Project Berkeley Poem

[hmjohnny]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to be posting this but it concerns Shenmue 3 and the future story.

I was digging through old interviews today and I found something interesting, a translation of the text (poem) from the Project Berkeley Documentary (go to 17:00). Apparently a condensed version also appeared on Shenmue premiere promotional material. The Poem describes the entire story vaguely, some things we know and others to come. Here it is:

An adventure begins.

A boy thrown into the depths of deep despair.
Sadness wells up from inside the boy like boundless dark waters, washing everything away.
Sadness. Heart.
Before long this sadness will become a swelling anger.
The trembling soul of this young boy will face a single decision.
A vow.
He will make an oath to himself. And then decide.

Setting off on a journey. Heading West.
The boy set off to an as-yet-unseen far-off foreign land.
Hope rushes all throughout his body, becoming just like a heartbeat. At times swelling up to a head and at others almost losing sight and beginning to taper off.
All his memories, everything he's experienced, pulled into a chaotic world. An unknown world trying to suck him in with maelstrom force.
His spirit once again bound by angst.
Anxiety, Expectations, Dreams, Hope.
A boy controlled like a puppet.
Betrayal.
Mind. Body. A Vow. Courage. Pride. Love.
Everything begins to fade.

An encounter with a mysterious young girl.
She arrived suddenly, but with tenderness.
Tranquility.
The endless lands embracing the two of them.
Tenderness is broad, yet deep.
A new courage is budding.

The ones you love.
A moment of fate.
A battle of life and death
Body. Soul.
Stillness. Movement.
Light. Dark.
Sunlight. Shadows.
Wisdom. Skill.
Friends. Enemies.
Erupting into space and time.
Discover the meaning of pride.
Take hold of doubtless courage.
Companions, Friends and Love.

It was all over.
Or so it seemed.
There is no such thing as the future.
An empty world preventing the soul from breathing.
Love seemed to flicker.
Something little by little flowing into a frozen heart.

Love.
Big, deep, filling the entire body.
You are not alone anymore.
You feel a few power, a new sense of courage.
You are not alone anymore.
Friends.
Those you love.
A brand new journey... begins.

Some interesting notes, it seems that the part of the story before meeting Shenhua was a low point, referring to betrayal and everything fading. I always wondered if this corresponded to the VFRPG chapters showing Lan Di and presumably other CYM members in Suzhou prior to the Guilin chapter. Was some of this in Shenmue 3? I'm wondering how much of the castle scene was re-purposed from the unused Suzhou chapter considering Ryo loses his fight with Lan Di, and maybe begins to lose hope in the original draft?

Also the ending seems to imply that Ryo either takes his revenge or has it robbed from him, causing him to lose hope in the future and become lost. Ultimately realizing he is not alone in the world and embarking on a new quest. Which seems to confirm something Suzuki has said was the ending of the VFRPG for a while. Which, if we ever get to see it, sounds like a really interesting and unconventional ending to this story.

Anyway, analyze it. I'm wondering what you guys think.

 

[QuattroBajeena]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to be posting this but it concerns Shenmue 3 and the future story.

I was digging through old interviews today and I found something interesting, a translation of the text (poem) from the Project Berkeley Documentary (go to 17:00). Apparently a condensed version also appeared on Shenmue premiere promotional material. The Poem describes the entire story vaguely, some things we know and others to come. Here it is:

An adventure begins.

A boy thrown into the depths of deep despair.
Sadness wells up from inside the boy like boundless dark waters, washing everything away.
Sadness. Heart.
Before long this sadness will become a swelling anger.
The trembling soul of this young boy will face a single decision.
A vow.
He will make an oath to himself. And then decide.

Setting off on a journey. Heading West.
The boy set off to an as-yet-unseen far-off foreign land.
Hope rushes all throughout his body, becoming just like a heartbeat. At times swelling up to a head and at others almost losing sight and beginning to taper off.
All his memories, everything he's experienced, pulled into a chaotic world. An unknown world trying to suck him in with maelstrom force.
His spirit once again bound by angst.
Anxiety, Expectations, Dreams, Hope.
A boy controlled like a puppet.
Betrayal.
Mind. Body. A Vow. Courage. Pride. Love.
Everything begins to fade.

An encounter with a mysterious young girl.
She arrived suddenly, but with tenderness.
Tranquility.
The endless lands embracing the two of them.
Tenderness is broad, yet deep.
A new courage is budding.

The ones you love.
A moment of fate.
A battle of life and death
Body. Soul.
Stillness. Movement.
Light. Dark.
Sunlight. Shadows.
Wisdom. Skill.
Friends. Enemies.
Erupting into space and time.
Discover the meaning of pride.
Take hold of doubtless courage.
Companions, Friends and Love.

It was all over.
Or so it seemed.
There is no such thing as the future.
An empty world preventing the soul from breathing.
Love seemed to flicker.
Something little by little flowing into a frozen heart.

Love.
Big, deep, filling the entire body.
You are not alone anymore.
You feel a few power, a new sense of courage.
You are not alone anymore.
Friends.
Those you love.
A brand new journey... begins.

Some interesting notes, it seems that the part of the story before meeting Shenhua was a low point, referring to betrayal and everything fading. I always wondered if this corresponded to the VFRPG chapters showing Lan Di and presumably other CYM members in Suzhou prior to the Guilin chapter. Was some of this in Shenmue 3? I'm wondering how much of the castle scene was re-purposed from the unused Suzhou chapter considering Ryo loses his fight with Lan Di, and maybe begins to lose hope in the original draft?

Also the ending seems to imply that Ryo either takes his revenge or has it robbed from him, causing him to lose hope in the future and become lost. Ultimately realizing he is not alone in the world and embarking on a new quest. Which seems to confirm something Suzuki has said was the ending of the VFRPG for a while. Which, if we ever get to see it, sounds like a really interesting and unconventional ending to this story.

Anyway, analyze it. I'm wondering what you guys think.

The character pictured in the 4th and 6th panels looks a whole lot like Yanlang the leader of the gang in Bailu taking all the stone masons. Dunno if the characters are one in the same but his face and hair design are very very similar.

 

[hmjohnny]

The character pictured in the 4th and 6th panels looks a whole lot like Yanlang the leader of the gang in Bailu taking all the stone masons. Dunno if the characters are one in the same but his face and hair design are very very similar

I'm certain that is Yanlang, in fact I recognized him in the S3 trailer. Makes me kind of wish he played a bigger role in S3 rather than Mr. Muscles, but I think we'll see him again later in the story.

 

[Yokosuka]

I didn't expect the Bailu villain to be canon since he doesn't seem to have a proper artwork from the official character designer.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

The character pictured in the 4th and 6th panels looks a whole lot like Yanlang the leader of the gang in Bailu taking all the stone masons. Dunno if the characters are one in the same but his face and hair design are very very similar.

I didn't expect the Bailu villain to be canon since he doesn't seem to have a proper artwork from the official character designer.

It is Yanlang.

I didn't expect the Bailu villain to be canon since he doesn't seem to have a proper artwork from the official character designer.

It's him in the cards and he's definitely canon. Stop.

 

[QuattroBajeena]

I'm certain that is Yanlang, in fact I recognized him in the S3 trailer. Makes me kind of wish he played a bigger role in S3 rather than Mr. Muscles, but I think we'll see him again later in the story.

Also looking at this im trying to match up what we have so far plot wise to what we have picture in these images.

Picture 1&2 clearly just depict Yokasuka, and Hong Kong/Kowloon. Not much to talk about here really honestly.

The third panel makes zero sense, it shows a coastal region of some sort and a cart or train moving, a lake or river with very normal looking people, Chai, and the Phoenix Mirror. My only guess with that is possibly it was essentially the Bailu section at the start where your interacting with all the new people in the village. Maybe Ren was originally intended to be involved in the early parts of 3 and was cut, which would match up with backer goals actually.

Panel 4 seems to show Yanlang,possibly that silver haired bad guy, Lan Di and someone else we have not met unless his design changed heavily. Maybe its a early design of Master Bei? The background looks extremely like the Fortress from the end of 3 with all of the Dragon Ornaments and such. So it feel like we have likely reached Chapter 4 with Shenmue 3, even if its been very heavily modified and changed since the original plans were laid out.

Panels 5,6, and 7 are confusing to me they are clearly cities or villages you visit related to the Chiyoumen in some fashion besides the forest scene in panel 5 which i Assume is the equivalent to the scene we saw loosely play out at the end of the game where they climb through nature to get to the mountain side temple. That or the order has been radically changed, and with that in mind its also strange to me that Niawou and the city's in panels 6 and 7 share similarities but that could just be the fact that all of them take place in rural China and have similar geography and designs. I am going to guess some scene shuffling has went on here though either due to budget issues or simply changes in his vision over the years.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Also looking at this im trying to match up what we have so far plot wise to what we have picture in these images.

Picture 1&2 clearly just depict Yokasuka, and Hong Kong/Kowloon. Not much to talk about here really honestly.

The third panel makes zero sense, it shows a coastal region of some sort and a cart or train moving, a lake or river with very normal looking people, Chai, and the Phoenix Mirror. My only guess with that is possibly it was essentially the Bailu section at the start where your interacting with all the new people in the village. Maybe Ren was originally intended to be involved in the early parts of 3 and was cut, which would match up with backer goals actually.

Panel 4 seems to show Yanlang,possibly that silver haired bad guy, Lan Di and someone else we have not met unless his design changed heavily. Maybe its a early design of Master Bei? The background looks extremely like the Fortress from the end of 3 with all of the Dragon Ornaments and such. So it feel like we have likely reached Chapter 4 with Shenmue 3, even if its been very heavily modified and changed since the original plans were laid out.

Panels 5,6, and 7 are confusing to me they are clearly cities or villages you visit related to the Chiyoumen in some fashion besides the forest scene in panel 5 which i Assume is the equivalent to the scene we saw loosely play out at the end of the game where they climb through nature to get to the mountain side temple. That or the order has been radically changed, and with that in mind its also strange to me that Niawou and the city's in panels 6 and 7 share similarities but that could just be the fact that all of them take place in rural China and have similar geography and designs. I am going to guess some scene shuffling has went on here though either due to budget issues or simply changes in his vision over the years.

You need to read up on the cards .

3 is a train chapter that was to take place on said train, partly repurposed into the boat chapter from the comics and mainly scrapped.

4 was used partly in 2 and 3 (the 4 fighters and the, "tournament," setting, namely Kowloon's street fighters and Rose Garden, respectively). 5 is Guilin and that is (obviously) part of 3 and 6 is basically Niaowu (can't remember where the original location was... it's in the 'mue IV board), with Yanlang resurfacing and Niao Sun being introduced.

Of those 4 pictured in card 4, we have Yanlang, Lan Di and 2 unnamed people (the light-haired one could be Baihu and the one that looks like Lau is unknown).

3 was to have parts and pieces of cards 4, 5 and 6, with all of 5 taking place and IV is (apparently) supposed to end off card 6 and then we don't know where it'll go from there, but speculate that it will lead into cards 7 and 8, possibly 9, with a 5th game ending off with 9, 10, 11.

What you are mentioning in your last paragraph, is NOT card 5, but has to do with card 6; card 5 is Guilin only, specifically, Bailu.

Hope that helps with clarification; the cards with the map help contextualise the locations better.