Nearing the End of Bailu Village (spoilers)

[danielmann861]

Well, after three or four nights of what seems like 3 to 5 hour stretches. The time is coming to depart Bailu. I just got hit with the "Warning" message before investigating the Bell Tower.

Thoughts on Bailu? God damn, this place is charming as all hell. They could have built the whole game around this village and I would have loved it completely. There's something so damn charming about hanging out in this village. I've done a fair share of side quests. I've talked to nearly everyone. I've had middle age women swoon over me (even had one invite me into her house)...hell, I've had Ryo compliment an elderly women with the "Gorgeous" option.

I've fished. I've helped kids out. I've found items for people. I've been thanked for saving people. In the short time I've been there, I feel like this could very well be my second home. The game does a great job evoking that same feeling I had for Dobuita.

It's funny, Shenhua mentioned that she has dreams of a past life (celebrating her birthday in a past life) and it got me thinking "I wonder if Ryo thinks this way about Bailu in comparison to Dobuita? There's something about this place that screams home while being slightly out of time"...I guess that's what Suzuki-san was hoping to evoke in the player...or maybe I'm just overthinking it.

It was awesome to hear Ryo talk about sending a letter back home which shows he does actually care that they're probably worried sick about him right now. That's gonna make the phone calls in Chobu all the more rewarding as a feeling now that I've had that conversation with Shenhua.

In terms of evoking a feeling? Bailu is fantastic for that. I don't know what it is about this place but it just has its hooks in me in. I'm sad to actually be leaving this place. I don't want to leave. I want to find out more about this place.

Which brings me to my one disappointment. I was expecting more about Iwao's past and I feel like I haven't gotten it at all. If I have one disappointment so far, it's that I really felt Bailu was going to be the place where we would find out so much more about Dad and what he was like as a younger man. I really thought we were gonna meet his former masters and find out so much more about Iwao and what kind of young man he was. But the most we've gotten (so far) was Master Feng saying "he can't envision Iwao being the type to kill" and then Master Feng just kind of took a back seat.

Kind of disappointed. I was so ready for things like the Dry White Leaf to come up (I was certain that was from Bailu and I was hoping that would come into play somehow)...I was certain we were gonna get more while we were in Bailu and I'm slightly disappointed we haven't gotten anything. We got some nice touches....the request about how he will return to his loving wife was a nice touch. Seeing the bruised tree was a nice moment (could that be where the dried out leaf came from?)

But I just thought Bailu would hold so many stories about Dad and I'm a bit bummed not to get them.

Not unless Master Feng has some "tall tale" side quests we haven't found yet where he tells us stories about Iwao. That would have been an awesome idea.

Looking at the story beats in Bailu...they are surprisingly short. If you were just playing the game rushing through the story beats alone, I could imagine either your disappointment or not really getting it.

But if you're taking your sweet ass time with it. I think the game does a magical job of evoking a really strong feeling about Bailu.

Even one of the conversations with Shenhua has me wondering if it was there as a hint from Yu Suzuki as to what really happened between Iwao and Lan Di's dad....(the one about Mirror and it's secrets)

All in all, I'm loving my time in Bailu and I really don't want to leave. It does a great job evoking something special. BUT I wish it held the key to something more revelatory involving Iwao. Or even the Shenmue Tree...it literally plays host to the namesake of this game and I feel like we don't know anything about it.

But I still haven't finished Bailu yet...I'm still curious as to what the big deal is about this bridge. Will get to it when I feel ready to move on

Also, what the hell did Shenhua do during the interrogation? I need answers!

 

[Furinkazan]

I too, was disappointed by the lack of answers in Bailu. Feng was Iwao's master, ffs, and has about 10 lines of dialogue. Nothing on the tree, or should i say trees, because now there's two of them? The only thing we did get answered was the photo, and it's been obvious for nigh on 20 years who it is.

 

[Xanatus]

I know exactly the feels man. I'm 20 hours in and also still in Bailu. Took my time talking to everyone possible on every quest state, completing everything and collecting everything, listen to everything. Really feels like knowing every person in town in and out. I love how the devs took their time giving everyone their own personality and backstory and how detailed they deliver this.
S3 may have less NPC's than previous games, but they are so much more personalized. Big step up from S2 where most NPC's really felt the same. Will miss this place.

 

[danielmann861]

I too, was disappointed by the lack of answers in Bailu. Feng was Iwao's master, ffs, and has about 10 lines of dialogue. Nothing on the tree, or should i say trees, because now there's two of them? The only thing we did get answered was the photo, and it's been obvious for nigh on 20 years who it is.

It feels like everyone is just like "Yeah we knew them but we don't know what happened after Bailu between them." I mean to be fair, Master Feng didn't even know he was dead until we told him so I guess it makes sense that Master Feng doesn't know what happened...so I guess the answers are still out there to be found. I guess in some ways, this is the story of Shenmue in that we are retracing Dad's steps and piecing the puzzle together as to what it all means one step at a time. So I didn't expect to get every answer from Bailu...but it would have been nice to find about his formative years while here as well.

I guess it kind of makes sense considering Bailu was really just a training ground for them and presumably what happened between them happened after Bailu. But still, it would have been nice to get some stories about the man or some tales about who he was as a young man...or what they were both like. I guess that's why the focus is so heavy on training in Bailu....we know it's a place that Martial Artists used to come to....and it's a way of making us retrace Dad's foot steps one step further. We're training on the same grounds he once did.

I guess this is why Suzuki was hesitant to wrap it up in III...because there are still so many places he has to take us in retracing Dad's foot steps.

I kind of forgive them not knowing because it kind of makes sense that they live in a remote village where they wouldn't have much of a clue about the outside world. But still, I could have done with more info about Iwao in his formative days. That could have been awesome. And Bailu would be the place to do just that. But I feel like all we got was "he's not the type of man to kill" and that's it. Bit disappointing. But oh well.

 

[Sanzarc]

8.5 hours in Bailu, probably nearing the end of it (hopefully). I love the side quests, I love the scenery, and I finally understand what Yu Suzuki said about the theme of "connection" in this game. I am already looking at different options to acquire technique scrolls (mostly through the pawnshop), trying to find the best money-making methods (and then trying to get the best token to money ratio at the prize exchange), etc.
I think this game is brilliant, I cannot wait to see what's outside of Bailu.
(And I also agree that the first few hours did not tell much about Iwao and the past, but hopefully we'll get to know more later).

 

[kaliskonig91]

Bailu was great and charming. It needed a few more story beats, an actual battle with Chai at the end, and Master Feng should have had more development, story relevance, and reveals for Ryo.

I would have liked if instead of that shitty "Buy me a 2000 Yuan priced bottle of wine" quest that instead we got told if we want to train under him we need to look the part. So we go on a quest to get a martial arts garb. We eventually go to Feng do some training, get some info on Iwao and Zunming. Ryo and Feng build a similar bond to the one he did with Xiuying. He tries to talk Ryo out of seekin grevenge but after realizing he cant he gives in and then boom... he pulls out some old training garb. The same ones that Iwao trained in under him. They are tattered and need fitting so we have to take them to Shenhua and she tailors the garb for us. Ryo then puts on the Green training garb from the concept art and heads off to train for the body check.