Shenmue Fans Still Need Answers To These Questions

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This was published September 13, 2020. Was nice to read this and i started to imagine and making theories about what will happen, i think is nice to have a thread specifically for theories and things like that.

https://gamerant.com/questions-shenmue-fans-need-answering/

First i will talk about the questions in the link, my opinion about what will happen.

10. What happened to Baisha?

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In one kickstarter video Yu Suzuki said... "Baisha will show off what Shenmue III is all about." We saw in the development updates that the team began working on Baisha quite early on in the production.

So what happened with Baisha? why Baisha was cut out of the game? i think there are 2 options for this. Maybe this was a budget problem or Yu Suzuki decided that he will put Baisha in Shenmue IV, maybe other thing happened, i really don't know.

Like i said in another thread i feel that Shenmue III didn't turn out exactly the way
Yu Suzuki really wanted so i feel that the decision to cut out Baisha of Shenmue III was not a easy decision for him. We will see Baisha in Shenmue IV or we will never see this place in game format? only time will tell.

9. Who Wrote The Mysterious Poetry Scroll?

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In my opinion The Mysterious Poetry Scroll will be important, Ryo will probably learn an important move with the master that wrote the scroll, someone correct me if i'm wrong but i don't remember the scroll in the inventory of Shenmue II and Shenmue III, i really need to play this games again, but even if is not in the inventory it is possible that the scroll will be important, to me the scroll is really important.

8. What Happened to Ziming Hong?

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In my opinion Ziming joined the Chi You Men and achieved his revenge but with a price, after he completed his revenge i think he had to stay in the organization for some reason, Ziming continued to be a good person or it is too late for him?

Xiuying said to Ryo... "You still don't understand, martial arts are used to protect people's life,
if you use your fists otherwise you will walk on the path of evil, too..."

I think will be nice to show that maybe is too late for him, this way it can show for Ryo the damage revenge can do with people, that now Ziming is on the path of evil and Ryo will not follow the same path.

In the manga side stories Ziming said... "Become Strong, Xiuying! Stronger than me." So we will see a fight to the death between Ziming and Xiuying? Xiuying is strong but she really can kill Ziming? i'm saying this because she loves her brother so it will be really hard if she have to do this, it will be a hard decision for her, this part can be so intense and emotional.

Another fight that would be nice to see is Ryo VS Ziming, this way maybe Ryo will even be tempted to go to the path of evil, maybe Ziming will win and say to Ryo... "You are pathethic, you are weak, this way you will never defeat Longsun Zhao, only in the dark side you can get the real power to achieve your revenge, just like i did."

I don't know, something like this, i think it would be cool to show that Ziming have similar things with Ryo, like Ziming is a Ryo that went in the wrong path and that Ryo will not follow the same path. Maybe Ziming will have a heroic death saving Xiuying or Ryo. Maybe in one scene he will regret what he did and will have a heroic death, it is possible and i saw this things happening in other stories.


I really feel Xiuying will come back in the story, we can ser her in the last chapter concept art, i know a lot of things changed but it is not impossible for Xiuying to come back to the story, would be beautiful if Xiuying come back. 😍

All i know is that the story between Ziming and Xiuying is one of the most important parts of the story in my opinion, it really needs a nice closure about this.

7. What Is The Significance Of The Shenmue Tree?

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Shenhua means "flower of the Shenmue tree." Someone correct me if i'm wrong but i remember that in Shenmue II Ryo feels a connection with the Shenmue tree, like the tree is protecting him and Shenhua, in Shenmue II we can see a mystical vibe about the Shenmue tree, in Shenmue III we didn't saw that but i really feel that Ryo and Shenhua will go to Luoyang and there we will see another Shenmue tree.

I think that there will be a lot of revelations maybe about the mirrors, the Shenmue tree, Shenhua's powers and maybe even about Shenhua's parents, what happened to them and how and why Yushen Yuan decided to take care of Shenhua? how this happened? it would be nice to see in Luoyang a lot of revelations, i really need answers to this questions.

Shenmue is the name of this game series so i really hope that the Shenmue tree will be important, i think the Shenmue tree really protect them and maybe the Shenmue tree can give a special power for Shenhua.

6. What Happened To Ryo's Mother?

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In Shenmue III we saw that the name of Ryo's mother is Akane and that she died of a "mysterious illness." It is mysterious to me that we have a lot of story and informations even about the NPCs that don't appear that much but in the case of Ryo's mother we have little informations.

What happened to Akane while Iwao was in China? she really died of a mysterious illness? maybe she decided to fake her own death and went to another place. 🤔In other stories i saw similar things to this, characters that we thought that died but appeared alive later in the story, like a plot twist in the story, it is not impossible.


Some people even say that Shenhua is Ryo's sister. The thing is that we don't know much about his mother, what she wanted in life, her dreams, her feelings and much more. We don't know what her personality was, we don't even know how she was physically, we don't know what she was capable of doing so this is why i made this theory that maybe she fake her own death while Iwao was in China, this way she could go to another place and do something important that she wanted.

Maybe people here will think that this is a crazy theory, yeah... i'm thinking too much... 😆 She will be a important character? only time will tell, all i know is that i want to see more about Akane.

5. Who Are The Other Chi You Men Leaders?

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The structure of the Chi You Men was inspired by Chinese mythology. The group's leadership mirrors the four mythological creatures that serve as guardians of the four cardinal directions, with a fifth creature that reigns over them.

Lan Di serves as the group's Eastern leader, who is in charge of the group's operations in the South. Niao Sun is another leader, i don't remember now if we know what cardinal direction she take care of. This means there are still 3 leaders to see, 2 of the other cardinal directions and the big boss pulling the strings (Tentei)

This is a really important part of the story and i think we will see all the leaders in Shenmue IV.

4. What's The Deal With Shenhua's powers?

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Shenhua remains one of the most mysterious characters in the Shenmue world. How many powers does she have? what is the extent of her powers? it is something limited or she can do this powers whenever she wants? so many questions... this is really important in my opinion and i feel that we will see everything about this.

3. What Happened In Mengcun?

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In my opinion this is one of the most important things about the plot of Shenmue. Iwao Hazuki and Sunming Zhao were friends so what happened in Mengcun? we know that they trained together in Bailu Village, in Shenmue III we saw that the mirrors were entrusted to Sunming Zhao at one point in the story. In Shenmue III we even learned that after Sunming Zhao's death Longsun Zhao was raised by The Chi You Men.

Who gave the mirrors to Sunming Zhao? why this person did this? probably the person did this with bad intentions, i feel that it is really possible that Yuanda Zhu is the real villan of the Shenmue story and that he probably planned everything about this from the start, maybe he really is Tentei, what other chararacter could be Tentei? i really don't know, all i know is that everything about this is important and i hope we can see this things in Shenmue IV and Shenmue V.

2. What Do The Mirrors Actually Do?

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In the first game Master Chen said that the mirrors are the key to resurrecting a mythical beast called Chiyou. In Shenmue II Ryo finds out that the mirrors actually function as a map to the treasure of the Qing dynasty.

Maybe the mirrors really have multiple functions, it is possible, i really want to see what will happen when the mirrors are together.

1. Will Ryo Get His Revenge?

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Like i said in another thread i think he will not get his revenge, something will happen and he will lose purpose, i think he will forget about revenge. I reall feel that Ryo and Longsun Zhao wil discover the truth about what happened in Mengcun, depending on what are the revelations many things can change in the story, like a plot twist in the story, maybe Longsun Zhao will even want revenge against The Chi You men for twisting his mind since he was a kid, like a plot twist in the story, this things are not impossible.

I really need to know what happen in Mengcun between Iwao Hazuki and Sunming Zhao, like i said depending on what are the revelations many things can change for Ryo Hazuki and Longsun Zhao.

Probably Ryo will not go in the same path as Ziming and Longsun Zhao, the path of Ryo will be different and the cycle of revenge will end.

And now i'm imagining what Sergeynest said in another thread. Ryo's Band-Aid falling in the ground after Ryo deciding to forget about revenge. In my opinion it would be so awesome this happening after Ryo win a fight against Longsun Zhao, he decide not to kill Longsun Zhao but he will win the fight and then the band-aid starts faliing in the ground as the thoughts of revenge fades away, to show that Ryo is fully healed about all of this things, it can be a emotional and beautiful scene. 😊


Bonus: How many moves (Akira's moves/Bajiquan moves) Ryo will learn in the next chapters in the story? what moves Ryo will learn? who will be the next master of Ryo? i think it would be a Shaolin master.

Shenmue IV have so much potential to be a beautiful, emotional and intense game, i really hope that this will happen.

If i remember other questions i will post in this thread. Here we can talk everything about the questions in the story, our theories and much more, i love talking about this things, thank you.
 
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It'd be a really chilling flashback if we saw who found young Longshu after his father's death.

Sunming's "best friend" Zhu introduced him to the CYM. Lan Di may have just thought Zhu was a middle man and didn't know he was the true leader at that point, whoever he thought was Tentei was a decoy. He realises over the series that Zhu has manipulated him since he lost his father, and is doing the same to Ryo. Chi You is a war diety and Zhu has enginnered a war.

Zhu was also the one who had Shenhua's parents killed, perhaps he dispised their beliefs, being a cultist of Chi You.
 

What Happened To Baisha?​

I think Baisha being cut came out of necessity more than anything else. The game was already delayed several times without it, so it stands to reason that had it been included we’d have probably been looking at a late 2020 release, which I doubt the budget would have covered. I do think it will show up in Shenmue 4, though it probably won’t be as prominent as originally planned.

Who Wrote The Mysterious Poetry Scroll?​

The master who Ryo will eventually train under in Meng Cun.

What Happened To Ziming Hong?​

I know that Yu has already refuted it, but I see him being one of the CYM leaders. Maybe that wasn’t always the plan, but with two still to be introduced, it would make sense for him to be one of them. I think he’ll switch sides at the end of the story and will likely give his life to save his sister from Niao Sun.

What Is The Significance Of The Shenmue Tree?​

After Shenmue 3, I’m actually leaning towards there being none. If we’re not going to learn about it in Bailu, I’m not sure we ever will.

What Happened To Ryo's Mother?​

I used to think there was some significance to Akane, but I now see her death as nothing more than a plot device. Had she still been alive, it’s unlikely that Ryo would have flown off the rails the way that he did and very doubtful that he’d have pursued revenge as vigorously as he has so far.

Who Are The Other Chi You Men Leaders?​

As mentioned above, I think Ziming will be one of the two unknown leaders and Zhu will be Tentei. The other leader will be a new character. That said, I’m a little worried that we’ll end up with an abridged version of the story where the other two leaders and Tentei don’t actually exist. Iirc, none of these characters have been canonized in game yet, so cutting them to wrap the series up with just one more game is definitely a possibility. I hope not though.

What's The Deal With Shenhua's powers?​

I think the spirit and powers of Chi You are sealed inside Shenhua and that, over time, she has found a way to utilize them to manipulate and communicate with nature. Either that or Shenhua is the Yin to Chi You’s Yang.

What Happened In Mengcun?​

For Ryo to realize the futility of revenge, I feel like Iwao needs to have killed Sunming in Mengcun and always saw that being the case. That said, Shenmue 3 casts a little doubt on that and I now wonder whether the CYM might have killed Sunming and blamed Iwao in order to manipulate him into joining them and one day help them retain possession of the mirrors. They seem to have done something similar with Ziming Hong, after all.

What Do The Mirrors Actually Do?​

I think that one way or another, the mirrors are the key to unlocking Chi You’s powers. Either the power is locked inside Shenhua or split and locked inside the mirrors, I think that brining them together will unlock that power. Just because, I think this needs to happen during an eclipse.

Will Ryo Get His Revenge?​

I think Ryo will beat Lan Di in battle but will ultimately choose not to kill him. I can picture Zhu telling Ryo to finish Lan Di off Star Wars style but Ryo ultimately helping him up and the pair battling Zhu and the rest of the CYM together. There defonitely needs to be a substantial time skip for this to work though, as, at present, Ryo is light years away from Lan Di’s level.
 
One of my theories is Chi You is lingering in the treasure's chamber, a spectre or abberation and you can't access the room without both mirrors in place. So both of Zhu's legends about the mirrors are true then.

Perhaps when Sumning visited the chamber to claim the Mirrors, a shadow left with him. He lost his mind and turned on his friend Iwao, killing him in self defense and regretting it to his last day, he never found another way to save him. Ryo may have to save his friend Ren, he can overcome Chi You's influence, where his father failed.
 

Who Are The Other Chi You Men Leaders?​

As mentioned above, I think Ziming will be one of the two unknown leaders and Zhu will be Tentei. The other leader will be a new character. That said, I’m a little worried that we’ll end up with an abridged version of the story where the other two leaders and Tentei don’t actually exist. Iirc, none of these characters have been canonized in game yet, so cutting them to wrap the series up with just one more game is definitely a possibility. I hope not though.
I do think Yu-san still fully intends to include the remaining Chi You Men leaders (someone here even managed to learn the next leader's name by translating a hidden newspaper at Castle Niaowu, which feels like a big tease that the other leaders are coming next), so it's possible that Shenmue 4 will introduce the rest of the villains at the cliff temple.

Though I do find it interesting that when you exclude developer interviews and such, the Shenmue games themselves remain vague about the existence of there being four villains in total. So it could still go either way. That line from Niao Sun still sounds fishy to me ("The Chi You Men belong to me now!"), so it's possible they could simplify things a bit to focus on just Lan Di and Niao Sun.

One thing I find a bit questionable about Niao Sun is that her Shenmue Premiere (1999) bio merely described her as a cruel villain with sex appeal. In 2016, Yu-san said in an interview that one of the other unannounced leaders is a master strategist. Then in 2019, Niao Sun's bio gets updated on the Shenmue 3 website to say that while she is indeed cruel and sexy, her true talent lies in the area of...plotting and strategy! So I wonder if Niao Sun could become an amalgamation of the other leaders by embodying their best traits if an abridged story does go ahead.

To be controversial...would I mind if they reduced the villains down a bit? Not really. Since 1999, the only leaders we've really known about have been Lan Di and Niao Sun anyway, so I doubt I'd miss the other bosses if they got canned. Niao Sun could also have the opportunity to be more fleshed out (her using illusion and strategy in Shenmue 3 was a nice touch).
 
Personally I don't think Lan Di should be the ultimate villain.

Revan like you quoted from Sun "The CYM belong to me now"

Maybe he is considered by the CYM to be the defacto leader, Tentei's chosen one, or to be the icon of the CYM and that's why Sun thought he was the most crucial target, in her mission to conquer the organisation.

How did Shenhua's parents get killed, were they murdered? Why did Lan Di think Iwao only had one Mirror? Who brought him into the organisation? It makes sense to me dramactically, that there is a bigger bad behind the curtain, someone manipulating Lan Di and feeding him questionable info, and perhaps even some of the CYM's leaders are in the dark.
 
If I remember correctly, Baisha was cut due to time constraints and repurposed into the castle we see at the end of Shenmue III. That, unfortunately, meant that the seige minigame Suzuki promised in his Kickstarter pitch against one of the unknown Chi-You leaders was scrapped as well. Hopefully, we will get it in a potential Shenmue IV knowing how Suzuki has ways of repurposing content.

I think the scroll is a move from the Tiger Swallow Fist, a style that Lan-Di practices. According to some cut Shenmue II content via the Wulinshu, the Tiger Swallow Fist was such a dangerous martial arts style that The Emperor of the time had any practitioners killed. So users had the moves written in secret poetry that could only be deciphered by the original author. Perhaps it will be the key to taking Longsun Zhao down later in the story. Or perhaps the Zhao family are original members of the Three Blades which would be quite the plot twist.

Outside of knowing that Ziming is not one of the four generals of the Chi You Men your guess is as good as any. Maybe he will serve as a shadow of what Ryo will become if he continues down this path. Though I have always seen Lan-Di serving this purpose. Maybe he feels ashamed of what he has become and does not want to face Xiuying because of it.

I think the Shenmue tree itself will play a major role later in the story. As to what that role is per se, is anyone's guess, but I think it is linked to the overall prophecy which has still not been explained. Which was one of my major issues with Shenmue III's narrative in which we were meant to get answers to those questions. My best guess would be that it is meant to protect the world from Chi-You since I believe Shenhua was born from the Tree and was bestowed with its gifts.

All we know about the Chi You leaders is that according to Suzuki, that one of them is more of a strategist in nature and not a combatant. We know that Niao Sun is a combatant, but is more shrewd in comparison to Lan-Di. What I am interested in is what will happen now in the power structure with Niao Sun stabbing Longsun Zhao in the back.

I have always seen due to the dialogue in Shenmue II when Shenhua explains about nature having "incredible power" that she is a conduit for this power. Also, the final scene in Shenmue II according to Suzuki was due to "natural energy" not magic as many fans believe. More along the lines of Qi or the natural force of nature. Therefore, much like The Force in Star Wars, this energy on occasion flows through her allowing the scenes we saw in Shenmue II. And since I believe that Shenhua was born directly from the Shenmue tree itself, I believe the Shenmue tree holds incredible spiritual energy.

For me, the relationship between Iwao Hazuki and Sunming Zhao is the most important in the entire story. All we know is that Sunming Zhao died and that Iwao brought the mirrors back from China. That if Lan-Di's father had survived, he would have gone on to become the greatest martial artist in the world. And finally, it was what motivated his son towards revenge thus repeating the cycle.

As for revenge, I do not think it is going to happen due to Suzuki stating that Ryo will eventually set aside his desire for vengeance. Personally, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I want to see Ryo go through with killing Longsun Zhao. To me, it is the only way he is going to see the futility of vengeance as it will not bring him any genuine peace. The darkness that will stain his soul will be something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Therefore, he will try to atone for his sins by answering his higher calling in the prophecy.

As for any specific moves I want to see Ryo learn, given that Shenmue is the role-playing version of Virtua Fighter, I want to see Ryo learn the Tetsu Zankou or Iron Mountain Lean; Akira Yuki's signature move. Finally, I think the Mirrors are keys to unlocking the treasure of the Qin Dynasty that contained keys to unsealing Chi-You alongside Shenhua's powers.
 
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