheridan, who was revealed to be number I, give the code to stop the launch?

Was there a story why they betrayed XIII? Didn't he do a good job at assassinating?

What information did Carrington have such that he believed a conspiracy was behind the assassination?

What was this about Kim's son that Sheridan promised and was Kim's chance to kill XIII (Jason) at the cabin or killing her husband the real XIII?

What was the yacht that Jason jumped off at the beginning related to any part of the story?

(Based on my vague recollections of the GameCube version)

I think a lot of this would have been explained by the sequel, if it had ever been made. Because the developers had to close shop before making XIII 2, a lot of threads were left dangling. I got the impression that XIII was supposed to be a fall guy, a guy whom they could blame if they were caught seizing power. Other than that... no answers.

But to be fair, it has been something like 15 years since I played the game. Just got the GOG version today.

Well I definitely want to know how a fake XIII guy can have the memory of the real XIII guy for a start.

Without reading the comics, and after just one playthrough, these are my best answers:

1. The memories are Jason Fly's. He was close to the conspirators because he was a SPAD, and for all we know may have been considered for recruitment at some point.

2. Sheridan had to stop the destruct sequence to save his life.

3. XIII was the trigger man, so he was eliminated to prevent the FBI from following the trail to the conspiracy.

4. Carrington was pushed out of SPAD leadership by the conspirators because he was a straight shooter who would take no part in a coup. His natural suspicions and the SPAD link to the assassination led him to look for people that he could trust and start a parallel investigation.

5. Kim set up her husband Steve for her son's sake. Number I was not happy that she had a change of heart and worked with Carrington to bring the conspiracy to light.

6. The opening yacht looked a lot like the Lady Bee from Fly's final flashback, but that would make no sense if it was because Carrington and Jones seemed to have no issues with being there.

This is what I gathered from the game. I don't know why they wanted to assassinate the president since their plans seemed to be the same no matter who won the election - unless they wanted Number I to be the "legitimate" leader which they couldn't pull off if his brother was still president.

Having read the original comic, I can say that the game truncates into a very fluid flow a whole lot of different things from the comic that take a lot of time to happen, originally. If I remember correctly, the comic was built in such a way, that every chapter told a more or less complete story that ended in a cliffhanger to be solved in the next volume/chapter.

From what I can recall, Jason never remembers anything. He's always discovering new things, but never remembers anything pre shot in the head. His identity, in particular, is questioned many times over the various volumes and even after learning his true identity as Jason Fly, he keeps finding out new stuff that dramatically changes his background.

He was brought in to replace the original XIII who had been killed, to try and discover who were the members of the conspiracy, particularly number 1. I don't really remember if he had to assassinate number 1. But I do remember the beginning of the comic being patterned after The Bourne Identity (which is rather obvious if you've read or watched it).

In the comic, Number 1 betrays/abandons the conspiracy when he manages to use his newfound popularity after his brother's assassination to elect himself the President of the United States. I don't remember the game all that well, but I think something more or less similar may be behind his actions in the game.

Other than that, the story continues on after the end of the conspiracy plot, going somewhere else, then it comes back to reveal who was number 1 and to close that plot for good, before going on on a lot of other adventures.

It's a good comic. I think it ends on a whimper, but it gives a good ending to all characters and plots.