Baisha looks so unique and interesting, really sad that they had to cut from the game.
Yu Suzuki is really ambitious and probably a perfecionist when comes to games. I think he really wanted to put Baisha in the game but he had to cut. We don't know what happened in the development of Shenmue III, the problems that Yu Suzuki and the team had to face with limit budget.
The game was delayed 2 or 3 times i think.
Ryo VS Longqi Ge fight i think was supposed to be in the same place that Shenmue III ended, the last scene.
I remember one interview with Yu Suzuki before Shenmue III release, one question was this "Scale 1 to 10 how much do you love Shenmue III?" Yu Suzuki said... " hm... probably 7.5 ... 5... 5, 6 maybe. The interviewer said... "You're going down" the interview is a really funny interview so i don't know if he was joking or being honest, probably being honest.
In my opinion Yu Suzuki had to cut some things that he really didn't want to cut from the game like Baisha, maybe he had more story for characters like Shiling and he had to cut, i imagined that Yu Suzuki and the team had a lot of problems in the development of Shenmue III.
For me Bailu Village is awesome, one of my favorite places in the Shenmue World, i like the location, i like the characters in Bailu Village, i like the fact that we have to go back to Shenhua's house, i love the conversations with Shenhua, the conversations with Shenhua was one of my favorite parts of the game, i like the training with master Su and much more.
In Bailu Village we had some interesting things about the story, the flashbacks about the mirrors was really interesting in my opinion, we learned some things about what Iwao did in Bailu Village.
i don't hate Niaowu, i think is a great location, Niaowu is really beautiful, the thing that i disliked about Niaowu was that the side characters like Shiling and Qiu Hsu didn't had much story,
Niaowu could have been better in some parts but i don't hate Niaowu, but i really think if Baisha was in the game the final part could have been much better.
I don't hate the ending of the game. I like the parts with Niao Sun, i think she will appear a lot in Shenmue IV.
Ryo showed that he improved a little and even Lan Di said that, this was the first real fight against Lan Di and Ryo showed that he is getting better, this is not the time for Ryo to win against Lan Di, Ryo will mature more in my opinion as a martial artist and as a character, i think he will forget about revenge but he will win a fight against Lan Di, but right now is not the moment.
Shenmue III for me is about Ryo bonding with Shenhua and the training phase of Ryo's Journey, a time where Ryo have to train everyday, without neglect. Ryo is more closer with Shenhua right now, Shenmue III it is a calm and peaceful time in Ryo's journey specially in Bailu Village, and i love this peaceful time in Ryo's journey, and Bailu village gives me Shenmue I vibe and feelings and i love that. Bailu Village was beautiful for me, i look at Shenmue III this way so this is one of the reasons why i like Shenmue III, and i think Shenmue IV will be like Shenmue II when it comes to action, revelations and much more.
I think Shenmue III and IV together will be amazing like ShenSun said, what do i mean by that? i mean that i will apreciate even more Shenmue III when the story comes to its concluson, i will apreciate even more this peaceful time in Ryo's journey, but i think Shenmue will end in Shenmue V.
Shenmue III have flaws and qualities in my opinion, i love the new things like colecting herbs, we can change Ryo's clothes if we want, the chop wood is fun, the food system and much more, but i think the food system needs improvements. I played 156 hours, i really took my time with the game and i had a fun time, and i plan to play the game again soon, lets get Shenmue IV.
I strongly agree with you. The development team and Yu Suzuki certainly faced problems during dev time. It's clear by the fact that the game would have been better if they could have included Baisha, and that everything made sense. Sadly, we don't really know what happened, what was the reason that blocked the dev', and how it could have been avoided.
For me I agree with you. I really loved Baisha. Like I said on another thread, if I had to judge Shenmue 3 on Baisha only, it would be a strong 8/10 for me. It's really Niaowu that led to some disappointement that got my average at 6.5/10 so far.
I don't really hate Niaowu. I see the idea that was behind this location, but I also see that they couldn't end it properly. You can see that with the side characters being strongly underdeveloped, or the ending that came in a hurry in Niaowu, or the fact that the plot structure was the same as the one in Bailu.
Now, it's true that with Shenmue, it's always hard to judge a game as a single piece, since they are all one small part of one story. So, you know, maybe with the future games, I'd enjoy Shenmue 3 better. It's clear that if Shenmue's Story follows the Monomyth (Joseph's Campbell's Hero's Journey), we would be at the initiation stage at a broader stage, and at the end of the game, we would be at the abyss (Death, revival will probably be in IV, or maybe we are at the death and revival already, we'll see). It is just a stage in Ryo's Journey.
And yes, we could clearly see Ryo's improvement already. Even if he lost to Lan Di, he got way better already. He could take his hits multiple times, compared to the last time Ryo's fought him.
But yes, for me, Shenmue 3 has some really strong points, some great qualities and great ideas. And for me, it's a good work that'll help them realize the full potential Shenmue 4 has.