[Spoiler] Do you think we will visit Baisha in Shenmue IV?

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Jul 2, 2019
So I just found out that Baisha was supposed to be the latter chapter after Guilin (yes it's an individual chapter separated from Guilin which is consisted of Bailu Village and Niaowu), at least that's the case when the original script for The Legend of Akira was written.

Earlier today I revisited Game Informer's Inside The Bizarre Development Of Shenmue III article, and there's one picture caught my eye I never noticed before. The original scripts for Virtua Fighter RPG.

Since I can read Kanji, I figured out the texts on the spines.

From top to bottom:

~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter II Hong Kong (~晶の章~ 第二章 香港)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter III Suzhou (~晶の章~ 第三章 蘇州)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter IV Guilin (~晶の章~ 第四章 桂林)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter V Baisha (~晶の章~ 第五章 白沙)
img_8356.jpg
Do you think we will eventually visit Baisha in Shenmue IV?

Or maybe we will visit Xi'an or Luoyang instead (as it's shown on the map in Chai's room) if the the chapter was entirely cut and became a half-hour long area that's Fortified Castle which kinda explained why the ending felt rushed.
index.php

3163-xian-locator-map.jpg


By the way, it's also worth mentioning that the word "Baisha" (白沙) literally means "White Sand" or "White Desert" in Chinese which somewhat implies that it could be a snowy place. Speaking of snowy, Niaosun used to show up in a snow scene in an old promotional trailer:
 
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So I just found out that Baisha was supposed to be the latter chapter after Guilin (yes it's an individual chapter separated from Guilin which is consisted of Bailu Village and Niaowu), at least that's the case when the original script for The Legend of Akira was written.

Earlier today I revisited Game Informer's Inside The Bizarre Development Of Shenmue III article, and there's one picture caught my eye I never noticed before. The original scripts for Virtua Fighter RPG.

Since I can read Kanji, I figured out the texts on the spines.

From top to bottom:

~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter II Hong Kong (~晶の章~ 第二章 香港)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter III Suzhou (~晶の章~ 第三章 蘇州)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter IV Guilin (~晶の章~ 第四章 桂林)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter V Baisha (~晶の章~ 第五章 白沙)
View attachment 6097
Do you think we will eventually visit Baisha in Shenmue IV?

Or maybe we will visit Xi'an or Luoyang instead (as it's shown on the map in Chai's room) if the the chapter was entirely cut and became a half-hour long area that's Fortified Castle which kinda explained why the ending felt rushed.
index.php

3163-xian-locator-map.jpg
Nice find dude. I think it's a given that Baisha will be in Shenmue 4. Hell it might be where the game starts?
 
Amazing find!

Even though a lot of Baisha's planned events transpired at Niaowu Castle, I can see Yu re-using Baisha.

It makes sense since he has already researched and developed the location (especially its Tolou buildings) during Shenmue 3's development. Early Shenmue 3 videos even showed off some Baisha footage (notice the Tulou).


Most likely, this map has now been moved to Shenmue 4 to give them a head-start?
 
My guess would be that plot contents of Baisha would be confronting Lan Di, losing the mirror to Naio Sun, having the Chi You Men civil war start. etc and it is all condensed into the fort part of Shenume 3, which is why it feels rushed and incomplete because it was massively condensed to fit into the game. We're obviously moved on to a different location already for the start of 4 and the plot was cut so Baisha was part of 3, so I'd be surprised if we went back to revisit now.
 
Another telling indication that Baisha might be repurposed is that we're headed to a temple in the mountains, and Baisha is a village surrounded by mountains.

Yu could reuse the work he did on Baisha and maybe remix what’s already been made (tulous etc) with later chapter aesthetics whose GDC 2014 concept art seems to indicate mountain locations (Chapters 7 & 8) to create the ultimate mountain village that covers all those story events.

We could start in Baisha village to train with monks, play mini-games and other FREE exploration bits before heading up the mountain to the temple for the more cinematic, story-driven part. I could see that being the first location.
 
Another telling indication that Baisha might be repurposed is that we're headed to a temple in the mountains, and Baisha is a village surrounded by mountains.

Yu could reuse the work he did on Baisha and maybe remix what’s already been made (tulous etc) with later chapter aesthetics whose GDC 2014 concept art seems to indicate mountain locations (Chapters 7 & 8) to create the ultimate mountain village that covers all those story events.

We could start in Baisha village to train with monks, play mini-games and other FREE exploration bits before heading up the mountain to the temple for the more cinematic, story-driven part. I could see that being the first location.
This could be possible since the purpose of the Baisha part was to infiltrate the Chi You Men stronghold and the ending of Shenmue 3 mentions that the CYM control the cliff temple area. Hopefully this means a proper introduction to Niao Sun and the introduction of the other leaders, but I might just be being optimistic.

~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter II Hong Kong (~晶の章~ 第二章 香港)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter III Suzhou (~晶の章~ 第三章 蘇州)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter IV Guilin (~晶の章~ 第四章 桂林)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter V Baisha (~晶の章~ 第五章 白沙)
Good Find! This is really interesting since it contrasts what was shown of the chapters at GDC. I guess this means that the story was being rewritten early on. I would really love for Suzuki to release these original scripts some day.

Interestingly, The tulous in Baisha are from Fujian which is just south of Suzhou. I don't know if it makes sense to dart back and forth in China so I'm guessing that Baisha was just supposed to be a new area near Guilin.
 
So I just found out that Baisha was supposed to be the latter chapter after Guilin (yes it's an individual chapter separated from Guilin which is consisted of Bailu Village and Niaowu), at least that's the case when the original script for The Legend of Akira was written.

Earlier today I revisited Game Informer's Inside The Bizarre Development Of Shenmue III article, and there's one picture caught my eye I never noticed before. The original scripts for Virtua Fighter RPG.

Since I can read Kanji, I figured out the texts on the spines.

From top to bottom:

~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter II Hong Kong (~晶の章~ 第二章 香港)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter III Suzhou (~晶の章~ 第三章 蘇州)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter IV Guilin (~晶の章~ 第四章 桂林)
~The Legends of Akira~ Chapter V Baisha (~晶の章~ 第五章 白沙)
View attachment 6097
Do you think we will eventually visit Baisha in Shenmue IV?

Or maybe we will visit Xi'an or Luoyang instead (as it's shown on the map in Chai's room) if the the chapter was entirely cut and became a half-hour long area that's Fortified Castle which kinda explained why the ending felt rushed.
index.php

3163-xian-locator-map.jpg


By the way, it's also worth mentioning that the word "Baisha" (白沙) literally means "White Sand" or "White Desert" in Chinese which somewhat implies that it could be a snowy place. Speaking of snowy, Niaosun used to show up in a snow scene in an old promotional trailer:


Well they were defintely traveling North if that means anything.

The ruins of the abandoned part of the Great Wall that they were walking on in the end (which are not connected to the current Great Wall which is even further up North) show that as much...
 
Looking at those books, I wonder if the cancelled Suzhou chapter inspired Niaowu.

ded3b20127e2ec4a1ce40244d64bd2d8.jpg
 
Whats this a shot of?


Niaowu was def inspired by Fenghuang Ancient Town/Phoenix Ancient City

I just did a Google search for "Suzhou" and got that. Its a city near Shanghai that's known for its canals. It's even called "The Venice of the Orient", apparently.

Looks like Yu wanted to include a canal city before we got to Guilin. I wonder if this inspired Niaowu, which yeah, now definitely resembles Fenghuang a lot more.
 
I just did a Google search for "Suzhou" and got that. Its a city near Shanghai that's known for its canals. It's even called "The Venice of the Orient", apparently.

Looks like Yu wanted to include a canal city before we got to Guilin. I wonder if this inspired Niaowu, which yeah, now definitely resembles Fenghuang a lot more.


Well those canals look a lot narrower than the river that passes through Fenghuang.
but tbf, not only does Fenghuang have actual stone pathways you can walk across which have been there for centuries, but they have an actual bridge lol. But Yu wanted to keep things more simple
 
It's possible but I think that ship has sailed. I hope I'm wrong. It was a huge mistep programming Niaowu before Baisha. Niawu had no story relevance at all. and what was there could have been moved to other chapters. Like Ren should have popped up in Bailu, not Niawu and everything else could have just been moved to Baisha.
 
According Yu's words and only his:

- The first three games cover 40% of the full story to be told. (Source: USGamer in June 2019)

- There's 11 chapters in Virtua Fighter RPG
(source: Shenmue Post Mortem 2014)

- Yokosuka is chapter 1.
- Hong Kong+Kowloon is chapter 2
- Chapter 3 is a story inside a train.. Easily verifiable in the card illustration.
- Shenmue 2 has taken the Shenhua meeting from the "5th and 6th chapter"
(source :2015 7 Nico Nico interview).

- Shenmue 3 covers 5th and 6th chapter according sshen1127 who attended the Shanghai Press Conference in 2015 (so before Baisha was scrapped away).
source: https://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=49361


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Assuming the Niaowu castle replaces definitely Baisha, Shenmue 4 would cover the 7th chapter (off the 11-chapter count)

This hypothesis barely makes sense with the "40%" figure.

My conclusion it's likely we get Baisha chapter in Shenmue 4.

And if not Baisha, whether Shanghai or Suzhou that Suzuki planned to visit in 2015 according sshen1127 but the odds are lower.

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Phantom River Stone found loading screens hidden in What's Shenmue demo disc data. Baisha was along important places of Shenmue first games such as Hong Kong, Yokosuka and Kowloon.
https://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50172
Shenmue Dojo • View topic   Place name titles  What s Shenmue .jpeg
 
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