that Lan Di fight...

Eh, I saw them as more than plain subordinates. I mean, when you have a game where you fight a small number of goons, some Gi wearing people who are super weak, and then meet three characters who had more attention to detail put into them than 99% of the cast only to defeat them in one hit... nah there was more to them than the story told clearly. Or at least, the generic goons you have to train to beat in the game should have been axed in favor for these three, they are instantly more interesting characters, and I took all this from about 1 minute's worth of footage.
But once again its a failing on 3's plot/story design by having these awesome looking characters and then doing basically nothing with them. Even just giving them longer QTE sequences would have made things more impactful for me.
 
Eh, I saw them as more than plain subordinates. I mean, when you have a game where you fight a small number of goons, some Gi wearing people who are super weak, and then meet three characters who had more attention to detail put into them than 99% of the cast only to defeat them in one hit... nah there was more to them than the story told clearly. Or at least, the generic goons you have to train to beat in the game should have been axed in favor for these three, they are instantly more interesting characters, and I took all this from about 1 minute's worth of footage.
But once again its a failing on 3's plot/story design by having these awesome looking characters and then doing basically nothing with them. Even just giving them longer QTE sequences would have made things more impactful for me.

What about the boss you played prior? Play him on hardest.
 
What about the boss you played prior? Play him on hardest.
Pushover. I'd have to purposely train as little as physically possible for that to be a challenge as its just so easy to fight him by the end of the game (or any point in the game). Hardest fight in the game for me (aside from Lan Di technically) is the last Rose Garden 3v1 fight, as you have 3 legit dangerous enemies attack you at once. After that, nothing else compares.
 
The entirety of the Old Castle was so damn cool. Yes -- bringing along Bai, the chubby master and the shrine maiden felt unearned -- we just didn't get to know them enough for it to feel natural, but apart from that it was awesome.
Yeah i almost went to go say bye to Bai before i left but didn't.I said goodbye to shrine maiden a couple of times.I was actually running around to say bye to people and realized i didn't know anyone.
 
Yeah i almost went to go say bye to Bai before i left but didn't.I said goodbye to shrine maiden a couple of times.I was actually running around to say bye to people and realized i didn't know anyone.

Did you really say goodbye to the Broom Girl? I spent an entire day to find her but she just disappeared
 
I kind of like the idea that they took the time to design 3 top tier boss quality characters just to have them taken out in one scene; it kind of gives off the idea that those like Chai, Don Niu, etc. are pretty dispensable to Lan Di...a bit silly but it reminds me of an early scene from a Toxic Avenger movie(can’t recall if it was 3 or 4) where more than a dozen different goons hop out of a limo.
 
Only part of the whole Lan Di encounter/fight I didn't like were how his body guards get basically 0 screen time. I loved the character designs, would have loved longer QTEs against them. But yeah, this was definitely the way I wanted the game to end, down to the fact that Ryo still can't land a clean hit on Lan Di.
I was kind of under the impression they planned to do a lot more with the body guards, but ended up scrapping it along with Baisha when they realized they were running out of time.
 
They could be Niao Sun's henchmen for all we know, meant to "guard"/distract Lan Di as a contingency plan if the Shenhua kidnap didn't pan out. Li Feng does say in the Red Snakes' hideout that this is her land...and clearly the entire city is very red, which is Niao Sun's color...and Niaowu even shares part of her name. I don't know how many gangs Lan Di has at his disposal, but we've already thrashed the Mad Angels and the Yellow Heads...my view is that Lan Di is just keeping his head down for a bit, plotting his next move or maybe even awaiting further orders from Tentei. We don't see many black suits around here, maybe because the few that were there were all defectors to Niao Sun's plot. Or maybe I'm all wrong.
 
Who says they are his personal guards?
Fine, they're not personal guards. They are subordinates.. very elaborately presented subordinates that warrant their own cutscene.

Also, Ren proves in II he is a capable fighter when he takes on the Chi You Men suited guards on the rooftop...
I would also have thought to be the leader of a gang that runs an entire wharf that he'd have to be a decent fighter
Terry in Shenmue 1 ran a gang too..
The truth is that an untrained Ren can take on bare basic henchmen (thugs, regular Chi You Men) but never trained fighters which is why he had to lean on Ryo so much. He had to be cunning/deceitful for a reason. But here he is along with Broom Girl and Fat Guy showing us that training our kung fu was pointless all along.. all Ryo needed was a funny gag scene if he wanted to beat Lan Di effortlessly.
 
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Not sure if this has been said but the last of Lan Di's henchmen was very similar to Don Niu, to the point where I wondered if it was meant to be just an homage to him or was actually a remodel and was him.... Do we actually know who they all were?
 
I didn't think of him as anywhere near Dou Niu, unless we count all bigger, bald/balding males as Dou Niu clones. We unfortunately don't know anything about them without a guidebook...and it doesn't look like there will be one made for this game. :(
 
The ending is a bit silly under scrutiny, but it’s probably the part of the game with the best cutscene animation and direction. I liked the look and feel of it and would’ve been happy if the rest of the game had been up to that quality. It didn’t feel like they ran out of money in the ending sequence; it seemed to me like one of the better developed portions of the game. I’m not talking about story content or logic, just the look and feel. Ryo, Ren and Niao Sun are also the best character models in the game. Shame the rest couldn’t meet that standard. They looked current gen enough to me. You could put the three of them into a new Fighters Megamix as modeled and I’d be content.
 
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It was a good fight.

I think they were trying to build up the fight the way it was done in SII going up (then back down) of the Yellow Head building.

The difference was, going through the Yellow Building was a lot, lot harder.

Going through the castle was very easy in comparison, thus the build up and end wasn't as rewarding.
 
I'm really torn on the entire castle section. I had chills up my spine racing up knowing I'd fight Lan Di, and I still think the fight with him, as is, was spot on.

That said, I admit I was generally disappointed by the section on subsequent plays, and it hindered my ability to see S3 in a positive light (sucks to end on something weak, even if the preceding was fine). I've hermeneutically cooled since, but I raise one chief aspect of it all in the light of constructive criticism, not an angry rant: why was the presentation/explanation so thin? Not bad, not contradictory, but thin. E.g.:

Why were only some Chi You in suits? A Budgetary/time issue is fine, but it seems an odd to have those dudes fighting in other clothing. I admit I wasn't the biggest fan of those "bodyguards" or whoever they are, but again, context would be enough. Are the Red Snakes actually connected to the Chi You? Zhang suggests so in the DLC, but one has to make connections which may not be accurate.

Also, I don't expect Niao Sun to reveal her name to Ryo (why would someone who spies do so?) but it would've been helpful for fans, esp. those not addicted like us Dojo denizens, to have one of the subordinates call her NS. So too with Ge: his name is never mentioned in dialogue, yet the notebook has Ryo saying he defeated Ge. I love S3, but that's objectively sloppy.

Further, I wonder why both NS and Lan Di are there. Perhaps she contacted LD about the mirror, but how'd she find out about Ryo/Shenhua's role? Did they find a photo of Shenhua in Yuan's home? Did he crack? Did someone tell her what those two looked like? Whatever the reason, I just wanted a reason. Contrast S2: Lan Di wanted Zhu, it was found out he was held there, and it was subtly but actually explained.

To end on a positive, I actually thought Ge just chillin' at the front door made more sense, and was almost more realistic (spread out your guards). I agree with those who said it sort of confuses the difficulty of the set up, that section actually pleased me.
 
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What makes no sense is that in Shenmue 2, you have to impress the scout who looks for martial artists for the Chi You Men. These fights are quite hard at times.

Yet the guards, guarding Lan Di ffs! are pathetically weak!
 
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