- Joined
- Jul 28, 2018
- Favourite title
- Shenmue IIx
- Currently playing
- Ghost of Tsushima
- PSN
- mjqjazzbar
Whack a Mole increased the game a couple points.
I disagree. The whole point of Bailu is experiencing the calm, simple lifestyle of those who live in a village hidden away from civilisation. Guilin hinted at this in II, and III delivered on it. Sure, you could skip looking for thugs, but then you'd basically be skipping the vast majority of what Bailu has to offer. If you simply went from plot beat to plot beat, there would be no point in fleshing the location out, giving you things to do, letting you settle in and "live" there etc. I wouldn't want them to cut the Shenmue out of Shenmue just to get more plot.I can't help feeling that after 18 years and all the hype, that we really should be more pissed by the lack of plot, the slow pacing, the padding and the bait and switch of the floating sword and mystical elements hinted at the end of Shenmue 2.
I don't really understand what Yu Suzuki meant whenever he has said he couldn't rush through the story any quicker than he has with Shenmue 3. I mean, what is he on about? Nothing of importance has happened within 95% of the game so far. You learn a bit about Iwao training in Bailu and a bit of history on the mirrors, both of which is great, but you spend forrrreeeever looking for thugs that are after stonemasons - that I could frankly not give a fuck about - and looking for Shenhua's father - who, again, sorry Shenhua, but I really couldn't give a fuck about. I mean, they even drag it out across two different areas. Compare it with the plot and pacing of the second game.
I actually, reluctantly, somewhat agree with some of Yu Suzuki's critics who say they think he would drag on the series forever if he could and probably doesn't even know how to resolve most of the plot points he has been building up over the course of the last few decades.
I disagree. The whole point of Bailu is experiencing the calm, simple lifestyle of those who live in a village hidden away from civilisation. Guilin hinted at this in II, and III delivered on it. Sure, you could skip looking for thugs, but then you'd basically be skipping the vast majority of what Bailu has to offer. If you simply went from plot beat to plot beat, there would be no point in fleshing the location out, giving you things to do, letting you settle in and "live" there etc. I wouldn't want them to cut the Shenmue out of Shenmue just to get more plot.
Almost the entirety of Shenmue II is spent looking for one person, Yuanda Zhu, with very little of the core mystery touched upon until late in the game.
I haven't beaten the game so I can't comment on where the story ends in III (nor do I want to hear anything about it) but we've known the Shenmue story has been written for years. I find it very hard to believe Yu doesn't know where the story's going.
Man, all I'll say is I'm glad I'm not experiencing III the same way as you. I was seriously pumped by the cool shit you find out in Bailu, even if it was spread out between finding thugs, pleasing the master etc. I mean, how is it any worse than:There's less plot in Shenmue 3 than there is in one disc of Shenmue 1.
The original game will always be my favourite, but it is literally Wild Goose Chase The Game.
That's what all 3 games are like LOL, but I don't mind it.That's exactly what Shenmue 3 is like though! Bailu was actually pretty cool overall, it's Niaowu that's kinda getting to me.
It’d certainly be interesting to interview Yu Suzuki and kindly ask why the third game barely progresses the story and why so many ideas were ret conned. “Because I felt like it.”
That's what all 3 games are like LOL, but I don't mind it.
Yes, Ryo does seem to be a step behind the player at times. From the second you find the list of names in Bailu it's immediately obvious it's a list of stonemasons...yet you're made to show it around to confirm. It's kinda dumb, but I still didn't hate it. It definitely feels like more of a Shenmue 1 thing. In Shenmue II there was a lot less "investigating" -- it was mostly asking for directions the whole game.
My plan is to start the game normally until I reach the part where I need to find the bookie. At that point I will load a save file I made after maxing out horse stance and one inch punch to avoid hours of grinding.The stamina system does make the game less replayable from scratch due to these grinding elements. I would hate to play through it again without my save file with max stats.Shenmue was always a chill for me to play... But unfortunately not the new game. Today I wanted to start a 2nd run but I can't. I'm too lazy... If I think about all that stuff like stamina, training, making money and prize tokens I feel a bit stressed No joke. I'll play Shenmue I instead and play the second run of Shenmue 3 next year. Its Christmas time anyways :)
My plan is to start the game normally until I reach the part where I need to find the bookie. At that point I will load a save file I made after maxing out horse stance and one inch punch to avoid hours of grinding.The stamina system does make the game less replayable from scratch due to these grinding elements. I would hate to play through it again without my save file with max stats.
I think Yu was too ambitious for Shenmue 3. He tried to put everything to please fans as much as he can but could not deepen anything.
Promising Baisha and Choubu so early in 2015 (with English voices) was maybe a mistake.
If I was Yu, I would have saved Niaowu for Shenmue 4 and only focused on Bailu like he did with Yokosuka in Shenmue 1 rather than reproducing the Shenmue 2 scale. Strengthen the mysteries around the mirrors and Iwao, deepen the characters, add more investigation phases to use our brain, more secrets, sacrifice story progression for a better sense of narrative crescendo.
In Shenmue 3, it seems we have neither deepness nor story.
Niaowu looks too big for that level of ambition, it feels almost like a waste.
Nonetheless, I like the game as a solid adventure game with some qualities typical of Shenmue:
great sense of humour and pace, inspiring and beautiful world building, adorable kids, the adventure scale, freedom feel, some brilliant minigames, the way the circular economy make the stores all useful, being waken by Shenhua every morning, etc.
After 33 hours of enjoyment, I decided to take a break to make sure I am fully receptive and appreciate the last half. Beating the game too fast is my biggest fear.