Many Mysteries Of Miao Village Finally Unfold

Cool. I really hope you do. Anything new regarding Miao is gold.

Also, well aware you acquired it and all, and thank you for that. It's like I told you, you'd have been the first one I contacted if I had won the auction.

Anyway, I'll decline to flood the topic anymore with this.
Just gotta update the title now really, since obviously, more than one mystery exists about Miao Village and definitely not all of them are solved! Also congrats Switch on the findings!
 
Amazing find, @LanDC What I love the most about this is that they planned to include a village to HK. HK island and New Territories have plenty of villages! Some quite far off others literally in walkable distance.

For real? I had no idea rural villages were so near to HK, and just took the developer comments that it was out of place to be gospel. You'd think I'd have researched more and made it out there by now, but I can't stop going to Japan! Then well, COVID kinda stopped us all from going anywhere the past 2 years...
 
For real? I had no idea rural villages were so near to HK, and just took the developer comments that it was out of place to be gospel. You'd think I'd have researched more and made it out there by now, but I can't stop going to Japan! Then well, COVID kinda stopped us all from going anywhere the past 2 years...
Yes, for real! So many villages, some of the more remote ones you have to hike or take a boat to get to. Many have been swallowed by city development and expansion of high rises, some have been regulated (they can build three stories high living quarters and sell them at great profit), and some have remained intact, with local temples, local farms, graveyards etc, some abandoned, a few with people still living there. Local markets will typically have villagers from different villages selling poultry, greens or fish. Most speak some form of Cantonese but with a village accent. Was surprising to me when I lived there. Very excited that they had planned Miao village to be there, it’s such a dimension to have added. Insane.

Highly recommend you go to HK when you can. I’ll swap with you, haven’t made it to Japan yet but will within the next few years.
 
Of course and actually this is what makes the mystery more of a mystery, we will never fully know how the area blended into the surrounding areas, without a confirmation or playable build, maps or something else concrete. (by blend we mean a multitude of different things)
Honestly in the late 80s you could probably walk for a bit in any direction from a developed area and hit some kind of village or smaller settlement, farmland or fishery, especially on the mainland side of the city. Still can, even on HK island!, but they have mostly been developed to a great extent now. Can easily imagine how they’d solve it in-game, a longer trek (half an hour passes), some woods or a hill to separate it. Would be authentic.
 
Honestly in the late 80s you could probably walk for a bit in any direction from a developed area and hit some kind of village or smaller settlement, farmland or fishery, especially on the mainland side of the city. Still can, even on HK island!, but they have mostly been developed to a great extent now. Can easily imagine how they’d solve it in-game, a longer trek (half an hour passes), some woods or a hill to separate it. Would be authentic.
Yes, in real life this is how it is, but Shenmue II doesn’t have anything like that. It’s not about it being “authentic” it’s about how the area blends in with the rest of the environment. We know that it wouldn’t just be a loading area around the corner from SC, because it would be visually jarring to some extent, so exactly how the area was fit into the game is unknown, a quick look at the only existing screenshots will show that.
 
Yes, in real life this is how it is, but Shenmue II doesn’t have anything like that. It’s not about it being “authentic” it’s about how the area blends in with the rest of the environment. We know that it wouldn’t just be a loading area around the corner from SC, because it would be visually jarring to some extent, so exactly how the area was fit into the game is unknown, a quick look at the only existing screenshots will show that.
Sure, it is unknown how it would fit. Just as it’s unknown that it would be “visually jarring to some extent”.

Not sure what your point is, that we don’t know for sure it was meant to be there? Accessible from SC? If so, blending isn’t really an argument imo.

Why wouldn’t it blend if that’s how HK actually is, is what I’m saying. Even if it was a problem they could easily make it so that the track would have bushes or something so you wouldn’t see the village directly from SC, then reveal it once you followed the track. Or you could literally have it seen from SC and also see parts of SC from the village, like a wall and some buildings or something.

Anyways, exciting times. Really made my day, this discovery. Love how many dimensions of HK SII is packing. This is like icing on the cake.
 
Just gotta update the title now really, since obviously, more than one mystery exists about Miao Village and definitely not all of them are solved! Also congrats Switch on the findings!

Of course and actually this is what makes the mystery more of a mystery, we will never fully know how the area blended into the surrounding areas, without a confirmation or playable build, maps or something else concrete. (by blend we mean a multitude of different things)

Since it offends you so much, I'll happily change it for you. Any suggestions? Would "The Mystery (to 99.9% of us) of Miao Village Is Finally Solved" be more fitting? Because it seems the majority are awfully satisfied with what's been presented here. I hate to speak for anybody, but when that Muecas update on Shenmue.com revealed the removed (name unknown at the time) village, I'm pretty sure our ponderings consisted mainly of the following five...

1. What is this place?
2. Where is this place?
3. What's Ryo doing there?
4. Who is the old guy?
5. At what point were we going to visit? It looks like Guilin.

My post effectively answered all five of these questions with such:

1. Miao Village (assumed but not confirmed)
2. Near the South Carmain Qr. (theorized by some, not confirmed)
3. Looking for the Wulinshu (theorized again, not confirmed)
4. Yunhai, who is the priest at Miao Guang Temple (we had no clue)
5. While looking for the Wulinshu (ties in with #3)


Pretty sure that's chiefly what we've all been wanting to know. Of course, our content deprived minds will wander off and imagine what other kind of NPCs wandered around, what all the huts looked like inside, what smaller cutscenes might have taken place inside... but generally, we wanted context of the screenshots and a basic understanding of what was going on. Maybe Xiuying and Ziming's house was originally here, judging by the clothing hanging in the background during the flashback. Who knows? But if we're going solely based off of what could be out there on some hidden build, we'll never know. Again, is there any solid proof? Like I said, I hope there is. I will very happily eat my words and tell you you're the MVP, again. Then you can just make a new post with everything in one pretty little package.

I'm sorry I robbed you of being the hero with my incomplete analysis, but what was I supposed to think? This beta has been in the hands of you and several people for well over a month now, looked over quite extensively during that time judging by the initial release story. Not by me though, despite offering to pitch in and alleviate the sting of the cost. I waited like a good soldier and got it when everyone else did. Once it's released out to the public, it's kinda fair game at that point, right? You couldn't have possibly expected no one to go through these and post this, while you work to unravel the Miao frog hopping code first to make the puzzle complete. Besides, nobody ever told me about anything Miao related being on here, so I couldn't have known I was trampling on anyone's path to clout to begin with.

I really didn't want to go down this road with you, but I'm done with having my post downplayed. Done with the sarcasm, the repeated efforts to flood my thread with childish jealously, and the passive aggressiveness. "Congrats on the finds, Switch!" Shit like this is why I became a lurker around here quite some time ago. I'm a grown ass man and don't have the time for drama like this. It's stupid. We're all in this together. I've always been cool with you, appreciated what you bring to the table and shown nothing but respect. Unfortunately, you couldn't give me that in return.
 
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Honestly in the late 80s you could probably walk for a bit in any direction from a developed area and hit some kind of village or smaller settlement, farmland or fishery, especially on the mainland side of the city. Still can, even on HK island!, but they have mostly been developed to a great extent now. Can easily imagine how they’d solve it in-game, a longer trek (half an hour passes), some woods or a hill to separate it. Would be authentic.
Judging by some of the other clues with the screenshot of the little girl and her grandfather at the pharmacy and Ryo on the bike, the reference to the phamarcy in these subtiles, the found (and spawnable) bike model and where that pharmacy was originally located (judging from that screenshot), I think the theory / dev comment about a long path with a grassy field joining the two would have been the way to the village! I think Switch reported on it that it wasn’t playable but it would have been a cutscene. So definitely a combination of feeling like Ryo is travelling a ways away, and having the scenary to gradually match on a form of transport like a bicycle, seems the most logical :). If not for the village itself, which does seem to resemble Bailu (and so could have been the blueprint for Shenmue 3’s) but I would have really loved to have seen the scenary and the journey. We had speculated that perhaps “Green Field” from
Guilin could have been the path, the name is literally the same as “Grassy Field” (what the dev quoted saying) and it does actually stand out from both ends of the loading transitions into it. Love trying to picture all this stuff in my head, you can now really imagine how this was going to play out! ☺️
 
Judging by some of the other clues with the screenshot of the little girl and her grandfather at the pharmacy and Ryo on the bike, the reference to the phamarcy in these subtiles, the found (and spawnable) bike model and where that pharmacy was originally located (judging from that screenshot), I think the theory / dev comment about a long path with a grassy field joining the two would have been the way to the village! I think Switch reported on it that it wasn’t playable but it would have been a cutscene. So definitely a combination of feeling like Ryo is travelling a ways away, and having the scenary to gradually match on a form of transport like a bicycle, seems the most logical :). If not for the village itself, which does seem to resemble Bailu (and so could have been the blueprint for Shenmue 3’s) but I would have really loved to have seen the scenary and the journey. We had speculated that perhaps “Green Field” from
Guilin could have been the path, the name is literally the same as “Grassy Field” (what the dev quoted saying) and it does actually stand out from both ends of the loading transitions into it. Love trying to picture all this stuff in my head, you can now really imagine how this was going to play out! ☺️
Yeah, can totally imagine it! This is so awesome. The grassy field/green field makes sense, they would reuse discarded stuff after all. Would have loved to see the journey.

Enjoyed catching up on the PRS blog even more now. Having an entrance to the village by Man Mo Temple too seems sensical.

Been reading about the original village settlements in HK just now to see if there’s anything linking them to the Miao Hua, haha. So far nothing specific, but the elder villages have libraries too. Also a few with martial arts being part of it, makes sense with the street fighter in the dialogue here. Can’t get over the fact they wanted to add rural HK to the story, that layer of depth …

It’s like being back in the early 2000s with new theories spawning from new discoveries. What a gift to the community. Excited to see what more people find.
 
Just amazing to have this find and get some real information on Miao Village and the old guy from the screenshots finally! I wonder whether the library at Man Mo Temple was added specifically to house the Wulinshu after it was removed from Miao Village or it was always going to be there.
 
Nah, the title stays.

@LemonHaze see that narcissism of yours, get it off the forums and take it elsewhere. The rules apply to both staff and members, so consider this a polite heads up.
Narcissim? And where's that? I just know that there's obviously not everything "solved" just by the existence of dialogue. If anything it just raises more questions. If you seriously think that this is the only "mystery" surrounding Miao Village, then please explain the button prompt? Or what else was in the area at the time?
 
"The Mystery (to 99.9% of us) of Miao Village Is Finally Solved"

??? is there something I'm missing? this piece of dialogue was the only thing we're missing? We don't even know what the area looked like... outside of literally 3 screenshots... :s

I'm sorry I robbed you of being the hero with my incomplete analysis, but what was I supposed to think?

Literally, all I'm saying is that there's still stuff we don't know about Miao Village, and you think I'm "offended" or feel "robbed" that I'm "not the hero".

Confusing stuff man, I've stated it many times before, there are still many things we don't know about Miao Village, and there was never just 1 single mystery surrounding it.
 
I think we should never, ever take a look at anything else ever again, seeing as how we will never know enough to confirm it.

Everyone, delete your copies of the beta. Nobody knows enough to talk about anything anyone may find.
 
I think we should never, ever take a look at anything else ever again, seeing as how we will never know enough to confirm it.

Everyone, delete your copies of the beta. Nobody knows enough to talk about anything anyone may find.
?

No reason to be "funny" about it. Clearly I'm just stating that there's more to Miao Village than this mystery. Nothing more than that. For example, it doesn't answer what the "R button prompt" was all about, nor am I expecting it to... but when reading a thread title such as this, it kind of implies the answer would be in here, that's all.
 
seeing as how we will never know enough to confirm it.
Funny though, you've kinda just proven my point - you can only confirm what is in front of you, ie. this dialogue.

It doesn't answer to the mystery of the "R button prompt" - hence we can't say "Miao Village mystery is solved", that's all. All I'm saying is I have a problem with the thread title, as I see it as being a little bit misleading. I'm not offended by or feeling "robbed" or even feeling egotistical to the point where I'm jealous of other people finding stuff.

If I felt like I couldn't "handle" people finding things that I didn't, how come I specifically got people of the community in on this beta release to help out, and let them get the credits they undoubtedly deserve for doing so? Why would I have told Laurent I was happy to release it, if I felt this way?

Again, the whole point I've been making has revolved around the thread title. It's not my problem if that isn't getting across to you guys.
 
It's not my place to say, but maybe rename to "A mystery" rather than "The mystery".

Again, I guess I shouldn't wade in (I don't like confrontation), but this should be a celebration. I think the pickle comes down to semantics and isn't really worth fighting over :)
 
Anyways, hope @LanDC continues to comb through more than just this mystery within the beta. There could be many more mysteries solved. Great work thus far!
 
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