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Gaming => General Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: stevetheman90 on March 30, 2012, 01:51:18 pm

Title: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: stevetheman90 on March 30, 2012, 01:51:18 pm
After reading the weekly 5 on the homepage it put me into the Shenmue mood. So I am going to borrow the topic of Shenmue for this post, might as well since it’s a hot topic (don't want to steal your thunder just a good time to post this topic). As we all know Shenmue has a lot of NPC’s and all of them have some unique and interesting personalities. My question is what NPC/s in Shenmue is your favorite and/or most memorable. It doesn’t matter if you have one favorite or ten juts post what you like about that polygon person. There is hundreds to choose from!

Ren of Heavens: My favorite NPC is Ren. In Shenmue 2 Ren comes off as a dick at first, he tries to steal all of Ryo’s Hong Kong dollars, after all those hours of lucky hit and crate labor. He is not afraid to play dirty either, he will through sand at you and even try to stab you. But, after this terrible first impression he becomes one of Ryo’s best and closet allies. He is a major part in the Kowloon chapter; the hand cuff part is epic. To make an analogy if Ryo was Sonic, Ren would be his Knuckles.

Jianmin: Got to give love to the old guy who taught Ryo the move I used most in Shenmue 2, "IRON PALM". Jianmin is an old man who practices tai chi in the South Carmin quarter 24/7. I guess he never sleeps. He also helps Ryo out some bit during the game and teaches him some concepts of martial arts. Also he is so bad ass that when he touches trees he makes all the leaves fall off oh yea!!!

Mario: Many fans might not know about this fella, which means you’re probably missing out on the worst stereotype ever. Mario is the owner of Bob’s Pizza in Ryo’s home town, he has possibly the worse Italian accent I ever heard, but regardless to this he has three things that make him bad ass. First is his restaurant, it stands out from all the rest in the town with it European design and the fact that it’s called Bob’s and his name is Mario.  Next is his theme song, that’s rite he has his own theme song about eating pizza it loops over and over, you must buy pizza it’s a trick. Last is his goal, his goal in the game is to help Ryo score with Nazomi, he always offers to make pizzas for her to have Ryo gift them. What’s cooler then having an AI’s trying to help you get lucky?     
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Barry the Nomad on March 30, 2012, 01:57:33 pm
Moved this to Classic SEGA, no biggie, just think it makes more sense in this forum.

I love all the Shenmue NPCs, it's hard to choose. I'd need my Shenmue strategy guide to pick my true favorite, but off the top of my head I'll say the Funny Bear Burgers guy Motoyuki Aoki OR The You Arcade guy Yuji Nito whose name sounds oddly like Yuji Naka.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: MadeManG74 on March 30, 2012, 04:12:11 pm
^The Funny Bear burger guy always reminded me of Jack Nicholson.

Delin was the best character. Employee of the month down at the docks, every month. More importantly he teaches you the funniest move in the game, the "BRAWLING UPPER". Basically just a big fuck-off punch that he asks you to use on Ren (he even falls in to the harbour while teaching it to you). Seriously though it is a pretty cool move, especially as it starts off really brawl-y and unco-ordinated, but then Ryo starts to clean it up and make it look really legit as you level it up.

Also
Quote
Jianmin: Got to give love to the old guy who taught Ryo the move I used most in Shenmue 2, "IRON PALM". Jianmin is an old man who practices tai chi in the South Carmin quarter 24/7. I guess he never sleeps. He also helps Ryo out some bit during the game and teaches him some concepts of martial arts. Also he is so bad ass that when he touches trees he makes all the leaves fall off oh yea!!!

When he touches the tree and makes it shake violently is my absolute favourite part of the Shenmue series. The way it's done is so majestic and haunting really. You spend ages punching this tree over and over to try and cover the ground in leaves, then when you finally do it after putting all your strength into it, the old man just touches it and out-does you. It shows you how far you have to go still and is probably the first introduction of the super-natural into the series.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: stevetheman90 on March 30, 2012, 06:18:55 pm
I would love to see what Jianmin could do in a fight. Because I remember in one scene Guixiang the old lady, who was a friend of his, knocking a guy out in one hit, which was only a poke.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: SOUP on March 31, 2012, 10:16:01 am
Mine would probably be Xiuying.  Her training bits really stuck with me. Other than that, it's hard to say. It's been a really long time since I've played them :(.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: JohnOfRage on March 31, 2012, 03:54:33 pm
I'll have to go with Chen Gui Zhang because he helped Ryo Hazuki take 70 men out. Not only that it was 70 men from the strongest gang in the town. Also he had a badass suit!
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: SOUP on March 31, 2012, 04:13:22 pm
I'll have to go with Chen Gui Zhang because he helped Ryo Hazuki take 70 men out. Not only that it was 70 men from the strongest gang in the town. Also he had a badass suit!
That part was pretty epic. Good pick :D.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Barry the Nomad on March 31, 2012, 05:33:40 pm
^The Funny Bear burger guy always reminded me of Jack Nicholson.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1m6GuZNhHtA/TzvOjkZFTKI/AAAAAAAACZ0/gXQLjXtQ_EA/s1600/Motoyuki+Aoki.jpg)

(http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/6765083.jpg)

HA! I always thought that too!
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: CrazyT on April 01, 2012, 09:41:46 am
Every npc at the harbor that say, "SORRY, NOT NOW". It was hilarious the first time going from 1 npc tothe other with the same exact silly VA.

And the drunkard at dobuita with the yellow and green(striped i think) shirt.

Oh man there are so many more but i will just have to go with the ones tha first come in mind and they are usually the ones that stood out and made me laugh. I loved shenmue 1's english VA
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: JohnOfRage on April 03, 2012, 06:25:05 am
Mine would probably be Xiuying.  Her training bits really stuck with me. Other than that, it's hard to say. It's been a really long time since I've played them :(.

@SOUP: i agree with you on the Xiuying training. Its such a pain in the ass carrying these books around. The only part I like of her training was catching the leaves. But she is so bad-ass that that makes up for her training. 
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: SOUP on April 03, 2012, 08:40:45 am
@SOUP: i agree with you on the Xiuying training. Its such a pain in the ass carrying these books around. The only part I like of her training was catching the leaves. But she is so bad-ass that that makes up for her training.
I'm right there with you on all counts. I felt pretty badass, when I managed to catch that leaf.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: stevetheman90 on April 03, 2012, 02:08:53 pm
I felt that the first time Ryo tries catching the leaf it is nearly impossible. But once you do it a few times its quite easy. Do you guys agree? 
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: CrazyT on April 04, 2012, 05:27:08 am
I think the trick was that you really had to zoom in alot before catching it instead of pushing it even slightly earlier on. Yeah it required accuracy with the analog but it did indeed get easier the more often you tried. I think anyone who beated the game a few times wont find it that difficult anymore.

Anyway as for NPC's again. I named 2 pretty random ones before, but to add a few that play part in the story, i gotta go with Tom and gorro. Tom because he is just THERE and everywhere, his appearance is impossible to avoid lol, and full of character as well heh. Gorro because of his silly character too.

I really have a soft spot for shenmue 1. No doubt shenmue 2 is the better game but to me they are both equal.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: SOUP on April 04, 2012, 09:13:47 am
I felt that the first time Ryo tries catching the leaf it is nearly impossible. But once you do it a few times its quite easy. Do you guys agree?
I'd agree with you on that one. I remember it took quite a few tries for me to pull it off before I really figured out the technique.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: JohnOfRage on April 05, 2012, 06:39:59 am
Another Bad-ass NPC is Naoyuki Ito. The reason on why he is so bad-ass is because when Ryo go's and ask him for his bike alll Naoyuki says is sure. Dosn't even ask what for, what a good friend  :P. Also come one he lends you his bike  ;D
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Barry the Nomad on April 05, 2012, 07:30:51 am
Another Bad-ass NPC is Naoyuki Ito. The reason on why he is so bad-ass is because when Ryo go's and ask him for his bike alll Naoyuki says is sure. Dosn't even ask what for, what a good friend  :P. Also come one he lends you his bike  ;D

Also he's one of the few NPC's to have his name in the title of a song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_UskwkeqYc[/youtube]

And it's a great song at that!
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: JohnOfRage on April 05, 2012, 12:32:54 pm
Wow I didn't realized that in the game lol. Thank You for showing me this!!! :)
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Centrale on April 05, 2012, 05:56:58 pm
I'd agree with you on that one. I remember it took quite a few tries for me to pull it off before I really figured out the technique.

This is one sequence in the game that feels like you have to apply actual principles of martial arts and/or meditation... or at least a lot of focus!
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Nathan on May 08, 2012, 12:51:48 am
This. ^

My favorites are Gui Zhang and Ren. As far as minor NPCs go, Goro, Kurita - san at the military surplus, and Naoyuki and Ichiro were all pretty cool.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: max_cady on June 03, 2012, 04:10:41 pm
You guys have touched upon a lot of classic characters.

Including some of the more obscure...

When I talk about this game with some of my buds, two characters almost always stand out... Ren and Guizhang. You are either on Team Ren or Team Guizhang. I go from one to another every once in a while.

I'm very partial to Shenhua. And it's kinda sad because we still barely know anything about her at this point. But there are so many unanswered questions towards her character and stuff.

Same goes with Joy. In the hands of a lesser developer, she would just be fanservice fodder, but in Shenmue II, she's a fully fleshed out character. When I started up Shenmue II for the very first time, she made an impact on me from the very start. When she brought Ryo over to the Guest House, I felt a genuine sense of "Wow, I'm a completely different place". I still want to figure out what she said the morning after...
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Nathan on June 04, 2012, 01:11:26 am
According to translators at Shenmue Dojo years ago, she said something along the lines of "Did you dream last night?" or something.

And yes, Shenhua is a mysterious character. I'm most intrigues by the Chiyoumen leaders though, like Niao Sun and Ziming.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Sega Uranus on June 04, 2012, 10:45:53 pm
Basically all of them.

Although I do really love the drunk guy in the striped shirt you see walking around at night. He had his own set of animations!

Mad props to all the grumpy old people too.

Ryo: "Excuse me"
Weird old man: "Whaaaaat?!? Leave me alone!!"
Ryo: "I'm Sorry".
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: stang2712 on January 29, 2013, 06:35:55 pm
well i havent gotten very far in shenmue 2 so the characters from those chapters are unable to commented on but tom *the american guy from toms hot dogs* because he has a far out personality as well as some rad dreadlocks :afroman: 
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: Randroid on February 01, 2013, 04:19:05 am
Delin is my favourite.

He was the only one who understood how hard it was carrying those crates by hand. He also never got mad at me for fucking up a few times. We became bros.
Title: Re: Favorite Shenmue NPC?
Post by: ptpattycakes on February 07, 2013, 02:08:39 pm
I like the two school girls who call Ryo a twit :)  "wattcha want TWIT?!" haha