Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

I want to add one more thing about Lan Di and Ryo, about what i said in my other post. In my opinion Lan Di is not the type of character that kills everybody, to me he is not a character that enjoy killing. He had the chance to kill Ine-san and Fuku-san but he didn't do it, he had the chance to kill Ryo in the beginning of the first game but he didn't do it.

In Shenmue II, in the helicopter scene, he could have tried to do something against Ryo, but he didn't do it.

In Shenmue III in the battle between Lan Di and Ryo he had the chance to kill Ryo again but he didn't do it. I know Ren tricked Lan Di and saved Ryo in this scene, but what i'm saying is that Lan Di is not the type of character that wants to kill everybody, that enjoy killing.

This is one of the reasons why i think would be really interesting to see the story from Lan Di's eyes aswell, probably this will not happen because Shenmue is Ryo's journey, but maybe one day the community can make a game about this, it will be really interesting and i have lots of ideas for this.

If we think about it Lan Di and Ryo have much in common. Lan Di thought that Iwao killed his father, probably the Chi You Men twisted with Lan Di's mind since he was a little kid, we learned in Shenmue III that Lan Di was raised by the Chi You Men, so he wanted revenge, after what happened Ryo wants the same thing, he wants revenge aswell.

As i said in my other post, i really think in one part of the story Ryo and Lan Di will find out the truth about what happened between Iwao and Sunming Zhao in Meng Cun, after that i think they will understand each other, Ryo will forget about revenge and maybe they will join forces to destroy the Chi You Men, or maybe i'm wrong about this, maybe other thing will happen, only time will tell, i'm just saying that there is a possibility that this can happen.

Lan Di.png


To end my post i want to share here this amazing fan art, in this fan art by Kohji we can see another side of Lan Di, beautiful fan art.

Longsun.png
 
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Oh, one more thing.

To me Niao Sun is much more of a villain than Lan Di. In Shenmue III she said to the others to put the place on fire, she betrayed Lan Di, she really wanted to kill Lan Di.

Ryo, Ren and other characters were still in the castle and she didn't care, i understood that she wanted to burn everyone in the castle. In my opinion Niao Sun would kill everyone that stands in her way to achieve her goals.

Look at her...

NiaoSun.pngNiaoSun2.pngNiaoSun3.png


She said "The Chi You Men belong to me now." What is her ultimate goal? she have the Phoenix Mirror now, she probably want the Dragon Mirror too.

But why does she want the mirrors? what will happen when the two mirrors are together?

In Shenmue IV we will probably see a lot of scenes with her and other leaders and characters of the Chi You Men, i think we will learn a lot about them, like i said before probably it will be The Chi You Men arc, and maybe the mastermind behind all of this is really Tentei, this game have the potential to be so intense, emotional and beautiful.

Shenmue III is peaceful and calm, the calm before the storm and i love this vibe in the game, now i think a lot of big things will happen.



Concept Art.jpgyu-training.jpg

I think this is one of the contents we will see in Shenmue IV. Well... i really hope Yu Suzuki put this in the game, this content looks beautiful. I really have a feeling that the next master of Ryo will be a Shaolin Master, just like Yu Suzuki did in real life.

Yu Suzuki is the real Ryo Hazuki. 😁

Ah... i need Shenmue IV. 🥺
 
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I guess she wants the treasure, so she can rebuild the CYM in the image of the Red Phoenix, and besmirch Lan Di's legacy whom she envied.

I believe Niao Sun will be destroyed by the treasure 'curse' she has a fire theme and it seems appropriate she is existiguished by the shadow of Chi You. She's a representation/mirror to the self destruction, that Lan Di will succumb to, if he doesn't change.

I prefer Lan Di doesn't die and I think it would add more depth to the story if he has to live with what he has done. Giving his life to protect Ryo and being redeemed like Darth Vader is too easy, but that's just my opinion.
 
Shenhua is Ryo's sister, obviously. 🙃
 
My theory is that Shenhua is related to the Yellow Emperor, who was the one who defeated Chi You and established Chinese society as its founder.

The emperor also presided over the Four Gods or Cardinal Points.
I think she descended from the Tang Dynasty because of her dreams of Luoyang and exiles from that era founded Bailu Village, a secret child hidden away from a wicked empress or whatever. The child grew up and may had a baby with a shamaness, Shenhua's ancestor "A mysterious power dwells in the heart of an infant" from Shenhua's song of the old village legends. But imo the specific origins of her magic aren't that important, but what they may mean themactically.

Also I think Lan Di descended from one of the prince regents of the Qing Dynasty and this is why Sumning was entrusted the Mirrors. The Qing Dynasty has an Azure Dragon as their sigil. Lan Di I believe may not be evil, but trying to honour his father in a misguided way, and may even come to an understanding with Ryo by the end. The treasure can revive the Qing Dynasty after all, it's foreshadowed a darkness resides within the mountains of the cliff temple, it may have have tempted Zhao, fed upon his desires, and Iwao was forced to kill him in self defense.

To go further down the rabbit hole, I think the imperial envoy in Shenmue 3 is Tentei or a former leader of the CYM, and he may have tried to sabotage the Mirrors' creation in some way. (If it's Zhu's recogniseable hair style under the hat, it'd be pretty creppy and Chi You had kept him alive that long to spread discord..)
 
I was thinking about funding for Shenmue IV this morning and whether crowdfunding would be a viable avenue for it. My thoughts suggested that it likely isn't for PR reasons, but then I got to thinking of whether a one-off donation from verified fans could work?

My thought was something along the lines that to be verified you had to accept that the money you put in is no guarantee of the game happening (although I pray that wouldn't be the case), but also was doing it for the sincere purpose of the next game being developed. I'm having difficulty explaining it in a simplistic turn, but I use the term 'verified fan' so as to avoid the Kickstarter issue where people pledged without fully understanding how it worked. Perhaps being a member of this forum (or other Shenmue fan sites) or having a certain level of points (the ones where you get thumbs up, etc) to qualify?

If a verified fan put say £100/$100/€100 within a specified time (say a month), then at the end, all that money would go direct to YsNet or whoever as one transaciton. I think you should at the very least get a copy of the game or some kind of perk, but at least this way everybody is crystal clear about how this works.

I might be talking out of my arse, but I for one would gladly do so should the opportunity arise.
 
I was thinking about funding for Shenmue IV this morning and whether crowdfunding would be a viable avenue for it. My thoughts suggested that it likely isn't for PR reasons, but then I got to thinking of whether a one-off donation from verified fans could work?

My thought was something along the lines that to be verified you had to accept that the money you put in is no guarantee of the game happening (although I pray that wouldn't be the case), but also was doing it for the sincere purpose of the next game being developed. I'm having difficulty explaining it in a simplistic turn, but I use the term 'verified fan' so as to avoid the Kickstarter issue where people pledged without fully understanding how it worked. Perhaps being a member of this forum (or other Shenmue fan sites) or having a certain level of points (the ones where you get thumbs up, etc) to qualify?

If a verified fan put say £100/$100/€100 within a specified time (say a month), then at the end, all that money would go direct to YsNet or whoever as one transaciton. I think you should at the very least get a copy of the game or some kind of perk, but at least this way everybody is crystal clear about how this works.

I might be talking out of my arse, but I for one would gladly do so should the opportunity arise.
I think you are talking about something like becoming a "PATREON" of Ys Net for the development of Shenmue 4.
I would also gladly become one if Ys Net and Yu Suzuki haven't managed to make a deal for the development of the game.
The question is; how much of the fan base would be willing to also contribute to this project !?
Even if some thousands could contribute regularly I think it still wouldn't be enough for them to make the full game; but even if they managed to make some sort of deal and get a decent budget I still wouldn't mind becoming a "PATREON" and contribute for a larger development budget to make Shenmue 4 similar to the scope of Shenmue 2.
 
I think you are talking about something like becoming a "PATREON" of Ys Net for the development of Shenmue 4.
I would also gladly become one if Ys Net and Yu Suzuki haven't managed to make a deal for the development of the game.
The question is; how much of the fan base would be willing to also contribute to this project !?
Even if some thousands could contribute regularly I think it still wouldn't be enough for them to make the full game; but even if they managed to make some sort of deal and get a decent budget I still wouldn't mind becoming a "PATREON" and contribute for a larger development budget to make Shenmue 4 similar to the scope of Shenmue 2.
That's not what I was thinking, but in actual fact, I like your idea better. I actually do a few patreon's for musicians and get perks as you go along. Might be harder work for game development, but i'd gladly give a small amount each month if the option was there.
 
I don't think a drip-drip-drip funding model would work.

Good project management would be impossible if the income fluctuates, meaning YsNet could potentially find themselves in the bind of not having enough to cover the entire studio's salaries, and being unable to scale up without risk unless there's an explosively huge contingency like you see with Star Citizen where money effectively became no object.

A lump sum (like Kickstarter) means you can do some forward planning at least, but even then Shenmue III's final budget wasn't fixed until after the Deep Silver deal nearly two years into development and that had an impact on how development went. If fans wanted to financially contribute to Shenmue IV, they could theoretically build a consortium of people who can contribute to a lump sum that supplements a larger funding source from a publisher.

Even then, how many are hardcore enough to do that? It won't have the broad exposure of the Kickstarter for III, and I think the crowdfunding games "fad" has died off significantly in the last half decade, which will probably mean it won't get a mega result like $6.3 million again.

I do understand the desire to want to financially support YsNet and the Shenmue series, but I'm not sure it's possible unless one of us has like... Saudi prince money.

Promote the games, gift them to friends, make it loud and clear you want Shenmue IV on social media, watch and promote the anime, pester SEGA, Deep Silver, Epic, Sony, Microsoft, and buy the merch when available. Maybe keep something back just in case a crowdfunding model becomes possible again, but I think the key is giving publishers an incentive to bite on Shenmue IV by proving there is a wide-reaching hardcore base and that the series is very much alive and active (merch, anime, evergreen sales).
 
I searched more about Luoyang and i found interesting informations. Shaolin Temple/Pagoda Forest is in Luoyang, i didn't know about this. I really have a feeling that Luoyang will be one of the cities in Shenmue IV, i have feeling that Ryo will train with a Shaolin Master in Luoyang, i think will be a important city where we will learn a lot of things about the story, i really hope we can see Luoyang.

Look at this amazing photos. Can you imagine Shenmue IV in Luoyang? 😍

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Doubt there will be any upcoming Shenmue news but

Maybe this is only tangentially related, but I feel like Spud had a wonderful idea here
How insane would it be for Shenmue 4 to open Gamescom?

Why not see what Geoff has in store and ask him to open with Shenmue 4

For anyone who has (or is willing to make) a twitter account, it certainly can't hurt to ask.
 
Maybe this is only tangentially related, but I feel like Spud had a wonderful idea here

For anyone who has (or is willing to make) a twitter account, it certainly can't hurt to ask.
Anything is worth a go right. What's the worst that can happen? :)

Also my comment has more likes than any other... Great stuff guys keep it up, that's the sort of exposure Shenmue needs.

 
While the major Shenmue characters tend to be spiritual heirs to Virtua Fighter characters, I am starting to see Ryo as less of an Akira Yuki and more of a Dural-type of character. He has moves from Akira, Kagemaru, Jacky, Wolf, Jeffrey, and possibly Pai-chan.
 
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