Random Shenmue III Thoughts

[Van Joel Sandwich]

You need to make more posters and artwork. That is absolutey amazing

thank you ShenSun!
I only make that kind of stuff when i'm really passionate about something.
Shenmue is one of those things for sure!

 

[shredingskin]

Well, this is kinda a random thought, but I don't find the Shenmue 3 atmosphere.
For me S1 is a mix of city and suburbia dread, like a japanese salaryman drinking at a bar and reminiscing about what his life could have been. There's a little lust for rebellion that gets mixed with a little anger for the present. Playing S1 for me still gives me from time to time that nostalgic deja vu, and throws me back to my youth thinking how videogames might be in the future.

 

[~ ひかり ~]

In my opinion Shenmue III is the calm, training and peaceful time in Ryo’s journey, specially in Bailu Village so the atmosphere and vibe of the game to me is exactly this. Calm, simple and peaceful just like we can see in this images, and this to me is one of the things i love about this game. To me Shenmue III really is the calm before the storm, if Shenmue IV happen it will probably be the storm with a lot of fights, with a lot of progression in the story, revelations and much more.

 

[pilman]

In my opinion Shenmue III is the calm, training and peaceful time in Ryo’s journey, specially in Bailu Village so the atmosphere and vibe of the game to me is exactly this. Calm, simple and peaceful just like we can see in this images, and this to me is one of the things i love about this game. To me Shenmue III really is the calm before the storm, if Shenmue IV happen it will probably be the storm with a lot of fights, with a lot of progression in the story, revelations and much more.

Thats actually an interesting way to look at it, and I think as a fan I probably rushed way too fast in Bailu and want to now take it slow.

 

[orient]

A new colleague at work just approached me and said, "...I couldn't help but notice you have Ryo Hazuki as your avatar..."

And then magic ensued. Huge fan that started with the re-releases. What a world we live in

 

[~ ひかり ~]

Thats actually an interesting way to look at it, and I think as a fan I probably rushed way too fast in Bailu and want to now take it slow.

You said you rushed way too fast in Bailu and that now you want to take it slow, i don't know if you saw the interview with Yu Suzuki before Shenmue III release, this was Yu Suzuki’s advice for the players.

Playstation Blog: What is the emotion you hope players feel immediately after finishing Shenmue III? Do you think most players will have a similar reaction to it?

Yu Suzuki: It would be nice if players felt like coming back from a journey. If you hurry through the game, there is a good chance it will just stress you out. Rather, by taking your time, the experience will be one of trying all the different things the game has to offer.

Playstation Blog: What’s an example of a small detail in Shenmue III that you think will enhance players’ experience with the game?

Yu Suzuki: I would ask everyone to take your time to play and not hurry through. When you come upon something you like, just stop and hang out for as long as you like, trying all things the game has to offer. For example, if you’re someone who doesn’t like gambling, try it in Shenmue and you may just have fun.

I agree 100% with Yu Suzuki about this.

The only things i really disliked in Shenmue III is lack of more story scenes for example would have been nice a flashback scene of Iwao and Sunming Zhao in Bailu Village, scenes like this would add even more to the Shenmue story.

The other thing is lack of character development for the side characters in Niaowu, and i feel that if Baisha was in the game the ending would not feel rushed but i like the ending, i like that Ryo lost the fight but showed that he is improving little by little, but overall my experience with Shenmue III was beautiful, was beautiful to experience a simple and peaceful life in Bailu Village and i like Niaowu as well.

This is how i view Shenmue III, the Shenmue series have a ZEN/calm vibe and this is one of the things that i love about Shenmue, Shenmue don't need to be like Yakuza, GTA and other games, Shenmue have its own essence and this is one of the reasons why i love Shenmue so much.

It is the unique and special things about Shenmue that touched my heart and now i’m a Shenmue fan, i prefer to play Shenmue games in a slow way and feel the experience/journey in detail and in a calm way.

 

[shredingskin]

In my opinion Shenmue III is the calm, training and peaceful time in Ryo’s journey, specially in Bailu Village so the atmosphere and vibe of the game to me is exactly this. Calm, simple and peaceful just like we can see in this images, and this to me is one of the things i love about this game. To me Shenmue III really is the calm before the storm, if Shenmue IV happen it will probably be the storm with a lot of fights, with a lot of progression in the story, revelations and much more.

I honestly didn't see anything like it (and I took my time).
You start the game and boom you already have the goalpost (finding the thugs). I didn't saw many moments of calm, the training with sun wasn't even calming was a QTE chicken chaser (compare it to catching leaves, or book airing). I was really expecting Ryo coming back to Shenhua after failing the training and her teaching Ryo how to "read" nature, the different animal behaviors, tapping into his inner animal instinct. Even fishing is a competition and goal oriented.
I didn't see the Bailu that Shenhua explained in S2, I was expecting a rural town, everybody hard at work, rough conditions of living, using the nature to the maximum potential, but S3 Bailu half of the place is dedicated to leisure and gambling. You never see Ryo struggling with nature, or needing help in a place without many modern resources, he just keeps living there and buying stuff (the closer to it was finding herbs I guess).

Same with the training in Niaowu, I expected some sort of lesson of training in the raft, finding his balance in an "imbalanced world", understanding how to go with the flow, learning how to use the chaotic environment to his advantage. But just saw a little montage and that was it (of course still searching for thugs).

I think 4th disc of S2 did a much better job of Ryo against nature, Ryo trying to harness the raw power of the environment, Ryo learning about not having the convenience of modern life, than S3 did.

 

[~ ひかり ~]

I honestly didn't see anything like it (and I took my time).
You start the game and boom you already have the goalpost (finding the thugs). I didn't saw many moments of calm, the training with sun wasn't even calming was a QTE chicken chaser (compare it to catching leaves, or book airing). I was really expecting Ryo coming back to Shenhua after failing the training and her teaching Ryo how to "read" nature, the different animal behaviors, tapping into his inner animal instinct. Even fishing is a competition and goal oriented.
I didn't see the Bailu that Shenhua explained in S2, I was expecting a rural town, everybody hard at work, rough conditions of living, using the nature to the maximum potential, but S3 Bailu half of the place is dedicated to leisure and gambling. You never see Ryo struggling with nature, or needing help in a place without many modern resources, he just keeps living there and buying stuff (the closer to it was finding herbs I guess).

Same with the training in Niaowu, I expected some sort of lesson of training in the raft, finding his balance in an "imbalanced world", understanding how to go with the flow, learning how to use the chaotic environment to his advantage. But just saw a little montage and that was it (of course still searching for thugs).

I think 4th disc of S2 did a much better job of Ryo against nature, Ryo trying to harness the raw power of the environment, Ryo learning about not having the convenience of modern life, than S3 did.

The night conversations with Shenhua are super calm and peaceful and we have a lot of this conversations in Shenmue III, just by this conversations we can see a lot of the calm and peaceful atmosphere and vibe of the game, the hide and seek with the kids is another moment where we can see the calm and peaceful atmosphere and vibe of the game, the moments with the little girl Lin Zhou that reminds me of Megumi-chan is another calm moment in the game.

There are lot of times in the game where i felt a Shenmue chapter one calm vibe and it was beautiful to me.

The training with Master Sun is calm because the way he teaches Ryo is in a slow way, takes a long time for Ryo to finally learn the Body Check, one of the parts of the training Master Sun even said "Come back tomorrow" something like this, so it was a slow pace training, the training with Master Sun was not just catching chickens, i remember it was more than that, was calm and interesting to me playing this parts, and when Ryo finally learn the Body Check was a beautiful moment to me.



The Bailu we got still have rural things about it, i know that in the Bailu we got we have capsule toys and things like that but it still have a lot of things of rural about it. Ryo picking herbs, fishing, in this moment Ryo live a more calm and peaceful life with Shenhua, we have the abandoned temple that Master Sun stays, we have the Man Yuan temple and so many othe places that gives a ZEN/calm and peaceful atmosphere and vibe for the game.

It was a kickstarter game and maybe Yu Suzuki decided to change some things in the original Bailu because of this, he even say he made Shenmue III for the fans, he probably felt pressured to put capsule toys and the other things in Bailu Village, it is what it is, this is probably the reason why we have capsule toys and things like that in Bailu but this did not bother me in the game, it was not something extreme to bother me, i still felt a lot of things of rural in the game.

Ryo picking herbs, Ryo having to work chopping wood, fishing, Ryo living a peaceful and calm life with Shenhua and every night he goes back to her house, the night conversations, the hide and seek calm moment with the kids. Ryo choosing food like we can see in this picture and much more, Bailu is so peaceful and calm, one of my favorite places in the Shenmue world.

You had a different experience with the game and that's okay, i respect your opinion i just don't agree.

 

[~ ひかり ~]

Would be really nice to have a mod where we can put our cleared complete saves of Shenmue II in Shenmue III, this way would be possible to have all our progress of Shenmue I and II in Shenmue III about capsule toys, moves, story items and much more.

Shenmue is a journey so is nice to have all our progress with us, a mod like this is possible?

Another mod that would be nice is Shenhua's classic clothes in the game, i don't have a problem with the new clothes for Shenhua but it would be nice to have more clothes for her in the game.

Right now is possible for anyone to get the Yokosuka jacket for Ryo? this jacket is so beautiful, i love the design. I remember at that time was just for the backers but i really hope one day we can have this in the game for everybody to enjoy, but if this never happen i will understand of course.

If Shenmue IV happen i hope we can put our Shenmue III complete saves in Shenmue IV so we can continue the journey with everything we got.

 

[pilman]

Would be really nice to have a mod where we can put our cleared complete saves of Shenmue II in Shenmue III, this way would be possible to have all our progress of Shenmue I and II in Shenmue III about capsule toys, moves, story items and much more.

Shenmue is a journey so is nice to have all our progress with us, a mod like this is possible?

Another mod that would be nice is Shenhua's classic clothes in the game, i don't have a problem with the new clothes for Shenhua but it would be nice to have more clothes for her in the game.

Right now is possible for anyone to get the Yokosuka jacket for Ryo? this jacket is so beautiful, i love the design. I remember at that time was just for the backers but i really hope one day we can have this in the game for everybody to enjoy, but if this never happen i will understand of course.

If Shenmue IV happen i hope we can put our Shenmue III complete saves in Shenmue IV so we can continue the journey with everything we got.

View attachment 13398

Hi, unfortunately I think it was only for the backers as when we received the key, we were provided a dlc which downloaded new data (for the phone calls and items). I suppose theres nothing preventing modders from doing so at some point, I honestly dont use it as I prefer using Ryos original jacket

 

[~ ひかり ~]

After my other post about the rural things in Bailu Village i thought more rural things about it, i want to add more things.


Places in Bailu Village that to me gives a calm and peaceful atmosphere/vibe for the game.

Shenhua's house

Inside of the house we can see that it is rural. In Shenhua's house don't have a TV, nothing like that, it is a rural house. Outside of the house we can see that the house it is far away from the main part of the village, similar to Hazuki residence that is a little far from Dobuita and it is far from the Harbor.

Both houses Ryo have to come back every night, i don't know if this was intentional on Yu Suzuki's part but i love the Shenmue One calm atmosphere and vibe in Shenmue III.

Outside of the house we can see the beautiful Shenmue tree, we can the animals near the house, we can see that this place is so calm and peaceful, one of my favorite places in Bailu Village is this place.

Spoiler

The path to the main part of the village is so calm and we can see so much nature, we can see the Bailu Martial Hall and it is
so peaceful training there alone.

Spoiler

To get to the main part of the Village we need to cross the verdant bridge and in this part we can see so much nature as well, there is a spot to fish here.

Spoiler

When we arrive to Tao's Get Store we can see the animals near the store, we can work chopping wood and we can pick herbs in Bailu Village to sell to Tao-san.

In this part of the village we can see the kids training Tai Chi Chuan and we can see that the characters in Bailu Village have different routines, we can clearly see that the routines are different from routines of a big city, we can see some characters training martial arts in the morning, we can see that life in Bailu Village is more calm, the other houses are rural houses as well

Spoiler

The Sun Flower Groove is a calm and peaceful place where we can see more rural houses, animals, nature.

Spoiler

And if we want to go to abandoned temple we need to pass the nature, the abandoned temple is hidden, the other characters don't go there, only Master Sun is there, it is a calm and rural place.

Spoiler

Ternary Spring is a beautiful and calm place where we can see beautiful nature, one of the calmer places in Bailu Village in my opinion and we can see that only Grandmaster Chengxu Feng lives there

Spoiler

Man Yuan Temple is a calm and beautiful place where we can train, it is one of the calmer places in Bailu Village in my opinion, i love training here and i love this temple, one of my favorite places to train in Bailu Village.

Spoiler

The whole Bailu Village is peaceful and calm to me, the atmosphere and vibe of the game to me is exactly this and it is sweet and beautiful to me, especially in Bailu Village. Bailu Village have a homely feel similar to Shenmue one where Ryo have a home where he goes back every night and someone important to him is there to welcome him and i love so much the night conversations with Shenhua, and this conversations are part of the story as well.

Ryo really lived in Bailu Village like a second home for him, and Niaowu have the adventure feel.

A part of me wanted to see the original Bailu Village with a even more rural feel? yeah but like i said the capsule toys and mini games in Bailu was not something extreme to bother me.

In Niaowu we have 2 big game centers there, in Bailu Village we didn't had this there, it was something really small there, like i said it was not something extreme to bother me, Yu Suzuki and the team did this things in Bailu Village in a way that the Village continued to be rural.

The calm and peaceful atmosphere and vibe of Shenmue III is one of the good things about the game to me, it is beautiful and sweet.

 

[pilman]

After my other post about the rural things in Bailu Village i thought more rural things about it, i want to add more things.


Places in Bailu Village that to me gives a calm and peaceful atmosphere/vibe for the game.

Shenhua's house

Inside of the house we can see that it is rural. In Shenhua's house don't have a TV, nothing like that, it is a rural house. Outside of the house we can see that the house it is far away from the main part of the village, similar to Hazuki residence that is a little far from Dobuita and it is far from the Harbor.

Both houses Ryo have to come back every night, i don't know if this was intentional on Yu Suzuki's part but i love the Shenmue One calm atmosphere and vibe in Shenmue III.

Outside of the house we can see the beautiful Shenmue tree, we can the animals near the house, we can see that this place is so calm and peaceful, one of my favorite places in Bailu Village is this place.

Spoiler

View attachment 13402

The path to the main part of the village is so calm and we can see so much nature, we can see the Bailu Martial Hall and it is
so peaceful training there alone.

Spoiler

To get to the main part of the Village we need to cross the verdant bridge and in this part we can see so much nature as well, there is a spot to fish here.

Spoiler

View attachment 13403

When we arrive to Tao's Get Store we can see the animals near the store, we can work chopping wood and we can pick herbs in Bailu Village to sell to Tao-san.

In this part of the village we can see the kids training Tai Chi Chuan and we can see that the characters in Bailu Village have different routines, we can clearly see that the routines are different from routines of a big city, we can see some characters training martial arts in the morning, we can see that life in Bailu Village is more calm, the other houses are rural houses as well

Spoiler

The Sun Flower Groove is a calm and peaceful place where we can see more rural houses, animals, nature.

Spoiler

And if we want to go to abandoned temple we need to pass the nature, the abandoned temple is hidden, the other characters don't go there, only Master Sun is there, it is a calm and rural place.

Spoiler

Ternary Spring is a beautiful and calm place where we can see beautiful nature, one of the calmer places in Bailu Village in my opinion and we can see that only Grandmaster Chengxu Feng lives there

Spoiler

Man Yuan Temple is a calm and beautiful place where we can train, it is one of the calmer places in Bailu Village in my opinion, i love training here and i love this temple, one of my favorite places to train in Bailu Village.

Spoiler

The whole Bailu Village is peaceful and calm to me, the atmosphere and vibe of the game to me is exactly this and it is sweet and beautiful to me, especially in Bailu Village. Bailu Village have a homely feel similar to Shenmue one where Ryo have a home where he goes back every night and someone important to him is there to welcome him and i love so much the night conversations with Shenhua, and this conversations are part of the story as well.

Ryo really lived in Bailu Village like a second home for him, and Niaowu have the adventure feel.

A part of me wanted to see the original Bailu Village with a even more rural feel? yeah but like i said the capsule toys and mini games in Bailu was not something extreme to bother me.

In Niaowu we have 2 big game centers there, in Bailu Village we didn't had this there, it was something really small there, like i said it was not something extreme to bother me, Yu Suzuki and the team did this things in Bailu Village in a way that the Village continued to be rural.

The calm and peaceful atmosphere and vibe of Shenmue III is one of the good things about the game to me, it is beautiful and sweet.

If the game stayed in Bailu village I would have been more than satisfied. Bailu village was perfectly designed imo.

 

[orient]

If the game stayed in Bailu village I would have been more than satisfied. Bailu village was perfectly designed imo.

I really enjoyed the first 3-4 days in Niaowu, too, and basically all the stuff where you're fighting alongside Ren.

Unfortunately, the lack of depth in Niaowu becomes more and more apparent the longer you stay there. It actually reminds me a bit of the Yokosuka harbour, as they both outstay their welcome in varying ways.

With the harbour, the simulation holds up but the number of activities you can do is so limited, and the events are spread so thinly, that by the end you're pretty glad it's over -- especially if you took the 'wrong' route and end up doing extra days.

There is technically way more to do in Niaowu than the harbour, but the problem with Niaowu is the simulation starts to feel artificial. It's fine at first, but soon you start to realise the aimless NPCs, and the real lack of multidimensional characters. The map doesn't feel realistically laid out. It starts to feel like a video gamey ass video game. I think it's a huge testament to the original game that it never feels like that, even if you wander around Dobuita and the harbour for days and days.

If Niaowu was smaller and shorter, they could've maybe avoided a lot of this feeling, but we've been over this many times by now. It is what it is. It's a solid location but could've been better.

 

[Sergeynest]

Besides Shenmue; another one of my big passions is the creation of relaxing music compilations from games and movies that I enjoy. Sword and Fairy 7 is a Chinese RPG that I've recently played and it reminded me a lot of the Shenmue series; specially the music. So; I decided to create a playlist of relaxing music compilations that I'm going to share in my youtube channel.
Hope you guys enjoy

 

[BalHan]

Besides Shenmue; another one of my big passions is the creation of relaxing music compilations from games and movies that I enjoy. Sword and Fairy 7 is a Chinese RPG that I've recently played and it reminded me a lot of the Shenmue series; specially the music. So; I decided to create a playlist of relaxing music compilations that I'm going to share in my youtube channel.
Hope you guys enjoy

The track which begins at 23:31 would have been perfect for Bailu Village.

 

[Sergeynest]

The track which begins at 23:31 would have been perfect for Bailu Village.

The Music is Called Jungle of Miao wich is basically the music from the Miao Village in the game.
The Miao are an ethnic minority of the chinese population and interestingly are the descendants of Chiyou.

 

[Sergeynest]

Besides Shenmue; another one of my big passions is the creation of relaxing music compilations from games and movies that I enjoy. Sword and Fairy 7 is a Chinese RPG that I've recently played and it reminded me a lot of the Shenmue series; specially the music. So; I decided to create a playlist of relaxing music compilations that I'm going to share in my youtube channel.
Hope you guys enjoy

Just added to the channel another Relaxing Music Compilation of some of my favourite Asian Themed Movies. Enjoy.

 

[orient]

It's been a crazy year -- I've basically had zero free time due to kids + new job -- but I'm feeling more determined than ever to continue working on my 2D pixel art Shenmue. Goal no.1 is recreating the Hazuki residence interior and exterior as accurately as possible, and the ability to walk around it. Goal no.2 is the ability to examine objects and talk to NPCs, just text for both, initially. Once that's in the bag, I can think about an in-game clock and day/night cycles, but that's getting ahead of myself.

If I could achieve that, I'd love to make some sort of side story set in Yokosuka, maybe after Ryo has left for Hong Kong.

 

[~ ひかり ~]

It's been a crazy year -- I've basically had zero free time due to kids + new job -- but I'm feeling more determined than ever to continue working on my 2D pixel art Shenmue. Goal no.1 is recreating the Hazuki residence interior and exterior as accurately as possible, and the ability to walk around it. Goal no.2 is the ability to examine objects and talk to NPCs, just text for both, initially. Once that's in the bag, I can think about an in-game clock and day/night cycles, but that's getting ahead of myself.

If I could achieve that, I'd love to make some sort of side story set in Yokosuka, maybe after Ryo has left for Hong Kong.

Your ideas to create Shenmue in 2D pixel art are really interesting. Shenmue have so many interesting characters, i love the manga side stories but it was so short.

I would love to see side stories in Yokosuka, Hong Kong and all the other places in the Shenmue World.

I don't know if you saw but i made a thread for my VF RPG project, i'm doing this project alone, i'm doing this project in RPG Maker but is limited so i don't know if i will be able to create Yokosuka the way i want, i will not try to recreate 100% of the things like the original games, i'm doing this alone and it is my first time doing a game so it is what it is, the focus and intention of my project is telling the journey of Akira (Ryo) from beginning to the end, the focus will be on the story.

It is really nice to see more people doing Shenmue fan projects.

 

[danielmann861]

In my opinion Shenmue III is the calm, training and peaceful time in Ryo’s journey, specially in Bailu Village so the atmosphere and vibe of the game to me is exactly this. Calm, simple and peaceful just like we can see in this images, and this to me is one of the things i love about this game. To me Shenmue III really is the calm before the storm, if Shenmue IV happen it will probably be the storm with a lot of fights, with a lot of progression in the story, revelations and much more.

That's the best way of putting it. It really is the calm before the storm...especially considering the ending of III.