Impressions on the plot and the ending (only read if you finished the game)

[wolfeye]

mistakes were made but overall i enjoyed it.

 

[murdiaries]

The most criminal thing about the ending is the handling of Niao Sun.

I've only now started looking at pre-launch promotional stuff and judging by her pictures you'd think she'd be the main villain of the game. I played at such a casual pace that each night upon finishing I was legit thinking "oh gee, I still haven't met Niao Sun, I must still have some ways to go!" I was expecting her to appear some time in Niaowu to allow her personality to grow in the story and build adversity with Ryo, maybe act as a foil to Shenhua's innocence.

Never happens.

Instead in the space of 10 minutes it goes from boom-there-she-is-lying-on-a-sofa to betraying Lan Di by burning down the building. Absolutely no time to establish her personality, no background on her role in the Chi You Men, no explanation of the dynamics between her and Lan Di.

It's a crying shame really because you know a lot of heart went into this game but it simply ran out of steam (and probably finance). It felt like more focus on placed on content and gameplay rather than delivery of the story, which ironically for a game, I think is Shenmue's biggest strength moreso than the gameplay.

But that's about it.

Guys it's no AM2 here, we got YS net and Neilo producing mobile phone games since long, a small budget and no experience on UE4! It's a miracle the game were made like this and I really enjoyed the overall gameplay.

From interviews we know a good portion of content were cut from the original S3 plan. Hell I bet the ending we have is NOT what was planned! The whole great wall scene compo is so poorly assembled, have a rough camera movement, no facial expression!

Feeling like DS / Epic butchered and enforced Yu's SM3 vision to an incomplete game in order to save costs and probably most of the cut stuff (including real ending) will be delivered in the DLC.

We'll see

 

[Zhenmue]

To me, the story suffered because of the promise of 3 areas from the kickstarter and kickstarter goals, I kind of wish Shenmue 3 was just Bailu, and cut out Choubu (Niaowu) and folded what story was there into Bailu and expanded on the characters in that area, have a Grandmaster plot being on per with Xiuying from Shenmue 2 who trains Ryo in they own way over the course of the game.

THIS!

 

[chaikilla]

I think this game was crying out for the character perspective system Yu talked about. Ren and Shenhua faded into the background in Niaowu. I think their roles needed to be expanded in order for the player to feel a greater affinity towards broom girl, the fat guy and Niao Sun's alias.

Through some optional balcony cutscenes and dialogue we find out that Shenhua and Niao Sun met with one another and casually talked and that Ren and broom girl spoke to each other. This can very easily be missed, so by the time we get to the castle, it's very understandable to question why the hell the broom girl and fat guy are there. Are we supposed to be friends? Because the game didn't exactly make this clear. Shenmue 2 made it clear to us that Wong and Joy had established a bond with Ryo, mostly through cutscenes.

I actually thought Bailu village was nicely done and agree with the comment that maybe the game should have focused solely on that area of the game. The promise of three areas was reduced to two and I think there would have been a lot pressure on Yu's team if they cut another area, what with the epic games controversy. It would have created another witch hunt. The game from Niaowu onward was 100% rushed.