Chai

[B-Man]

Did anyone else find it weird that Ryo seemed to not even recognize Chai? He shows no reaction the first time he sees him and then we're told his name by the thug leader. It was almost as if he was retconned out of Shenmue I (and Chapter 2) and reintroduced as a new character in Shenmue III. Also, why not use his theme? So much music was recycled in inappropriate places but they didn't recycle Chai's theme for the return of Chai?

 

[code l name]

Unfortunately this is one of many instances where Ryo has amnesia about plot and character revelations from previous games. I hope if we get a Shenmue 4 there is a ‘lore’ expert on staff that ensures there’s consistency in story moving forward.

 

[Niaxi]

Everything about Chai's appearance in Shenmue 3 just seemed off. While the events of chapter 2 on the boat may have been retained before the game was released (seems to be the consensus elsewhere on the forum), they seem to have also ignored the fact that Chai knew Ryo had the Phoenix mirror. He even had his grubby little paws on it for a few brief moments in the first game.

 

[Lan Di-sama]

Chai's knowledge of Ryo having the Mirror could have been the plot point necessary to justify his return, but nope. Swing and a miss. He never should have been a part of Shenmue 3 if they didn't plan on utilizing his potential for a back story.

It was really frustrating that the return of Chai was handled so poorly in regards to Ryo's lack of recognition.

Unfortunately this is one of many instances where Ryo has amnesia about plot and character revelations from previous games. I hope if we get a Shenmue 4 there is a ‘lore’ expert on staff that ensures there’s consistency in story moving forward.

The frustrating part of this is that a couple of the aspects of the game really do dive into the lore deep - some of the early conversations with Shenhua, for example, and I especially thought the phone calls to old characters were really well done with some surprisingly specific and obscure references.

 

[B-Man]

Chai's knowledge of Ryo having the Mirror could have been the plot point necessary to justify his return, but nope. Swing and a miss. He never should have been a part of Shenmue 3 if they didn't plan on utilizing his potential for a back story.

It was really frustrating that the return of Chai was handled so poorly in regards to Ryo's lack of recognition.



The frustrating part of this is that a couple of the aspects of the game really do dive into the lore deep - some of the early conversations with Shenhua, for example, and I especially thought the phone calls to old characters were really well done with some surprisingly specific and obscure references.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The game is wildly inconsistent in its selective memory of previous events and characters. As you said, there are some surprisingly specific and obscure references to the first two games. But then there are some major things that are completely ignored.

And I agree, Chai shouldn't have been in this game at all. Not only was it a wasted opportunity, but it ended up making no sense.

 

[Machsi]

It was just badly selected fan servicing. I never really thought Chai was that interesting of a character from S1 anyways; just another very blatant Smeogal ripoff. He had no business in S3 and didn’t contribute anything other than “Hey look! It’s Chai!”

 

[B-Man]

It was just badly selected fan servicing. I never really thought Chai was that interesting of a character from S1 anyways; just another very blatant Smeogal ripoff. He had no business in S3 and didn’t contribute anything other than “Hey look! It’s Chai!”

Fan service isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion, but this wasn't even successful fan service. The game needed for Ryo and Chai to acknowledge their history together and not ignore things like Chai knowing that Ryo had the Phoenix Mirror.

I think that the concept of Chai somehow managing to follow Ryo wherever he goes in a desperate attempt to steal the Phoenix Mirror and get into the good graces of Lan Di could have been intriguing. But the way his character was handled in Shenmue III was all wrong.

 

[Real1]

Towards the end you can see into his room and well... His actions DON'T seem retconned judging by that.

 

[B-Man]

Towards the end you can see into his room and well... His actions DON'T seem retconned judging by that.

I missed that when I played it, but I saw some screenshots on here. I didn't actually believe that the intent was to retcon a major part of Shenmue I, but Shenmue III almost makes it feel that way because of the way his scenes were written. It's just one of those things about this game that really makes you scratch your head.

 

[Real1]

In the notebook, Ryo writes "the bald man is named Chai" ... Does he do that before anyone mentions his name? If so, then yeah, he remembers Chai!

 

[B-Man]

In the notebook, Ryo writes "the bald man is named Chai" ... Does he do that before anyone mentions his name? If so, then yeah, he remembers Chai!

I think he wrote it after the thug boss was captured and mentioned that his name was Chai, which is another thing that makes it sound like Ryo doesn't even remember him. It's all just really strange.

It would've made more sense had he written something like "I encountered Chai in Bailu Village! What does he want?"

 

[Real1]

I think he wrote it after the thug boss was captured and mentioned that his name was Chai, which is another thing that makes it sound like Ryo doesn't even remember him. It's all just really strange.

It would've made more sense had he written something like "I encountered Chai in Bailu Village! What does he want?"

It's bizarre. I was hoping he wrote that before knowing his name, for the audience. You can't really retcon a character that played such a huge role in Shenmue I... And the things in Chai's room makes it seem like his involvment in S1 is not retconned.

My conclusion: the encounter was just handled poorly.

 

[Lan Di-sama]

Ryo mentions quite a bit in his notebook that he didn't actually learn out loud.

He refers to the tree in Ternary spring as a Shenmue tree in his notebook.

He gives Mr Muscles a name in his notebook despite it never being mentioned.

I think he also named Grandmasters Feng and/or Bei in his notebook without it ever being said out loud.

 

[Miles Prower]

It's bizarre. I was hoping he wrote that before knowing his name, for the audience. You can't really retcon a character that played such a huge role in Shenmue I... And the things in Chai's room makes it seem like his involvment in S1 is not retconned.

My conclusion: the encounter was just handled poorly.

On top of that, you can get a capsule toy of him in the ‘Shenmue 1 character set’ capsule toy machine in the village! And he’s also seen and mentioned in the recap movie. So I really don’t see what possible excuse there is for this when the game itself clearly acknowledges he was in Shenmue 1, but then doesn’t when Ryo actually encounters him...

 

[TwiceFriedRice]

I think some of the story issues can be attributed to the absolute joke of a translation. This is like 8-bit era bad at times.

 

[Henry Spencer]

The translators probably didn't even know he was in the first game is what I'm guessing. The dialogue/notebook entries are so strange...

The guy was one of the main antagonists of the first game, I mean, was this honestly never communicated to the translators? Jesus.

 

[B-Man]

I think some of the story issues can be attributed to the absolute joke of a translation. This is like 8-bit era bad at times.

It doesn't really seem any worse to me than it was in the first two games though. It's not like there's a bunch of Engrish or anything. It just seems like the people that did the translation didn't know that much about Shenmue, which led to some inaccuracies.

Speaking of which, I do wonder if Ryo indicates that he already knows Chai in the Japanese script.

The translators probably didn't even know he was in the first game is what I'm guessing. The dialogue/notebook entries are so strange...

The guy was one of the main antagonists of the first game, I mean, was this honestly never communicated to the translators? Jesus.

Yeah, I don't know what was up with this. It's really evident with the phone calls to Guizhang and Nozomi. The Warehouse #8 password is incorrect and Ryo and Nozomi suddenly call each other by their last names. They seemingly just did a literal translation and couldn't be bothered to check it for accuracy/consistency. Couldn't Ys Net have gotten actual Shenmue fans to do the translation? Or at least have some fans double check it before it was finalized and the voice acting recording began?

 

[Machsi]

Didn’t YS Net contract a 3rd party to translate the Japanese script and subtitling to English? If they had no quality control measures, and I’m sure the employees who worked on this are probably not Shenmue fans like us - then there is major openings for botched scripting.

 

[Real1]

It doesn't really seem any worse to me than it was in the first two games though. It's not like there's a bunch of Engrish or anything. It just seems like the people that did the translation didn't know that much about Shenmue, which led to some inaccuracies.

Speaking of which, I do wonder if Ryo indicates that he already knows Chai in the Japanese script.


Yeah, I don't know what was up with this. It's really evident with the phone calls to Guizhang and Nozomi. The Warehouse #8 password is incorrect and Ryo and Nozomi suddenly call each other by their last names. They seemingly just did a literal translation and couldn't be bothered to check it for accuracy/consistency. Couldn't Ys Net have gotten actual Shenmue fans to do the translation? Or at least have some fans double check it before it was finalized and the voice acting recording began?

Hold on, I played with Japanese dub and the phonecalls with Nozomi were using last names. I'm pretty sure. But that's to show that they've grown apart!! You call people close to you by first name in Japan

 

[Miles Prower]

Hold on, I played with Japanese dub and the phonecalls with Nozomi were using last names. I'm pretty sure. But that's to show that they've grown apart!! You call people close to you by first name in Japan

No, they always called each other by last name in the Japanese voice track for S1. That’s why it’s clear that whoever translated the dialogue to English was not aware they called each other by first name in the English dub for S1