Shenhua's house in S2 vs S3: a pictorial comparison

Wonderful post as usual @Switch. I always love to see how the birdseye view of the original games and get a sense on how they are built and constructed.

I can’t seem to locate the video but an interesting idea would be to compare the beta footage of Shenhua’s house and see if there were any differences between that and the final version outside the aesthetic differences you can see

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I can’t seem to locate the video but an interesting idea would be to compare the beta footage of Shenhua’s house and see if there were any differences between that and the final version outside the aesthetic differences you can see
Great idea! In fact I had it noted down but the post ended up being pretty long anyway. This might be a good one to cover as a bonus part 3.
 
Wonderful post as usual @Switch. I always love to see how the birdseye view of the original games and get a sense on how they are built and constructed.

I can’t seem to locate the video but an interesting idea would be to compare the beta footage of Shenhua’s house and see if there were any differences between that and the final version outside the aesthetic differences you can see

View attachment 10918
This?
 
Yes! It’s really interesting revisiting this footage. Taking a quick scan through early version of Sun Flower Grove and Shenhua’s house it appears more rustic and obviously a darker colour palate than the final game. Not sure if that’s a product of them using default UE4 assets and shaders or if there was a change in tone and look.
 
Yet another interesting read.

I wish there was a forum setting that would allow me to automatically reply to each of your threads with “Great job as always, Switch!” or something to that extent. It would save me an awful lot of time in the long run.
 
Haha! Always appreciate the feedback!
To be honest, I was always a little perplexed by the many complaints about the changes made to Shenhua’s house as, aside from the extra room being slapped on (which made a lot of sense given that Shenhua and her father shared the house), it was pretty much as I remembered it.

Reading through this post and looking at the pictures side by side, I feel as though my confusion was justified. If anything, I think this post highlights what an excellent job the team did of recreating the area.
 
Reading through this post and looking at the pictures side by side, I feel as though my confusion was justified. If anything, I think this post highlights what an excellent job the team did of recreating the area.
I could be wrong but I think most of the criticism was levelled at the interior rather than exterior, in terms of objects omitted in Shenmue 3. I am thinking primarily the absence of tapestry of Luoyang and painting of mountains in Guilin which I thought might be involved in a quest in Shenmue 3.
 
I could be wrong but I think most of the criticism was levelled at the interior rather than exterior, in terms of objects omitted in Shenmue 3. I am thinking primarily the absence of tapestry of Luoyang and painting of mountains in Guilin which I thought might be involved in a quest in Shenmue 3.
I am wondering how much of that was included in II just in case the series was going to end there (as it sadly did for over a decade), compared to being retconnied? We know Luoyang is still at least a place of interest, as Shenhua mentions it in an odd conversation in III. Also, the mountain tapestry may have been repurposed into the cliff temple part of the the treasure scroll in the watch tower in III. As far as the book of constellations, I feel like it served it's purpose as being just...eerie in relation to her father missing. Though it still would've been nice to have it there with just aine from Ryo recapping what she had told him, like they did with the Shenmue Tree flute.
 
I think if the devs brought Chai back for no reason as fan-service, they could have re-created the interior of Shenhua's house a bit more faithfully. That being said, the addition of the second room wasn't an egregious retcon. I think the lack of floating sword, and the removal of various items in Shenhua's house that teased future plot points that haven't happened, and the significance of the Shenmue tree being swept under the rug were more upsetting.

I do love how nicely they recreated the exterior of Shenhua's home, though, and this is another great piece by Switch!
 
I'm not willing to accept that they abandoned the Shenmue Tree as a plot device until we see more of why/how/what Shenhua's abilities are. We know she "has the faculty to connect to her ancestors", and since Luoyang is still being foreshadowed in III, I bet the tree still has some role to play. The flashback in II was clearly with a Shenmue Tree not in present day.
 
I'm not willing to accept that they abandoned the Shenmue Tree as a plot device until we see more of why/how/what Shenhua's abilities are. We know she "has the faculty to connect to her ancestors", and since Luoyang is still being foreshadowed in III, I bet the tree still has some role to play. The flashback in II was clearly with a Shenmue Tree not in present day.
I always struggled to see how exactly the Shenmue tree would link to the plot and had started to wonder whether it really mattered to the story long before S3. I guess it could still prove significant moving forward (maybe Shenhua’s life force is bound to the tree or perhaps Shenmue trees work like the Weirwood trees in A Song of Ice and Fire?), but I’m expecting it not to be mentioned again throughout the rest of the saga.
 
I always struggled to see how exactly the Shenmue tree would link to the plot and had started to wonder whether it really mattered to the story long before S3. I guess it could still prove significant moving forward (maybe Shenhua’s life force is bound to the tree or perhaps Shenmue trees work like the Weirwood trees in A Song of Ice and Fire?), but I’m expecting it not to be mentioned again throughout the rest of the saga.

I definitely considered the very real possibility that it wouldn't make a direct impact on the remaining story, but figured it would still have symbolic significance like the second game expertly hinted at. But 3 didn't really touch on it.
 
I'll close that chapter within my mind once we either finish the series, or visit Luoyang.
 
That's beautiful.
I agree I'd sure like to see more of this stuff on other locations in the 3 games.
 
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