SEGAbits Shenmue III Hype Train! Update: Funded but lets go further!

[Centrale]

Anyone who wants to keep up on what's going on with Shenmue and Yu Suzuki, I strongly recommend http://shenmuedojo.net/

They post all the latest articles and interviews, as well as having many contributors who have done some impressive research and found all sorts of secrets, unused assets and otherwise obscure and cool features of the first two games. Just by checking in there you can be sure that you aren't stumbling across an out-of-date article, or at least you can square it up with the context of the latest news.

[MadeManG74]

Why do people pretend that Sleeping Dogs is anything like Shenmue? Fuck, I want to beat them all into a pulp with a rubber mallet.

[Barry the Nomad]

I'll be honest, I think a lot of Shenmue fans don't actually "get" Shenmue. I hear so many people say Sleeping Dogs is the next Shenmue, or that Shenmue is all about seeking revenge. Did we play the same game??

Yakuza is a little like Shenmue, but far from a replacement. Yakuza is its own glorious thing. Does Ryo hit on hot ladies and fight people in the streets? Of course not, he ignores Nozomi's advances and only fights people in the streets when Yu Suzuki allows him to.

[Team Andromeda]

or that Shenmue is all about seeking revenge

Tbh that is all the game is about . Shenmue story is just your classic Hong Kong movie revenge saga from years back . Shenmue is just so good becasue its made by Yu Suzuki that's what really makes the game. Story and script wise Yakuza is so much better really

[MadeManG74]

Exactly, Sleeping Dogs was just GTA in Hong Kong with a significantly better hand to hand fighting system (but still completely, utterly different to Shenmue's).

There was none of the character interaction that Shenmue had, or the intimate small town feel, gaining clues by talking to people and dialling people on the phone etc.

Yakuza is a little bit closer, but as you said, it's not the same thing either.

[Barry the Nomad]

Tbh that is all the game is about . Shenmue story is just your classic Hong Kong movie revenge saga from years back . Shenmue is just so good becasue its made by Yu Suzuki that's what really makes the game. Story and script wise Yakuza is so much better really

I should have clarified. Revenge is a theme, but in Shenmue II it was moving towards the absence of revenge. Think Return of the Jedi. A New Hope and Empire were setting up Luke taking revenge on Vader, but in the end it was a message of forgiveness and peace and how revenge is the worst possible road to take. Who knows, maybe Shenmue III would have offered players a split with a good path and bad path? But my point was fans claiming they want a Shenmue III to seek revenge are incredibly misguided and likely were not paying attention to the plot of the second game. The series isn't Kill Bill.

[MadeManG74]

It's almost more about finding out why Lan Di killed Iwao than getting revenge. Learning about the Mirrors, why Iwao was targeted and why he did 'that', what was the white feather for in Iwao's book, what does Lan Di intend to do with the mirrors and the power... all those unanswered questions.

[Nathan]

TA, Yu has said a few times already (once in an interview with Kenji from Shenmue Master, and again in the postmortem), that Ryo will lose the will to revenge. You can see that even in the first game, although only slightly. The first conversation you have in the game that isn't a cutscene is with Fuku-san, where Ryo angrily says he is going to take revenge. By the end of Shenmue I, he is a bit more calmed and rational (not by much, admittedly), and by Shenmue II is over, he is further along that path. The fight with Lan Di in the future will come out of necessity, not revenge.

Shenmue is much more than a revenge story. The people that say it has a bad story, I feel don't understand the game they are playing.

[Barry the Nomad]

Wasn't it a white leaf that was unusually fresh, hinting at some secret to immortality?

[George]

TA, Yu has said a few times already (once in an interview with Kenji from Shenmue Master, and again in the postmortem), that Ryo will lose the will to revenge. You can see that even in the first game, although only slightly. The first conversation you have in the game that isn't a cutscene is with Fuku-san, where Ryo angrily says he is going to take revenge. By the end of Shenmue I, he is a bit more calmed and rational (not by much, admittedly), and by Shenmue II is over, he is further along that path. The fight with Lan Di in the future will come out of necessity, not revenge.

Shenmue is much more than a revenge story. The people that say it has a bad story, I feel don't understand the game they are playing.

This so, so much this. I think I went on a rant in one of the Swingin' Report Shows about this. There are a lot of lessions that Ryo learns in II that change his outlook on life. One of the main themes of the series is 'the cycle of revenge' and its deadly chain reaction. Ryo is a victim, but will killing Lan Di make him better than him? Wasn't he on the same quest as Ryo?

[Nathan]

Wasn't it a white leaf that was unusually fresh, hinting at some secret to immortality?

Widely believed to be so, hopefully we will find out the true answer and more in another Shenmue console game.

And thanks, George! Lan Di was to an extent...the Chiyoumen boss, Tentei, did send Lan Di to collect the mirrors, though he didn't know Iwao had both of them, I guess. Why he sent Lan Di is obviously not known yet, maybe because of his personal connections to Iwao, thinking (or knowing) that he (Iwao) had killed his father?

All of this was provided to us by Kiyuu of Shenmue BBS and Shenmue Dojo, via translation of the official Japanese guide book for Shenmue I.

[SuperSonicEX]

I'll be honest, I think a lot of Shenmue fans don't actually "get" Shenmue. I hear so many people say Sleeping Dogs is the next Shenmue, or that Shenmue is all about seeking revenge. Did we play the same game??

Yakuza is a little like Shenmue, but far from a replacement. Yakuza is its own glorious thing. Does Ryo hit on hot ladies and fight people in the streets? Of course not, he ignores Nozomi's advances and only fights people in the streets when Yu Suzuki allows him to.

I used to agree with the Shenmue comparison at first (without all the choices and whatnot), but upon later insight I realized that wasn't the case.  Whereas Shenmue came from Virtua Fighter, Yakuza seems like it originally came from the Spikeout at least engine-wise, unless I'm totally wrong.  Rent-A-Hero on Dreamcast/X-box also had similar comparisons right?

[Team Andromeda]

TA, Yu has said a few times already (once in an interview with Kenji from Shenmue Master, and again in the postmortem), that Ryo will lose the will to revenge

Its revenge Shenmue story and more so its  script is very simple . Its again just a classic Hong Kong movie being played out . I'm guessing that Ryo might loss the will for revenge when he finds out who Lan Di really might be , or the reasons why Lan Di is doing what's he doing  . Dont take me saying Shenmue is simple in story terms as an insult, it's not . Just that story and script wise Yakuza is leagues ahead and far more professional done imo

[Nathan]

I don't think it is simple at all, but agree to disagree I guess.

[George]

TA, how do you know if its a revenge film? Have you played it? We provided context and you just say no because Chinese revenge films don't work that way.

Great logic.