Random Shenmue III Thoughts

spud1897 said:
Simply put technical issues is the mostly likely reason.

Also the capsules from 1 and 2 were not licensed to be in Shenmue 3 so there's also that issue.
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I was really disappointed to find that I couldn't transfer from I/II to III at least money and date transfer would have been cool
 
gdust said:
I was really disappointed to find that I couldn't transfer from I/II to III at least money and date transfer would have been cool
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There's no argue that carrying your own Ryo creature egg over each episode was a cool and missed feature.
 
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8 years before: I had no internet on that day when Yu Suzuki comes on stage to announce Shenmue III and two days later i read the news and i was so happy.
 
Sometimes I think about Baisha, it makes no sense to take all that effort to design it, programming it and so to not include it into Shenmue 3. They even include it in the kickstarter and one of the first pics we see of S3 is Ryo facing off a black suit guy.

I know that developers make things that are discarded later on but it seems that they left many things for Shenmue 4 or it really didn't have the money to accomplish everything they want to include and all that went with the wind...
 
hazuki00 said:
Sometimes I think about Baisha, it makes no sense to take all that effort to design it, programming it and so to not include it into Shenmue 3. They even include it in the kickstarter and one of the first pics we see of S3 is Ryo facing off a black suit guy.

I know that developers make things that are discarded later on but it seems that they left many things for Shenmue 4 or it really didn't have the money to accomplish everything they want to include and all that went with the wind...
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The truth is we don’t know how far they got into designing and creating Baisha. I’m sure someone can go through the KS timeline and find out when it was officially canceled but I always assumed the screenshot you are referring to was still when they were doing tests with Unreal Engine and the only true footage we saw was that 4 second snippet in a diary entry of Ryo model running towards a tulou.

I would love to have a deep dive into Shenmue 3’s development and get some better understanding why certain decisions were made and if Baisha can be repurposed or will S4 move to new locations.
 
Hopefully repurposed, as Baisha was supposed to be where you rescue a kidnapped Shenhua, which obviously was moved to the end of S3. I'd like to think we'd still see it in S4, as we saw Yu-san visit the Tulou buildings in China on a research trip and would hate to see that wasted, but it all depends on how much more important other locations are to the story and if Baisha is still any kind of necessity. Personally I'd love to still visit it. The tulou buildings always had me mesmerized.
 
Sonoshee said:
Hopefully repurposed, as Baisha was supposed to be where you rescue a kidnapped Shenhua, which obviously was moved to the end of S3. I'd like to think we'd still see it in S4, as we saw Yu-san visit the Tulou buildings in China on a research trip and would hate to see that wasted, but it all depends on how much more important other locations are to the story and if Baisha is still any kind of necessity. Personally I'd love to still visit it. The tulou buildings always had me mesmerized.
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My memory is hazy but I thought the ‘waring factions’ component Suzuki talked about would be seen in Baisha between now we presume Lan Di and Niaosun. Obviously that is a story beat that will be explored in Shenmue 4, the question is will Baisha be the environment or will it now be somewhere else.

Also I didn’t realize but from this thread if translation is accurate Baisha had a dedicated chapter per original screenplay.
 
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code l name said:
My memory is hazy but I thought the ‘waring factions’ component Suzuki talked about would be seen in Baisha between now we presume Lan Di and Niaosun. Obviously that is a story beat that will be explored in Shenmue 4, the question is will Baisha be the environment or will it now be somewhere else.

Also I didn’t realize but from this thread if translation is accurate Baisha had a dedicated chapter per original screenplay.
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From what I understand, a lot was to happen in Baisha which is why its removal stings a lot. The kidnapping of Shenhua and the warring factions were two story beats that I'm aware of. I think we saw a hint of the warring factions in the Castle area as well when Niao-sun tried to burn it down along with Lan Di. But I'd still love to see the area re-purposed for a different or ongoing story beat.
 
Who knows about Baisha or the great wall, since the early beggining of project Berkeley they have been creating and discarding many works so I wouldn't be surprised if I was told that Baisha, the great wall, that night scene with the ship sailing the river or that scene where Ryo scape from falling rocks have been discarded.

It's "normal" in software development but I'd love to be proven wrong and all that included in S4.
 
hazuki00 said:
Who knows about Baisha or the great wall, since the early beggining of project Berkeley they have been creating and discarding many works so I wouldn't be surprised if I was told that Baisha, the great wall, that night scene with the ship sailing the river or that scene where Ryo scape from falling rocks have been discarded.

It's "normal" in software development but I'd love to be proven wrong and all that included in S4.
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Discarded material has been always a masochist pleasure. Its very interesting to look at the alternate outfits, locations and so on but at the same time the bitterness of never being able to experience it blended into the game rather than on paper is at times painful (discarded colossus in SotC anyone?)
Uf, I hope we get the most of Baisha and other episode cards in Shenmue 4.
 
Seaman said:
Discarded material has been always a masochist pleasure. Its very interesting to look at the alternate outfits, locations and so on but at the same time the bitterness of never being able to experience it blended into the game rather than on paper is at times painful (discarded colossus in SotC anyone?)
Uf, I hope we get the most of Baisha and other episode cards in Shenmue 4.
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Absolutely, even some minor changes have been made to Shenmue 3 story related from what was thought at the beginning. It would be nice if they released at the end of the saga something like they did with the video of Shenmue in Saturn.
 
Baisha has been planned since the Virtua Fighter RPG days with its own concept art, chapter book, and Dreamcast loading screen from the What’s Shenmue? files. It also seems to be near and dear to Suzuki's heart, what with his fascination with the tulous and wanting to do the experimental Warring Kingdoms mission in this chapter.

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I can't imagine they would bin all this hard work for a 20-minute Castle Niaowu epilogue. I think while they ran out of budget and decided to borrow some elements of the Baisha script to give the Niaowu chapter a more dramatic end (i.e. rescuing Shenhua), we'll likely see Baisha repurposed for Shenmue 4. Although there will be a new motivation for Ryo to be there (e.g. maybe infiltrating the tulous to steal back the Phoenix Mirror instead of rescuing Shenhua).
 
Can't agree more. This is not like i.e. Fukuhara discarded clothes, nor even the npcs balcony routines.
What all that concept art is telling us, besides the reading between lines of pacing through Shenmue 3 is that YS.net thought "wait a minute". That segment had standalone game appeal on its own.
It has all the raffle tickets for appearing at Shenmue 4. Wheter it will be part of the gameplay or part of ending cutscene/cliffhanger for Shenmue 5, I'm obviously not sure :/
 
I've just checked how old is Yu Suzuki and seeing he is 65 years old we don't have too much time to see Shenmue saga completed before he retires of developing. So I hope the saga gets greenlighted by Sega o whoever that could give it a chance to see the ending.

Ending Shenmue in the 4 installment would mean to chop many important parts so at least a 5 installment would be needed. That means 8 years at least to end Shenmue 4 and 5..
 
That is something I have been thinking about for some time as well. And I can see a few possibilities when taking Yu Suzuki’s age into account. The main method being that they streamline the story to finish in one more game, so Shenmue 4 would wrap up the story, and then there wouldn’t be a worry of the series being left incomplete. If that game is successful, i could see the story being fleshed out through other methods, like through an anime or something along those lines.
The other option could be to stretch the story over a few games, but maybe Yu Suzuki hands off the series to someone else to finish the series. Like when developing Shenmue 4, he sort of sets up a successor and shows them the ropes, and then leaves the series to them and retires.
 
Baisha has been a significant element in the story since the early days of the VF RPG, and it holds its own dedicated chapter as the fifth installment in The Legend of Akira. This highlights its crucial role in the overall narrative. Yu Suzuki himself expressed that "Baisha will show off what Shenmue III is all about." However, Baisha didn't make it into the game, and i believe this decision was not a happy decision for Yu-san. It's possible that the absence of Baisha from the game heavily influenced his rating of 7.5 for Shenmue III.

~The Legend of Akira~ Chapter I Yokosuka (~晶の章~ 第一章 横須賀)~
The Legend of Akira~ Chapter II Hong Kong (~晶の章~ 第二章 香港)~
The Legend of Akira~ Chapter III Suzhou (~晶の章~ 第三章 蘇州）
~The Legend of Akira~ Chapter IV Guilin (~晶の章~ 第四章 桂林)
~The Legend of Akira~ Chapter V Baisha (~晶の章~ 第五章 白沙

The Legend Of Akira.png

As Revan mentioned, there is a possibility that Baisha could be repurposed for Shenmue IV. Alternatively, Yu-san might choose to shift the focus to other locations. It's sad that Baisha didn't make an appearance in Shenmue III, but it would be truly remarkable if we could experience Baisha in Shenmue IV, it is a unique and interesting location.

Yu Suzuki's birthday is on June 10th, and as hazuki00 mentioned, Yu-san is 65 years old. It's difficult to predict exactly how many more years Yu-san will continue working before deciding to retire. In my family, for instance, one person worked until they were 72 years old. On the other hand, Paul McCartney, who is 81 years old, is planning to embark on a tour this year, which may very well be his final tour of his career.

Considering Yu Suzuki, it's challenging to guess how many years he will work before retirement. It's possible that we could see him continue working until he reaches 72 years old, or even beyond, like Paul McCartney at 81. Ultimately, it will depend on Yu Suzuki's health and his personal desire to continue.

Yu-san is not obligated to continue the Shenmue series, he continued and i'm grateful for that.

Yu Suzuki doesn't owe anything to us, the fans. It's disheartening to witness some individuals making negative and entitled comments towards Yu-san, as if he owes us something. It's truly unfortunate to see this type of behavior within the Shenmue community, as it only serves to further harm the series.

I'm talking about some comments I saw on the internet with people talking about Yu Suzuki as if he were a mastermind villain now.

People don't have to agree with Yu Suzuki's decisions, but start to make personal attacks towards him is not nice. People do not have to agree with the direction Yu Suzuki is taking with the Shenmue series, but they should still show him the respect he deserves.

It's disheartening to witness the relentless criticism and negative treatment that the Shenmue series receives from people in various aspects. Shenmue and its creator, Yu Suzuki, deserve much better treatment than what they are currently receiving.

All i know is that Yu-san made it clear in the Shenmue III credits that he will never give up on his personal journey to complete Shenmue. He expressed genuine warmth and gratitude in the game's credits, and i truly believe that Yu-san is doing his best to create opportunities to continue the Shenmue series.

I have hope that we will receive news this year or next year. However, if we don't receive any updates within that timeframe then i think it's important for Yu Suzuki to make an update for the community, even if it means delivering bad news. I still hold onto the hope that we will receive positive news about the continuation of Shenmue either this year or the next.
 
Niao Sun was the most interesting character in the game. It's a damn shame her screentime was lacking.

It sucks to say 'what if?' but I think we needed the scrapped elements of the game to be included to fully appreciate her character. The boat chapter was supposed to be repurposed for this game, and we know that Ryo, Shenhua and Niao Sun spoke to each other on the boat. We also know that Niao Sun (as Li Feng) used to talk with Shenhua in Niawou. This is where the character perspective system would have been useful.

The Baisha chapter would have fleshed her character out more.
 
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