Random Shenmue Thoughts

Rydeen said:
Not exactly, no. There’s no way through normal means to get every single entry in the notebook in a single play through. There are a few that are essentially one or the other based on decisions you make. There is a way to get all but three (?) entries, but I’ve tried it, and I wouldn’t recommend it. I think I got all of them but a fortune entry from Disc 1 or Disc 2, and didn’t notice until it was too late (continued with the attempt anyway). Massive sadge.
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I'm in this part and so far i got the clues.

Some clues we can only get if we pay the fortune teller, this way she will tell a clue for Ryo and in the notebook will appear *Clue like this, it is in specific moments of the game that we need to do this.

I will continue to try 100% of the notebook, is not that i don't believe you is just that i need to see this for myself and it is fun trying, my first time trying 100% so is fun but thanks for sharing your experience with the game with me.

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Miles Prower said:
Also, if you’re attempting all cassette tapes, keep in mind the stores change the tapes they have in stock every Saturday in-game :)
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Oh, I didn't knew that, thank you for sharing. I finished the first game 3 or 4 times and i'm still seeing new things and learning more about this game, it is beautiful and amazing.

One of the new dialogues that i saw was with Eri, Ryo asked where he can find more about Chinese people, then Eri said something like this... "Why do you want to know? you want to learn Tai Chi?" and i remembered that Ryo learned Tai Chi in Shenmue II. 😊

Yeah, i will try for the first time to get 100% of everything in the game. Notebook, cassette tapes, scrolls, Capsule Toys, training all the moves and achieve the max of the moves and much more. I will even try to see the bad ending and other things that i only saw in videos and pictures, this game have so many details.

Is there a way to continue with everything i got with my save and play with the save in Shenmue II or we can only do this in the Dreamcast version? i'm playing the PS4 version. In the Dreamcast version i know that we can carry on with the save and play in Shenmue II, this way we can continue with everything we got in the first game, something like this that i saw.

I'm taking my time with the game and so far this is my favorite playthrough that i do of the game, i feel so calm and in peace playing this game, it is not stressful at all, i love this game so much.

SHENMUE FOREVER 😍

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I decided to search more on the internet about the notebook of the first game and i found interesting things. I found a guide for the notebook by Force Vector, this is the link for the guide https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/dreamcast/198621-shenmue/faqs/14458

i will not follow the guide now because i want to try for myself but in the beginning of the guide Vector said this...

"Now the FAQ is complete... short of those niggling spaces on certain
pages... but I suspect the original Japanese version of Shenmue had
the entries in large fonts or something."

I read this and i thought... "Hm... large fonts in the original japanese version? this makes sense, i will search now for the original notebook japanese version of the game."

So let's see the two versions of the pages 14 and 15.

This is the english version of the pages 14 and 15. Looks like a clue is missing, right?

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Now let's see the original japanese version of the pages 14 and 15. We can see that the pages in this version are different, in the page 15 the clue is like in the middle of the page. The way the english version was made it feels like is missing a clue in this page, but in the japanese version it does not feel like this in my opinion, the clue is like in the middle of the page and does not feel to me that another clue is missing, it feels right in the japanese version.

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This probably happened in other pages as well if we compare the english notebook and the original japanese notebook, so i really feel we can get 100% of the clues in the game, is just that the way the english version was made that feels like clues are missing but is not missing. What i said is not a fact, is just what i tought about it after i found this, the japanese version of the game is the original version so to me the notebook feels more right about the pages in this version.

I don't know if is really possible to get 100% of the notebook, all i know is that i will try my best to get the entries.



What are your thoughts about this? this is a interesting subject.
 
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Hiki said:
"Now the FAQ is complete... short of those niggling spaces on certain
pages... but I suspect the original Japanese version of Shenmue had
the entries in large fonts or something."

I read this and i thought... "Hm... large fonts in the original japanese version? this makes sense, i will search now for the original notebook japanese version of the game."
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So, I don't necessarily want to deter you from trying to complete as much of the notebook as you can on your own, but there are a couple of entries that you absolutely can't get if you want to get the most entries possible, based on certain decisions (the first one that I can recall being the decision of whether or not to buy a drink for Won). Selecting the alternate choice will result in even more missing entries. I would have to dig up the guide I was using to figure out specifically what the other times this happens are.

Aside from that, there is a particular series of entries around finding Charlie, where some circumstance and a couple of fortune entries require an extremely particular route that must be planned out and executed almost like a racing game. On top of that, it requires a glitch in order to get one of the entries, as illustrated here:

I can tell you with 100% confidence that it's impossible to get every single entry in the notebook in the first Shenmue without some sort of data manipulation. Some entries are just lost based on branching paths. In Shenmue II, the notebook updates dynamically at these branching paths, to not leave blank spaces from the alternate route, though.

I won't say it's impossible to get a "full"/"complete" notebook without a guide, but it's pretty close. Particularly in Disc 3, the points in the story where you would have to go back to Dobuita from the Harbor to get a fortune entry are so precise that there's virtually no way you could know how to get them otherwise.
 
Rydeen said:
So, I don't necessarily want to deter you from trying to complete as much of the notebook as you can on your own, but there are a couple of entries that you absolutely can't get if you want to get the most entries possible, based on certain decisions (the first one that I can recall being the decision of whether or not to buy a drink for Won). Selecting the alternate choice will result in even more missing entries. I would have to dig up the guide I was using to figure out specifically what the other times this happens are.

Aside from that, there is a particular series of entries around finding Charlie, where some circumstance and a couple of fortune entries require an extremely particular route that must be planned out and executed almost like a racing game. On top of that, it requires a glitch in order to get one of the entries, as illustrated here:

I can tell you with 100% confidence that it's impossible to get every single entry in the notebook in the first Shenmue without some sort of data manipulation. Some entries are just lost based on branching paths. In Shenmue II, the notebook updates dynamically at these branching paths, to not leave blank spaces from the alternate route, though.

I won't say it's impossible to get a "full"/"complete" notebook without a guide, but it's pretty close. Particularly in Disc 3, the points in the story where you would have to go back to Dobuita from the Harbor to get a fortune entry are so precise that there's virtually no way you could know how to get them otherwise.
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This is your YouTube channel? i subscribed now. 😊

I'm just trying to understand everything about this, this days i was thinking... " why Yu Suzuki would make the notebook in a way that we can't complete?" the placements of the clues in the japanese version looks better in my opinion.

Thanks for explaining more details about this to me, it is a interesting subject.
 
Hiki said:
This is your YouTube channel? i subscribed now. 😊
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:laughing: I think you might be a little disappointed, because I pretty much abandoned that channel years ago (and the Shenmue recordings are far from ideal), but thank you!

Hiki said:
I'm just trying to understand everything about this, this days i was thinking... " why Yu Suzuki would make the notebook in a way that we can't complete?" the placements of the clues in the japanese version looks better in my opinion.

Thanks for explaining more details about this to me, it is a interesting subject.
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Yes, I agree completely. Before trying to do a complete game file of my own, I had always assumed that it was possible to get every entry in the notebook. It seems like that wasn't the intention, though. Even just getting all of the entries around the tattoo parlor section is nearly impossible. If it weren't for that glitch, it would actually be impossible.
 
Rydeen said:
:laughing: I think you might be a little disappointed, because I pretty much abandoned that channel years ago (and the Shenmue recordings are far from ideal), but thank you!


Yes, I agree completely. Before trying to do a complete game file of my own, I had always assumed that it was possible to get every entry in the notebook. It seems like that wasn't the intention, though. Even just getting all of the entries around the tattoo parlor section is nearly impossible. If it weren't for that glitch, it would actually be impossible.
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I saw this video of someone showing the notebook from beginning to the end and it feels complete but probably some clues are missing then.

I even learned one more thing about this game, we can't pick the mysterious key in the beginning of the game if we want to pick the entry "Is there anything in Dad's room?" We have to wait the right moment to get this entry, and to think that this game was released in 1999, Shenmue was way ahead of its time. This game have so many details, amazing.



How many percent of the notebook do you think it's possible to make in the first game in one playtrough? following a guide, the glitch, saving in different places in case a need to go back and things like that. Do you think it is close to 100% or far below that? after i saw this video i think we can get close to 100% but i really don't know.

Correct me if i'm wrong but from what you said I understood that the only way to make "100%" of the notebook is if i save in different moments and go through the different paths to get the other clues.

In other words i can have "100%" but with different saves, it will not feel complete but in other saves i will be able to see this other clues, something like this but like you said is nearly impossible.

Here in the Dojo i found this


This is the complete notebook but with modifications or what?


In Shenmue II is possible to complete the notebook without problems like this, right?

Would be nice to have a mod where we can have all the entries in the first game in one save, i love to make 100% in games.
 
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Hiki said:
How many percent of the notebook do you think it's possible to make in the first game in one playtrough? following a guide, the glitch, saving in different places in case a need to go back and things like that. Do you think it is close to 100% or far below that? after i saw this video i think we can get close to 100% but i really don't know.
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It's very close to 100%, if you get all the other possible entries.
I found the guide I was referencing, again.

横須賀編 | メモ帳　メモの埋め方

shenmue.fc2web.com
There are specifically 3 entries that can't be obtained in a complete notebook:
Page 44 - 'Won-san couldn't read it.'
Page 62 - 'I let my guard down... What happened to Mai?'
Page 77 - 'There are markings on the floor...'

That guide made composite images of the pages, to show them all together (there's a note about it below these images on the website), but here are the pages in question:
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(Bottom Left)

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(Bottom Left)

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(Bottom Right)

If you look at these pages on that Dojo link, you'll be able to see that they aren't filled in. (It's kind of hard to tell on p.77, but there would be a third entry if it could be filled in 100%.)
That link above also has information on all of the tricky spots for getting entries, and was where I found out about the glitch in the You Arcade. If you want any descriptions of where/what they are, let me know.


Hiki said:
Correct me if i'm wrong but from what you said I understood that the only way to make "100%" of the notebook is if i save in different moments and go through the different paths to get the other clues.

In other words i can have "100%" but with different saves, it will not feel complete but in other saves i will be able to see this other clues, something like this but like you said is nearly impossible.
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Yes you could do this, and have every entry in the notebook split across two different saves. The other file would have a few extra missing entries, but this is an option.

Hiki said:
In Shenmue II is possible to complete the notebook without problems like this, right?

Would be nice to have a mod where we can have all the entries in the first game in one save, i love to make 100% in games.
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Technically, it's not possible to have every entry that can possibly be in the notebook on one save file. Different routes result in some different notebook entries appearing, but it's possible to fill in every space on a single playthrough. The notebook in Shenmue II updates as you make these choices so that there aren't any lost entries that will leave permanent holes in the notebook like in the first game.

There's a particular path that will give more possible notebook entries than other routes through the game, though. I didn't even really attempt to complete a notebook in Shenmue II, so I'm not as familiar with the pitfalls for certain entries in that one.
 
Rydeen said:
There are specifically 3 entries that can't be obtained in a complete notebook:
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Just 3 entries? interesting. I'm playing the game while seeing the notebook guide made by Vector, it is fun and interesting seeing some entries that i never saw before.

In this japanese site we can see the complete notebook with this 3 entries? Do you know where i can find the same but in english? thank you for answering my questions.

I have plans to put the complete notebook in japanese and in english like this for my Shenmue Channel, i will give credit to the sites and put the links in the description of the videos.

Yesterday i saw a scene that i never saw before, the scene where Yamigishi-san teaches the Double blow for Ryo, i saw him in the park, i entered in the park and the scene started, i even don't know how and what i have to do to unlock this scene, i want to max all the moves in the game so i'm glad i got the Double Blow move from Yamagishi-san. I finished this game 3 or 4 times and i'm still seeing and learning so many things about this game, so many details, amazing.
 
Hiki said:
In this japanese site we can see the complete notebook with this 3 entries? Do you know where i can find the same but in english?
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Yes, that Japanese site shows all the entries in the notebook, and uses composite images for the three pages that can’t normally be filled, so it looks like a 100% notebook.

I’m not sure if anyone has done the same thing in English, but I could look around for one. I know the Prima guidebook tries to list all the notebook entries in the walkthrough portion, but it’s incomplete. Maybe another English guidebook has them all.
 
Rydeen said:
Yes, that Japanese site shows all the entries in the notebook, and uses composite images for the three pages that can’t normally be filled, so it looks like a 100% notebook.

I’m not sure if anyone has done the same thing in English, but I could look around for one. I know the Prima guidebook tries to list all the notebook entries in the walkthrough portion, but it’s incomplete. Maybe another English guidebook has them all.
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Pretty sure @Peter did both games as close as possible either for the Dojo or Shenmue Lounge
 
How does Shenmue not make a 100 greatest video game list? Even though Shenmue is my #1, I still feel like its in the top 25. Even with Shenmue being a commercial failure there is no denying its inspiration and contributions to video gaming.
 
BruceWayne911 said:
How does Shenmue not make a 100 greatest video game list? Even though Shenmue is my #1, I still feel like its in the top 25. Even with Shenmue being a commercial failure there is no denying its inspiration and contributions to video gaming.
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I agree, It is sad that Shenmue don't have the recognition it deserves, especially like you said because of its inspiration and contributions to video gaming.


@Rydeen An update on my Notebook journey. 😃

I saw the part of your video about the Charlie's clues and i really need to ask you something. I did the glitch in You Arcade to get the clue there but there is another glitch i need to to do, right? I did step by step of what you did in the video but i noticed that i missed the 4 clues of the fortune teller of that part, i noticed that you got the 4 clues of the fortune teller but you didn't went there so i was thinking... "How Rydeen got this 4 clues?" 🤔

I even tried to make a strategy to get this 4 clues before 11:30 pm but the time always ran out, now i understand more when you said is almost like a racing game.

I will make a save with almost 100% and another where i will have the other 3 clues that you said in the other post, only this way i will get "100%" of the notebook.



Please tell me how you got this 4 clues of the fortune teller in your video, thank you. 😊
 
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@Hiki Sorry. I couldn’t remember what the deal was with that spot. I think I might have repressed a lot of those memories, because the stream before that died on me as I was going into the bar fight, and I think I might have had to redo the tatoo parlor segment so many times that I decided to just do it off stream. Once I had gotten a successful run on that night, I just retraced it in the stream, but I actually cut some things out because I was still low on time just doing a dry run.

I did sort of go by the Lapis fortune teller at points where you get the fortunes, but for at least one of those pairs of fortunes (but I think actually both pairs) you have to get the two fortunes one right after the other. The only way to do this is by talking to a couple of people outside of Lapis to reset it for a new fortune. I think it might be two or three people you have to talk to (any of them, but the closer to Lapis the better), and I believe you can immediately cancel the conversation with them for it to work, but I’m not sure of that.

There’s one point specifically that I noticed, just before going into the parlor, where I actually ran to Lapis for a fortune, then ran out toward Bar Yokosuka, then back to Lapis. I’m pretty sure I did this to signify that I would go into the bar to talk to three people, because at that time of night, funny bear burger is closed, and almost no one is on the streets outside Lapis.
 
Rydeen said:
@Hiki Sorry. I couldn’t remember what the deal was with that spot. I think I might have repressed a lot of those memories, because the stream before that died on me as I was going into the bar fight, and I think I might have had to redo the tatoo parlor segment so many times that I decided to just do it off stream. Once I had gotten a successful run on that night, I just retraced it in the stream, but I actually cut some things out because I was still low on time just doing a dry run.

I did sort of go by the Lapis fortune teller at points where you get the fortunes, but for at least one of those pairs of fortunes (but I think actually both pairs) you have to get the two fortunes one right after the other. The only way to do this is by talking to a couple of people outside of Lapis to reset it for a new fortune. I think it might be two or three people you have to talk to (any of them, but the closer to Lapis the better), and I believe you can immediately cancel the conversation with them for it to work, but I’m not sure of that.

There’s one point specifically that I noticed, just before going into the parlor, where I actually ran to Lapis for a fortune, then ran out toward Bar Yokosuka, then back to Lapis. I’m pretty sure I did this to signify that I would go into the bar to talk to three people, because at that time of night, funny bear burger is closed, and almost no one is on the streets outside Lapis.
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I understand, its okay. After trying so many times i finally did all the clues in that part now, i did exactly this, to get the 4 clues in the fortune teller i always asked 3 characters in the Yokosuka Bar and then run to Lapis.

All of the clues in this night part are so hard... i even had to skip all the dialogues, i even did a fast travel Hazuki Residence to Dobuita. I arrived 11:25 pm in the Tatoo Parlor, i even skipped all the dialogues really fast in this part as well to get the clue.

On the Dreamcast version i remember that we don’t have fast travel, nothing like that so now i ask myself how we can do this on the Dreamcast version? 🤔

Now i understand even more what you said about this feeling like a racing game

SHENMUE - THE RACING GAME... 😆

Wow... this was intense, after this i saved immediately, i think i will never forget this playtrough.

After i saved i saw a dialogue with Ine-san that i never saw before. Ine-san Saying that Ryo’s Karate instructor call and said that he would like Ryo to show up to practice sometimes, and then Ine-san said... "Your teachers are worried about you too."

I really feel that in the anime we will see Ryo going to Yokosuka High, parts about karate, the tournament and much more, this and much more will add so much to the Shenmue Story, I'm so excited for the anime.

Like i said in another post, i'm trying to do 100% of the things in the first game, i'm taking my time with the game and now i love even more this game, this game is calm, relaxing and peaceful, i feel relaxed and in peace when i play the first game and i love the homely feel and that the entire game is in Yokosuka.

A good game will always be a good game to me, what they did at that time was amazing and this will always have value to me, Shenmue will always be a masterpiece to me, a beauty work of art with so many details that will be forever in my heart, Shenmue touched my heart in a way that is even hard to describe, it is unique and special. Even just talking about Shenmue is like a therapy to me, it helps me so much.

Shenmue my favorite game series forever. 💜

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I've been replaying Shenmue 1&2 again. And with the Anime and those Remade editions i think now is the time for a full remake from Sega. Get the game, give to the Yakuza studio. Put Yu-san to oversee the project. Make a huge game, playable through chapters OR not from the begining till the end of Shenmue 3. Expand the areas, make more accessible to everyone with question marks, time skipping, fast travel (even add the bike) and lots and lots of side missions. Put lots of secrets as well. I would redo Shenmue 3 nevertheless. Retcon the mystical retcon. Flash the hell out Bailu Village and it's surroundings...kinda make Shenmue 3 similar to Shenmue 1 in scope.
Been seeing all the mods...and there are even changes to its plot, wich i would redo as well. I've been thinking of making my own plot version of what i think Shenmue 3 would needed to be. Anyone else?
 
I don’t think SEGA will do a remake of Shenmue I and II, SEGA don’t care about Shenmue that much in my opinion.

The important thing now in my opinion is to do Shenmue IV and V and finish the series, after that Yu Suzuki can revisit the titles if he wants, release The Legend Of Akira scripts/novels if he wants, things like that but now is really important to continue the series with Shenmue IV, and i really hope that Yu Suzuki can have the opportunities he needs to complete the saga in a way that will be satisfying for him.
 
Hiki said:
I don’t think SEGA will do a remake of Shenmue I and II, SEGA don’t care about Shenmue that much in my opinion.

The important thing now in my opinion is to do Shenmue IV and V and finish the series, after that Yu Suzuki can revisit the titles if he wants, release The Legend Of Akira scripts/novels if he wants, things like that but now is really important to continue the series with Shenmue IV, and i really hope that Yu Suzuki can have the opportunities he needs to complete the saga in a way that will be satisfying for him.
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Don't know about that. I rather stick with the old games instead of having another Shenmue 3. I don't think you're gonna have a good game coming from ys net. I think the task is way too much for them. Clearly, the problem was not budget nor even time. It seems that game was stripped from the beginning to the end. I feel its almost like the way the did Shenmue 1&2...wich apparently were made at the same time, for the most part. Shenmue 4 probably is kinda ready to wrap, with just another couple of years to be in the making. But I really don't know and don't think they can give us a good game. At least, not with the people they have there.
 
This has been hashed out to death, but Shenmue III was not objectively a bad game. Some people enjoyed it. If you didn't, to each their own, but please don't try and write it off as such an utter failure that YS Net will never make a good game. That's just laughable.
 
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