So first things first, I just want to point out something that no-one really remembers in regards to the first 2 games. We spend the bulk of Shenmue 2 searching for Yuanda Zuh and once we find him, he tells us about the Phoenix mirror the identity of Lan Di and the reason he killed Iwao. However, what a lot of people seem to forget is, that half of what Zuh tells us, we already find out in Shenmue 1. First off, Lan Di virtually tells us himself why he kill's Iwao, minus the part that he is Zhao Sunming's son. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's about revenge. Secondly, Zuh tells us where the mirrors come from, but so does the owner of the antiques shop in Shenmue 1. The only difference is Zuh gives us the village name, not just the region; Guilin. Third; Zuh tells us what the mirrors do, yet so did Master Chen in Shenmue 1. The only difference is that they give very different accounts of what they do. What the reason for this is, we do not get know, however, I am beginning to suspect either a retcon or that Yu-san hoped we'd all forget what Chen said as it was too much info too soon. Regardless, the point I am making is that we really don't learn as much new info at the end of Shenmue 2 as a lot of people, myself included until I thought about it, as we think we do. While Zuh did tell us that Iwao and Zhao were friends, the most important thing we get from him his the next stop on our trip.
I think that a lot of people are conflating several complaints with S3. There is the lack of story development, the poor storytelling, and the bad pacing. All of these things add up to something that imo makes S3 by far the weakest in the series. Could you argue that S3 has about as much "big picture" plot information as S2? Maybe. But could you argue that it's presented as well, told as compellingly, and paced out properly? No.
To be clear, S1 and 2 were originally supposed to be 1 game, so they can both be classified as the beginning of the story. They have to do massive heavy lifting to introduce us to characters, make us care about them, characterize Ryo's hometown and contrast that to fish out of water China, in addition to setting up the mysteries of the story that will take us through to the end (which they do masterfully, hence people clamoring for 20 years for a continuation). S3 is the part of the story where things deepen, we were at Bailu village where the mirrors were made, where the poem is from, where Iwao trained with Zhao, where the Shenmue tree has stood for thousands of years, and virtually none of that stuff is expanded on. It's like if in a Superman movie, he discovers the fortress of solitude and then just beats up some random thugs there, shrugs his shoulders and leaves.
However, this is one instance that I which will cite the budget as an issue. Yu-san could not afford excess dialogue, as voice acting in two languages is expensive, so if there were such scenes planned, I can understand why they were cut.
If they were in fact cut I can think of several things in Bailu that should have been cut instead.
However, what we did get was a character assessment of Iwao from bid master, someone who knew him at the time.
Saying that someone isn't capable of MURDER is hardly a character assessment. Yuanda Zhu shares basically the same sentiment. Based on everything we get about Iwao post-S1 you'd be hard pressed to tell me a single thing about him other than the fact that he liked martial arts a lot.
Properly spaced out over Baishi like it was probably supposed to be, then all these events would have the proper weight to them that they needed. Making it feel like a lot more had happened.
I actually agree with this. If Niaowu was all about finding Yuan and learning about the Chi You Men instead of chasing low level Red Snake thugs around then it would be much better. Again, this speaks to S3's poor storytelling and planning. If YS really felt the tale of the Red Snakes needed to be told right now after a 20 year hiatus then I think he terribly mismanaged the project.
However, first things first and my apologies if someone has already clarified this, the reason we went to Niaowu is because it is recognised as being one of the markers on the map by Elder Yuh.
One of the most confusing scenes in the game. We go to Niaowu because Chai tells us to go to Niaowu. It also happens to be on the map for no reason that I can ascertain because we don't discover anything about the mirrors or any kind of breadcrumb there. Very weird. But again, sloppy storytelling.
Also, this needs to be said: comparing S3 to S2 in terms of story is never going to end well for S3. It takes roughly the same time to beat both games and how about you compare what happens in both games? Or what characters we're introduced to? Or the boss fights that we had? Or which moments stick out in your mind? Or the way you felt as the credits started to roll? Not even in the same league.