I feel like fake locations was a mistake.

I liked Niaowu. I like all of Shenmue's locations. Niaowu may not be a real town itself, but it is likely based on a town called Fenghuang. It, like all of Shenmue's other locations, are based on real locations but are very different as well. For example, the real Aberdeen and Wan Chai are nowhere near each other, whereas they are directly connected in game. I don't see Niaowu as any worse off than something like that.
 
Kano said:
Anyone else? Up until Niaowu, you could feel the late 1908s atmosphere. Even in Bailu, it wasn't so bad being a very rural martial arts hotspot.

But Niaowu seemed cliche and not at all period correct. It lacked feel.

Really wish they stuck with real world locations!
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Niaowu is based on a real place..

Also most cities in Shenmue II was Dramatized , even Shenmue I. Try to go to the harbor in reallife and its not that far and looks quite different. Dobuita street is quite accute. In SII Hong Kong and Kowloon walled city on the mountain and even Guilin took a lot of creative liberties.

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I actually liked how Niaowu looked, its level design etc. Like others have mentioned it is clearly based on Fenghuang.

One thing I don't get is why it isn't actually Fenghuang. Shenmue has always used real life locations, even if it changed them up for the gameplay. I was hoping that S3 would give a story reason why it has to be in Guilin, but this was never explained.

I'm worried this has something to do with trying to appeal to the Chinese market. I'm hoping that Shenmue doesn't just use fictionalized versions of its locales going forward.
 
24Nathan said:
It's in Guilin because Phantom River Stone can only be found in the remote Bailu Village, deep within Guilin.
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Yes for Bailu, but that doesn't explain Niaowu. What does PRS have to do with Niaowu? They could have just as easily travelled up to Fenghuang. It's a nitpick admittedly, I'm not bothered much by it. I just hope that going forward they return to using real life locations.
 
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My theory is that Niaowu was a location that first and foremost was there to house some necessary story points, and also likely is geographically closer to our next story location, which is likely the cliff temple.
 
hmjohnny said:
I actually liked how Niaowu looked, its level design etc. Like others have mentioned it is clearly based on Fenghuang.

One thing I don't get is why it isn't actually Fenghuang. Shenmue has always used real life locations, even if it changed them up for the gameplay. I was hoping that S3 would give a story reason why it has to be in Guilin, but this was never explained.

I'm worried this has something to do with trying to appeal to the Chinese market. I'm hoping that Shenmue doesn't just use fictionalized versions of its locales going forward.
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I read someone on here say that the Chinese version (or proposed Chinese version) doesn't even take place in China, it takes place in a fictional country. If that's the case, I wonder why they couldn't just call it "Fenghuang" for the rest of the world and "Niaowu" or w/e for China since apparently they were already making changes for that version anyways.
 
Some of it might even be the Kickstarter scale. At the time the KS launched, concept art for Niaowu shows it being much, much smaller than it became likely after Deep Silver signing on as publisher. Maybe at the time, it was intended to be a smaller, discreet village?
 
Niaowu is based on a real city :) i think they didn't use a real city name this time to avoid possible issues with the distribution in China of the game (Chinese censorship rules for games are super strict)
 
I wish the whole game had of taken place in Bailu ... I can remember kickstarter updates showing Ryo escaping falling boulders etc.. Niaowu just felt out of place for me.
 
Like @Crimson said its based on a real place and changing the name will probably keep the CCP off Suzuki's back so I don't really see what the big deal is.

I loved Niaowu as a place. My only gripes are with the events that took place there. As a location I thought they nailed it.
 
I didn't really get a period feel from either location. I didnt really feel love it was the 80s but also didn't feel like it was present day
 
Crimson said:
Niaowu is based on a real city :) i think they didn't use a real city name this time to avoid possible issues with the distribution in China of the game (Chinese censorship rules for games are super strict)
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I was thinking this could be the reason. But that does that mean going forward we will lose out on real life locations if they want to cater to the Chinese market?
 
hmjohnny said:
I was thinking this could be the reason. But that does that mean going forward we will lose out on real life locations if they want to cater to the Chinese market?
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If it just means changing the name, why not? I mean, let's imagine we'll someday see Xi'An or Mengcun... if the architecture and city shape is the same but they're called in another way, I'm ok with it. I think Baisha, before being scrapped, was inspired to the tulou villages in China:

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But there's no place that goes by the name of Baisha. Still, had it looked like this... wow :)
 
Dietsoap said:
Do you think we can still get those tulou villages in a Shenmue 4? Or has that ship passed?
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I'm afraid that's not likely :( If we're moving to the Great Wall... I don't see a chance to have both that architectural landscape AND the tulou together. It's like having two monuments in the same area...
 
Crimson said:
If it just means changing the name, why not? I mean, let's imagine we'll someday see Xi'An or Mengcun... if the architecture and city shape is the same but they're called in another way, I'm ok with it. I think Baisha, before being scrapped, was inspired to the tulou villages in China:

061A0962.jpg


But there's no place that goes by the name of Baisha. Still, had it looked like this... wow :)
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Yes, there is a Baisha in Guilin province. Also Niaowu can have some artistic inspiration on Fenghuang, but it also has a lot of vibes on Guilin's Yangshuo and its west street.
 
I thought Niaowu was beautiful until you get to the weirdly out of place areas like the arcades and Ice Cream stores/burger shop. It felt like a tacky theme park, is that in any way linked to the real city being a tourist trap or something in the 80's? I feel like it was just poor design, which really disappointed me.
Agreed that it was strange to give it a fake name.
 
Well, it's based on actual locations and feels very Chinese to me. The surrounding environments almost gave me that Yangshuo feeling, a place I visited in 2016. Yu Suzuki took some liberties with Kowloon too and placed it on a mountain.
 
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