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

[DoubleO_Ren]

Just finished the game, it feels like Disc 1 & 2 of 4. Best way to describe it, where's the other 2 discs?

 

[I Got Sriracha In My DNA]

Now that I completed Shenmue 3, pretty safe to say that Shenmue 2 easily has the better story. However I'm going back and forth on which story is better between 1 and 3. I need to stew on that more but both their stories operate in a very similar manner in that both games are very dependent on the player constantly checking in on the supporting characters and notable NPCs as well as triggering either quests or events to get the full narrative effect or character dynamics. I wish 3 handled it like 2's narrative by ensuring all key characters were being developed through the cutscenes rather than having to always check up on the them. I will say I'm pretty glad I saw rumblings of a disappointing ending as I ended up enjoying it possibly due to tempered expectations.

So some pros and cons. I'll start with the cons.

- Not sure why Chai was even in this game. He served essentially no major narrative purpose and gameplay wise he didn't even have a fight. I'm going to go ahead and tell myself he got dispatched so quickly both times to show how far Ryo's skills have come since Shenmue 1 until the developers or future story tells me otherwise.

- The Lan Di fight should've been longer and needed more weight. I was fine that Lan Di blocked or avoided every move I threw at him however I felt it needed to be longer to build up the hopelessness.

- I didn't like that Shenhua did nothing until she was essentially a helpless damsel in distress in Niaowu.

- We really needed that character perspective system for the story. I'm starting to believe that Yu had initially intended for us to play as Ren and/or Shenhua in Niaowu however the fact it didn't happen left us with the narrative holes in their absence.

- Niao as Li Feng needed more scenes to build her up. What we got with her was ok but could've been more fleshed out. I'm eager to play her sidequest on my second playthrough which I never triggered this run.

Pros

+ Ren was the best thing during Niaowu, especially the finale and he's the low key MVP of the story. He did a lot behind the scenes despite not having as much interaction Ryo as I would've liked. And LOVED his sucker kick to the Lan Di enforcer.

+ I don't know. I dug Niao Sun and I'm now very intrigued with the power struggle within the Chi You Men. Hope she doesn't get jobbed out in the next one.

+ Won't list them now but while we didn't get new answers, we at least got confirmation of some speculated items as well new info/questions that lead into the next installment.

+ I thought the fights were fun. It wasn't a slog to get through

+ The characters at least felt true to themselves.

+ The ending did look beautiful.

So all in all for this game due to some of the story issues that occurred in the second half of the game I went from a subjective 9 before Niaowu to 8.6 maybe 8.7 for the game as a whole.

Still a great experience.

 

[Rakim]

View attachment 5785




Oh that irony

Ok so this is what that weird pawn shop quest at the end was all about. It was basically "yes we added one additional quest to the fortified castle area previously known as baisha. check."

 

[Shenhua-Nani?]

I understand what some of you are trying to say but something doesn't fit. If Ryo progressing too fast does sound weird to you, how come Ryo is going to beat the 4 bosses of the Chiyoumen (even 5 if we count Tentei) while he did not even beat one of them in 3 games. All of a sudden he's going to be super strong and take them down ?

Let's say Ryo won against Niao Sun in Shenmue III and lost against Lan Di. He'd meet and take down Koutei and Gentei in S4 and Lan Di + Tentei in Shenmue V (the last game).

Now, he'd have to be strong enough to handle 2 to 3 bosses in a single game while he struggled against Muscles Man, a guy that is not even a leader ?

I'm not sure how the story will continue from now on but it'd have been better to see Ryo progress faster so it doesn't seem too weird in the next games than having Ryo struggle against 2 simple thugs and roll on bosses in the next 2 games. They could use a time skip and show Ryo months later, after his training period.

This, a million times.

 

[DoubleO_Ren]

I just finished and I have thoughts I'd like to share later as I have pros and cons about the story but I absolutely disagree with some suggesting Niao Sun should have fought Ryo only to lose. No way you introduce her after all this time just to job her out if we still can't even beat Lan Di. That would've made her a joke and would've been greatly unsatisfying. I always had the impression she was supposed to be equally as or more powerful than Lan Di.

EDIT: Some folks who are thinking the Story DLC will solve some of the story cracks, I would highly suggest to temper expectations right now. Not for any lack of faith in the development team, but I'm not convinced the story DLC will either be that expansive or satisfying and I'm basing that historically like with the story DLC for PS4 Spider-Man or MGS5 etc.

Where in the blue hell did u get the idea that Niao Sun would be stronger than Lan Di?

 

[ShenSun]

I do think alot of us are missing the key point of shenmue 3, and that was to establish and build the relationship between ryo and shenhua. This gsme delivered on that massively

 

[DoubleO_Ren]

I do think alot of us are missing the key point of shenmue 3, and that was to establish and build the relationship between ryo and shenhua. This gsme delivered on that massively

Not really in Niawu, Bailu yes, immensely. I can't help but feel if Yu Suzuki had the budget he needed and the time Shenmue 3 would be very very different and what we played would only be disc 2.

 

[gladias9]

I do think alot of us are missing the key point of shenmue 3, and that was to establish and build the relationship between ryo and shenhua. This game delivered on that massively

Yeah, I really felt that they built a relationship together after I saved her and the two continued to not share one moment together.
Matter of fact, she actually has not one line of dialogue after that scene.

 

[Irishryo]

I just finished the game. I didn't want anyone spoiling it for me and I was driven all week to get to the final show down with Lan Di.

First off, I used to be a huge gamer but I can't really bring myself to even play never mind complete many other titles. I was like a kid in a candy shop with Shenmue 3 and I have to say it successfully brought me back to my childhood in that sense because I was so engrossed in it. It's important to be positive and the game had too many positives to mention all here.

Some positives:

The charm of Shenmue was still there
It felt Shenmue
The story (under)development didn't bother me that much
I thought the graphics were amazing. Ryo never looked better.
I seen other people bashing the QTEvents but I thought they were great... Just like the old ones but some of the graphics were brill...
I loved the contrast of city/urban lifestyles.

Some areas where I hope will be improved in the future:

The worst thing about the game for me was actually kind of my own fault but also I reckon its a game design failure. It was worse than the ending chapter imo. You might find this an amateur mistake especially considering I completed the first two games many times but when in Niawou: instead of focusing on asking people had they seen Mr. Yuan, which so many people kept saying "impossible task" etc, my focus shifted completely to the fight competition at the Rose garden. I thought maybe after beating all of them then we'd get the next clue or an invite to hang out with the harbour guys. The part that was annoying was that I spent so long just fishing at the harbour at the same spot and chopping tons of wood everyday to buy expensive skill books to surpass all these guys. I thought I had enough fishing done in Bailu...

It was only afterwards whenI realised the award was just skill books that I progressed and the game/city opened up for me properly but by this stage I feel the city was kind of wasted because I already had fully trained myself to "max" levels of endurance/attack. I felt I was really just running around, progressing the story... I'm sure I'm not the only person this has happened to!

I really loved how everything was "integrated". I became very addicted to the capsule toys! However, I wish there was actually more of an incentive to buy the skill books? That ties into a point about the battling system - I enjoyed the battling system especially compared to S1 and S2 and how sparring forced you to familiarise yourself with the moves etc... But I felt that I wasn't majorly challenged and forced to use the moves or really learn new moves? Perhaps changing difficulty would fix this? I loved trying to find/win all of the items to unlock the skills but again it wasn't necessary...

The game just kind of lost its flow with me. I felt I peaked performance wise way too soon. Rose garden should have been blocked off until later imo.

Better wrap this up... A few other points I'd like to mention:

The game was still beautifully designed and I was really moved by it a few times.

Not that it matters all that much but now that I completed it I'm confused what's next for the collectables? I see I can choose to start again in Niawou or Bailu? Can you transport between them? I'd also be interested in collecting all the teddy bears etc but I wonder if there's a list?

The ending kind of happened all too quickly and I'm still processing it.

I think I was more disappointed how easy it was to basically stroll easily to the tower and fight the boss of the red snakes by, in all honesty, button bashing but once again.... My fault with the difficulty setting?

Anyway it's been a dream come true that this game came out because there's no other game like it IMO. The benefits far outweigh the negatives. I hope they make at least two more and keep building/improving. It was a "miracle" in many aspects.

I missed the Kickstarter but gladly would have backed it. I'll follow more closely now.

Any advice on gaming Shenmue 3 going forward now would be greatly appreciated too :)

To sum up: the game was like a celebration of bringing something back from the dead. I loved all the little quicks and how things grow on you in Shenmue. I even loved wood chopping by the end! I like the direction the game is taking and I really hope S4 and S5 will be out of this world in the same way S2 was way back when :)

 

[Mojito]

I do think alot of us are missing the key point of shenmue 3, and that was to establish and build the relationship between ryo and shenhua. This gsme delivered on that massively

Ryo and Shenhua built a stronger relationship in S1 than in the entire S3.

Im S1 Shenhua accknowledge bit by bit that ryo was a part of the prophesy.
When ryo said Japan, she answered "distant land in the East". She talked about it was a Rocky path to Bailu Village and in the cave she told him the prophesy. This was her way of accknowledge their destiny.

She talked about the Shenmue tree and that she was drawn towards it. Ryo said the same thing.

They saw a floating sword together and then they play games the next evening for christ sake

Im S3 there is no mentioning of her talking about they being destined to meet.

This is supose to be the relationship.

I did all the talking with her at the evenings, and it was more or less all chitchat... Offcourse there where some relevant info that came out, but nothing that pluged all the plot holes.


Anyone who has played S3 only cant answer what "Shenmue" is. (the tree)

As i wrote earlier :
I doubt anyone who played S3 only think of Shenhua as something other than a travel companion who has a kidnapped dad.

I mean, why would they?

 

[ShenSun]

Yeah, I really felt that they built a relationship together after I saved her and the two continued to not share one moment together.
Matter of fact, she actually has not one line of dialogue after that scene.

I mean did you speak to her in bailu every night? That is probably the deepest interactions ive seen in a videogame between duel protagonists or player/npc. The relationship is there. You just have to put in the time to build it

 

[code l name]

I mean did you speak to her in bailu every night? That is probably the deepest interactions ive seen in a videogame between duel protagonists or player/npc. The relationship is there. You just have to put in the time to build it

I think the point he was making and certainly I agree,after developing their relationship further every night in Bailu, Shenhua is sidelined for majority of Niaowu. Both in terms of interaction and certainly in terms of story.

This supposed fleshed out relationship, at the story’s climax gets no mention. And Ryo saving Shenhua isn’t acknowledged or spoken about as neither of them have any dialogue between the two which would have been payoff for those particularly who invested time early in the game. It’s another element which felt underdeveloped.

 

[ShenSun]

I think the point he was making and certainly I agree,after developing their relationship further every night in Bailu, Shenhua is sidelined for majority of Niaowu. Both in terms of interaction and certainly in terms of story.

This supposed fleshed out relationship, at the story’s climax gets no mention. And Ryo saving Shenhua isn’t acknowledged or spoken about as neither of them have any dialogue between the two which would have been payoff for those particularly who invested time early in the game. It’s another element which felt underdeveloped.

Yeah i agree to that.

My evenings in niaowu was spent talking to the shenmue 1 and 2 characters as a replacement, so i wasnt too bothered about the shenhua aspect, but i hear your point.

The amount of dialog shenhua has must have cost a fortune to voice. Im not surprised it lessen towards the end. It might have been a better idea to split the conversations in bailu in half, so you can continue in niaowu.

We all know the ending was a little rushed, so not much we can do about that. Still, theres tons of references to shenmue 4 in this game. I think we'll get a sequel.

 

[gladias9]

I really feel like despite the small conversations you can have with Shenhua, there's nothing there that says they are close to each other.

 

[DoubleO_Ren]

Shenmue III: The Filler

 

[danielmann861]

I do think alot of us are missing the key point of shenmue 3, and that was to establish and build the relationship between ryo and shenhua. This gsme delivered on that massively

That stuff is my favorite part of the game....just a shame it ended after Bailu and she kind of just took a back seat throughout Chobu.

I saw some people mention that they didn't understand how Ren just showed up in Chobu. I had no problem with that. Ren's street smart...he's no doubt hearing rumors and rumors were probably mentioning that the Chi You Men were in Choubu maybe a bit of throw away dialog would have worked to explain that but I thought it was pretty obvious why Ren was and how he most likely got there.

I've been thinking about all day...I think for me it still really comes down to the story being so light. I feel like the game have been more focused had they just stuck to Bailu. Make it a smaller but even denser game in terms of both plot and content. And then maybe leave Chobu for IV...but I'm no game director.

For me, the story structure isn't the problem...rather its the story development that I find myself at odds with. I'm ready for more heavy plot threads...but I guess we have to wait until Shenmue IV now. Which is where my disappointment lies. I really thought 3 was going to hold more answers for us than it actually did. It feels like it's still just setting up the stage waiting for all the pieces to fit into place.. I guess I wanted more than just filler, recap and breadcrumbs

 

[Shenhua-Nani?]

For all the negative things about the story, I have to admit Lan Di telling Ryo “it seems you have improved a bit” sent shivers down my spine, and I was literally cheering like mad for Ryo during the fight scene. Although I guess that moment pratically sells by himself after all these years.

 

[KalJenko]

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.

 

[Amir]

I think Grandmasters Bei and Feng could have been rolled into one character to save on time and money. Or even just having Sun the Drunken Master as your teacher before going on to Baisha. I don't remember much about Feng, and at one point in the game when I wanted to stop by and talk to him, his gate was shut :/

While I'm disappointed overall with the game, chasing chickens for Sun was one part I did actually like. Very reminiscent of the old Hong Kong action films that the Shenmue games pay homage to, as well as Rocky. And the joke about having experience chasing chickens but not ducks later on was good as well.

 

[QuattroBajeena]

I do think alot of us are missing the key point of shenmue 3, and that was to establish and build the relationship between ryo and shenhua. This gsme delivered on that massively

Did we play the same game, because I can't recall a single conversation with her that really gave us anything meaningful about her since she basically served as a recap each day, and the small talk pretty much died in Niaowu besides just going over recaps.